Cranberry Orange Quinoa Loaf

Old friends are the souls that connect us to our past and keep us rooted in the future.  I had the pleasure of lunching with an old pal today for her birthday.  A mother to four busy kids, she is quite the remarkable woman.  I delivered lunch to her home (kale salad and rutuabaga soup) and this loaf for dessert.  We lunched, we caught up and mostly we basked in a quiet hour for two busy moms to reflect on the journey of parenting, marriage and our own happiness.

Marmalade Loaf

The longer I am away from this space, the harder it is to return.  With no profound reason for my absence it feels difficult to jump back in and start sharing.  There have been plenty of wonderful meals consumed, many that would fit well in this space, but somehow my hands haven't made it to the keyboard to share.  As I pondered how to break this silence, I realized there may never be a good reason to be gone and perhaps it is best to just jump back in.  So welcome back to all of you and I hope we can meet here a little more often in the weeks to come.  There are so many cozy winter recipes to share, not to mention some holiday cheer!

Quinoa Brownies

It's one of my last CSA veggie pick ups today.  It's been a great season of growing and I'm thrilled to continue supporting a local farmer in her quest to provide us with organic local produce.  Stopping by each week to select veggies for our family is a highlight.  It's never easy choosing what produce we want to bring home and planning meals around them.  I'm lucky that our CSA allows for choice as I know so many simply provide you with your standard box and off you go.  There are always some items we have no choice about, but for the most part I have the option to choose.  Don recently asked that I quit choosing kale (can you believe it?), but I suppose after 14 weeks straight of the green in the fridge, he might have had a point.

Key Lime Cocoa Ice Cream Cupcakes~ Gluten Free

Not too often does life give us second chances.  So many nights I have spent replaying a conversation or interaction and wishing I could go back in time to change the outcome.  It drives Don nuts, listening to me process what could have been done differently or how to make those changes now.  In February 2012 I auditioned for the tv show Recipe to Riches.  Not long after that experience I started this blog.  It ignited a desire to communicate about my love of food and desire to share it with others.  Writing and maintaining this space is both fun and satisfying for me.  I am grateful to Recipe to Riches for sparking this journey and prompting me to explore my creativity both in writing and cooking.  My one regret since that audition?  Not being myself.  The hand pie I took was tasty, there is no doubt about that.  The problem was it never represented me or how I cook.  It was designed solely to be made into food in a box and to win a contest. It came dangerously close to being on supermarket shelves. I think I would have been apologizing for the rest of my life if that had happened.  That's not really how I cook.. read my blog for some great side salads to go with that...

Dark Chocolate Sea Salt Clusters

Simplicity is so often desired and yet so difficult to achieve.  A quick peak at our calendar and you will see far too many days with events scribbled in.  Worse yet, are the days with multiple entries.  While I profess the importance of downtime with our family, I struggle to live by those words. 

Lemon Speculoos Ice Cream

Being in the kitchen with Josilin has become one of my favourite activities.  When both kids were young we baked a lot of cookies, muffins and scones together.  Inevitably they would start licking spoons, bowls and beaters.  Every bit of me struggled with this behaviour and I regret to say, we stopped baking for awhile because of it.  Most times we were baking for other people and I couldn't in good conscience give away food that had my kids' goobers in it.  It quit being fun when I spent most of the time being "mean mommy." 

Chocolate Chili Cranberry Scone

At this stage of the game, there are not too many babies in our life.  Most of our friends have kids close in age to our own and all of our nieces and nephews are way past baby stage.  It amazes me how fast time goes by and how quickly they all grow up.  I held a newborn boy the other day, just one day old.  As I looked down at this beautiful being my heart melted.  All wrinkled like an old man and a body still curled up like he's in his mama's belly, I was smitten.  We are so excited for our friends to become first time parents.  It's truly the best job on this earth.  Holding that baby reminded me just how fleeting time with them is and renewed once again, my desire to make every moment count.  Even when they drive me crazy with messy rooms and forgotten instructions.

Spicy Gingerbread Cupcakes

For several years our family has been building elaborate gingerbread houses.  There is a local contest we enter and the kids love this family tradition.  Each year a theme is released and we custom build our structure around that theme.  This year the theme is “Christmas Carols” which is much better than some of the past ideas. We’ve built homes for Disney Christmas, Tropical Christmas and Santa’s workshop.  None of these were particularly fun from my perspective because it limited our creativity. Other times we have done Christmas around the world and Christmas movies; both of which were really fun. 

Pecan Pie with Bacon and Scotch

 

If you’ve been around here much, you know the words Bacon, Scotch and Pie are a little out of place.  Looking for a nice salad or main course starring veggies?  You’re in the right place.  But everyone once and awhile, there is a recipe that will push me out of my zone.  When I saw the original recipe for Bacon Bourbon Pie I immediately thought of my bacon loving friend Nick.  The first time we were at a restaurant together he noticed Don had removed the bacon from his sandwich.  Perplexed by any man who would skip the bacon, Nick demanded to know “why is that bacon sitting on your plate?”  Don indicated that he doesn’t care for the stuff but he also doesn’t want to inconvenience the chef. So whenever ordering a dish that contains bacon, he simply removes it and leaves it on his plate.  Faster than you can say “this little piggy” that bacon was off Don’s plate and into Nick’s mouth.

Apple Butter Doughnuts



Making kids' lunches has to be the most thankless job in the world.  Even a person who loves to cook as much as me has little love for this chore.  At this point I could likely tell the kids to pack their own, but then I'd have to give up the control over what they're consuming.  There are a lot of things I will let the kids do on their own before I relinquish lunch making duty.

Speculoos Brownies

 Earlier this year I had the absolute pleasure and privilege of travelling to Paris with my mom and daughter.  It was a trip of a lifetime full of many good times and good eats.  One morning not long after breakfast we were out strolling the streets.  Josilin declared she was hungry while I rolled my eyes and stated that she couldn’t possibly be already.  We found a small bakery and Jos selected a Speculoos Éclair for her mid morning snack.  I had not tried Speculoos before, but I knew from reading enough food magazines and blogs that this was a flavour not to be missed.  As I had already been an eye-rolling mom, I couldn’t in good conscience buy one for myself.  I asked Josilin for a small bite, “just to taste it” and immediately regretted I had not seized that opportunity and had one myself.  I thought we might end up with a three generation fist fight over the last bite of that éclair.  The memory of Speculoos has been with me since.

Key Lime Cookies

 It's been a tough week in our community.  When tragedy strikes, it can impact each of us in a different way.  Feelings of helplessness, anger, fear, sadness and hope abound.  As our family tries to make sense of all that has happened, I have found myself finding more joy in the small things.  I no longer take for granted that my two beautiful blessings: Josilin and Luke will be here, as they are, each day.  I'm hugging them a whole lot more and annoyed a whole lot less, because today is the only guarantee we have.  Moments like these cause me to pause and remember what is important and to worry a whole lot less.  Perspective.

Orange Rosemary Brownies

 My fascination with savoury ingredients in sweet offerings continues.  Following the success of the Grapefruit Rosemary Sandwich cookies I knew I needed to try again.  These brownies are beautifully topped with a sweet orange and rosemary buttercream icing and crunchy raw cacao bits.