Ushering in Spring: Swedish Pancakes with Lemon

"The best things in life are nearest:  Breath in your nostrils, light in your eyes, flowers at your feet, duties at your hand, the path of right just before you." Robert Louis Stevenson

So here we are in the midst of April, and I hope wherever you are the snow has melted and spring is in the air. We are getting another dump of the white, fluffy stuff today, but in a day or two it will all be forgotten as the temperatures rise and melt away the last dregs of winter. It has been a long, suffering one, has it not? I can't wait to trade in my lace up winter boots for footwear that requires less effort to put on. I know. So lazy of me! I've been wearing the same boots for 6 friggin months. Time to switch it up, right?

Honey Chipotle Roasted Fish Tacos with Peach Salsa

This is a sponsored post. I was compensated financially to write about California Cling 

Peaches. All opinions, thoughts, feelings about canned peaches are my very own.

My Instagram feed is currently flooded with folks frolicking on tropical beaches, 

and I have to admit I’m a little jealous. Clad in slippers and wool, I stare out onto a 

snow-covered front yard, and the only things frolicking are the brave birds, happily 

eating up the food I put out for them. How I wish I could trade in my boots for sandals, 

my shower for a swim-up bar, and the snow for some sand. And, everyone seems to 

be eating tacos on their tropical vacations, which makes me crave the sun and the 

beach even more. Seeing as I can’t transport myself to a place where the cold doesn’t 

hurt my face, I made my own fish tacos with a delicious peach salsa and pretend 

there isn’t another month of winter left.

California Dreaming: Roasted Peach and Ricotta Focaccia

This is a sponsored post. I was compensated financially to write about California Cling Peaches. 
All opinions, thoughts, feelings about canned peaches are my very own.

With summer months and months away, this is the time of year when I start to daydream about 
wearing flip flops, eating burgers outside in the shade and hearing thunder rumble off into the 
distance. Alas, my reality is feet in slippers, stew for supper and freezing rain being the crazy 
menace that it is. Oh, a girl can dream. When it comes to eating fruit, California Cling Peaches 
bring me a little taste of summer in the dead of winter. Easy to find on the store shelves, 
and affordable as all heck, canned peaches have no preservatives and according to a study 
by the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University, canned peaches are higher in 
antioxidants and Vitamin A and are nearly four times higher in Vitamin C and 10 times higher 
in folate than fresh peaches. Healthy and tasty, I love opening a can of these beauties.

A New Year & a New Kitchen Toy: Roasted Beet Hummus

Disclosure:  Cuisinart sent me this lovely food processor free of charge.  All opinions about it are my own.  

Happy New Year, dear friends.  I hope you all survived the holidays relatively unscathed.  I'm super glad they are over, and now we can carry on with everyday life.  Keep in mind that my everyday life still involves cookies and cakes, but also plenty of vegetables and pulses.  It's all about the balance, you know. 

Merry Merry! Butterhorns with Vanilla Drizzle

This is a sponsored post. Dairy Farmers of Canada compensated me financially to write it,  however, all opinions are my own. I’ve been a big fan of all things dairy forever!

Some of my sweetest holiday memories are of Mom bringing out containers of delicious butterhorns from the freezer at Christmastime. Over the holidays, we'd enjoy them with our breakfast and a cup of good coffee, and I could barely wait until they had lost their chill before biting into one. In the evening, they went great with a glass of cold milk while we watched such holiday classics as Christmas Vacation. When I was a little kid, Santa and Rudolph were never far from my mind as I left some butterhorns and glasses of milk out for them - just in case they needed some Christmas Eve refreshments. A glass of ice cold Canadian Quality Milk is refreshing and delicious, especially when accompanying something sweet and made with love in the kitchen.

Best of Yule: Holiday Favourites

So two months is too long to not have popped in here to say hi.  Let's just say October and November were off the charts busy, but now I'm finding a quiet moment on a Mid-December afternoon to say hi.  I've got a little Baileys in my coffee (because it's December), and a gingerbread cookie (or two)  keeping the coffee company.  My old grey cat is curled up in a ball by my feet and when the furnace cuts out I can hear her purring.  It's cozy, to say the least.  The last few days have been particularly awesome around here.  I received my first royalty cheque in the mail (!!!) - and it was a pretty darn good feeling to tuck it away into my savings account.  Huge thanks to everyone who has purchased my cookbooks far this year.  I wish I could hug you all!  And!  I found out that All the Sweet Things won a Gourmand World Cookbook Award!  My cookbook won the national competition in the Best First Book category and will go on to represent Canada at the Gourmand Awards Ceremony in China May 2018.  Exciting stuff!  No, I won't be going to China to cheer it on - but my heart and spirit will definitely be there.  What a wonderful early Christmas present!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Spread & That Time I Went to Georgia

Disclosure:  The Peanut Bureau of Canada paid for my travel and accommodations.  All opinions about peanuts and this trip are mine.  They did not pay me to write this post.  

What a difference a month makes!  On the first day of September, I was recuperating from ovarian cyst surgery, my mom was here taking care of me, and I was watching way too much Daytime TV.  Today, I'm all better - just a few scars remain - and my routine has gone back to "normal" - whatever that may be.  I even hopped a plane (or four!) and headed down to Georgia to see how peanuts are grown.  And .... I had dinner with President Jimmy Carter - yes that Jimmy Carter - just to make things even more awesome.  But, let's start at the beginning, because that's where I always like to start things.