Amazingly healthy smoothie

Sunday, July 4, 2010 at 09:04PM

This smoothie is not really from Quebec per say, but because it is my own recipe and It's so great, ill share it with you. I have this 2-3 times a week for either breakfast or afternoon snack. It is full of antioxidant, vitamin and will give you the energy you need to keep going or start your day. There is nothing bad for you in this smoothie so have it as often as you like.

Kick-start Annie's smoothie
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup of blueberries or blackberries or strawberries
- 1/2 cup of pineapple shopped
- 1/2 cup of skim plain yogurt
- 1/2 cup of skim milk
- 1/2 cup of chilled green tea
- 1 tablespoon of dry ground wakame seaweed
- 1 spoon of vanilla wheat protein powder
- 3 cubes of ice

Recipe
1- Buy the dry seaweed from a recognized source such as a health store and don't cheap out on it. I personally use Wakame seaweed, it is better known for his weight loss property and it is a bit sweeter that usual.  Seaweed in general is amazing for all the health benefit such as vitamin C and A, protein, beta carotene. I purchase mine at whole foods for 7$ a pack and ground it myself in a food processor. Ground it until it is in a powder texture and then store in a air tight container and check the best by date on the package. Just add a scoop to your smoothie.
2- In a food processor/ magic bullet/ ice crusher put the milk first, than add the yogurt, the fruits, the seaweed powder, the protein powder, the chilled green tea and the ice cube
3- Mix in the food processor for 2-3 minutes until all is well blended.
Because of the flavor of the fruits, the seaweed powder will be almost unnoticeable. But your body will thank you !

Tourtiere, did you say Tourtiere or meat pie... im confused ! 

Tuesday, June 29, 2010 at 08:18PM

It can be a bit confusing a first. Depending on where you live in Quebec, a tourtiere can either be a meat pie or it can also be the recipe I displayed below. They are both totally different, but at some point in the history people decided to call it the same. One is like a pie, crust on the bottom, ground meat and spice for the filling and crust on the top. The other is a made in a large casserole and constitute of layer upon layer of meat and potatoes covered with a crust.

I explained the recipe of the layer meat casserole below; in my home town we call it cipaille. The pie we call it meat pie but as I said it is called differently everywhere.

I just made a video this week-end on the tourtiere, meat pie recipe. We usually use pork or ground beef inside the pie but for this recipe I decided to use ground turkey of its lean

 

Rien de mieux qu'avec des cretons !

Thursday, June 24, 2010 at 08:48PM

St-Jean Baptiste is a day of celebration in Quebec. Every 23th and 24th of June since 1978, the people of Quebec reunite to celebrate this national holiday.
The story came from 1626 with what they called The feast day of Saint John the Baptist in France.
The tradition became  Canadian with the colonist arriving to Quebec. The first celebrations occurred on the Saint Lawrence River on the evening of June 23, 1636 with a bonfire and five cannon shots.
If you go to Quebec city on St-Baptiste day you will find a big stage on the Abraham Plaine filled with French Canadian music, happy people and children playing. Everyone wear the Fleur de Lys and have fun.
I am offering you a very tradional recipe today in honor of this Quebec day. This recipe come from my grand mother.


Cretons spread
Ingredients:
2 lb of extra lean ground pork
1 lb of ground veal
2 lb of regular ground pork
1lb of shortening
3 finely cut garlic clove
2 finely chopped onions
2 cup of water
salt, pepper at taste
1 tablespoon of each : cinnamon, ground clove, nutmeg, allspice

Recipe
1- Mix everything together in a deep iron cast cooking pot.
2- Add the water and mix well
3- Let boiled at low-medium temperature for 45 minutes or until there is no longer any water.
4- Place in glass air tight container.
5- It can be frozen and usually kept in the fridge for 4-5 days.
We spread it on bread and usually add strong mustard or regular mustard on it !!! Delicious !

Tourtiere pie, well known as cipaille or cipatre

Sunday, June 20, 2010 at 01:48PM

The famous dish come back from a long ago, back in the 1730 years. This recipe consisted of pork, salt and potato spread in multiple layer. The recipe was then modified with the years to accommodate the produce available at time in the regions of Quebec. It is possible to find cipaille made from pork, beef or games meat depending on where you are.  Our family recipe use pork, beef and chicken because it is readily available, but I have eaten cipaille with moose. Here is the traditional recipe. It is good to feed at least 6 up to 10 depending on the appetite.


Ingredients:
10 Ounces of Beef
10 Ounces of Chicken
10 Ounces of Pork
2 onions finely chopped
2 celery stick finely chopped
4 cups of Russell Potatoes cup in cubes
1/2 tablespoon of cinnamon
2 Bay leave
1 Tablespoon of dry parsley
2 Tablespoon of allspice
Salt
Pepper
1 1/2 cup of very hot chicken stock
2 unbaked pie crust

Recipe
1- Mix the meat, onion, celery, and spices together the night before. Put in a air tight contener and let macerate all night.
2- In a slow cooker or iron cast pot, put the first layer. Place half the meat- onions-spice mix in the bottom of the pot.
3- Place half the potato cube on the top of the layer of meat
4- Put one unbaked pie crust on the top
5- Place the rest of the meat mixture on the top of the pie crust.
6- Add the last layer of potatoes and add the last pie crust
7- At the end add the very hot chicken stock by adding from the side of the pan using a mesuring cup.
8-  If you are using a slow cooker, set it on low heat and cook for 8-10 hours.
9- If you are using the oven and iron cast, set the oven at 250 degree and cook for 8-10 hours.
10-  At half way you may went to check on it, depending on your oven you may need to add a littlebit of chicken stock.
It can be frozen and used for a quick lunch ! We usually eat this meal with homemade fruit ketchup and pickles beets.

Pourquoi en Anglais ?

Friday, June 18, 2010 at 01:11AM

Old Quebec city/ Vieux Quebec

Je voulais vous mentionner mon raisonnement par rapport a mon choix de faire http://www.atasteofquebec.ca/ en anglais. Je suis très fière de ma langue première qui est le Français.  Originaire de la Cote-Nord, J'habite maintenant en C-B depuis quelques années. Les gens ici me demandais toujours de leur parler du Québec, des recettes et de la culture. La demande étant grande, j'ai décider de crée un site en anglais pour leur faire découvrir notre culture et notre magnifique région. J'ai beaucoup de chance de pouvoir être née dans une région du Canada qui est si particulière et unique et je voulais partager cet passion. Dans le future je ferai aussi la traduction de mes blogs. Si vous avez des idées de recettes n'hésitez pas a me les faire parvenir, je ferai aussi la traduction dans les deux langues. AThis blog post is to explain my reasoning behing my choice to make this web site in english. Im very proud to be french canadian and I feel very lucky to have the chance to leave in the very unique part if Canada for most of my life. I am born in the region named Cote-Nord but moved to B-C a fews years ago. Many people were asking me about Quebec food and the culture. I thought that it would be worth it to take some time and share my passion about cooking and to make you discover Quebec my way. If you have any request or ideas don't hesitate to share them with me via my guestbook.  :)