This is a title that grabs you and makes you want to read more 😉
We have been making numerous trips to Havelock and Campbellford this summer to deal with Dad’s Estate. Not exactly how we had planned to spend our summer, but it has allowed us to see Cherie, Dwayne and Sam more than we normally do over the summer. So that is a definite plus!
After making the triple lemon cake for Laurel’s birthday, I have become intrigued with the idea of using jelly powder to flavour cakes. In fact, Kerri flavoured a cake with grape Jell-O and grape Kool-Aid. I was fortunate enough to taste the result of her experiment, and it was delicious. It was a perfect birthday cake for a child’s birthday party.
When I was approached a few weeks ago to make a dessert for a birthday celebration in the office, I knew that I wanted to play around with different flavour combinations. I have done a chocolate, vanilla and lemon cake now I wanted to play around with strawberry. You may think this is an odd choice to celebrate a milestone birthday for a male co-worker, but I can explain…
I hope that everyone had a great Mother’s Day weekend.  Jamie and I travelled back to Hamilton so that we could spend time with our families. Normally Mother’s Day is a lovely spring day, with the sun shining and flowers blooming, but yesterday was exactly the opposite.  We had rain, freezing rain, snow and a few glimpses of sunshine. Not the ideal day to host a family BBQ in Mom’s honour.
I really want to force the warm weather to be here to stay.  When Jamie and I moved last December, we moved downtown. We are so close to bike paths and walking trails that weave in and around Parliament Hill and Gatineau, but the weather really has to improve for us to do more exploring. As part of my defiance of the still too cool weather, I have been making a lot more warm weather foods. This mango salsa is a summer treat that goes well on its own or as a delicious topping for a turkey burger.
With spring finally here I want to dive into salads. There is something about the warm weather that makes us want to eat cold, crisp foods. Last year I used fennel for the first time in a fennel, apple and chicken salad. Fennel wasn’t the star of that salad; it was more of a complimentary character. So, since a year has passed, I figured it was time I gave fennel a staring role in one of our meals. Since I enjoyed the combination of fennel and apple so much before, I searched out a recipe with those two ingredients. Here is the result of that search.
Jamie and I actually went searching for fennel recipes at different times, but we both thought this one would be the perfect starting point. It is nice to think that we are in sync 🙂
This recipe is from the Epicurious site. I have used recipes from this site before. I still rave about how great the coconut cream pie turned out, and I found the recipe on Epicurious. Now that I have jumped into the world of the Smartphone, their app was one of the first that I downloaded.
This recipe appealed to me, because it is coleslaw. I am a huge fan of coleslaw. My favourite (and don’t judge me on this) is Dixie coleslaw. You know the one, it is fluorescent green and you can buy it by the gallon at the deli counter. I don’t know why, but there is something about that coleslaw that I find mildly addicting. Hmmm, I wonder if I can make that at home? I have never tried, but now I think I have found a summer project.
Another reason I wanted to make this was because it was a great excuse to bust out the mandoline that we received as a wedding gift. I haven’t used it as much as I thought I would, but with the ingredient list calling for thinly sliced fennel, celery and julienned apples, it was the perfect opportunity.
The difficult part about making this dish is the waiting. Oh, and making sure that all the thinly sliced ingredients make it into the bowl! 😉 Is there anything more appetizing that thinly sliced fruits and vegetables that provide a satisfactory crunch? If you can wait 24 hours, this coleslaw is the perfect marriage of summer flavours. Jamie and I served it with some homemade sausage patties and devilled eggs. A little taste of summer in the middle of spring. Awesome!
Do you have a favourite coleslaw recipe? Or a summer-time guilty pleasure that compares to my Dixie coleslaw addiction?
Adapted from:
Epicurious – Celery, Apple and Fennel Slaw
Ingredients:
Directions:
Salmon is one of those things that I really enjoy, but when we are in the grocery store I don’t find myself drawn to it. Sometimes I have to be reminded how much I like salmon. Well, coming across this recipe for Coconut Crusted Salmon was one of those reminders.
I was looking to plan a dinner party, but because Jamie and I are trying to stick (more or less) to our low carbohydrate lifestyle, I wanted to host dinner, but have it be low carb-ish. I have never tried to cook an entire meal like this for other people and I wasn’t quite sure what the reaction would be.
When I was at the Food Bloggers of Canada Conference in April, not only did I meet Canadian bloggers, but I also met a lot of Canadian Sponsors. One connection I made was with Rachel, a representative from Lentils Canada.
Are you surprised that Canada grows lentils? I was a bit surprised to learn this too. During my conversation with Rachel I learned that lentils can be used in a whole variety of ways, not just soups or chili (which is how I was used to seeing them).
I haven’t been that successful in my eating habits the past few weeks. I have been indulging in chocolate (it just seems to be everywhere in the office), burgers (a lot of burgers) and where there are burgers there are also fries, onion rings, bread and beer. So, yesterday I dedicated a good portion of the day to the kitchen, where I created some Paleo friendly snacks.
In looking at the official definition of granola, I am wondering if this dish can even be called granola, since it doesn’t consist of rolled oats, but I promise you, once you taste it, you won’t miss them. When you see all the nuts, seeds and coconut, rolled oats will be the furthest thing from your mind.
Brussels sprouts have to be one of our favourite vegetables. I really don’t know why I didn’t enjoy these when I was a kid, but they have become a regular staple on our grocery list. I quite often find myself cooking up way more than we need so I can eat the roasted sprouts cold the next day as a delicious snack 🙂
This past weekend we hosted an Easter Brunch for all of our Ottawa friends. But, not only was our brunch to celebrate Easter, it was also to celebrate our friend Laurel’s birthday.
I wasn’t quite sure what type of birthday dessert to prepare for her, so I enlisted Jeff’s help in determining the perfect dessert to serve. I gave many options, cake, *pie even an ice cream cake, but Jeff came back with cake and told me that her favourite flavours were lemon and vanilla. How incredible is that! A lemon and vanilla birthday cake, I knew that could be arranged!
I hope that everyone had a fun filled Easter weekend. When we were growing up, every big holiday get together consisted of a large turkey dinner. I am sure that it is no surprise that the turkey recipe that I am sharing with you contains bacon as a key ingredient! 🙂
Now, we didn’t always have a bacon wrapped turkey, but once I was introduced to the deliciousness of bacon and turkey, I was hooked and I never looked back. I have shared this recipe with everyone who asks me about the best way to cook a turkey. What I love about it is that you never have to baste your turkey, as the bacon provides the ongoing moisture that is necessary for a perfect turkey dinner.
Ruby Reduction 