1. Cut into bites or shred the chicken.  Use for salad over spinach or other greens.  Mix with your favorite veggies, dried fruit, nuts, and maybe a touch of cheese.  Sprinkle with vinegar & olive oil for a delicious lunch.
2. Shred the chicken then mix with salsa.  Serve in tortillas or over tostada shells with black beans, lettuce, cheddar cheese, guacamole, and of course, more salsa!  A little rice is a great touch too.
3. Alternatively use the chicken with salsa to make a quessadilla.
4. Cut the chicken into small cubes or chunks.  Make a fresh chicken salad with a little bit of mayo, celery, green onions – and to spice it up, add some curry powder & dried cranberries!  This is a favorite way of eating chicken for me.
5. Shred or cut the chicken and use on pizza.  It is much healthier than many sausages and with a bit of goat cheese and fresh tomatoes, it really cannot be beat.

There are few ideas to get you started!  If you have any, please share! 

Sorry to have been so scarce, but I am currently on vacation in Hawaii with family. Hard to beat Hawaii, even when it rains! On our first night here with everyone we made a run to the grocery store for dinner supplies. Steaks & chicken were on the menu for most, but I took a whirl down the veggie patty aisle and discovered Hawaii Taro Burgers – made in Maui. I figured, when in Hawaii, try Hawaiian veggie patties!

For dinner that night I put the patty in the oven while the steaks broiled, then Brad finished it under the broiler. I had it plain with an Okinawan Purple Sweet Potato (ahh, a post in and of itself!) and a big salad. Yesterday for lunch I heated a patty up on the stove top then ate it on whole wheat bread as a sandwich. Both options were equally good!

The ingredient list for these patties is amazing – entirely vegetables and spices. Check it out:

• Taro
• Luau Leaf
• Brown Rice
• Carrots
• Corn
• Onions
• Sunflower Seeds
• Oats
• Tomatoes
• Canola Oil
• Garlic,
• Sea Salt
• Natural Herbs & Spices

Currently it appears on their website that Bristol Farms and some Whole Foods carry these on the mainland. If you have access to either I would recommend checking them out!

Note: Brad asked me to add a reminder to all who were curious that just because these are in the shape of a burger, they don’t taste like beef.

Freezer Tricks

• Onions: whenever you chop onions for a recipe, simply put the extra chopped onion in a ziploc baggie and freeze them. When you need to use chopped onions next time, throw those frozen ones directly into the sauté pan or pot!
• Leeks: the same as with onions, I often freeze baggies full of extra chopped leeks.
• Ginger: Two tricks for ginger! First of all, when you buy a piece of ginger, put it in a baggie in the freezer right away (after you clean it of course!). When you need ginger for a recipe, you can grate it frozen much more easily than raw. Additionally the ginger will not go bad in the freezer! Secondly, when you need to peel ginger, use a spoon to drag along the ginger – it removes the skin quickly and easily.
• Egg Whites: sometimes you need a yolk, so what to do with the white? Freeze it! They defrost perfectly for meringues, cakes, etc.

So why should you take Juice Plus+? Well, not only does Juice Plus+ provide a vital nutritional support system to complement an individual’s diet, but:

People take Juice Plus+ because

• it contains fruit and vegetable juice powder concentrates in a capsule
• it is convenient
• it is inexpensive
• it is backed by clinical research

Juice Plus+ is NOT a

• cure all
• one week health strategy
• multivitamin
• energy pill
• weight-loss product
• substitute for a healthy diet

Although many people enjoy benefits such as greater energy and weight control as they adopt a healthier lifestyle that includes Juice Plus+.

But Juice Plus+ is

• simply a way to get the nutritional elements you need from fruits and vegetables in a convenient capsule form including:
• the Vitamin C of four oranges,
• the beta-carotene of three raw carrots
• more Vitamin E than several servings of spinach and broccoli
• as well as the other phytonutrient components found in the fruits and vegetables Juice Plus+ is made from.

This is how Method describes their company:

At Method we call ourselves “People Against Dirty.” And for us “dirty” doesn’t just mean the stuff that gets between the tiles in your floor. It means the toxic chemicals that make up many household products, it means polluting our land with non-recyclable materials, it means testing products on innocent animals… these things are dirty, and we’re against that.

What are we for? We’re for home-love. …

Our premium home care products are highly effective, safe, and packaged with respect for both you design sensibilities and the environment.

I used to be a chemical purist – Clorox and PineSol only. But then I discovered Method products. I love the light scents, I love that they work as well or better than other more chemical-full products, and I love that they make me want to clean more often.

I typically just buy them at Target (I *told* you they were affordable!) but I have also ordered from their website directly. I most recently received the omop from Method directly – and oh baby I fell in love all over again. The omop has a wonderful curved handle that makes pushing it around on your hard floor much easier. And the “good for wood” almond scented hard wood floor cleanser smells like I am rubbing lotion into my lovely floors. Oh yes, it will also make you want to clean.

Please check the shop, I’ve added several Method products I love and recommend without hesitation. Happy ecologically friendly cleaning.

On one of my many visits to this lovely stall I discovered this gem of a product – Truffle Salt. Until we discovered this fantastic salt, we would accent dishes with truffle oil as desired. But let’s face it, you don’t always WANT to add oil to a dish, but you probably DO want to have some truffle flavor. This product solves that problem perfectly! All the earthy, scented delight of truffles in an easy to use form factor that will not add fat to your dish.

I have been using this like crazy since I got it. I love it in salad dressings, on eggs, steak, potatoes, roasted vegetables. Actually I have yet to meet a dish I don’t enjoy truffle salt on. So go forth and truffle, you will thank me for it! Just try to use your opened jar within six months to ensure you really get the full flavor.

Amazon sells this lovely product, check it out: Casina Rossa Truffle & Salt 3.5 oz. Jar

And BTW – please don’t make fun of the crazy Canadian spelling – that wouldn’t be neighborly!

-Kathy

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Grilled Veggies

I have always been a huge fan of grilled veggies. They are so easy, so healthy and so versatile to cook with. My love of them though has become even greater as they have become the main focus in my cooking since my husband is completely vegetarian. It has always been a habit to chop up a head of romaine or some baby spinach with dinner as an every night side-dish but now I’ve had to become a little more creative in coming up with entrée’s that are tasty and filling but don’t come across as a pile of greens or limp vegetables on a plate. What is amazing is actually how easy this is to do!

I have 3-4 main vegetables that are staples in my fridge: zucchini, red peppers, eggplant and onions. Between these 4 easy little veggies and my beloved all-clad grill pan we can have an array of varied meals. I like to grill up a big batch on weekends, usually 2/3 peppers, 3/4 small zucchini, 1-2 Asian eggplants and a big old red onion or a small bag of shallots, which then provide the base for the upcoming weeks dishes. Having them pre-grilled not only brings out their flavours but also let’s me easily store them and throw something together quickly after work.

There are tons of easy dishes that can be made with little preparation using these base veggies (and of course many many others can be substituted and added). Some of the common dishes that are staples for us include:

• Goat Cheese Leek-Tart with layered vegetables – I particularly like red peppers against the goat cheese
• Mediterranean Pasta – sprinkle in a variety of finely chopped grilled veggies, a little spinach and/or artichoke and olives/capers with olive oil, garlic and feta – there are so many options in the pasta department; baked dishes which are great with grilled veggies, spaghetti with spinach, lemon & ricotta, penne with broccoli and pine nuts
• Vegetable Quiche/Souffled Omlettes – any form, crustless or with crust – mixed grilled vegetables or artichoke or spinach & feta
• Grilled Eggplant Lasagna with Goat-Cheese/Ricotta, tomato and black olives
• Indian Food – our favourite is a tikka masala with the staple veggies and tofu over basmati rice – but a spicy eggplant curry is also nice and easy
• Risotto – a staple in our house – ricotta with zucchini, goat cheese with any vegetables, 4-cheese risotto stuffed and baked in a pepper
• Burritos/Enchilada’s with mixed grilled veggies, black beans, corn, avocado, etc
• Veggie burgers (onion, mushroom, bean base) topped with grilled veggies
• Pizza – with any variety of grilled veggies. I also like to do a flat bread or puff pastry topped with some veggies as a pre-dinner snack
• Veggie Pad Thai with Tofu – also great to throw in broccoli & bok choy
• Soup – any type of pureed vegetable soup: broccoli, potato leek, tomato-red pepper, carrot-ginger, zucchini, butternut squash, etc
• Potato Rosti – topped with julienned grilled veggies
• Cheese Fondue with Grilled Vegetables – this is one of our favourites to entertain with. Without fail the cheese and veggies are always demolished.

Of course any of the above can be prepared non-vegetarian but still with a healthy dose of vegetables included. Any of these options with a good side salad or some sautéed spinach ensure that you can easily get your 5 servings of vegetables per day.

I have been taking Juice Plus+ for about ten years. I can’t speak highly enough about them! Recently I decided to become a distributor to help share the benefits of Juice Plus+ with my friends and family. I am extremely excited about this adventure and hope that if you have any questions you will pass them my way.

Even though Juice Plus+ looks just like a daily vitamin, it is not a vitamin supplement that picks and chooses a specific set of nutrients, but rather is a whole food based product providing the wide array of nutrients found in a variety of nutritious fruits, vegetables, and grains. Not only does Juice Plus+ contain a much wider variety of naturally occurring vitamins and minerals than vitamin and mineral supplements, but it also contains the phytochemicals, antioxidants, active enzymes, chlorophyll and other nutrients — even the fiber — found in the fresh, raw fruits and vegetables it’s made from.

Two core products make up the Juice Plus+ system: The Orchard Blend and The Garden Blend. They are made up of 17 different fruits, vegetables, and grains, and come in small capsules which are easy & convenient to take. The basic idea is to take two capsules each of the Orchard and Garden blends each day. The Orchard Blend is made up of apples, oranges, pineapple, cranberries, peaches, acerola cherries, and papaya. The Garden Blend contains ten nutrient-dense vegetables and grains: carrots, parsley, beets, kale, broccoli, cabbage, spinach, tomatoes, and barley and oat fibers. The capsules are even vegetarian!

Juice Plus+ is an easy way to supplement your daily food intake and increase your health naturally and easily. Please visit my Juice Plus+ website for further information, or feel free to contact me directly if you have questions.

Wednesday is one of my favorite days of the week now. Every Tuesday night I go to sleep in anticipation of what my weekly Organic Fruit & Vegetable box will hold. The best part of Wednesday is coming home and getting to check out all the fantastic produce of the week. As you can see – even Norway (my cat) gets excited!

I have mentioned the Organic CSA Box before, but I wanted to post a bit more detail about it and my thoughts now that we have been receiving it for several months. The bottom line is that *I LOVE IT!*

• I love that every week I receive vegetables I might not buy.
• I love that every week is an adventure as I discover new ways to prepare vegetables, new dishes to explore, and sample new flavors!
• I love that the quality of the produce we eat is so excellent that you simply want to eat more fruits and vegetables.
• I love that purchasing this box supports my local food network and family run farms.

I could keep going, but the bottom line is that by purchasing a CSA box you are supporting your own family’s health, and the community health. What could be better than that?

For more information on CSAs please refer to following links. They are truly available *everywhere*! My friend in Toronto has started receiving a box each week and even with the winter weather she gets amazing variety. I have researched and found farms that have weekly, monthly, or seasonal boxes for friends and family all over: Boston, San Antonio, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Toronto, Chicago, and more. Try it out – you will like it!

• Local Harvest: searchable site to find a CSA in your area
• Organic Consumers Assoc.: great site on all things Organic, this links to their CSA page, this site is full of amazing information!
• Biodynamics: tons of CSA information
• USDA information on CSAs

By joining the Go Red For Women movement, you become part of the fight against heart disease, the No. 1 killer of women in America. Your involvement can help save lives of mothers, sisters, aunts, daughters, grandmothers, best friends, and other women just like you!

Their goal is to 1,000,000 participants in the movement!