IT’S SPRINGTIME!!

The flowers are blooming and there is a freshness in the air. We, too are in full bloom with new and exciting monthly menu specials.

Merry May!!

Our flavour feature for the merry month of May blossoms with sweet berries and the best of Ontario’s produce.

May’s Salad

Asparagus Vinaigrette

Delicious and fresh Ontario Asparagus with carrot julienne in a fresh thyme vinaigrette

May’s Soup

Potato & Garlic Ramp Soup

Wild leeks are a welcomed sign of Spring!

A delicious blend of Irish potatoes, fresh garlic and Spring Ramps(wild leeks)

May’s Sweet Treat

Fresh Rhubarb & Berry Crumble

With fresh whipped cream on the side

Healthy Baking

I’m not a fancy baker, but I do make wonderful muffins & quick-breads.

My goals for healthy baking are few:

Eliminate refined white sugar & flour  

Add as much fibre, nuts & seeds as possible

Add lots of vegetables & fruits

Cut back on fats, use real butter & good oils, but in moderation

Here are my basics;

 About Sugar

You can substitute maple syrup or honey for sugar. Use about 1/3 as much as the recipe calls for sugar.  Cut back on other liquids as necessary. 

 About Flour

What a shock to read the label on commercial white flour! So many ingredients, mostly incomprehensible! So I buy bulk organic whole wheat flour at the health food store.  One ingredient – wheat flour! That’s it!

I see the total amount of flour & other “dry” ingredients listed on my recipe. Then I use ½ natural whole wheat flour, & divide the other ½ with dry ingredients that I’d like to incorporate into my diet, like oat bran, wheat germ, ground flax, hemp flour, oat flour, Quinoa flakes & whatever else I’ve been reading up on, or that my dietician has recommended.

For example, if dry ingredients total 2 cups, I’ll use 1 cup of organic whole wheat flour, 1/3 cup oat bran, 1/3 cup hemp flour, & 1/3 cup Quinoa flakes.

 About Fats

If your recipe calls for oil or butter, you can halve the amount, & use apple sauce for the other ½. (cut an apple up, put it in ½ inch of water in a small saucepan, cover & cook it down for a few minutes, & voila-apple sauce!).

I personally prefer butter for flavour over most oils, but you know what your body needs!

 About vegetables & fruit

If you have a recipe for carrot or zucchini loaf, you can substitute a sweeter vegetable! Like a really sweet yam, or acorn squash, would enable you to further cut back on sweetener. Raisins, dates, figs, dried cherries-all provide sweetness!

Lastly, I like to add seeds & nuts. Pumpkin & sunflower seeds are rich in the omegas, almonds in protein, cashews in niacin….don’t hold back!

Keep in mind that sugar & flour’s roles in baking are many! They provide moisture, tenderness & increased shelf life.  Sugar also helps cookies spread during baking, & provides a nice crisp texture.  So when you omit the “whites”, think “outside of the muffin tin”- they may not rise as much as you are used to, & the colour may be darker, but you are doing your body a service!

Happy Baking!

Celebrating Women from Across Toronto on International Women’s Day

They came to eat, they came to socialize, they came to dance, they came to celebrate International Women’s Day 2011.  Please visit this site to learn more about what we do, and who we help.

More to come on our efforts in 2012

Tags: charitable, fresh, Healthy Cookin, healthy eating, local

Upcoming C.H.O.W. classes

(cooking healthy on whachagot)

Turn your kitchen into a garden with this

Sprouting Workshop!

Learn how to sprout

What you can sprout

Nutritional values of sprouts

cooking with sprouts

Sunday, April 1st, 2012

from 2-5 in the afternoon

$50 per person

Pay what you can available

friends & families rates available

Monday March 19th

Grilled Vegetable Burritos

With either Vegan Cheese or Black River Cheese

Monday March 26th

Quinoa Squares & Cauliflower Cheddar Soup

Monday, April 2nd

Mexican Brown Rice Casserole

Filled with grilled vegetables, organic green peas, & natural corn

Monday April 9th

Potato Skins stuffed with Broccoli, Yogurt & Cheddar or Vegan Cheese

Monday April 16th

BIG Salad

Featuring layers of Millet, Sauteed Tofu, Organic Spinach, Toasted Almonds, Spirals of heirloom carrots, beets & radishes, & other seasonal produce

Topped with tahini dressing (on the side)

Tags: C.H.O.W., fresh, Healthy Cookin, healthy eating, Leslieville, local, Meatless Mondays, organic

Here’s a nice new salad that we’re offering for spring, calling it “shoots, roots & fruits”.

It’s pea shoots & sunflower shoots, on top of marinated root vegetables & apple.

You toss it just before serving. It’s different & springy & local & oh so nutritious!

$4.50 per serving, like all our salads!

Nice change from green salads, until our Ontario lettuce is ready!

Make it part of your next order

Since 1989, Lisa Shamai Cuisiniere has built its name as one of Toronto’s premier catering companies. Lisa has been utilizing fresh, local ingredients in her business and in her home for years. Lisa believes that it is important to remember the relationship that we have with our food and the importance that food has in keeping us healthy!

There is much scientific evidence now that food can be a factor in preventing many diseases, including diabetes, childhood obesity and especially cancer. Fighting (preventing) cancer is a topic that has touched Lisa very close to home.

A few years ago, Lisa was diagnosed as a carrier of the BRCA1 gene mutation, which makes her highly likely to get breast or ovarian cancers. Both Lisa’s mother and grandmother died too early from ovarian cancer. She became interested in foods that would keep her healthy, and help her beat the odds of getting the disease. After several years of developing recipes, and after a lifetime of cooking professionally Lisa is ready to pass on her understanding and knowledge of healthy cooking to others who are looking to disease prevention through nutrition.

Lisa Shamai is proud to present

C.H.O.W.

Cooking classes for Optimum Health

We have put together a series of healthy cooking classes. Classes that give people delicious and economical ideas on how to cook with foods that fight disease, many of which we have on hand in our fridges and pantries.

Lisa will show you how to use fresh fruits, vegetables, grains and legumes, along with a variety of other healthy ingredients, which can be made into quick, easy, inexpensive, disease fighting and delicious meals.

We have begun to teach this series on a regular basis at various cancer support centres, schools, daycares, & Toronto Social Services, teaching people on very limited budgets how to buy & cook healthy inexpensive meals.

Classes can be held in your kitchen or ours! We can bring the classes to your local community centres, church kitchens, party rooms or even to your own home. We try to keep the cost of the classes very accessible, & also donate a portion of the proceeds to our walking team ‘THE RAINBOWS’, for the Weekend to End Women’s Cancers 60 kilometre walk.

for booking information please contact

chow@lisaskitchen.com

or call David or Lisa at

416-406-1101

Tags: cancer, cooking class, healthy eating

It’s that time of year again! Most of our services remain the same, waiter/bartender & chef rates have not gone up, our food prices are about the same as previous years, rentals too.   What has changed?  The addtion of some new menu items! Please see our “packages” index & go to the type of party that you’re planning. If you’d like to have one of our “oldies but goldies”,  just ask!  We can most likely still make it for you!

Thanks for allowing Lisa Shamai Cuisiniere to enjoy holiday season #25!! (Yup, in business since 1986, &  I still love cooking!).  HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO YOU!

I developed a delicious seasonal salad, using some superfoods, for my booth at “eat to the beat”, a fundraiser supporting Willow-Breast Cancer Support.  I was among 60 women chefs to participate-it was a great time for a great cause.  My salad featured ”raw kale, with Ruth’s soft hemp (she’s my sister, but the product’s great anyways!), pomegranite seeds & apple peel cracklings”.  I promised the recipe, so here it is!

KALE SLAW

1. wash & dry kale leaves.
2. slice the tough stem out of each leaf, then slice the leaf into a very fine chiffonade. If you stack the leaves 4 or 5 high, you’ll save some time on this tedious task
3. take a red onion, slice it very fine, toss with the kale
4. make a vinaigrette using 3 tbsp. rice vinegar, 3 tbsp. lemon juice (preferably fresh squeezed), & 1/4 cup light olive oil, salt & pepper
5. pour the vinagrette over the kale & onion mixture, massage it into the leaves to coat all the little curls, nooks & crannies
6. let the salad sit for at least a few hours, or overnight in the fridge.
7. before serving, toss with fresh pomegranite, (or cranberries, or other berries-use your imagination!)
8. add hemp seeds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower, flax, sesame seeds (be creative!)
9. we topped ours with APPLE PEELCRACKLINGS, which is a fantastic apple “byproduct” that you should keep in mind anytime you make apple pie, crumble, or apple anything!  Here’s how you make them;  wash your apples well before peeling. toss the peels in a bowl with some lemon juice, sugar & cinnamon, lay out in a single layer on a baking sheet, bake at 200 for a few hours, till the peels are dehydrated. Let cool, & enjoy them like apple chips or croutons on a salad. YUM!