A favourite dish of mine from the time I was a small child, Coq au Vin has always been a labour of love. Asked to test the Clubhouse LaGrille Smokehouse Maple Marinade in a coq au vin recipe, I was elated!! Armed with bacon, chives, chicken and homemade stock, I was ready! And then I fell. And broke my wrist. Now the challenge was twofold – could I make a coq au vin that is not as labour-intensive as my age-old recipe? And could I manage it with only my dominant hand…
The answer to the second question became fairly apparent as my husband helped chop and lift my stunning Le Creuset pot to the stove. This recipe development experiment would be a family affair, and with my husband involved, it had to involve the grill! The recipe was adapted from the Clubhouse website, which allows you to print ideas in popular recipe book sizes using backgrounds you choose yourself. I was astonished at how simple and full of flavour the dish was, and I only added a few of my own ideas! It also had the added benefit of very easy clean-up facilitated by grilling the chicken on the BBQ.
All You Need for Easy BBQ Coq au Vin:
1 ½ lbs (750 g) chicken thighs
5 tbsp (75 mL) Club House La Grille Smokehouse Maple Rub Marinade, divided
2 slices bacon, chopped
1 cup (250 mL) each pearl onions and quartered mushrooms
1 cup (250 mL) no salt added diced tomatoes with juice
2 cups (500 mL) homemade Chicken Stock
1 cup (250 mL) red wine
2 tbsp (30 mL) Club House Rice Flour
2 tbsp chives
2 tbsp sage leaves
1 tbsp tomato paste
All You Do for Easy BBQ Coq au Vin:
1. In a medium bowl, combine chicken thighs with 3 tbsp (45 mL) rub marinade and marinate for 30 minutes.
2. On a medium heat grill, cook chicken thighs on both sides for 7 minutes making sure to obtain good grill marks and making sure not to burn chicken.
3. In a medium saucepan on high heat, sauté bacon, pearl onions and mushrooms for 2 minutes. Add remaining rub marinade, tomatoes, chicken stock and grilled chicken thighs.
4. Combine red wine and rice flour along with some of the liquid from the pot to make a roux. This will help you avoid lumps in your sauce. Add it to the above mixture and stir well. Bring to a boil, cover, remove from heat and place into a preheated 375°F (190°C) oven. Cook for 30 minutes, or until internal temperature of chicken reaches 165°F (74°C). *You could also assemble all of the ingredients in a slow cooker after grilling the chicken.
5. Serve over your favorite pasta or rice.
In all, we had a wildly successful dinner with very easy cleanup. The only problem was that there were no leftovers….
What are some of your favourite things to make on the grill? Share your stories with me on Twitter using the hashtag #FlavourStory!

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post made possible by Clubhouse La Grille. All images and opinions are our own.


There are concrete blessings for kids who learn to count their blessings, the Wall Street Journal recently reported. In one study, high school students with high levels of gratitude reported having stronger marks, less depression and envy, and a more positive outlook than less grateful teens.
It’s almost here!! Canada Day long weekend is as synonymous with outdoor grilling as Victoria Day is with the number 24. You have the grill, the apron and the tools that a certain someone received for Father’s Day, but now comes the hard part: recipes and spices. My son has taken to creating special dry rubs for ribs and marinades for beef, but at the age of eight he’s no match for the two celebrity chefs going head to head for a culinary Canada Day grilling dual! It’s The Great Canadian Grille-Off!
Prep Time: 20 Minutes
Yield: 4 portions
If you’ve cared for kids during summer break, you know how those ten weeks can stretch out! But summer is also a wonderful time to learn with your kids, in ways that might not normally have time for. Best of all: they can help someone (or something!) in need, and feel really great about it.
Earlier this year, a letter sent by a child to the LEGO toy company went viral. Seven-year-old Charlotte complained about the lack of opportunities for the LEGO girls available at her local toy store. She noticed that the girl figures only visit the beach and the shops, while LEGO boys have interesting jobs and even save lives. LEGO wrote back, adding to the story’s viral appeal and confirming for Charlotte that her questions were worthy of a response.
Many parents are wakened on special occasions by an ominous clattering in the kitchen: loving-hearted children preparing to surprise us with coffee or hot chocolate in bed. There’s also that cinnamon toast or oatmeal positively doused with sugar.




3. Golden Snitch Cake. With white ostrich feathers from the craft store and golden sparkles.

One highlight of the Disney Social Media Moms Celebration this year was not only posing with Maleficent (while protecting my son!) and seeing the first 9 minutes of the film Maleficent which is classified as PG and opens on May 30, 2014, but hearing Elle Fanning speak about her first starring role opposite Angelina Jolie. To Fanning, “Aurora exudes lightness and it’s so great in our movie that we have the dark and the light, total opposites, because they work so well together, like opposites attract in a way.”
“Elle is Aurora,” comments Jolie. “From the moment I met her, she is just sunshine. She’s a wonderful, sweet, intelligent young woman. Elle’s such a capable actress and a very strong person, which is nice because this Aurora is not just in love with the flowers; she is elegant and beautiful and delicate and loving, but she’s centered and she’s quite

Diane’s Lingerie invited me and a group of notable Vancouver women to become a work of art. To honour the beautiful shapes and sizes of women they assist every day, Diane’s asked 25 women to paint their naked bodies and create art. The concept would be rolled into the new look and feel of the brand and exhibited at a gallery be creating an art exhibition and silently auctioned, with proceeds going to support the
What I realized as I wrapped myself in the snuggly robe provided by Diane’s Lingere was that society’s current ideals should never sway our sense of whether or not we are beautiful. Different shapes have been idealized over time, and every body tells a story. A curve here, a scar there, a bellybutton that implants so clearly onto the canvas it reminds us of our origins. We are a community and I am so grateful to have been a part of such a groundbreaking campaign. No wonder there are so many shapes and sizes of lingere! In the end I began to value my body and its curvaceous shape. I am a phenomenal woman. And Diane’s really does fit them all.
It’s hard to classify anyone as ‘Mom of the Year’. What criteria does one use? While women sling insults at each other in the name of the mommy wars, we seem to be forgetting about walking a mile in someone else’s shoes.