The Food Explorer Podcast

Episode 21 Why these 31 cookbooks are leaving my house!

We're back to numbered episodes this week and more spring cleaning...cleaning out the cookbooks that is!

 

Hey hey Food Explorers!

If you're like me you've probably got a hefty collection of cookbooks. I have A LOT of them - well over 100. But, why are these 31 books leaving my house - they bring me no joy! Plus a few other reasons. Now, the current books bringing me joy ✨ - I speak about each of them in this episode.

If any are of interest to you, here's the link to grab a copy of them. Because people are watching from all over I did put the Amazon links but definitely go support your local indie bookstore if they have a cookbook section.

🎂📚And, I speak quite a bit about Crystal Dawn Culinary's Raw Desserts Creator Club - honestly a big reason a lot of the 31 cookbooks are leaving my house is that what she is creating in her academy is a million times better than any of those cookbooks. Check out her RDCC here: https://courses.crystaldawnculinary.c...

Plus, I speak about our 🟠📰Substack and 📌✨ Pinterest pages - come find us and say "hey hey!"

📚❤️📖 Books I am loving: Kitten and the Bear Cookbook (preserves and scones!) https://amzn.to/3UehLxP

Joshua Weissman: Texture over Taste: https://amzn.to/3JgcVdb

New School Sweets: https://amzn.to/3TUJn9W

The Art of Raw Desserts: https://amzn.to/43VVcRL

Eat Alberta First: https://amzn.to/3TObMys

The Flavour Matrix: https://amzn.to/3VUBJPq

Cooks Illustrated Baking: https://amzn.to/4aMxGJT

The Flavour Bible: https://amzn.to/3w01001

The Complete America's Test Kitchen: https://amzn.to/3QnH4LR

The Flavour Equation: https://amzn.to/3vO5pDo

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Peas, love and microgreens - Product + Recipe 1

This was a blast to make!  Taking a product I love from a farmer I love, yapping about it and making a great recipe!

 

This is our first of the Product + Recipe videos and I was thinking of when the first time I ever ate microgreens? Still trying to figure that out - look for the Substack article coming soon with detailed info on this delicious ingredient.

For now grab your FREE RECIPE with some substitution options https://rb.gy/kkwpx9

In this video I feature:

Thistle Hill Farms - https://thistlehillfarms.ca/

Evoolution Olive Oil and Balsamic Vinegar Tasting Bar - https://evoolution.ca/

Wholly Rhino Peppercorns - https://woollyrhinopepper.square.site/

Kitchenaid Mini Food Processor - https://amzn.to/3U6MIUP

And...that beautiful flower arrangement from Blooms by May - https://www.bloomsbymay.ca/

Apron, which I am in love with made by my friends at Victor Hugo Apparel, chefs making stuff for chefs! https://vhkitchenapparel.com/

Small glass bowls - https://amzn.to/43Lsjry

Have a great day everyone!

Should I Quit? A Chocolatiers Dilemma in 2024

Hey Food Explorers!

 

It's getting wild out there if you're a chocolatier!  Cocoa prices are at an all time high!  And not just it went up a few percent, nope it's up 264%...meep!

Jason and I wrote a Substack article (link below), and we write about what's happening but I wanted to do a personal episode on what it means for the chocolate business which is very much a part of how we survive.

🟠📰 Substack https://rb.gy/b435u0

 

💖📷 Instagram   / thefoodexplorerpodcast  

🐧Twitter/X   / foodexppodcast  

🟠📰 Substack https://substack.com/@thefoodexplorer...

💡🤝 Patreon   / thefoodexplorerpodcast  

📌✨ Pinterest https://www.pinterest.ca/thefoodexplo...

Technique 1 - Unleash the Power Within: Activating Nuts for Optimal Nutrition in 3 easy steps!

Yay!

The first in our new series' that is all about a simple technique to activate your raw unprocessed nuts.

Step 1 - soak for the right amount of time

Step 2 - rinse well and get all the ick off

Step 3 - dehydrate until dry

I go through how to do this and why. Plus pro - tip: if you don't have a dehydrator you can do this in your oven on the LOWEST setting for about the same amount of time.

 

I have a great water filtration system to alkalize, ionize, and removes chlorine, fluoride and more but it's an older model but here's a link to one that does the same thing: https://amzn.to/43yASWx

 

Plus my awesome dehydrator is an Excalibur 9 tray: https://amzn.to/4cAxvT1

 

Though when I was looking for the link I noticed a new version that I am now coveting but haven't tried yet: https://amzn.to/49eoE6s

 

If you want to get the T-flex sheets, here's the link for that as well: https://amzn.to/4athcFN

These are affiliate links and a small commission does get paid to me if you use them 💖

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🐧Twitter/X https://twitter.com/FoodExpPodcast

🟠📰 Substack https://substack.com/@thefoodexplorerpodcast

💡🤝 Patreon https://patreon.com/TheFoodExplorerPodcast

Trailer - New Series Coming

Hey Food Explorers!

 

Happy Monday! I've got some fun new videos coming that will be part of different Series!

We'll have:

- techniques

- recipes

- product reviews

- cookbook reviews

The goal is to create some fun short videos for each of these because let's be honest I have a million ideas in my head and I can't keep staying awake all night thinking about them!

Starting this week, the first episodes will drop and they will be in their own playlists so they're easy to fin!

Make sure to Subscribe so you don't miss any of them!

FIND US ON ALL OUR PLATFORMS

💖📷 Instagram   / thefoodexplorerpodcast  

🐧Twitter/X   / foodexppodcast  

🟠📰 Substack https://substack.com/@thefoodexplorer...

💡🤝 Patreon   / thefoodexplorerpodcast  

Episode 20 Plateful of Surprises

Happy day everyone!

So the other day I attended a fabulous dinner party hosted by a good friend.  She served us 5 courses, nom nom!  The most amazing thing is she has a laundry list of food allergies but I didn't feel like anything was missing - she's a pro!  But, it's taken her a long time to figure out how to do substitutions that work and make food that doesn't taste like it's missing flavour or texture!

In this episode - our 20th official episode!!!  I am going to start the conversation around allergens and food sensitivities.  Plus, I have a few fun announcements for items I'm currently working on and a new series that I'm starting.

Tell all your friends that you know that need some help adding in foods to replace ones that don't love them anymore that I'll be filming upcoming episodes with recipes and of course interviewing some amazing people who work hard to create allergen free foods that don't taste like your bedroom wall!

Subscribe so you don't miss any episodes!

Episode 19 Olive my Love

Olive a sudden it's become clear that I have a problem hahah!  I love puns and olive the puns should be used!

This week we'll be diving into the world of olive oil.  I actually had way more to say but the episode was becoming unruly - truly it was pitiful.  Okay, I'm done!

There's a store I've spoken about quite a few times on other episodes so I wanted to do an introduction to them officially - the Evoolution stores! 

https://evoolution.ca/

This is where you can get premium olive oils and vinegars.  In Episode 15 where I pickle the radishes I use 2 different balsamic vinegars from Evoolution, so check that out if you haven't already.

And, don't forget to send me your recipes or pics of what you make with olive oil - it's not just for salad dressings!

 

Episode 18 Travel Food and More

I'm back and in a hotel room!

I missed a few weeks - sorry everyone!  I was suffering imposter syndrome, working wearing too many hats and so much more.  But, now I'm here again and realizing that I love making these episodes.  They won't be perfect but that doesn't mean I can't still record and publish them.

A few things - so much travel lately!  I speak in this episode about how to pack for my travels because eating out all the time isn't feasible.  Needing to bring things like jugs of water - yup, it's a thing!

And, for those on the platform X, I'm back on there!  I'm actually super excited as I have decided on a plan for that platform and what I want to post.  So check it out if you're there...say hi!

https://twitter.com/FoodExpPodcast

See you next week!

Episode 17 Texture Time

Ohhhh-eeee have I got a fun one for you all today!

 

I figured last week was pretty sad so let's just jump right into something fun - texture!  I love texture; crunchy, crispy, smooth, and all the ones in between!  I'm trying some new techniques again this week - adding in some more music and transitions.  

 

Let me know what you think and new microphones are coming soon so I can be on location and get some great interviews done!

Have an amazing last day of January (also, how did that happen??)

Episode 16 CEBA Loan Blues

Hello!

Happy Wednesday night!  Time management my friends is not my friend right now!  But, I've been working on some cool things which I'll be announcing mid-year...gotta wait!

Today I am on what might seem like a tangent but is related to food and the restaurant industry and a part of why so many places here in Canada are closing down and that is the CEBA loans.  These loans (CEBA stands for Canada Emergency Business Account) are now due, well as of 6 days ago they were due.  And, many places in Canada have come up short and can't repay them.  This is a terrible situation because if you were a business in good standing, then you were getting a nice forgiveness portion to the loan.  So, on a 40K loan, you didn't have to repay !0K and on a 60K loan you didn't have to repay $20K.  If you didn't pay or didn't make arrangements (after MANY extensions) then you're hooped!

I explain a bit about these loans today and what it means for some businesses but also the trend that bothers me of armchair commenters putting in their 2 cents that businesses should be forgiven the loans, or subsidized or some other such arrangement.

There is also a campaign on Restaurants Canada's website asking for CEBA loan extensions for restaurants until the end of this year and why the government should do this.  Read about it here:

https://www.restaurantscanada.org/extend-ceba#take-action

The gist of their plea is that 1 in 5 restaurants will have to shut their doors because they can't make the repayments.  This will definitely leave a gap in the industry and be awful for those small businesses...but also this wasn't a surprise deadline.

Let me know what you think??  I'm less ranty in  this than I thought I would be!

 

Also, my awesome mug is from Emma Cranston Pottery!  Check her out!

https://emmacranstonpottery.ca/