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Numerous studies are finding that today’s fruits and vegetables contain fewer vitamins and minerals than 50 years ago, since we’ve abandoned traditional farming practices like crop rotation, fallow fields and intercropping (where several types of plants were grown together). It’s not only about the nutritional value of your food; food safety is now of growing concern to health departments and local and regional governments. The Maple Leaf listeriosis outbreak of summer 2008 was tragic but not unusual when you consider the amount of food that large-scale manufacturers produce on a daily basis. Even though the company swabbed their meat slicers hourly, they were still unable to catch a deadly amount of the tiny bacterium.

The one-room meat packing storefront my mother frequents in rural Ontario is unlikely to have such a problem. For starters most farmers bring in their own livestock to be turned into food for their own families. Any excess is bought up by the 100 or so neighbours in the area, but making the meat products is a slow production. The family running Habermehl Packers must focus on quality over quantity. If anyone got sick from eating their meat products, their business would be shunned and they would be forced to shut down. Fresh, quality meat is necessarily their #1 goal, not efficiencies, or maximising profits.

For example, if I buy tomatoes from my local farmers’ market in the summer, I’m getting that at their peak of ripeness from a farmer who drove a mere 30 km or so into town. I can even ask him tips about how to grow the best tomatoes should I ever want to grow my own. But, if I go to the store to purchase California tomatoes out of season, they were probably picked hard and green to make them easier to transport on the long trip up to Canada. They will have been sprayed with ripening agents – chemicals that made their skins turn red – but may not have softened or ripened them up a bit. This is how we end up with flavourless grocery store tomatoes.

If it seems like eating local is the obvious way to go, let me point out that the obvious choice can sometimes be a tough one. First of all, we Canadians live in a cold country with a shorter growing season, so unless he or she is prepared to can foods, a locavore will not be eating peaches or apples in the winter. Secondly, many of us have already acquired a year-round deep appreciation for “foreign foods” that travel a great distance to get to our shelves, such as pineapple, oranges. Of course, you normally don’t think of this because these foods are always sitting right there at the grocery store. Giving up these foods can seem like a real challenge. A third issue is that some “green” farmers are starting to use sustainable means of transporting their foods that are carbon-low, such as trains. And some local farmers burn fossil fuels all year-round in their greenhouses. So closer doesn’t always mean “better for the environment”.

So what’s a green foodie to do? The answer is: “ask more questions”. Grocery stores are full of knowledgeable people who have much more information to provide to you than which aisle can the ice cream be found. Ask your produce and meat managers for information on where their products come from. Not only that, you’ll learn a lot in the process. Or you follow others’ good examples and patronise any one of a number of restaurants trying to go local with their menus. Just type “eat local” into a search engine to get inspired!

Nothing says “I Love You!” like rich decadent treats for your loved one. But what if you could spoil that special someone without ruining his or her healthy diet? Now that’s True Love! Try some of these options in moderation.

A note on when to eat dessert: Ideally you’ll want to eat desserts away from a meal because after eating a meal’s worth of calories, you don’t want to throw another load of carbohydrates into your bloodstream. This is what puts folks into the dreaded “sugar coma” during the holiday season. At Valentine’s Day, make your honey a nice meal, then go for a walk or take a break and return to dessert once you’ve had a bit of a chance for your meal to settle

Strawberry Chocolate Cupcakes

Ingredients:

2/3 cup cocoa powder

1 3/4 cup spelt flour

1/3 cup of date or Rapadura sugar

1/2 tsp each of baking soda and baking powder

1 10 oz can of beets

3 eggs

1/2 cup olive oil

1/2 cup of sugar-free strawberry jam

2/3 cup maple syrup or honey

1 3 1/2 ounce bar of dark chocolate

Mix cocoa powder with flour in a large bowl

Add in baking soda and baking powder

In food pro or blender, puree drained can of beets. NOTE: reserve the dark pink liquid for later. Add in eggs and beat, then stir in sugar. Finally add in oil, maple syrup or honey and strawberry jam.

On stove, melt 3 1/2 oz chocolate, then add to beet mixture

Add wet to dry ingredients and combine.

Spoon into cupcake cups and cook at 325 for 20 min or when squeezing the cupcake it feels firm (not wet still)

Pink Cream Cheese Icing

Note–you can put in less sugar and butter. Have fun and experiment!

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese at room temp

1/3 cup butter, room temperature

1 cup icing sugar

1/2 cup sliced strawberries

1/3 cup strawberry jam that you have mixed with hot water to thin it out a bit

3 tsp of the reserved beet juice for colour

- In a large bowl, beat cream cheese and butter until smooth.

- Add powdered sugar, strawberry syrup and vanilla; beat until smooth.

- Add some beet juice for colour

- Garnish each cupcake with chopped strawberries. Enjoy!!!

Are you a Locavore? What does “Eating Local” mean anyway?

This word “locavore” was made official when it showed up in several dictionaries in 2007 but if that’s news to you, consider words with the same suffix like “carni-vore” or “herbi-vore” and add the root “local”. What you get is “a person who eats locally”.

Local Veggie Action

There are a number of recent food movements that are aligned with environmental priorities to get people eating foods in ways that are not harmful to the Earth. Think of how quickly the organics movement caught on in the last decade, and now we’re hearing more about Fair-Trade certification, Slow Food, Biodynamics, Farm-to-Table, and the 100 Mile Diet, another way of saying ‘eat locally’. All of these initiatives share a common goal which is to get us thinking about where our food comes from, and that means looking further up the chain than the grocery store. The more we take an interest in where our food comes from, the more likely we are to discover how conventional mass farming practices must favour quantity over the quality of food. Choosing food products from small, local farmers often results in more nutritious foods that have a smaller impact on the environment because they didn’t spend a lot of time on gas-guzzling trucks to get to your plate.

Are you thinking you’d like to try being a locavore? To eat locally, you’ll want to buy and consume foods that are grown within your region, say within 50 km. The benefits of doing so are getting very fresh food that’s not been handled by many people, and a closer link to the people who grew/raised what you’re putting into your body. It’s a special treat to be able to talk to the farmer about exactly where your eggs, bread or apples came from, and the exact time they came off the tree or out of the ground. The fact that a lot of gas wasn’t burned up getting these foods to you is also a bonus for the entire world.

Fruit Delight

- Get the freshest, most exotic fruit you can find with a range of textures and flavours. Avoid fruits with seeds such as pomegranate or apple, pear and banana which will brown when exposed to air. Try papaya, mango, kiwi, cherries, grapes, citrus, melons, mangosteen, star fruit, passion fruit.

- Peel, core, chop into bite-sized morsels and place in an attractive serving bowl

- Pour 1 or 2 ounces of Grand Marnier or Cointreau and 1/2 cup of your favourite juice (either citrus or a match to the fruits in your selection is best) over the fruit mixture

- Chill for 1 hour or more

- Serve with plain or vanilla yogurt, whipped cream or creme fraiche. A great grown-up Valentine’s Day treat for those who can’t have or don’t choose chocolate.

Chocolate Mousse

This is an old Swiss recipe that’s very rich but not too sweet. I like it because it’s a very special treat, but doesn’t throw off my blood sugar levels after a meal. I suggest that this be shared by 4 people at least. It doesn’t make much, but it’s a very rich dessert.

2 eggs separated

100 g of 70% or more dark chocolate

2 Tbsp sugar

1 Tbsp of cocoa powder

200 ml whipping cream

- Take eggs out of the fridge one hour before making the mousse to bring them up to room temperature

- Separate the eggs and whip the whites with a pinch of salt until stiff peaks form. Put aside

- Whip the cream until quite thick and set aside

- In a bain-marie (a large metal bowl over a pot of boiling water) place the chopped chocolate and stir while it melts

- Once fully melted, take the chocolate off the stove

- In a separate bowl, mix egg yolks, cocoa powder and sugar together

- Add this mixture to chocolate

- Now take turns adding the egg whites and whipped cream to your chocolate mixture, by gently folding in with one or two spatulas.

- Place into 4 serving dishes or champagne glasses and chill for at least 20 minutes

Caroline Rechia

Soups are comfort foods that warm you up on a cool evening. Make soups such as leek and potato, cauliflower or broccoli thick and creamy with substitutions for traditionally-used creams and butters. Try substituting 1% or 2% milk for cream in recipes and stir in several tablespoons of yogurt or sour cream just before serving. Add a dollop of sour cream or plain yogurt to each bowl of soup when serving, which when stirred in, makes for a creamier taste experience. You can also add pureed potatoes, white beans or cauliflower to thicken your soups. Note that potatoes tend to dull down flavours so make sure to add fresh herbs to potato soup bases to sharpen taste, and hold back on the salt.

Fall and Winter Foods

When fall and winter arrives, many of us crave warm, cozy, comfort foods, especially given the recent weather we have been having. This can cause anxiety for those who equate these choices with lots of calories. Rich, saucy foods are indeed typical for the season: creamy mashed potatoes, gravies, cheese sauces and stews. But these foods aren’t the only way to get that comfort food feeling. There are ways to reduce the calories, but not the flavour of these traditional foods, making them health-inducing, not guilt-inducing. Here are a few ideas to get you cooking in a more healthful way this fall and winter.

winter squash

Cooking Differently

Make creamy mashed potatoes by using Yukon Gold potatoes, low fat sour cream and a small amount of salt and butter or margarine. The yellow colour of the potatoes will give a buttery appearance, and the sour cream will lend a creamy texture, but without the fat of butter and cream.

Yummy Roasted Root Vegetables

There really is nothing quite like the smell of food roasting in the oven to fill your home with warmth. Take your favourite root vegetables and chop them into 1 inch (approximate) cubes. Place them in a glass baking dish and coat them with the following marinade:

4 TBsp olive oil

1 TBsp balsamic vinegar

1 tsp coarse salt

1 tsp oregano, thyme and rosemary

Yams, sweet potatoes, fennel, sunchokes, any colour potato (including blue), turnip, parsnip, carrots, onions, garlic are all great choices for this recipe:

roasted winter veggies

Let sit for 20 minutes then cover dish with aluminum foil and place in a 400 F oven for 15 minutes. Remove foil and leave for 10 more minutes. It may take up to an hour to cook your vegetables depending on which you chose, but keep turning them with a spatula to ensure they don’t stick to the sides of the dish.

Caroline Rechia is a Registered Holistic Nutritionist with over 10 years experience in consulting and working with diverse clients, including the Vancouver School Board and Canadian Cancer Society. Caroline believes that the right food choices can make us healthier and happier. She provides personalised nutrition strategies to help clients achieve goals such as weight loss or gain, manage food allergies and intolerances, or adopt a healthier diet. Having recently had a baby, Caroline is very interested in helping pregnant women and new moms eat properly and instilling their kids with great eating habits.

Check out our nutrition pages.  Great tips for new moms, recipes for seasonal eating, and holiday treats, including healthy chocolate recipes.  Yes, they do exist! All info provided by Caroline Rechia, RHN, our Nutritional Consultant and owner of Chocolibrium.