Recipes

You can fill more than Half Your Plate and create your own salad with this recipe. Chefs know that the art and craft of filling a salad bowl is one of the greatest expressions of the culinary arts. Home cooks, like MP Wayne Easter, love how easy it is to cram the salad bowl with healthy flavors. Everyone enjoys emptying the bowl. You’ll love knowing you have plenty of delicious dressing leftover for the next salad and nothing beats impressing yourself in your own kitchen!

The many different mushrooms at your supermarket are all prized for their deep earthy flavours and unique textures. These distinctive vegetables are uniquely the above-the-ground fruit of a below-the-ground fungus. Mushrooms are at their meaty best in a batch of slowly simmering barley cooked like a batch of classic risotto. You’ll fill more than Half Your Plate with this hearty dish!

Bok choy is a type of Chinese cabbage prized for its sweet tender flavour and off-the-charts nutritional density. This beautiful vegetable forms heads of tightly clustered light green stems with dark green leaves. This simple dish is our favourite way to cook one of our favourite vegetables and fill Half Your Plate!

Spaghetti squash is known for its distinctive inner threads and their unique resemblance to cooked pasta. That unique texture and sweet flavour anchor this dish and its group of familiar Mediterranean flavours. I love the convenience of the one baking-pan method too. A tasty and easy way to fill Half Your Plate!

Leeks are milder cousins of the onion with a sweet neutral texture that absorbs any flavour and complements everything on your plate. They’re a long cylinder of bundled leaves, easy to cook and a deliciously simple way to fill Half Your Plate.

Green Beans are one of the tastiest and healthiest vegetables in your kitchen repertoire. They’re also one of the easiest, kids love them and steaming beans is super simple. Craving an upgrade though? It’s equally easy to add the addictive scent of sage and garlic toasting in brown butter to the works. What a great way to fill Half Your Plate with classic deliciousness!

There are many, many ways to serve up healthy vegetables but perhaps none as easy or versatile as a classic salad. Here’s how to transform a few simple ingredients into a memorable salad that will easily fill more than Half Your Plate with homemade goodness!

One of the best ways to fill Half Your Plate (and all of your soup bowl) is with a simple puréed soup. They’re a time-honoured and super-simple way to get a whole lot of vegetable flavour on the table in a hurry – maybe even hide vegetables from finicky eaters. This one was custom created by MP Pat Finnigan with Chef Michael Smith’s coaching!

Nothing says fall in Canada like fresh local apples. They’re crisp and tasty straight off the tree and magically even more delicious baked. Everyone loves their warm rustic flavours and you’ll love how easy it is to stuff them in the oven but why wait? You can fill Half Your Plate and enjoy this treat any time of year!

Every chef knows how easy it is to jazz up dessert by pureeing fruits into simple sauces. With just a few simple ingredients, a bit of gentle heat and a strong blender you too can transform almost any ripe fruit into a colourful backdrop for almost any dessert. Apricot uniquely creates the smoothest sauce of them all though. Its’ juicy tender flesh and fresh aromatic flavour go well with everything. Even at dessert you can fill Half Your Plate!

This is a delicious condiment to add to your grilling or snacking repertoire. Like any great salsa it’s packed with big, bright, balanced taste that easily complements other ingredients. What a great way to fill Half Your Plate with zesty flavours!

Rhubarb chutney is a tasty condiment side-kick for whatever hits your grill this season. Meat, fish or fowl – even grilled veggie burgers – get a big bright boost from this balanced classic. Rhubarb’s sour tang is mellowed with sweetness, fragrant spices and spicy heat in this make-ahead topping. You can perk up more than Half Your Plate with this fragrant chutney!