Baking is becoming a bonding ritual with my son lately. I know that I will never have a daughter and I have tried to interest my son in dolls, colouring, and other so-called girly things so that I can find something to do with him that I can relate to. My husband plays well with him; he wrestles, makes paper airplanes and builds things with him. Since I was making muffins again, I figured the best thing to do was include him. I didn’t make a grand lesson out of it; I just had him help. Some may be more intentional […]
Mango Raspberry and Kale Smoothie
I’ve long been a fan of smoothies. I try to cook healthy food and make sure that I get lots of fruits and vegetables in me but I often fail. When I say fail, I mean I have cereal for two meals and maybe some toast or a grilled cheese sandwich for dinner. I’m better at making sure Timothy gets some healthy food in him than I am myself. It is days like these that I turn to smoothies. I try to keep some sort of leafy green on hand and I will use either spinach or kale in a […]
Italian Meatball Soup with Spinach
Whenever I watch cooking shows that are creating quick meals and they use ten different pans and bowls, it drives me crazy. If the meal only took twenty minutes to pull together, that is awesome, but if the cleanup is twice as long as it took to make the meal then I will likely be ordering pizza if I’m in a tired weeknight time-crunch. I have teamed up with the great crew from Mushrooms Canada and Ontario Beef to be part of ‘Blend and Extend’. Along with some fellow bloggers, we are creating recipes that combine the ever versatile ground […]
Summer Salad with Grilled Chicken, Bacon & Chipotle Lime Vinaigrette
I’ve been on a bit of a salad kick lately. One small part is to try and eat more greens another reason is the onset of warmer weather here in Ontario. The biggest reason is because we are in the process of selling our house so to offset the junk that we eat when we go out, I’ve been making these salads which cut down on the cooking smells in the house and the mess. I do cook the bacon in the house but the chicken goes on the grill. I must add that I had a revelation about how […]
Field Green Salad topped with Fried Halloumi and Za’atar Vinaigrette
Digging through my fridge one day I discovered that I had a package of halloumi cheese underneath some cheddar in the door of the fridge. I was absolutely starving and it was lunch time. I fried up a little in a dry pan, put the pieces on crackers and had a thoroughly satisfying, if unbalanced lunch. A girl can’t live on cheese and crackers alone, without getting really fat and constipated, so later in the week I made myself a very healthy lunch while still satisfying my recurring craving for halloumi cheese. If you are not familiar with halloumi, it […]
Beef, Quinoa, and Root Vegetable Stew
I hope that winter has been kicked to the curb but here is one last hearty recipe as my farewell to my least favourite season. I like winter at Christmas but when that is over it wears out its welcome in a hurry. As part of the swag for the Food Bloggers of Canada Conference, we received a 3 quart Dutch Oven, a Braiser and a Chicken Leg griller. As part of this, the attendees can review the products we received and by doing so we are entered in a draw to win a Grand Prize of lots of other […]
Applesauce, Prune, and Milled Flaxseed Muffins
This recipe was born from my need to help my little boy with his chronic constipation issues. If anyone out there has similar problems with their child, I invite you to add some advice to the comments on ways you helped (or are helping) your child through this. Having a child that doesn’t want to poop is very stressful. Since I have a tendency to over-internalize negative things in my life, I feel that him not pooping is my fault. That somehow I have done something to make him want to take power in his life and this is how […]