31 Recipes for March

Mon, 07 Mar 2011 10:33:17 -0500

Week 1 It's been pretty chilly here in Toronto, so I'm still making lots of hearty food. This Mediterranean barley and tofu salad is filling, but ]]>... Read the full story on Planet Green

28 Recipes to Get You Through February

Tue, 01 Feb 2011 11:11:31 -0500

February is the hardest month for me in terms of cooking and eating. I live in Toronto, so the possibility of local fresh vegetables is pretty limited. At this time of the year, my husband and I eat a lot of cabbage, JerusalemIn other words, lots of root vegetables with the occasional green. artichokes, carrots, potatoes and celeriac. It's not all difficult though. It's 5:00 pm and it is still quite light outside, a harbinger of the increased light to come. We are expecting a major snow storm here tonight, and no doubt many of you have already had a ton of snow this year, so here are some recipes to keep you warm and happy for the month. Read the full story on Planet Green

31 Recipes for January to Start the New Year

Mon, 03 Jan 2011 14:13:16 -0500

extra weight you need to take off from eating party foods, or extra money you need to pay for all the gifts you bought, you can manage a lot of this by carefully choosing what you cook and eat this month. The recipes here focus on healthy, nutritious food that won't cost you a lot of money. Even if you aren't on a diet, January is a good month to start thinking about portion size. Read the full story on Planet Green

Happy New Year Fortune Cookies

Sat, 01 Jan 2011 14:35:46 -0500

My son and his girlfriend started a tradition last year when they had a party on New Year's Day and showed episodes from the various and sundry Star Trek series. They let everyone know the time of day each series was showing, and guests could drop in according to the series they wanted to see. No doubt some people were there for the whole thing. Tomorrow the theme is Dr. Who and there is certainly plenty of material there for people to see. It seemed like a fun thing to do to provide a bowl full of fortune cookies, ]]>... Read the full story on Planet Green

Soup of the Week: Turkey Noodle

Fri, 31 Dec 2010 16:08:08 -0500

Soup of the Week. In fact, today is my last day for regular posts for Planet Green. Many thanks to the readers who have been following my columns over the years since I first wrote Why Cook? on Planet Green in 2007. It's been a lot of fun. I'll still be doing my monthly recipe round up and other occasional round ups. I'll be continuing to write for TreeHugger doing my daily Weekday Vegetarian column, and I hope you'll join me there. The stock for this turkey noodle soup was, of course, made with the carcass of the Christmas turk]]>... Read the full story on Planet Green

Snowed In? Time to Raid the Pantry

Wed, 29 Dec 2010 14:19:40 -0500

stocked pantry. You are much more likely to cook at home if you have the ingredients on hand. It also helps if you're inundated with snow, like much of the Eastern part of the U.S. and Canada is right now, and you can't get out to the grocery store. Now is the time to turn to the pantry and make a nutritious dinner without having to leave the house. I always have a variety of canned beans in my cupboard, as well as dried lentils and pasta. I also always have onions, carrots and celery in my refrigerator because I make a lot of Read the full story on Planet Green

Using up the Christmas Turkey: Turkey Melts

Mon, 27 Dec 2010 13:27:31 -0500

cranberry-ginger relish, you can have a sweeter version. My son's girlfriend gave me a number of different mustards and spicy condiments that she had made her herself, so I used some of those. I used Read the full story on Planet Green

Great Christmas Gifts: Williams Sonoma Cooking at Home and Weeknight Fresh and Fast

Tue, 21 Dec 2010 17:05:25 -0500

Williams-Sonoma, Weeknight Fast and Fresh by Kristine Kidd and Cooking at Home by Chuck Williams and Kristine Kidd. Cooking at Home is an excellent gift for a beginner cook, a child who has just left home or for someone who could just use a good reference guide. It's filled with recipes for classic dishes like osso bucco or crepes Suzette, often with a updated twist. The book covers all the cooking basics from stocking your kitchen, to knife techn]]>... Read the full story on Planet Green

Soup of the Week: West African Peanut Soup

Fri, 17 Dec 2010 12:02:24 -0500

North African, and I learned a lot about food in East Africa from my trip to Kenya last year, but food from West Africa is a bit unusual for me. I did make a soup a couple of years ago from Senegal which is similar to this soup, but it contained cilantro and coconut milk. The common ingredients are tomatoes and peanut butter. The sweet]]>... Read the full story on Planet Green

A Holiday Treat: Rugelach

Tue, 14 Dec 2010 08:46:51 -0500

cook and baker, but her schedule doesn't always allow her as much time in the kitchen as she would like. So when I made these for my husband's family Hanukkah party, I had to promise her that I would make them again this week when she arrives home for the Christmas break. Traditionally, these are baked with nuts and raisins in them, but you can find all kinds of different]]>... Read the full story on Planet Green

Exploring Street Food: Crispy Chicken Spring Rolls (Cha Gio)

Mon, 13 Dec 2010 13:33:15 -0500

spring rolls in my time, although I have yet to achieve the beautiful crispy exterior that you get in Chinese or Thai restaurants, and presumably from street vendors. They are still really delicious, but somehow that perfect crispness eludes me. I imagine it has to do with the heat of the oil and that I probably put my spring rolls in before the oil is hot enough. These Vietnamese spring rolls were made with rice paper wrappers, and I often use heavier wrappers for Chinese spring rolls, and they blister if the oil is too hot. It may just be a matter of experience, so I'll have to experiment with these a b]]>... Read the full story on Planet Green

Soup of the Week: Kale Brose

Fri, 03 Dec 2010 09:34:47 -0500

oatmeal? I was curious, then absolutely flabbergasted by how delicious this very simple soup is. To the dismay of some of the members of my book club, we had just determined that our next meeting would be around Robbie Burns day and we would have Scottish cuisine. Agreeing that we wouldn't make haggis or deep fried Mars bars, those of us in the group who are of Scottish heritage are going to try to convince the naysayers that traditional Scottish food is quite wonderful. Hence the brose. Brose is in fact, oatmeal which is poured into a bowl of boiling water, covered and allowed to "steep" as it wer]]>... Read the full story on Planet Green

31 Delicious Recipes for December

Wed, 01 Dec 2010 15:37:26 -0500

10 Tips for Efficient Baking. Here some ideas for some last minute crafts to make, and some ideas about passing on some of your family treasures as Christmas gifts.]]>... Read the full story on Planet Green

A Comforting Baked Pasta on a Dreary Day

Wed, 01 Dec 2010 07:26:00 -0500

travelling south to warmer climes for their vacation. I don't mind winter at all and I actually like the cold better than too much heat. I prefer a crisp bright winter day to 100F in the summer. I do find the grey wetness of November pretty dreary, however. That's when I start to look at recipes that make you feel better, like braises, stews and casseroles. This baked chicken and spinach pasta is exactly something my mother would love, and I bet most kids would ]]>... Read the full story on Planet Green

Exploring Street Food: Harira

Fri, 26 Nov 2010 16:36:10 -0500

kitchens on their bikes or set up unique ways to serve their customers, in Toronto you can get a sausage or a hot dog and a soft drink from a cart and that's pretty much it. Street food is usually quick to cook and extremely flavourful which is always a plus in my kitchen. As regular readers know, I am a huge advocate of eating local, seasonal food. The one t]]>... Read the full story on Planet Green

An Alternative to Roast Turkey: Turkey Scallopini

Thu, 25 Nov 2010 12:53:04 -0500

Thanksgiving with family or friends, but would like to have some turkey. Nobody is going to buy a big bird for two or four people, but there are some things you can do. You can buy a turkey parts and have a deconstructed turkey dinner, or you can make turkey scallopini. This is my husband's favourite dinner. I don't make it often, because the scallopini is sauteed in butter, but the lean turkey itself is good for you and much bette]]>... Read the full story on Planet Green

Quick and Easy: Moroccan Spinach and Chickpeas

Wed, 24 Nov 2010 09:31:10 -0500

Bombay aloo, and they went together very nicely. Spinach and chickpeas make a great combination, and this had a light, bright flavour. I'm eating the leftovers for breakfast as I write this. I have to admit that I cheated a bit with this recipe. I didn't have any bread, which is unusual for me, so I ended up using bread crumbs instead. I don't know how much it changed the texture of the dish, but it certainly appealed to the lazy dishwasher in me, skipping the the step requiring the use of the food processor. I ]]>... Read the full story on Planet Green

One Pot Meals: Poached Chicken with Lardons and Lentils

Tue, 23 Nov 2010 15:18:33 -0500

Thanksgiving recipes for TreeHugger I had a bunch of evening meals out and I felt like it had been a long time since I'd had a simple homey dinner. This recipe appealed to me, not just because I had everything on hand needed to make it, but that I could put the whole thing in one pot and then just relax and sit down and have a drink before dinner while reading. I used chicken breasts, but legs would also be very good in this recipe. This recipe is from Nigella Lawson's new cookbook Kitchen: Recipes from the Heart of the Home, which I got via ... Read the full story on Planet Green

Soup of the Week: Vegetable, Beans and Pasta

Fri, 19 Nov 2010 11:13:50 -0500

chicken stock which really made all the difference in this comforting bowl. It would also be wonderful with a good strong vegetable stock. I started making this soup at 11:30 and it was ready to eat by noon. Of course, you can add other vegetables if you have them, but I liked the almost purity of flavours in this soup. I made a fairly large pot of it and it just got better the next day. If you like you can add a bit of grated Parmesan cheese over]]>... Read the full story on Planet Green

A Quick Mid-Week Curry

Mon, 15 Nov 2010 15:04:54 -0500

Thanksgiving recipes and dinner parties and so it was wonderful to make this quick and very easy chicken for a mid-week dinner that was totally different from the recipes I had been reading. No fuss with this recipe, just get it cooking and then go do something else until the chicken is done. I served it over basmati rice and added some pan fried Brussels sprouts that just took a couple of minutes to cook. All in all, dinner was on the table in 30 minutes. My husband prefers white meat chicken, so I bought breasts and cut them up, but it would certainly be delicious with thighs and le]]>... Read the full story on Planet Green

Soup of the Week: Kale and Potato

Fri, 05 Nov 2010 13:52:11 -0500

The Royal Argricultural Winter Fair in Toronto, which is one of my favourite things to do in Toronto. While there are lots of activities aimed at families, it is first and foremost a working fair where farmers bring their livestock and produce for prizes and for sale. It is a fantastic place to learn about food production and distribution. It's also a fantastic place to eat. I always took my kids and we would just wander around and graze, having a little turkey sandwich, some deep fried mushrooms, some beans, and washing it all down with some fresh, ice cold milk. Maple sugar candies would always be a feature as well, and we would take maple fudge home for my mother. My kids always loved the Read the full story on Planet Green

30 Recipes for November: Thanksgiving and More

Wed, 03 Nov 2010 14:46:20 -0500

green Thanksgiving, as well as a safe one. If you are planning on turkey for the centre piece of the meal, now is the time to order it. This]]>... Read the full story on Planet Green

An Easy and Delicious Pork Stir-Fry

Mon, 01 Nov 2010 08:03:19 -0500

lentils and kale and make him a Chinese meal. I usually turn to Fuchsia Dunlop and find something spicy and delicious, better than anything you can get for Chinese take-out. This is a very simple stir-fry and, like most Chinese dishes, comes together very quickly once you have all of the ingredient]]>... Read the full story on Planet Green

Soup of the Week: Cauliflower and Cheese Soup

Fri, 29 Oct 2010 11:03:27 -0500

Nigel Slater's book Tender and he has a whole section on cauliflower. I made a fantastic cauliflower with salsa verde out of it and made soup with the rest. I didn't have any creme fraiche, so I just used a bit of tangy yogurt, which isn't the same taste at all, but will do in a pinch. I used cheddar cheese, because it is somet]]>... Read the full story on Planet Green

Preserving the Harvest: Water Cured Green Olives

Wed, 27 Oct 2010 16:36:01 -0500

can their own tomatoes, cure their own meats and yes, cure their own olives. Watching people checking over those boxes of California olives in the grocery store, I was overcome with olive envy and decided then and there that I had to have one of them. Then I had to clear it with my g]]>... Read the full story on Planet Green

Preserving the Harvest: How to Use Marinated Artichokes

Thu, 21 Oct 2010 09:16:31 -0500

quince jelly is indeed delicious on toast, it is also fabulous in a salad dressing or as a glaze on a fruit tart. The pumpkin bread recipe I shared with you last week was made with the pumpkin butter I have sitting in my refrigerator.Today I'll share a recipe for using ... Read the full story on Planet Green

Preserving the Harvest: Marinated Artichokes

Wed, 20 Oct 2010 13:35:23 -0500

artichokes daunting. In all honesty, I can see why, given that each artichoke comes with it's own little set of armour. Once you get the hang of them, they really aren't difficult to use at all and they are so much better than canned. It is a bit disconcerting to see how much of the hard outer part is discarded, but then you get to that lovely light green interior and all is well. I'm quite partial to marinated artichokes, but commercial products are very heavy in oil, and they have a tendency to be over-cooked. This recipe for marinated artichokes sounded so appealing to me, I had to try it. Be aware that when you clean the number of artichokes used for this recipe your fingertips, and]]>... Read the full story on Planet Green

A Take-out Treat at Made at Home: Steamed Pork Buns

Tue, 19 Oct 2010 09:30:38 -0500

steamed pork buns with Planet Green readers. Since then I have discovered the wonderful cookbooks of Fuchsia Dunlop. She has a rather different recipe for pork buns, and seeing as it is one of my husband's favourite treats, I decided to give it a try. The results were quite different from the pork buns I have made in the past. Dunlop's pork buns were firmer, both to handle and to eat. The others I had made had a much softer dough and were much chewier in texture than Dunlop's. The first recipe involved cutting up the pork and marinating it for hours, while Dunlop's used ground pork t]]>... Read the full story on Planet Green

Preserving the Harvest: A Delicious Use for Pumpkin Butter

Mon, 18 Oct 2010 09:03:00 -0500

Preserving the Harvest you might wonder what you actually do with that preserve, other than marvelling at your ability to make it. I think perhaps the pumpkin butter might be one of those things. My daughter phoned me to tell me how much she loved the pumpkin butter on toast for breakfast, but that wasn't my real reason for making it. My grandmother was an indifferent cook. She didn't particularly like doing it, nor did she find any satisfaction from baking. She did, however, make the best pumpkin bread I've ever tasted. I wish I knew what ]]>... Read the full story on Planet Green

Soup of the Week: Chinese Noodle Soup

Fri, 15 Oct 2010 17:16:54 -0500

pumpkin soup for lunch today with all of the extra pumpkin I bought earlier in the week, when my husband reminded me that he had a lunch meeting. All of the sudden chopping and cooking pumpkin seemed way too much like work. I decided to leave the pumpkin for another day and make something much faster and easier, while cleaning my refrigerator out a bit too. There is nothing faster than making some noodle soup with a few vegetables tossed into the broth. It's so much better for you than packaged Read the full story on Planet Green

A Harvest Meal: Pumpkin and Apple Fry Up

Wed, 13 Oct 2010 09:59:44 -0500

pumpkin butter, apple-onion chutney and cranberry-ginger relish. I carefully wrote out the amounts of ingredients I needed and I still got it wrong. I needed 11 pounds of apples, 8 pounds of pumpkins and 1 package of fresh cranberries. I ended up with about 16 pounds of apples, 12 pounds of pumpkins, 3 packages of cranberries and a basket of pears that I didn't need at all. The upside o]]>... Read the full story on Planet Green

Preserving the Harvest: Apple-Onion Chutney

Tue, 12 Oct 2010 18:02:56 -0500

baskets of apples and this week I'll be cooking with apples and pumpkins and making apple preserves. I made lots of chutney last year, but I got caught up with other things this season, looking for new recipes to try. I missed making the ... Read the full story on Planet Green

Soup of the Week: Broccoli Cheddar

Fri, 08 Oct 2010 09:23:08 -0500

Cheddar cheese sauce. Well, maybe. It's a great flavour combination and it works really well with soup. This is a very quick and simple soup that you can have on the table when your kids get home for lunch. If they eat lunch at school, send it along in a thermos with a sweet potato biscuit or a half of a chickpea salad sandwich and some fruit for dessert. I don't have kids at home anymore, but my husband and I enjoyed this for a light lunch. I ac]]>... Read the full story on Planet Green

Preserving the Harvest: Cranberry-Ginger Relish

Fri, 08 Oct 2010 09:12:18 -0500

turkey that was not accompanied by copious amounts of gravy. When I later told my mother about the dinner, she had a sharp intake of breath and then whispered "how did you manage to eat it?". Actually the same goes for roast beef, my in-laws favoured horseradish and my parents favoured, of course, gravy. But I digress. Personally, I would still take gravy over cranberry sauce any day, but we all learn to make compromises in married life. Having said that, I made this really delicious Cranberry-G]]>... Read the full story on Planet Green

Preserving the Harvest: Pumpkin Butter

Thu, 07 Oct 2010 11:01:01 -0500

The Art of Preserving. We've been impatiently waiting for pumpkin season so we could make the spiced pumpkin butter. I've never made a fruit butter before, so this was a new experience for me. Of course, the classic is apple butter, but this pumpkin version just sounded so appealing to me. The whole house was filled with the most wonderful aroma while it was cooking. You could use this on toast or muffins, or you could use it in a pie. I'm going to ]]>... Read the full story on Planet Green

Recent Posts By Planet Green's Kelly Rossiter