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Salted Golden Caramel Bars
Salted Golden Caramel Bars are a fabulous recipe – simple, quick, and completely irresistible once it’s done. A pan of these rarely lasts more than a day at our house; that salty, gooey, buttery deliciousness is too hard to resist. I know salted caramel is a fad from a few years ago, but it’s also a classic – one of those things that will never go out of style. The other great thing about these bars is that they’re essentially glammed-up, slightly more adult, vegetarian Rice Krispie Squares. A lot of people don’t realize that marshmallows aren’t vegetarian (they’re made with gelatin, which is made from bones), and strict vegetarians…
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Turmeric Roasted Vegetables with Tahini Dressing
I’ve been experimenting with a few different flavourful salads over the past few months, and this one is a combination of two different recipes. Turmeric Roasted Vegetables are a nice filling lunch or dinner with a bright colour and an intense flavour. I find it really tasty and filling, especially for lunches. In these cold winter months, it’s nice to eat meals that are packed full of vitamin C and feel fresh and healthy. And Turmeric is so great – it not only adds visual interest and flavour, but is supposedly an anti-inflammatory. While this is a great meal for anyone, it’s also vegan and Whole30 compliant. When taking it…
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Roasted Squash with Shallots, Garlic, and Red Pepper
This tasty side dish was an on-the-fly invention during an impromptu Thanksgiving dinner (we ate at 9pm, unexpected friends dropped by, it was lovely). Roasted squash isn’t exactly rocket science, but it’s nice to get away from the usual squash with brown sugar and butter, and probably a smidge healthier. When this is done, the delicious caramelized sauce is almost like a vegan gravy – you may find yourself licking the pan. This recipe is Whole30 compliant, and if that’s not your jam you can add some butter to the squash when you’ve got it on your plate, but you really don’t need it at all – the sauce created…
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Buttery Garlic Basil Tomato Sauce
More often than anything else, I find myself craving a nice rich garlic basil tomato sauce. For ages, I’ve tried to find a recipe that hits all of those perfect notes, but nothing ever seemed to work – the flavours were never quite what I was hoping for. Until I had a moment of realization – restaurants put butter in everything; why would tomato sauce be an exception? It turned out that butter was exactly what I was missing (this recipe is great without it, but so, so good with it!) This is a quick, easy recipe that I use this in lots of different ways – over pasta, over…
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Preserved Lemons
Eight years ago, I travelled alone to Morocco and spent a month with no reservations or plans, moving from place to place as I liked and enjoying Moroccan culture, food, and affordable, comfortable railways. The first time I tried Preserved Lemons was in Meknes, in a restaurant overlooking the Place Hedim, opposite the Bab Mansour. I ordered Chicken Tagine with Preserved Lemons, and I swear it came with at least one full preserved lemon and the most succulent chicken I’ve ever eaten (see picture below!). As I watched small crowds gather around musicians performing in the square and sipped mint tea, I remember thinking that it was one of the…
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Chocolate Pavlova with Fresh Fruit
Over the holidays this year, the temperatures were frigid – sometimes as cold as -31 C, but often -20 C, so we spent a lot of time indoors. As a result, my sister Cassie and my mom and I watched a lot of the Great Canadian Baking Show and the Great British Baking Show while quilting and knitting, and it inspired us to try some new things, including this Chocolate Pavlova. Though Cassie swears we’ve made a Pavlova before, I can’t remember ever trying it, so as far as I’m concerned, this was my first one. I was initially going to go with a plain vanilla Pavlova, but Cassie was…
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Turkey Stuffing
In my hands, Turkey Stuffing isn’t a very precise thing – I think it’s one of those subjective foods that every family – or every person – likes done differently. It’s a recipe that I’ve been helping out with since I was a kid, as small hands are good for tearing loaves of bread into small chunks, and it’s sometimes a whole family effort, as you consult everyone to make sure it looks/smells right before going in to the oven. As a kid, I was a huge fan of my Grandma Shaw’s extremely peppery stuffings, though I think I was the only one who liked it like that. Because my sisters…
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Bûche de Noël
Bûche de Noël is a recent Christmas dessert for us, so not really a tradition yet, and only time will tell if it becomes one. I definitely intend on making it this year for our family dinner; we tried it last year for the first time, and my sister Cassie and I were surprised at how relatively easy and quick it was. And of course, everyone liked it, which is the most important part! The year before, I’d tried making a Black Forest Cake (I’ll probably post the recipe eventually, but I’m not like, enthusiastic about it), which was a lot of faff and not that great, in the end,…
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Penuche (Brown Sugar Fudge)
In looking around online to see what other versions of Penuche call for, I’ve found that it or something very similar to it has a million names – Tablet in Scotland, Sucre à la Crème in Quebec, Russian Fudge in New Zealand and Australia, Panoche in Hawaii and the Southern USA – but the recipe that was shown to me, scribbled on a piece of paper, called it Penuche. Every year on Christmas Eve, for as long as I can remember, we’ve gone to my Aunt Wendy’s house for dinner. When I was a kid, it was a madhouse – a million kids and adults, overhead, underfoot, out on the lake playing…
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Cranberry Sauce
Is there an easier thing in the world than home made cranberry sauce? I mean, yes, opening a can is easier, but this recipe takes 20 minutes tops and tastes a million times better than whatever you get out of a can. Gorgeous, ruby-red cranberry sauce is perfect as is – you can certainly add all kinds of other things, but I think it’s best kept basic – sugar, water, cranberries. Cranberry sauce is one of my favourite things about any turkey dinner – I really just use turkey as a cranberry sauce delivery system – and I always make my own. I love the beautiful reds of the berries,…
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Croissants
2019 Update: I’ve cleaned up the recipe to make it easier to understand, and added new photos. 2017 Update: I first published this recipe in 2009, at which time we’d been making croissants for three years, so it looks like it’s been a family tradition for more than a decade now. It’s nice to see things you’ve come to know and love have longevity; I remember when we began creating the traditions that we wouldn’t do without, after years of sad, stressed, miserable Christmases. Now it’s a time of year we all look forward to, which is the best thing. Original post 2009: Croissants have started to become a Christmas…
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Snickerdoodles
2017 Update: I associate Snickerdoodles with Christmas, not because my family necessarily loves them but because I do, and anything sugary and cinnamony is bound to seem Christmassy to me. I’ve rarely seen this recipe posted anywhere, which surprises me because these cookies are delicious. I got the recipe when I worked at Lang Pioneer Village as a costumed interpreter, baking on the old wood-fired cast iron stoves in the Keene Hotel or the Milburn House, learning to gauge temperature based on how quickly your arm-hair felt singed when you stuck your arm in the oven. Unfortunately, an electric or gas oven can’t replicate the particularly delicious flavour that a…
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Roasted Red Pepper Ketchup
I’ve been making this ketchup recipe for years, and it’s super-delicious. I give jars of preserves as gifts at Ecksmas, and literally have people fighting over these ones in particular (the people who love the Mango Chutney are, oddly, much more chill about it). As with most canning, this recipe is mostly just washing things – the canning jars and lids, the produce, the tools you’re using – and prepping the produce; once it goes in the pot, it’s very simple. I know it looks like a lot of steps, but if you give it a quick read-through, you’ll see they’re all pretty straightforward. I like to make sure each…
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Balela Salad
I’m always up for a nice bean salad – they remind me of Summer picnics, and this Balela Salad – loosely based on the Middle Eastern dish – would be a great addition to any picnic or potluck. Vegan, gluten-free, and delicious, this salad is perfect if you’re hoping to feed a crowd of people with diverse dietary restrictions. It’s also great for lunches, as the fibre will keep you feeling full until the day is over. It’s also a bit addictive, especially after it’s had a day to marinate in the fridge. You can serve it with pita or some fresh bread, but it’s perfectly fine on its…
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Cauliflower Tacos
These delicious vegetarian cauliflower tacos are so good that they leave me craving more whenever I make them. They’re pretty healthy, too, and extremely flavourful while not being terribly spicy, despite the chiles and jalapeno. I’m not a vegetarian, but I’m not a huge meat-eater and though I occasionally enjoy meat it’s not a thing I like to cook at home very often. And I’m trying to find recipes that are a bit healthier while still being the kind of thing that I look forward to eating. If you’re the kind of person who finds cauliflower repulsive, you still might find yourself enjoying this – the cauliflower is really just…
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Tuscan Chicken Skillet
I’m always looking for reasonably quick, easy recipes that are reasonably healthy and freeze well, so that I can take them to work for lunch. Tuscan Chicken Skillet ticks all of the boxes, but it’s also super-delicious. It’s nice, when you’re surrounded by take-out lunch options that aren’t great for your but are incredibly tempting, to have something home-cooked and tasty ready to go. I try to spend Sunday nights cooking, so that I can eat well all week, and though it’s not always possible, when I do have the time it’s awesome. I’ll note that this recipe was initially written up as a low-mess, one pot meal,…
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Roasted Cauliflower with Sesame Seed Oil
Easy and delicious (though admittedly not beautiful), I made Roasted Cauliflower with Sesame Seed Oil last night and ended up eating almost an entire head of cauliflower by myself. Technically I guess it’s a side dish, and a super-tasty one, but it’s the kind of thing I’m likely to eat as a main, because it’s quick and really filling. This simple recipe works best if you have a roasting dish that just barely fits the dish, and that also has a lid. This will help keep the cauliflower moist, and also helps the sesame oil flavour to infuse the cauliflower, which is totally amazing. Sesame oil is one of my favourite…
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Crepes
Crepes are such a simple recipe, but the real work is in the frying, which is a sort of alchemy of heat and timing. Crepes in the pan aren’t something you can walk away from; they need your complete attention, something I’m not always very good at. When we were kids, Nana Cynthia ((You can read her diaries from her teenage years in/around London during the Blitz in WWII here.)) used to make us crepes; always the same delicious topping, lemon juice and confectioner’s sugar. I’m a little taken aback by the weird combos that you can get on crepes – fruit, whipped cream, whatever – when in my opinion, they are always…
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Guacamole
Making Avocados are kind-of a major staple of my diet these days; I don’t eat a lot of meat, ((though I’m not a vegetarian.)) and they make a good stand-in for the hearty part of a meal. Though they are annoyingly finicky, ((Not ripe, not ripe not ripe Ripe! Too late)) I usually have them around for sandwiches and things. Lately, I’ve been really craving salty, savoury things, and discovered Los Cantores Tortilla Chips at our local deli, St. James Town Steak and Chops. Normally I don’t shill for companies, but these are freaking delicious, and I totally recommend them. I’ll also note that if you’re in the market for…
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Quinoa and Corn Salad Recipe
We’ve been interested in picnicking for a few years now; something about packing up a lunch and going somewhere green and lovely to eat it on a blanket on the grass feels so special and nice. We’ve got one of those picnic knapsacks, with all of the cutlery and everything, which we’ve been using as our camp kitchen for years, and we’re building a list of excellent and easily-portable recipes. In the midst of an unexpectedly sweltering May day, we decided to make a few salads and bicycle down to the Trent-Severn Canal, on the bank of Little Lake, to have our first picnic of the year. This recipe, one…
