Recipes

It’s officially fall, and that means we are well on our way to our great Canadian winter. There are some great ways to be well prepared for whatever fall and winter decides to throw at us.   I think that last wind storm really gave most of us a scare, and I for one don’t want to be battling hungry people at whatever store and restaurant has power.   My plan is to have some easy soups and stew ingredients on hand ready for last minute meals and in case of a power outage. Read on for some quick and easy recipes.

I was in Chicago this past June and every restaurant had a dish that included bourbon. Personally, if you gave me a glass of the stuff, I would cringe at the intensity of the flavour. But in food, it’s a whole different story. Bourbon is the new bacon! Okay, maybe bacon is irreplaceable, but it, too, makes a deliciously savoury combination with bourbon. Let’s spike up our meals with these recipes.

I’ve always made apple treats in the fall when the harvest comes in, but this is the first year I was able to pick what I needed from my own apple trees and bake with them. It’s a new and fun experience, and it’s prompted me to make even more apple dishes than I normally would. Everyone who walks in my door is happy when they smell the apples baking, and if you’ve never combined apples and cinnamon or apples and nutmeg in your home, this definitely the year you’ve got to try it. The scent of what you’ve baked lingers long after the pie plate or bowl is empty.  

Making your own Pumpkin Spice Latte is not hard to do. I’m not sure what the secret ingredients are in a Pumpkin Spice Latte from your favourite coffee shop, but when you make them yourself you can choose what you put into them and what you don’t.

I love fall: the leaves falling from the trees, the crisp, fresh air, and the Pumpkin Spice Lattes back in the stores. After this long, hot summer we’ve had with very little rain, I was so happy to turn the page to September. The one thing I’ve really been looking forward to is getting back into my cooking routine. We’ve been eating so casually for so long because of our home reno and the heat, I literally can’t wait to make a huge meal. What I’m not interested in is doing a lot of dishes, and that’s why I’ve been sourcing out some great one-pot meals for everyone to try.

With the new school year right around the corner, it’s time to start thinking about quick and easy snack ideas for those seemingly endless brown bag lunches. But rather than simply tossing in a granola bar and an apple, why not think out of the box and add a delicious, homemade muffin to your kid’s lunch bag? Here are five reasons why muffins are the perfect food for back to school.

Getting back on a schedule, making sure the kids have enough to eat, and making sure it’s healthy is a lot to take on for any parent, but there are a few recipes you can use to ensure you’re on track every day. The bit of extra time you’ll spend preparing them instead of grabbing a granola bar from the store will work out in the wash, because you’ll spend that much less time feeling guilty for what you’re kids are eating.  

Muffins can be the perfect food for lunchboxes as a meal or a treat. They were always a staple in my household growing up so if course I make them for my boys now too. Anytime I put a muffin in my boys lunchboxes I know it will get eaten and I don’t have to worry about them going hungry at school.

The saying goes, don’t judge a book by it’s cover. Don’t judge a muffin pan to only make muffins. We’ve posted the most amazing breakfast meals you can make with a muffin pan. Now, it’s time to talk dinner. New ideas can help shake up the menu of the week, plus it’ll make it easier to serve your entire family and any uninvited guests. Here are my five favorite dinner ideas using a muffin pan.

Like it or not, there’s no denying that back to school has arrived once again. Wasn’t it just yesterday we were all celebrating not having to come up with another lunch for kids who were sick of the ‘same old, same old?’ I know by the end of June I was ready to pull my hair out because my kids were sick of everything, but now that I’ve had some time away from the daily lunch grind, I’ve got some great ideas for back to school lunches.