Making Love in the Kitchen

We’ve got a new feature here on the Love in the Kitchen blog- we asked some of our all time fave peeps and superheroes the same five questions and asked for their heartfelt responses. The result? A super sweet glimpse into the inner workings of some of our UnDiet vibrant living rockstars! The questions will not change, though we can only imagine how the answers will. FUN! You must know Josh Gitalis by now- he is our Clinical Nutrition Superhero (among other things) and all around superstar. We asked him to answer our Five Qs we love to ask and he happily obliged. Enjoy this little sneak peak into the world of Josh- and yes, the photo above correlates perfectly with his dessert island response. Coincidence? I think not.

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When was the last time you woke up in the morning and instead of either dreading what the day would bring or being excited about what was to come, you actually took the time to reflect on the goodness bits that remain pretty sweetly constant? See- it’s easy, oh so easy, to get caught up in the fleeting moments- the good ones and the bad ones, to recognize that for the most part we are blessed to be stressed about whatever it is we are stressing over. I tell you this today, on the Friday before the long weekend, as I pack up for a weekend with my family at our cottage together, that things are pretty sweet. And with that being said, it’s mostly ’cause of you. And because the sweetness is mostly ’cause of you, well, that’s why I’ve been working my tootsy tail off.

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Happy Mama’s Day everyone! To all you mamas, babies, babiesmamas…well you get the idea- today is a day to celebrate the lady who gave you everything (read: life). I hope you are getting out there and enjoying the sunshine and maybe some sweet, sweet treats with your mama (or your family, or friends, or loved ones). Here are a few of my fave snaps with my superstar (and Superhero) mom, Patsy.

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Dance Like A 4-Year Old

Have you ever seen a 4-year old dance? Of course you have. There is nothing sweeter in the whole wide world. They move how they want to move- sort of the music but mostly just moving and grooving however they’re heart desires. They laugh. They’re silly. And perhaps most of all- they don’t give a flying kazoo who is looking or what those lookers are thinking. That is what dancing like a 4-year old is all about. Letting loose, shaking the wiggly in your jiggle, lightening the mood, lifting the world up off your shoulders and letting your cares shimmy and shake right on our of your soul.

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I can’t believe how time flies. We interrupt our usual Friday Creed post to share some pics from the full house fun I had a couple weeks ago at Loblaws when I did my cooking thang over their way. They’ve got quite the fancy pants kitchen at Loblaws Carlton and I loved playing around in there. The trickiest bit for me was not so much the cooking bit but working out two amazing recipes that would use exclusively whole and organic produce. I wanted to design two extra special dishes that would introduce Loblaws customers to some brand new whole food ingredients but also not be too unusual or difficult that they wouldn’t want to tackle them on their own once they got home. I settled on my famous cream of broccoli soup, using some fresh made almond milk, along with a beautiful produce rich quinoa salad (recipe below).

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Right? What did I tell you my little homegirls and pancake loving men? Nothing, NOTHING beats a lazy Sunday morning with chocolate covered chocolate pancakes and a side of steamed apples, blueberries and green tea. Before I get into the greatness of this breakfast, I want to just drop a little note in to say that some things are a changing around these parts and some might just affect you. Come on back tomorrow for the announcement. And moving along… Last weekend, up North at the cottage (remember where we were loving all over the wild food), I got to work wooing my fiancé (ha! second use so far on the blog) with brand shiny new recipes. I tell you, if the way to my heart is through beaches and bicycles the way to EVERYONE’s heart is through chocolate for breakfast.

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What would life be like without plastic? Could imagine a week? Maybe start with just a day. Actually- imagine what a meal would look where no ingredient had any contact with plastic. See what, I mean?

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As you may have noticed with the creed breakdowns, they’re not all about food. I have said it over and over and over and over again that there is so much more to sweet, sweet health than what’s on our plate. Last week when we chatted about fueling our lives, there was much having to do with being outdoors, and being with the most amazing people we know. The truth of the matter here is that if we can fuel our lives, the sweet side effect is nourishment for the soul. You know your soul is nourished when you wake up in the morning feeling great. You look forward to your day- who you will see, what you will do, what you might discover- with a sense of childlike appreciation for whatever comes. A nourished soul is one that radiates love and kindness (even when you get really nasty emails like the few that landed in our lap this week). See- a nourished soul can take compassion on those that are struggling – whether it be with grief, or fear, or stress or just plain old exhaustion. A nourished soul can recognize when the less nourished souls may be projecting their icky crappola on you, knowing that it’s not actually you and avoiding getting caught up in it.

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We are huge, huge fans of Marion Nestle here in the kitchen. When it comes to food rockstars- she is at the top of the list. Author of awesometown books such as Food Politics and What To Eat (plus tonnes more), she is also Professor of Nutrition, Food Studies and Public Health at NYU. Ms. Nestle is truly at the forefront of the food advocacy movement. Sounds like she might know her stuff, huh? We had a few Qs for her- check out her insightful responses below.

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Sunday is all about relaxing, spending time with family and maybe have a few giggles. Couldn’t help but share this AWESOME clip from Portlandia- one of the best shows ever (check it out if you haven’t!)

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Fueling your life is about taking into account all aspects of our lives including the food we eat, the thoughts we think, the people we hang about with, and what we do all day. For that reason, I think this story is best told in pictures. This is what fuels my life. Let’s start with the pics up above… I am Fueled by loads and loads of green juice. Green juice makes me happy right down to ever last cell in my body.

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There are all kinds of rules that go along with celebrating Passover- what we can and can’t eat, what we should and shouldn’t eat and all that jazz. I was never one to play by the rules and one thing Passover can no longer take away from me is my chocolate. See- the chocolate deprivation association with Passover dates back about 28 or so years. As wee little kiddlet, living in Winnipeg, Passover was a serious affair. With my grandma being one of 7 siblings- the offspring of that was massive. By the age of 10, our Passover dinners numbered in the 80s and we held them in one of the Banquet rooms at the Westin Hotel- passing around a microphone to read from the book and sing our songs.

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Make It From Scratch. Is there really any other way? At this point- five years in to cooking my heart out, the thought of buying jarred pasta sauce or canned brown rice and lentils is just plain silly. Cookies? Crackers? They are so much better home made. The fundamental importance of making it from scratch is that it will ensure that to the very best of your ability you know exactly what is going into the food you are eating. Yes- you can buy your crackers and you granola bars- but then you really don’t know how much sugar, soy flour and other questionable are going into. And I don’t know about you- but if I’m indulging in sweet and fattening treats, I don’t want that sweet and fat hidden- I want to know about it!

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Oh joy oh bliss oh happy Friday. I have never in my whole entire life wanted a Friday as much as I wanted this one. In the past 8 days we have had over 70 people through the kitchen for a cumulative total of six amazing classes for a sold out weekend of fun, fun, fun. We had ladies (yes- all but one were ladies) join us from around Ontario including Barrie, Orillia and Ottawa and people come from as far as Vancouver, Calgary, Montreal and Connecticut. We’re kicking this health train onto International tracks which makes us even more excited about what’s cooking.

So here are three exciting things to share.

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We are excited over here! The time has come to reveal the magic that will be our 2013 retreat. Pushing it a little later next year due to the demands of my book, which will be released in December, we are embarking together on a new location, with a bigger group and much, much more to offer. This is so exciting (come on, do the running man with me). Are you coming???

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