T&T Supermarket Trip

10-Minute Miso Soup
Adapted from Steamy Kitchen

4 cups water
1 1/2 teaspoons instant dashi granules
1/2 cup miso paste
1 tablespoon dried seaweed (soaked in water)
1/2 cup cubed tofu
2 tablespoons chopped green onion

In a large saucepan set over high heat, add the water and bring to a boil. Add the dashi granules and stir or whisk until the granules are dissolved.

Turn the heat down to medium-low. Drain the seaweed from the water and add to the pot along with the tofu. Allow the soup to simmer for 2 minutes.

While the soup is simmering, place the miso paste in a medium bowl.  Add 1/2 cup of the hot soup broth into the bowl and whisk to mix and dissolve the miso paste until smooth.

Turn the heat off, add the miso paste to the pot whiling stirring. Ladle the soup into bowls, top with chopped onions, and serve. This recipe will serve 4 people.

The Great Food Revolution

Hello Junior Chefs,

Hope you enjoyed watching The Great Food Revolution. If you want to view more videos about the food that you eat, check out the CBC Documentaries website. Here is the recipe for this week!

Hamburger Soup
Recipe adapted from The Best of Bridge: Royal Treats for Entertaining. 

1 ½ lbs. Ground beef
1 medium onion (finely chopped)
1 28oz can tomatoes
2 cups water
3 cans (10oz = 1 can) consommé
1 can (10oz = 1 can) tomato soup
4 carrots (finely chopped)
1 bay leaf
3 sticks celery (finely chopped)
½ tsp parsley
½ tsp thyme
pepper to taste
8 tbsp barley*

Start by browning the meat and onions in a large stockpot. To brown the meat and onions, you want to first pat the meat with paper towels to remove any excess moisture. Set the pot over medium-high heat. To test if the pan is ready to use, sprinkle some droplets of water over the pot, if it sizzles and evaporates, it's ready. Add the beef to the pot, stir and break it into pieces with a wooden spoon so that it cooks evenly. It's ready when the beef is brown and you don't see anymore pink. When finished, drain the oil.

Add the rest of the ingredients and simmer with the lid on for at least two hours. The longer you simmer, the more flavourful the soup will become. This recipe will serve 10 people.

*If you're going to be eating this over the course of a few days or freezing the soup, to prevent the barley from overcooking, you can precook the barley and then add it to the soup when you're ready to eat.

Anyone Can Cook Ratatouille

Hello Junior Chefs! Hope you enjoyed Ratatouille Night last week! We used a simple recipe to cater to time constraints. If you are interested in making the exact replica from the movie, here is a link to that recipe.

Ratatouille
Recipe adapted from Tartelette.
 
olive oil
1 medium onion (medium dice)
1 eggplant (peel every other strip and large dice)
4 zucchinis (peel every other strip and large dice)
1 red bell pepper (cut into strips)
1 orange bell pepper (cut into strips)
1 green bell pepper (cut into strips)
4 tomatoes (large dice)
1 can (14oz good quality tomatoes
5 garlic cloves (minced or whole)
Herbes de Provence (mix 1/4 tsp each of thyme, parsley, oregano, lavender, all spice and basil together)
salt and pepper

In a large saute pan set over medium, drizzle 1 tsp of olive oil and heat until oil shimmers. Add the onions and cook until translucent. Add the eggplant and cook until the eggplant is golden. Add a bit more oil (1/4 - 1/2 tsp) along with the zucchini, bell peppers, tomatoes (diced and canned), garlic, and herbs. Add a pinch each of salt and pepper. Be careful about adding more salt since you are going to be letting this stew and it will continue to evaporate and the flavours will concentrate even more. There won't be any room to stir, so just cover and cook for 15 minutes. 

After 15 minutes, open the lid and stir the ingredients. Reduce heat to med-low, replace lid and simmer for at least an hour. Thirty minutes before serving, remove lid and reduce heat to low. Cook until most of the liquid has evaporated, about 30 minutes. 

Serve ratatouille by itself, or over pasta/rice/cous cous. Makes enough for 6 if serving Ratatouille by itself.

Dear Picky Eaters,

Is this you?

If you're interested in why you don't like things such as vegetables, this might be the reason: The Science of Picky Eaters.

Supermarket Shopping Tips

Hello Junior Chefs! Hope you enjoyed the field trip at Safeway yesterday. Here are some helpful tips to guide you through the supermarket!

1. Stick to the perimeter of the store: This is where the least-processed and  most healthy foods are located.
2. Buy in-season: This is when fresh fruits and vegetables are best tasting, and least expensive. The next best options are canned and frozen because the fruits and veggies will have been preserved at the height of their freshness. An added bonus is that will will also have a longer shelf life.
3. Buy in bulk: Buying in bulk allows you to save money on things such as packaging and marketing.
4. Bring a grocery list: This is so that you don't deviate and overspend on your budget.
5. Eat before shopping: When you're hungry, you're more likely to grab anything that tempts you.
6. Buy generic: Brand name companies pay a lot of money to the grocery stores to have their products located where it's most visible for the customers. You have to put more effort to get the healthy or generic items because those items are typically located at the top, and at the very bottom of the shelf.  When possible, buy generic. It's cheaper and usually tastes the same.
7. Coupons and Flyers: Use them! The savings are even more obvious when you use coupons on sale items.
8. Ethnic ingredients: More readily available because of demand from new groups of customers, but also more expensive than going to an ethnic supermarket.

Rice Krispie Bars

 We added dried apricots, cranberries, and sunflower seeds!

Fun ideas: Have fun and go wild with the add-ins! Add dried fruit! You can even chop up your favourite candy bar and add it to the mix!

Equipment Needed:

1 large bowl
1 medium saucepan
1-cup and ¼-cup measuring cups
¼-tsp, ½-tsp, and 1-tbsp measuring spoons
1 wooden spoon
1 potato masher (greased or sprayed with baking spray)
1 8-inch square baking pan (covered in foil and greased)

Ingredients Needed:

3 tbsp unsalted butter (can substitute margarine)
1 bag (10 oz = 283g) white marshmallows
½ tsp vanilla extract
¼ tsp salt
5 cups Rice Krispies cereal (can use any brand of crispy rice cereal)

Variations:

½ cup dried cranberries + ¼ cup sunflower seeds
½ cup dried cranberries + ¼ cup sunflower seeds + ¼ cup white chocolate chips
½ cup raisins + ½ cup salted and roasted peanuts
½ cup broken pretzels + ½ cup M&M chocolates
½ cup dried apricots, chopped + ½ cup almonds
½ cup broken pretzels + ½ cup salted and roasted peanuts + ½ cup chocolate chips + ½ cup SKOR (toffee) bits
1 ½ cups salted and roasted cashews + ½ cup KRAFT chewy caramels (15 pieces cut into quarters)

Instructions:

1. In a large bowl, mix together the cereal and variations that you might want.

2. Melt the butter in a saucepan over low heat. Add the marshmallows and stir constantly until melted and smooth; this can take 8 - 10 minutes. Remove the saucepan from the stove and stir in the vanilla extract and salt.

3. Add the marshmallow mixture to the cereal mixture and stir well until all the ingredients are covered and sticky.

4. Pour the mixture into a prepared baking pan. Firmly press the mixture with the potato masher until even.

5. Allow the mixture to cool for 5 – 10 minutes. Cut into bars and enjoy!

Makes 16 bars.

Hello Junior Chefs,

We made this website so that you can find and print recipes and make them in your own homes!

On the right hand side, there are links to other fun food blogs that might inspire you to get cooking.

Please feel free to leave comments of what you like, what you don't like, and any ideas you have that can make cooking more fun!

Happy trails!