Hola my friends!  Are you ready to take a trip to the land of the Incas?  I hope so, because this week we are heading to Peru! Did you know that Peruvian cuisine is the most famous cuisine in South America and the most diverse in the world?  It’s not surprising because the history that has made this cuisine so diverse dates back as far as the Incas and pre-Incas.  Peruvian cuisine also finds its influences from Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Basque, African, Italian and British immigrants. The main staples of the Incas and pre-Incas were corn, rice, potatoes, kiwicha and most specifically quinoa.  In fact, the quinoa crops were thought to be sacred!   Although quinoa looks like a grain and cooks to the same consistency as a grain, it is actually a fruit that comes from the same family as spinach, beets and Swiss chard, which means it is high in fibre, gluten free and easy to digest.  You’ll also be glad to know that it is extremely high in protein, vitamins and minerals.  Now that’s what I call a power food! If you’ve never tried quinoa and are not sure how to cook it, then you may be inspired to do so by checking out this simple recipe for Peruvian-style Grilled Chicken with Inca Salad. Stay tuned to Chicken Feeds because next week we are heading to the last destination of our 5-week culinary adventure.  You don’t want to miss it!

Well folks, it’s that time of year again!  The nights are getting longer and the air is cool and crisp leaving us all in a little bit of a funk knowing that the cold weather is on its way.  But with the cooler weather also comes one of the best days of the year, Halloween!  Although Halloween is really a time for kids to dress up and go trick or treating, many adults like to take advantage of this day to host or attend Halloween costume parties.  I mean really, what’s more fun than seeing your friends and family dressed up in costume? I love costume parties, especially the themed ones such as the worst 80’s costume or dress up as your favourite 1950’s movie star.  Whatever the theme is, if you are hosting a party then you will need to feed your guests.  So here are some ideas on how to use some of the great recipes from our website and give them a Halloween twist, simply by changing their names to something SPOOKY!

1. Witchy Wings – using the Orange and Pecan Hot Wings recipe – these are great because they can be cooked in batches and kept warm in the oven.
2. Ghostly Eyeballs – using the Creamy Swedish-style Meatballs recipe – this recipe is made using a crock pot.  Keep a few shot glasses filled with toothpicks near the crock pot, that way your guests can plop some meatballs on a plate and use the toothpicks to eat them!
3. Mummified Chicken – using the Salad Rolls recipe – if any of your guests are watching their waist lines, they will truly enjoy this healthy low-carb recipe.
4. Monster Sludge – using the Hot Spinach & Chicken Dip (Slow Cooker) recipe - this dip can be served with raw vegetables of your choice, pita wedges, corn chips, sliced baguette and crackers.  It’s really up to you!

We have a little tradition in my house called “Forced Family Fun”, or “FFF” for short. It means a day when mommy or daddy decide that some wacked out idea of an event is forced upon our child and/or whoever happens to be around at the time.  Usually, it turns out that the kids like it more than even we do and once we get them there, they never want to leave. Case in point: a visit to the chicken farm.  A few phone calls garnered an invitation to Geb’s chicken breeding farm just outside of Stratford, Ontario and the eye rolling was ignored.  We timed the trip to see the baby chicks just days old and I was really curious to see how the operation worked and how the chicks were treated and handled (though these particular chickens are raised to breed the eggs that will be our dinner and necessarily directly dinner, just to be clear). What we found was a warm, clean, bright barn, housing chicks that were free running, had access to unlimited food and water and a farmer who was confident in his process and kind to the chicks. Geb explained that it was in his best interest to keep the chicks fed and safe, alive and well. No, he did not name the hundreds, no he did not mourn the few that may die; that was “just nature”. The kids got to hold a few and watch others skitter around the barn, they even got to hold some grain in their hands and have the chicks peck.  Some followed us around the barn, clearly unafraid. I am a big proponent of the idea that a child needs to make the decision for themselves about what they will eat. To go with that, there needs to be a complete understanding of how food is grown and raised and that, yes, it dies for our dinner.  Age appropriate details go along with this knowledge.  Each human must choose for themselves what they are comfortable with in terms of what it takes to feed them. Then we stopped at a local, family farm that raises chickens for their own consumption.  In a perfect world, I wish we could all do this so the lesson becomes even more pure. However, here the experience was the same, the farmer loved her flock as best she could (these birds were housed outside and she did admit that there was “significant loss” because of it) and then they became dinner. The lesson was complete. We city kids had a better understanding of where our food comes from and what kinds of sacrifice it takes to get meals on the table from the ground up. I was curious to see what the result of this trip would be vis-a-vis how our family would approach the barbecued chicken that was on the menu for dinner.  Each member of this fully aware family made their own private peace with the topic and enjoyed all the bounty, including the chicken, that made up dinner and we haven’t looked back. It ‘s all a matter of personal choice resulting from a little bit of FFF.

A good cutting board is a staple in any kitchen. But with so many kinds of cutting boards, which one is the best one for you? Ultimately, it’s really a question of preference, as all boards have pros and cons. You may also find it useful to have more than one cutting board for versatility. A great tip, no matter what kind of cutting board you have, is to place a damp towel underneath the board to prevent it from moving around your countertop while in use. Here’s a quick fact sheet on the most popular types of cutting boards to help you decide what’s best in your kitchen: Plastic As the most reasonably priced of cutting boards, many people tend to favour plastic. It’s also perceived as non-porous, meaning that bacteria doesn’t get absorbed into the board and can be washed away with a good scrub of soap and sanitizer. It should be noted however, that softer plastic boards can be scored easily by sharp knives allowing bacteria to harbour in those grooves, even after a good wash. But seeing as plastic boards are quite economical, it’s easy for them to be replaced once deep knife scores become more prevalent. They are also user-friendly in terms of being quite lightweight and dishwasher safe. Wood Wood cutting boards have several benefits, the most popular being that many will “self-heal.” This means any small scores on the board you might cause with your knife will likely close up on their own as the wood contracts and expands. Wood also has natural antiseptic properties. Many reports refute that wood absorbs and retains bacteria, stating that if anything does get absorbed it will subsequently be trapped in the wood grain and will die off. Wood boards should not be placed in the dishwasher as they can warp. These boards tend to be the most expensive of cutting boards and tend to be heavy. Wood boards however, excel in terms of longevity if used properly. Glass Glass boards are quite durable, relatively inexpensive, do not retain any bacteria or germs once washed, are dishwasher safe, and are quite attractive to look at. They can also serve double duty in protecting your countertops from hot pots and pans. The biggest con to a glass board is that your knives have the potential to be damaged as glass is harder than steel. If used incorrectly you have the potential of damaging not only the knife but also the cutting board itself, chipping some of the glass into any food being cut. Whichever cutting board you choose, always remember that sanitation is the key. It’s best to have a separate board for your raw meats, and another for your vegetables and other foods to avoid cross contamination.

Here we are, already at week 3 of our culinary adventure!  I hope you’ve enjoyed your journey so far because we have few more exciting countries to visit.   This week, I suggest you get your chop sticks out because we are heading to Japan! Japanese cuisine is one of my favourites.  Not only is it very healthy but it uses a variety of sweet, salty, sour and bitter flavours.  Each dish is unique in flavour and texture, from sticky rice, to miso soup and crunchy tempura vegetables, you are sure to find a dish to please your mood.  My favourite texture in Japanese cuisine comes from sesame seeds.  I really enjoy the slight bitter flavour and the crunch they add to certain dishes. Sesame seeds come in two colors, white or black and are chalked full of nutritional health benefits.  High in fibre and low in sodium, these tiny little seeds are also a good source of copper, magnesium, calcium, zinc and vitamin B. In Japanese cooking, sesame seeds are often sprinkled on rice as a seasoning or used to give meats a crispy outer coating, as done in this Sesame Crusted Chicken with Wasabi Cream Sauce dish.  But before you can unlock this flavorsome recipe, you’ll need to use the secret password “Open Sesame”.

Although it doesn’t happen often, from time to time you will get that last minute phone call from friends or family who just happen to be in town and would like to drop by for a visit.  And, out of the goodness of your heart, you ask them if they’ll be staying for dinner.  So what are you going to feed them at the last minute?  No need to panic! Having to whip up dinner at the last minute shouldn’t be stressful nor should it mean ordering out from your local fast food restaurant.  In fact, there are plenty of healthy “fast food” options available at your local grocery store.  Here are my suggestions. Rotisserie chicken You’ve probably bought one or two of these before for a quick mid-week dinner.  These roasted chickens are a great and healthy way to save you some time in the kitchen.  Not only are they full of flavour but they can be purchased whole or in pieces. *Food safety tip: always make sure that the chicken you purchase, fresh or roasted, is the last item you pick up before heading to the cash. Prepared green salad These salads come in so many varieties that you can’t go wrong.   Depending on the type of salad you purchase, you may want to jazz it up a little.  Try adding some grape tomatoes and toss in some pre-shredded carrots or sunflower seeds. Crusty whole wheat/grain rolls Your guests are likely to add butter to these, so stick with the healthier whole wheat or whole grain versions. Many other healthy “fast food” options are available at your local grocery store, so next time you are out doing your groceries; make a mental note of them.  Not only will you be well prepared for those last minute dinner guests but you’ll even save yourself some time tidying up the kitchen!

This week we are off to a place that would have Julia Child shouting BON APPÉTIT!!!  We are off to France! From ratatouille, to crêpes, to Coq au Vin, French cuisine always combines the freshest of ingredients.  Fragrant herbs and spices, combined with seasonal produce and creative cooking techniques make French cuisine a one of a kind palate-pleasing experience!  It’s no wonder Julia couldn’t resist it! But you don’t need to be a five star chef to create these wonderful meals.  In fact, There are many traditional French dishes that you can prepare at home with the help of a recipe and a few cooking techniques that are available on-line or in your favourite cookbooks.  My suggestion, keep it simple but flavourful. Here is a mouth watering recipe for a French classic – Coq au Vin. (Recipe by Johanne Neeteson) 18 skinless chicken thighs ½ cup (125 mL) brown rice flour 5 large carrots, peeled and sliced 5 stalks celery, sliced 5 garlic cloves, smashed with flat end of large knife, peeled and minced 2 cups (500 mL) pearl onions, stem end and tips cut off and peeled 2 cups (500 mL) cremini mushrooms ¼ cup (60 mL) cognac 2 cups (500 mL) white wine 2 ¼ cups (560 mL) low sodium chicken broth 8 slices thick bacon 12 sprigs thyme 12 sprigs parsley 2 bay leaves 2 tbsp (30 mL) olive oil 2 tbsp (30 mL) butter Sea salt (to taste) Pepper (to taste)

1. Put flour in re-sealable bag. Pace 6 chicken thighs at a time in bag and shake to coat pieces.
2. Heat 1 tbsp of olive oil and 1 tbsp of butter in large frying pan and brown chicken pieces on medium high heat, about 6 at a time, on each side. It’s best to not put too many in at a time as the chicken will not brown as well. Place browned chicken pieces on plate. Repeat until all chicken is browned.
3. Put remaining olive oil and butter in a large pot and heat on medium.
4. Slice bacon into about 1 inch (2.5 cm) pieces and brown until crispy in pot. Remove bacon from pot and add to plate of chicken.
5. Add carrots, celery, pearl onions, and mushrooms. Sprinkle vegetables with a little sea salt and fresh ground pepper. The salt will make the vegetables sweat and help them caramelize. Sauté until softened and slightly browned or caramelized. This brings out more flavour in the vegetables.
6. Add cognac and continue to sauté for a couple of minutes.
7. Add white wine to pot and bring to a gentle boil over medium low heat for about 4 minutes.
8. Add chicken broth, spices, chicken and bacon and mix chicken in with vegetables. Cook covered on medium heat for about 40 minutes.
9. Take off lid and cook an additional roughly 10 to 15 minutes to reduce liquid and until chicken is thoroughly cooked and a meat thermometer inserted into the chicken registers 165°F (74°C).
10. Remove sprigs of thyme, parsley and bay leaves before serving.
11. Serve with mashed potatoes and your favourite vegetable or salad. Cook and mash the potatoes with the skin on for extra flavour, fibre and nutrients.

“You don't have to cook fancy or complicated masterpieces - just good food from fresh ingredients.”

- Julia Child -

By six to nine months of age, a baby will start to look at your food with salivating envy. Assuming that everything on your table is wholesome, unprocessed, single ingredient (herbs, garlic, onions, butter, extra virgin olive oil don’t count!) foods, you really do want your baby to be eating a mashed up version of what the rest the family is eating by the age of one year. That gives you between three and six months to try one food at a time, make sure that there are no allergies, develop eating habits and a wide ranging palate for your very own little angel. At about nine or ten months, you will want to start introducing protein and using a pincer grip so angel can throw food at you, drop some for the cat, see if it sticks to the wall and occasionally get some in for nourishment. Chicken is a good place to start and I always prefer organic for infants if possible. Roasting a whole chicken is ridiculously simple as you can see in my podcast and chopping up bits for baby and freezing them in tiny portions makes the protein step a breeze. But what about when you are visiting friends or relatives or if you’re in a restaurant? Should you tote along baby food in a jar? Sure, if that’s what works for you but I found the coolest wee tool that fits in a diaper bag and saved me some headache. It is called a baby food mill (from Kidco) and it works just like the big manual potato ricers that we use in commercial kitchens. It is about the size of a baby bottle and has a hand crank that mashes whatever mommy is eating into just -right mush for baby. I can clearly remember taking my 10month old to Greek Town in Toronto and ordering chicken souvlaki with roasted potatoes. I mashed them up together and watched as my daughter watched the mixture come out like modeling clay and scooped it up with her fingers in fascination. Right away, the kid grunted for a second round and I went for it! Adding some tatziki to smooth out the paste and add a little flavor. Wouldn’t you know, she thought this was even better than the last serving! Never again would I worry “what to bring for the baby” the healthiest of items in view went in to that little machine and set the stage for a kid who eats everything. Whew!

How many people will you be for Thanksgiving dinner this year? Well, if your family and friends live nearby then your Thanksgiving dinner will probably include a group of people who will no doubt be fighting over who gets that second turkey leg or who will be carefully watching how much of that stuffing is being served on someone else’s plate.  Well, at least that’s what it’s like in my family. However, if your plans are going to include a quiet evening, just the two of you, then you’ll probably want to keep your dinner fairly simple, healthy and flavourful.  So why not try a simple roasted chicken recipe?  Not only will you have fewer dishes to do, but you’ll have just enough leftover chicken to make yourself a sandwich or two the next day.  That’s plenty to give thanks for right there! But don’t forget that the most important thing you can be thankful for is being able to enjoy a warm dinner in the company of someone special.  Remember, not everyone is as fortunate. Here’s wishing you all a Happy Thanksgiving and I hope you enjoy this recipe for Roast Chicken with Brown Lentil and Winter Squash Stuffing!

Are your taste buds ready for a culinary adventure?  Well, they better be, because starting today the Chicken Farmers of Canada will be visiting one country per week over the next five weeks to see what chicken dishes they are serving up! We’ll be heading to five very exotic and historic countries that will have you inspired to try new flavours and cooking techniques!  So, if your every day cooking is getting a little lifeless, then follow us on this gastronomic adventure that is guaranteed to spice up your life! Today, we are off to a sandy country where the food is truly one of a kind.  We are off to Morocco! MOROCCO Moroccan cuisine is one of the most popular in the world, and with good reason!  Each dish that is created combines a blend of Berber, Moorish, Arab, French, Mediterranean, Spanish, Iberian, African and Jewish influences. The herbs and spices used in traditional Moroccan cuisine are anise star, cinnamon, coriander, cumin, cayenne, ginger, paprika, saffron, turmeric, parsley and mint.  Along with these spices, many of the dishes find their flavours from the additions of dried fruits such as dates, dried apricots, prunes, raisins, figs, oranges and preserved lemons.  Honey, harissa, almonds, walnuts and olives are also widely used. Wow, talk about a colourful palette! Meat dishes, such as chicken, are often cooked in a tagine which is a clay pot with a closed narrow lid that keeps steam in the dish in order to slow cook the meat and any added ingredients.  Think of it as a slow cooker minus the plug and temperature settings.  In fact, if you don’t own a tagine, you’ll find plenty of mouth watering Moroccan recipes which can be prepared in a slow cooker, such as this Moroccan-style Ground Chicken and Couscous recipe.  Enjoy! Fact: Did you know that chicken is the most widely consumed meat in Morocco?

Bestselling cookbook author and Food Network personality Theresa Albert is back hosting another episode of our exclusive video podcast. We’ve partnered with Theresa to show Canadians how easy it is to make simple, healthy and tasty meals at home that’s good for your budget as well as your overall health. In this episode, Theresa shows us how easy it is to make one of the quintessential comfort foods- chicken soup. With the magic of a slow cooker, just add some of your favourite vegetables for a soup that outshines anything in a can, or keep the stock as a kitchen staple. Be sure to check out Theresa’s blog post, Chicken Soup, and read about how you can turn that homemade stock into a fabulous Balsamic Jus, great for fish or chicken.

Be Food Safe is the new identity for promoting food safety in products and services, throughout the food chain in Canada. Based on the key messages of clean, separate, cook and chill, the new logos and colours are designed attract attention and maintain a common look and feel across the food supply spectrum. Grocery shoppers that were surveyed reacted positively to the new Be Food Safe icons and endorsed the idea of placing these icons on food packaging, and of making the information sheets as accessible as possible, including in grocery stores, community centres and other places they frequent on a regular basis. Consumers all over believe it is “very important” to educate the public on safe food handling practices. The Canadian Partnership for Consumer Food Safety Education, the body behind the Be Food Safe campaign, created this creative educational platform with input from consumers and food companies. Members of the Partnership have an opportunity to license the colourful, consumer tested, Be Food Safe platform for use in internal and external communication programming. Using the same graphics, across providers and up and down the supply chain, will give them greater impact. Be Food Safe The four easy lessons of clean, separate, cook and chill can prevent harmful bacteria from making your family sick. Clean Bacteria can spread throughout the kitchen and get on hands, cutting boards, knives, and counter tops. Frequent cleaning can keep that from happening. And always wash hands with warm water and soap for 20 seconds before and after handling food. Separate Cross-contamination is how harmful bacteria spread. Keep raw meat, poultry, and seafood and their juices away from foods that won’t be cooked. Cook Even for experienced cooks, the improper heating and preparation of food means bacteria can survive. Use a food thermometer – you can’t tell if food is cooked safely by how it looks. Chill Bacteria multiply fastest at temperatures between 4°C (40°F) and 60°C (140°F), so chilling food properly is one of the most effective ways to reduce the risk of foodborne illness. Research findings by the Canadian Partnership for Consumer Food Safety Education reveal that despite the fact that a majority of adults feel confident they understand and follow safe food handling procedures, a sizeable number do not consistently follow certain safe food handling practices. Some examples:

• Only 15% of people consistently use a food thermometer. Using a food thermometer is important – you can’t tell food has been cooked safely by how it looks.
• Over half of people say they defrost meat and poultry at room temperature at least “sometimes.” This practice can allow bacteria to grow on food.
• Only 50% of consumers reported washing their hands for 20 seconds, before and after handling food. Clean hands and surfaces often to reduce the risk of foodborne illness.