Aaah, Sunday dinners. Grandparents everywhere look sceptically at the manners of their grandkids while parents pray they will eat and not completely offend everyone at the table. “Put your napkin on your lap! Chew with your mouth closed!” But it doesn’t have to be like that! Family dinners tend to have enough stress for some people without the addition of insecurity. UrbanMommies sat down with Sunita Padda, Founder of TableSmarts, and got some amazing tips about family dinner etiquette – and garnered a few refreshers of our own. Etiquette can be intimidating, but remember it’s purpose is about making people feel good.
We’re finally getting some warm weather and the farmers market is stocked with beautiful local produce. It’s salad season is what I’m saying.
I like to make this salad the night before I plan on eating it (when the house is cool) so I don’t overheat the kitchen and so the flavours can really meld. It’s a big, hearty salad that can definitely pass as a meal.
As a little girl growing up in East Coast Halifax, I used to glorify the United States. Why couldn’t Canada have outlet malls and Dr. Pepper? It never seemed fair, and Americans openly expressed the notion that we lived in igloos. Many didn’t realize that we shared the longest unprotected border in the world. I couldn’t find many Canadians who ‘made it’ on Broadway or in Hollywood. Was there a future for the little girl who wanted to be a musical theatre actor more than anything? I was as embarrassed as I was insecure.
Literacy is as much a parenting priority as ensuring our prodigy are well fed. Some lessons, like teaching them not to bully or washing behind their ears are simpler parenting goals than others. While instilling compassion can be done on a tight budget, not every child has access to the plethora books that are required in order to develop a passion for reading.
I really don’t like cold food. Hence, I’m a soup girl, but sometimes I force myself to eat salads. Lately I’ve discovered excellent dressings and stunning salad presentation, so it’s more of a game. Challenge accepted! I’ve been fortunate enough to travel to the Carribean and the flavours of this salad help bring a taste of the islands back home with me. I have so many great memories there, supporting the Sandals Foundation, having a blast at Beaches Resort Turks and Caicos, and going off the beaten path in Montego Bay, It’s like a culinary souvenir, of sorts. It also reminded me of our contributor, Grace Riley, who was ticking things off her bucket list in Jamaica, For me, this dish embodies the taste of adventure.
Sometimes I have thought that if I could have any superpower, I would want the power to eat everything I want to and have it all be a) good for me and b) not able to make me fat. This, out of all the available superpowers. Why would I want to fly? Or walk through walls? No, I want my superpower to be eating.
It is really kind of sad, if you think about it. And also possibly a tiny bit unhealthy. But, there you have it. I HAVE AN UNHEALTHY RELATIONSHIP WITH FOOD.
Yeah, no. We’re not even going to try and throw a football ourselves, let alone teach someone else how to do it. But the entertaining part and talking about how to throw a football party is a snap. Superbowl and Canada’s Grey Cup conjure images of hot dogs, nachos and chips, but that kind of tailgating is a little boring. Let’s deconstruct the normal and start with a hearty, versatile ingredient that warms even the coldest of bellies during football season. I give you: pasta. We created two fun recipes inspired by football traditions, but with a bit of a Canadian twist!
When I was a child my Grandmother and Great Aunt would roast a chicken or turkey at least weekly. Any dinner was incomplete without freshly made tea biscuits. The trick with these is instead of using a cookie cutter for shape, they always used the edge of a juice glass to cut the dough. A cookie cutter is fine too, but to this day I still do exactly as they did while smiling the whole time.
With all of the corporate options available, it isn’t really necessary for anyone to “shop local” anymore. You can get all sorts of exotic flavours and colours at the large chain supermarkets. Before I share a fun recipe for ‘Farm Fresh Linguine and Tomato Sauce’, I want to first get you excited about the many benefits of shopping locally at the farmers market!
Fall is a time of new beginnings. Out of nowhere, the nip enters the air and the laziness of summer morphs into productivity. Well, I’m trying anyway! We organize closets, embrace an earlier bedtime and fill the freezer with family meals. My favourite meals are always ones that can be produced out of the pantry. The problem with this, though, is that essential ‘stock’ items like oats, flour and rice never seem to drop in price, so squeezing room out of the family budget from the food category doesn’t seem to work. Until now. Here’s how you can save money on the staples with help from our friends at Safeway.
