Showing posts with label veggies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label veggies. Show all posts

Monday, September 2, 2019

Hurom Easy Clean Slow Juicer

School is starting up tomorrow, summer is coming to an end, and cooler temperatures are on the way.  I always try to increase my fruit and veggie intake in the Fall, both to keep me energized as I go back to work, and to add extra vitamins to my diet, with hopes of warding off the germs during the upcoming cold and flu season.  One way that I increase my fruit and veggie intake is through juicing.

I have always enjoyed juicing, however, my biggest complaint with it in the past has been how much food seemed to go to waste with a large pulp output, and how much liquid was always still left in the pulp.  Every time I juiced I would comment on how wet the pulp was, and it seemed that so much of our organic fruits and veggies were getting tossed out.  When I had the opportunity to choose a new juicer, the Hurom Easy Clean Slow Juicer caught my eye right away.


This juicer rotates at just 43 revolutions per minute, so it mimics the motion of hand squeezing the fruits and veggies.  There are different strainers that fit easily into the juicer, so the amount of pulp and the consistency can be controlled depending on the ingredients used, and your preference.


Whenever I get a new appliance I like to use it a few times within a couple days, to really get the hang of it, and to feel comfortable and familiar with the parts.  I was instantly impressed with how quiet this juicer is; it makes a really pleasant squeezing sound, and it was neat to watch the juice filling up the chamber.


Our first juice was a bright mixture of orange bell pepper, carrot, grapefruit, and apples from our friends' tree.


We discarded the seeds and chopped everything into chunks before placing them into the juicer.   I was pleased to see that there was much less pulp with this juicer than our old one and that it was bone dry, meaning more of the fiber and nutrients ended up in our glasses.


The clean up is a breeze.  The pieces fit together and come apart really easily, and just need a quick rinse with hot water.  There are no sharp parts and no fine metal filter to clean, which was a nice surprise, as my old metal filter always needed a vigorous scrubbing.


We will definitely get more use out of this juicer than our last, because of the ease of clean up and lack of waste.  If the juicer needs a deeper clean there is a little brush that comes with it, although I don't think this would be needed every time.  It came really clean with a simple hot rinse.


Fresh, cold-pressed juice - the perfect beverage while enjoying a beautiful day on the deck:


As an added bonus, I had never heard of a juicer that could make ice-cream until trying it out with this Hurom juicer.  There is an ice-cream strainer that just slides right into the chamber, and then the ice-cream is extracted from the pulp outlet.


I used six frozen cherries and half a frozen banana for a single serving of all-natural, organic, healthy ice-cream:


Other juice combinations we tried included a cleansing juice with cucumber, apple, and celery:


And lycopene-rich, red juice with strawberries, bell pepper, and apple:


For those who aren't sure what to juice, the Hurom Easy Clean Slow Juicer comes with some recipe ideas.


The Hurom Easy Clean Slow Juicer can also be used to make nut milk, which I am interested in, as the store-bought stuff often contains ingredients I'd rather not consume.

Click the link to shop from the entire selection of Hurom Juicers, or read more about the Easy Clean Slow Juicer here.

Do you ever juice?  What is your favourite juice combination?
When you get a new appliance, do you like to use it a few times right away to get comfortable with it?  What appliance gets the most use in your house?  

Full Disclosure:  The Hurom Easy Clean Slow Juicer was provided to me free of charge.  All opinions are my own.

Thursday, August 24, 2017

An Amazing Supper in the Orchard

On Saturday evening Christopher and I drove about 20 minutes out of town to Over the Hill Orchards

This amazing place is an organic orchard and winery, and the friendly family who own and run it are growing fruits that we had no idea could be grown in Saskatchewan, including peaches, pears, cherries, and grapes among numerous other fruits and veggies. 


Throughout the summer Over the Hill Orchards does Supper in the Orchard, partnering with the Canadian Culinary Federation (CCFCC) to bring in different local chefs to create multi-course meals, using mostly ingredients from local farms and the orchard.  I received a gift card a couple of months ago to try Supper in the Orchard, and once we saw that Chris Torjuson was the guest chef on Saturday, we made reservations for that night.  He has been the chef at many of our favourite restaurants in town over the years (currently at Malt City), and we were excited to see what he would prepare.

 

The majority of proceeds from these evenings go back to the Canadian Culinary Federation (CCFCC), which helps send junior members for training across North America.  The suppers seat up to 32 people, so they are intimate, and the chef comes out to talk to the diners about what they will be eating.

When you arrive at the orchard, there is a beautiful patio to sit on and admire the scenery, and enjoy a beverage.  The many wine selections are all made at the orchard, as is the non-alcoholic beverage option.

At 6:30 the guests move indoors into the dining space, which is very lovely.


There was a nice floral touch to our water, and the service was excellent.


The multi-course meal is $65 dollars per person, with an optional wine pairing for an additional $25 each.  Beverages may also be purchased by the glass, and we opted for that route instead of the wine pairing.

The first course was grilled baby cabbage with balsamic Brussels, zucchini, mixed greens, Italian vin, house-made ricotta, and soppressata (an Italian dried salami that was also made and fermented by the chef).


This salad was so good, and a delightful start to the meal.

Next up was dijon gnocchi with pepperonata, and sweet corn puree.


The sweet corn puree was so flavourful, and was our favourite part of this tasty dish.  All of the food at the Orchard is gluten-free and nut-free, so this is a perfect night of dining for those who have nut and gluten dietary restrictions

Making gluten-free gnocchi is no easy feat, but chef Chris pulled it off flawlessly; the little dumplings were soft and fluffy.

Before the third course Dean, who owns the orchard with this wife Sylvia, gave us a small tour of the fruit and veggie growing operation they've got going on out there, and we were completely blown away by it - so, so impressive!  Dean was also quite funny, and extremely informative, which made the tour so interesting.  We only looked around for about 15 minutes before we went back to try the third course.  As we were heading back inside, the view of the sun going down over the valley was spectacular. 

Next up was sous vide grilled pork tenderloin, with duck fat veggies, pickled shaved carrot, pancetta, and red wine pork sauce.


All of the elements in this dish paired so well together, and the pork was extremely tender and juicy.  The sauce was superb.


The final course was apricot wine zabiaone with grilled peach, apricot gel, and dark chocolate milk crumb.


Now I am not usually a dessert person, but I ate every single bite of this, and could have gone for more.  It wasn't overly sweet, and the chocolate crumb was such a nice texture contrast to the creamy zabiaone (which I am totally going to learn how to make).


In fact, I ate every bite of every dish, which usually isn't the case when we go out for dinner.  Everything tasted so fresh, healthy, and masterfully created.  I think we were both expecting this dining experience to be good, but we had no idea it was going to be as wonderful as it was.  We're already talking about going back ... sooner rather than later.

The sun was almost completely set as we were leaving to head home.


And on the way home we couldn't stop talking about the supper and the orchard, and all the people we know who would love it.

If you're local, there is still time to book your Supper in the Orchard before the season is over.  Click here to see which nights have openings, and which chef will be cooking on those evenings.

You can find Over the Hill Orchards on Facebook, Twitter, on Instagram @overthehillorchards or on their website

I hope you make it out there to try this unique and memorable dining experience; I think you'll be as pleasantly surprised as we were.

Have you been to Over the Hill Orchards?  If you're not from around here, do you have something like this where you live?  Do you try to support local farms and other local businesses?

Tuesday, July 18, 2017

Summer Weekend

This past weekend was absolutely beautiful, and we soaked it up by being outside a lot.  Once we were home from camping on Friday afternoon, and we had met our adorable new nephew, we went home to make supper.  We were craving vegetables, so we threw veggie skewers on the BBQ, along with portobello mushrooms stuffed with broccoli, green onions and cheese.


Plants for supper - mmm!


On Saturday morning we got up early and went to the farmers' market.


This empanada was our breakfast:


We ran into our niece Remi (well, and her parents 😄) and visited for a few minutes, before carrying on with our shopping.


We stopped at the butcher too, and then dropped the meat and veggies off at home, before heading out again to the grocery store to grab the rest of our week's groceries.


We were home by about 1:30, and enjoying lunch in the backyard.


And that's where we stayed for the rest of the day and evening.  Our afternoon snack was a bowl of shelling peas, which we had snagged at the market that morning.


It took about 15 minutes inside in the evening for us to get prepped for dinner.  I got the potatoes ready, and Christopher made a BBQ sauce.


We cooked ribs low and slow, and sauced them up multiple times throughout their time on the grill.  The potatoes were cooked slowly too, with parsley, green onion, salt, pepper, and a generous amount of butter.


Farmers' market cukes on the side:


When I was little, someone taught me that these little cucumbers are best when first sprinkled with salt and rubbed together like so ...


I do this any time I eat these now, and it always brings back memories of childhood.  Am I the only one who does this, or is it actually a thing?


After making our banana French toast on Sunday, we were back in the yard for another day of sunshine, music and relaxing.  We ate lunch outside again:


For dinner we grilled salmon and golden beets, and had those with a couscous salad:


Have you been eating any of your meals outside?  How was your weekend?  What did you do?