In the Kitchen: French Pound Cake

I first met Mardi Michels at a Food Bloggers of Canada conference back in 2013, and have had the pleasure of bumping into her at least once every year since then. Not only does she write her popular food blog Eat.Live.Travel.Write. she's also a full-time French elementary school teacher, and she runs cooking classes for boys aged 7-14. Fun Fact: Mardi never took any time off to write her gorgeous debut cookbook In the French Kitchen with Kids. What a woman. After days spent teaching the boys, she would go home and work on the cookbook. As someone who has written a cookbook, I pretty much locked myself in the house for five months, and the thought of working full time while doing so terrifies me. Mardi is a powerhouse of creative energy and culinary skill, and I'm so happy that she has birthed the most gorgeous book baby!

Breakfast Sandwiches With Maple Mustard Dill Sauce

This is a sponsored post. I was compensated financially by Egg Farmers of Canada. All opinions about eggs are my own.

Eggs are my go-to when it comes to breakfast. You can’t go wrong with poached, scrambled, or my personal favourite - gently fried in a little olive oil so we get those glorious crispy edges. Healthy, delicious, versatile, I love waking up to some yellow! So, when I was asked by Egg Farmers of Canada to attend a unique pop-up egg farmer’s market in downtown Saskatoon on May 31st, I immediately said yes. I think eggs are absolutely glorious. Always free of added steroids and hormones, and with six grams of the highest-quality protein and fourteen important vitamins and nutrients like iron, folate and vitamins A, D, and B12, eggs are a natural, delicious way to start my day. A dozen eggs are always in my shopping cart (I love that you can find them everywhere from big box stores to tiny convenience stores), and I go through them like crazy around here. Blended into Dutch baby or crepe batter, whisked into pancake mix, or cooked sunny side up for a tasty breakfast sandwich, I always know my day is going to be great when it starts off with eggs.

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?

Apple Skillet Pancake with Rosemary & Cheddar

Perusing the produce aisle isn’t super fun in February.  The prices are high, the selection isn’t great and it seems like everything has to travel so far to get to Saskatoon, especially the fruit.  I don’t even look at the fresh berries, and I don’t like melons.  Bananas are only good for banana bread in my world, and mangoes are alright, but you never quite know what you’re going to get when you slice them open.  This lack of availability combined with my pickiness means I load up on gorgeous citrus because it tastes so good right now, frozen berries and apples.  All the apples.

Whipped Pumpkin Spiced Butter and Popovers

"In October any wonderful unexpected thing might be possible."  ~ E.G. Speare

I've been meaning to tell you about this whipped pumpkin butter all week.  Seriously.  But either something else came up or I got sidetracked with outdoor activities like cleaning eaves (yuck) and raking leaves (stop already) and putting my garden to bed (yes Mom, I emptied the rain barrels and drained the garden hose) or good friends from out of town came to visit so we stayed out a bit too late drinking wine and eating pasta.  And then some days I just didn't feel like turning my computer on. You get those too?  That's when all I want is a blanket and the remote and chocolate.  Always chocolate.  But here I am on a quiet Saturday night in mid-October, with a mug of tea (white tea with sage and cinnamon) and my undivided attention aimed at telling you all about this luscious spread you'll soon want to slather on every single carbohydrate in your house.   

Le Sandwich: Croque Madame with Dijon Béchamel Sauce

Sometimes a sandwich can make your life.  True story.  And it doesn't have to be a particularly fancy one, piled high with vegetables and herbaceous spreads.  Honestly, just give me good meat and good cheese, tucked between good bread with a little bit of butter and mustard.  Forget the tepid tomatoes.  Forget the lettuce unless we are pulling out the stops and feathering in some arugula.  I like it simple.  Mainly because of all the time working in professional kitchens these past 16 years lunch often consisted of that:  good meat, good cheese, good bread, wolfed down while leaning against a counter.  This is the kind of stuff they don't show you on reality TV cooking shows.  (Oh, if there had been cameras following me around all these years, the tales I could tell).  Even at home with all of the time and ingredients available to me, I honestly just want some sort of combination protein and cheese sandwich, be it bacon and brie, tuna and cheddar, turkey and Swiss and more often that not I want it hot and toasted, oozing cheese all over the plate.  Only this time, eaten while seated. 

Start Me Up: Smoked Salmon & Goat Cheese Quiche

"For last year's words belong to last year's language

And next year's words await another voice. 

What we call the beginning is often the end

And to make an end is to make a beginning." 

~ T.S. Eliot

Happy New Year!

I hope 2015 is off to a grand start for all of you.  It's only been six days, but I can feel it's going to be a good one - I hope you do too.  I've been in full-on reflective mode.  A new year always does that to me; thinking back to what all transpired within the last twelve months.  Plenty of good things, the jump for joy good things, but also those moments that had me do the ugly cry and curl up into a ball.  Oh the agony and the ecstasy of life.  But somehow, we dig deep, and just get through it.  No doubt with a little help from our friends.  And chunks of dark chocolate and cheese; and new seasons of favourite shows (Downton!  GIRLS!) and the odd glass of red wine.  And whiskers on kittens.  You get my drift.  It's all in the details.  The minute, seemingly mundane things that make up a life, a year.  As the year flashes back, there's no need to connect the dots right away.  Oh but we try.  The thing is, with as much gratitude as we can muster, to recognize that each new person and experience is another dot on our map.  I hope your map for 2015 is full of all things beautiful and glorious.  Cheers to beginning again.  

A Gift: French Toast Sandwiches with Peaches & Mozzarella

 

Summer is heaving it's last gasp this weekend.  I hope you all played hard and soaked up as much sun as possible.  The tan lines on my feet are fading and my nail polish is long scuffed off.  Mornings see me swaddled in scarves and I've even had to turn the furnace on once or twice.  I know, the horror.  But. The leaves and light are changing, making the world around me so darn pretty, and I think I'm ready now.  Letting go is always a bit prickly to bear, but knowing that good things come in its wake, well, you just have to have faith in that.  Each season we're hit with is a gift, and I'm happy to tuck this summer away.  But before I do.  There are still peaches left to sniff. 

Summer Bubble: Cherry Dutch Baby

"Cherries bring with them a certain frivolity, a carefree joy like hearing the far-off laughter of a child at play.  Their appearance, in deepest summer, comes when life is often at its most untroubled.  A bag of cherries is a bag of happiness."  ~ Nigel Slater

I'm taking a break from stuffing my face with all of the glorious summer fruit to say hi.  Hi.  I hope your summer is especially untroubled and frivolous.  It's the only way to behave right now, right?  Someone told me the other day how many weeks, no days, are left in summer and I told them to shhhhhhhhh.  No one burst my summer bubble.  I'm not thinking past the middle of September, thank you very much.  Right now it's all about reveling in the sunshine, letting the warm air wash over my skin and driving on back roads with the windows rolled down.   I've been on a few road trips here and there, exploring beautiful pockets of Saskatchewan and Alberta.  If you've been following me on Instagram, you've no doubt seen the deluge of prairie vista shots.  I can't stop!  The photos will no doubt show up in a post here very soon.  But today I want to tell about this Dutch Baby I made my mom for her birthday breakfast.  It's so good, it's worth turning the oven on for.  Promise.  

Little Masterpieces: Flourless Chocolate Brownie Cookies

I hope everyone is enjoying the start to the long weekend.  Maybe you've already baked Easter bread and coloured eggs with the kidlets.  Luckily, I had the day off too.  It started off perfectly, with a couple of hot cross buns from a great new bakery in town called The Night Oven.  Slathered with butter and enjoyed alongside a strong brew, it was just what I needed on this cold and yet another snowy day.  The rest of the hours have been seen productivity kick procrastination's ass and what do you know, I submitted articles, sorted out tax stuff (note to self - get more organized already), tackled the pile of laundry and even have a pot of soup on the stove, currently bubbling away.  I have no idea how it will turn out - mostly just cleaned out the contents of the fridge, so cross your fingers.  I was just going to cozy up on the couch with the fur babes and my busting PVR, but I had to tell you about these cookies.  Guilt would have consumed me if I didn't share.  And I know a few of you like cookies just as much as I do. 

Burnt Caramel Custards

"I have a lot of faith.  But I am also afraid a lot, and have no certainty about anything. 

Certainty is missing the point entirely.  Faith includes noticing the mess, the emptiness and discomfort, and letting it be there until some light returns."  ~ Anne Lamott

I love that last bit...letting it be there until some light returns.  How hard is it though, to just let it be.  Sometimes we push and pull for answers, getting nowhere in return.  If you too are finding yourself in a place where you need to just let it be, rest assured that the light (and Spring!) will find us soon enough.  Diehard optimist, am I.  

Everyday Magic: Gingerbread Spice Dutch Baby

 

I don't quite believe it's already time to talk about gingerbread, but time (the trickster) it marches on, doesn't it?  Snow has already fallen, and while I do wish it didn't come so soon, it does add a sparkling beauty to the world around me.  When I step out into the world around 6 am most mornings (baker's hours, eeep!) there is a hush over the city while it still sleeps and I'm surrounded by an amber glow from the snow that has freshly fallen.  It kind of takes my breath away, this beauty.  I stand for a moment in the stillness, breathing in, out.  No doubt looking up trying to find the stars; stealing a moment in the stillness before I must carry on with my day.  Cycles of seasons never cease to amaze me.  Just a couple of months ago, there was a whirlwind of harvest activity.  In two more, we'll be fresh into another year.  There are bound to be all sorts of big and small and in-between moments ahead.  Little bits of everyday magic, too.  Girl talk over good coffee.  My mom's hands rolling dough.  The laughter of a kid down the street.  The quite roar of my kitten's purr while I rub his belly.  Fresh flannel sheets, still warm from the dryer.  Sleep that comes quickly, easily.  An episode of Sex in the City you've never seen before (and you thought you saw them all).  The voice of an old friend.  Whipped cream, still on the beaters.  Flakes of snow on an eyelash.  The magic that is eggs, milk, flour and butter in a frying pan.  And maple syrup.  Always maple syrup.

When Bloggers Brunch: Shakshuka and Rosemary Foccacia

So what do you make when one of your favourite food bloggers comes to town?  This was my dilemma a few days ago when Dan came to my little house for a visit.  A Saskatoon ex-pat, and an all-around awesome dude, Dan is one of my favourite people in the whole world.  He does all kinds of great things for the Calgary culinary scene, and he's even started a program that teaches university kids how to cook.  Like I said, dude is cool.  So I do what you're not supposed to do when a guest you wanna impress is soon to be seated at your table:  I make recipes I've never made before.  For carefree entertaining, you're supposed to stick with the tried and true.  But not me.  I go into uncharted territory.  However three things brought me to safety:  1) The source.  It's Ottolenghi.  It's bound to be perfect. 2) It's eggs.  How hard can you mess up eggs? 3) It's homemade bread.  Even if it's not perfect, it's still perfect.  Plus I've seen shakshuka a million places around the interwebs and figured it was time to share it here.  So glad I did.  Unbeknownst to me, it's one of Dan's favourite dishes.  Also unbeknownst to me, we were practically wearing identical plaid shirts.  Great minds!  Great taste!

Roasted Rhubarb & Vanilla Bean Clafoutis

Hark!  It's finally here!  The first day of summer y'all!  I just broke so many blogging rules by my gratuitous use of exclamation marks, but whatevs.  Summer is here and I'm happy.  Considering I was buried under a cloak of never-ending winter, I need this summer.  And I need it to be good.  Thoughts of these sun-soaked days are what kept me going when there was 4 feet of snow remaining in my yard mid-April.  These are the days not to be taken for granted.  So get all up in your summer.  Roll around in it.  Breathe it in and let it take over you.  Make it the best short-term relationship you've ever had.  

Win! Warm Lentil, Bacon & Asparagus Salad with Fried Eggs

This is a sponsored post, but there is no shortage of love for lentils on these pages.  And you guys know me - I wouldn't tell you about something unless I really was in love with it.  So here we go!  

First things first.  May is Love your Lentils month (but I'm crazy about them the whole entire year - just scroll through my recipe index and you'll find the love) and to help celebrate Canadian Lentils has created a really fantastic contest.  Here's the part where I tell you about the good stuff:  the grand prize is a trip for 2 to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan (my hometown!) and the heart and soul of the world's lentil production.  We love our lentils here.  Not only will you get to hang out in my beautiful city, but also take a tour with famous chef Michael Smith, stay in a posh hotel by the South Saskatchewan River for 3 nights, and you get $500 to spend on fun stuff while here.  All you have to do is enter your lentil recipe - you can be a blogger or a home cook - and just by voting you have a chance to WIN.  I won't bother you with all of the particulars - you can read them here.  But I urge you to enter, and while you're there, throw a vote my way too, because I really, really want to stay in that hotel (and meeting Michael Smith wouldn't be too shabby either.  Oh, and the cash, yeah, the cash, that would be nice.  And I've got a hankering to tour a farmer's field like nobody's business.)  So go vote!  Pretty pretty please and thank you. 

Anniversary Present: Maple Bacon Biscuits & A Giveaway

Can you believe it's been two! whole! years! since I started this little blog?  Holy man, where does the time go?  163 posts later and I'm still in awe that people other than my sister and a handful of close friends read these pages on a fairly regular basis.  Many of you, okay, most of you are complete strangers and you've welcomed my words, recipes and photographs into your world.  It's humbling, let me tell you.  Never in a million years would I be here unless you guys were too, so thank you so very very much for hanging out with me through the joys and sorrows; the cat talk and mom talk; the cake and the kale.  Thank you for every kind comment and encouraging word - they go straight to the heart.  Thanks also for letting me know when I goof up (it happens! - I'm not a robot!).  Lately I've been trying to surround myself with things that make me happy (tea, chocolate, cats, books, food mags, Bruce Springsteen, Downton Abbey, Bradley Cooper - oh to be surrounded by Bradley Cooper!) and you know what?  This little blog makes me really, really happy.  It's a joy to sit down in my den, with slippers on the feet and a cat on the lap, and share a little piece of my world with you.  Thank you for two wonderful years.  Let's rock the heck out of year three, shall we?

Rise & Shine: Bacon & Egg Breakfast Tart

Bacon and eggs are classic.  They were made for lazy Sunday mornings, when you crawl out of bed late only because the cats have jumped on your head telling you it's time for food.  Theirs, not yours.  If you have kids instead of cats, it's probably the same deal.  After I crank up the heat, (because my house is freezing), and feed the fur babies, (because they are starving), I make tea and think about what I want to eat.  What will make me rise and shine today?   Either hot and healthy, or fancy and fatty, breakfast is what I like best about Sundays.  At least until Downton Abbey returns.  Seriously.  Who else is counting down? 

Runneth Over: Swiss Chard & Heirloom Tomato Tart

Holy cow these are busy busy times.  My garden is running over with goodness, the veg doing their thing and growing crazy fast and furious and making me wonder, yet again, why the heck I planted for a family of 12 when there is just me and my handsome man to feed.  But we'll eat loads of it fresh, then preserve the rest.   I'm almost a little afraid to go out and check the beans because I know they'll be out. of. control. and some massive blanching/freezing will have to ensue in the next day or so.  If you are bored and/or want a bag o' beans, come on by - I can use the help :) Speaking about out of control, my chard has gone bonkers crazy productive, and I know I'm not the only one.  A funny thing happened last week.  Within a matter of minutes two friends, from different provinces, one in real life face to fave convo, and the other via Instagram begged pleaded with me to post a Swiss chard recipe on the blog.  Seems like their favourite green has gone bonkers crazy productive too.  Less I disappoint those I love, I have a chard recipe for y'all today.  And it's crazy bonkers good. 

True: Chocolate & Peanut Butter Cup Crème Brûlée

"The great thing about getting older is that you don't lose the other ages you've been." 

~ Madeleine L'Engle

When I was a kid I wanted to be Molly Ringwald.  Me and my sister watched and re-watched Sixteen Candles over and over until my brothers had had enough and confiscated both the remote control and VCR, not without us putting up a fight I might add.  We never got tired of the Geek and Jake and Long Duck Dong and the annoying little brother.  And the ending.  I mean how perfect is the ending?  Samantha finally gets to see Jake after her horrible sister gets married, and there he is looking all super hot in his super hot car.  On her sixteenth birthday no less.  I mean, come on.  What girl in her right mind didn't want to have a birthday like that one day?  She set the bar high, that Molly Ringwald girl.  

Just Waking Up: Breakfast Tacos with Avocado Salsa

 

"Springtime is the land awakening.  The March winds are the morning yawn."  Lewis Grizzard


Give it up for being officially into Spring!  While there are still bits and pieces of snow scattered here and there, and the night-time temps are well into freezing, the big melt is on.  I even dug out my blue rubber boots, and almost teared up from the sheer joy of pulling them on, once again.  Yep, total weirdo.  I've seen life, in my flowerbeds - glimpses of green beneath the mulch of dead leaves.  It's subtle, but it's there.  Earth is beginning to turn over, and shed Winter's dead weight.  I'm crazy in love with this time of year.  I felt the warmth of the sun on my back today and thought of this song.  Always a sucker for fresh starts and a general rebirth of well being, Spring is my time and I dig it.  Hardcore.