What We’re Lovin’ for February

What We're Lovin with Canola Eat Well | www.canolaeatwell.com

What Ellen’s Lovin’

I love to read month.

It’s not just for kids but adults too.  As a family, we are reading Harry Potter.

What’s on your 2016 reading list?

And it’s almost Agriculture Literacy Week! Yes, agriculture has a literacy week where schools can join Agriculture in the Classroom across Canada and learn more about where their food comes from, check out www.aitc.canada.com

What Jenn’s Lovin’

Reading for Personal Growth.

This winter you’ll find two books following me around the house and around town. I often pack a book in my bag when I leave the house. You never know when you’ll find 5 minutes while waiting for an appointment or sitting in the car waiting at various drop off/pick up locations with the kids. Typically we pull out our phones and “check-in” with email and social accounts. I have found this to be a great opportunity to read and re-read snippets from books. Yes, real paper books.

Choose the Life You Want, Tal Ben-Shahar, PHD – Based on the science of happiness this book is 100 short chapters that get you thinking about your life and how you choose to live it.

Daring Greatly, Rene Brown, Ph.D., LMSW – Challenges your perspective on vulnerability and what it means to open yourself up to it. Just as the title, it’s about Daring Greatly.

What Simone’s Lovin’

Canadian winters that allow for long, slow cooking of meals.

Yes, I use my slow cookers – I own three (3), FYI – but more importantly, the recipes that allow for many hours in the oven and flavours and scents that permeate the house.

When I first read Ruth Reichl’s My Kitchen Year: 136 Recipes that Saved My Life, there were a number of recipes that intrigued me. So last weekend, I tried the first one:  Cochinita Pibil or Spice-Rubbed Pork Cooked in Banana Leaves.  The house smelled wonderful, and the comments on the dish were all positive.

And this is what I learnt.

  • One package of frozen banana leaves costs about $1.49 in the Asian grocers;
  • One package of frozen banana leaves will allow me to cook this recipe three times;
  • Achiote seed is not readily available in Alberta;
  • One teaspoon achiote seed may be substituted with .5 tsp turmeric and .5 tsp sweet paprika;
  • Gourmands enjoy grinding seeds – coriander, cumin, peppercorn, cinnamon sticks, since they provide a more intense flavour then the commercially powdered spices; and,
  • No matter how often the recipes recommend olive oil, canola will work as well, if not more so, since it has a higher smoke point and does not compete with the flavours of the spices.

Be Well…Ellen, Jenn & Simone

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