Get Fresh Blog

August 8, 2012
Slow Cooked Summer Pho

Get Fresh Now,Global Local by Ryann Salik | Comments Off Tags: fresh, gluten free, local produce, slow cooker, vegan —

A Delicious and Nutritious Way to Enjoy Your Summer Veggies!

It’s summer. It’s hot. (Well, here in Victoria it is hot for a day and a half then it feels like October for a week!) It’s the time of year when fresh produce is king. If you are plum salad-ed out, yet the thought of turning on the stove has you shaking in your water wings, this recipe is a fantastic way mix up the menu without melting. Crock pots and slow cookers are usually associated with warming winter soups and stews, but this handy appliance can be a life saver in the hot summer months.

Phở is a Vietnamese noodle soup that is perfect for summer garden gatherings. Usually served with beef (phở bò) or chicken (phở gà) broth, these are easily swapped out with vegan friendly alternatives. While traditional methods call for charring spices and un-peeled garlic, shallots and ginger in a dry pot before setting your soup to simmer, that step can be eliminated if you peel the vegetables and cook them down completely in the slow cooker. But if you’re a purist at heart, feel free to leave the peels on and char in a dry pan before adding the aromatics to the slow cooker. Follow the straining instructions in the recipe below.

Pho Fixing’s

Does the ingredient list look daunting? Don’t worry–the broth freezes very well and the items on the “Fixings” list are just suggestions. Pick and choose what to provide according to the number of diners and their preferences, then sit back and let everyone create their very own Phở masterpiece. Slow Cooker Phở is the ultimate easy meal for the lazy days of summer.

Slow Cooked Summer Phở
by Ryann McQuarrie Salik

INGREDIENTS:

Broth:
- 1 large yellow onion, chopped rough
- 6-8 cloves garlic, chopped rough OR left whole
- 3 shallots, chopped rough
- 3 piece gingeroot, peeled and sliced into 1mm thin slices
- 2 large leeks, white parts only, sliced
- 2/3 cup dried shitake mushrooms
- 1 large cinnamon stick
- 3 tbs tamari or soy sauce
- 2 tbs vegan worcestershire sauce
- 2 pods star anise
- 6 whole cloves
- 3 tsp ground coriander
- 1 tsp szechuan peppercorns OR 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
- 10 cups vegan broth, I used vegan “chicken,” but mushroom or veggie stock would be lovely too!

Fixing Suggestions
- Rice Vermicelli, available in the Asian section of most grocery stores
- bean sprouts and pea shoots
- Asian greens (such as bok choi, mustard greens, choy sum or chinese cabbage), chopped rough
- cubed tofu or tempeh, fermented black beans
- Thai Bird’s Eye (red) Chilis, finely diced
- baby corn
- water chestnuts or bamboo shoots
- grated carrot or jicama
- snow peas, sliced in half on the diagonal
- green onions or scallions, chopped fine
- cilantro, (thai) basil and mint leaves, chopped fine
- sambal oelek, Sriracha, toasted sesame oil, lime wedges, roasted cashews and sesame seeds, to garnish
METHOD:

1. Place all the ingredients for your Phở broth into a large slow cooker or crockpot. Set to low and cook for 6-8 hours while you enjoy a day of summer sun. (Or, set to high and cook for 4 hours while you enjoy an afternoon beverage on the patio.).

Once broth is fragrant, taste and adjust seasoning as necessary. If you cooked your veggies down, remove ginger slices, star anise and cloves before serving. If you charred, carefully strain broth into a large soup pot, then return broth to crockpot to keep hot while you prepare your fixings and garnishes.

2. Soak rice vermicelli in hot water for 15 minutes or until al dente. Drain.

3. On a large table (or kitchen counter, if you want to go buffet-style), arrange your Phở-fixings in individual dishes and let your diners pick and choose their pleasure, layering the garden fresh goodness into large soup bowls. Ladle hot Phở broth over noodles, vegetables and whatever your protein preference, garnish with samba oelek, Sriracha, lime juice and sesame and enjoy a summer delight that is a flavourful diversion from the everyday salad.

Even Batman loves Pho!

Serves 8-10
Prep Time: 20 minutes Cooking Time (non-active): 4-8 hours
Can be made gluten-free, soy-free and peanut-free
©MyWholeDeal.com, 2012

NOTE: This recipe is currently being featured in Ethical Ocean’s Summer Recipe Contest. Give a local girl a vote and you could win $500!

June 29, 2012
Eating Clean in Tofino, BC

Get Fresh Field Trips,Local Adventures,Local Food Events,Local Food Heros by Ryann Salik | Comments Off Tags: food security, local, local cuisine, local food, local produce, Ocean Village, Shelter Restaurant, tofino, Tourism Tofino, travel —

Tourism Tofino’s Party Bus. Life on the edge!

Touring to Tofino

Hi There! My name is Ryann Salik and I am a Victoria, BC health-nut with a passion for eating and living as wholly, healthfully and respectfully as possible. Recently, I was lucky enough to tap into the extreme, sustainable, yumm-osity of Canada’s Pacific Rim. My website, MyWholeDeal.com, was generously hosted by Tourism Tofino to attend Grazing in Gardens, the main event of the Tofino Food and Wine Festival, and to experience what Tofino, BC has to offer a clean-eating traveler. This is the first instalment of my adventure. Special thanks to Elisabeth Bond for letting me share my whole deal with you all and to Kirsten Soder and the friendly folks of Tofino, BC.

PART 1: Dateline: June 1, 2012. Time: 9:32pm.

Cue the cleansing breath. After months of taking care of multiple jobs, kids, household duties and those jerks who take up the whole running trail even though they’re going really super slow (ski poles? on a golf course? seriously?), I finally made it to the ever-fabled light at the end of the tunnel. And Tofino, BC, snuggled in the heart of British Columbia’s majestic Pacific Rim, is that beautiful, beautiful light.

So much more than just a pretty face, Tofino, BC, is a bustling city truncated into deliciously digestible tidbits. MyWholeDeal.com was lucky enough to be welcomed into its bosom to see exactly why the Pacific Rim powerhouse is a destination you’d be very silly to miss.

First off, the ol’grey drive to Tofino just ain’t what she used to be. Gone is the winding and perilous logging road of yore, replaced by a delightfully curvy– yet pleasingly smooth– highway that my husband promises he was not demolishing at 140km per hour. Departing Victoria at 5:30pm-ish, we had time to uncerimoniously ditch our children in Nanaimo and still hit Vancouver Island’s most westerly coast well before 10pm.

He seems trustworthy, no?

And what a welcome we received! The Ocean Village cabins freckle the coast of MacKenzie Beach at the northern edge of the Pacific Rim National Park. And they are adorable. Seriously, if architecture could be an animal, these amazing A-frame studios would definitely be pigmy marmosets.

Seriously.

Outfitted in rustic cedar, our loft-style cabin featured two bedrooms, a livingroom area with gas fireplace and a full kitchen and bath.

These cabins are waaaay cuter than pygmy marmosets. For serious.

Beyond the immediate aesthetic appeal, Ocean Village is close to town and provides some super amenities of its own, not the least of which is direct access to stunning MacKenzie Beach and eco-friendly goodies that tickled my gentle, Earth-cuddling soul:

Natural Goodies at Ocean Village, Tofino, BC.

With pounding surf echoing through the cabin and the heady sea air intermingling with the scent of warm cedar, we could have just hunkered down by the fire for the rest of the evening…

Stocked fridge at Ocean Village, Tofino, BC

The fridge was practically begging us to!!!

But, no. We were here to eat Tofino and, come on! No kids? It was go time! And so we went. To…

Shelter Restaurant, Tofino, BC

Do you watch Top Chef? Of course you do. It’s the gastronomical equivalent of the SuperBowl and it is impossible to resist, no matter how many times you have to shield your eyes from the horrible meaty bits. Especially when it is Top Chef Canada and one of the contestants is a chef at a restaurant you’ve gnoshed at on the Island. So, after watching Chef Joel Aubie represent Tofino on the culinary big screen, we decided give Shelter Restaurant another taste.

We arrived close to 11pm and the place was absolutely packed. Whether it was because of Feast Tofino or because this is the place where the cool kids hang out was of little consequence: Shelter was buzzing with a positive energy that made the somewhat cramped quarters feel like a party rather than a nuisance.

Right off the bat, Shelter endeared itself to me by making it impossible to miss where my food came from:

Shelter Restaurant Suppliers, Tofino, BC

Shelter’s Menu is Positively Bursting with Local Flavour

While Tofino may be considered remote by some, the pride the town takes in being sustainable is palpable (more about Tofino’s extraordinary local food efforts later in this series). But, while I was excited to taste the fruits of their passion, first things first.

Priorities, yo!

Once properly lubricated, I dove into the menu. Now, don’t get me wrong. This restaurant is far from a vegan meca–but the server was enthusiastic and friendly and not at all put-off by my dietary choices. With the wealth of organic and local ingredients stocking their larder, I have no doubt that if you provided advance notice to the chef, you would be treated to some mean, green vegan cuisine at Shelter. But I snuck in via cover of night and I was still perfectly pleased with what I got:

The famous Shelter Salad, Tofino, BC

I opted for the Shelter Salad sans feta. I am told that this salad has been on the menu for years and every time the chefs try to refresh the menu with something new, they are met with such a public outpouring of salad outrage that this Tofitian staple invariably remains. And it was good. The greens were fresh, the dates delicious, but the star of this show was most definitely the delicate pappadum garnish:

Beautifully Spiced Pappadum at Shelter Restaurant, Tofino, BC

Light, crisp and spiced to perfection with cumin, coriander and carroway, the pappadum elevates the Shelter Salad from “just a salad” to something truly worth keeping on the menu. Yes, I get it, Tofitians! You gotta fight for your right to pappadum!

After our late dinner, we were very eager to return to our beautiful seaside bungalow. Bundled up tight in the extra duvet so thoughtfully provisioned, we settled in for some serious relaxation in that blissful place where the sea of stars meets surf.

Seaside Snuggles at Ocean Village, Tofino, BC

Yes, the first night of Clean-Eating Tofino was a resounding success, but I was right to seek a good sleep, because Day 2 was destined to be a doozy…

Stay tuned for Pacific Rim running, epic adult trick-or-treating and food, food, food! (originally published on http://www.mywholedeal.com)

November 8, 2010
Fresh Perspective: What’s fresh now?

Fresh Perspectives by Sherry and Mathew | Comments Off Tags: fresh, fresh produce, local, local farms, local produce —

As the days get darker and colder, everywhere you look the once summer “FRESH” feeling seems to be retreating for the winter. Leaves falling to the ground, fields full of pumpkins and signs of the left over summer abundance decomposing into nutrients for next years harvest. Even though it seems like there is less abundance everywhere it is surprising what you can still find “Fresh Now”. We both love eating what we can get locally and are surprised to still find a good portion of our diet here.

Beautiful Organic Haberno Peppers (Top Photo .25 ea) Bell Peppers(1lb $5), Cucumbers ($1 each), Tomatoes (end of the season, gifted by Farmer Frank, Thanks!), and Wheat Grass ($14) Sun Trio

Sweet Peppers ($1-1.5)

And from Mitchells Farm, their own Cooking apples (5lbs for $3.5), Kale, Lettuce and Rainbow Chard($1.99)

We are both so grateful for the farmers for still working hard for our earthly delight’s!!

Article by Mat and Sherry, Photo’s Sherry

September 20, 2010
Fresh Perspectives: How ‘Fresh’ is your food?

Fresh Perspectives by Sherry and Mathew | Comments (1) Tags: community, food security, local produce, O.U.R. Ecovillage, sustainability, zero mile diet —

I just got home from an inspiring life changing weekend at the O.U.R EcoVillage in Shawnigan Lake where the ‘Get Fresh’ team had our booth full of beautiful items from our guide. I have heard about this auspicious place for years but never really knew where it was, it sounded so magical to me. ‘A sustainable learning community and demonstration site’ that is working on, and succeeding, in being a totally self-sustaining community. Everyone gets a say, helps out and are all working toward a bigger goal. “We base our work on Permaculture principles and offer learning opportunities for Natural Building, Sustainable Food Production and Leadership.”

BRILLIANT! Exactly what the world needs right now!

With so much inspiration this weekend I really got a ‘Fresh Perspective’ on my inter-relationship with the Earth. INTER-RELATIONSHIP-’reciprocal relationship’ how cool is that! Our relationship with the earth definitely is RECIPROCAL-’given or felt by each toward the other’) So the first thing I decided to look at was our relationship with food. I have never really heard things like ‘food security’ before. Overwhelmed by the quantity of the food at our grocery store, in my naivete, I think “it LOOKS secure to me!” Well, it turns out “food security requires not only addressing access to healthy food by people of diverse income levels, but also ensuring that food production and distribution occur in an environmentally sustainable and economically viable manner” An excerpt from a FoodShare research in action report. I didn’t realize that even choosing organic food at the grocery store had such an environmental impact.

At O.U.R. Ecovillage they are using inspiring principles like the Zero Mile Diet inspired by Victoria’s very own local organic gardening guru, Carolyn Herriot. This concept got me thinking…. how ‘fresh’ is our food? FRESH- “Retaining the original properties unimpaired; not stale or spoiled.” I am seeing that the fresh produce in the commercial grocery stores isn’t as fresh as I thought. With my new awareness I have decided to shop as local as possible, as much as possible. I can’t deny the fact that I love a ripe juicy mango in my salsa or a that I am addicted to Mat’s guacamole, and obviously the ingredients have come pretty far to get here. But I do know that I can take steps toward lessening my impact on the Earth. All Mothers deserve a break, especially the only one we all share!

Article and Photos by Sherry (Mat is on a kayaking adventure and will be back next week!)

September 2, 2010
GFFT 2.03: What’s Fresh Farmer?

Get Fresh Field Trips by Elisabeth Bond | Comments Off Tags: local produce, vantreight farm —

Caprina and I pay a visit to Vantreight’s head farmer, Eric Doublier to find out What’s Fresh on the Farm? Eric came to Canada after working on a large Organic Farm in the States (Pacific Northwest area). He has his Master’s Degree in Agriculture and brings his wealth of knowledge to Vantreight Farms expanding produce growing venture.

In the past few years, Vantreight Farms has expanded their food crop varieties from 5 grown on 50-60 acres to now over 60 kinds of fruits and vegetables. They have extended their market of produce and flowers not only local retailers and wholesalers but also to local restaurants and farmers markets in Sidney and Brentwood Bay. They are not currently certified organic although they are in the process of applying for Certification of their greenhouses and land adjacent to them equaling approx. 6.5 acres. All the produce currently grown in their massive greenhouses is managed in a natural way through mulching, crop rotation and biological pest control with the help of Ladybugs.

So…what’s fresh now?

Sugar snack carrots

In addition to these tasty sugar snack carrots there were rows and rows in a rainbow of colours. The original and more traditional colour of carrots was actually white or purple, not the lovely bright orange we’ve all come to be familiar with. So, look out for these heirloom varieties at markets. They would be wonderful for pickling as the finished product would look so nice and make great gifts out of season.

A couple of ways that we love to eat carrots at home (besides fresh for snacks): lightly brushed with oil with a sprinkling of pepper and grilled on the BBQ; juiced with beet and a bit of apple; roasted and blended with spices, olive oil and lemon juice for a tasty Moroccan style dip.

pickling cukes

I’d say we are in prime pickling and preserving season now. Fall is just around the corner and these chilly mornings remind us all that it’s time to preserve all this bountiful harvest to enjoy for the long, dry winter months. There has been many courses offered around the Victoria area(Foxglove Farm and Food Roots) over the past few weeks, it would be great hear if anyone attended and what new tricks they learned. In addition to salad and pickling cucumbers they have also been growing these tasty Lemon Cucumbers. Eric picks one for us all to snack on as we cruise around the greenhouses. We eat them just like an apple and its the perfect refresher on a hot day in a sultry greenhouse. Delightful, limey, fresh green on the inside and sweet but no discernable lemon flavour.

We wander across to another greenhouse filled with long green rows of green and I’m excited to see the same sorrel (sometimes called spinach dock or narrow-leaved dock) that I had spotted at the Sidney market a few weeks before. This has been a new green for me this year and I’m still a bit fresh on its uses. We take a little munch and I’m surprised at the juicy, lemony flavour and exclaim that, “it was just what I was expecting from the lemon cucumber”. Curious about sorrel, I read that it’s a plant (known more as a herb) that has been cultivated for centuries. It’s often pureed in soups and sauces or just added to salads. The sharp, lemony taste is due to oxalic acid, which is actually a poison. In small quantities, its completely harmless, in large quantities it can be fatal!

After leaving the greenhouse we trek across fields of gently swaying grains. I love the look of vast fields filled with the soft golden hue of grasses gently undulating with the warm breezes. We arrive at fields filled with cauliflower, red, green and lacinato kale, sunflowers and sunchokes (ready by mid-October).

kale and swiss chard

There are still tons of greens available and many of these will keep going right through the fall and even winter. When faced with big armloads of the stuff what do you do with it? David Mincey had a great tip at our ‘Preserving the Harvest’ Workshop on the weekend (stay tuned for more). Chimichurri is a green sauce, typically from Argentina that is a wonderful marinade or topping for grilled meats. David basically grabbed big handfulls of mixed greens such as kale and chard, chopped and blended with cilantro tops, garlic, onion, vinegar, lemon juice and a bit of spice and shazam – you’ve got a wonderful fresh green, flavourful topping to enjoy or can and enjoy all winter long.

All of this produce and more (bull blood beets, candy cane beets, basil, french breakfast radishes, parsley, savoy cabbage, brussel sprouts – sept.15 and melons) is available direct from the farmer at the weekly Sidney Summer Street Market: each Thursday from 5:30 – 9pm along Beacon Avenue, Saanich Peninsula Country Market: Saturdays from 9-1pm and retails at the Root Cellar.

Vantreight Farms produce stall on East Saanich Road is currently closed so they can focus their efforts on abundant supply for the weekly markets. It will re-open for Pumpkin Season a bit later in the fall.

Photos by Caprina Valentine.

August 12, 2010
GFFT 2.02: Finding Nourishment in the Gardens of Glendale

Get Fresh Field Trips by Elisabeth Bond | Comments (1) Tags: glendale gardens, holistic nutrition, local produce, nourish garden bistro —

Close your eyes for a moment and imagine a warm sunny day in a tranquil garden. A gentle breeze blows the fragrance of ripe blossom across your face and wholesome aromas of fresh bread, sun warmed spices and lemony freshness tickle your nose. As you open your eyes, two smiling faces greet you and it is as if you’ve been transported to a magical kingdom where food, flavour and friendship mingle amongst playful garden pathways. Give yourself a little pinch…ouch…you are not dreaming and yet you are still sitting in this delightful garden with artfully presented, flavourful and nourishing food sitting in front of you. Welcome to Nourish Garden Bistro!

Caprina and I meet up with Lucas and Noah after their busy morning on the road delivering Get Fresh Guides and visiting the ICC Farm Market. The sheltered, sun dappled courtyard patio is the perfect place to be on a cooking hot day. We start our lunch off with a vintage style tea cup filled with Sun Tea - gently flavoured green tea with lemon that has been brewed with the power of the sun.

Sun Tea - brewed with the power of the sun

Hayley fills us in the daily specials and we squabble over who will try what. Noah and Lucas square off over the Quist Farm BBQ Beef Burger. Lucas insists it would only be sensible for him to carry on with his local Burger theme (Bistro Cache and Dockside Grill have been sampled and fully enjoyed thus far). While we further debate our lunch orders, Dominique delivers small bowls of Chilled White Bean and Cauliflower Soup as a starter. Did I mention that it was a REALLY hot day??? Well, this soup was just perfect… so creamy with a delicate herb and sweet flavour.

Chilled White Bean and Cauliflower Soup

Noah orders the Bubby Chicken Wrap – curried yogurt chicken, roasted yam mash, crunchy veggies in a fragrant roti. The roti is so fresh and flavouful and made in-house. In fact, all the grain-based, baked goods are created right here at Nourish by Stephanie.

Bubby's Chicken Wrap

The rye bread used for my Garden Inspired Sandwich was simply amazing! The bread tasted really alive, not like many of the “dead-breads” I often end up tossing to the side of my plate. I must admit that I am a total bread snob. I just don’t see the point of eating something unless it is totally fresh and has some life giving force. This bread definitely met these criteria and was an excellent compliment to the housemade Dijon, crisp apple and goat’s cheese.

Note: this same yummy bread is available for retail… so call or check online to find out more!

Garden Inspired Veggie Sandwich

Caprina chooses the daily salad special for her lighter lunch. It is a mountain of fresh, garden greens and toasted almonds finished off with a Nasturium flower. Lovely and fresh with as many greens sourced from their Glendale Garden veggie plot as possible. When the girls aren’t foraging in their garden plot they source fresh ingredients from local sources such as: Sun Wing greenhouses, Sun Trio Farm, The Root Cellar, Quist Farms, Island Farmhouse Poultry and the Red Barn Market.

The Nourish Story

Hayley, Dominique and Stephanie care a great deal about providing their guests with nourishing foods that are full of healthful life. They prepare everything from scratch so they can be sure they are offering the highest quality, most natural foods. This all makes perfect sense when we chat about the story behind this unique bistro.

It seems the stars aligned and have blessed the girls of Nourish with small miracles every day after embarking on this adventure. Acting on faith and an instinct that it was time to leave the busy downtown restaurant scene, Hayley began searching out a space for her growing ‘holistic nutrition and catering’ services. A big part of her dream when leaving the bustling metropolis was to work in a garden and learn to grow vegetables. This desire led Hayley to volunteer at Glendale Gardens. One day, while working around the gardens, Hayley noticed that the little garden cafe was now closed, so she inquired to the director about the space. Not only was he open to her “using” the commercial kitchen space, but also enthusiastically encouraged her to take it over and create a new garden bistro. It only made sense for Glendale to be able to serve fresh and delicious foods to all their volunteers and guests.

Nourish Garden Bistro is so many wonderful things wrapped up into a charming, thoughtfully decorated and comfortable haven. In addition to the fresh meals served Wednesday through Sunday from 10 – 4pm, the option for healthfully prepared meal delivery (or pick-up) service is still available from the new space.

Community Dinners

Plus… keep a look out for their new Community Dinners, where Nourish will host small groups of 20 for intimate meals centered around a feature chef, product or theme. Sticking to the belief that food is one of the best ways to bring people together, these dinners are sure to be a huge success.

The very first dinner will take place on August 22 at 7:30 pm. The menu will showcase the harvest from their own Glendale Garden veggie patch. Book really soon as seats are limited. Tickets are $35 and wine will be available for purchase.

Local! Wholesome! Yummy!