Book Club Tuesday: One Part Plant

Almost ten years ago I decided to become a vegetarian. But before I made this decision, let’s go back a bit further to six years before I made this choice to when I left my home province of Alberta (“Cattle Country” to many) to go to grad school. At that time it never occurred to me that vegetarianism was an appropriate dietary choice. People (who I may have referred to as “Hippies”) who were vegetarians were probably from California and mostly likely ate granola and sprouts. I was set in my ways and those ways weren’t so bad. I grew up in a household where we ate “real, whole food” before it was a thing. My mom cooked all our meals from scratch and we got a lot of farm-fresh produce from my grandparents. I inherently knew that Continue reading “Book Club Tuesday: One Part Plant”

Flashback Friday: At Home in the Whole Food Kitchen

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I sit here and can’t believe that it’s the middle of January! Where did the time go — wasn’t it just Christmas?! But that’s the problem now — the relative pace of life. It’s too goddamn quick. If you follow Instagram, everyone is rushing to post seasonal content, rushing to be the next big thing, rushing, rushing…rushing. I feel like that sometimes Continue reading “Flashback Friday: At Home in the Whole Food Kitchen”

Book Club Tuesday: A Cookbook Roundup of Sorts

Happy New Year everyone! Hope your first steps into 2017 have been the ones that will set the tone for your coming year. I feel like, setting the tone, is becoming a major theme with me. With cooking (definitely!), parenting, in my marriage, friendships (both new & old), my health and wellness goals — as you can see, this is happening in most of the major areas in my life. In other news, it’s been awhile since I wrote anything here but I felt like I needed a break to recharge and regroup. Continue reading “Book Club Tuesday: A Cookbook Roundup of Sorts”

Book Club Tuesday: The Short Stack Cookbook

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There is literally one pasta dish that’s acceptable to my husband and daughter. One. There is no recipe — cherry tomatoes are oven roasted with a little EVOO, summer savoury and garlic and then served on spaghetti. Sometimes parm is involved or a nice crusty loaf of fresh baked bread (am forever grateful to the Lahey ‘no-knead’ method!). Other than that it’s not very exciting and my couple of one-trick-ponies like their pasta how they like it, so  Continue reading “Book Club Tuesday: The Short Stack Cookbook”

Book Club Tuesday: N’Ice Cream

I come from a long line of, as my old neighbour Barbara would put it, “Do-ers.” Why have someone else do something for you when you can do it yourself. For me that something is cooking, my mom and sis it’s sewing, and for my dad it’s home renos. Seriously, he’s handier than a pocket on a shirt! So my dad walks into one of those big box stores that specializes in DIY, tools, and hardware to return a faulty light switch. When my dad asks to return the item at the customer service/returns the lady behind the counter asks why and my dad tells her that it didn’t work.  Continue reading “Book Club Tuesday: N’Ice Cream”

Book Club Tuesday: Green Kitchen Smoothies

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Summer is finally arriving here in Halifax — yesterday it was 68F in the house and today it was almost 80! My kitchen is in full summer-mode — my oven and stove are off most of the time and we’ve been favouring meals consisting of fresh fruits and veg. I’ve also been experimenting with fermenting kefir water (great recipe in Emma’s first book My Darling Lemon Thyme! I never knew kefir water was a thing — thanks to Maria at Seeds Roots Greens for opening my eyes to the joys of making my own brew!). That’s what this season is all about — being unfussy, eating “rustic” meals, and enjoying the freshest and best of what the local markets have to offer. One of the simplest things to make with fresh fruits (and yes veggies too!!) are smoothies. TBH I’ve never been a big smoothie Continue reading “Book Club Tuesday: Green Kitchen Smoothies”

Book Club Tuesday: The Love & Lemons Cookbook / Minimalist Baker’s Everyday Cooking

My toddler is killing me at dinnertime! But I totally had an epiphany — if I wanted a more harmonious dinnertime we needed to eat earlier. Not too early, but earlier. Lately I’ve been feeling down in the dumps because my two year old pretty much says “Yuck!” to everything I place in front of her (and I as you can probably guess I put much time and effort into cooking, so I try very hard not to take it personally). My secret hope is that it’s just a phase (new molars perhaps?) but I’m worried that this will last longer. As far as I can remember I’ve always eaten everything, my sibling on the other hand was/is super picky (I think it’s a texture thing). So my fingers are crossed that it’s just a phase. But I’m not very convinced… I mean, “yuck” to cheese pizza?? Really?? Who doesn’t like homemade cheese pizza?? If I was a kid I know I’d be thrilled!  Continue reading “Book Club Tuesday: The Love & Lemons Cookbook / Minimalist Baker’s Everyday Cooking”

Book Club Tuesday: Fresh

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Hey! Happy April! Maybe it’s just me but I feel like by the time March comes around I’m “phoning” my meals in. I feel unexcited, uninspired, and gray. Then spring happens and everything starts to feel new and fresh again. Produce looks better at the supermarket and I feel more inspired to make simple meals that are a combination of grains, legumes/pulses, fruit, and veggies. “Big Salads” (can’t ever help not to think of Seinfeld when I use this phrase!) are what I gravitate towards and TBH this type of meal has been creating a lot of dinner harmony between adults and toddler here. What could  be better? She can pick what she likes from the bowl while we can eat everything else. It’s all healthy and I love to see her experiment and try new things — instead of getting her “yuck” face.  Continue reading “Book Club Tuesday: Fresh”

Recipe Roundup: Vegan Avocado Waffles

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Move over Avocado Toast there’s a new breakfast in town — Avocado Waffles (and I’m not just talking about the topping either!)

So let’s rewind a bit before I get to the recipe — for those of you who are familiar with my blog you know that recipes aren’t really my “thing.” In my mind there are loads of recipe developers and adapters out there and really, who needs another recipe for banana bread (or even waffles for that matter)? Give me a cookbook any day of the week and I’m as happy as anything! However, when you’ve been cooking for as long as I have you’re bound to have a few personal, original recipes. It happens. When I noticed that FBC sent out a call for submissions to their members for pancakes and waffles I really wanted to submit something. The catch? Must be your own recipe on your own blog. Luckily for me I have a family fav that I’m going to share.  Continue reading “Recipe Roundup: Vegan Avocado Waffles”