Okanagancook

Some good ones we like are stuffed mushrooms (bechamel sauce with either crab, spinach or minced mushrooms....Time Life Cookbook: Provincial France); Grilled Texas Garlic Toast; Grilled tomato halves with basil oil drizzle; double baked potatoes from CI; baked onions from Julia or just a nice lightly dressed Caesar Salad. We cooked a thick steak the other day and tried the flip in the pan every minute method until the right temp was reached....worked out well and not too messy.

I guess my approach was from the nutritional stand point, which is my training. I.e., how many calories will they eat keeping in mind that the recommended percentages are 55 to 60% carbohydrates (beans, rice, tortillas, veggies and cookies); 15% - 20% protein (beans and pork) and 20-30% fat (dressing, baked goods and fat in pork/tortillas). Total number of calories is an estimate based on prior experience with diet histories (assessing what athletes say they eat at various meals).

Hi Melissa: Dip Recipes: 1. Simple 1/2 cup salsa; 1/2 cup light sour cream; 1/4 cup chopped fresh coriander/cilantro........a mexican flare and you can add toasted cumin if you like 2. Middle 1/4 up reduced fat cream cheese, softened; 2 tablespoons buttermilk; 2 tablespoons scallions; 1 tablespoon dill or parsley or cilantro for that matter; 1 tsp. prepared horseradish or more to taste; salt and pepper 3. Upscale 10 oz package frozen chopped spinach (squeeze dry); 1-14 0z can artichoke hearts, drained...process these two in a food processor until coarsely chopped Add 1/2 cup light mayo (Hellmans is the best tasting); 1 tablespoon fresh dill or basil or 1/2 tsp dried; 1 small clove garlic minced; salt and pepper....process until mixed then stir in 1 1/4 cups low fat yogurt (2%). Check seasoning. These can all be made the day before and will usually taste better if they are left for 24 hours to develop more flavour....you probably know that. Yields: 1 cup dry rice will yield 2 1/2 cups cooked rice; 1 cup dry beans will yield 2 1/2 to 3 cups cooked beans. I don't think you need to worry about going more low fat that the dressings and dips. Corn tortillas don't tend to be as easy to eat nor as popular. Some flour tortillas can be low fat....try to stay around 3 grams of fat for every 100 calories. For example a tortilla that is 150 calories, 4.5 grams of fat would constitute a "low fat" choice. But with the flour tortillas, if you can very lightly toast them over the gas outlet just to take the "raw taste" out of them....not more than 3 to 4 seconds per side over the open flame. You can do this ahead also and wrap the tortillas in plastic. As far as the fruit goes, I wouldn't go more than apples or if grapes are on sale, that would be plenty....just to give a choice. Having a chocolate something is a good idea cheers, Heather

Hi Melissa, I think chips would not be the best choice for athletes....the veggies and dip (something made with lite sour cream/yogurt blend) would be more appropriate. As for rice, I would plan on 1 to 1.5 cups cooked per person; beans would be about 1/2 to 1 cup cooked per person. If the tortillas are 8 inch, you will likely need at least two per person (these won't go to waste if you have extras because you can freeze them). Maybe some fruit like apples or bananas or even canned fruit as an alternative choice to the cookies and brownies (my choice would be the rice krispy treats.....athletes love these). Also, if I may, try to find a lower fat dressing for the coleslaw. Before retirement I was a sports nutritionist and designed many a ''training table". Hope that helps. Heather

We had a party of ten with small plates (hot) and cold platters: Hot Plates were: BBQ Spare Ribs Languedoc Style with sweet & Sour Onion Raisin Relish from Paula Wolfret's Cooking of SW France....very yummy The Sweet Potato Agnolotti from The French Laundry.....it's true about how they melt in your mouth....could only hear "mmmm, oh...sooo good, amazing, can we have some more please" Duck Roulade from Charcuterie served over the Warm Lentil Salad from Wolfret's SW France book...unfortunately the duck got over done while I was comparing old and new world Cab.Sav./Merlot blends. Cold Platters were: Fresh Oysters Fresh Veggies with dip Cheese and assorted meats Shrimp in dill mayo Marinated vegetables Baked Eggplant from Marcella Hazen's Italian Kitchen....very, very good Green Peppers & Anchovy Tuscan Chicken liver pate Mushrooms & Artichoke Hearts (marinated) Martha's Bread Sticks Homemade Bread Chocolate for dessert

Thank you so much for the information. I contacted the Canadian distributor and I think that unit will work really well for me.

I have looking for a second on the counter oven and I looked at the CADCO website and am interested in their 120 volt models, like the 1/2 size convection OV-013. Do you have experience with these machines? I presume they ship to Canada? Thanks for any info you can give.

Craig Claiborne New York Times Cookbook....absolutely fabulous. Every basic recipe you need to start out.

We have two Ambrosia trees on our property and they are indeed a lovely apple. One nice thing is that they don't go brown very quickly at all....perfect for salads.

Thanks for all the information about stuffers. I purchased a Northern Industrial Vertical 15 lb. Had it shipped to Canada, $304 CD. My sweetie made a nice oil finished wooden base for it. Works a treat when placed on a non-skid shelf pad. We made Spicy Italian and Sweet Italian with friends who had never made sausage before. Works really well; easy to clean; and I store it downstairs covered by a pillow case.!

Hello, we live here in Naramata and shop in Penticton. The Renasissance Bakery at 146 - 1848 Main Street, Penticton has closed due to, we heard, health issues concerning the owner. The bakery is located in a small mail which also houses By The Sea (only fresh seafood shop in town) and Tony's Meats (he has recently expanded). The mail is completed by the bakery which draws people to the little courtyard for coffee and sweets. The reason for this post is to make people aware of this in case anyone is interested or knows of anyone who would be interested in buying the business...which I believe has been for sale in recent months. We need a good bakery in town.....we're desperate.

We've always vac-packed our casings and frozen them without any problems with them breaking...they are hard to get where we live so have to purchase them in large amounts when we find them.

I make the Chorizo Toluqeno from Rick Bayless "Authentic Mexican" cookbook, page 55. It has pasillas and ancho chiles; coriander, cinnamon, clove, oregano, black pepper, nutmeg, ginger, paprika, cider vinegar and pork/pork fat. I then freeze it in 8 oz portions since that is the quantity he usually calls for in his recipes. It turns out fantastic....just like the sausage we enjoy when in Mexico.

AUSHAK: Boiled leek pastries topped with a simple lamb and tomato sauce and finished with garlic/yogurt sauce and dried mint. An Afghanistan recipe from The Complete Middle East Cookbook by Tess Mallos.

Another option is to hire a Registered Dietitian who can guide you through the process or even compose the labels for you. Check out Dietitians of Canada, "Find a Dietitian".

When a recipe calls for a tablespoon of butter, I weigh it using this website for conversion from volume measure to weight, http://www.ochef.com/837.htm. For example, rather than waiting for your butter to be soft enough to jam into a tablespoon measure, I just weigh out 14 grams of it. I also keep conversion information like this on a sheet of paper taped to the inside of a cupboard, then when I need to know something, I just open the cupboard door and there it is. Other information I put on there is salt to water quantities for different brines I use, etc.

Thanks. Happy Birthday to me!!

I recently cooked a whole loin of venison but I did mine the Cooks Illustrated slow cook method. First I cut the loin in half since it was around 2 feet long. Then I browned them first in a very hot frying pan and put the pan in a 225 degree oven until the internal temp was 120. Rested them for 10 minutes tented with foil and they were wonderfully tender, medium rare the whole way through the meat. I sliced it very thinly. If I knew how to post pictures I would but this is my first post. I will have to figure that out later.