Stratford Garlic Festival

I was at the Stratford Garlic Festival this weekend (first weekend after labour day) and it was a great day! It was a little cooler then it had been all week, as you can see by our jackets, but at least it wasn't raining this year!

I personally love garlic and I use it all the time in my cooking so I try not to miss this event. Plus, it's the only place with a huge selection of locally grown Ontario garlic and garlic products.

(This is a photo down the first row of vendors.)

They have so much garlic it's just amazing!!! The only thing is that local grown garlic is much more expensive. Chinese garlic goes for under a dollar for a pack of 5 where as Ontario garlic goes for $2 a bulb or more. Trust me though, it's worth it. I use anywhere from 3 to 5 Chinese cloves in my cooking or I will use 1 Ontario clove. There is that much of a difference!

(Here is my youngest posing for me in front of one of the vendors) 

First, I went to a presentation by Bryan Mailey called "Garlic, Growing and Braiding". In this presentation Bryan talked about all the different problems he has seen with growing garlic along with the processes he uses to correct them. Next he talked about his harvesting, drying and braiding process.

I moved in closer at this point to get a better view of him braiding the garlic. You have to "break" the neck of the garlic before drying, then after a month or so of drying you need to re-wet the steam to make it pliable enough for the braiding process or you will break it.

Bryan made it looks super quick and easy, then after he trimmed up all the loose pieces. It was pretty cool to see.

The next presentation was a pre-registered paid event that I wish I would have signed up for as they had a ton of different things to taste!

Up the next isle, I saw a vendor selling soup. This was a garlic flavored soup with this kind of noodle that I can't remember what it's called. The noodle wasn't very good but I loved the soup broth.

After that I hit another soup place and tried a bowl of theirs, which I liked a lot better. I didn't get a photo because I ate it so fast!

This time around there was an Indian vendor selling samosa with a garlicky tamarind, I tried it too and it was so good.

Little know fact, I have a Ukrainian back ground on one side so I love a good Borscht and cabbage rolls. I spotted this little place but by the time I got over to it, I was already stuffed with soup :(

My daughter spotted Pickles-on-a-stick so we had to get one of those for her :)

Then off to another presentation. This one was a cooking presentation by Christine Gingerich called "Optimal YOU". Christine talked about her book and how she feels that we need to eat more natural with less processed foods. She ended up making three different appetizer and samples were given out for everyone to try. I love watching the live cooking presentation and who doesn't love free samples!

I really wanted to stay and watch the next presentation by Chef D, a local chef and speaker, but the family was getting restless so it was time to go. On the way out I spotted this garlic humor and had to get a photo with it.

I bought a bunch of different garlic on this outing. I kept some for cooking and planted a bunch of it so look forward to me using lots of garlic in the future!

Tomato-Basil with Barely Soup

With the cooler weather starting to move in I was in the mood for a soup! I have an excess of basil in my garden and after reading through the "Racing Weight Cookbook" I found a good way to put it to use.



Ingredients:
1 - Tbsp Extra virgin olive oil
3 - Cloves Garlic, minced
4.5 - Cups of water
1/2 - Can of Diced Tomatoes
1 - Cup of Pearl Barley
2 - Cups of Spinach
1 - Tsp Salt
1/2 - Tsp Pepper
12 to 16 - fresh basil leaves, chopped

Directions:
Rinse the Barley and set a side.

Using a large sauce pan (or pot) pour in the olive oil and garlic. Saute for a minute or two until you can smell the aromas of the garlic.

Add the Barley and 4.5 cups of water. Strain in the juices from the diced tomatoes making sure to squeeze all the juice out that you can through the strainer.

Turn the heat to high until a boil starts then reduce to low, cover and simmer for 15 minutes,

While simmering, dice up the tomatoes even finer.

Measure out and chop up your Spinach.

After 15 minutes of simmering the Barley should start to plump up a little bit.

Add the tomatoes and spinach.

Mix together, cover and simmer for another 15 minutes.

After 15 minutes it should start to look a little nicer.

Roughly chop your basil.



Add the basil, salt and pepper to the soup and cook for another 2 - 5 minutes.

Server with a garlic cheese bread.

Quinoa Summer Salad

It's has been an incredibly warm week / long weekend and I've been Barbecuing a ton! I still love making my Hamburgers but I wanted a healthy side option to go with them. This is were a quinoa salad comes into play! You were probably thinking I was going to say something Lentil based but I'll save that for another week ;)

This quinoa salad has a light basil-lemon dressing and it almost gives it a slight lime flavor.




Ingredients (Salad):
1 - Cup of Quinoa (precook and cool a head of time)
1 - Can (341ml) of Chick peas (drain and rinse)
1 - Can (341ml) of Corn (drain and rinse)
1 - Orange Bell Pepper (diced)
1 - Avocado (diced)
2 - Plumb Tomatoes (or Vine tomatoes patted down with a paper towel)
2 - Green Onions (diced)


Ingredients (Dressing):
2 - Tbsp Extra virgin olive oil
5-8 - Fresh Basil Leaves (diced)
Juice from one Lemon
Salt and Pepper to taste

(Quinoa not shown as it was already cooking)

Directions:
If you haven't done it already, start with cooking the quinoa. Normally I would use Chicken stock but I didn't want the quinoa to pick up any extra flavor so I cooked it 2 Cups water to 1 Cup quinoa.

Put the Chick peas, Corn, Pepper, Avocado, Tomato and Green Onion into a large bowl. Take a pretty picture and then mix it all together.

In small bowl, mix the olive oil, lemon, basil, salt and pepper.

Pour the dressing over the salad and mix again. Refrigerate for 30 minutes to an hour to let the flavors combined.

Serve as a healthy side with your favorite main :)

You'll have a fair bit of the salad leftover so you can eat it on it's own for a nice light lunch or you can put it in a soft Tortillas shell to make a wrap

Mushroom Quinoa

In the past I have found that quinoa was pretty plain and that it didn't have much flavor. It wasn't until I found this recipe that I found out quinoa could be so much more! By using mushroom, onion and cooking the quinoa in beef broth you can add a lot more flavor to them!



Ingredients:
1 - Tbsp Butter
1 - Medium Onion chopped
2 - Cups Mushrooms sliced
3/4 - Tsp of Salt
1 - Cup Quinoa
1/4 - Tsp of Dried Thyme
2 - Cups of Beef Broth


Directions:
Place chopped onion and butter into a frying pan over low - medium heat.

Slice up your mushrooms.

When the onions have started to turn a little translucent, add the mushrooms.

Fry until the mushrooms start to brown.

Add the Quinoa, Salt and Thyme. Stir, then raise the heat to medium and dry cook for 3 - 4 minutes more to toast and heighten the flavors.

Add the beef stock, reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer for about 15 - 17 minutes (most of the liquid should be absorbed but the everything will still be a little damp).

Turn off the heat, fluff the Quinoa with a fork, then cover and let steam for another 10 minutes so that everything can finish absorbing.

Plate and serve as a side dish or have it on it's own with some Naan. I also like to take it in my lunch as a mid-morning snack or wrap it in full pieces of Iceberg lettuce for a healthy Quinoa lettuce wrap!