Cauliflower Mash: Family Central Edmonton Episode for Telus Optik Local TV

My children won't eat cauliflower.  It's right up there with brussel sprouts and spinach.  Raw, steamed, stir-fried or even tempura-coated, they aren't interested. I have yet to try chocolate-dipped but I'm sure they would just lick off the chocolate ;)  (I jest, of course!) Sadly, I'd walk right by the cauliflower in the produce aisle, without giving it a second glance.

Until now.

Oh how parents come up with different ways to get their children to eat veggies!

This is another easy-to-make recipe and a great addition to any dinner plate.  Cauliflower is high in fiber and nutritionally dense. Coconut-anything, it seems, is all the rage and the new "super food" of the year.  Coconut milk lends a nutty flavor to the mash while subtly masking the taste of cauliflower that my children dislike.

This is my 5th segment for the Family Central show on Telus Optik Local TV Edmonton.

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Cauliflower Mash
serves 4

1/2 head cauliflower, coarsely chopped
1 cup coconut milk
3/4 tsp salt

Add all ingredients to a large pot with a lid. Cook over medium heat for 8-10 or until cauliflower is softened.

Remove from heat and mash with stick blender or potato masher until preferred consistency.  Serve.

Dandelion Salad with Pecorino Romano Cheese

One of the first things I harvested was in fact from my lawn and not the garden. Once the lawn made it's appearance this year, the familiar green weed that lawn-lovers hate, was also showing it's leaves.  Those "pesky" dandelions are in fact edible, delicious and full of wonderful vitamins and minerals.

Trust me, give it a try!  They are quite delicious.

Before you venture out to harvest your own, make sure you know that they are safe from pesticide and/or insecticide use.  Unless you are foraging in the wild, I prefer to stick to my own lawn.  Secondly, pick smaller leaves as they are not as bitter and don't have as thick middle vein.  Thirdly, if you fear eating mouthfuls of dandelions, try mixing in spinach leaves to help you adjust.

Some years ago, I ate an delicious dandelion salad from Cibo Bistro and this is my take on it.  Plus, I love Pecorino Romano cheese, so much so that it has replaced Parmesan in my fridge. I use a simple lemon vinaigrette, shown below.

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Dandelion Salad with Pecorino Romano Cheese

Young dandelions leaves
Pecorino Romano cheese, finely grated
Lemon Vinaigrette: Mix 1/4 cup lemon juice, 2 tbsp oil, salt and pepper to taste

Mix the 3 items to your preferred proportions and serve.

Sunflower Seed Butter Cookies: Family Central Edmonton Episode for Telus Optik Local TV

I'm very fortunate that there aren't any food allergies at our home but I know that this isn't true for many households.  I pondered for some time what I should make for this upcoming episode.  My children love peanut butter but I know there are many amazing nut and seed butters out there so I started experimenting.

I wish I kept the sheet on which I jotted all my notes down.  Took me back to my lab research days.  Experimented with different butters, amounts, cooking times and even types of brown sugar.  (I like using a darker brown sugar, results in a moister cookie with a molasses undertone)

(Family Central show on Telus Optik Local TV! )

This recipe is dairy-free, gluten-free and nut-free.

Enjoy!

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Sunflower Seed Butter Cookies
makes 20 cookies

1 cup sunflower seed butter
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup dried cranberries

Cream the sunflower seed butter and sugar for 2-3 minutes in a medium-sized bowl.  Add beaten egg and mix until well blended.  Mix in the cranberries.

Drop by the tablespoon onto a prepared (parchment paper lined or sprayed with cooking oil spray) baking sheet.  Bake at preheated oven of 350F for 10-12 minutes.  Pull out of oven and allow to cool on pan for 10 minutes.  Transfer to cooling rack to completely cool.  Serve.

Food Styling for Real Cream Anyday Magic Tour 2014

I feel sad that my blog has been somewhat neglected.  June is always a chaos month considering school is ending and there are so many field trips and volunteer opportunities needing parent's attention. My day job has 2 company year ends needing to be completed within the next month also.  I wish I could be more regular in my posting but it can't be helped.  If you do pop by to my blog, it is probably best to have it included in your reader (like feedly), follow me through email notifications or even through my facebook fan page so you know when I do update :)

  But that all being said, I may not be posting about food here but I have been working with food!  I've been food styling for various food campaigns the last several months!  I am over the moon, feeling so blissfully happy and blessed, that these opportunities found me.  I thought I'd share some of my experience from the recent campaign I worked on, the Real Cream Anyday Magic tour for the Dairy Farmers of Canada.

(My little corner to prep samples for CBC Edmonton AM radio.  Thanks to Liane Faulder at the Edmonton Journal for snapping the photo of me prepping food!)

Shopping, cooking and baking and lots and lots of cleaning up.  What can only be a 5 minute segment actually takes hours and hours of work leading up the the actual event.  I prepared these beautiful individual Bumble berry cheesecakes and the Berry delicious potato salad and brought them bright and early to CBC Edmonton AM for Chef Michael Allemeier segment about the campaign.  Both radio hosts did not eat potato salad but they both tried it and very much enjoyed this twist of savoury salad with berries and cream.  Then, we headed for an interview with the Edmonton Journal, delicious berries and cream samples in tow :)

(Display of Berries & Cream, Waldorf and Potato Salad for CTV Noon News segment.  Chef Allemeier waiting for the segment to start.)

I headed back home to gather all necessary food and prop styling for the chef's cooking segment at CTV Noon News. He was making the Berry delicious potato salad thus needed all supplies and ingredients ready to go.  I also brought along prepared "hero" dishes of  the potato salad and also the Waldorf berry salad, (which I'm a fan of - crunchy celery, apple, walnuts with berries and cream! yum!)

There is a lot of amazing adrenaline coursing through your veins, making sure things are prepped and ready to go, especially for live TV, which waits for no one! Lugging around Rubbermaids full of kitchen supplies, ingredients and food/prop displays. Hard work with time pressures but I loved every minute. (Well, I guess my back didn't love carrying big bins up and down 2 flights of stairs but it was all necessary.)

Over the course of 2-3 days, my kitchen looked a lot like this.  As soon as I unloaded the sink full of dishes into the dishwasher or hand washed them, it would fill up again.  Oh the life of a food stylist, so very glamorous.

(Berries and Cream, always a perfect combo.  Berry Delicious Potato Salad)

I've been incredibly lucky.  Knock on wood and thank my lucky stars. Food keeps finding it's way into my life and I really couldn't imagine it any other way :)