Golden Granola with Turmeric & Cardamom

This granola is DELICIOUS! I had this moment of inspiration to add turmeric to my granola recipe to give it a wonderful golden colour, and I'm so glad I did because it is the bomb!
I know turmeric is super trendy and in everything these days, but this one is definitely worth trying.
Go ahead and spice up your morning! You will thank me for it later :)

Easy & Delicious Golden Granola

3 cups whole rolled oats
2 cups slivered almonds
1 cup pumpkin seeds
1 cup raw sunflower seeds
1 cup unsweetened coconut chips
1/3 cup raw whole flax seeds
1 tsp cinnamon 
2 tsp turmeric powder
1/4 tsp cardamom powder
1/8 tsp black pepper
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 brown sugar
3/4 cup pure maple syrup

Mix everything in a large bowl.
Spread on a large baking tray lined with parchment paper (for easy clean up).
Bake at 320 degrees F for 15 minute intervals x3 (total 40-45 minutes) - stirring between each, or until the granola is nice and golden but not too dark. 

Allow to cool completely, then transfer to a jar or container and store at room temperature.

A few notes...

*Oven temperatures vary, so check on your granola intermittently. Turn the temp down to 300 degrees for the final 10-15 minutes if it's browning too quickly, or take it out early - it will still be delicious after only 30minutes of baking. You want the granola golden not burnt at all.

* if you want granola clusters, do not toss the granola when you take it out of the oven for the final time, and let it cool completely in the tray before breaking it up into delicious bite-sized clusters.

*I don't like dried fruit in my granola, but feel free to toss in some dried cranberries/currents/raisins/chopped apricots or chopped candied ginger at the end (after baking).

Healthy Whole Wheat Carrot & Zucchini Muffins

These healthy muffins have a wonderfully crisp lid and a decadently moist interior. They are absolutely scrumptious and an all time favourite in this household.

The best part, in my opinion, is that they are literally loaded with carrots & zucchini.... but you wouldn't know it. 

I feel good about serving them to my own kids - but it also still feels like a treat for them. 

Win-win. I took my all time favourite muffin recipe and made it a whole lot healthier. I swapped out half of the white flour for ground almond flour and the other half with whole wheat flour. I reduced the sugar content and upped the vegetables. And my kids didn't even notice!

These make great breakfast muffins, and are perfect after school snacks for hungry kiddies.

Read on for the recipe...

A few of my favourite online recipes

There are billions of free recipes available online, literally at the tips of our fingers, whenever and wherever we want. And that is simply extraordinary.
But it is also incredibly overwhelming.

How do you know if you can trust an online recipe? How do you know if it's actually been tested? If it will actually be as good as it claims?

Well, obviously, start by using trusted websites (Smitten Kitchen is my all-time favourite because she really tests her recipes before posting them). And when you use larger sites like Epicuious, Food.com, or Allrecipes, take the time to read some of the readers comments; they can be so helpful. And finally, be weary of huge mega-sites that mass-produce recipes just for the sake of turning out new content 5 times a day. It's quality not quantity.

Anyway, I thought it would be fun to share a few of my favourite go-to recipes from around the web. The ones I keep going back to and making over and over again because they are so good, or so easy and so good.
I would love to hear yours as well, so leave a link to them in the comments section if you feel like sharing :)

• Perfect Cornmeal Muffins from Smitten Kitchen - these are just outrageously good. I've probably made them 10-12 times already. I'll never look for another cornbread recipe again.
• Avocado Kale Salad from Design for Mankind. This incredibly healthy kale salad is made utterly delicious by massaging chopped avocado and mustard into raw kale leaves.... which completely transforms them. The trick is to chop the kale really small and make sure to remove all the thick stems and veins first.
• Ottolenghi's basic Hummus - you can buy great hummus everywhere, but if you're going to make your own, this is the one to make. Surprisingly, it doesn't contain any oil at all, and it is still the creamiest hummus out there.
• Coconut Red Lentil Soup by 101 Cookbooks - this is my all-time favourite soup, in the history of the entire world! Dramatic? Perhaps. But it's a really good soup :)
• Dijon Rosemary Glazed Racks of Lamb - I don't cook a lot of meat, but this is one of the dishes I do cook on the rare occasion, and it is amazing.
• Jim Lahey's No-Knead Bread - the original recipe that propelled me (and much of the world)  into a frenzy of bread-making, that persists to this day.
• The Best Chocolate Cake by Add a Pinch (whenever I need to bake a birthday cake for someone), equally rivalled by Pioneer Woman's Chocolate Sheet Cake (for when I need to feed a crowd).
• Salted Chocolate Chunk Cookies - there are a lot of cookie recipes out there claiming to be the best. Rest assured, these ones are the ones! Make the dough, form them into balls and then freeze them. Store the unbaked balls in a ziplock bag in your freezer and bake a few up fresh - straight from the freezer - whenever you have company (or for yourself) for the most amazing dessert ever!

The Instagram cookie that made me famous for a day, and other random happenings of late....

So the other day, I made Smitten Kitchen's uhhh-mazing salted chocolate chunk cookies.
These cookies are seriously amazing - you need to make them - and yes, you do, in fact, need another chocolate chip cookie recipe. Because this one is better than the ones you already have - guaranteed!

So I posted a photo of my freshly baked cookies on Instagram and the mega food blog Food52 re-grammed that photo of mine, and suddenly I was inundated with new followers. It took me completely by surprise. That silly little cookie photo received over ten thousand likes! TEN THOUSAND! I mean, let's be honest, every photo they post gets around that many likes, but still! That's a lot for little old me.

And I became obsessed with checking my instagram feed that day because every time I did, there would be like 15 new followers. And I got a glimpse of how addictive social media can be when you're in the big leagues... and #thanksbutnothanks, it is far too consuming for me. And while my ego certainly enjoyed the 15 minutes of fame, it's good to be back to real life ;)
But the cookies! For real - make the cookies!

Upward and onward. 

Spring feels like it has finally arrived in the north. We still have plenty of snow, but the air is warm, there are buds on the willow bushes, and the snow is slowly melting. Hallelujah! 

We go for walks. Zac splashes in the muddy puddles while Noah sleeps in the stroller. And it is so good to be outside again. It has been far too long. This whole postpartum crap, especially in the winter, is just not for me. Have your babies in the summer, people.

My in-laws flew up north to visit us in Chisasibi for the first time ever. It was so nice to finally be able to show them what our life is like up here. And perhaps justify why we have chosen to live so far away from everyone for the past 4 years? See, it isn't so bad up here, it's actually quite lovely.

And it was really nice to have babysitters around! Adrien and I got to go cross-country skiing just the two of us - something we haven't been able to do since I was pregnant the first time. It reminded me why we initially fell in love with this northern life.

I am always envious of people who live really close to their families, people who have access to their constant support at any given time. I think having kids in general would be a lot less stressful that way. Sigh. The grass is always greener, right?!

And this little munchkin turned 3 months old this week!

I celebrated this pivotal milestone with a big glass of wine (all by myself, as Adrien was on call at the hospital), after I had single-handedly managed to get both boys in bed by 8:30pm without any tears... from any of us.  Hallelujah!

The 3-month mark is a big one, in my opinion... it's the official end of the newborn period, it's when you can start to see the light at the end of that dark and lonely post-partum tunnel, and it's when babies genuinely begin to be fun to be around. Cheers to me! And to all the other parents out there - it sure ain't easy!

Since Zac has been booted out of the stroller by his little brother, I got him this cool little Freerider scooter that attaches to the back (it can also detach and function as an independent scooter - genius right?!). It's pretty much the bomb-dot-com, and Z loves it!

So that's what we've been up to lately. Life is life. And life is good.

Thanks for visiting!

xo

Vanessa.

Lately.... We've become smoothie people!

So we bought ourselves an unconventional Valentine's Day present this year... A Vitamix blender! 

We have been using the crappiest, most useless blender for years now, and I finally decided it was time for a serious upgrade. 

The inspiration came from our desire to eat healthier, but mainly to help find (sneaky) ways to increase our two year old son's intake of veggies. It has been an ongoing struggle to say the least.

I have been reading online reviews of blenders for weeks now, and I decided to go with a Vitamix for its ability to turn tough leafy greens, and other hard vegetables, into silky smooth drinks. 

And we decided to go the blender route vs. the juicer route because I like the idea of using the whole fruit/vegetable and not getting rid of all that valuable fibre (that is removed in the pulp by juicers).

Oh and we have not been disappointed. I LOVE this blender! Holy smokes, do I ever love it!

It is so much fun to use. There is something seriously satisfying about watching it pulverize kale, nuts, and spinach into smithereens in seconds!

And as far as fooling our two year old into eating his greens goes....

It's working magnificently! Thankfully he's too young to have built the association between the colour green and "foods that kids aren't supposed to like". So Zac has been all into the whole green-thing.
And every morning Zac asks to "make a green movie?" (translation = make a green smoothie), and we do. Zac even stuffs the blender with spinach leaves and kale all by himself. Then we throw in whatever fruit we have on hand, turn on the Vitamix to full throttle, and we do our little 30 second smoothie dance in excited anticipation.

And they taste amazing! Zac drinks two full glasses every morning.

We've been using this basic formula (via simplegreensmoothies.com):

And I've been using these handy tables as references to get an idea of how much protein/fiber we're getting (via FitSugar):

So yeah, I guess this means we've officially turned into smoothie people ;)

Cooking my way through Ottolenghi's Plenty More cookbook (a review, so far...)

I've been counting down the months for the North American release of Yotam Ottolenghi's second vegetarian cookbook, Plenty More. But when I first brought it home from the bookstore last week I actually found myself a little overwhelmed. There were so many ingredients I'd never heard of before (what on earth is kecap manis?)!

Though the pictures are incredibly beautiful, the ingredient lists are long (in typical Ottolenghi fashion) and a little overwhelming. But I finally put my hesitations and insecurities aside and dove in. And I have not been disappointed yet.

So far, my favourite recipes are the Braised Kale with Crispy Shallots (pictured at top of post), and the steam-baked aromatic Lemon and Curry Leaf Rice (pictured below). They were both unbelievable!!

^^ I loved this new-to-me technique of steam-baking the rice. It literally transformed ordinary basmati rice into something otherworldly! ^^

I've also made the Cauliflower Cake (delicious!), the Tomato and Pomegranate Salad (incredibly flavourful, though I would add half the allspice next time), the Sweet-and-Sour Leeks with goat cheese (also delicious), and the Steamed Eggplant with Sesame and Green Onion (not pictured above but it was absolutely amazing!!)

I have about 50 other recipes flagged that I'm dying to try in the future… Pink Grapefruit & Sumac Salad, Hot-and-Sour Mushroom Soup, Honey-Roasted Carrots with Tahini Yogurt, Smoky Polenta Fries… just to name a few!

So yes, I would definitely recommend this book. Don't let the weird ingredients discourage you. This is a great way to expose yourself to new cooking techniques and novel flavour combinations.

~ * ~

I'm curious, have you fallen in love with Ottolenghi's recipes too? I seriously want to travel to London just to eat at his restaurants!

If you do buy this book, I'd love to hear which recipes you try out and what you thought of them :)

~ * ~

^^ ps: I also highly recommend Ottolenghi's other cookbooks. I made the above chocolate babkas (Chocolate Krantz Cakes) from his Jerusalem cookbook the other day and they were OUTRAGEOUSLY, sinfully delicious! Recipe available HERE ^^

Ottolenghi's Plenty More - definitely something to look forward to!

I literally squealed with delight when I discovered that Yotam Ottolenghi was writing a follow-up cookbook to his highly celebrated vegetarian cookbook, Plenty.

Seriously, that cookbook changed my life! I know that's dramatic, but honestly it completely revolutionized the way I cook. And clearly I couldn't be more excited for the follow-up book, which will include 120 new vegetarian recipes. I can't wait to see what kind of crazy - ingenious - flavour concoctions he will come up with this time!

The book is titled Plenty More, and is set to be released in North America October 14th.

:)

(above: the UK version of the cover)

Veggies and dip trick (and how to avoid double dippers)

While we were in Toronto my mother-in-law hosted a little party in Zac's honour... sort of a pre-birthday/meet-the-baby party for her friends. Anyway, at this little get-together they served veggies and dip in such an adorable way that I just had to tell you about it!

Instead of serving all the veggies on a platter around a giant bowl of communal dip, the veggies were served in individual little glasses with the dip already at the bottom. Adorable, right?!

But all cuteness aside. there are two very important improvements with this method: one, you avoid the grossness of other people double dipping, and two, you get to double dip all you want (and I love to double dip!). It's genius!

(also I finally found a use for all my old shot glasses that haven't seen the light of day since my college years)

if you're curious to see a few more photos from the party, read on after the jump...

This week in pictures...

Zac and I spent the week relaxing at my parent's house out in the country. The weather was perfect, the leaves were falling all around us... it was absolutely wonderful!

And with Zac being constantly entertained by my parents (or perhaps it's the other way around), I was free to bake up a storm in the kitchen. My mom and I both love to cook, so we spent much of the week in the kitchen.... with Zac banging pots & pans on the floor beneath us. Needless to say, we ate very well this week.

^^ I invented a ginger pie, and it might just be my new favourite kind of pie ^^

 ^^ Going for walks with Zac and crunching leaves beneath our feet (isn't that such a satisfying sound?!), and a bowl full of garden pears from the pear tree ^^

 ^^ Making sesame kale chips... soooooooo good! ^^

^^ Homemade borscht soup made with beets from the garden ^^

And tomorrow is Friday and my husband arrives from the north! Hooray!!

What are you doing this weekend? We will be sleeping-in (hopefully), eating-out, and going apple picking on Sunday :)

Lately: Fall may be coming, but summer's not over yet!

We've been hanging out in the country the last few days, and it has been wonderfully refreshing.

With the high temperatures we've been having, it still feels very much like summer... but there are signs of fall all around.

We took Zac on a little hike in the woods...

We hung out with my family, and had a big garden harvest day.

We made tons of fresh pesto, and I made some spicy red pepper jelly using garden chilies.

Let me tell you, this spicy red pepper jelly tastes amazing with cheese!
(if you want the recipe, I used this one... and it's phenomenal)

We spent plenty of time lazing around in the sunshine, looking at flowers, and marvelling at the abundance of vegetables overflowing from the garden.

On Sunday we visited my friend's farm.  

I got to see some old high school friends that I hadn't seen in years. 

It's amazing how once you hit 30, there's this huge baby boom that happens in your circle of friends. 

And all of a sudden, like one day to the next, we are sitting around in lawn chairs watching our children  jump on a trampoline. When did this happen?!!!

Zac loved meeting the baby cows, who were only a few days old :)

And now we are back in Montreal for the rest of the week, and we are busy busy busy... Trying to get ready for the big drive back up north next weekend.

I hope you are having a lovely week.

oxo

Lately, we're drinking our coffees siphoned!

Have you every heard of siphoned coffee (also known as vacuum brewed coffee)?

Well I hadn't... Not until this week anyway, when we went for lunch at Le Falco in Montreal. An uber-cool Japanese café in an industrial part of Mile-End. All their coffee is brewed with either the siphon technique or via the cold brew method (talk about a labour-intensive barista job!).

We ordered two siphoned coffees, and I watched in amazement as the barista embarked on what felt like a 10 minute elaborate ritual of handcrafting the perfect cup of coffee for us.

There were multiple thermometers going, bunsen burners, glass beakers and hot plates... it reminded me of my college organic chem lab.

Anyway folks, let me tell you, it was worth the long wait and all the fuss.

This was a damn good cup of coffee!

And, quite possibly, the perfect cup of coffee.

It also made me realize that I am a total coffee geek.
While my husband agreed the coffee tasted incredible, he wasn't nearly as enchanted by the complex and intricate brewing ritual as I was.

Have you ever tried a siphoned coffee before?