Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Jamie Oliver and Sobeys


I think you should know that I am a HUGE fan of Jamie Oliver.

His pizza dough recipe is MY pizza recipe. From this cookbook:


 I applaud him for his work trying to teach children and their families about the importance of cooking and nutrition.

Barry will like this because his tongue is in his mouth...
So imagine my delight when I discovered that one of our local grocery chains, Sobeys (Maritime born and bred!) has partnered with Jamie to promote healthy food and cooking!  Well done Sobeys!

Our store now has lovely displays of healthy foods grouped together in pleasing ways and Jamie's recipes throughout the store and of course, Jamie cookware (there has to be something for Jamie besides just general goodwill I guess!)

But here's the thing: the gift collection is charming.  We have already bought the measuring cups.





Now having Jamie Oliver as a consultant does not suddenly make us shop at Sobeys, but I must admit, it is a great coup for Sobeys to get him and is an interesting counterpoint to the Galen Weston juggernaut! 

You can read the full article about the partnership here.

I personally love Jamie, have a lot of his cookbooks and find he and them to be reliably good food.

Anyone else spotting Jamie in their supermarket?

Have a great Tuesday and stay safe out there! 

And Jamie - if you are reading this - pop over around 5 - we are having spatchcocked chicken leftovers!

Oh wait!  Here is the picture of the original spatchcocked chicken:


It is from the October issue of Martha Stewart living (this is fresh from the oven before plating it with the cauliflower).  You can get the recipe online here. The non-vegans in my life raved about it and I must admit - it was very juicy and tasty!

Besides the cauliflower, I also mad a squash soup, of my own design:



There is never a recipe - just a couple of kinds of roasted squash, pureed with some veggie broth and then combined with curry, salt and pepper and fresh sage to taste.  We take our son a bowl at his job.

So that is REALLY all I have to say about cooking for today!

41 comments:

  1. Love your recipes, love your writing. Thanks for your posts - they are a bright spot and smile in my day.

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  2. We love Jamie too! I often use his books as inspiration for dinners, and a lot of his recipes are great (although I find some need adapting)
    Love those measuring cups!

    I think there's a Jamie Oliver restaurant in ?Sydney, but I've never been to it.

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    1. I have never been to his restaurants either. I always think of him as the working class' Gordon Ramsay, though perhaps my british friends will disabuse me of that fantasy?

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  3. We don't have Sobeys here yet, but I like Jamie too. He is very likable and have watched his Christmas shows last year. They were great.

    I agree - there is no recipe for squash soup. I usually try to saute the spices I use for a more rounded flavour.

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    1. HI Ruth - I do the same thing with my spices - a nice, almost dry frying pan just makes them so pungent, doesn't it?

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  4. I've always like the way Jamie comes across on the Food Network and bravo for any effort to cook and eat healthier. I have a thing for measuring cups, those are so cute.

    If Jamie stands you up, I'd be more than happy to take his place, everything looks super yummy.

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  5. I can't believe it has been again so long since I visited you. I love Jamie too... I think his cooking is fresh and simple and very accessible.
    I love cooking, but baking the most.
    You soup looks so yummy. As we arrive in the Fall season, I definitely will work on some soups... I love punkin with chestnut... I also came recently across a roasted cauliflower recipe... Will have to try it.
    Have a nice day.

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    1. Oh - that is a great idea! I have some leftover cauliflower from sunday night that I roasted! I am off to search recipes!

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    2. Pinterest Wendy, Pinterest :-)

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    3. Good plan - am so addicted to pinterest!

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  6. maybe it's living over here but I am Jamie Olivered out. I also went to his restaurants in the past and I must say that it is homey and has some easy go to recipes but i am forever scarred when he once stood outside a single mothers house who was on benefit with no family nor job nor hope and taught her how to make lasagne then he said to camera how he changed that girls life and that was just the tipping point for me I am afraid...I am afraid I have lived over here too long but good luck to him.

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    1. CSW - that is so interesting! I completely agree that there is a fine line between helping and exploiting - I think if I had seen that I would have viewed it as exploitation, too. On the other hand, I troll my supermarkets and I see people buying only pre-packaged food, expensive or non-nutritious, and then I think he is on the side of the angels. So many things are healthier and cheaper from scratch. Back to my home ec lament of a couple of weeks ago, people don't know how to cook so they do the best they can. A homemade vinaigrette is usually healthier and only takes a minute, but people don't know how to do it. We used to offer a lot of cooking lessons for mothers on social assistance in my old working life and many were learning to cook and budget for the first time and really loved it. But on TV - not so much. But maybe she loved it? He could come to my house and teach me anything! ;-)

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    2. There was also a firestorm about his comments that people on benefits should buy better food rather than all those massive f#$%ing flatscreen TV's; he was called out on a British frugality blog , a girl called Jack. Bit of a tin ear.
      That said I enjoyed his shows and have that cookbook-- gorgeous photos in there, too.
      You are cookin' up a storm, girl!

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    3. Writing, cooking and walking to try to avoid the writer's bottom

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  7. Love Jamie, such a nice guy. He has done much to make the UK schoolchildren's lunch healthy. I'm a sucker for cute kitchen implements from Anthro. My favorite is my Babushka measuring cups. You open it up and the doll and measurements get smaller. On another note, I saw a clip of the Dior Spring fashion show over the weekend and Raf Simmons showed a number of patched jackets. Paris is now channeling you!

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    1. Yay for me and Dior!

      I love Anthro for their housewares!

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  8. I know the name just not much more than that. The cost of fresh fruits and vegetables is very prohibitive for a lot of families. At least here in East Tennessee, healthy eating is really for the mid/upper class. It's just not the cost but also the lack of calories to fill those bellies A bit of a rant but this is one area the US Government has done a piss poor job.

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    1. I agree! We have a farmers market here where the veggies are cheap - but you need to get there and know you need to get there...

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    2. It does seem that here in the U.S. there is a lot of emphasis from people like Alice Waters on farm fresh, organic, locally sourced fruits and veggies. That's just not possible for lots of people (although things do seem to be getting better - even Walmart has jumped on the local/organic bandwagon). It seems to me that there should be more of an emphasis on canned and frozen veggies, which are still extremely healthy and much more economical.

      But on a lighter note, those cups are so darn cute!!!

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    3. Agree completely on the need for affordable healthy food for all!

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    4. Why is the answer to every problem to have more government and higher taxes? Can't people think of any other solution?

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    5. Hi anon - I don't think we need more gov and taxes - just more education - would that be all gov in us?

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  9. Mmm, your soup looks delicious. I love squash in any form. Do you spatchcock the chicken yourself or get the butcher to do it? My father showed me how to spatchcock a bird but so few people even know what that means, let alone how to do it!

    Sobey's is indeed a juggernaut. I was surprised when they bought out Canada Safeway in June in order to increase their presence here out West. It will be interesting to see how it evolves.

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    1. I did spatchcock it myself! I love squash as well - I used to make it mashed for my dad with bourbon and brown sugar - mmm!

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  10. Dying over those measuring cups. I wish I could hop on up there to lovely Canada and pick myself up a set!!! It's really not that far...

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    1. JCREWJD - if you really want a set - email me offline (sydforry@hotmail.com) - I am sure I could get them for you and pack them well for mailing. I think they were $20 or something CDN.

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    2. I want a set too but I'll just pick that up when I pop over for dinner. ;)

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  11. Morning Wendy, I saw Jamie on Canada AM this morning and was struck by how far he has come from the days of The Naked Chef. He was obviously jet lagged, but he was so articulate - he has a new book out, Save With Jamie, that I'm sure will do well. I have some DVDs of his Naked Chef series and I love watching them now and again - he was such a breath of fresh air back then!

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    1. I know - he was so cute and so NOT pompous about food! We all love him in our house! And I have always had success with his recipes!

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  12. This post isn't helping my diet! I want butternut squash soup now! I am not very familiar with Jamie Oliver, but did he guest star on Biggest Loser? Maybe that's what I know him from.

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    1. I haven't seen that show so not sure. I think my version would not be diet-adverse, Cate. Is only roasted squash pureed with veggie broth with pan roasted spices and sage tossed in for flavour - I would think it was really low-cal?

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    2. Yum and sounds very low cal!

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  13. I have one of his books:Jamie cooks American,that I bought when we lived in Germany. I bought it because I missed the States,not so much to cook out of it:)
    In the end I kept making his macaroni and cheese recipe a lot of times,as my kids loved it. It was a pain to make,but tasted heavenly.

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    1. Oh - you know that is one I haven't made as son is vegan - now on my list!

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    2. It is really good,but getting the cheesesauce right,didn't always work out for me.
      Maybe you have more experience!

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  14. I remember watching Jamie Oliver shows, and I like him, but I must admit I am in the Nigella camp! (I have all of Nigella's books except for the current one.) The chicken looks delicious!!!

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  15. I used watch Jamie Oliver's cooking show and have been to two of his restaurants - Jamie's Italian and Fifteen. His kitchens make fantastic food!

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Kindness is a virtue...