Up Your Salad Game… I really hate croutons. I’ve made them a few times and they are a bit better than the store bought ones that are essentially little bread rocks that are tossed onto salads. At least with the homemade variety you can get your fork into them since they are essentially toasted oil soaked bread chunks that are still a little soft. It could be that I’m just a klutz at eating salads so that whenever I try to get a crouton onto my fork, it slips and crashes into the plate with enough of a racket that […]
Roasted Broccoli with Brown Butter and Soy Sauce
Over the past few months my little family has been overwhelmed with the after school activities of my 6 year old. These are activities that I had signed him up for without fully understanding the chaos it would throw our evenings into. At one point he was in four different activities and we were going crazy. We have cut back and now he is down to two activities and soon t-ball will be over for the year which will just leave Kung Fu. Thank the Lord! If he were still an only child it would all be a breeze, but […]
Chocolate Teff Crepes
I’ve never really thought of myself as a perfectionist. I always thought of perfectionists as those people with lovely handwriting and Martha Stewart level obsessiveness when it comes to every aspect of their life. I was pondering this because I have become stalled when it comes to this blog, amongst other things. I’m trying to get to the root of this problem and one of the reasons I haven’t been blogging is that I want everything to be perfect. I want what I write to be witty and interesting. I want the photos to be just right, and the recipes […]
Crunchy Maple Granola
There are many days where it feels like I am busy all day but get nothing done. The kitchen is a disaster, the toys are everywhere and dinner ends up being sub-par to say the least. We usually end up eating at the counter on the stools because when dinner rolls around, I just couldn’t manage to get the table even partly cleared so we could eat there before Kit starts freaking out from being hangry. I feel like I’ve been trying to clear the kitchen table for weeks and it still has mail, and other detritus all over it. After the kitchen […]
The Pleasures of Still Learning to Cook
Per La Famiglia by Emily Richards: Cookbook Spotlight & Giveaway It seems as though I’ve been learning to cook my whole life, including now. I remember making pancakes with my Grandma and her telling me that they were ready to flip when you saw the bubbles on top. I have no recollection on whether she used a mix or it was from scratch but it didn’t matter one bit. I remember making a sweet and faintly lemon flavoured bread with my mom and her showing me how the yeast foams up. I most keenly remember the most beautiful of all […]
Simply Perfect Scones
I remember the moment that I broke. I was waiting for them to announce the name of the Taste Canada winner and even though the nasty cynical part of my mind knew my name wouldn’t be called, I couldn’t help but have a last spark of hope that I was wrong. The name was called and it wasn’t mine. I crumbled inside as I sat smiling through clenched teeth as I held in my tears. I sat there thinking, “That’s it. I’m done. I just can’t try anymore.” That was the moment I broke. That was when blogging brought me to my […]
Chocolate Cream Cheese Buttercream
A Simple Woodland Themed 1st Birthday Party When you have your first child, everything is intense and new. You are on a terrifying learning curve but you get through it and have some wonderful times with your wee one. When the time for the first birthday party rolls around, you may feel the need to go a little crazy. I went for a huge, professionally decorated cake with a mini smash cake for Timothy. I invited loads of people to my parents house and we had a big dinner surrounded by 1st Birthday themed balloons and every other 1st birthday decorations […]
Tried and True Quiche
You would think that I’d know better than to try a new recipe out on Christmas Day. Whether it was foolhardiness or simple arrogance in my abilities to pull it off, I decided to make a recipe I saw in the Jamie Oliver Magazine for a chocolate Buche De Noel that looked delicious. It didn’t contain any flour so I thought it would be a perfect treat for my husband who has difficulties with gluten. My mom brought her jelly roll pan since I was determined to do it right and having the right equipment often helps get a good result. […]
Grilled Sweet Corn and Peach Quinoa Salad
Edit August 2017: I still love this salad but I have been adding a can of rinsed black beans to it. The beans make the salad more of a meal. I can’t help but feel that something has been lost this time of year. Summer is all but over and fall is fast approaching; I can feel it in that breeze that cools me down in the still hot sun. When it is hot and muggy out like it is today, I get fooled into thinking that daylight will extend long into the evening and I’m rudely reminded that the […]
Peppered Sour Cherry & Goat Cheese Tarts
I picked up my eldest son the other night because he had managed to turn himself upside down in bed and I needed to set him back on his pillow, tucked under the covers. Long gone is that big toddler boy that I had for a while and in his place is a gangly little boy who seems to be made up of long arms and legs. I have no desire for him to stop growing up because each stage in his life is something I look forward to. I do struggle to hold on to those moments and memories with […]