I recently met with the owner of a local grilled cheese restaurant who approximately one year ago closed her former location with intentions on opening in a new hood. It took some time, but finally the opportunity came in the perfect cozy little package. Almost ready to open, she still had to write the menu […]
Dublin Coddle is not a term you hear every day. Unless you are Irish or from Dublin. The first time I heard it earlier this year I couldn’t stop staying Dublin Coddle. I would even try to add my best and Irish accent and fail miserably. While channel surfing, You Gotta Eat Here, the Canadian […]
A popular potluck item for decades, broken glass jello is an easy, pretty and show stopping dessert to make for your guests or with your kids. Fun for potluck gatherings, you can colour code it to your kids birthday party theme, bridal showers, picnics, or any kind of holiday celebration. Simple pick your favourite jello […]
Ras el Hanout is an aromatic spice blend common in Moroccan cooking. The name in Arabic means “head of the shop,” and literally refers to the best spices a store has to offer. It’s a spice blend gaining popularity and becoming more mainstream in kitchen pantries. One interesting fact about this spice is no two […]
Back in the 90’s Robson Street was Vancouver’s outdoor shopping mall with great restaurants and cafes as well as all kinds of high end stores to tickle your fancy in. It was a seen and be seen place to be. In fact it still is. Walking up and down Robson every time I go to […]
Coming from the Pacific West Coast, I’ve eaten my fair share of smoked salmon. Even freshly smoked then canned via my momma. As a child my dad would catch river salmon and smoke it regularly. I craved it. When I moved to Vancouver I had a hard time eating smoked salmon that was not his. […]
If you are like me, chicken wings are one of those things you just can’t get enough of. Then there’s my husband who would eat them every night if he could. Even the kids enjoy the non spicy wings now so there’s rarely any left when we make them as it becomes #BattleWings in our house. […]
There are only so many days in a month and when you have over half a cookbook flagged with recipes to try, the struggle becomes real. Plus kids, activities, events to attend, life in general! But I’m determined and so I made my way through a good handful of recipes from Olia Hercule’s cookbook Mamushka. […]
Since I was small child I have loved cookbooks. Most likely because my mom had cookbooks I could peek at (Joy of Cooking, Five Roses Cookbook) and secondly because I’d been watching PBS Cooking Shows on Saturdays since the 70’s. When I moved away from home and to Vancouver, I would always fly home for […]
Summer days can be hot, and there is honestly no desire in this house to cook a big meal. Instead we love real simple meals. Like grilling up some meat and having a nice flavourful salad with it. This meal was inspired by expiring sweet red chili sauce in our fridge (ha ha!) and the fact we […]
Summer fresh grilled veggies with fresh basil and bocconcini is favourite dish around here when it gets to hot to cook. Leftover veggies are an easy addition the next day to any dish, like these Grilled Veggie, Pesto & Bocconcini Pizzas. Today we jazzed up our grilled veggies with bacon, grilled Italian Sausage and lots […]
It’s no secret we camp frequently in the summer and road trip or travel all year round. There are many great day trips to take from Calgary, in fact I wrote about it here 10 Day Trips from Calgary. With families in BC, Manitoba and Saskatchewan it’s fair to say we’ve traveled the four Western […]
My kids love to get into the kitchen and create things. More often then not they announce what they want to make without checking on ingredients first. This salad was the exception as we just so happened to have all the fruit available. Aiden’s Fruit Salad is made by my son Aiden and on this […]
Back in 2002 I used to play on a local softball slow-pitch team. I was fairly new to Calgary and looking to get out and meet people. The same year I also joined an indoor soccer team and billiards team. It was around then I met my husband, through work of all places, and life […]
Every summer we visit Kelowna and the Okanagan Lavender & Herb Farm. We love to wander the gardens and stop in the cafe to enjoy a lavender infused treat before we leave. We also drop into the little store they have and I always pick up some cooking lavender (or food grade culinary lavender) to […]
Lately I’ve been going through old small town cookbooks where my mom inspired myself and so many of her family members to submit recipes to the annual cookbook collaboration. I have two of them dating back to the 90’s and as I go through these books carefully page by page, I can’t help but smile […]
Stay hydrated and cool off on a hot summer day with homemade popsicles. With just a few ingredients and a little time, you can have healthy popsicles any day of the week! I’ve been making these popsicles, minus the coconut milk, since the kids were toddlers. For a new spin I added coconut milk. Popsicles, […]
Did you know the UN declared 2016 to be the International Year of Pulses? It’s true! For those who don’t know what a pulse is, a pulse is also known as grain legumes, and are a group of 12 crops that includes dry beans, dry peas, chickpeas, and lentils. They are high in protein, fibre, […]
Chick peas are a good source of protein, iron and several other vitamins and minerals. I try to rotate them into my diet weekly by roasting, adding them to salads, or whipping up a batch of hummus to munch on when hunger hits since I tend to not eat a ton of meat. I secretly […]
April is National Grilled Cheese Month and that makes me one very happy camper. I grew up eating pretty simple grilled cheese sandwiches made with Kraft singles. As yummy as they were my tastes changed when I hit my twenties and my love for cheese and/or melted cheese exploded. As I aged I started adding […]
Sunny days make me want to get outside and eat all the things and plant or harvest my garden and eat fresh grown tomatoes. Right? We’ve had an unusually warm start to 2016 which is great for us Calgarians but not so great for the farmers and producers who rely on the moisture to plant […]
Here’s a quick smoothie so simple you’ll read the recipe and say geesh why didn’t I think of that. Or maybe you already have. It’s these simple recipes that require very little thought or prep that are so enjoyable. Why is this smoothie called cherry bomb you ask? Well cayenne. If you like heat then […]
Every year Calgary Meals on Wheels organizes a month long hot chocolate festival. There are some amazing entries and I find myself drinking more hot chocolate in one month then I have for the past 20 years. I’m not big on sweet, but more savory or I’ll take my coffee black please. The hot chocolate […]
Who remembers this popular green salad from the late 70’s and 80’s called Watergate Salad? It’s a salad known by names such as pistachio delight, shut the gate salad, green goop, green fluff and green stuff and these days can be found on the table during Thanksgiving or Easter celebrations. According to research efforts, the […]
I remember my sister in law serving up sausage patties while we were all out camping one summer. They were these perfectly formed sausage shaped coins (twoonie sized for my Canadian readers) purchased from the local Costco as an easy to cook main to accompany breakfast eggs or a dinner salad. I thought they were […]
January is typically about smoothies for me. Trying to eat better following December’s eating palooza of treats, fatty foods and alcoholic beverages. By the time New Years comes around I’m feeling it and need a healthy kick. Enter smoothies. Versatile and delicious, anything goes right. You don’t have to put a lot of thought into […]
Lately I’ve been craving soup. Specially french onion soup but I haven’t had the booze I needed to make the broth sing. Recently I took some out of town clients to Charbar for lunch, a fairly new Argentinian style restaurant I’ve admittedly been to several times. I ordered the lunch special (and they did to) […]
This dish was an easy sell to the kids. They love pasta and Israeli couscous are small, round, pasta-like granules made from semolina and wheat flour. Once they heard the word pasta they were happy to try it and pick out what foreign objects (in their minds it’s squash and red onion) didn’t belong. You […]
Charcuterie boards have become all the rage in recent years with many restaurants offering it on their menus. When you think about it, charcuterie is a term that’s been in our vocabulary for a long time, just called something different. Like sausage and cheese plate. Right?! When I put together a charcuterie board, or a […]
The first time I made this soup was sometime in 2013. It was a craving soup end of the week kind of day and I had very little vegetables left to play with. There it sat on the third shelf in the refrigerator staring back at me. There was no way around it – it […]
