Baking

Double, double toil and trouble. Fire burn and caldron bubble. Nothing beats a warm bowl of soup in the fall -- or a warm mug of soup in this case. Soup is one of my favorite things -- especially creamy soups like butternut squash and, well, cream of anything really. The kind of food that warms your body and soul simultaneously, leaving you feeling mellow and cozy.  My husband and I make squash and gourd based soups most often in the fall. I guess because we are surrounded by fall colors and because squash are so easy and cheap to buy and store for long periods at home at this time of year.  I love how squash soup brings vibrant color to any meal -- I've even been known to have it for breakfast! I imagine that there's also a biological reason behind my fall squash cravings -- my guess would be that our skin and hair tend to dry out in the colder months and beta carotene converts to Vitamin A which is an essential vitamin for healthy hair, nails and skin. I think we should try ...

I am so beyond into pumpkin this fall and I am lucky enough to have found a huge sale on canned pumpkin in my neighborhood so my pantry is well stocked. I have been throwing pumpkin puree into everything from soups to pasta sauces, as well as sneaking it into desserts and drinks. If you read my blog often you know that I shared a recipe recently for my Pumpkin Pie Green Smoothie . I really loved how well pumpkin mixed into that healthy drink and set out to  find other ways to make pumpkin smoothies. I came home from a walk last week craving my afternoon coffee and, surrounded by cans of pumpkin puree,  I decided I would revamp the classic pumpkin spice latte . I don't keep fresh coffee beans at home so this drink was made with organic freeze dried coffee granules but feel free to substitute freshly brewed espresso or coffee. When I made this beverage I wasn't really hungry so I didn't want to make a thick smoothie, I wanted something with a similar thickness to a milky latt...

Pumpkin recipes are all over the place right now. Pumpkin spice this and that, pumpkin breads, pumpkin cakes, pumpkin donuts, pumpkin pastas...and least we ever forget, pumpkin pies! With fall at our feet we are falling to our knees to pack as many pumpkins into our bellies as humanly possible. I should know as I have been enjoying quite a bit of pumpkin lately -- from pumpkin soup to pumpkin curry -- I even made a gluten free pumpkin pie for Canadian Thanksgiving and served it with homemade vegan pumpkin ice cream. Delicious. As I mentioned at length in my last post , I am trying to cut back on desserts at the moment. I have been craving them a lot and I don't want to get into a bad routine where I eat dessert all the time. My current strategy to get out of this rut is to satisfy my sweet cravings with homemade green smoothies. In my last post I shared my recipe for the delightful concoction I've named the Blue Lagoon Smoothie . Today I am sharing a very different green smoot...

Did you know there is a place called the Blue Lagoon? It's real and yet totally out of this world...I should know, I went last year! The Blue Lagoon is a remote spa next to a geothermal energy plant outside of Reykjavik, Iceland...though the drive there will make you feel like you just landed on Mars and are lost in a field of craters and strange rock formations. People from all over the world come to visit the attraction and bathe in the milky yet neon blue waters. The spa is more of a fancy modern change-room for an exotic giant bathtub. There are spa services like massages and facials available, there's even a hotel, but many visitors just go for a swim. Bathers wear swimsuits and wade through the murky but breathtaking man made lake, soaking up the amazing benefits of the warm mineral rich water. Little buckets of white mud are stationed around and throughout the pools and visitors use ladles to scoop it out and smear themselves all over. The mud is rich in silica which is ...

Ok, so these chocolate chip/chunk power cookies are a bit amazing. For the past few years I have seen a host of recipes on the internet from various sources for chickpea chocolate chip cookie dough. cookies, blondies and cookie pies but for some reason I never got on board with the trend. Possibly because I was worried that I would make a batch and end up with chocolate chip hummus. Pass.  Luckily for me I got past my hesitation and created my own spin on the mighty chickpea chocolate chip cookie last week. I took some time before diving in though -- I read a ton of different recipes looking for patterns and flaws, trying to see if I could prevent any shortcomings in these cookies. I noticed many versions (possibly all) insisted on using a fair bit of nut butter. I imagine this is common because cookies need both a binder and a fat source but if I wanted a chocolate chip cookie to taste like peanut butter I would make a peanut butter chocolate chip cookie. Many recipes called for ...