Sorrel is a tangy summer herb with leaves similar in size to spinach but with a distinctive lemony taste. It was introduced to North America from Europe, Asia & Scandinavia where it has a long culinary history. Many different countries have a tradition of using sorrel in their ethnic dishes. From spanakopita in Greece to…
You used to hear an awful lot in the media about them, but their day in the sun seems to have faded. Nonetheless including omega three fatty acids in your diet is still an incredibly important part of your diet. Ideally one should have a ratio of 1:1 omega 3’s to omega 6’s, but the…
Sometimes known as Italian Chicory, radicchio is a purplish leafy vegetable with an appearance similar to red cabbage. While many varieties exist, the most common is Chioggia radicchio which is about the size of a grapefruit. It has a spicy flavour when eaten raw, but this mellows out when the vegetable is cooked. Radicchio is…
They don’t call it the most important meal of the day for nothing, as it truly is. After an overnight fast (not eating for a period of time) how one breaks their nightly reset is critical. Ideally you want to include protein in your morning meal. A high carbohydrate breakfast will be digested faster…
Fungi are in a class of their own. Different from animals, bacteria and plants, fungus can be found as mold, yeast & more familiarly: mushrooms. It’s an understatement to say that we don’t generally make an effort to incorporate a whole lot of fungus into our daily lives- and we have to be careful about…
Including cucumbers as a part of your regular diet can help improve your health by providing a number of nutrients often deficient in a North American diet. Cucumbers contain vitamins K, C & B vitamins as well as manganese, copper, potassium and several polyphenol that may help to reduce your risk of developing serious disease.…
A simple chicken or turkey broth is simple to make and very nourishing. There is in fact science to back up a hearty bowl of chicken soup when feeling under the weather! Even if you’re not fighting off a bug of some kind, everyone could use a good boost to the ole’ immune system! That…
When I was growing up, my sister and I were often given the choice of either peas or corn as a vegetable to go along with dinner. For whatever reason, these were the frozen bags stored by my mother in our freezer, an easy way for a single mother to incorporate plant food into the…
While not exactly a vegetable, ginger is a widely underused yet widely available root with endless culinary applications. Ginger ale, beer & wine, ginger tea, pickled ginger (for sushi!), gingerbread cookies, candied ginger and simply as a spice in smoothies, curries, stirfries or other cooking are some of the most common places we see this…
While often thought of as a “bad vegetable” or and excuse for one, these starchy tubers do have their merits. Potatoes are chock full of fibre and vitamin C, though if the skins are removed the fibre content drops to nil and if they are well cooked the vitamin C is virtually all destroyed. I’m…
