Blog / Recipes

Chicken & Vegetable Empanadas

Posted on February 23, 2021

Happy Canadian Agriculture Day!

Thank you to the Canadian farmers who produce safe, nutritious and quality food for us!

To celebrate, I baked these Chicken & Vegetable Empanadas – made with delicious Canadian ingredients like chicken, cheese, mushrooms, eggs, corn, butter and canola oil. The phyllo pastry gives them a light and flaky crust. Enjoy!

Chicken and Vegetable Empanadas

Ingredients

2 T canola oil

1 onion chopped

1 garlic clove, minced

2 boneless chicken breast, diced into ¼” pieces

1 cup corn, fresh or frozen

1 cup finely diced mushrooms

2 T lime juice

1 – 1½ tsp ground cumin

½ tsp ground coriander

pinch salt

pinch pepper

1½ cups shredded cheese (e.g. Old Cheddar, Monterey Jack, or a mix of your favourite cheese)

1 egg, lightly beaten

8 large sheets of phyllo pastry, defrosted and sliced into thirds lengthwise

½ cup butter, melted

Directions

Heat oil over medium heat in a large skillet. Cook the onions until soft and slightly brown (a few minutes). Add garlic and cook for about 1 minute.
Add diced chicken and cook until most of the liquid has evaporated.
Add corn, mushrooms and lime juice. Cook for a few more minutes.
Mix and sprinkle in cumin, coriander, salt and pepper.
Remove from stove and allow to cool.
Pre-heat oven to 350F.
Lay out the phyllo pastry sheets and cover with a damp towel to prevent them from drying out.
Once the chicken mixture has cooled, mix in the cheese and egg.
Take one phyllo sheet at a time and brush with melted butter.
Place 1 T of the chicken filling in the bottom left corner of the phyllo sheet.
Make a triangle by folding up the bottom right edge of the phyllo sheet. Continue folding this way all the way along the phyllo pastry. Don’t worry if the pastry tears, just keep rolling.
Brush the top of the triangle shaped empanada with a bit more butter. Place on a parchment lined baking sheet. Repeat with the rest of the chicken filling.
Bake 20-25 minutes or until the empanadas are a lovely golden brown colour.

Makes about 24 appetizer sized empanadas

9 Traditional Treats to Enjoy During the Lunar New Year

Posted on February 9, 2021

The Chinese Tray of Togetherness – a round tin box with dried fruits, roasted watermelon seeds and other treats for the Lunar New Year celebration.

The Spring Festival, also known as the Lunar New Year, is the most celebrated holiday in Chinese communities worldwide. This year, the first day of the two-week celebration falls on February 12. Many activities are part of the celebration, such as putting up decorations, having a reunion dinner with family, and giving “lucky money” red envelopes.

Aside from these primary activities, assembling the Tray of Togetherness is also an important ritual. The Tray of Togetherness is a red or a black box comprised of six or eight compartments.

Traditionally, sweets are part of the box to bless one to have a sweet life. Like many celebratory foods eaten during this time, each food included in the box bears a homophonic pun with a specific good omen.

The box is presented to guests when they visit the host’s home as a way for the host to pass on luck and blessings. While the pandemic prohibits people from visiting one another, the box is still put together because it also implies luck and fortune will come to the home the year ahead.

What’s inside the Tray of Togetherness

To assemble the box, families generally choose treats related to fortune, family ties and health. Some examples are:

Red watermelon seeds – Red symbolizes happiness, and the word ‘seed’ in Chinese stands for fertility.

Dried candied lotus seed – Also related to fertility, the white lotus seeds carry an additional symbolic meaning: to have many descendants.

Dried candied coconut – Come in the forms of strips and chunks; these imply togetherness, where a family of generations are bonded together.

Dried candied lotus root – The homonym for lotus root is abundance year after year.

Dried candied winter melon – The dried candied winter melon pieces are rectangular strips as if they represent an individual from head to toe. They are a symbol of good growth for children and good health for all.

Dried kumquats – In Chinese, the word kumquat is translated as “gold orange,” which symbolizes luck and wealth.

Other Lunar New Year Foods

Along with the sweets eaten in the Tray of Togetherness, other traditional snacks are part of the celebration, including:

Year Cake (Nian Gao or Chinese Glutinous Rice Cake) – The year cake implies prosperity year after year. It can be enjoyed as a sweet or a savoury item, as a New Year dish, or as an all-year-round food, depending on regional culture.

In Cantonese cuisine, the year cake is enjoyed explicitly during the New Year. Comprised of glutinous rice flour and brown sugar, the year cake is sliced into pieces before serving. Generally, the slices are steamed or pan-fried.

For the pan-fried method, specifically, the year cake slices are dipped into an egg wash before cooking for a crispy exterior and a chewy interior.

Crispy triangles – Like the year cake, crispy triangles can be savoury or sweet, depending on the fillings typically used in the regional culture. From the umami-flavoured filling with Chinese sausages, pork and shitake mushrooms to the sweetness offered by the peanut, sesame and sugar filling, these fillings are wrapped inside a glutinous rice dough before they are deep-fried in a wok.

The crispy triangles resemble the gold-coloured, boat-shaped ingots, a currency used in ancient China. Eating these symbolizes wealth will come generously to one.

Sesame doughnuts – Finally, sesame doughnuts, also known as “laughing dates,” are deep-fried, wheat flour-based crunchy balls. When one takes a bite, the balls look like a laughing mouth, depicting bringing happiness and laughter to the family.

Wishing you and your families a happy and prosperous New Year!

Guest blog written by Novella Lui, RD, MHSc – Novella is a registered dietitian and a nutrition communications strategist who is passionate about creating engaging content for a wide array of audiences. You can find her at www.novellard.com or on Instagram @LiveToNourishRD.

Image sources: Adobe Stock, 699pic.com, gotrip.hk, pixtastock.com

Diabetes-friendly Tacos

Posted on November 13, 2020

To celebrate World Diabetes Day (Nov 14 of each year), I’ve teamed up with my colleague Karen Graham who’s a dietitian, Certified Diabetes Educator and author of three diabetes cookbooks to share some easy and delicious diabetes-friendly recipes.

These tacos are so easy to make and fun to eat! For a change, you can make burritos by using a soft flour tortilla shell instead of a hard taco shell.

Here’s the recipe!

Bean and Meat Filling

Makes 5 cups (1.25 L) (enough for 20 tacos)

1 lb (500 g) lean ground beef

1 cup (250 mL) warm water

1 tsp (5 mL) each: cumin, oregano, paprika and garlic powder

2 tsp (10 mL) chili powder

1/2 tsp (2 mL) black pepper

28 oz (796 mL) can kidney beans or white beans, drained and rinsed

In a medium pot, brown ground beef. Drain off as much fat as you can.
Stir in the water and spice mix. Cook on medium heat for 10 minutes. Add the beans and cook for another 5 minutes. Add extra water if needed to keep moist.

Tacos

To make each taco, you will need:

1 taco shell

1/4 cup (60 mL) Bean and Meat Filling (see above)

1 1/2 Tbsp (22 mL) shredded cheese

Lots of vegetables

Heat the taco shells in the oven at 350F (180C) for 5 minutes.
Into each hot taco shell, put the meat and bean mixture, cheese and vegetables.

Enjoy!

Recipe printed with permission from Karen Graham, RD, CDE – Diabetes Meals for Good Health Cookbook

Check Your Attitude towards Weight & Obesity

Posted on September 6, 2020

Our attitudes towards weight and obesity may be unknowingly biased. This needs to change – not just by primary care health professionals, but also by us.

In a presentation about the new Canadian Adult Obesity Clinical Practice Guidelines, one of the lead authors Dr. Sean Wharton emphasized the importance of recognizing our internal biases against people who are overweight or living with obesity. Wharton challenges health professionals to check their attitude. I think this exercise is valuable for all of us.

Take a look at the three questions below and answer them honestly. The first step in reframing our attitudes is recognizing our own biases.

Do you assume a person’s health characteristics, behaviours and abilities are based on their body size, weight or shape?

Reframe your attitude: People come in different sizes and shapes. Body size, weight and shape are not directly associated with a person’s health, work ethic, willpower, intelligence or skills.

Do you think that everyone with a larger body size or a higher Body Mass Index has obesity and needs to lose weight?

Reframe your attitude: Obesity is a chronic disease where abnormal or excess body fat impairs health. Body Mass Index (BMI) is an indicator of body size and not an indicator of health. Not everyone with a large body size or high BMI has obesity.

Do you believe people with obesity are personally responsible for their condition?

Reframe your attitude: Obesity management isn’t just about eating healthier and being more active. There are many factors beyond a person’s control – such genetics and environmental factors – that can contribute to obesity.

Let’s work to let go of our attitudes. These new Guidelines are just the beginning.

The Science of Comfort Foods

Posted on May 29, 2020

[Image: Piktochart]

Can you believe that we’re into week 11 of quarantine now? We’ve been seeing plenty of homemade comfort food pics posted on Instagram lately. In fact, the hashtag #QuarantineBaking has over 208 THOUSAND posts and the hashtag #ComfortFood has over 7.1 MILLLION posts.

There has been so much about comfort food lately in the news too:

In Toronto, Bradley Harder started the #PandemicPieProject – he’s baked over 200 pies and given them away to members in his community;
In Halifax, Amy Munch who owns Cake Babes, a wedding cake shop, has now baked over 2000 cupcakes and delivered them to front line workers; and
In Italy, an 84-year-old Grandma is on lighting up YouTube, demonstrating her recipe for Lockdown Lasagna.

Here are 4 reasons why you might be reaching for those comfort foods right now.

Watch my 1 minute video below about The Science of Comfort Foods

1 – Comfort foods trigger dopamine

Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that sends messages between the brain cells. Dopamine is all about motivation, reward and pleasure. It gives us a feel-good sensation. So when you eat a comfort food that tastes good and is rewarding, you get a rush of dopamine. Your brain remembers this connection between your behaviour (the comfort food you ate) and the reward (the positive feeling). You may be more motivated to continue that behaviour i.e. eat a comfort food because it gives you that feel-good reward. Some psychology researchers think that even ANTICIPATING eating certain foods generates dopamine. So just THINKING about eating a cinnamon bun or chocolate cake can trigger dopamine!

2 – Comfort foods gives us social connection

As a dietitian, I always say that food unites us. My dad is a chef and to me, food is an expression of love. I remember when Jamie Oliver was here in Toronto in 2015, promoting his new cookbook. When he stood up on stage, he said “Food can be a hug”. Wow, don’t you agree – food can be as comforting as a hug. Some interesting research from the Universities of Tennessee and New York State in 2015 found that comfort foods remind us of our social relationships / and helps us feel less lonesome especially when we are isolated. Comfort foods offer a sense of belonging. So it makes sense that we’re turning to comfort foods during these times of quarantine and physical isolation. On top of that, baking and cooking together offers psychosocial benefits. Think of those virtual dinner parties or virtual cooking classes we’ve been taking – they keep us feeling connected even when we’re not physically together.

3 – Comfort foods are associated with positive memories and nostalgia

Very often, comfort foods remind us of our childhood or home or friends and family. Comfort foods may also be linked to special person like your mom, dad, Nona, Bubbe or Grandma. When we eat comfort foods, it brings pack happy memories from our past. Sometimes even the SMELL of comfort foods can trigger these positive memories. Psychological research shows that smells are powerfully linked to areas in the brain that are associated with memory and emotional experiences

4 – Comfort foods can give us a little more certainty and routine.

In these times of uncertainty, making and eating comfort foods can offer a sense of structure and control. We have control over the foods we are making and eating, and we also have a little more control over how we feel. Our brain tells us that eating that piece of homemade bread or pasta will make us feel good.

If you’re eating for comfort, that’s completely OK. Be mindful of how often and how much. Practice other healthy lifestyle habits to beat stress – try yoga, meditation, a walk with the dog, listening to music or calling a friend. Stay safe and stay well!

Foods to Manage Stress

Posted on May 1, 2020

Can you believe that we’re into week 7 of physical distancing and the COVID quarantine? If you’re feeling stressed, you’re not alone.

In fact, a recent poll by Angus Reid found that 50% of Canadians say their mental health has worsened, feeling worried and anxious.

First of all, please know that there are many support resources available online to help you manage stress and anxiety during these tough times. Regular exercise, meditation and other healthy stress busting behaviours can help. Talk to a health care professional if you need some support.

As a dietitian, here are 5 key nutrients and foods to add to your plate which can help you manage stress.

Watch my TV interview here!

OR watch my 1-minute video clip below.

Carbs, especially whole grain carbs

Carbs help trigger the production of serotonin. This is the feel good chemical in the brain (a neurotransmitter). Serotonin is made in brain from the amino acid tryptophan. This is a small amino acid and has a tough time getting into the brain.

When you eat a meal that’s mostly carbs, it triggers the insulin to clear the bigger amino acids from your bloodstream, allowing tryptophan to get into the brain and make serotonin. Overall, serotonin helps you to feel calm.

Some good whole grain carb choices are:

brown rice
whole wheat bread, whole wheat pasta
quinoa

Vitamin B6

Vitamin B6 also helps our body make serotonin. This vitamin is found in a wide range of foods, so it’s important to eat a variety of foods. Some of the best foods for vitamin B6 are:

chicken, turkey, meat, fish like salmon
chickpeas, pistachio nuts, sunflower seeds
potatoes, bananas, avocados

Magnesium

When we are stressed, our body (adrenal glands) releases cortisol which is a stress hormone. Cortisol actually depletes the body of magnesium. So we need to make sure we’re getting enough magnesium when you’re feeling stressed.

Some of the best foods for magnesium are:

leafy greens like spinach, kale and Swiss chard
nuts and seeds like almonds, pine nuts and sunflower seeds
whole grains like whole wheat bread (Fun fact: whole wheat bread contains 4x more Mg than white bread)
dark chocolate (a 30 g serving offers 15-20% of your daily requirements for magnesium!)

Omega-3 fats

You may already know that omega-3 fats are good for our heart health. But did you know that the animal sources of omega-3 fats also help to boost our mood!

Some of the best sources of omega-3 fats are:

fatty fish like salmon, trout, arctic char, sardines. Try to eat fatty fish at least twice a week.
omega-3 enriched eggs

Tea

Tea contains a special amino acid called L– theanine. This actually triggers the release of another neurotransmitter in the brain (called GABA or gamma-amino-butyric-acid) which gives you a relaxed feeling. Black tea, green tea, white tea and oolong tea all contain this special amino acid.

Stay well and stay safe. We are all in this together to get through the COVID-19 crisis.

Grocery Tips during COVID-19

Posted on April 8, 2020

Here’s an easy summary of tips for grocery shopping during the COVID crisis.

The great debate – should you wipe food packages and containers?

Some health professionals are saying yes, while others are saying no. According to the National Institutes of Health, coronavirus can survive on food packages for 24 hours (cardboard) or up to 2 or 3 days (plastic and stainless steel). At the same time, there is no evidence that COVID-19 is transmitted through food or food packaging. So what should you do?

Personally, I’m buying groceries and cooking for elderly family members. So as a precaution, I’ve decided to wipe down packaged goods with a sanitizing solution (1 tsp bleach + 3 cups water).

The key messages to lower your chances of getting COVID-19 are: Wash your hands often. Don’t touch your face. And keep your distance.

Stay safe, stay strong everyone!

Working from home? Tips to stay fueled and focused

Posted on March 27, 2020

The doorbell rings. The dog is barking. A load of laundry sits in the hallway. There can be a lot of distractions when working from home! Here are a few tips to help you stay fueled and focused.

Stick to a regular eating schedule. Get into a routine by eating your meals at the same times every day if possible. Routine gives us a little sense of control during these uncertain times. Plus, you’ll keep your energy levels steady to power through your work day. (Ditto the routine message for sleep and exercise.)

Cook extra for tomorrow’s lunch. Now that you and everyone else in your family are staying home, you’re likely eating all your meals at home too. No more lunch meetings or buying lunch at the food court. Plan to cook extra and portion them out so they’re ready to reheat for tomorrow’s lunch.

Snack on nourishing foods. During times of crisis, we all stress eat. Food can offer us both comfort and nourishment. Give yourself permission to enjoy ALL foods without guilt. If you’re finding that you’re frequently eating to deal with stress or emotions, reach out to a friend, family member or health professional for support.

Stay hydrated with water. By the time you’re thirsty, you’re already dehydrated. Keep your water bottle nearby. Other beverages like coffee, tea and milk count towards your fluid intake too.

Take a break. Stand up and stretch. Do some shoulder rolls. Go out for a walk. This helps minimize mindless munching at your desk. To reduce eye strain, follow the 20-20-20 rule – every 20 minutes, look at something 20 feet away for 20 seconds.

Keep well, everyone!

Eating well during times of COVID-19

Posted on March 20, 2020

Make the most of your food and remember food safety during these times of COVID-19.

Watch my TV interview here with CTV Your Morning.

Buy foods with a long shelf life. Fresh, frozen and canned foods are all OK. Some ideas: fresh carrots, potatoes, squash, onions and parsnips; frozen fruit, veggies, meat and fish; canned fruit, veggies, beans, soup and pasta sauce; shelf-stable milk or non-dairy beverages. Having these foods can help you get through tough times in case you become sick and can’t leave your home. I write the best before date on a green piece of tape and stick it right on the can for easy visibility! (See my pantry photo below.)

Keep a food inventory to remind you of what have. Go through your fridge, freezer and pantry. The kids can help with this too! Plan your meals using the foods you have on hand. Try new recipes using your pantry staples. Check best before dates and practice the “First In First Out” rule – use the foods that have the earliest best before date first. Circle or highlight items with an approaching best before date so you know to use them soon. Cross the items off the inventory as you use them so you know when you might need to buy more.

Wash your hands before and after cooking / eating. Wash all fresh fruits and veggies before eating, especially if you’re eating the skins. Cook foods to the right temperature. Keep raw foods separate from cooked foods, and use separate utensils / cutting boards for each. Keep hot foods hot and cold foods cold. Refrigerate leftovers within 2 hours or freeze leftovers to eat later. Eat refrigerated leftovers within 3 days. For more food safety tips, go to Canadian Public Health Association.

Don’t share eating utensils. Avoid sharing food from the same container (e.g. avoid sharing popcorn or grapes from the same bowl.) No double dipping please. 🙂 Wash utensils in hot soapy water or in the dishwasher.

Please take care and keep well!

– Sue Mah, MHSc, RD, PHEc, FDC

Do You Eat at Your Desk?

Posted on March 12, 2020

Do you eat at your desk? If you answered “yes”, you’re not alone.

A study at Dalhousie University found that almost 40% of Canadians eat at their desk (read more here and a read a news clip here).

In celebration of Nutrition Month, Dietitians of Canada encourages us to be mindful of our eating habits. This means being aware of how we eat, what we eat, why we eat, when we eat and where we eat.

Here are 3 reasons why eating at your desk isn’t a great idea.

You may be less productive. I’m a big fan of multi-tasking, but not when it comes to eating. Being glued to your screen all day can be tiring, stressful and inefficient. Step away from your desk to recharge and reboot your energy.
You may overeat. A study published in the journal of Physiology & Behaviour found that people who eat while reading their smartphones actually ate 15% more calories at that meal. Distracted eating makes it difficult for us to tune into what and how much we’re eating. Eating mindfully encourages us to be present with our food and enjoy food with all of our senses.
You may be missing out on socializing and sunshine. If you have a desk job, you’re probably spending a lot of time sitting. Give your brain and body a break by taking time to have lunch with friends and co-workers. Head outdoors for some sunshine and fresh air. You’ll be glad you did!