Spice up movie night or lift your spirits during a mid-afternoon energy slump with these popcorn bars full of nutritional goodness. The cardamom and orange zest are the surprise flavour boosters.
4 cups (1 L) popped popcorn
1 1/2 cups (350 mL) rolled oats
1/2 cup (125 mL) roughly chopped almonds
1/2 cup (125 mL) raisins
1/4 tsp (1 mL) ground cardamom
1/4 tsp (1 mL) sea salt
1/2 cup (125 mL) honey
1/4 cup (60 mL) coconut palm sugar or other raw style sugar
1/3 cup (80 mL) unsalted almond butter
1 tsp (5 mL) orange zest
In large bowl combine popcorn, oats, almonds, raisins, cardamom, and salt.
In small saucepan, heat honey and sugar over medium-low heat until sugar has dissolved. Stir in almond butter and orange zest.
Pour honey mixture onto popcorn mixture and stir until all contents are moist.
Line 8 x 8 x 2 in (2 L) square baking pan with wax or parchment paper. Place popcorn mixture into pan and press down firmly. Place in refrigerator for at least 2 hours to harden.
Slice into 12 squares for serving.
Serves 12.
Each serving contains: 199 calories; 4 g protein; 8 g total fat (1 g sat. fat, 0 g trans fat); 31 g total carbohydrates (18 g sugar, 3 g fibre); 52 mg sodium
source: "Popcorn", alive #359, September 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.