THE MIGHTY TOMATO

Based on my own experiences, most people seem to dislike tomatoes.  They are fine with ketchup.  They have no problem with basic pasta sauce.  But for a lot of people, and I used to be the same way for many years, they will completely stay clear from tomatoes in general or only eat them if they're buried in a burger of submarine sandwich with sauces, lettuce, meats and bread.

"What About Bob?"-Courtesy of Touchstone Pictures

I was one of those people who would only eat tomatoes when they were buried with other ingredients in a burger or sub.  I would remove them from my salads.  I would not even touch tomato soup or tomato juice.  I had some smart-alick tomato fan every now and then ask me why I liked ketchup but not tomatoes.  Ketchup is just tomatoes, after all, right?  I would reply they the next time they want ketchup they should just toss a tomato in a blender.  That pretty much shut them up.

I was very anti-tomato.  They had this flat taste that just didn't seem right.  I even remember a time when I was a kid and I was given a grape tomato which I believed was a gumball.  I put it in my mouth, but down, it exploded with juices in my mouth and I immediately spit it all out.  I only knew of your basic tennis ball sized tomatoes back then, so little baby grape tomatoes were foreign to me.

You can't beat locally grown produce!  The colors and flavors!  Mwah!!

That was my opinion on tomatoes until the beginning of 2014.

On January 2nd, 2014, after a crazy incident happened in my life that sunk my world the prior December, I started on a journey to get in shape.  This obviously meant eating healthier.  Everything I needed for a better diet was at the supermarket across the street from me.  Eating better, of course, meant more veggies.  Salads.  And that meant sucking it up and giving the mighty tomato a fair shot.

I started by putting sliced grape tomatoes in my daily salads but making sure I covered them in dressing.  In no time at all, I became accustomed to the grape tomato with it tangy flavor.  So I bought more and more for my salads, and it didn't hurt that the market was selling pints of locally grown grape tomatoes for very cheap.

Perfect looking Cherry Tomatoes I found, Imported from Italy.
Sometimes it's worth buying imported!  Superb!

As I kept to my workout and diet routine, I quickly eliminated breads and other no-so-good food from my options.  I started getting more serious about improving my culinary skills and would eventually look up recipe ideas using healthy ingredients like the tomato, cauliflower, broccoli and more.

I started making my own pasta sauce using lots of tomatoes for the base, and I can honestly say that what you buy in a jar or can cannot compare to making a fresh homemade tomato sauce.  And contrary to popular opinion, the pre-made stuff is NOT cheaper than going fresh and making it yourself.  I got into that more, or WILL get into that more in my Blog about making your own pasta sauce (as of this word right *HERE*, that Blog and several more are already written and ready to go, it's just a matter of deciding when to post them and how frequently).

Tomato halves, topped with grated Mozzarella, Cheddar, Mushrooms and more, ready for the oven!
Better, cheaper and healthier than any pizza!

I will never speak badly of the glorious tomato again!  And I encourage any Tomater-haters to give them a shot.  They are worth it.  Heck, I even eat tomato soup and drink tomato juice now!

Give them a chance and stay tuned for more Tomato Tuesday's posted bi-weekly.  Buy local if you can.  The redder, the better.  They are inexpensive in the long run and can yield a large amount of MMMMMMMMMMMMmmmmmmmmmmmmm!!!

Baked Tomatoes with Cheese ready to eat.  The choice
of toppings is only limited to your imagination!

CHEESY BAKED TOMATOES

INGREDIENTS

4 tomatoes, sliced in half.

4 Tsp Extra virgin olive oil.

2 cups grated cheddar.

2 cups grated mozzarella.

½ cup chopped oregano.

½ cup chopped green onion.

1 cup sliced mushrooms

1 Tbsp garlic powder.

Ground black pepper to taste.

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 450 F.

2. Place tomatoes cut-side up on baking sheet lined with aluminum foil and sprayed with non-stick cooking spray.

3. Top each tomato with mozzarella, cheddar, onion and mushrooms.  Sprinkle with black pepper and garlic powder.  Drizzle with olive oil.

4. Bake until tomatoes are tender, about 10 minutes.  Serve.

Goat Cheese, chopped Dill and pepper!

Experiment with toppings.  Use goat cheese, fresh chopped dill, basil, green pepper…whatever you can think of!  Cheesy baked tomatoes are a tasty and healthy alternative to pizza!

Chef Nairby

FOOTBALL FOOD

It's Super Bowl time!  And that means Tailgating and Super Bowl parties!  And THAT means FOOTBALL FOOD!

It's odd how there are countries that have their own unique style of cuisine, but there are also occasions we celebrate where you can't just have your basic meat and potatoes or simple hamburgers and hot dogs if you want to do it right.  Christmas and Thanksgiving have turkey.  Birthdays have cake and ice cream.  Super Bowl parties, or in my case as a Canadian, Grey Cup parties (GO ARGOS!), and just football tailgating in general are in their own league!

Grey Cup 2007 week.  Many many pounds ago!  Partying with Saskatchewan Roughrider fans at Riderville.

Lenny Kravitz performs the Halftime show!

We have all seen them on TV.  Most of us have not been lucky enough to attend a REAL tailgate party.  Here in Toronto, we have the Canadian Football League and the Toronto Argos.  Unfortunately, our Argos don't usually have much of a pregame tailgate party going on except those put on by corporate sponsored vendors where the beers are $14 a can and the hot dogs are your basic sized hot dogs stuffed in a standard bun with an option to top with whatever sauce company is sponsoring the zone you are in.  It is not the real deal.  It is not like what you see from our neighbors to the South.

The Super Bowl, NCAA Championship game, and yes, even the Grey Cup but to a lesser extent are not just events, they are a celebration.  And one things for sure...they are also a celebration of food!

Full house at the SkyDome (aka Rogers Centre) for the championship game  Roughriders vs Blue Bombers.

Final score.  The Saskatchewan Roughriders win the 2007 Grey Cup, as we all expected.

One of the things on my bucket list is to attend an NFL game and an NCAA football game as well as a real pregame tailgate party.  The crazy thing is that, up until 2004, I hated football with a passion.  I was a hockey guy.  But then the NHL lockout of 2004 occurred and I needed a sport to fill the void.  That became football after stumbling across a Boise State Broncos home game on TV.  The insane atmosphere of the crowd was one thing, but the blue field is what got me hooked instantly and I suddenly remembered that we not only have a professional league in Canada, my city has a team which at that time had just won the Grey Cup!  I ordered season tickets for the following year and my football fandom journey began!

A few years ago, we held the NCAA International Bowl here in Toronto.  I attended two of them, but much like the Argo home games, the tailgating was not the real thing like what we see on TV.  I want to experience the slow cooked pulled pork!  The jumbo hotdogs, ribs and burgers!  And that is just the tip of the iceberg.  Much like Christmas and Thanksgiving, Super Bowl Sunday is a day where millions of people throw whatever diet they might be on out the window.  Everything becomes super-sized!  I like super-sized every now and then.

Ingredients for Slow cooked Mozzarella Stuffed Italian Meatballs.

I like meat!  And on special occasions, I like fatty meat!  And lots of it!  And I like my slow cooker!  I like beef, sausage, fresh spices and cheese!  I like meatballs!  I like meatballs stuffed with cheese and spices!  And Super Bowl means super-sized!

This giant mozzarella stuffed Italian meatballs recipe is perfect for the big game!  Granted, they’re not as mind blowing as a lot of the tailgate items people come up with, but they do the job!  And they make the house smell awesome!

Meatballs stuffed and ready to spend a few hours in the slow cooker!

I got this recipe from Buzzfeed and I highly recommend trying them out!  I wasn't able to find ground Italian sausage, but I did find linked hot Italian sausage and it was as simple as removing the meat from the casing.  Give them a try.  (Insert football cliche here!)

Here is a link to a video quickly detailing the process:

Mozzarella Stuffed Italian Meatballs

Done!

Touchdown!!!

INGREDIENTS

1 lb Ground Beef

1 lb Hot Italian Sausage

1/2 tsp Garlic Powder

2 tsp Salt

1 tsp Black Pepper

1 cup Bread Crumbs

1/4 cup Parmesan

2 eggs

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup Parsley

1 Jar Traditional Pasta Sauce

1 Brick Mozzarella Cheese, Cut into squares the size of one die (or dice, however you want to pronounce it).

INSTRUCTIONS

1.  Place all ingredients, EXCEPT PASTA SAUCE and MOZZARELLA, in a large bowl and combine.

2.  Take a handful of the mixture and roll into a ball, slightly smaller than a tennis ball.

3.  Place a mozzarella square into the middle of the meatball, cover and roll into a ball.  Place in slow cooker.  Repeat until you have used all of the meatball mixture.  It's ok if the meatballs are stacked.

4.  Cover all meatballs with the pasta sauce.

5.  Cook on HIGH for 2-2.5 hours (I cooked on high for about 2h 45m).  Mozzarella will most likely escape from some meatballs as they cook.  This is normal.

6.  Scarf 'em down and enjoy!

Chef Nairby

Rebuilding: Wake Your Body And Your Taste Buds

This is the first in a series of stories about how I have been rebuilding my life.

I spent the majority of my life being overweight and in terrible physical shape.  I would live in constant physical pain.  I would spend my day at work sitting and doing very little and then go home, sit and do nothing.

At one point, I was in such bad shape that I weighed well over 300 pounds.  I don't know exactly how much over since my scale only went up to 300.

At a family BBQ in 2009.  This isn't even me at my worst which was to come.

I didn't care about anything.  I was content with just living through the constant back and knee pain.  I bought sized 3XL shirts and hated the way I looked.  I looked like a huge freaking bell.  Many times, I would tell myself, "that's it!  Starting tomorrow, it's time to start getting in shape!"  That was usually while I was on my way to work and then the motivation would completely disappear at the end of the day.

My diet consisted of crap.  Junk.  Because it was cheap and made me feel relaxed at the end of, what I thought was a tough day.  But seriously, what is so physically hard about a job where you literally sit on your butt all day?

My awful diet, if you can even call it that, got so out of hand that when I was at my absolute worst, I would order a pizza meal for dinner that was supposed to feed a family of four.  And I would order this thing at least twice a week since I had a pizza place that was a quick 2 minute walk away from me.

Twice a week!  A large pizza with 3 toppings, 10 fried chicken nuggets, two dipping sauces and 4 cans of soda.  TWICE A WEEK!  Add that to the crap I was eating on the other days.  Burgers, triple-decker sandwiches, chocolate bars, doughnuts....pure garbage!  That was my life for so long.

Then in December 2013, something happened in my life that completely made me hit rock bottom.  One of those situations where you realize who your true friends are, and in this case, are NOT.  Only days after this went down, we got hit with an ice storm here in Toronto that took out the power of a lot of residents, myself included.

I was in a very bad place.  And now I had no electricity which the city was saying could take up to a week to restore.  To make things worse, My annual holidays started at the same time.  So it was me in the dark with nothing to do but think.  And with where my head was at, it was a very rough situation.

(May, 2014) Day 50 of my rebuilding process.

I had to get out of the house, so I walked to my local mall to see if there was anything going on there.  There was electricity but very little.  Most of the stores were closed but there were people EVERYWHERE.  And it was one of the most depressing sights I had ever seen.  Hordes of people lined up at every electrical outlet available to the public.  People camped out to charge their devices so they could watch movies and shows on their iPads, iPods and laptops.  Most of these people were in fine shape and there they were throwing their lives away.  Slaves to technology.  I found a place to sit in the mall and fought tears as I could not believe what I was seeing.  I left the mall and walked back home.

My power was restored after two days and my head was a complete mess.  I spent Christmas with family and it did very little to help.  I spent New Years alone.  Then on January 2nd, 2014, still feeling depressed and with another week or so left in my holidays, I said, "screw it!"  I grabbed a yoga mat that I had bought 5 months earlier and started my rebuilding process.

Day 274.  October 2nd, 2014

I laid the yoga mat out on my living room floor, and for the next 10 minutes, I did the most basic yoga poses you can think of while I put 'The Soprano's' on via DVD.  Ten minutes was all I was able to do.  The next day, I was in crazy pain.  My body had been in a coma for so long that it was just waking up.  Despite the pain, I did another ten minutes of basic yoga and watched more 'Soprano's'.

The pain quickly went away as I kept at it.  My body was waking up.  But this journey meant more than just working on my body.  It meant changing what I eat.  I completely dropped the pizza and junk and took advantage of the supermarket across the street and canvassed the fresh produce section on a daily basis.  I came to realize that not only was my body asleep for years, so were my taste buds.

The junk I was eating on a daily basis killed my sense of taste.  When I took that first taste of a fresh clementine, the flavors exploded in my mouth!  And I wanted more!  As time went on and I became more disciplined with my eating habits, I was getting hungry less, and therefore, SPENDING less on food.

When we consume garbage food, it does nothing good for our body because it contains ingredients the body does not use.  Thus, we eliminate it through our poops (that's right!  I said poops!) and become hungry again sooner.  The ingredients in the garbage foods, like sugar, that our body keeps gets turned into fat.  Eating garbage food is cheap because it does very little to satisfy our hunger, therefore we end up buying more and more of it.  Meanwhile, eating healthier foods means more ingredients, vitamins and minerals that our body uses to keep our energy up.  And as our body gets stronger, we end up craving food a lot less and end up spending less on food as a result.  So in the long run, healthy food is actually CHEAPER than junk.  And that is why healthy food is more expensive then junk.

November 4, 2014 (and still going strong!)

Healthy food is more expensive because it is an investment in your health that pays off very quickly.  Junk is simply a temporary solution to fulfill a craving.  I'm not saying that we should all become vegetables or starve ourselves.  I will eat some guilty pleasures every now and then because I know that I will work it off.  The key is that I needed to wake my body up after depriving it for so long.  I built up my metabolism by eating better in the beginning, and once I knew that I had the discipline to work the junk off, I knew it was safe to indulge every once in a while.  But after waking up my taste buds to the awesomeness of healthier foods, a lot of the time I will pass up the junk.  Not because it's junk, but because the good stuff just tastes better.

It is now February 3rd, 2016.  Day 763 of rebuilding.  Working out every day, not because I feel like I have to, but because it has become a regular part of my life.  The first step was waking up my body and taste buds and to not get discouraged at the pain in the beginning.  What should you expect from the first few workouts after a life of immobility?  This pain is what ends up discouraging most people from continuing.  But it goes away quickly.

I was in terrible shape.  Got no exercise.  Weighed well over 300 pounds.  Now I am in the best shape of my life.  Workout every day.  Weigh 240 pounds, last time I checked, building muscle and still going.

There is something that I like to say that I will stick to until I'm dead in the face....Don't tell ME that YOU can't do it!

The first step is to wake up your body and your taste buds.  Start investing in your health.  It's worth it.

Chef Nairby

Cooking Times May Vary

COOKING TIMES MAY VARY

First attempt at Skittle Doodle Fudge did not go as planned.

It happens to us all.

We try a new recipe for the first time.  We follow instructions to a tee.  And the final product does not come out looking like it does in the picture.  What do you do?

In the past, I would give up and give the recipe a HUGE thumbs down.   Curse the world.  Curse the person who provided the recipe.  Slam cupboard doors.  Slam every pot, pan, bowl, measuring cup and utensil I used to make the darn thing during the clean-up.

Ingredients for Skittle Doodle Fudge

If you get discouraged, you could miss out on something truly amazing.  I use my first attempt at Skittle Doodle Fudge as my own example.

I found a recipe for Skittles Rainbow Fudge, which I later renamed Skittle Doodle Fudge.  I was looking for fudge recipes, fudge being one of the things I had not yet made at the time, and Skittle Rainbow (Doodle) Fudge popped up.

The recipe called for only four ingredients and seemed so easy to make, it could be done in your sleep.  Unfortunately, the results were less than spectacular.

Try not to look directly at it!

As you can see, the final product looked like a nightmare.  It tasted great, but a key to great food is also in the visual appeal.  I still posted the picture on my Instagram and even made the excuse that, "I like the way it looks!"  I was lying.  I was ticked off.  But since it TASTED good, I wanted to get it right.

The problem with my first attempt was that I did not leave the fudge in the freezer long enough to harden.  As a result, well, you see the results.  The sharpest knife would not have done any better.  I left it in the freezer for the amount of time that I thought was appropriate, but it wasn't long enough.  And when it came time to cut the brick into squares, it was like trying to cut firm pudding.

But there is always that disclaimer you see on many recipes that goes something like, "Cooking times may vary."

Second attempt.  Perfection!

I had bought enough ingredients to give it another go the next day.  This time, I left the fudge in the freezer until CHEF NAIRBY said it was ready to be cut into squares!  As you can see, perseverance pays off.

Cooking times may vary.  If it doesn't come out looking right the first time, try again!  If it doesn't look like it's done, despite following instructions, give it as long as you think it still needs and go with your senses.  Does it look, smell, feel, taste and even sound ready?  Go with your senses.  Don't get discouraged.  You could be missing out.

Skittle Doodle Fudge

INGREDIENTS

3 cups white chocolate chips

1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk

¾ cups Skittles

food coloring

INSTRUCTIONS

1.  Combine white chocolate chips and sweetened condensed milk in a small saucepan.

2.  Melt over low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture is smooth and completely melted.

3.  Stir in Skittles.

4.  Pour into an 8-inch square pan lined with parchment paper.

5.  Squirt one drop of each color food coloring in a different corner of the pan; use a knife to create swirls of color.

6.  Refrigerate or freeze until firm.  (**I put the slab in the freezer for about 3 hours until it was quite hard**)

Chef Nairby

Welcome!

Meeting renowned Indian Chef, Sanjeev Kapoor

Welcome to my Blog page!

My name is Brian, aka Chef Nairby from Toronto, Canada, and I have been a lover of making food since I was a kid and I put grape juice in my Froot Loops because we ran out of milk.  It tasted awful, surprise surprise, but it got the ball rolling as I would fantasize about putting different ingredients together and imagine what would come out. Surely ingredients that taste good on their own should taste good when mixed together, right?  Five words.....Froot Loops and grape juice!

Two years ago, I started taking my health a lot more seriously, and began improving my culinary skills by spending hours in front of my computer, browsing recipe ideas and creating them in my own kitchen.

Chef Nairby's "Feel It!" Pasta

I like to use proper ingredients, as little premade as possible, and I have grown to love even the prep work that goes into cooking something great!

My love of cooking has become such an obsession over the last two years that I own seasons 1-13 of Hell's Kitchen and put them on as I do my workouts in my living room!  Sometimes I wonder if I would secretly thrown reward challenges just so I could stay behind and do prep work!  For real!

Homemade Butter Chicken.  Made the real way.

Over the last two years, I have cooked close to 200 different dishes, some from recipes I followed and some I came up with from my own noggin.  You can check them out and follow me on Instagram @IamNairby, and feel free to offer any tips and suggestions.  If there is a recipe or idea you are curious about, lay it on me and I will give it a go for you.

Thank you for checking out my page.  Stay tuned for more pictures, some recipes, rambling and videos in real world and cartoon form (I animate in my spare time, too.  Boopsy Creations on Facebook and Youtube.).

Chef Nairby