
I have been spending a lot of my free time watching the Food Network. Specifically, I have been watching a lot of episodes of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. I don’t know what it is that draws me to this program, but I just can’t get enough of it. It is like I have an un-natural attraction to burgers 🙂
So, in watching an abundant amount of this program, I have come to realize that anyone with an oven and a few hours to spare can make delicious pulled pork. I always thought that I had to have a smoker in order to make a proper pulled pork, but a lot of the restaurants on this program dry rub their pork shoulder and roast it in the oven for hours. It looks like it comes out tender, juicy and fully shred-able. Based on my viewing, I decided to give this a try.
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Tags: blog, blogging, cooking, food, football, homemade, Paleo, party, pork, pot luck, recipe, sandwich, Super Bowl, weekend

As part of my new year’s quest to re-discover healthier eating patterns, I decided that I need to make more of an effort to have breakfast everyday. I have fallen into a rut of just having a cup of tea or coffee for breakfast, but not eating any food. It causes me to get really hungry in the morning and then I find myself snacking or grazing all the way to lunch time. I know that having a real breakfast is going to be key to getting back on track.
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Tags: baking, blogging, breakfast, cooking, eggs, food, homemade, Paleo, party, pot luck, vegetable

Drum Roll Please! Finally here it is my tried and true pumpkin soup recipe. Don’t let the list of ingredients or the number of steps intimidate you, this is worth every second of prep.
This recipe was published in October 2001, in one of the first Martha Stewart Living magazines that I had purchased. This particular issue had an entire section on pumpkin foods. The more I read about the different things you could do with pumpkin, the more I wanted to try this versatile food.
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Tags: blogging, cooking, family, food, homemade, party, pumpkin, recipe, vegetable, weekend

I can’t believe that today represents my 100th blog post! It is crazy to think that I have been doing this for almost a year 🙂
I never imagined that I would enjoy this creative outlet so much. Writing for Ruby Reduction twice a week is the most fun I have ever had writing.
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Tags: blog, blogging, family, writing

Earlier this week, I was faced with a familiar dilemma. What do I do with all the turkey leftovers? I love preparing and hosting a big turkey dinner. The aroma of turkey baking in the oven is intoxicating, but the real advantage of hosting a big dinner, is all the leftovers 🙂
I am a huge fan of leftovers. I like mixing all the odds and ends that are left into a pot and seeing what happens. This is the creation that I came up with this week, and I think I might keep it my back pocket for our Christmas leftovers.
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Tags: blogging, cooking, family, food, homemade, recipe, Thanksgiving, turkey, vegetable

Anyone who knows me, knows that I absolutely love lemon! I mentioned my obsession with this fruit when I shared with you my first attempt at Lemon Meringue Pie. Now I am back with another lemon inspired recipe – Lemon Coconut Loaf.
I had seen many recipes for lemon loafs, and I wanted to give one a try. What I like about a loaf or a quick bread, is that you don’t have to play around with yeast or kneeding. You just add all your ingredients together, put them in a loaf pan and pop it in the oven. Done and done! 😉
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Tags: bake sale, baking, blogging, bread, breakfast, coconut, cooking, food, homemade, lemons, recipe, weekend

I had a bag of carrots in the fridge that I was supposed to use to make a soup, but I hadn’t gotten around to it yet. I am normally not a big fan of carrots, unless I am using them to dip into homemade hummus. Hmmmm, dipping carrots into hummus, I wonder if I can make carrots into a dip? Of course I can! Anything is possible, especially when you have a large collection of cooking magazines to browse through 🙂
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Tags: blogging, carrots, curry, food, homemade, party, pot luck, recipe, vegetable

I was at the grocery store, when I saw a bag of fresh peas. Now, I love peas, but usually you can only find them frozen (which are a tasty cold treat if you are ever scouring around for something to snack on and you find your junk food cupboard bare – it is amazing the food we will snack on when hungry!). So, when I found this bag of farm fresh peas, I knew I had to find a recipe that would do them justice.
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Tags: blogging, chicken, cooking, food, homemade, peas, photos, potatoes, recipe, weekend

I just love it when summer berries are in season. There is nothing better than going to the Farmers Market and seeing baskets of bright, colourful berries. Since this is the berry* last weekend of summer, I thought I would share with you the ultimate summer berry crumble. *I know – that was pretty bad, wasn’t it?!? 🙂
I usually make an apple crumble (or Apple Betty as my Grandma used to call it). It is a very satisfying fall harvest dessert. Fresh apples topped with a delicious topping of rolled oats, cinnamon and brown sugar. Yummy! Earlier this year, we were at our friends Kim and Ryan’s for dinner, and Kim made a gorgeous Triple Berry Crumble with blueberries, raspberries and blackberries. I wanted to attempt to make something similar, so off to my cookbook cupboard I went!
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Tags: baking, blogging, blueberries, cooking, family, food, homemade, party, pot luck, raspberries, recipe

Ever since I have discovered how incredibly easy it is to make your own hummus, I have been making it on a pretty regular basis. Store bought hummus used to be a staple in my grocery cart, but now that has changed and my new go-to grocery store item is a can of chick peas. I have a reserve in the pantry, so I can satisfy that hummus craving any time I want!
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Tags: blogging, food, homemade, party, photos, recipe, week-night