Crazy Plates by Janet & Greta Podleski

I don't remember how this weeks choice Crazy Plates became part of my collection.  I don't own their original cookbook LonneySpoons. But I suspect I heard so much about LonneySpoons that when Crazy Plates was published I had to get a copy.   Quirky recipe titles, wacky humour, health tips and interesting recipes that anyone can make is the winning combination in this book from this sister duo.

After I selected the cookbook I learned that Janet & Greta Podleski recently lost their mother whom they credit as their biggest supporter while writing their books.  This made me think of my Mom who has been gone over 10 years.  Mom's have a big influence over many aspects of our life including our relationship with food.  I credit both my parents to my exposure and understanding of food.  Dad was more on the growing and harvesting side of food, Mom's influence was taking those raw ingredients and making something wonderful.

She encouraged me to learn to cook at an early age.  Sometimes it was through tough love - if I didn't like what I was served for supper I had to get my own replacement meal - this is why I learned to make scrambled eggs by the age of 8.  Sometimes by making it fun - even as a very young child I would watch Mom bake.  When she would bake cookies, she would wait until the baking sheets had cooled before putting the next batch of dough on the sheest.  To help cool the sheets faster she would fan me with the sheets.  I thought that was great fun!

Once again I found lots of recipes I wanted to try and I have narrowed it down to a fun menu - I will let you know how it turns's out.

Menu - Week 1


Cook! is a compilation Cook Book created by Dietitians of Canada, the National Professional Association for Dietitians, and written by Mary Sue Waisman, a culinary dietitian pioneer.
Recipes were provided by both Dietitians and the public to show how easy it is to cook food that can be part of a healthy diet while celebrating food from field to fork.

In addition to great recipes it includes a primer on healthy eating and through out the book there are tips on how to improve cooking skills.

While flipping through the book I quickly identified well over a dozen recipes that I wanted to try.  The hard part was narrowing it down to one menu.  I finally settled on

Pears with Grilled Haloumi Cheese

Indian Spiced Cauliflower, Potatoes and Chick Peas

Chicken Curry

Maple Barley Pudding. 

It was the first time I cooked with Haloumi cheese, if you haven't tried it yet - get some.  It has an interesting texture which I found intriguing.  Even when heated it holds its shape.  I love barley, but have never had it as a dessert before - think of baked rice pudding. The fruit in the Chicken Curry provided a nice sweet contract to the spicy curry.  They were all recipes I would consider making again.

I also prepared the Streusel-topped Maple Oatmeal Muffins.  Which I certainly will be making again

I have left stickie notes in several recipes which I hope to try soon,  but for now I need to select another cookbook for next week!

The Inspiration

I recently turned the half century mark, which causes you to pause and reflect a little.  Fifty years is a milestone that not everyone has the opportunity to achieve and even though it is just a number I felt it needed to be marked in some way. 

During a recent conference keynote address the presenter mentioned how each year she tries a number of new things, the number of new things she tries is equal to her age that year.  It sounded like an intriguing way to mark a half century, and I have been mulling over what new things I could try since the presentation. 

One evening, while flipping through the pages of a cookbook that was on my coffee table inspiration hit!  Before we get too far into our story a little step back. I had won the cookbook  a few weeks early and I had placed it on the coffee table while I decided what to do with it. See the book been published almost a decade earlier and I already had a copy of it.  It was book that I had given many people, over the years.  (Maybe partially because as a  compilation cookbook, I had actually contributed a recipe to it, but also because it had many great recipes).  I felt I was familiar with the book and was not sure what to do with another copy of it.    

As I was looking through the book that evening, it was like looking at it for the first time.  I was seeing recipes that I wanted to try, that I had meant to try, that I had tried and would like to make again. 

Confession time, I enjoy reading cookbooks and trying new recipes, and have amassed a sizeable collection of cookbooks over the years.  When I first get a new cookbook, usually, I will make several recipes, but like when a child gets a new toy.  I sometimes forget about my other cookbooks when I get the next new one,  excited to try recipes in that book.  Oh, sometime the old one will get pulled off the shelf for a "favourite" recipe, but it is usual forgotten about once it is placed on the book shelf. 

Now back to the inspiration: Each week I would pick a cookbook already in my collection and prepare a recipe, actually a whole meal (3 courses - appetizer, main course and dessert) from it.  To make it a little more interesting I have also decided it can't be a recipe I made previously and if possible it should have an ingredient or technique I have never tried before.  

My 50 new things for this year, will actually be 50 new menus to mark my 50th year! Each week I will post a little about the cook book I have selected and once I have prepared the meal I will post the results. 

First I will feature the cookbook that inspired this blog: Dietitians of Canada Cook!  written by the incomparable Mary Sue Waisman, MSc, RD.  

Come back in a few days to hear about the menu selected.