One of the most glorious childhood memories has to be sitting in front of the oven, watching cookies bake. And who can forget that smell? It smells like love. The warm, gooey taste that follows is decadent. I love breaking out my trusty stand mixer and making batches of cookies with my sweet boys. Working the dough to form the cookies is such a fun sensory experience; letting them feel the squishy sensations between their fingers is so fun. It’s like play dough with culinary potential. Who says you can’t play with your food? As long as it’s not at the table, it’s fine with me. This one is Hudson’s favourite.
When the kids were tiny, we hired a live-in caregiver from Baguio in the Philippines and she has graced our life with love and kindness ever since. Before every special birthday party or event, I would come home from work to find a freezer full of amazing filipino spring rolls, and the kids and I would devour them early in any party! The rolling of these gems always eluded me, so I sat down with her and we all learned proper spring roll rolling technique together.
So Quinoa Turkey Meatballs are among our most popular recipes and it’s a great time-saver as you can make a large batch of meatballs ahead of time, freeze them and take them out each meal or snack time and add them to pasta, rice or veggies at dinner time or for a quick snack alongside cheese, crackers and fruit. The meatballs are great for your kids to pitch in and help make. They love the texture and rolling them into balls!
Today Ford was home sick from school so we took some time to bake a family favourite recipe that I so love on our Facebook live segment. We usually have Facebook lives on Mondays and Thursdays at noon Pacific time and baking and cooking is something I really enjoy doing live on Facebook. Normally when I’m making this particular dish, I double the batch so I have more to eat and some to freeze so that I can enjoy it later. It’s such a time saver!
With the warmer weather starting to set in, we are always on the hunt for a refreshing beverage that exudes the feeling of summer season. A delicious, cool beverage is the best way to beat the heat while indulging the taste buds. Recipes that are a hit for kids with flavours and bright colours are particularly prized with everyone getting ready to be home from school until September. This would be a great addition to your outdoor party in a classy punch bowl. Cheers and drink up to summer fun in the backyard!
Two summers…actually, three summers ago (my sense of chronology is on permanent mom mode), I had an amazing ‘mobile’ herb garden that we planted and grew in a bunch of mismatched pots on our deck. When we moved in to our first home, our tiny garden was totally professionally landscaped and we didn’t dare touch it, so this little collection of herbs was our attempt to curate and craft something of our very own in the backyard. Because I am a terribly undomestic goddess, I mostly just admired the herbs from afar (my husband trained as a chef in his twenties, so he’s in charge of the kitchen), until one day I decided to get experimental and leverage my love of cocktails to create a truly beautiful and very simple recipe.
So you’re thinking about starting a family. And you’re trying to start a family. And trying. And trying. And you’re at the point where, if one more person tells you to “relax” so “it will just happen”, you might lose your S@#* completely.
You’re thinking about seeing a doctor, or you’ve seen one, or three. The idea of IVF has come up. Or maybe it’s come up for your sister, or your best friend. You have questions, but you have no one to ask. You’re scared it won’t work, you can’t afford it, that it’s going ‘too far’. You hate needles. You’ve begun to wonder if there’s a deeper, cosmic reason you can’t have a baby. There are countless reasons why it’s impossible to even try. And then you suddenly start to feel like you’re just done with it all.
Summer! The time of year that we take a dip in a clear, cool swimming pool and grill burgers and wild asparagus on fired-up barbecues. It’s also the optimal time to get the freshest ingredients to make refreshing summer cocktails! There are so many delicious options!
If you are planning a summer event and you want to treat your guests to more than basic beer and wine, a few signature drinks are cool and memorable. You’ll also keep the headache of in-the-moment prep to a minimum by choosing drinks that can be prepared ahead of time with multiple servings, have similar or complementary ingredients, and will work with a variety of appetizers. Set yourself up for entertaining success! For those who prefer small gatherings with a few close friends (or just you and a good book!) fruit-based summer drinks are still the perfect choice.
We are supposed to be working while balancing the shuttling of kids to and from camp or letting them be free and active in the yard. I’m not feeling the ‘easy breezy summer’ quite yet. I think it must indicate that I need a break – maybe a vacation for the first time in what feels like ages. (Or more Pokemon GO and fewer invoices deadlines!) Maybe some perfect fresh summer cocktails would help ease me into the guise of a vacay at least! I’ve got some delicious ideas to bring the feeling of vacation to your backyard.
Diala’s Kitchen is one of my favourite new food blog obsessions and after getting gluttonous on the (terrible, curse on whoever invented this) “Eat What You Want Day” with a bowl of popcorn to carry me through from breakfast to lunch, an inhaled curry pad thai for dinner, and half a huge bag of dark choc almonds to follow—let’s just say that I woke up this morning hungover, overcome with guilt, and looking to redeem myself.
Diala to the rescue with a dish that’s fresh, healthy, totally yummy, and makes me feel like I might not have to wear a T-shirt over my swimsuit during baby swimming lessons this summer.
