Torviewtoronto: Live life well

I was invited to attend a media event at the Maple Leaf Garden Loblaws, which opened in November 2011. It had lots of choices and unique features worth looking at such as its ACE bakery that makes artisan bread from scratch everyday, the 18 foot wall with 400 varieties of cheese, patisseries, tea emporium, fresh juice that is squeezed on location, tables with pictures of events that happened at the Toronto Maple Leaf Garden and many more...

The tour was very informative. I had fun meeting the organizers, folks that work at Loblaws, the chefs at the PC cooking school and in-store dieticians. I enjoyed a delicious vegetable soup, barley risotto served with scallop and a berry crumble that was made by the chefs.

Here is the adapted recipe for Wild mushroom barley risotto with scallops from PC blue menu recipes.

2 cup shitake mushrooms *

6 cups of water

2 tbsp olive oil

3 cloves garlic finely chopped

1 tsp salt to taste

1 cup pear barley

2 tbsp or more fresh parsley and thyme

parmesan cheese to garnish optional

* Can use only shitake or use 1/2 cup dried chanterelle, 1/2 cup dried portobello mushrooms and 1 cup shitake for the mushroom stock. Boil the mushroom with the water and turn off the heat. Let the stock stand covered for 20 minutes. Take the mushrooms out of the stock by squeezing the water, chop and leave aside. Keep the stock in low heat.

Heat oil over medium high heat, then cook onions for 2 minutes, add garlic then add sliced mushrooms and 1/2 tsp salt. Cook for about 3 to 5 minutes till the mushrooms are tender. Stir in the barley.

Then add mushroom stock 1 cup at a time, stirring constantly allowing the stock to get absorbed before adding the next cup of stock keep doing this till the barley is cooked to desired consistency about 1/2 hour. It is cooked uncovered. Add parsley, thyme, remaining salt and the cheese if you are using. Leave aside.

scallops

2 tbsp oil

1 bag 400g scallops thawed and drained

salt and pepper to taste

2 to 3 tbsp water from the mushroom

Heat oil over medium high heat cook scallops for 2 to 3 minutes until it cooks through turning it once. When touched if it springs back it is ready. Add about 2 to 3 tsp of water from the stock. Serve hot with the risotto.

This is the berry crumble.

Loblaws will be having in-store dieticians that offer many services i.e. teaching and advising the public about healthy eating for healthy living. You can ask any nutritional related questions such as heart health, diabetes, family nutrition, weight loss, etc. Next time you are shopping make sure to get their knowledgeable tour that is free and the information booklets that also have coupons.

There are over 400 Blue menu products to choose from, so we can introduce a variety into our everyday meals. PC has a new attribute on their packages with a + and - sign, which indicates the level of sodium, omega 3 and fibre.

Healthy eating is not expensive it is about moderation and balance.

Some of the tips that the dieticians gave are; to use less saturated foods which is better for us, to entirely avoid trans fat, naturally occurring sugar in fruit and vegetables are good, a range of colourful food has benefits, and sodium helps the body maintain water balance and transmits nerve impulse so it is good in moderation.

You can learn many things from the PC cooking school i.e. making your own baby food, classes for different age groups, baking, gourmet cooking, learning new skills i.e. making sushi, pastries etc.

Glad I got to share what I enjoyed, please do visit and use their services at Loblaws to live life well :)

If you would like a list of the dieticians, email me.