Burger Time!

As part of my depression kit last week, I picked up a copy of the latest Food Network Magazine. Unlike the last issue, which I thought was ho-hum, this issue was really, really good! I particularly loved the Bobby Flay burger section. It inspired me to make some burgers - and I found out that his new cookbook, Burgers, Fries, & Shakes, is a Random House publication, and since I review books for Random House, I requested a review copy of it and it's on its way! Woo-hoo!

Anyway, I liked the looks of a recipe for avocado relish in the article, and I made it to go on my burgers last night. It was excellent stuff!

Avocado Relish (by Bobby Flay)

2 avocados
1/2 small onion, diced
1 minced jalapeno
juice of 1 lime
3 tbsp chopped cilantro
salt & pepper

Mix everything together.

I made half the recipe and omitted the jalapeno because I don't like them.

I made the burger with bison meat and seasoned it only with salt & pepper - as Bobby Flay apparently does! I topped it with red pepper, spring mix, and some of the Italian flavoured Monterey Jack cheese I got at the Village Cheese Co. I served my burger with some roasted potatoes, and I have enough left over for a couple of nights.

Magazine Monday #37: Roasted Garlic & Sundried Tomato Bread

OK, so I got my act together this weekend and baked. I needed some bread, and quite coincidentally, this recipe I'd clipped out of an older issue of Canadian Living slipped out of my recipe binder. It was exactly the right recipe at the right time!

The recipe is here.

The smell of the roasting garlic and then the baking bread filled up the house and was heavenly! And it tasted great, too!

Book Review: The End of Overeating

Here's a book every foodie might find interesting - or not. Depends on what kind of foodie you are. If you're like me, most food is indulgent in some way, and some foods are much more than indulgent. Some foods are like crack. Which can be a problem. Consider yourself warned!

Anyway...

The flap reads: "Most of us know what it feels like to fall under the spell of food - when one slice of pizza turns into half a pie, or a handful of chips leads to an empty bag. But it's harder to understand why we can't seem to stop eating - even when we know better. When we want so badly to say "no," why do we continue to reach for food."

Written by Dr. David Kessler, The End of Overeating is part food manufacturing expose, part biology lesson, and part impulse-control rehab.

I guarantee that after you read this book you'll only want to eat lettuce - for a while. Which might not be a bad thing, right?

So, why do so many of us overeat, and not just once in a while, but regularly? Well, according to Kessler, this isn't a will-power issue: the food industry is purposely setting out to make foods so yummy - or "hyperpalatable" - that our bodies are being biologically programmed by the industry's layering of fat on sugar on salt to eat more and more. The industry, whose number one priority is to make as much money as possible, is purposely manipulating our food so that resistance is futile.

Kessler's research is meticulous, and he even gets an anonymous food industry insider to give up the ghost on some of the secrets of food manufacturing. Kessler also talks to numerous researchers, obesity experts, and scientists who give him the low-down on the biology behind overeating and weight gain. It's fascinating stuff, actually.

The author also offers a rehabilitation plan for those amongst us who are "conditioned hypereaters." Interestingly enough, this is a cognitive behavioural approach that included many components of both CBT and the DBT I did a couple of years ago. Some of the impulse control and distress tolerance techniques are virtually the same as what Kessler describes in his Food Rehab(TM) program. This really piqued my interest, not only because it was already familiar to me in a different context, but because it's quite novel. This isn't a dietary solution and this isn't a will-power solution: this is a reprogramming of the brain solution. And, like recovering from BPD, it's hard, hard work.

Though this is packed with quite a bit of scientific and psychological information, Kessler does an excellent job of keeping this book readable. He avoids insider jargon and lingo, keeps his prose simple and to the point, and makes the sections in the book short and consise.

This book is definitely worth a read.

Saturday Laugh #6

Depression Food

Although I had a junk-out the other day, I have eaten decently during this episode, which is a change.

My brother and SIL had me over for dinner one night this week, and we had Shan's French Onion Soup and BBQ striploins.

I made Eggs in Purgatory one night.

For Cinco de Mayo, I made shrimp quesadillas.

Tonight I made myself a tuna melt & some fingerling fries.

Depression Kit

Morning Glory Muffins - Commercial Style

Looking through my archives, I noticed that I haven't posted the recipe for Morning Glory muffins that I make pretty much every week at work. Well, today is your lucky day!

Morning Glory Muffins

8 tsp baking soda
8 cups flour
5 cups sugar
8 carrots
4 apples
4 oranges
2 cups nuts (we use walnuts)
2 cups coconut
2 cups raisins
12 eggs
4 cups oil
5tsp vanilla

OK, this is what I do. I trim the ends off the carrots and rinse them off if they look particularly grotty. I quarter the apples and seed & core them. I quarter the oranges (we use seedless naval oranges). I don't peel or chop; everything goes through the Robot Coupe, which does a fabulous job of shredding everything to bits.

I combine the eggs, oil, vanilla, and sugar in a large bowl, then add this to the carrot mixture. I then add to this the nuts, coconut, and raisins. Last, I add the flour and baking soda. I scoop & bake. Usually I get about 36 - 38 large, commercial-size muffins. These are the most popular muffins sold at the coffee shop, and I have to say, they are really good.

Sunshine Cafe's First Anniversary

I feel like such a slacker. I don't have a Magazine Monday post for today because I couldn't be bothered, and I don't have any posts coming down the pipes for the rest of the week, either; usually I have several scheduled to publish in advance, but this week, nada.

Which doesn't mean there won't be any; I'm just not as on the ball as I usually am with this stuff. I have a mood disorder, in case you didn't know, and I think it's starting to rear its ugly head again.

Anyways, I did go out for a great lunch at a local hot spot on Friday. The Sunshine Cafe (previously posted about here, here, here and here) celebrated it's one year anniversary with Randi at the helm and my brother, SIL and I all went for lunch with my brother's co-worker and his girlfriend. It was a beautiful day and we sat out at one of the sidewalk tables in the sun.

At the counter where you order, there were free homemade cookies on offer, and there was Bailey's and Khalua available for your coffee should you want it.

For lunch, I had my standby, the Clubhouse. It was so huge I couldn't get my dainty little mouth around it. But it sure was good.My SIL had a veggie burger with bacon, mushrooms and Swiss cheese. She said it was great.My brother had the lunch special, which was a chicken pannini with avocado and a sauce I can't remember the ingredients for. He said it was also great.
Congratulations to Randi and her staff on a great first year of food and fellowship at the Sunshine Cafe!

Award/Meme Time

Cathy over at Accountants Can Cook? awarded/tagged me with this passionate blogger award. Thanks Cathy!

The rules are:

1. Put logo on blog.
2. List five things you are passionate about besides blogging.
3. Tag five people and let them know you've tagged them

OK, so five things I'm passionate about apart from blogging...

1. Music, in particular: Linkin Park, Nightwish, Evanescence, Within Temptation, Lacuna Coil, Midnattsol, Leaves' Eyes, Xandria and many others in the various folk/Gothic/symphonic/melodic/female-fronted metal offshoots.

2. Reading. I am a total bookworm!

3. Hiking, camping, and outdoorsy stuff. And I live in the perfect area for this kind of stuff, too!

4. My friends and family!

5. Various mental health and social issues.

You know, I'm not going to tag anyone (hope you're down with that, Cathy). My foodblogging community is pretty small and I'm pretty sure this one is going to make the rounds pretty quick.

Saturday Laugh #5 and Lunch at Rancho Chico

On Thursday, I indulged in a brief cross-border shopping excursion. I scored in the clothing department with a $3 pair of denim capris, and I got over 3lbs of boneless skinless chicken breast for $9! $9! Again, the price of chicken in the States compared to what we pay up here in just insane. Anyway, as usual, we went to the Mexican restaurant Rancho Chico for lunch.

These are the Rancho Chico nachos from their dinner menu. Lots of cheese, as you can see.

I had the chicken chimichanga for lunch - excellent as usual.

Dessert - deep fried tortillas with sweet cinnamony syrup, whipped cream, and coulis - yum!

And Now For a Non-food-related Interlude...

I just wanted to take a moment to provide you with a blurb about an non-food issue close to my heart, mental illness. If you weren't aware before from reading my other blogs (Wandering Coyote and my mental health site, I'm Listening), I am "mentally interesting." Meaning, I live with mental illness. May is Mental Health Awareness month, and I thought I'd promote it here on ReTorte by giving a shout out to cartoonist Chato B. Stewart of Mental Health Humor, who is having a cartoon-a-thon. Please check out his site and support the cause in some way.

In an email Chato wrote the following:

May is Mental Health Month and we are going to hold our2nd annual Cartoon-a-thon. This is when I try do draw one cartoon every day of the month. Our goal is to bring awareness to mental illness and to raise funds along with having fun too. The next stage of the Mental Health Humor Cartoons is the development and implementation of the Mental Health Humor project and funding free public presentations. My-self and a few other local volunteers will be heading this up to bring it to the public.

Yes, funding is always an issue so I'm asking if you can pledge a little something to the cartoon-a-thon.

Things you can do to help:

1. Visit our website every day to see the new cartoon (posting by 1:PM daily)
2. Sponsor us by pledging $5.00 or more. (Paypal or personal check)
3. Ask others if they would like to pledge (see this sponsor sheet)
4. If you have a blog or website / or e-mail list, post or send the new daily cartoon to them.
5. Print out and share the cartoons in your office or with your doctor.
6. If your on Facebook or MySpace or an other social network share them there.
7. Do what ever you can to be a part of Mental Health Month.

Any one who makes a $25.00 donation can have them-selves drawing as a caricature and used in one of the cartoons.

This is a funnest way to celebrate our month not just to bring awareness to mental health, believe me people know where here! No the best way is to celebrate our road to recovery laughing all the way.

I can't afford to donate, but I can put a smile on your face with a cartoon. We don't have Arbor Day in Canada, but I liked the sentiment nonetheless.

Also BPD in OKC has informed us that Wear Purple Day - to promote awareness of Borderline Personality Disorder, one of the diagnoses I have - is May 15th, and to show support, I'll be wearing purple two weeks from today. I have a great purple tank top; I hope it's tank top weather by then!

Regular food-related posts will resume as scheduled! Thanks for reading; I really appreciate it!

Kamloops Trip, Food Edition, Part 3

On Sunday, after a breakfast of homemade egg mcmuffins made by S, my dad picked me up and drove me down the highway to my friend Anita's place. She has a ranch style home on a large property in the countryside just beyond Kamloops. I actually lived there for a few weeks when I first left my husband in May 2005, but hadn't visited since about spring of 2006. Lots of changes, but this one was the most impressive for me:This is their brand new fridge/freezer combo: freezer on the left, fridge on the right. Isn't it amazing? Trust me, it's even more impressive in real person! I was continually drooling over this the whole time I was there!

For dinner, Richard made a Mexican dish of yummy rice, sauted peppers, BBQ chicken with lime and cumin, and sliced avocado. It was excellent, and Richard is an amazing cook.On Monday, Anita and I went into Salmon Arm to run some errands and visit Gort's Gouda. This is a really cool cheese factory on a farm and you can walk around and visit the cows and sheep, sample the wide variety of gouda on offer, and have an actual tour of the factory. We visited the animals and sampled some cheese but we didn't have the tour. I actually used to live not far from here and often went to Gort's, and I can honestly say that they make superb cheese. Apart from gouda, they also make quark, different sheep cheeses, fresh cheese curds, sheep's feta and other stuff.

There were lots of animals to see. Visitors can wander around the barn where the cows, calves, sheep, and lambs live - and who doesn't love calves and lambs? There were plenty of babies to see! The St. Croix sheep herd had many lambs, and of course they were so cute. Also, there were lots of calves, which were also very cute. Many of the animals are pretty friendly and would come up to use to be stroked or to suck on our fingers, and while I'm not a fan of animal phlegm all over my hands, I was OK with it because I always pack hand sanitizer with me. Lambs make me smile...Calves make me smile...Gouda makes me smile...I bought a small round of Italian-flavoured gouda, since the one with red pepper and cumin that I usually get wasn't available.

For dinner that night, Richard was away working, so Anita and I slapped a couple of steaks on the BBQ, made a Caesar salad, and I had a baked potato. Yum!
And who else ate well during my stay? Anita's neigbour's llamas, of course! He keeps a herd of sheep and as they graze in the back 40, he has the llamas there to protect them. Llamas love snacks - especially alfalfa and carrots, and Anita always has some on hand. The sheep are shy and don't take well to hand feeding, but the llamas got right in there! In fact, they are known to hang around the back gate waiting to be fed.

And that about sums up the food angle of my trip!

For more about my adventures, you can read this post.

Kamloops Trip, Food Edition, Part 2

My friend S found this bakery in the Kamloops area called Craig's Bakery. They do not have a web site, unfortunately, but they do have some of the most amazing scones I've ever had. S swears by them, and the ingredient lists are always full of naturally good stuff and no crap. Scones and fruit salad were on the menu at S&M's on Saturday morning before M and his parents headed out to the gun show (where they met my dad - the gun show was the whole reason behind this trip) and S and I went to the mall.

No trip to a major centre in BC would be complete for me without a visit to the local Purdy's location!

What can I say about Purdy's other than they are the most amazing chocolatiers ever in the history of chocolatiers? They are to die for! They are also really expensive, but they usually have a basket on the counter of "almost perfect" chocolates sold at at discount because they're a little less than perfect. This particular day was my lucky day: I found a 1lb dark chocolate assortment - my favourite!!!!! - in the almost perfect basket! Of course, I snagged it. Woo-hoo!
For dinner that night, after a hard day of shopping, S's husband BBQed a huge side of salmon, using BC's Famous Salmon Marinade & BBQ Sauce. I love this stuff! Accompanying our salmon was a mixture of BBQed veggies and baked potatoes with all the fixings. For dessert, we had ice cream with sliced strawberries & whipped cream.
M is an excellent BBQer and the salmon was perfectly done and so, so succulent! And I love veggies grilled on the BBQ. This was one outstanding meal.

Incidentally, the plate my dinner is on and the platter the salmon is on were both made by S, who is a wicked potter!

Thank you so much for your hospitality, S&M! You guys rock!

Up next: my time at Anita's!

Trip Pix

Full Flickr set of my trip here.

Kamloops Trip, Food Edition: Part 1

OK. I ate a lot last weekend while on my mini break. I was on holiday and I was in PMS mode, so I have good excuses. Here is day one of the road trip, which consisted of driving from Rossland to Kamloops. Map here. Run down of day on the road here.

Our first official stop was in Greenwood at the Copper Eagle Cappuccino & Bakery (no web site, unfortunately). This place is absolutely fabulous. I'd been once before on a trip to Vancouver just over a year ago, and at that time I had one of the best cinnamon buns I'd ever eaten. I also bought a selection of wonderful squares that were truly remarkable. This trip I was out of luck in the cinnamon bun category, but I did snag a couple of great squares: Crispy Crunch and Confetti with Butterscotch and Peanut Butter. My dad had the Swiss Oatmeal Cake. The squares were amazing, as I was anticipating, and my dad really enjoyed his slice of cake. Copper Eagle also does light lunches and has a nice selection of homemade breads, and my dad got a loaf of whole wheat & cheddar.

Our second food-related stop was one of my favourite places ever and the baking mecca of the Okanagan: the Rogers flour mill. I can't tell you how much I love this place. Not only can you get large quantities of freshly milled flour and grains of all sorts, it is bulk bin heaven! You name it, they have it in bulk. And their spices are so fresh and fabulous. I got 10kg freshly ground bread flour for $7.99, some local honey, and some Hungarian paprika and Cajun seasoning. The staff at the mill store are very helpful and knowledgeable and the store is clean, organized, and very well-maintained. I can never just go in for a minute to pick up a bag of flour; I have to look around at everything and I always wind up buying stuff other than what I intended to. But it's OK.

Next foodie stop: the Village Cheese Co. in Armstrong. My dad wanted to have lunch here at the small cafe attached to the cheese factory. Armstrong is rather famous for its cheese, and the Village Cheese is good cheese, but pricey. I bought a 140g package of Monterey with Mediterranean flavours for $3.50. They have every flavour of cheddar cheese you can possibly imagine, and it's all made right on site. The cafe is also part kitchen shop and it's filled with all kinds of gadgets. In addition to light lunches and snacks, they also serve ice cream. I'd eaten here before when I used to live in the area, and it was OK. My dad, however, had a great experience at the cafe once, and he was hell bent on having lunch there, even though nothing on the small menu really turned my crank. So, what I wound up with was this:
This a ham & cheese "sandwich" and "clam chowder." The sandwich, was well, half of a hot dog bun with a slice of ham on it and some cheese. The chowder was watery, didn't contain many clams or potatoes, wasn't very creamy, and was basically very pathetic. I hate it when I shell out money for a meal and I come away hungry! My dad had an ice cream for dessert, but I was ticked off and not in the mood. I would have been much happier finding a Quizno's in Vernon and having a Toasty Torpedo. So, if you ever stop by Armstrong, yes, visit the cheese factory, get some gourmet cheese, have a snack and browse around, but I don't recommend the lunches.

After 8 hours on the road, Dad and I arrived in Kamloops at the lovely home of my dear friend S and her husband M. They have a tradition of having spaghetti & meatballs on Friday night, and that's exactly what we had. They loved the cookies, BTW. In fact, S's mother-in-law, when presented one for dessert, said, "Are these THE cookies?" They have managed to impress a few people, I guess, and that tickled me.

All this blogging is exhausting me! I have many more foodie things to share, but you'll have to wait until I catch my breath!