When you don’t always have the time or energy to gather up all the necessary ingredients to make a smoothie, these smoothie cups are your answer for a quick, refreshing drink. When ready for a creamy smoothie, just drop a couple of the frozen cups into a blender with some additional liquid and you’re good to go. For the easiest extraction of the smoothie cups, it’s best to use bendable silicone muffin cups.
Extra credit
Blueberries are a fantastic source of disease-fighting antioxidants, while ricotta cheese provides plenty of satiating protein, and the almonds are brimming with healthy fats.
2 cups (500 mL) unflavoured almond milk (plus extra, for just before using)
2 cups (500 mL) blueberries
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1 cup (250 mL) reduced fat (light) ricotta cheese
2 Tbsp (30 mL) pure maple syrup or honey
1 tsp (5 mL) vanilla extract
1/2 tsp (2 mL) cinnamon
1/3 cup (80 mL) raw almonds
Place all ingredients into blender container in order listed and blend until smooth, about 1 minute.
Divide mixture among 12 medium-sized muffin cups and freeze until solid, about 4 hours.
Unmould smoothie cups, place in airtight container, and return to freezer until ready to use. If you have trouble unmoulding frozen cups, try placing bottom of muffin tin in warm water for several seconds, being careful not to thaw contents.
When ready to make smoothie, place 1 cup (250 mL) almond milk or other liquid of choice and 2 blueberry smoothie cups into blender container; blend until smooth. For most blenders, it’s best to slice smoothie cups into quarters first before placing in blender container.
Serves 6.
Each serving (based on 2 smoothie cups, not including added liquid) contains: 135 calories; 5 g protein; 7 g total fat (1 g sat. fat, 0 g trans fat); 16 g carbohydrates; 2 g fibre; 136 mg sodium
source: "The Big Chill", alive #358, August 2012
Tourtière is, for me, the dish that best represents Québec. It can be traced back to the 1600s, and there’s no master recipe; every family has their own twist. Originally, it was made with game birds or game meat, like rabbit, pheasant, or moose; that’s one of the reasons why I prefer it with venison instead of beef or pork. Variation: If you prefer to make single servings, follow our lead at the restaurant, where we make individual tourtières in the form of a dome (pithivier) and fill them with 5 ounces (160 g) of the ground venison mixture. Variation: You can also use a food processor to make the dough. Place the flour, salt, and butter in the food processor and pulse about ten times, until the butter is incorporated—don’t overmix. It should look like wet sand, and a few little pieces of butter here and there is okay. With the motor running, through the feed tube, slowly add ice water until the dough forms a ball—again don’t overmix. Wrap, chill, and roll out as directed above.
My love of artichokes continues with this classic recipe, one of the best ways to eat this interesting, underrated, and strange vegetable. Frozen artichoke hearts are a time-saving substitute, though the flavour and texture of fresh artichokes are, by far, much superior and definitely preferred.
Cervelle de canut is basically the Boursin of France, an herbed fresh farmer’s cheese spread that’s a speciality of Lyon. The name is kind of weird, as it literally means “silk worker’s brain,” named after nineteenth-century Lyonnaise silk workers, who were called canuts. Sadly, the name reflects the low opinion of the people towards these workers. Happily for us, though, it’s delicious—creamy, fragrant, and fresh at the same time. Cervelle de canut is one of my family’s favourite dishes. It’s a great make-ahead appetizer that you can pop out of the fridge once your guests arrive. Use a full-fat cream cheese for the dish, or it will be too runny and less delicious.