Carrot Cottage Cheese Fritters and a Giveaway

As the weather gets warmer, my husband and I try to shed a few pounds we gained in the winter :) I usually swap for healthier, fresh and local ingredients when cooking meals for my family during the warm months, as it is readily and easily available. I try to get locally grown vegetables and fruits, as well as try to grow our own in our garden. I also find during warmer weather, my family and I tend to eat small, but healthier portions of food throughout the day instead of heavy meals. 

Recipes using Veal and a $100 Prize Pack Giveaway

This Veal Spring Rolls recipe is inspired by the recipe on The Ontario Veal Cookbook.

8 oz ground veal

1 tbsp oil

1 onion sliced

1/4 tsp garlic grated or minced

1/4 tsp ginger grated

Cooking Up Our Fall Pumpkin Harvest

For the first time this year, I planted a couple of pumpkin seeds during spring in our garden. We were super excited to see lots of flowers, huge prickly leaves and a couple of fabulous tasting pumpkins grow in our small pumpkin patch. I saved the seeds from an acorn squash we bought last fall. You too can try growing pumpkins next year with the seeds you save up from this season.

Steamed veggies with white sauce + Perks & Contests from @DisneyJuniorCA

I am super excited to be part of Disney Junior Mom Ambassadors and to bring you the good news and special perks from Disney Junior for March.

Disney Junior English will be available for us to preview for the whole month of March for FREE if we have any of these TV service providers *  You don’t have to have Disney Junior in your TV package to take advantage of this preview.  Find out which channel to tune into using the channel finder.

*Bell, Rogers, Shaw Cable, Shaw Direct, Cogeco, TELUS, SaskTel, Westman, Mitchell Seaforth Cable, Source Cable, Cable Cable, Videotron, MTS, TbayTel, Citywest Cable.

A contest from Disney Junior: 
Watch and Win a $500 gift card to shop at any retailer of your choice.

• To enter the contest tune into the Disney Junior channel daily this March between 6-7pm ET and look out for the secret code.  
• Then, visit DisneyJunior.ca and enter the contest on the same day with the daily Secret Code.  
• There will be a new secret code and a chance to win every day starting March 4th

Don’t forget to set your PVR so you don’t miss the code, while watching the commercial-free programming airing during the watch and win times.  

Keep some healthy snacks like fruits, crackers and cheese with water or juice for your little ones to munch on while they watch TV.  

I like to serve healthy foods like this steamed vegetables with white sauce.  To make the white sauce you will need...
1 tbsp flour
1 tbsp butter
1/2 cube Knorr vegetable or chicken stock
1 cup of milk

Heat the butter, then add the flour and wish.  Add the stock cube crushed and keep whisking.  Then add milk and whisk well till there are no lumps and it is smooth.  
Pour the white sauce over the steamed vegetables or serve it warm as a dip and enjoy.  

The upcoming March break will be We Love our Toys Week at Disney Junior.  From March 11th to 15th, 6-7pm ET we can watch back-to-back episodes of Doc McStuffins with Toy Story shorts between them.  This will lead into an exciting network premier of “Toy Story” on Saturday, March 16, at 6pm ET. 

Disclosure: I am part of the Disney Junior Mom program and receive special perks as a part of my affiliation.  All rights reserved on mentioned photographs and opinion of the written content Createwithmom © 2011 - 2013. Please Ask First

Beans with almonds

“The I Love Trader Joe’s Vegetarian Cookbook” is the third vegetarian/vegan-themed cookbook from Kris Holechek Peters.
The book has 150 delicious, budget-friendly vegetarian (and vegan) options from breakfast to dinner and everything in between.  Some examples of recipes in the book are Pineapple Upside-Down Pancakes, Herbed Garlic Polenta Fries, Tuscan Tomato Soup, Tempeh Tacos and Pumpkin Spice Cobbler.  
I am not aware of TJ's or Trader Joe's myself, however the author believes that this company has quality food without GMOs, hydrogenated fats or food colouring.   This book is independently authored and published, and is not affiliated or associated with Trader Joe’s® Company.
 
I got to know a bit more about Rennet after reading this book.  Rennet is an ingredient found in cheese, which could have been derived from either animal intestine or microbial plants.  I don't buy cheese that has Rennet because the labels do not mention the source of Rennet.  Knowing this source of Rennet is important for vegetarian and people who have religious dietary restrictions.  The author says, that TJ's solves this problem by labelling the source of Rennet in the cheese that is sold there. 
Anyone with TJ's close by and would like to make vegan meals with fewer ingredients will benefit from this book.  

We enjoyed this Almond glazed green beans recipe from the book.
1 tbsp unsalted butter
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp cane sugar 
4 cups green beans
1/4 cup sliced almonds
salt and pepper *

* I didn't add salt or pepper and halved the recipe.  
In a large sauté pan, over medium heat add the butter, then whisk the soya sauce and sugar.  Add the beans and cook covered in low heat till the beans are cooked.  Sprinkle the almonds on top and serve.

All rights reserved on mentioned photographs and opinion of the written content Createwithmom © 2012. Please Ask First

Carrots from our garden and sweet carrot dessert

Carrots from our garden this summer.  I put some seeds in directly in the soil a few weeks before the last frost.  We enjoyed these delicious carrots in the beginning of summer. 

Children love pulling and digging out the carrots themselves.  Carrot plants are beautiful foliage and are wonderful border plants.  It is healthy to eat carrots just on its own.  We like making this delicious dessert with carrots and milk, it is known as carrot halwa or carrot pudding.    

4 to 5 big carrots (if grated it will be about 2 cups)

2 cups milk

3 cardamom pods ground

2 to 3 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp ghee 

1 tbsp nuts 

1 tbsp raisins

Mince the cleaned carrots with the milk in a blender.  Cook the milk carrot mince with the cardamom and sugar until it is well cooked.  

When the milk evaporates and the carrots are well cooked it will become vibrant in colour.  Add ghee, nuts and raisins and sauté for a few minutes.  

Add more sugar if needed depending on your taste.  Serve warm or cold.

All rights reserved on photographs and written content Createwithmom © 2012. Please Ask First

Fresh from the Field Riverdale farm event

Did you know 60% of Ontario's younger generation is unaware of where their food comes from?  As a reason, Farmers Feed Cities has taken initiative to educate people about farms.  My family and I were invited to Riverdale farm to learn about farm life, visit the farm animals, to play interactive games and to speak with farmers.

Cooked asparagus side dish

1 bunch asparagus

2" water

1/2 tsp salt to preference

1/2 tbsp butter

1/4 tsp pepper optional

Remove the woody bottom of the asparagus it will snap easily or we can peel the tough part of the  asparagus stalk using a vegetable peeler.  

Put the asparagus in boiling salted water.  When it is cooked to preference drain it out of the water.  Place it in a serving dish with butter, put more salt and pepper if needed and serve.

All rights reserved on photographs and written content Createwithmom © 2012. Please Ask First

Sweet potato snack

2 to 3 sweet potatoes

2 tbsp fresh coconut grated

1 to 2 tbsp brown sugar

Boil the sweet potatoes till it is tender. When it is cool, remove the peel. Mix the coconut with the brown sugar and add it to the sweet potatoes.

Make into balls, then garnish with the coconut sugar mixture and serve. This is served as a snack.

All rights reserved on photographs and written content Createwithmom © 2011. Please Ask First

Zucchini plant and sandwich

I stuffed this sandwich with this delicious zucchini omelette.

You need...

1 cup zucchini grated, drain and squeeze out the water

3 eggs

pepper and salt to taste

1 tbsp fresh herbs optional

1 green chillie without seeds chopped optional

1 to 2 tbsp oil

bread slices

butter to spread on the bread slices

Beat everything together and leave aside. With help from an adult heat the oil and fry the mixture in medium high heat, when it easy to flip cook the other side. The omelette should be moist but not runny. When it is a little cool place it in between two slices of bread that is buttered and serve. Toasting the bread is optional.

Some pictures of the zucchini plant from this Summer. We enjoyed a few, but there was too much rain so not every flower that bloomed produced fruit.

The stem that is holding the flower is the vegetable, it was amazing how they grow. It was easy to remove the fruit with a pair of scissors or shears instead of breaking it off.

Many people stuff these flower and batter fry, which I haven't tried.

All rights reserved on photographs and written content Createwithmom © 2011. Please Ask First

Home Grown Eggplant Casserole

1 big Italian eggplant

1/4 tsp turmeric

1/4 tsp salt

oil to pan fry

Beetroot plant and curry

Beetroot plants grown from a seed make beautiful border plants that are edible. It is easy to care for these and can also be planted on pots after frost.

The flowers grown beside are marigold.

to make the curry

1 1/2 cups beetroot cut

2 tbsp oil

2 tbsp onion

1/4 tsp mustard seeds optional

1/2 tsp chillie powder adjust to taste

1/4 tsp turmeric powder

1/4 tsp garam masala or cumin seeds ground

1/2 tsp salt to taste

1 cup of beetroot leaves chopped can be tossed in with this

Cut the beetroot into matchsticks or small.

Heat oil add mustard seeds if using then sauté the onion and then add the beetroot with spices. Cook covered on low heat till it is soft. If adding beet leaves add halfway which is about 5 to 8 minutes into cooking.

Here is another recipe for beetroots. These beetroot sandwich that are perfect finger food for snacks and parties.

All rights reserved on photographs and written content Createwithmom © 2011. Please Ask First

Stir fried broccoli

2 tbsp oil

1/4 tsp mustard seeds

2 cups of broccoli diced

2 tbsp onion chopped

1 tbsp curry leaves optional

1 tbsp coconut grated

1/4 tsp turmeric

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp chillie powder or chillie flakes to taste

Mix the broccoli with all the ingredients, except oil and mustard seeds.

Heat oil and add mustard seeds. Then add the mixture and stir fry broccoli for a few minutes and turn off the heat. Keep it covered until it is served, it will cook on it's own steam.

For variation add 1 tsp maldive fish.

This recipe is from torviewtoronto. An adult's help is need to cook and to cut the ingredients. This is a healthy delicious way to have broccoli.

All rights reserved on photographs and written content Createwithmom © 2011. Please Ask First

Visiting the local animal farm with children

I would encourage everyone to take their children to visit farm animals. It would be a wonderful experience for children to pet and feed these friendly animals.

Children would love this experience of nature and become curious and interested in learning more about these animals and how we are connected to them.

You can talk to your children about how horses, cows, goats, sheep, chicken etc are important to us. Talk a little about how horses are used as carriages, cows that give us milk that in turn becomes cheese and yogurt, goats milk, sheep wool, chicken eggs, about manure and its importance for plants that make food for us. Understanding that things are part of a cycle and the need for respecting it should be taught at a young age.

Have fun with your children when visiting the local animal farms that will teach children many valuable lessons and inspire their creativity.

All rights reserved on photographs and written content Createwithmom © 2011. Please Ask First

Rice flakes

1 cup rice flakes flattened or beaten rice

2 cups cold water

2 tbsp oil

1/4 tsp mustard seeds

1/4 tsp fennel seeds

1/4 tsp cumin seeds

1/4 tsp turmeric

1/4 tsp salt

2 tbsp onion chopped

1 green chillie chopped without seeds

1/4 cup carrot sliced

2 tbsp coriander leaves optional garnish

Wash the rice flakes with cold water and squeeze the water out and leave aside.

Heat oil add the seeds one at a time then add all the ingredients and washed rice flakes and saute for a few minutes till the rice flakes are cooked.

Garnish with coriander leaves and serve warm.

Here is another version.

All rights reserved on photographs and written content Createwithmom © 2011. Please Ask First

Carrot salad

Simple to make salad with carrots you need...

1 cup carrots

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1 tbsp onion chopped thinly

1 green chillie diced optional

lemon juice or tomatoes to taste

Grate the carrots carefully and toss it with salt, pepper, onion, green chillie and tomatoes or lemon juice.

If adding tomatoes add without the seeds and skin of the tomato. Dice the tomato thinly and don't add lemon juice. Green chillie can be omitted or ask an adult to help deseed and chop the green chillie finely. Ask an adult to help chop the onions as well.

Enjoy the carrot salad as a side dish or as a cold salad.

All rights reserved on photographs and written content Createwithmom © 2011. Please Ask First

Puri

Puri is an Indian fried bread, it can be served with jam, chutneys or curries.

You need...

1 cup whole wheat atta flour

1/2 cup flour

2 tsp rice flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ajwain or carom seeds optional

water

1 to 2 tsp oil

oil for frying 1"

First knead all the ingredients using a little bit of water at a time to make a smooth ball. Then divide into small balls and roll it thin without dents.

For this part you will need the help of an adult.

Heat oil in high heat and fry puris one at a time. When puri is put into the oil it will puff up. Pour oil on top or press lightly and it will puff up.

Turn the other side and fry till the puri is golden brown this will only take a minute or two. Remove from oil and put into a paper towel to absorb oil.

Recipe is from Torviewtoronto.

All rights reserved on photographs and written content Createwithmom © 2011. Please Ask First