Shiny and New: Baked Apples with Brown Butter Streusel

 

This is a sponsored post. While I was compensated to write this post, all opinions are my own. 

Happy New Year, dear friends. I hope 2022 is off to a grand start for all of you. Six days in and so far I can’t complain yet! It’s been snowy and very cold here in Saskatoon, and I’ve largely been hunkering down with the cats and Dixon, catching up on episodes of Ted Lasso. Not a bad way to start the year! I’ve also been making us delicious things to eat, of course, and these baked apples were like a cozy hug - warm and soothing. The perfect winter food. 

Medjool Date and Chocolate Oat Bars

 

This is a sponsored post, but as always, all opinions are my own.

I don’t know how it has come to be the last week of August, but here we are. The mornings, at least here in Saskatoon, have a notable chill to them, and some of the leaves have started to turn yellow. It has been a very dry, very hot summer and I’m not sure if this change is due to summer ending or the parched landscape the trees find themselves in. Nevertheless, change is coming and I’m here for it. Over the next few months I’ll be celebrating the launch of my second book baby Vegetables: A Love Story, and I can’t wait to share all of the exciting details with you. Stay tuned! In the meantime, I’m here to share with you an absolutely delicious recipe for Medjool date and chocolate oat bars, which I just so happen to be nibbling on as I type this. I just can’t get enough! 

Snacktime: Apple Crostini with Whipped Ricotta

This is a sponsored post. While I was compensated monetarily, all opinions are my own. 

If your house is like my house, snacktime is important. Whether it’s a second breakfast around 11 am or a bedtime snack around 11 pm (I’m a nightowl), I like a little something to nibble on while I work or binge watch a current favourite show (lately, it’s Broadchurch). These crostini made with Cosmic Crisp Washington Apples fit the bill perfectly. Toasted slices of baguette are slathered with a whipped ricotta spread, then topped with crisp and sweet slices of Cosmic Crisps, drizzled with honey and garnished with toasted walnuts. 

Summer Perfection: Pear & Prosciutto Flatbreads with Brie

This is a sponsored post. I was compensated financially by California Bartlett Pears. All thoughts and opinions about these pears are my own.

My love for pears runs deep. It always has and always will. Pears whisper their flavour, rather than shout it from the rooftops like the stone fruits currently having their moment. Pears are the underdogs of the fruit world, and I kind of love them for that. Their subtle sweetness is still something I crave in this season of peaches and cherries. The pear, to me, is the perfect fruit. I love the shape, the scent and the sweetness. In fact, if I were to ever get a tattoo, it would be that of a pear, somewhere. Pears are what I remember eating as a kid while riding with my mom in the grain truck, as my dad was combining the fields of wheat on our Saskatchewan farm. Pears are what a really cute boy I used to work with many, many years ago would bring me as a token of his fondness. Things didn't work out with the boy, but my fondness for pears lives on.  Funny thing how one sniff takes you back to when you were 5 or 25. 

Chocolate & Orange Date Squares with Walnut Crumb

First off, let me just say that these are not your Grandma's date squares.  Yes, hers may be perfectly lovely, but traditional date squares have a bad rap for being just a little bit boring.  And these, my friends are far from boring.  Funny little thing about date squares:  out on the Canadian prairies, they are/were called matrimonial cake/squares.  And I totally know why.  Back in the day, date squares were packaged up, tied with ribbon in the couple's "colour" and given out as wedding favours.  I can still remember my Aunty's wedding in 1982.   My cousin and I were decked out in matching peach and white seersucker dresses (remember when we wore peach?) and my mom had also given me a Toni home perm and I thought I was coolest 9 year old around.  Cousin Sheryl and I sat at the guest book signing table (huge responsibility!), which also came equipped with a basket of date squares, wrapped up in their glory; a gesture of gratitude from the happy couple. Well, that and an open bar.  I don't know of any couples keeping up this tradition, but one taste of these bars and maybe matrimonial cake could make an appearance at a wedding near you soon.  If someone else remembers eating matrimonial cake, I'd love to hear about it!  If anyone else let their mom perm their hair, I'd love to hear about that, too.