Shelly Wutke

Have you ever wondered what’s in those store bought popsicles? I’ll skip the secrets and just go ahead and tell you that besides water, the only other real ingredient is sugar. Not just one type of sugar either – the last box I picked up had both sugar syrup and corn syrup, not to mention other artificial ingredients to give them colour and flavour. That’s why the Zoku Quick Pop Maker is one small kitchen gadget I don’t want to be without this summer.

From summer potlucks to a cozy winter dinner, lasagna is just one of those pasta recipes that taste great no matter what time of the year it is. Get ready to shake your pasta maker, because we’re going to make the world’s best lasagna.

You know those home shows that take one room in your house and turn it into your absolute dream room? Maybe for some people it would be hard to choose just one room out of all the rooms in your house, but I’d offer up my kitchen in a heartbeat if someone offered to give me a dream kitchen.

Strawberries, peaches, blackberries, and blueberries – those little gems of the fruit family are nutritious on their own, but when you bake them up and wrap them in buttery crust or turn them into an icy-cool summer dessert? That’s when summer really kicks off at my house.

Living small doesn’t have to mean living with stress, because decorating small living spaces just requires a bit of imagination and some specific home pieces to maximize what you’ve got. It’s actually fun to live small because it forces you to be creative, and that’s where home décor magic can really begin.

Just like a techie loves the latest and greatest gadgets hitting the market, people who love to cook just can’t get enough kitchen stuff. Some handy kitchen utensils can really make the difference when you’re preparing a meal, while other kitchen supplies just make preparing food more fun.   If you’re a foodie or you’re just someone who wants to play around in the kitchen, check out a few of the cook kitchen utensils you just can’t live without:  

Right out of the gate, there are 3 things to really like about the LifeTrak Zone C410 fitness tracker – it tracks your activity level and gives you detailed and useful fitness information, it measures your heart rate just by touching it, and it’s one of the easiest to use fitness trackers I’ve ever tried. It does what it sets out to do and it does it so simply that anyone, even people who find fitness watches and fitness trackers complicated, can pick up and use the device within minutes. 

Good Chinese food or Chinese takeout can be hard to come by. So what to do when you get a craving for Chinese food but you don’t know where to order from? You can jump online and hit up Yelp or other review sites, looking for a recommendation. Or, you can do what I finally started to do – make it yourself. Creating Chinese food at home isn’t hard at all, and if you have the right tools it’s a fast, easy way to get your Chinese food fix. Here are a few of my favourite make-at-home Chinese food recipes:

When I think of the BBQ, I think of burger recipes. Most people stick to the basic hamburger, done up in a bun with mustard, relish, ketchup and maybe a pickle or two, but this year it might just be time to branch out a bit and explore your burger options. With so many different hamburger recipes to choose from, you could make a new version of the classic every night of the week.

In the vegetable world, Kale is the Captain America of Super Foods. Mistaking this rich, green leaf for just another type of lettuce would be seriously undervaluing it’s super abilities including lowering cholesterol, upping your fiber content in a single bound, and lowering your risk of cancer. It also has 45 different flavonoids that have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory benefits.