I have lots of pictures and news to share about the Northern Lands event, #meetyourmakers, that my husband and I attended on the weekend. In the meantime, while I'm getting my photos organized and sorted, I've come across this fantastic image about what to store where in the fridge. I wish mine was so neat and tidy! How does your fridge stack up?

Image courtesy of http://ak-hdl.buzzfed.com/static/enhanced/web04/2012/9/25/12/enhanced-buzz-3235-1348590895-4.jpg

Still doubling a few of our meals for a friend, and my #testkitchen project this week was a twist on traditional tuna noodle casserole. I grew up without cats, so I have always enjoyed eating canned tuna. My husband, on the other hand, thought canned tuna smelled like cat breath, so he was in no way a fan when I first cooked traditional tuna noodle casserole as a new bride.

I am trying to incorporate less expensive protein sources into our meals, as our grocery budget doesn't have a lot of wiggle room, but the foods we eat a lot of- fresh fruits and vegetables especially- are all getting more expensive this year. Canned tuna fits reasonably well.

To up the nutrition quotient, I added Catelli Healthy Harvest whole grain pasta, lots of vegetables, and mostly chicken stock with just a little half-and-half cream. I also used old cheddar cheese, so you get a bigger flavour punch.

For our family meal we served this with fresh vegetables and fruit. My family weren't overly fond of this, but they didn't outright hate it, either. And my husband had no idea there was tuna in it until I told him.

Recipe to follow under recipes/fish and seafood.

A few weeks ago when we were all sick and I was completely incapable of cooking, a couple of friends got together online and a care-package was dropped off on my door step. I just about cried when I opened the door and found ready-to-cook meals, boxes of kleenex, and so on. The original post can be found here.

My chance to repay has come to me through an unfortunate accident, so for the next couple of weeks I'll be doubling a few meals to share with her family. Tonight is a sweet and sour chicken dish I've been thinking about for a while. Chicken, green peppers, red onions, garlic, and pineapple in a sweet and sour sauce are simmering away in my slow cooker. It's a #testkitchen kind of day again in my house- my favorite kind of day!

Recipe will follow under recipes/chicken if it tastes as great as it smells!

Update: We liked it, but I didn't love it, so I'm going to keep tweaking the recipe. I will update this post when I'm ready to share my recipe. Have a great weekend, everyone!

As often as I can I will decry the vast amount of food waste we have here in the West. This issue is very close to my heart, because as our world population grows, food shortages will become more of a reality for more people. The fact that food shortages are already a reality for many people is a terrible thing. Here and here are a couple of articles on food shortages and riots.

Our world is so interconnected, now. When Florida has unexpected weather that kills their orange groves, or drought in California kills the almond trees, our food gets more expensive and less available. Living here in Alberta, our local growing season is considerably less than climates to the south, and as a result of that much of our fresh produce is shipped here. When bad weather strikes. as it often does, decreased supply means more expensive grocery bills.

With this in mind, I thought I'd address the problem of the last 2 potatoes in the bag. You know the ones I mean- they're a bit on the soft side, kind of wrinkly, and may have eyes- those wierd tentacle-like things that your kids call alien life. You may have already bought a lovely new bag of potatoes, each with firm flesh and unwrinkled skin. But before you throw out your last 2 potatoes, give these ideas some thought. Throwing food away is a waste of all resources, from the land it's grown on, to the time spent on growing it, to the cost in your overall budget.

• Potato Pie (see above). Yes, this was made with 2 medium potatoes, sliced thinly with a mandoline slicer, and overlapped along the edges and around the bottom of the casserole dish. It actually made enough slices to have a second layer in the middle of this side dish.
• Soup. I know, I know. I mention soup a lot. But soup is the ultimate grocery-budget extender. All you need to make a great pot of soup is a little bit of a bunch of things, and somehow it magically becomes a filling, tasty meal. 2 potatoes is plenty.
  
• Maple and Sea Salt "Chips". (see image below) They're a bit sticky, a bit salty, and so good. The tricky part is being patient! I'm working with different ideas to make them as perfect as possible. I sense a #testkitchen coming up!
• Smashed Potatoes. Bake (or steam in the microwave) whole potatoes, and allow to cool. Use a potato masher to smash them as flat as you can. Sprinkle with a little olive oil. a little salt and pepper, and the herbs of your choosing. Bake at 425*F while you're cooking your fish at the same time and they make an excellent side dish.
• Shepherds Pie topping

• Tourtière (French-Canadian Meat Pie) filling
• Fish Cakes
• Warm (or cold) Potato Salad

What do you do with your last 2 potatoes? What other ideas can you share?
Wishing you and yours an excellent day!
Stacy

I'm not really a gardener, unless it's something useful like herbs or tomatoes. I keep waiting for the gardening gene to kick in, because my mom is an amazing gardener. However, it seems I'd rather cook what other people have grown than actually garden myself.

This morning I came across this really interesting article about growing turnips indoors in a red beer cup. Intrigued? I was too! This site tells it all- check off what materials you have available, fill in the rest of the details, and you can grow your own vegetables even if, like me, you're not a gardener.

Image courtesy of http://thescienceofeating.com/vegetables/

Last week I had planned a massive cooking session, in part to pay dinner back to a friend who had made us dinner when we were sick, in part to give dinner to ourselves, and in part to test some altered recipes on a brave and willing client and friend. We were also able to bring dinner to a relative who's been sick and hasn't been able to cook lately, which made us happy.

On the menu? Greek! Shown above: Lamb and Chicken Souvlaki and my version of Moussaka. Below: Lamb and Beef stuffed peppers.

I first tried Greek cuisine 19 years ago while on a holiday of discovery in Southern California. It was love at first bite. The flavours made me happy, and every year since then I'd go to my favorite local restaurant on each birthday. One year we missed it, and the next year when we tried to go back discovered it had closed. Since then I've been on the hunt for authentic flavours. Victorian Epicure makes excellent Greek and Souvlaki seasonings, but I wanted to learn how to create Greek meals from scratch as well.

Providentially, along came a cooking course one night. The instructor was very excited about cooking, and her food was very good. My husband and I greatly enjoyed the course. We have continued to use her recipes over the last year, but never again so many dishes all at once. I've since remembered why. I was cooking for 5 hours that morning!

When you're planning your next big-batch cooking session, there are some definite considerations to think about before starting. 

• Read the recipes over. If there is prep work to be done, such as marinading meat, or soaking skewers, you need to do that- ideally the night before cooking.
• Figure out which appliance will sit where in your kitchen as it's all being used. Counter space, being a premium commodity in our home, dictates what I can cook and when. Same goes for stove top space and oven racks.
• Start the day with a good breakfast. There is nothing worse than starving when you're cooking and the food can't be sampled for hours.
• Relax. Take your recipes one step at a time. If you can combine recipes to cut down on the work load, you might save some time and space, but there is no rushing this process. I forgot how long moussaka takes to make, for example, and there was nothing I could do about it but allow it the time it needed.

As with any cooking, there's the inevitable cleanup. Unfortunately, the cleanup involved with big-batch cooking takes that much longer. I'm happy we have a dishwasher! But there were still a lot of dishes to wash by hand.

Here was my dinner plate from tonight. Notice how 1/2 the plate is full of bright vegetables, a 1/4 is a measured serving of brown rice, and 1/4 a measured serving of salmon.
Thoughts? Have a great week, friends!
Stacy