Black currant, how do I love thee?

Last year I stuck a couple of black currant bushes into the very edge of the ravine, at the back of my herb garden, next to the rhubarb. Planting anything here is challenging because the properties that line the ravine are built on landfill, and it’s pretty tough to dig a hole without having to…

Garlic Mojo

By late February, early March, my remaining garlic harvest is usually starting to try to sprout and go soft. I usually try to roast what’s left and freeze it to prevent it from sprouting past its usefulness. This year however, I came across Rick Bayless’s Garlic Mojo (Mojo de Ajo) recipe, which is a simple…

I Scream, You Scream: Global Vanilla Shortage!

Have you heard?! I learned from my sister in law last weekend that vanilla prices have suddenly skyrocketed in the last few weeks due to a crop failure in Madagascar. My SIL does a lot of baking as a side business: cakes, cupcakes and cake pops. We consult regularly on vanilla purchases because I live near…

Tomato Roasting Season

It’s been a busy couple of weeks holidaying out west and at the farm, so I’ve been a little preoccupied. When we got back to the city from each trip I had a huge cache of tomatoes to deal with (even though I only planted four tomatoes this year!). The first batch became roasted tomato…

Jamming

One of my favourite jam recipes is Canadian Living’s Strawberry Vanilla Jam. It’s been a couple years since I made a batch, due to our renovations and such, so I was really craving getting some going this year before strawberry season is done for the year. But of course I now have an infant, so canning…

Nesting

Now that the holidays are over (which I mostly missed due to the cold from hell) I’m chipping away at my maternity prep to-do list. One of the biggies was to devote a weekend to cooking a whole bunch of meals for the freezer, to help ensure we have lots of food easily ready to…

Butter Tarts

I don’t know about you but it’s bake sale season in my world, with both our employers running United Way workplace fundraisers. Somewhere along the line I got pegged for butter tarts, and now I’m a bit of a November workplace baking celebrity. What is it about butter tarts and the Canadian identity? They aren’t really…

The brightest veggie of the bunch: the beet

After returning from the land of beef, lamb and potatoes (Ireland) I crave veggies. Lots and lots and lots of them. While it was possible to get yourself a decent salad, and virtually every restaurant or pub had seafood chowder on the menu (and I ate a LOT of that too because it’s way better…

It’s official…I’m finally home

So I’ve been living in my new home and cooking with my new kitchen for oh, about 10 months now, and I only just got around to canning my first batch of anything: Vanilla Pear Butter. And now I finally feel like I’ve arrived. We were away most weekends throughout the summer and early fall,…

Roasted Acorn Squash

My last post was about roasting a whole chicken. This here is a quick and easy recipe for making a comforting side dish that can roast right alongside that chicken so that all you have to do to complete the ensemble is toss together a quick salad. This is a “throw it in the oven and forget it”…