ottawa foodies

Prettytasty - try some home made apple turnovers for a great low fat apple treat. BTW, the apple crisp I've seen has a lot of butter in it for the crisp part.

Start out with some whole wheat bread or pizza dough - measure 120g per pocket, roll it out big and round maybe 10" circle - big enough to fit one of my big perogie makers but you don't need one of those. Each pocket has 1/4 large apple chopped, 1/4 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp white flour, 1 tablespoon brown sugar. Toss the filling first in a little bowl then dump into the pocket, fold over, seal, bake 350F for 20 minutes.

I send these to school with my boys for lunch sometimes, as their main course. Last time the teacher told my son he had to bring something "healthy" for lunch so I had a few words with her and she apologised :-)

That recipe sounds pretty good and easy enough to make.

I didn't think apple crisp was that bad- at least of you make your own.
I never get apple crisp at the store and always make some at home.
I am only 1 person here and the store one are always too full of sugar and not enough apples.
Also seeing what stores charge buying 3 apples and making myself one or two portions is much cheaper.

I probably just add a spoonfull of butter to the oats,but lately I was using Nativa organic muesli cereal- just cuz I have 3 bags of that here I want to use up.
That is just a cereal with oats,grains and some dried fruits.
It is ok,but I think I like oats better.

I have 4 pears here, maybe I will try making a pear crisp this week.
the pears I have here oddly enough look like apples.
got them at the lansdowne farmers market sunday!

I like the idea zym, but think it could be more nutritious with some added cubes of old cheddar in with the apples or maybe grated over top of the dough, maybe some wheat germ added to the dough, anything to add a little more protein to his main course.

it doesn't sound bad for you, but it doesn't really seem like a lunch either. maybe with some cheese on the side? or a yogurt? something with protien to keep the tummy full for longer.

I said it was the main course, not the only thing we give him. They usually get cheese cubes in their lunch. They always get 3 or 4 things.

And protein is something that most of us in North America get far more of than we need - my kids probably too. Having a low amount in a single meal is not the slightest issue in the world. You need your protein balanced over a 24 hour period, according to the 25 year anniversary edition of Diet for a Small Planet (the definitive work, IMO, on protein). The original edition made the claim that you need your protein balanced in every meal, but the 25 year edition states that new research shows that over 24 hours is more realistic

Too much protein, empty carbs and fat are what most of us North Americans (not all!) are eating. We need more deep leafy greens, colourful vegetables (like sweet potatoes, beets, raddichio, carrots, purple cabbage,etc.), and fibre--both soluble and insoluble. Healthy whole grains--brown rice but why not use quinoa, millet, barley, bulghur, for instance. And most of us are feeding our children too much fruit juice. Fruit is better than juice. We should be having water not fruit juice. Don't forget that treats are ok--above are just "daily" suggestions. Nuts and seeds provide healthy protein, fats and fibre--I do realize they can't be sent in school lunches because of allergies but do try to use them at home (if happily your family doesn't suffer from sensitivities or allergies.) Good luck!

Fruit juice is something we are definitely not guilty of here. In my time in Germany I came to love Schorle, which is watered down fruit juice that is carbonated. So that's what I've been drinking ever since and that is what the boys are accustomed to. Usually 1:3 or 1:4 fruit juice to water. At first they used to balk at me watering it down, but now they don't even like the extreme taste of undiluted juice :-)

Made a quick video of the apple pie pockets

Around this time last year the nearby Metro was selling huge (like the size of a young person size !) bags of "deer apples" for $5. I ran into a friend at the store and he was buying one . . . "would you like an apple?" he asked. I took a few. They were great apples . . . as good as any I've ever eaten. I guess they are supposed to be for feeding deer, or maybe just surplus produce, but they were great !

In Bretange, France they make an alcoholic apple cider (it's bottled in champagne bottles and naturally fizzy). It's very good. We had it at practically every meal when we vacationed there this summer.

As an aside, all the locals were very concerned the Chinese were going come in and take over the cider business, very dear to their hearts, with cider made from "cheap concentrate". :-) I saw no sign of that. Bretange is very provincial and very French. We didn't even see a Chinese restaurant in any of the places we traveled there, and sadly no sushi either, even though Bretange is by the sea and fresh seafood plentiful. :-(

Maybe when I retire I will open a sushi bar there.

The "Chinese Cider Scare" seemed to be just a general paranoia or hysteria. The subject did seem to come up in almost every dinner conversation (which are long 2 hour affairs) and it always made me smile to imagine that somewhere in China, at that very moment, nefarious men were sitting around a table plotting to take over the apple cider production of Bretange.