Good Things Come in Small Packages

February 6, 2015March 12, 2015 / Kake2Kale | Culinary Travel Adventures

People love eating me all around the world. I am like a warm, cozy blanket for your taste buds and tummy. You can fill me with all sorts of goodies, meat, and veggies. What am I? No, I am not a calzone. Go smaller and Asian….you got it – Dumplings! Kale and I can eat them every day if we could. We aren’t sure if it’s in our blood, but there is just something in those small puffy pillows of savoury meat and veggies that calls to us. A few years ago, Kale and I took a dumpling making class and loved it. Ironically, it was taught by a very knowledgeable non-Asian guy. Making dumplings at home is ideally a social activity; therefore, Kale and I took off to the Granville Island Public Market to shop for the ingredients, then headed back to her place to make them.

But before we dove into making the dumplings, we fortified ourselves with a late breakfast of tea and scones. It felt like we had stepped back in time to when we were kids playing with our tea sets. Although now, we drank fragrant lavender rooibos tea and nibbled on blueberry-lemon-oat scones using Kale’s sophisticated fine china.

Superfoods in our dumplings:
Turkey – This meat is lean, high in protein and has a good amount of iron, phosphorous, zinc , potassium and vitamin B’s. We selected the free-run and non-medicated turkey.
Prawns – Good protein with Omega-3’s, B vitamins, and is also high in iron, as well as zinc, selenium, copper, magnesium and phosphorous.
Shitake mushrooms – Has a particularly high amount of copper, which may be beneficial to heart health. These mushrooms are also high in B vitamins and selenium. It contains lentinan which has anti-fungal properties and can also protect against cancer.
Chives – A good source of vitamin K which is important for the production of osteocalcin, a bone protein.
Ginger – An anti-inflammatory and is full of antioxidants to support its antibacterial, antiviral, and anti-parasitic properties.

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I Want to Be a Spice Girl

January 23, 2015March 12, 2015 / Kake2Kale | Culinary Travel Adventures

I don’t really do resolutions anymore, because I realize something about myself (which is probably true of a lot of people) and that is – I have no trouble starting something, but sticking with it is a whole other matter. This doesn’t stop me from trying something new!

“Yo, I’ll tell you what I want, what I really really want” I want to be a Spcie Girl! It’s because I want to use more spices in my cooking and which one to start experimenting with? In the last few years, turmeric has been gaining popularity in the supplement world because of its powerful active compound curcumin, which is actually a golden orange hued pigment. It has antioxidant, anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory properties and may even be instrumental in slowing down the effects of Alzhiemer’s disease. It has also supports the liver as a detoxifier.

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The Ginger Bomb

December 19, 2014 / Kake2Kale | Culinary Travel Adventures / 2 Comments

Who knew cola could be a medicinal drink? When I had the sniffles or a sore throat as a child, I was given a hot drink of cola, boiled with ginger and lemon. And, by gosh, after drinking this delicious concoction I seemed to feel better. Once in a while, I order this drink, which is still served at Hong Kong style cafes, and let it transport me back to my childhood.

Now, instead of hot cola, my husband and I make a hot drink with ginger when we feel under the weather. “Shall I make you the concoction?” offered by my wonderful husband is music to my ears when my nose is runny and my chest is congested. After a cup or two of this drink, the congestion loosens up and I am able to expel the, ahem..mucous. Since this drink does such a good job of chasing away those nasty symptoms I am calling it the Ginger Bomb!

Ginger is a rock star in the superfood realm, it might not look very pretty with its knobby physique, but it is packed with medicinal and therapeautic properties. You may think of it as a root, but in fact is the subterranean stem of the plant, called a rhizome, from which roots and shoots extend from. It has been used in China for thousands of years, and spread to many other cultures via the Silk Road.

It is full of antioxidants like zingerones and gingerols, as well as having antibacterial, antiviral, anti-parasitic, and antiseptic properties. Ginger may also be just as effective as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs in helping with pain relief. Studies have found a significant decrease in pain from muscle soreness in women athletes, and a reduction in migraine headaches and even in menstrual cramps. It is also well known to be effective in reducing nausea and upset stomachs. It is also great for coughs because it helps drain the lungs of mucuous, which is why it is in our concoction!

Ginger is usually sold in pretty large chunks, so when I can’t use it up fast enough, I put it in the freezer, and just grate what I need.

Naturally, you can enjoy my Ginger Bomb concoction even if you don’t have a cold or the sniffles! It’s a cozy and healthy drink anytime of year.

Other Superfoods in the recipe:
Pineapple – Contains Vitamin C, bromelain which is a digestive enzyme.
Lemon – Contains Vitamin C and lots of phytochemicals.
Honey – May help in treating seasonal allergies if you take a daily dose of honey made from your local area. It fights infections, in particular manuka honey, which is made from the tea tree plant.

The Ginger Bomb serves 2

Ingredients:

1 ½ cup water
5 slices ginger*
1 cup pineapple juice
2 T. honey
2 T. lemon juice

Directions:

Put ginger slices into a pot of water and bring to a boil for 10 minutes.
Add pineapple juice and heat through for about 2 minutes.
Then add honey and lemon juice. Serve immediately while hot.

*You may save the ginger slices to be used for another bomb.

Eat well and stay healthy! {Kake}

No Grumble Blueberry Crumble

August 15, 2014 / Kake2Kale | Culinary Travel Adventures

There is a delightful part in my favourite childhood book, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, when a naughty, gum chewing girl, Violet Beauregard gets her just desserts (pun intended). While at the factory, she deliberately pops an experimental piece of gum into her mouth after being warned against it. As she chews this piece of gum it takes her through a three-course meal ending with blueberry pie, then she turns into one humongous blueberry and has to be juiced to bring her back down to size. Not only was Roald Dahl a wildly imaginative storyteller, but his views on child rearing were tucked in there as well. After that, I am sure Miss Beauregard never put anything in her mouth that she wasn’t supposed to have.

The only blueberry issue I came across is really a non-blueberry one. I will explain. Once, when I was eating a store bought blueberry muffin, I discovered while reading the list of ingredients that no blueberries were in it at all. That was a big head-scratcher. Later, I realized there were more examples of this in the frozen food aisle when you pulled out a box of ubiquitous frozen blueberry waffles processed by one of the big industrialized food companies. There were no real blueberries. So what are these impostor blueberries made of? It turns out, some are simply artificial colouring chemicals, hydrogenated oils and liquid sugars, ewwww!!! All the more reason to read labels when grocery shopping.

With blueberries in season (at least in our part of the world), I’m taking advantage of eating REAL, fresh blueberries and making a variety of dishes. A blueberry crumble tops the list. I call my version the No Grumble Blueberry Crumble because it is super easy….after all, no one wants to be slaving in the kitchen when it is gorgeous outside. As a bonus, I’ve also included my Blueberry Waffle recipe at the bottom, so keep reading!

No Grumble Blueberry Crumble serves 8

Superfoods in the recipe are:
Blueberries – This little berry has a high amount of antioxidants. They contain anthocyanin, vitamin C, B complex, vitamin E, vitamin A, copper (a very effective immune builder and anti-bacterial), selenium, zinc, and iron
Oats – Oats is a good source of fibre, and oat bran helps to lower cholesterol.
Ginger – Anti-nausea, anti-inflammatory, expectorant, antiseptic.
Cinnamon – Diets rich in cinnamon can help counter the effects of a high-fat meal on your body. This spice may also balance blood sugar levels and can also help fight bacterial and fungal infections.

Filling:

4 cups blueberries
¼ cup gluten free flour
2 t. sugar
1 T. lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350 F degrees. Combine all of the above and place into greased 9” x 9” baking dish.

Topping:

½ cup butter melted
½ gluten free flour
1 ½ cups gluten free oat flakes
½ cup honey
2 t. cinnamon
2 t. grated ginger
¼ t. salt

Combine the topping ingredients and spoon over the filling. Bake for 30-40 minutes until the topping is golden brown.

My bonus recipe – Blueberry Waffle recipe makes 6-4″ waffles

They really aren’t complicated. It takes me about 15 minutes from the time I start putting the ingredients together to eating the first waffle. And if you don’t have a waffle iron, just make pancakes. Here is a bonus recipe from my Fanny Farmer cookbook that has been engraved in my brain after probably making it hundreds of times over the years.

1 cup flour (can be Gluten Free)
1 t. baking powder
pinch of salt
1 cup milk (can be dairy free)
1 egg
*1 T oil or melted butter

Directions:

Whisk the dry ingredients together. Then in another bowl beat the egg with the milk, and then add to the dry ingredients. Stir the oil into the wet ingredients.
Combine until ingredients are just mixed, lumps are fine. Then cook waffles according to your waffle iron instructions.

*If making pancakes, then omit the oil. Spoon batter into preheated non-stick pan, or griddle and flip once when you see bubbles. Try not to flip more than once, otherwise they will not be fluffy.
Add whatever you like, of course blueberries, but consider sliced bananas, chopped nuts, and/or chocolate chips.

Eat healthy, live great! – {Kake}