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 […]
Blueberry Maple Preserves
Edit – August 2017: I have omitted adding water to the blueberry preserves I made this year because I now prefer a much thicker preserve that is more like a runny jam. I have adjusted the recipe accordingly but you can certainly still add some water if you prefer a more runny syrup. I found that I ended up with one less jar than when I added water. I also now use 1/2 pint (250 ml) jars because we were wasting quite a bit because we didn’t use a whole pint of preserves quickly enough once a jar was opened. […]
Fudgey Teff Brownies
My friend Meg from Sweet Twist of Blogging is about to welcome another adorable little girl to her family! What else should a group of bloggers who have grown a special kinship over the past year do, but host a virtual baby shower for Meg? I hemmed and hawed over what to make for our virtual party. I even thought that maybe I would make something savoury that could be an idea for Meg to make ahead and put in her freezer. Well, I 86’d that idea when my super fun nausea came back to keep me company even though […]
Strawberry Preserves with Vanilla Bean
I don’t really know why, but these strawberry preserves connect me with my inner anglophile. Perhaps because it is not a jam recipe which makes it seem much more sophisticated than it really is. Simply saying ‘jam’ with my Canadian accent has a harsh, twangy ‘a’ sound. Whereas saying, ‘preserves’ seems like they belong on a posh table that is being set for a cream tea. This is probably me just grasping at a dream that I could someday live in England. I have a deep longing to live there but I haven’t even visited there. Sad, I know. I […]
Strawberries with Crème Fraîche and Brown Sugar
Strawberries are my first and truest love when it comes to seasonal eating. I may flirt with strawberries in the winter but I usually feel guilty about my inconstancy. When strawberry season comes to Ontario I fully embrace the experience of picking strawberries, eating strawberries, and breathing in the beautiful scent of fresh local strawberries. Local strawberries mean the true start of summer to me. They arrive when school ends for the year and it is just starting to get really hot. The kind of hot that doesn’t have the slight chill in the breeze that hot days in May can […]
Jam Turnovers
When it comes to canning, my eyes are definitely bigger than my stomach regarding how much jam, etc. my household can consume in a given year. If you are a home canner then you may suffer from the same insatiable desire to put all the bounty of summer into jars that you can get your hands on. I am slowly getting myself under control since I have a few years under my belt now and I know what my family likes and what sits in the cupboard. We don’t eat much bread in this house and when I do have […]
Vanilla Bean Lemonade
I may have a slight addiction to vanilla beans. I buy them in bulk and they seem to find themselves in quite a few of my recipes. In fact, I’m always looking for excuses to use them. I had never made real lemonade before and I do love just straight up fresh lemons, I couldn’t seem to stop my hand from reaching for that bag of vanilla beans I keep around. The recipe uses a basic simple syrup of 2 parts water to 1 part sugar but there are a couple key tips to keep in mind when making this: just […]
Kitchen Refresh: Updates Where They Count
We had been house hunting for about a year when we finally found ‘our’ house. We really loved our little townhouse with it’s quirky layout of two bedrooms, a loft, and garage in the back. The house was too small but we still loved it and we needed a pull out of the house since it wasn’t quite pushing us out. Our real estate agent had us set up with an automatic email update of new properties on the market before they hit the main listings. I saw our house and fell in love with the red brick front and […]
Rhubarb Mousse
Since becoming pregnant I have been on a pregnancy forum ‘birth club’ and I find it equal parts helpful, annoying, infuriating, depressing, and amusing. The people that have signed on to the group are all due in November so we are all in the same stage of pregnancy, give or take a few weeks. To be honest, I just go to the forum out of boredom more than anything else since this is round two for me and I don’t really want to put extremely personal questions to a forum. If I have questions I will ask my midwife. One of […]
Cinnamon Buns
Today is a big day for me. I have been working on this cinnamon bun recipe for ages and I have it down to a fine art now. It is also a big day because I am announcing to the whole wide world that I am expecting a new baby in November! I’ve had a rough go of it during my first trimester, both physically and emotionally. With Timothy I didn’t feel sick once, and with this baby I have had nearly continuous nausea for about 2 months. Thankfully I haven’t been sick because that is a day ruiner, every […]