Posts Tagged ‘evergreen brickworks’

Aug
25


I scored…I went to two fabulous festivals in one day. I started off at the Wild Blueberry Festival at Evergreen Brickworks and then proceeded to the Coconut Festival at Wychwood Barns!

Here’s more about my experience at both Festivals.

WILD BLUEBERRY FESTIVAL

I’ve been to this festival before as I’m a huge fan of Wild Blueberries. Did you know…that they have 2x the antioxidants of regular blueberries and have a more intense blueberry flavour?

The festival had a variety of vendors who had incorporated wild blueberries into their products and I was all too pleased to have a sample or two!  I even met a new vendor..Celia the Celiac and bumped into a vendor I hadn’t seen in a long time (Augies Gourmet Ice Pops)

wild - grid

Congratulations to the festival organizers for putting on another well organized festival.

THE COCONUT FESTIVAL

I discovered this festival on my facebook page as I follow Ely Products  and he posted that was going to be one of the vendors. The whole concept of a coconut festival intrigued me and naturally I thought it would be fun to “festival hop’.

coconut - flyer

It was their first year putting on this festival and it won’t be their last year. The festival was a huge success with over 100 vendors. It was quite amazing to see all the different applications of coconut!

coconut - gridIt was fun to bump into Marni Wasserman (who has a studio that I’ve been meaning to visit for a class) and to discover a great new non dairy gelato product from Grinning Face (540 Parliament) that just opened in June!  I also enjoyed yummy samosas with coconut and raisins from @andriabarrett.

Once again, congratulations to the organizers of the Coconut Festival. ..what a truly unique concept.

 

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Oct
14


I wasn’t going to let a little grey weather keep me away from The Toronto Garlic Festival which took place over the weekend, at Evergreen Brickworks. They had moved the festival indoors so this meant no puddles or umbrellas in sight.

I strolled thru the vendors to see what caught my eye ,and it wasn’t hard AT ALL  to figure out what I was going to try:

1. Garlic Fudge:  Kudo’s to Busy Liz’s Farm Shop for developing this recipe. It was perfect.

 

2. Roasted Garlic Chocolate Ice Cream: It took me a second to whip out some lactose pills so I could try this ice cream that was was made by Greg’s Ice Cream.

 

3. A Stone Ground tortilla with garlic hummus:  Made with love from the good people at Chocosol. Just what I needed.

 

4. Ooey Gooey Goodness from Cheesewerks. I am so spoiled to enjoy their amazing food, both last week at Soupalicious and then this week at the Toronto Garlic Festival. I seriously need to organize a tweet up for a Fondue Nite. Who’s in?

I ended off my visit to the Toronto Garlic Festival by participating in the Garlic Breath test that was sponsored by the Ontario Science Centre. What a great idea to have this contest at the Festival. Wonder who won.

 

Clearly I had fun at this festival!! Not to mention I came home with an amazing variety of garlic for me to experiment with. I love garlic…can you tell?

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Aug
07


Blueberries were on sale (3 containers for $5) so I decided to test out three different blueberry muffin recipes.

Three Muffins from Three Different Recipes

One recipe has a crunchy topping on it, one recipe has freshly grated nutmeg and lemon zest in it, and one recipe is traditional. I think that all three recipes produced three tasty muffins and I would certainly make all three recipes again without hesitation. I don’t know about you but I l love anything with blueberries in it. Blueberry crisp is another one of my favorites. The blueberries turn all gooey when they are baking and make a lovely goo-ey filling.

I also wanted to share a little trick I learned when making muffins.  Try spraying the paper liners with Pam. You will notice that the liners peel off nicely from the muffins when you use Pam. Wish I knew where I learned this trick from but it’s a good one.

Recipe #1: To Die for Blueberry Muffins (taken from AllRecipes.com)

This is the recipe that has the crunchy topping on it.  Please pay attention to step #2. I almost goofed this part up.

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 3/4 cup white sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/3 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 egg
  • 1/3 cup milk
  • 1 cup fresh blueberries
  • 1/2 cup white sugar
  • 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 cup butter, cubed
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease muffin tin or line with liners (and spray with Pam)
  2. Combine 1 1/2 cups flour, 3/4 cup sugar, salt and baking powder. Place vegetable oil into a 1 cup measuring cup; add the egg and enough milk to fill the cup. Mix this with flour mixture. Fold in blueberries. Fill muffin cups right to the top, and sprinkle with crumb topping mixture.
  3. To Make Crumb Topping: Mix together 1/2 cup sugar, 1/3 cup flour, 1/4 cup butter, and 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon. Mix with fork, and sprinkle over muffins before baking.
  4. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until done.

FINAL RESULT

If you like crumb-y topping ..then you will like this recipe

Recipe #2: Blueberry Muffins (taken from Canadian Living)

Super easy to make with super results.

Ingredients

  • 2 cups (500 mL) all-purpose flour
  • 2 tsp (10 mL) baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp (1 mL) salt
  • 1/2 cup (125 mL) butter, softened
  • 1 cup (250 mL) granulated sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 3/4 cup (175 mL) milk
  • 1-1/2 cups (375 mL) blueberries

Preparation

In bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. In separate bowl, cream butter with sugar; beat in eggs one at a time. Gradually stir in milk (mixture may appear curdled). Make a well in centre of dry ingredients; pour in liquid and stir just until moistened. Gently fold in blueberries.

Spoon into large paper-lined or well-greased muffin cups, filling to top. Bake in 375°F (190°C) oven for 25 to 30 minutes or until tops are firm to the touch.

FINAL RESULT:

Easy (to make) and Tasty (to eat). Not a bad combo

Recipe #3: Blueberry Muffins (taken from the Food Network)

I actually bought a fresh nutmeg for this recipe!!

Ingredients

  • 2 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
  • 3/4 cup sugar (white or light brown) plus more for sprinkling on top of the muffins (I didn’t sprinkle any on my muffins)
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 1/8 teaspoon fine salt
  • Freshly grated nutmeg…(ha..I did this step)
  • 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
  • 1 cup whole milk (had skim milk in the fridge and the recipe still worked)
  • 2 large eggs, at room temperature
  • 1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest
  • 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries, rinsed and dried

Directions

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Line a 12-muffin tin with cupcake liners and set aside.

Whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg together in a medium bowl; set aside.

Put the butter in a microwaveable-safe dish or measuring cup. Cover with plastic wrap and microwave until melted, about 30 seconds. (Alternatively melt the butter in a saucepan.) Whisk the milk, eggs, lemon zest, and vanilla with the butter.

Make a small well in the center of the dry ingredients. Pour wet ingredients into the well, then stir with a wooden spoon until the dry ingredients are moistened but still lumpy. Do not overmix the batter or your muffins will be dense. Gently stir in the blueberries. Divide the batter evenly into the muffin tin and sprinkle the tops generously with sugar.

Put the muffins in the oven and immediately reduce oven temperature to 375 degrees F. Bake until golden brown, about 25 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through the cooking. (Insert a toothpick into the center of a muffin to check if it is done. Toothpick should come out clean). Cool muffins in the pan on a rack for a couple minutes. Turn the muffins out of the pan and cool on the rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.

PS Don’t forget that the Wild Blueberry Festival is taking place at Evergreen Brickworks on Saturday Aug 3 from 8 a.m to 3 p.m. If you like blueberries…this will be the place to be!!

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Oct
05


I honestly did not know a lot about garlic until a visit to the farm of  The Cutting Veg last year. Plus I subscribe to their newsletter so I can further educate myself about the varieties of different types of garlic you can order!! I have done NOTHING with this information, but I continue to read about garlic (go figure).

I also knew that Perth, Ontario has had a garlic festival for many years but never went. However, a few weeks ago, I stumbled across a flyer posted on a tree while visiting Riverdale Farm (cant believe posters still work – but I’m living proof that it worked). I immediately knew that I was going to attend Toronto’s 1st Annual Garlic Festival which was held at the beautiful Evergreen Brickworks.

I wasnt the only one interested in the world of garlic as there were lots of other interested “foodies” who got up bright and early to attend this great festival.

I strolled from vendor to vendor to try and educate myself a little more about garlic. There were over 20 garlic farmers in my brain was busy trying to absorb the different varieties of garlic:  Russian, Mexican Purple, German Red, Legacy, Bogatyr, Spanish Roja, Siberian, Brown Rose, Killarney Red, Music, Polish Hardneck, Floha, Korean Red, Thai, Tibeta….SHOULD I GO ON?

See what I mean?

It’s an endless but facinating world.

I enjoyed some delicious samples of garlic scape pesto and bought some garlic as well. Naturally I haven’t done anything with it yet, but I enjoy looking at it as it sits above my stove in a empty flower pot.

What should I make with it? should I roast it and then spread it on a baguette? should I use it in a dressing? I’m open to suggestions …I know there are other garlic readers reading this post!! What is your favorite thing to make with garlic? do share….

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