Notice Anything?

Hola Bloggies!

So I’ve been looking through my food pictures and blog posts.

And while I know I often eat very healthfully (hello morning oatmeal).

That’s not always the case.

Even when I set out to be really good (hello tandoori fish), I still manage to sneak a refined carbohydrate in there.

I really have to find a way to get beyond that bad habit of mine.

So from now on, there will be more smoothies.

More fruits and healthy snacks.

And more salads (don’t mind that fro-yo in the corner back there).

 

Question: Are you like me? Do you have a carb problem?

Brunch? Yes Please! (Sunshine Cafe, Rossland)

Hola Bloggies:

I hope you’re having a wonderful weekend! It’s been very hot in my AC-less corner of the world. But rather than complain about the heat I embraced it instead. I spent a good chunk of my Saturday doing physical activities that worked up a sweat – Zumba + watering my co-workers lard yard and garden + detailing my car. Well done me!

Sunshine Cafe, Rossland

Once in a long while I like to indulge in a leisurely weekend brunch. And when I do, one of my favourite dishes is French Toast! Yum!

If you and I have ever talked about French Toast you’ve surely heard me say that challah bread makes the best ones (with brioche following in a close second place). I may have to re-visit that list to add a close third place for sourdough bread.

Recently, I found myself in Rossland, British Columbia for work. It wasn’t a completely uneventful trip – I was there to attend court and realized late at night in the middle of the mountains that I had completely forgotten work shoes!!!

The only shoes I had were my running shoes (I was planning for an early morning run) and a summery pair of pink flowered flip-flops. I was horrified at the thought of having to wear either to court. Problem was that there was only one shoe store in the whole town and it didn’t open until after I was set to start my trial. Uh oh.

The morning of court I woke up super early and decided to scrap my early morning run in the hopes of resolving my shoe crisis. At first I considered driving to a bigger city to buy a suitable pair of shoes but that wouldn’t work. I would never make it back in time. So the hotel tried calling the owner of the shoe store to get her to open her store early. Unfortunately they couldn’t find her number so that didn’t work either. Eventually,they loaned me a pair of mules from their lost and found. I was ever so grateful for the shoes even if they did show an awful lot of my toes.

The mules weren’t perfect but I decided to head to court. I pulled up, parked my car, and started to approach the front door. And that’s when I noticed a camera crew there to cover another trial. The last thing I needed was camera footage of my woefully inappropriate shoes. So I ran back to my car and kept scouring the town. And that’s when I found the thrift store. They were closed but I knocked on the door and begged the little old lady to let me in early. She obliged and I headed to their shoe section where I managed to score a fairly cute pair of work appropriate shoes for the bargain price of $2! Crisis solved!!!

Given my shoe crisis I didn’t get a chance to have a proper breakfast, which made for one mungry (mad+hungry) Karen come lunch-time. Rossland is a pretty small place with a limited number of lunch options. So I walked into the first place I saw – Sunshine Cafe.

The postage sized Sunshine Cafe turned out to be an absolute and unexpected gem! Somehow, in the middle of a small mountain town I had found a cafe specializing in gluten-free meals and baking. Even though it looked small and relatively new it had been around for over 50 years. After eating my meal I could totally see how it had lasted for so long!

There were so many delicious options on their menu it made choosing my meal very hard indeed. Eventually I settled on a build your own breakfast featuring two poached eggs, French Toast with strawberries and bananas, and a ham steak. I think my hunger got away with me on that one! lol

 

Never in my wildest dreams did I expect to see such a gorgeous plate! The eggs were perfectly cooked, the ham was delicious, and the French Toast . . . amazing!!

They may not have been made out of challah. They weren’t even made out of brioche. But the sourdough came through in a pinch. Noted.

I guess it just goes to show you – never underestimate a restaurant by it’s small-town location. Oh, and never ever forget to pack work appropriate shoes on a business trip!

 

Question: What is your favourite brunch dish?

Ciabatta Perfection – A Recipe

Hola Bloggies:

I think by now we’ve established I have a genuine love for bread. Truth be told, I don’t know many other bloggers that have “bread” as a tag on their posts!

My favourite breads are slightly rustic and in a European style. In fact, one of the things I miss most about Europe is the ability to walk to the bakery in the morning and buy a wonderful loaf of fresh bread. In Canada, one either has to rely on a quality small scale bakery (few and far between in my Rocky Mountain town), make the bread one’s self, or depend on the kindness of others.

I chose the later.

On a recent weekend afternoon I was very fortunate to receive a call from one of my co-workers. He had made some ciabatta and wanted to bring some for us to try. This would be the same co-worker who made the delicious caramel ice-cream a few weeks back. I had loved the ice-cream and knew I would love the bread. So I did what any sensible blogger would do – I happily accepted.

Pretty soon, my oh so kind co-worker was at my door bearing the most amazing ciabatta seen this side of Italy. I kid you not, these buns were truly a work of art. I was very impressed by their lovely lightly floured exterior. But it wasn’t until I cut open one of the buns that I literally squealed with delight!!!

Look at those air bubbles!!!! They were so lovely!!! Needless to say they gave the bread an absolutely light and airy texture. Swoon.

 

I have to confess I quickly broke-out the butter. Quickly (and happily I may add) it joined the ciabatta in a wonderful marriage of flavours. I was in carbohydrate heaven.

Somehow I managed to pry myself away from the butter and use part of the bread to make a sandwich.

Closer.

 

I assure you this was some of the best bread I have had in a very very very long time. Thankfully, my co-worker was good enough to share the recipe so you bloggies could replicate this deliciousness at home! The original of this recipe was created Jason Molina in the alt.bread.recipes group.

 

Jason’s Quick Cocodrillo Ciabatta Bread (source)

Variation 1

500g bread flour

475g water

2tsp yeast

15g salt

 

Variation 2 – Semolina

350g bread flour

150g semolina flour

475-485g water

2tsp yeast

15g salt

 

1) In Kitchen Aid style mixer: Mix all ingredients roughly till combined with paddle, let it rest for 10 minutes.

2) With the paddle (I prefer the hook to prevent the dough from crawling into the guts of the mixer), beat the living hell out of the batter, it will start out like pancake batter  but in anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes it will set up and work like a very sticky dough. if it starts climbing too soon, then switch to the hook. You'll know it's done when it separates from the side of the bowl and starts to climb up your hook/paddle and just coming off the bottom of the bowl. I mean this literally about the climbing, i once didn't pay attention and it climbed up my paddle into the greasy inner workings of the mixer. It was not pretty! Anyway, it will definitely pass the windowpane test.

3) Place into a well oiled container and let it triple! it must triple! For me this takes about 2.5 hours

4) Empty on to a floured counter (scrape if you must, however you gotta get the gloop out), cut into 3 or 4 pieces. Spray with oil and dust with lots o' flour. Let them proof for about 45 minutes, which gives you enough time to crank that oven up to 500F.

5) After 45 minutes or so the loaves should be puffy and wobbly, now it's iron fist, velvet glove time. Pick up and stretch into your final ciabatta shape (~10" oblong rectangle) and flip them upside down (this redistributes the bubbles, so you get even bubbles throughout), and onto parchment or a heavily floured peel. Try to do it in one motion and be gentle, it might look like you've ruined them completely, but the oven spring is immense on these things.

6) Bake at 500F until they are 205F in the center (about 15-20 minutes), rotating 180 degrees half way through. Some people like to turn the oven down to 450F after 10 minutes, but whatever floats your boat. I usually bake in 2 batches.

Question: Have you ever tried baking bread at home?

A Brutally Honest Review: Dempster’s Oven Fresh Bread

Hola Bloggies:

I’ve missed all of you!!!!! Seriously, it’s been a crazy busy week and I’ve had so much to tell you peeps but no time to do it in. But no worries – I’m back!

This week you can look forward to some clean eats and workout recaps, my epic Ironman CDA re-cap (life altering – seriously), some product reviews, a giveaway, and the start of my half marathon training. That’s right – this Toronto Girl out West is going to run herself a Half-Mary in Long Beach this October, 17th!!!

Am I excited!?!? UH HUH! I’m looking forward to pushing myself and seeing just how I handle that bad boy. Who knows, maybe it will be the beginning of a long distance running love affair. Toronto Girl Runs Far. Has a ring to it, doesn’t it!? Ha! Loves.

 

A Brutally Honest Review

A seriously long time ago Some time ago the friendly people at Dempster’s were good enough to send me a package loaded full of bread. I took one look at the very generous package sent by the company and knew I just had to share! So I took half of what was sent to me (2 multigrain baguettes and 2 white baguettes) and passed them on to a co-worker to review. But more on that later.

Dempster's is a totally familiar brand to most Canadians. It’s basically the Wonder Bread equivalent for Canadians. Recently, they decided to launch a line of partially baked breads (OvenFresh). I know I’ve bought similar products in the past but they always had to be refrigerated. Not so with the OvenFresh variety – they come vacuum packed and are sold in the bread aisle. No refrigeration needed. I consider that a definite bonus as it makes it easier to transport the bread.

Cooking the product is pretty easy. You pop it in the oven for eight minutes and it’s done. Easy peasy.

Now as a healthy living blogger you know I checked the nutritional stats. Half a multigrain baguette has 160 calories, 2.5 grams of fat, 340 grams of sodium, 29 grams of carbohydrates, and 7 grams of protein. The ingredient list for the multigrain baguettes includes enriched wheat flour, whole wheat flour, sunflower seeds, millet, and sodium steardyl-2-lactylate.

By contrast, half a white baguette has 180 calories, 2 grams of fat, 390 grams of sodium, 34 grams of carbohydrates, and 6 grams of protein. The ingredient list for the white baguette includes enriched wheat flour (no whole wheat flour this time), malted barley flour, natural and artificial flavours, and modified wheat starch.

To test the white baguette I made one of the recipes that came with my media package. Specifically, the Garlic Bread with Asiago Cheese.

Garlic Bread with Asiago Cheese

1 Clove garlic, minced

2 tbsp soft butter

1 tbsp chopped chives

1 tbsp chopped oil packed sun-dried tomatoes

1 Dempster’s OvenFresh White or Multigrain Baguette

1/4 cup crumbled asiago cheese

 

 

If you’re paying attention you’ll notice that I substituted the butter with Earth Balance and managed to forget the chives. Ooops! I added some dried herbs at the end instead.

While the oven preheated to 400F I combined the garlic, Earth Balance, herbs, and sundried tomatoes in a bowl.

I then cut vertical slits in the baguette almost to the bottom. After placing the baguette on the baking sheet I spooned the “butter” mixture over the top of the bread making sure to get the mixture in between each of the cuts.

Afterwards I topped the baguette with Asiago cheese. Yum! I then popped the bread in the oven for eight minutes until the cheese looked all melty and happy happy happy!

I cooked up this recipe while the fiancé's parents and nephew were visiting and they declared it an absolute hit. The “butter” and cheese made the bread soft and delicious. And the Asiago lent it a sophisticated flavour. It would have been even better had I used fresh herbs. Next time.

To test the multigrain bread I made sandwiches. They were good and went over really well with everyone that ate them. I liked how the bread was warm after being in the oven. It made if feel “fresh.” Unfortunately, it also seemed to cool down fairly quickly. This was likely due to a combination of the fillings and the fact that you weren’t actually baking the bread.

As for my co-worker, she packed her baguettes and took them to feed her nieces and nephews during a family ski trip. The bread was a hit with that group as well! Mostly because it allowed them to have oven fresh bread without having to worry about baking it or buying a new baguette everyday.

Now for the bottom line . . .

Would I recommend this product? I have mixed feelings.

Hear me out. I love how the bread is long lasting without needing refrigeration. I love how you can bake it up for that oven fresh taste. I love how it is much more convenient than baking your own or heading to the store. I love how it’s definitely a step-up in flavour and texture from your average grocery store product. And the garlic bread recipe was delicious but I don’t think you can really go wrong adding cheese, “butter”, and garlic to bread. It’s basically a guaranteed win – so I can’t let that be the deciding factor.

Truth be told it was the ingredient list that caused me the greatest concern. Sure the nutritional stats were good but that means nothing if I can’t pronounce some of the stuff they put in the bread. I would still be willing to overlook that if only both products hadn’t chosen to use enriched wheat flour. The problem lies in the fact that enriched flour is basically flour stripped of it’s nutritional goodness and reduced to an extremely simple carbohydrate form. They then add some of the good stuff they took out back in, thereby making it “enriched.” You may as well be eating plain white flour which is okay if that’s what you’re looking for but if you’re trying to eat complex carbohydrates it’s not the greatest of choices.

I guess what I’m saying is you have to take the product for what it is. A quick and easy way to have oven fresh bread at home. Your kids will love it and if you make the garlic bread recipe you’ll love it too. Just please, don’t think it’s uber healthy. A nutritional powerhouse it is not.

I frankly won’t be buying this product again. But at least if you consider buying it, you now have my brutally honest review.

LIVE from the Rocky Mountains

Hola Bloggies:

Let me start off by saying, I’m having the time of my life with Susan (of The Great Balancing Act) and Holly (of The Healthy Everythingtarian). They’re both awesome girls and fabulous travel companions!!!

I arrived in Banff on Thursday afternoon and met up with the girls and since then we’ve been having an awesome time. Truth be told I was particularly excited to tag along (they planned this trip a while back and traveled from New Brunswick and Wisconsin to be here) because I don’t have many friends my age in my current city. Yeah there are one or two but they’re into different stuff. Hanging out with food bloggers, on the other hand, is perfect!!! No having to explain why you want to life a healthy lifestyle and no having to apologize for taking food pictures. Brilliant!

But enough talking – let’s look at some pictures!

The morning started off in typical food blogger fashion, with a hefty bowl of oatmeal. This one was loaded down with soy protein powder, a crumbled 1/3 of an All Bran bar, and a smushed banana. It was hearty and filling. Good thing because we had an action packed day ahead!

As we walked downtown to have coffee, we happily noted that the clouds were lifting! Perfect, considering we had grand plans of attempting to hike a mountain in the afternoon. Truth be told I was a little chicken about the whole mountain thing!

Our morning largely consisted of walking around the mega-cute city of Banff, drinking coffee, and doing a bit of shopping (why hello there incredibly cute Lululemon sweatshirt!). Eventually we headed to a local yoga studio for their lunchtime yoga class. Although, I have done tons of yoga DVDs and attended yogalaties class this was my first ever purely yoga class.

 

The yoga class turned out to be a multi-level flow class. My non yogi self managed to keep up with most of the moves. I only ran into trouble at the very end, with the balance postures. Instead of falling over I opted to settle into an easier pose and enjoy the ridiculous view out the window! Overall I was really pleased with the class and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Rocky Mountain Yoga to others looking for yoga in and around Banff.

After yoga we were sweaty and starved. Just downstairs from the yoga studio we found a bakery that was just begging to be explored. While we were getting our food we noticed that the crowds kept on pouring into the place! Wild Flour Bakery turned out to be quite the hot spot in town.

I totally devoured by traditional ham sandwich on a baguette. The bread was dense, grainy, and perfect. Total score! And at a reasonable price (considering where we were).

After lunch we decided it was time. We were going to hike up Sulphur Mountain. Most people use the gondola to get up the highest peak in the Banff Region. But we were going to do it the good old fashioned way going up. On our way down we planned to take the gondola (my knees LOVED this idea). I was kind of intimidated but I couldn’t avoid it any longer.

We had a mountain to conquer!!!!

 

To be Continued . . .

THE Most Glorious Sunday of the Year!

Hola Bloggies:

The Fiancé and I happened to be in Boise over the Easter weekend. And although it would have been very easy to skip out on church, given that we were travelling, we were determined to make it to Easter Sunday service. Initially, we thought of going to a nearby Salvation Army Church but it turned out just to be a thrift store. We didn’t know were to go to worship so we decided to start driving on one of the main thoroughfares heading towards the Capitol. Not too far from downtown we came across the beautiful First Baptist Church.

You see how spectacular the building looked against the perfectly blue sky? And the service was just wonderful. Honestly, when you combined the glorious architecture with the miraculous occasion I was thrilled to pieces with my Easter Sunday. My soul was happy and we got to worship in a lovely place even though far from our Rocky Mountain Casa.

After the service we parked by the Capitol and walked to Goldy’s. I had been waiting to eat there since before we left Canada! Goldy’s is another Boise institution – it’s an incredibly well known breakfast joint, once described by Bon Appétit magazine as their favourite place to have breakfast in North America!!!! High praise indeed!!!!

Goldy’s was bright, cheery, and teeny tiny. I don’t think you would have been able to fit even thirty people in the place. Aside from the seats you see above there was a relatively small area, which is where we were seated. The small seating area and the high praise are likely relevant for the line-ups out the door! In fact they take your cell number and give you a call when your table is ready. And in case you want to wait outside the restaurant they have coffee set up outside.

One of the brilliant things about Goldy’s was the service. All the waiters and waitresses were beyond helpful, the hot sauce/jam/cream selection at the table was ample, and our coffee cups (full of Boise’s own, Dawson Taylor Coffee) never even got half full. The waiters were always there ready to get you anything you wanted. And despite how busy the place was they did it with a smile.

When it came time to choosing our breakfast I was torn. Everything sounded absolutely delicious but in the end I chose the dish that Bon Appétit magazine raved about – the Andalusian eggs.

The Andalusian eggs were two poached eggs on top of a chorizo tomato sauce (I’m told there was also ham in there but I couldn’t actually taste any) that itself was on top of a whole whack of perfectly cooked asparagus. With my main dish I got to choose a side dish and although I was tempted by the pancakes I chose the raisin walnut cinnamon toast. That bread was absolutely delish!!! Most cinnamon toast is overly powdery. You couldn’t even see the cinnamon on the bread and yet you could taste it – perfection. The Andalusian eggs were really great too (and very healthy!). In particular I loved how wonderfully cooked the eggs were. All in all I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Goldy’s to anyone. I myself plan to return every time I’m in the neighbourhood!

After our late brunch we decided to head out for a drive around Boise. Time to get to know the city better. During our drive we came across some foothills that from the distance obviously had trails running through them. On a hunch we headed to one of the local parks and discovered a trail head. The skies were perfectly clear but it was windy. Nonetheless we decided to head out on a random exploration. There was a very strong headwind that meant aside from the up and down nature of the trails we were working hard to keep moving. Still it was a glorious day and it gave me an opportunity to test my Garmin for the first time!!!!

The hike was great but when we got further into the foothills (read higher up) it quickly became obvious that we weren’t dressed for the very harsh exposure to the strong wind. So we headed back. By the time we got back to the car the Garmin looked a little something like that! Well done new friend – the weather around these parts has been kind of yucky (lots of hail) so I haven’t been able to test it on a run yet but I’m totally looking forward to taking it out for a proper spin!

Ah Boise . . . who knew that the capital of Idaho (Seriously!?! Idaho!?!) would end up being so very cool. Great restaurants. Lovely hiking. Beautiful architecture. I loved it all!

Have you ever been surprised by a city that surpassed your expectations? Have you ever been disappointed by a city?