Tag Archives: recipes

August 2, 2017 · 7:06 am

Corn Chowder and Buttermilk Biscuits 101 – a cooking lesson with my friend Lisa Neiles

We bond with friends for different reasons. With my friend Lisa Neiles, we have several ties that bind us.

We are both Maritimers and we both love to cook. Add in that we have children the same age and husbands that work long hours, and you’ve got a solid friendship – even if we don’t get to see each other as much as we’d like. When we do get together, it is relaxing and fun. We chat about “home”, kids, hubbies, travel and we share recipes and a good meal.

This post brings you along for some corn chowder and biscuit making in the kitchen with two friends. Continue reading →

On carrots and writing for Alberta Health Services’ applemag.ca

I was a nurse for over 20 years. I was a Masters-prepared Nurse Practitioner for 10 of those years. I left that profession because, though I loved working with people, I wanted find ways to help people stay healthy instead of caring for them once they’d become very ill. I saw that the further we got from food as a society the sicker we were getting. I thought writing about food and starting up food tours would be fun ways to engage and connect people with the source of food and all the health and joy it can bring to our lives.

I’m very pleased that after 11 years in my new career I have the opportunity to go full circle and to write for Alberta Health Services’ health magazine (applemag.ca) on the topic of healthy food. It’s a dream come true to write for a magazine whose credo is “Be healthy. Be Well. Be informed.”

In my regular “Food Sight” column I’ll be writing about a different great ingredient each issue. For the food issue I also got to write about five ways to build a healthy plate. Here are the first two pieces. Grab a carrot to munch on and have a read.

	click on the photo to expand to the article >

A carrot close-up

	Look inside >

Build a healthy plate

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Filed under Great ingredients, Health, Recipes, Writing

Tagged as applemag.ca, building a healthy plate, carrots, food sight, healthy eating, Karen Anderson, recipes

August 18, 2016 · 5:00 pm

#Zucchini as the symbol of abundance. Avoiding #foodwaste. My @AlbertaatNoon column for August

summer harvest - photo credit - Karen Anderson - Savour It All Blog

The bounty of summer – photo credit – Karen Anderson

It happens. You go away for a few days in August and come back to a zucchini patch that has hatched green baby belugas. Apples cover the lawn like a spilled bag of marbles under your backyard tree. The kitchen table is covered with the peaches that you just had to stop at that roadside stand for. The bounty of summer is upon us and for most of us, it’s more than we can use.

Contrary to what we’re often told, there isn’t so much of a food shortage in the world but rather, food is not equally distributed and a full 40 per cent of food is wasted. It never has the chance to make it onto the tables of the hungry and there are a lot of hungry people. The U.N. says 800 million people suffer from chronic hunger and 2 billion – a third of the world – suffer from hidden hunger.

Several Alberta organizations are working to do something about food inequity. This post will reveal who they are and how you can support them. As for those zucchini posing as big green baseball bats? Consider this post Zucchini 101 where I’ll reveal my Top 10 things to do with the wild child of the garden. Continue reading →

Quintessential #Summer Foods #AlbertaEvents and a #recipe that might surprise you – my @AlbertaatNoon column for July

Cool and creamy gelato from Pulcinella Ristorante – photo credit – Karen Anderson

I’ll be on CBC Radio’s Alberta at Noon tomorrow (July 28, 2016 – 99.1 FM) between 1230 and 1 p.m. talking about quintessential summer foods. What’s your must-have summer food? If you’re anything like me, it changes by the week because there’s something new to savour with each seven day growing unit in our brief Northern summer.

I hope this post of fun food photos and events (including Food Day Canada this weekend) inspires you to hit the giant tasting trail that is Alberta or to search for your own favourites wherever you savour it all. Continue reading →

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Filed under Alberta at Noon, Recipes

Tagged as Alberta, Alberta at Noon, Alberta beef, Cedar planked prime rib of Alberta Beef, Karen Anderson, recipes, roast beef, summer foods

June 26, 2016 · 5:13 am

My @AlbertaatNoon podcast for June – Growing #food #entrepreneurs in @Alberta

#IYP2016 chocolate lentil cookie by chef Liana Robberecht - photo credit - Karen Anderson

Chef Liana Robberecht’s Chocolate Lentil Cookie – photo credit – Karen Anderson

Here’s my Alberta at Noon podcast for June. I’m at the 9:50 mark in the show. Here’s a link to the Chocolate Lentil cookie recipe and if you are a budding food entrepreneur contact Alberta’s Food Processing Development Centre here.

I’ll be back on Alberta at Noon July 29 for a half hour call-in show about great food and farming events around the province at the peak of summer. Do drop me a line and let me know your favourites. Time on the land is a wonderful way to savour it all.

Happy summer. Karen

@chefLiana’s Chocolate Lentil Cookie #recipe – My @AlbertaatNoon column for June

Chef Liana Robberecht’s Chocolate Lentil Cookie – photo credit – Karen Anderson

Doesn’t this cookie look amazing? I’ll bet you’d never guess that it’s made with lentils and chickpea flour and is chock full of protein, fiber and flavour. Do think the day will come when these will be in a vending machine instead of candy? That day might be closer than you think.

This month my column for Alberta at Noon is on food entrepreneurs in Alberta. My friend chef Liana Robberecht, executive chef at Winsport in Calgary, developed this recipe to feed Olympic and elite athletes. She recently presented these cookies at a gathering of chefs invited by the Alberta Culinary Tourism Alliance to tour the provincial food processing development centre in Leduc, Alberta. The chefs were there to explore how their recipes using Alberta Pulses (peas, beans, chickpeas and lentils) could be scaled up for wider manufacturing and distribution. Alberta Pulse production has almost doubled in recent years. Pulses grow well here. So it only makes sense that, if chefs can find more things to do with them, demand will rise and the industry will continue to grow.

You never know. These are so delicious, I think they could really catch on. Goodbye empty calories. Hello healthy and very satisfying calories. That’s an entrepreneurial trend we can all take a second helping of. Read on for the recipe chef Liana has so generously shared.

Continue reading →

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Filed under Alberta at Noon, Recipes

Tagged as #IYP2016, Alberta Pulses, chocolate cookies, cookies, cooking with pulses, lentil cookies, LIana Robberecht, Olympic Athlete cookies, recipes, Winsport

April 17, 2016 · 9:16 am

#IYP2016 – celebrating the last of my 10 week #pulsepledge with a few #recipes from @aspicytouch

PulsePledge -photo credit - Karen Anderson @savouritall blog

Getting to know pulses – photo credit – Karen Anderson

My last CBC radio Alberta at Noon column was all about pulses (peas, beans, lentils and chickpeas). You can check the podcast out here. I’m out at the 10:25 mark in the show.

The United Nations declared 2016 The International Year of Pulses (IYP) because pulses are good for people, for soil and for the world. You can get involved in IYP by taking a pledge to eat pulses at least once a week for 10 weeks.

I decided to do this and once I started to pay attention I realized that I’ve already been eating peas, beans, lentils and chickpeas more than weekly for some time. It’s actually a lot easier than you might think.

I hope you’ll give the pulse pledge a try and to encourage you, this post shares two of my favourite pulse recipes – Mixed Vegetable Bhajias (pakoras) made with chickpea flour and Bharazi – pigeon peas in coconut cream. Both recipes are from the cookbook I co-authored with my beloved mentor Noorbanu Nimji called A Spicy Touch – Family Favourites from Noorbanu Nimji’s Kitchen. I’m thrilled to tell you that our beautiful 320 page cookbook just won an IPPY Silver Medal the Independent Publishers Book Awards based out of the United States and representing the English-speaking world.

There are a dozens of recipes in the book that include pulses or flour made from pulses. I hope you’ll enjoy the two I share here. Continue reading →

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Filed under Alberta at Noon, Recipes

Tagged as #IYP2016, #pulsepledge, A Spicy Touch, A Spicy Touch - Family Favourites from Noorbanu Nimji's Kitchen, bhajias, bharazi, gluten free recipes, Indian Cooking, IPPY Award-winning cookbook, Karen Anderson, Noorbanu Nimji, pakoras, Pauli-Ann Carriere, pigeon peas, pulses, recipes