The Food Issue

Our inspiration for meals is often from things we've eaten out, like this bang-bang shrimp burrito bowl.

Right off, we make this healthier by making it ourselves, and by grilling the shrimp instead of breading and deep frying it. Normally one wouldn't have Both spicy sausage and shrimp, but it was good!

A burrito bowl starts with a base of rice. Or if you really want to go wild, just shredded lettuce. Add little piles of black beans, corn, shredded lettuce, chopped tomato, avocado, and shredded cheese. Jalapeño if you dare, and drizzle with leftover bang-bang sauce.

For the bang-bang sauce, mix together 1/3 cup mayo, 3T sweet chilli sauce, and 2t sriracha. Set aside.

For the shrimp, double-skewer it, pat it dry and lightly oil both sides. Grill until cooked and immediately brush /slather on the bang-bang sauce.

This was such a fast meal to pull together and it was super-delicious.

I highly recommend adding it to your menu next week! Let me know if you do!

Moroccan Stew

Here's something we make a fair bit. It's different every time. We don't seem to ever have all the ingredients so we just make it with what we have. And it's delicious every time!

It's great with chicken. It's great with pork. You could even use tofu if you're into that sort of thing.

Here's the recipe, and remember, use what you've got! This is a great stew to cook on the wood stove or over an open fire, or if you have to—on a regular stovetop!

Sometimes we have it over rice, sometimes we have it as a stew with a nice slice of thick, buttery, homemade bread. It makes enough for leftovers and I suspect it would freeze well.

Cut meat into 1-inch chunks and season meat with salt and pepper.
3T olive oil
2 onions, diced (or wedges)
3 garlic cloves, minced
2T grated ginger
1 bell pepper
1t salt (we NEVER use all the salt a recipe calls for)
1t ground cumin
1t ground corriander
1t paprika (smoked, sweet, hot, regular —they'd all be great)
1/2t turmeric
1 cinnamon stick
2 bay leaves
2t brown sugar
2c squash or sweet potato
2oz dried apricots, chopped
15oz can of tomatoes, whole or diced, juice in
2c chicken stock
4 fresh lemon halves (or preserved lemons)
handful of green olives
you could garnish it with 4T of slivered toasted almonds and/or mint leaves and/or chilli flakes.

(some oil) Brown the meat, set aside
(some oil) lower heat—onion, ginger, garlic, pepper 3-5 min
salt, bay leaves, sugar, squash, apricots, tomatoes, stock, bring to boil.
simmer, add chicken, lemon, olives, cover for 20 min, uncover, increase heat to medium and cook another 10 minutes and slightly reduced.

People are fickle!

Although I agree that some people are so marginalized that cheap food is the only option, I believe for most of us, it's a choice we're free to make.

It wasn't until I got inconveniently sick that I REALLY cared where my food came from. Literally who grew it, do they believe in the same things I do, do they care about ME? If they don't they don't get my money. If they do, I'm willing to pay a little extra for it.

We take our food budget (and I use that term loosely) and shop accordingly. We changed the way we eat. We changed the way we shop. We meal plan. We cook from scratch.

I am so proud to support my local people. My neighbourhood, my province, my country. So proud, I seek them out.

We may see the value in buying local food, but that doesn't mean we will open up our wallets: report Contradictions cloud our relationship with local food, a new report from Dalhousie University’s Agri-Food Analytics Lab (AAL) suggests. While four in five Canadians say they’re ready to pay more for “locally grown” fruit and vegetables, few put weight on point of origin in their decision-mak...

Lol

This gave us a chuckle! 😂🍕