One Banana = Two Happy Kids

If you had one over-ripe banana and a spare 30 minutes, you too could make these delicious banana muffins!

There's nothing like Google to put a recipe at your fingertips and that's exactly how I created a little breakfast magic this morning.  "One banana muffins" is what I typed into the search bar and a plethora of recipes were presented. Gosh that was easy!

When the kids awoke to the smell of fresh banana, chocolate chip muffins I felt like mother of the year! Of course that was a fleeting moment when they realized lunch kits were already packed with "lame" and school WASN'T cancelled on account of the 20cm of snow that fell overnight.  But, I'll take the applause when I can get it and today, was muffin magic.

No Fat Salmon

How are your New Year's resolutions coming along? Still sticking to your healthy eating prescription? It's a challenge isn't it? I'll confess...  I had some carrot cake tonight, from the downstairs freezer while I was doing laundry! But you have to forgive yourself the little "cheats" and keep on trying.

Here's one of my favourite recipes for moist, full of flavour fish:  I simply take 2 lemons and slice them thin. I use the slices to line the baking dish. In this example, pictured,  I've used 1 lemon and 1 lime for a more complex citrus flavour. I placed the filets meat side-down on the lemon slices. Then I used sea salt, cracked pepper, dill weed & onion flakes on top of the skin. When the skin is removed it takes the spices, but leaves a fair bit of flavour. That's great if you are also watching your sodium.

There are no additional liquids or any fat added. The broth you see in the photo (cooked) is simply the moisture from the lemons/limes and the fish as it breaks down during baking.

I cover the pan with foil and bake in the oven at 325 for about 40 minutes. Time will vary on your type of fish (my favourite is salmon), the thickness of the cut and whether you started with fresh or frozen filets.

This is a great main course to serve with veggies and brown rice. Use leftovers on a salad for the next day's healthy lunch.

Baked lemon/lime salmon filets

Simple Soup

When winter weather hits and you are tempted to hibernate, isn't it a wonderful and comforting thing to have homemade soup?

I made this soup as a hearty and salt-free gift for my father. He, like so many others, watches his sodium intake carefully. Have you ever read the label of an inexpensive can of soup? 35% or more of your daily sodium requirement in one serving! And when you become conscious of your sodium intake anything over-flavoured with salt leaves your mouth dry and gasping for alternatives. That's why homemade soup, started with love and quality ingredients is always far superior.

I chose to start this soup with a ribeye steak. Ribeye is very tender and fairly fatty. It is not a typical tough soup or stew cut of beef. I selected it so that every bite of steak was a reward, not just a chewy chunk. It was the star of the show, as it should be.

The broth was favoured with two types of onions, celery, garlic and carrots. I used a variety of coarse and fresh peppers to add a bit of spice. Later I added soaked organic barley.

This beef barley soup, served with fresh rolls or rye bread could be the perfect answer to the winter chill you are feeling.

What would happen if...

This January we each resolve to do two things?

1. Use our recycled bags at the grocery store and at the mall.

2. We tried to eat "cleaner"... you know, foods that are closer to the farm. Foods that are more natural and are less fabricated. Foods that have fewer additives and preservatives.

Will you try?

Take Time to Cook for Yourself

Skip the store-bought sushi tonight!
Truly treat yourself to home cooking!

When was the last time you had homemade soup? Or the casserole your mom used to make when you were a kid?

You see recipes posted by your friends every day on Facebook. You see recipes on Pinterest to drool over too. But when was the last time you actually did it... followed a recipe?

Maybe tonight's the night. Dig out the book that has the butter stains and your grandma's handwriting.

Time to taste a little nostalgia! You deserve it. Slow food... YOU food... is SOUL food.

Equipment

There's a pretty big difference between most commercial and household restaurant equipment. Once you use a commercial blender, it's pretty hard to go home and listen to your blender swish and gurgle and struggle to blend a smoothie. Your commercial blender will complete the task masterfully and within about 20 seconds. Your home blender will not.

The cost of an average commercial smoothie blender is about $400. Your home blender about $40.

Knives are the same, a good commercial knife is worth its weight in gold. You will use it all day, every day. A lousy knife will cost you time and efficiency and patience. All chefs have their favourite knife/knives and I personally, get all frustrated and distracted when I can't find mine.

There really isn't a huge gap in price or quality of commercial and household knives anymore. There are a lot of really great ones on the market and can be found at most any household retailer, though they will typically cost you a little less through a restaurant supply store.

My point is this... the tools of your trade are critical. If you are writing a business plan to open a restaurant/cafe/coffee shop etc, do the research and get in touch with both new and used equipment retailers. It's a significant start up cost and if you buy junk or get the wrong equipment it will end up costing you so much more. Lost efficiency, lost sales and potential injuries are not worth the few dollars you will "save" upfront buying inferior equipment.

It's the right thing to do.

When you live in a community, you need to contribute to a community. That's simply the bottom line for me.

I'm no Bill Gates, no Oprah Winfrey and sorrily not Ellen DeGeneres either, but in my own small way I do my best to contribute. I can't help millions of people. I don't have millions of dollars. But what I know I CAN do to help, I will. And none of it, NONE OF IT, is done for a spotlight.

At the Diner we have a charitable mission to serve and assist families and youth first. To that end we have sponsored sports teams, family fun days, school and club events. We have also organized and executed fundraisers for specific families stricken by cancer.

Our organizational support focuses on the registered charities that are active and relevant in our community. Those being the Cancer Society, MS Society, Heart and Stroke Foundation and United Way.

As a staff, we are also animal lovers and find ways to personally support numerous animal charities including Funds for Furry Friends.

We are also asked several times a week to "kick in prizes" for socials, sports teams, and other activities. We are unable to meet all requests, for that we would need 5 times our current donation budget.

This year, with the assistance of our guests and events that are "donation in purchase" we will contribute more than $3000 to our community. $3000 sounds like a small number unless you are selling $2 ice cream cones.... then it's a huge number!

I'm not the best business person in the City. I pay less attention to what the accountant says and more to my heart and personal beliefs dictate. And luckily, as a sole proprietor who does NOT answer to a franchise.... I can do what I want. And what I WANT to do is to make our community the kind of place people are proud of and the kind of community that people want to live in.