The past few days we've been glued to the TV watching the Winter Olympics. We cheered for Hannah Kearney when she won the gold in women's moguls and secretly hoped that there would be a few little crashes so Bode Miller would win gold in men's downhill (Better luck in another alpine event Bode!). We'll continue to be on the edge of our couch for more skiing and skating until the end. 

But, when there's a pause in the action there are of course Olympic themed commercials (which often remind me of Super Bowl commercials). They're at a higher level than your typical run of the mill commercial and tend to tug on your heartstrings a bit. In the beginning I was oohing and aahing and almost shed a tear.

Then, I saw the following McDonald's commercial. If you've been watching the Olympics at all you've probably seen it. Just in case you haven't, here's the scene.....

Picture a group of children hockey players and their coach giving a post game pep talk. He says (and I am paraphrasing here since I can't find the clip online);

"We came into this game with one goal and unfortunately finished the game with only one goal. You played with heart.....you played like Olympians...and today you're going to eat like Olympians!"

The commercial then cuts to the team entering a McDonald's full of prominent Olympic athletes.

I almost fell off the couch! It's bad enough that McDonald's is and has been a huge sponsor of the Olympic games for as long as I can remember, but to actually paint the picture that Olympic athletes eat McDonald's and that "you too can eat like an Olympian" is just plain irresponsible. I'm not an expert on an Olympic athletes diet but I am pretty confident that they aren't stopping at the drive thru on their way home from practice.

After I picked myself back up of the floor and had to take a step back from my outrage:

Give Kids More Credit
Unless you live under a rock you've heard all the news about childhood obesity and the rise in diabetes. This commercial clearly targets children who might believe that McDonald's food could help them become an Olympian. But, at the same time we need to give kids more credit and parents need to take responsibility. I think it's safe to assume that most kids know that a salad is better for them than a Big Mac and it's our responsibility as adults to keep reinforcing what they already know. We shouldn't expect McDonald's to teach children how to make smart and healthy food choices - that's our job. 

Healthy Options: A Missed Opportunity
If you're going to McDonald's in the first place I'm sure you're not stopping by for the apple dippers but, at least they have added a few healthy options for those who want them. In the commercial they don't show any of these options. Instead, all the Olympians are chowing down on chicken nuggets and french fries. Why not take this opportunity to promote the healthier choices that McDonald's has to offer? By missing this chance they have really made themselves look foolish and the Olympic athletes are going down with them.

Last night I was reminded of a two valuable rules when it comes to cooking:

1) Follow your instincts before following a recipe
2) Improvisation will always put dinner on the table

Of course these "rules" weren't apparent to me when I stood in the kitchen feeling defeated when things didn't work out as planned. I had even posted on Facebook that I was planning on making Quinoa Stuffed Peppers for dinner and that I was going to post the recipe later. But, when it didn't turn out I was a bit embarrassed and was just going to ignore my promise and not post the recipe or write a blog post about it.

Then, I checked my wall this morning and got a really sweet note from a friend telling me she enjoys seeing what I'm cooking for dinner. (Or, as she called it - my "ingestibles" :) At first I was even more embarrassed because my inspiring cooking from last night had actually turned into a bit of a failure.

But, her kind comment reminded me of my cooking rules that I try to follow and I realized that I had actually followed one of my two rules and dinner turned out just fine in the end.

Rule #1 - Follow your instincts before following a recipe (FAILED!)
I am not that great at following most recipes in the first place - I tend to scan the recipe and then improvise. For me reading through a recipe is time consuming and I prefer to just get dinner ideas that I can pull out depending on what I have on hand and time for.

I had found this recipe for Quinoa Stuffed Peppers in an old issue of Vegetarian Times that I dug out over the weekend. As usual, I scanned through the recipe and saw that I had most of the necessary ingredients and could substitute for what I didn't have. To save time in the evening I prepped all my veggies in the morning (chopped the carrots and turnip, defrosted and squeezed the spinach, drained the beans etc). I was also going to cook the quinoa ahead of time but then looked back at the recipe and saw that it said to cook the quinoa together with the veggies and a few other ingredients - this is where I didn't follow my instincts. I didn't have time for all of that so I decided to just soak the quinoa for a bit and then do all the cooking in the evening.

When I got around to cooking I followed the recipe and threw all my veggies together with the quinoa, added a 2 cups of water and put on the lid. In the back of my mind I was thinking; "hmmm....simmering this for 20 minutes means that I'm cooking the be-jesus out of my vegetables. And then I have to bake it for another hour?" This is where I didn't follow my instincts again. 

I dutifully followed the recipe and let my pepper stuffing simmer away for the full 20 minutes. It looked and smelled delicious! But, when I gave it a quick taste I realized my fears - my veggies and quinoa were pretty mushy. I was supposed to then stuff the peppers and bake them for an hour. If I did that I was going to have liquid stuffing. I was pretty bummed and frustrated, but all was not lost.

Rule #2 - Improvisation will always put dinner on the table (PASSED!)
After I realized I had quinoa mush instead of quinoa stuffing it was time to take a quick break and pick Dani up at the train station. After she told me that she was starving I confessed my dinner failure. What should we have instead? I remembered that I had defrosted a few chicken breasts and could quickly grill them in a pan and we could use the quinoa on the side or on top. Dani was game.

So, when we got home I quickly pulled the chicken breasts out of the fridge, patted them dry and sprinkled them with salt and pepper and grilled them in coconut oil. I finished my prepped cucumber salad with dill, put the chicken on plates and added a scoop of the quinoa on the side. We agreed that the quinoa was a bit mushy but Dani said that is wasn't "that bad."So nice of her :)

I'm not giving up on making quinoa stuffed peppers - I plan on giving it another go later this week. One technical mistake I think I made was to soak the quinoa which the recipe did not call for. This probably also led to a bit of the mushiness. I'll keep you posted on how it goes :)

I guess after reading all this you could say that it was my own fault and if I had just followed the recipe exactly we would have had stuffed peppers for dinner. Yeah, maybe. But, I'm pretty confident that my original plan would have worked just fine. I believe that it's important to make a recipe work for you and not the other way around. Don't be a slave to the recipe!  :)

In the end, I was proud of myself for not completely giving up on my dinner plans and improvising an alternative. We ate - that's all that really matters. For lunch Dani agreed to take more of the quinoa and I cut some of the chicken into it which she will just warm up in the microwave.

This is what I love about cooking (well, most of the time :) There is always something to learn and you always have the chance to try again without too much tragedy. It teaches you patience, persistence, improvisation and creates memories.

Here's to Quinoa Stuffed Peppers, take 2!


Side Note: If you don't use coconut oil you MUST check it out. It's has a high smoke point so it's great for grilling and sauteeing and leaves chicken and pork incredibly juicy. Don't like coconut? I don't either. But, this doesn't taste like the fake coconut flavor most of us are used to. Plus, coconut oil has been show to have many heath benefits from maintaining good skin to lowering cholesterol levels.

The way to anyone's heart is through their stomach. So, to celebrate Valentines Day I made special "love" pancakes.

I followed my favorite pancake recipe from The River Cottage Family Cookbook (because the authors live in England they're called "drop scones" in the book). And I used my new KitchenAid mixer which really made everything go so much faster with less mess. Love that!

I just made two little adjustments:

1) Peanut Butter - I added about 3 tablespoons of peanut butter to the batter which adds a nice peanut butter flavor to the pancakes and lessens the need for lots of syrup. They are delicious plain right out of the griddle! Plus, while it may be higher in calories and fat peanut butter can lower your risk of coronary heart disease and studies have shown that peanut butter can help you feel full longer.

2) Soy Milk - Because I'm avoiding dairy my heart did sink a bit when I realized that there is milk in the recipe (duh!). But, before I gave up I realized that I could just replace the milk with soy milk. I was a bit skeptical at first and Dani scrunched her nose when I told her, but we were both pleasantly surprised that the soy milk made no difference in taste or texture.

To make these pancakes a little more special for Valentines Day I quickly warmed up some frozen berries with a bit of sugar and vanilla. And, used a heart-shaped cookie cutter to add a little more "love."

This with a cup of coffee made for a nice little Sunday morning breakfast.

Here is the recipe I used from The River Cottage Family Cookbook:

Butter, 2 tablespoons
All-purpose or white pastry flour, 1 1/2 cups
A pinch of salt
Baking powder, 1 teaspoon
Superfine sugar, 2 tablespoons
Eggs, 2
Milk, about 2 cups (add a bit extra if you add peanut butter)
A little sunflower oil for frying

1. Gently melt butter
2. Sift the flour into a bowl with the salt and baking powder and add the sugar
3. Break in the eggs and add about half the milk. Whisk, gently at first until you get a thick paste, then add the rest of the milk and the melted butter. Beat until you get a creamy batter. It should be thick but pourable.
4. Heat up your griddle with a few drops of the oil. Once it's hot enough turn it down to medium and add a half ladle full of your batter. After about a minute, little bubbles will appear on the surface of your pancakes. Now it's time to flip! Cook the other side for about a minute or so and then transfer it to a warm plate and cover with a tea towel.
5. Let them cool just a bit if you want to use a cookie cutter. It their too fresh they may crumble a bit and if they're too cool they may tear.

Check out the River Cottage blog to learn about River Cottage HQ where founder and author Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall writes about their projects, shares delicious recipes and the cooking school and classes they have planned.