All About Seafood

When I visited Halifax a couple of months ago, I attended the annual Seafood Festival at the Cunard Center on the waterfront. In addition to feasting on seafood and wine, I also sat in on Leslie Beck's presentation: Seafood: Why it's good for your health. Leslie Beck is one of Canada's leading nutritionists and writes a weekly column in the Globe and Mail.

Here are a few highlights...

• The average Canadian eats only 2/3 of a fish serving per week.
• 50% of all North Americans do not eat any fish.
• Beck recommends that we eat two servings of fish, especially fatty fish twice a week. That can reduce the risk of dying from heart disease by 36%.
• Studies have shown that older adults who eat fish once a week are 60% less likely to develop Alzheimer's Disease.
• Cook fish at a high temperature (400 degrees Fahrenheit) for a short period of time.

Beck also pointed out the four most common excuses that people give for not eating fish:

1. I can't get the rest of my family to eat fish.
2. I don't know how to cook fish.
3. Cooking fish makes that house smell.
4. Buying fresh fish is inconvenient.

Sharing Recipes--Donna's Beer Muffins

This is the weekend for all beer lovers to head out to the C.N.E Bandshell in Toronto. The Toronto Beer Festival will be in full swing until Sunday, August 8th.

According to Global News, there will be hundreds of different beers and a variety of beer-infused, barbecued foods to sample. I have decided to offer my own contribution to all the beer lovers out there.


Ingredients

3 cups all-purpose flour
5 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3 tbsp white sugar
1 bottle beer
butter
grated cheese

Procedure

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Place the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar in a bowl.
• Add the beer and stir to blend.
• Spoon into greased muffin tins and brush the tops with butter.
• Sprinkle a bit of grated cheese on each muffin.
• Bake for 15 to 20 minutes.

Makes 9 large muffins

Source--Muffin Mania by Cathy Prange & Jan Pauli

Sharing Recipes--Blueberry Loaf

Enjoy this quick and easy-to-make loaf throughout the day. Have a piece with yogurt for breakfast or save it for a snack later in the day.

Ingredients

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup margarine
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

Procedure

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Sift the flour and baking powder into a large bowl.
• In a separate bowl, cream together the sugar and margarine
• Beat in the eggs, milk and vanilla.
• Add the flour mixture to the cream mixture.
• Fold in the blueberries.
• Pour into a greased loaf pan.
• Bake for 50-55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.
• Cool for 15 minutes before removing the loaf from the pan.