Recently a  budget-conscious friend who is retired from her career advised us that food at the Great Canadian Superstore is 15% cheaper than at other stores.  We believed her.  It is true you cannot beat the overall cost savings at this big box store.  Although if you know your prices you can find sales at the other grocery chains that will match or beat Superstore prices.  So it does pay to compare.  Shopping at smaller chain stores such as Thrifty Foods is also a pleasure because there are carefully chosen product lines, high quality produce and meat and superb customer service.

While visiting Thrifty Foods recently I found three complimentary magazines full of nutrition and health advice.: Thrifty Foods Fresh, Melt by Tre Stelle cheeses and Alive. (Look for them by the cashiers, Customer Service desk and the exit.)  The recipes in these magazine are appealing and the photography makes the food look delicious.  Just this past Christmas we tried one of the sweeter suggestions in the Fresh magazine.  Our two year old toddler twins were able to take part in their first real cooking experience under their grandmother’s guidance.  (Tip: She melted the chocolate in advance and worked with one child at a time.)  

The clusters are decadent, yet not too high in calories and are delicious. At least that is what everyone who is trying them here in the Lower Mainland and on Vancouver Island are saying.  The recipe for these dark chocolate cashew fruit clusters is available online.  JUST in case the link disappears, here is the recipe:

Dark Chocolate Cashew Fruit Clusters

The chocolate needed to make these sweet treats is available in chunks in the Thrifty Foods bakery department.

Preparation time:  15 minutes

Cooking time:  A few minutes

Makes: 20 to 24 clusters

350 grams dark Belgian chocolate, coarsely chopped

1 cup unsalted, roasted cashews

1 cup dried cranberries

1/3 cup currants

Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.  Place the chocolate in a heatproof bowl and set over simmering water.  Stir and heat the chocolate until just melted.  Remove from the heat and mix in the cashews, cranberries and currants.  Drop heaping tablespoonfuls of the mixture on the baking sheet, ensuring they don’t touch. Refrigerate the clusters until set. Store in a tight-sealing container at cool room temperature. If stacking, be sure to layer the clusters between parchment paper.

Options:

Instead of dark chocolate, make these clusters with milk or white chocolate. In place of cashews, use whole almonds or pecan halves in the clusters. Try dried cherries instead of the dried cranberries.

Nutrition:

Per Serving: About 128 calories, 1.6g protein, 6.5g fat (2.8g saturated), 16.8g carbohydrate, 1.7g dietary fibre, 0mg cholesterol, 2mg sodium. %RDI: 1% calcium, 5% iron, 0% vit A, 0% vit C, 4% folate

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Related

Alive Magazine (Complimentary copies of Alive are also available at Whole Foods and Choices.)

Thrifty Foods

Tre Stelle online (325 recipes are available on their website.  They also have a Facebook page.)

We’d love to hear from you so don’t be shy! You can comment about this posting using the comment function below or visit us at our Facebook page.

At the end of a long week you might be looking to try something different as a treat for breakfast.  German Apple Pancakes are a tasty option that always turn out well.  If you do not have an apple on hand, you can use other fruit as well. (Strawberry pancakes are shown below.) These pancakes were traditionally made as a dessert, but are not difficult to make for breakfast.

The following recipe makes about 12 pancakes.  If you double the recipe, consider doubling the amount of fruit by only 50%.

Ingredients

1 cup All Purpose Flour (250 ml)

1/2 tsp Baking Soda (2 ml)

1/4 tsp salt (1 ml)

1 tsp baking powder (5 ml)

1 tsp plus 1/2 tsp cinnamon (5 ml)

1 egg

1 cup milk

2 tbsp. oil

1 tbsp. honey

1 apple (1 banana/pear or strawberries if you prefer)

Butter or margarine for frying

The recipe was developed using a recipe presented in the St. Maur International School Millennium cookbook.

Do you have any information about food that you would like to share? Have you been reading about nutrition advice for families? Do you have favourite recipes that your family loves? We would love to hear about your news. Send us your piece to bcfamily [at] bcfamily.ca . We will publish your contribution in its entirety under your name. If you have your own website that you would like to promote, please provide us with the information at the bottom of your piece along with a few lines describing yourself and your interests.

Flus and colds can bother your children at any time of the year.  During this damp and rainy spring, you might find your little one has come down with symptoms that have knocked out her appetite significantly.  Before you reach for the chicken noodle soup at the grocery store, here’s a recipe for an easy vegetable and chicken broth that young children treat as if it’s liquid gold.  It provides liquid and nutrition that help to reassure you that something nutritious is helping your child.

Utensils

Do you have a large stock pot?  Preferably a pot that’s about 50% larger than a Dutch oven. If not you can use a smaller pot, but you should adjust your ingredients accordingly

Ingredients

1 large chicken breast (Bone in and skinned.  Place your thumb under the skin and start ripping.  The skin will come off easily.  Preferably the chicken should be organically grown, or from a good quality meat supply company)

1 small piece of ginger (Skin removed with a potato peeler and  cut to be the size of two dice)

Water (Enough to fill your pot 3/4 full)

1 large Kobacha squash (Skin on and sliced into triangles.  Be careful making the first cut.)

4 large carrots (Peeled and sliced in quarters)

2 stalks celery (Sliced into quarters)

1/2 red pepper (sliced into chunks)

1 cob of corn (Husk off and cut into thirds)

Sea salt, pepper and dried basil (Added according to your taste)

Instructions

Fill your pot 3/4 full of water.  Bring to a boil.

Add in the skinless chicken and the piece of ginger.  Boil for half an hour.

Add in your vegetables, salt and pepper. Bring water back to a boil and then simmer, cover 3/4 on, at medium low heat  for 1 1/2 hours.

During the last 30 minutes add dried basil or italian seasoning.  This step can be skipped.

When your soup has finished, remove your chicken meat and vegetables and strain the soup through a sieve with fairly large holes.  You want to catch any chunks of vegetables that haven’t yet been removed, but want smaller vegetable and meat fiber to go through to the broth.

Later on the chicken can be pulsed in a food processor with some of the vegetables and added to chopped noodles or rice for your child once his appetite returns.

Serve the soup at warm temperature. (Test to make sure it is not too hot.) Extra soup may be freezed for future use over the course of the next few days.

If you think you will need a fair amount of soup over the next few days, consider making a double batch of soup.

This recipe is as easy as it sounds and your child will love it!

Related

If you like soup recipes, check out the attractively illustrated Blue Moon Soup. Not only does it have a good selection of different types of soups for all occasions, but it is a show piece featuring the illustrations of the talented Jane Dyer.

Do you have any information about food that you would like to share? Have you been reading about nutrition advice for families? Do you have favourite recipes that your family loves? We would love to hear about your news. Send us your piece to bcfamily [at] bcfamily.ca . We will publish your contribution in its entirety under your name. If you have your own website that you would like to promote, please provide us with the information at the bottom of your piece along with a few lines describing yourself and your interests.

The following photos show the results achieved by following a recipe for hamburger cookies.  When you first see the first photo you might think they are plastic toys from a Fisher Price kitchen.  They’re that cute!  Clearly this recipe is a winner.  ….and who doesn’t York Peppermints?    Apparently they’re so easy to make, an elementary child can make them on her own.

Thanks to Stacy W. for sharing these photos.

Recipe

Hamburger Cookie Recipe (on Allrecipe.com)

- use a tube of red icing for the ketchup and yellow icing for the mustard

Do you have any information about food that you would like to share? Have you been reading about nutrition advice for families? Do you have favourite recipes that your family loves? We would love to hear about your news. Send us your piece to bcfamily [at] bcfamily.ca . We will publish your contribution in its entirety under your name. If you have your own website that you would like to promote, please provide us with the information at the bottom of your piece along with a few lines describing yourself and your interests.

At a recent community dinner put on by Whole Foods Market a recipe for French Toast, using Terra Breads Cherry Panettone, was shared. The French Toast was delicious! If you’re buying panettone bread this Christmas, check out a Terra Breads bakery or outlet and put this recipe to the test. You won’t be disappointed.

Chocolate Cherry Panettone French toast

Ingredients:

1 large egg

3/4 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp salt

1 tbsp granulated sugar

4 slices Terra Chocolate Cherry Panettone

8 tsp unsalted butter

***

In a small bowl, whisk together a batter of egg, milk, vanilla extract, salt & sugar. Transfer batter to a pie plate.

Heat two 10″ – 12″ skillets over medium heat.

Soak the Terra Chocolate Cherry Panettone slices in batter, about 15 seconds per side. Allow excess batter to drip off.

When hot, swirl 2 tsp of butter in each skillet, then place one slice of soaked Panettone in each. Cook until golden brown, about 1 – 1 & 1/2 minutes on each side.

Repeat with remaining slices. Serve warm and finish with your favourite toppings.

Related:

Terra Bread – Baked Fresh

An adorable customer at Terra Breads

What do you think about this topic? Let us know by leaving a comment below. We’d love to hear from you!

Do you have any information about food that you would like to share? Have you been reading about nutrition advice for families? Do you have favourite recipes that your family loves? We would love to hear from you. Contact us at bcfamily [at] bcfamily.ca . We will publish your contribution in its entirety under your name. If you have your own website that you would like to promote, please provide us with the information at the bottom of your piece along with a few lines describing yourself and your interests.

A trip to Greece provides the perfect opportunity to analyze the famous Mediterranean diet in situ  while eating fresh, locally sourced ingredients.  It is a pleasure to see communities cooking meals without “big box” Superstore grocery stores nearby.

On islands such as Naxos you will come across small local stores with dried herbs available for sale in baskets.  What a refreshing change from the bottled presentation in your local Safeway! In many ways this Greek food tradition is similar to the marketplace spice sellers you find in countries such as Barbados.

In contrast to the food traditions of Greece, a visit to a suburban, North American grocery store yields an array of tightly shrink wrapped and bottled up items in amongst vegetables and fruits imported from far flung corners of the world.  When you consider the alternatives, such as those seen in small communities in Greece, you just might feel a renewed sense of urgency to investigate the slow foods movement and local food production options.

If farmers markets, the slow food movement and other urban farming concepts are new to you, watch out for articles and stories on these topics while reading your local newspapers and magazines, reading local internet sites, or watching local TV shows.  Through the avenue of food, you and your family can find exciting new ways to connect with your local community.  Just think – you don’t have to go all the way to Greece to eat a healthy, Mediterranean style diet.

We’d love to hear your thoughts about these topics in our comment section below.

Related:

Slow Food Vancouver

City Farmer Vancouver

Vancouver Farmers Markets

Classic Turkish Cookery - a gorgeous book about Turkish cuisine

A selection of Greek food weblogs

If you haven’t opened a Culinaria book yet, you are missing out.  This series presents a combination of information about the local culture in each region, and focusses on the food and wine available.  The concept is a wonderful combination of a cookbook and a travel guide.  If you like Greek cuisine check out Culinaria Greece .

Souvlaki for the Soul (A Times Online Top 50 Food blog site)

The Mediterranean Vegan Cookbook

If you like Asian cuisine, you might want to check out the Mediterrasian diet.

What do you think about this topic? Let us know by leaving a comment below. We’d love to hear from you!

Do you have any information about food that you would like to share? Have you been reading about nutrition advice for families? Do you have favourite recipes that your family loves? We would love to hear about your news. Send us your piece to bcfamily [at] bcfamily.ca . We will publish your contribution in its entirety under your name. If you have your own website that you would like to promote, please provide us with the information at the bottom of your piece along with a few lines describing yourself and your interests.

If you are Italian or of Italian origin you will know that today is St. Joseph’s day. Amongst other things, St. Joseph is the patron saint of pastry chefs and the latter honour him in kind by producing zeppole sweets.

In Italy, Sicilians prepare a large banquet in honour of St. Joseph as they believe he answered their prayers for rain during a time of drought. The fava bean saved the Sicilians during the drought and is featured in the St. Joseph day feast. It is also the tradition to give food to those in need on St. Joseph’s day. Families that prepare a St. Joseph’s alter use flowers, limes, candles, wine, fava beans, zeppole pastries, cakes and cookies. The three tiered alter is meant to represent the trinity.

If you live near an Italian bakery or near a type of Little Italy in your area, this weekend is the time to try out the zeppoles.

See related:

St. Joseph’s day photos on Flickr

Article:  Zeppole recipe

Do you have any information about food that you would like to share? Have you been reading about nutrition advice for families? Do you have favourite recipes that your family loves? We would love to hear about your news. Send us your piece to bcfamily [at] bcfamily.ca . We will publish your contribution in its entirety under your name. If you have your own website that you would like to promote, please provide us with the information at the bottom of your piece along with a few lines describing yourself and your interests.