Mae: Foods to live by (Canadian edition)

I posted an entry a while back about my favourite food finds, which were all available in the US but not in Canada. Grumble grumble grumble! So, in the spirit less curmudgeon and more Canadian-lovin', I offer you my must-have food finds from north of the border.

1) Food for Life Ezekiel Organic Sprouted 100% Whole Grain English Muffins (2 points)
I'm an atheist, and to be frank, I kept on walking when I first spotted these products in the frozen section of a health food store years ago. I mean, come on! Ezekiel 4:9? Genesis 1:29? In my bread?! However, I saw the light one day while avoiding what I really should have been doing (writing my thesis) by twacking around town. I discovered Fred's Bread in Kingston, Ontario, which specializes in breads made from ancient grains and ancient recipes. "Bible bread" has been a part of  my life ever since, and though frozen products are no substitute for the wonderful fresh breads I used to buy at Fred's, these english muffins are good for you and very tasty. They are 2 points each, and that's not for half of one (watch out for that kind of trickery on food packaging by the way!) You can find these in the freezer section of most health food stores, and in the frozen section of select Superstore's that have the new health food store-like area.

2) Kashi Go Lean Crunch (4 points / cup)
Nine grams of protein and 8 grams of fibre - 'nuff said. This is the best, high quality cereal that I have found, and it is incredibly filling. I can eat this at 8 a.m. and not feel hungry until lunchtime: it's a breakfast-time warrior! This cereal is pretty expensive in a regular grocery store, but if you buy it at Costco, you'll get double the amount for the same price.

3) Ling Ling All Natural Chicken and Vegetable Potstickers (5 points / 5 pieces) 
This is the default din-din when the Mister and I have failed to plan ahead of time. I always have a bag of these in the freezer and will make a meal out of them in a pinch. They are so so so good, and the sauce that's included? Cracktacular! You can get the jumbo-sized bag at, you guessed it, Costco!

4) CP Shrimp Wonton Soup (2 points) 
At only 2 points per serving (they're frozen, individual soups), this is the best low-points snack ever. Excellent with potstickers (above) for dinner! Also available at Costco (in the frozen seafood area).

5) America's Test Kitchen Healthy Family Cookbook 
Ok, so this isn't a food item, but I had to include it. If you want just one top-notch 'healthy' cookbook, get this. I'm a huge ATK fan and have two of their other 'light' cookbooks. What I love ATK is their whole approach to healthy eating: eat we about ll, eat quality food in reasonable portions, and don't sacrifice flavour. You will still find butter in a lot of these recipes, but it is reduced and used in ingenious ways that maximize its flavour. Love, love love. This cookbook is, to my mind, a kind of anti "Hungry Girl" approach, which I have never been a fan of (have all the books, never use them). I don't like mixing food that is completely devoid of nutrition or completely synthetic in order to come up with a bigger mass of, well, crap food.

So thank you, ATK, for having a sound, reasonable, and truly healthy and nutritious approach to food.