E-Delivery

36 NUTRITION NOTES PERFORMING KITCHEN THEATRE I'm always on the lookout for opportuni es to share our pulse story. What be er opportunity than par cipa ng in the Calgary Stampede Kitchen Theatre! I was excited for the chance to talk about pulses to a poten ally large group of people and prepare a pulse dish for them so they could see how easy and tasty pulses can be. I've never been to the Calgary Stampede, let alone the Kitchen Theatre, so I had no idea what to expect. Along with some rather detailed maps and instruc ons, there was also a list of each day's theme to try and incorporate into the demonstra on and/or recipe. The themes for the day of the APG demo were "Heritage Day" and "Canada's 150th". What recipe could I showcase that would fit into either of those themes, make enough tas ng samples and be ready in the allo ed me? A er much discussion around the office, the recipe that fit all the criteria was our Beans & Rice Master Mix. I would get to talk about Pinto beans grown just short distance away, have enough tas ng samples for the an cipated 150 audience members and showcase the versa lity of pulses. The first step was to make the recipe to see exactly how long it would take to prepare and cook since I only had 25-30 minutes on the Kitchen Theatre stage. I needed to make sure that the recipe would be ready within that me frame. I also like recipes that allow me to talk about nutri on, food prepara on techniques and of course, interes ng dbits about Alberta pulses! It turns out that the Beans & Rice Master Mix takes 45 minutes to do all the food prep and cooking, so if I did all the food prep ahead of me, I would have lots of me to cook on stage and talk at the same me. This is such a great recipe to use because it's quick to make (cook me is 30 minutes, but could be less if your stove top heats faster than mine!), it's versa le (can be used the day it's made or frozen for later), sneaks in a serving of vegetables AND it's high in protein and fibre, low in fat and sodium (a die an's dream!). It also gives me the chance to talk about Pinto beans, which many people don't really know what they are, how to use them and aren't aware that we grow them in Alberta. With the recipe prepara on and cooking mes done, it was me to determine the logis cs. Two days before the demo, I shopped for the necessary groceries and did all the chopping, measuring and ingredient por oning. The day before the demo, I packed up everything I needed and headed to Calgary with APG's Jolene Watson to help me. The other issue to consider was we wouldn't be able to park near the event space, so everything had to be efficiently packed so that the two of us could bring everything to the event space in one trip. A big thanks to APG's Nevin Rosaasen for dropping us off at the Stampede Grounds and carrying in the recipe books while he was in Calgary – that was a huge help and reduced my stress enormously! A thank you as well to Jolene for driving to Calgary, helping to haul everything in, take pictures and in general did whatever was needed. A nice surprise upon arrival at the Kitchen Theatre were all the Top: A hill of beans from sponsor Bush's Beans. Right: Debra prepping backstage.

• Cover