Live life well



I was invited to attend a media event at the Maple Leaf Garden Loblaws, which opened in November 2011. It had lots of choices and unique features worth looking at such as its ACE bakery that makes artisan bread from scratch everyday, the 18 foot wall with 400 varieties of cheese, patisseries, tea emporium, fresh juice that is squeezed on location, tables with pictures of events that happened at the Toronto Maple Leaf Garden and many more...


The tour was very informative. I had fun meeting the organizers, folks that work at Loblaws, the chefs at the PC cooking school and in-store dieticians. I enjoyed a delicious vegetable soup, barley risotto served with scallop and a berry crumble that was made by the chefs.


Here is the adapted recipe for Wild mushroom barley risotto with scallops from PC blue menu recipes.


2 cup shitake mushrooms *
6 cups of water
2 tbsp olive oil
3 cloves garlic finely chopped
1 tsp salt to taste
1 cup pear barley
2 tbsp or more fresh parsley and thyme
parmesan cheese to garnish optional

* Can use only shitake or use 1/2 cup dried chanterelle, 1/2 cup dried portobello mushrooms and 1 cup shitake for the mushroom stock. Boil the mushroom with the water and turn off the heat. Let the stock stand covered for 20 minutes. Take the mushrooms out of the stock by squeezing the water, chop and leave aside. Keep the stock in low heat.
Heat oil over medium high heat, then cook onions for 2 minutes, add garlic then add sliced mushrooms and 1/2 tsp salt. Cook for about 3 to 5 minutes till the mushrooms are tender. Stir in the barley.

Then add mushroom stock 1 cup at a time, stirring constantly allowing the stock to get absorbed before adding the next cup of stock keep doing this till the barley is cooked to desired consistency about 1/2 hour. It is cooked uncovered. Add parsley, thyme, remaining salt and the cheese if you are using. Leave aside.

scallops
2 tbsp oil
1 bag 400g scallops thawed and drained
salt and pepper to taste
2 to 3 tbsp water from the mushroom

Heat oil over medium high heat cook scallops for 2 to 3 minutes until it cooks through turning it once. When touched if it springs back it is ready. Add about 2 to 3 tsp of water from the stock. Serve hot with the risotto.

This is the berry crumble.

Loblaws will be having in-store dieticians that offer many services i.e. teaching and advising the public about healthy eating for healthy living. You can ask any nutritional related questions such as heart health, diabetes, family nutrition, weight loss, etc. Next time you are shopping make sure to get their knowledgeable tour that is free and the information booklets that also have coupons.


There are over 400 Blue menu products to choose from, so we can introduce a variety into our everyday meals. PC has a new attribute on their packages with a + and - sign, which indicates the level of sodium, omega 3 and fibre.


Healthy eating is not expensive it is about moderation and balance.

Some of the tips that the dieticians gave are; to use less saturated foods which is better for us, to entirely avoid trans fat, naturally occurring sugar in fruit and vegetables are good, a range of colourful food has benefits, and sodium helps the body maintain water balance and transmits nerve impulse so it is good in moderation.


You can learn many things from
the PC cooking school i.e. making your own baby food, classes for different age groups, baking, gourmet cooking, learning new skills i.e. making sushi, pastries etc.

Glad I got to share what I enjoyed, please do visit and use their services at Loblaws to live life well :)
If you would like a list of the dieticians, email me.

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28 comments:

  1. Thanks for sharing the info.. the berry crumble looks awesome.

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  2. The barley risotto looks delicious!

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  3. What a wonderful risotto! I will have to try this, I love scallops!

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  4. what a wonderful experience - congrats and the dishes looks amazing :)

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  5. Wow! Looks like you had a nice time over there,the recipes also looks very delicious.

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  6. Great event and so much you have shared on it. I have to agree with that eating healthy is not expensive, just that we need to choose our ingredients right. I am a vegetarian, so I suppose I am in the same line of eating healthy.

    We hardly have risotto over here bc we are hook onto rice with side dishes. However, its always good to have an open mind to try out other types of food. I am all in for the lovely berry crumble, that looks so fabulous.

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  7. oh love the idea of barley risotto must try

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  8. Nice post, and the risotto looks awesome..

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  9. Very useful trip and these recipes are so easy to follow, packed with nutrient!

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  10. I have started liking lob laws products. They have improved so much in last three years.

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  11. Glad that you had nice time, risotto looks yum.

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  12. Sounds like a great event. Food looks good.

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  13. Both of these recipes look delicious!

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  14. I love risottos, barley risotto sounds healthy, innovative and fun...bookmarking this recipe...

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  15. nice event u got to attend! the berry crumble looks fabulous

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  16. What a fun event! Both the risotto and crumble look fantastic! Hope you're having a wonderful weekend~

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  17. A very lovely and informative post... Should try the Risotto recipe next time :)

    http://schmetterlingwords.blogspot.com/2012/03/healthy-morsels-journey-begins.html

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  18. What a great event...looks so informative. The risotto dish looks amazing :)

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  19. Very informative post,Akheela!!

    Please contribute your entries (old or new )EP Series-Cilantro /Cumin Event

    Erivum Puliyum

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  20. This looks like my kind of way to spend my day. :) What a wonderful event! :)

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  21. looking really nice and yumm too.book marked........Maha
    loved it..........

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  22. I have been planning to attend the cooking demos at Loblaws for a long time but somehow never got around to actually doing it. The risotto sounds interesting.....hubby has been requesting some "non desi" items on our dinner table , will give it a try.

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  23. Awesome. Love the recipe. you must have enjoyed the experience.

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  24. Awesome posting. This is looking very nice...........


    Flower delivery

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Thank you for commenting :)