Tag: vegetarian

Book Club Tuesday: A Cookbook Roundup of Sorts

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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: Forest Feast Gatherings

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I think Dave Grohl said it best when he said “If there’s one thing I’m good at, it’s gathering people together to do something fun.” I feel like when I get past the “I’m too busy” mindset then it’s all good! Bringing people together to enjoy “food and fellowship” is what it’s all about. It’s been quite awhile since I’ve entertained — the last time was on Boxing Day for our annual “Boxing Day Ball Hockey” gathering. I made brunch and then everyone piled out into our street to play ball hockey. Originally a tradition started by a dear friend in Ottawa, we decided to keep it alive here now that Continue reading “Book Club Tuesday: Forest Feast Gatherings” →

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

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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: Mamushka

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That’s me. Oh about a million years ago! Although not Ukrainian-born but brought up in a family with a rich Ukrainian heritage (on my father’s side) my folks decided to send me to an Ukrainian Bilingual school when I was younger. I think this photo was taken probably during Easter because it was one of the few times we would dress in “traditional” clothing and take part in holiday activities. Easter was my favourite because Continue reading “Book Club Tuesday: Mamushka” →

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” →

Book Club Tuesday: Cookbook Roundup

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Lately I’ve been getting lots of questions from friends and family regarding cookbook suggestions. So I think this week I’ll spend a little time talking about how to optimize your time in the kitchen and which cookbooks you could try based on your level of culinary expertise or interest. I’ll only be referring to the cookbooks and magazines I’ve reviewed so far. TBH I’m running out of cookbooks to review — don’t get me wrong I have loads of cookbooks but none that I’ve cooked enough from where I feel comfortable giving an honest review. Continue reading “Book Club Tuesday: Cookbook Roundup” →

Book Club Tuesday: Green Kitchen Stories

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Just look at those Baked Pistachio & Herb Falafel! Devine! Looking at this dish I’m reminded that not long ago this type of recipe wouldn’t have even been in my consciousness.  As I’ve said before, I haven’t always been a vegetarian and it took almost 7 years with my vegetarian husband before I became a vegetarian (truth be told it wasn’t even anything my husband said much to his chagrin, it was an afternoon spent watching Oprah and  Michael Pollan discuss food that changed my mind). However during those first 7 years I never prepared any meat dishes at home but in the same breath we hardly ate any vegetables either. The truth hurts, so when I read the intro to Vegetarian Everyday I really identified with David’s comment: “I was the unhealthy vegetarian (yes, they do exist) who basically lived on pasta, pizza, sweets and ice cream.”  We lived on lots of pasta. Lots. Is there such a thing as a carb-atrian?! So when I decided to become a vegetarian I knew I had to emphasize the “veg” in vegetarian.

Continue reading “Book Club Tuesday: Green Kitchen Stories” →