Local Delicious

Woman may not be able to live by bread alone, but if I had to try I’d be choosing Silver Hills. Silver Hills bakery has been around for a long time with their signature Squirrelly bread, but you may think they’re new because they’ve recently re-branded (good job!). They’ve got a fresh new look, and a fun new cheeky attitude. I burst out laughing – out loud – at the grocery store, reading the backs of each package. (Each flavour has its own story, take a moment to look for them next time you’re in the bread aisle.)

In addition to Squirrelly, there are 8 other flavours. Hardy Hearty Harvest is my favourite…I think. It’s hard to choose.

A BC home grown success story, Silver Hills keeps ingredients simple and literally easy-to-read. Their sprouted grain innovation, which uses various grain sprouts in place of flour, gives gluten sensitive souls some it’s-hard-as-a-puck options. Wait, I think I hear dancing in the street.

I was very pleased to discover that with the new look their bags are now biodegradable. I have a little experiment going in my community garden compost pile, to see if I can prove it.

I made my “world famous pizza” again today — world famous because it’s on the Internet so theoretically anyone in the whole world could know about it. And famous because…well… my friends know and love it.

When I made it this past summer with my 17 year old niece, Falisha, she was skeptical, but after the fact she conceded that I had a point. (That’s as much credit as you’re going to get from a super cool teen on her way to graduating high school.) This despite that fact that she doesn’t like zucchini or sweet peppers. Kudos to her, she was “willing to try anything once” and ended up liking the veggies in their lightly cooked state. The fact that it was also actually healthy, slipped right by her.

My pizza is a favourite when I have guests coming for dinner. The whatever-I-have-in-the-fridge-and-garden recipe allows me to prep a variety of ingredients and let each guest make-your-own to suit individual tastes, including vegetarian.

Liz’s World Famous, No Guilt Pizza

So, here is my recipe for über delicious, world famous, healthy pizza. The beauty is, in summer even more of the ingredients can be local, straight from the garden:

• Lebanese flat bread — local producer Kandoo Bakery (looks like the restaurant gets rave reviews too)
• Pesto base — my favourite is Golda’s Cilantro Pesto but you can mix it up for variety
• Spicy Italian sausage, removed from casing, browned — local producer Freden Fine Foods, made fresh daily
• Zucchini, shredded, sliced, diced or however you like it
• Sweet peppers, any/every colour, diced small
• Tomatoes, cherry, grape or other — when I can get them fresh from the garden
• Fresh herbs — available from the balcony garden, I pick an assortment and mix/match
• Shredded Parmesan cheese, to taste — I don’t like a lot of dairy, but if I have it I want the good stuff
• Crumbled feta cheese, to taste — ditto above, a sprinkling is perfect to add a bit of zip

The instructions are pretty complicated, so pay attention here:

1. Cut a slab of flat bread
2. Slather on some base
3. Layer on an assortment of ingredients, to taste
4. Heat in the oven at 350 till the cheese melts, about 10-15 minutes

Here are some additional tips:

• All veggies can be optional; mix, match and add depending on what’s readily available. But just so you know, it won’t officially be Liz’s World Famous Pizza if you mess with the above.
• The flat bread comes in a big long flat and freezes extremely well. I cut it into sections before I freeze it, then pull out just what I need. It thaws lightening fast.
• Ground beef, chicken, or turkey work as well. Ditto the rule about messing with the recipe, noted above.
• I prefer pesto, but I guess a traditionalist could use tomato paste. Do I need to repeat the Messing with Recipe rule?

Mmmm, aren’t you hungry just thinking about it?! Oh, and if you don’t tell the kids it’s healthy they’ll love it.

Almost nothing makes me more crazy than not being able to get apples from the BC Okanagan while seeing apples from New Zealand or some other ridiculously far away place on sale in my grocery store produce section. Frankly, it’s insane.

I remember the good old days when I could harvest plump, juicy MacIntosh and Golden Delicious apples right from the trees in my grandpa’s back yard — and often did. There is nothing to compare to that sweet smell and the heavenly, crisp crunch of biting into a just-picked apple. Store bought just doesn’t come close.

Well, hello AppleBarn! My grandpa and his apple trees are long gone, but here’s a delicious alternative: an orchard in Abbotsford where you can pick your own.

Not only can you harvest as many apples as you want right from the tree, in October you can mix and match the varieties that are in season and walk away with a 10 lb. bag for $7. That’d make some mighty tasty apple cobbler, apple pie, apple sauce, apple cider…

Make it a day trip or catch them at a farmers market near you.

For the 10th year, Greater Victoria residents can have their fruit trees picked by volunteers and donate a portion of the harvest to community groups, thanks to the LifeCycles Project Society.

The Fruit Tree Project links people who have surplus produce in their yards with others who have the willingness and ability to harvest it, and then supplies that fruit to people and community groups without access to fresh produce. Volunteers harvest fruit from private trees that would otherwise go to waste.

Fresh cherries, plums, apples, pears and other fruit (or sometimes vegetables) are then distributed through Community Centers and Food Banks, and shared among volunteer pickers, tree owners and the Fruit Tree Project. Produce is generally picked from July through October.

To schedule your tree for harvesting, simply fill in the online form.

Have questions? Contact Danielle Stevenson, Project Coordinator

Have you participated in the Fruit Tree Project? Leave a comment.

Some people eat crackers with homous. I eat homous with crackers — and then only because the latter are necessary as an eating utensil.

I often make my own humous, but am not above buying it when I don’t have time or am not in the mood to haul out the food processor and get creative.

I tried Royal Gourmet Foods pesto homous a while back and, even by my standards, it was inhaled pretty quickly. I didn’t share much of it, either. (No regrets, get your own.)

Unfortunately, the company website doesn’t provide info on the product, despite a link called “Product Details” (which leads to a blank page). My email to the company didn’t get a response either. The container has gone on to its next life via the recycling depot, so all I can tell you is it tasted good, and is made by a company in Burnaby.

Have you tried this product? Add your feedback, post a comment…

Gardening season isn’t over! There’s still plenty you can plant now to ensure your garden produces year-round.

The Richmond Poverty Response Committee is offering information on how to extend the growing season (a.k.a. winter gardening). Learn how to select varieties of vegetables that will withstand the colder, wetter weather, and time their planting so they produce through the fall and winter.

Simple season extension techniques such as raised beds, row cover, cloches, and cold frames will be discussed and demonstrated. And, participants will go home with a few winter vegetable seedlings for their own gardens.

Saturday, July 25th
9am – 12 pm
Barn, Terra Nova Rural Park, 2631 Westminster Hwy
Cost: $30

For more information or to register for any of these classes, please contact Arzeena Hamir at foodsecurity@richmondprc.org or call (778) 297-2202

Are you planning to attend? Let us know how it goes — leave a comment…