A Budding Chef....

Liam has been begging me for months and months to open a cafe at our house. I told him that running a cafe would be lots and lots of work and having a baby around while setting up a cafe and serving customers would be hard (to which Liam replied, "We could keep the baby upstairs when there are people here, Mum") However, he has continued to ask about opening a restaurant and talking about how he is going to be a chef maybe when he is 8. As a result, I've decided to let the child open up his own restaurant and feed the family (hey, that's what homeschooling is about, isn't it?)

Yesterday was the official launch of Liam's Delisio Restaurant. Liam chose what he would like to prepare and wrote out his grocery list. He chose the produce he needed from the market and then did the majority of the food preparation himself while following the recipe. He worked well, and mostly stayed on task, to prepare us a lovely family meal.

Liam's Meatball Fusilli with Vegetables

The verdict: The meal was DELICIOUS, but Liam wants to try it a couple more times before he thinks it would be good enough to write down on his menu! Liam plans to write on his blog about his restaurant just as soon as he finishes his math work so be sure to check in tonight to see what he has to say.

Liam plans on attending culinary school when he is "10 or maybe 12" so I am sure that there will be many a yummy meal in our future!

A Story of Scones and a Baby

My friend posted a scone recipe. Thinking that scones are pretty straight forward, I decide that they would be easy enough for me to make with the kids. Liam and Morgaine are more than willing to help, especially when I tell them that they will be the ones doing most of the work. Wee baby gets strapped into the ring sling so that I have two hands available should I need to jump in to rescue the recipe. For all of 30 seconds things go well. We pull out the flour, butter, and baking powder. Then looking at my two children working together in the kitchen, I get a feeling of warmth and happiness. However, as a new mother, feelings of warmth and happiness are often accompanied by the flow of breast milk. Ruadhán, smelling (and likely feeling) the milk, starts to wiggle around and make his wee baby grunts and well, of course my milk starts even more. Wet circles begin to form on my chest. The kids have by this point measured the ingredients and are waiting for a spice from the top shelf. Being notoriously clumsy, I remove wee baby from the carrier and lay him on the couch. He is quiet. All is well. I climbed on the chair and lean over to reach into the cupboard. The baby, realizing I am gone, SCREAMS....

Drip....

Drip......

Drip......

Drip........

There's breastmilk falling on my TOES!

The spice in question is nowhere to be found so I grab the next best thing, hop down, and run to the screaming baby who is now red with rage and has huge alligator tears streaming down his cheeks. I'm soaked, the kids are excitedly asking what they need to do next while jumping up and down, despite being in my arms, Ruadhán continues to scream. I grab the butter from the fridge, cut off a half cup chunk and toss it into the bowl and tell the kids to break it up with their fingers (hey, the recipe says we can use our hands). I sit with the baby at the table to oversee and nurse. The baby latches and then pulls off, the milk arches in the air and lands on the table just inches away from the mixing bowl. On then off. On then off. On then off. Meanwhile, the older two are letting the butter melt in their hands instead of blending the chunks of butter into the flour. It's time for me to rescue the recipe and besides the baby has no interest in nursing. Back into the carrier he goes. No sooner in, then he started to scream AGAIN! Just wanting the recipe done at this point, I take over. Toss in a couple eggs, get both hands into the mixture and bop around

Up and down......

Back and forth......

Side to side.....

Trying quite UNSUCCESSFULLY to soothe the now quite distressed infant.

Form a ball.....the baby SCREAMS!

Cut the dough.....the baby SCREAMS!

Place the dough on a baking tray....the baby SCREAMS!

Open the oven and place the try inside....the baby sighs and falls asleep!

The scones turn out magnificently.

What is that, Stuff.....Well....

A lot of you mentioned that it was some kind of yeasty substance and well, yes, it is but it is so much more than that! It's a pregnant women's dream come true! 5 minute bread that you don't even have to knead! Take some water and add a little salt, sugar and yeast. Stir in flour until the mixture gets somewhat stiff and that's about it. Let it rise for a couple hours and then you can store it in your fridge for a couple weeks (or use immediately) and then just saw off a hunk of it whenever you have a craving for homemade bread. Flour the dough lightly and toss it in the oven and that's it (it's a tad wet, okay sometimes quite wet, and a different texture then what you'd be used to from traditional bread but it cooks up just as nicely). If you are feeling creative them you can indeed add whatever you would like to the mix as well and make all sorts of shapes of loaves (I do knead the bread a small (really small) bit to incorporate whatever I want to add just before I toss it in the oven). So simple and such a relief as a couple weeks ago I was thinking I might have to give up homemade bread because working to knead the bread was making me feel light headed and short of breath!

Here are this week's creations...

Focaccia, cinnamon buns, maple flax breakfast bread and a loaf of white bread all from that goop in a big ol' pot!

Menu Planning (or not Planning) Monday

Lately, I've been heading into the kitchen at 5pm to try to figure out what to make for supper. I never really feel very hungry at all so cooking, even though I love to cook, seems like a chore that just leaves me with a ton of dishes to do (which I DON'T enjoy). I tried to take part in Menu Planning Monday over at Organizing Junkie but as anticipated that only lasted two or three weeks before I gave it up. I never ended up feeling like eating what was scheduled so it didn't quite work out like it was supposed to. Now with winter upon us, my husband works many, MANY hours a day so that also poses a problem because I'd prepare a nice home cooked meal and no one would be here to eat it with me (when it is fresh and looks nice...I like my food to look good as well as taste good and rewarmed food just never has that same appeal.

I'm contemplating giving it a go again but I would love to hear how you decide in advance what you will eat for the week. I'd also love to hear some suggestions on meals that might be appealing but still filling enough for my husband who works pretty hard all day. With the pregnancy all I want is soup and the occasional salad (which obviously isn't enough food because I end up craving sweets later in the day!). Mike needs a decent sized meal when he gets in as well and soup and salad doesn't seem to be enough.

So please tell me how you prepare your meals for the week and if you have nice warm comfort foods that will appeal to a pregnant lady that only feels like eating "light" foods with a husband who needs meals that have "substance".

Hopefully, I'll be back with some ideas and an actual plan next week!

Menu Planning Monday-November 9

Saturday: Chinese food
Sunday: Jigg's Dinner
Monday: Hopefully Mike will get home in time to make his incredible shrimp pasta (I will post pictures and the recipe later this week if he does)
Tuesday: Crockpot ham with rice and carrots
Wednesday: Lentil Dahl (I'm too distracted on Tuesdays to make it and have burnt it the last two times *lol*)
Thursday: Minestrone with homemade bread
Friday: Cod fishcakes (sorry, the older pictures from my old blog site do not work over here)

New Feature: Menu Plan Mondays

I've decided to add a new feature to my blog since I am back to the kitchen and looking forward to trying to simplify my life for the upcoming arrival. I need to get a plan going so we aren't running back and forth to the store/market more than necessary (really, who wants to be out freezing their bottoms this winter when they could be warm and cozy in the house?). So yes, I am hoping (hoping) to plan out the weeks meals in advance so that we avoid needless travel this winter. I've tried this in the past but have never kept up with it for more than a couple weeks. We shall see what this brings. I hope from time to time to be able to link to my recipes or share them as well.

Here goes (winging it a little this week because we haven't been out to get food for the week):

Monday: French onion soup
Tuesday: Chick peas in rice
Wednesday: maple/pineapple ham with mashed potatoes and honey glazed carrots
Thursday: Sweet potato in some form (forgive me, I am winging it *lol*)
Friday: Homemade spagehtti/pasta in a vegetarian arrabiata sauce.

I will also post an update on the 100 (130) Mile diet this week. From the above menu it is obvious that we aren't following it as well as well could!

Nutrition 101: Choose Life

Product: Nutrition 101: Choose Life
Company: Growing Healthy Homes
Price: CD-ROM $79.95 US, printed book $99.95, combination CD-ROM/book $129.95

As someone who has trained to become a natural health consultant/practitioner, as well as a holistic doula, I was thrilled to be given the opportunity to review Nutrition 101: Choose Life by Growing Healthy Homes. This complete nutrition curriculum is certainly impressive in it's 448 page grandeur. Combining the knowledge of a naturopathic doctor with a home economics teacher, a homeschooling mother and a communications specialist and you get a wining combination. This curriculum includes six units, with four chapters per section. Units include:

• The Brain and Nervous System,


• The Digestive System,


• The Respiratory, Olfactory, Auditory and Visual Systems


• The Muscular and Skeletal systems


• The Cardiovascular and Immune System,


• The Endocrine System and Emotions (which, if you ask me, often gets left out entirely or gets a short little blurb).

The book has a text book feel to it with numerous diagrams, full colour pictures, an in depth index and numerous appendices (with tons of supplementary material). However, it is so much more than just a science/health text book. It has numerous hands on activities (both for older and younger children), recipes, and discussion/review questions for each chapter. It doesn't just tell you what to eat, but it tells you why these foods are so good for you. On the flip side, it also explains why junk food is not good for for you and goes more in depth than "sugar will rot your teeth," or "chips will make you fat." With scripture integrated into the text, this book definitely takes a Christian  perspective. That being said, I know that readers to my blog that are secular in belief would also find a great value in this book.

I will admit that I have not used this product with my children yet because it is so massive and there is nothing that I enjoy less than sitting at the computer trying to read information/prepare class. We've also just finished a unit on the human body as a system over the summer so I wanted to focus on some different science topics for a while. Even though my children are still quite young, 4 and 6, I think that this curriculum can be modified and used to teach even the youngest child about proper nourishment and our marvelous human body. I plan on ordering the printing copy of this curriculum and using it repeatedly for years to come (in a variety of different subjects- health/physical education, biology/science, home economics).

I would highly recommend this product, however, I would recommend spending the extra money and buying the hard copy version of the book. The extra $20 dollars is worth it because this book in one that you'll want to hold in your hands and refer back to periodically. The cost of printing/binding the book from the e-book version would cost those extra $20. I would recommend saving yourselves the hassle by ordering the book.

This is a book that I wish was used during my training as a natural health consultant. It is nearly as complete as a college nutrition guide and certainly less dry than the texts that I was required to read! I do not think that you would be disappointed with this purchase! For further information visit Growing Health Homes website.

To view other crew members reviews click here.

100 Mile Diet-Foraging

Aw yes, at the beginning of the week it seemed like the better part of the week revolved around finding, gathering, preparing and cooking food. Things seemed to come to a better balance by Friday but that being said we spent the better part of the weekend gathering and preparing food. Saturday morning found us at Hank's Farm to get our vegetables and eggs for the week. Then there was a quick detour to the Cape Breton Farmer's Market to get honey. This week's grocery bill for those interested was 37 dollars for the veggies, fruits, and eggs and 15 dollars for the honey (it can be affordable, I suspect). Then, seeing as we were out, we decided to drive around for a while (Mike wanted to show me a festival going on in Port-Morien.) to see what kind of wild berries we could find. Driving along a little dirt road we finally found the elusive raspberry so we were very happy to stop and pick a little. We left Morgaine asleep in the car (we were picking right beside it). As we were getting ready to get back in she woke up and wanted to get out and explore herself. Once out she immediately screamed "APPLES!!!!!". We'd been picking all around an apple tree and hadn't even realized it. So we managed to get our apples as well. Then we made our way over to Whitney Pier and spent a couple hours picking some rather sparse blueberries. As we were about to leave, Liam crossed the dirt road and said "Look, look over here there are tons and TONS". And there were!! So we spent another hour on that side of the road, wishing we'd gone there first but enjoying it just the same.


Needless to say we wouldn't have been near as successful without the children!

I'm loving-My Garden

I'd love to say that I have the more wonderful garden and that things are growing wonderful but that would be a lie. I do not think that the garden is going to give us ear enough to survive for the winter. I do have to say, though, that for the most part I am loving this learning experience and I that next year it will be even better.

Here is a little peek at what's growing (and not growing) in my garden:



Beans. With what I pick today we should have enough for our first (and only) bean side dish of the year.



Broccoli.



Cauliflower, if you want to call it that.



Cucumber (expecting them not to actually grow....no bees/bugs to pollinate and they've looked the same for a couple weeks now.



Want to be squash or pumpkin....yeah, he's tiny and of about 12-15 plants he is the only one with anythng.



At least we have lots and lots of tomatoes!

I am hoping to love this poor little garden into producing for me. Is there any hope?

The 100 (okay, 130) Mile Diet

Mike and I have been impressed by the amount of produce that one can find in one's backyard here in Cape Breton. We've also been appalled by the fact that no one here actually seems to take advantage of what is readily available and instead let it go to waste. As a result, we've decided to go local and only eat produce that has been grown on Cape Breton Island. The challenge we've set is to do this for the next three months but ideally, it would become a way of life. So for the next three months we will not BUY anything that is produced outside of Cape Breton or contains ingredients that are. The distance that most foods travel to arrive on our plate is just isane. Most of our lettuce, LETTUCE, come from China, (CHINA!!!). Totally ridiculous considering how easy lettuce is to grow in one's backyard. It is great to be supporting local farmers, seeing where one's food comes from, and especially NOT contributing to the the warming of the planet because of the amount of fuel it takes to transport our food from one end of the globe to the other.

We have decide that we will use what foods we have in the house even if they aren't local- nice benefit being that we have enough coffee stock piled until next year, and no, we didn't go out and buy a ton yesterday! We just cannot afford to toss the food that we have. Before long, it will run out and we will HAVE to come up with ways to replace it. We did have to make an exception for wheat (and ONLY wheat) because there is no wheat/grain on Cape Breton island (believe me I have searched and questioned). We just cannot survive without wheat-no bread, no pasta- and it would have been a complete recipe for failure. We will, however, get our grain from the closest mill, which is in NB (though I may have found a NS source). All wheat products will be made at home with all local ingredients otherwise. We've also, for the moment, made an exception for dairy as well (which is why it's the 130 mile diet....the closest, that we know of, dairy supplier is 129.7 miles "the way the crow flies" away). I will certainly be looking for a closer source though.

Day 1 (today) of the diet started with an early morning trip to The Cape Breton Farmer's Market where we bought a nice variety of local produce and meat.



Swiss chard, celery, chanterelle mushrooms, beets, white turnip, snap peas, carrots, tomatoes, broccoli, spinach, cabbage, free range chicken, smoked halibut (with sea salt from here), salmon and shrimp.



Lunch consisted of homemade tomato soup, spiced with herbs from my garden, and thicken with milk and potatoes. We decided that we might actually starve on this "diet".

Supper turned out to be a bit more substantial (though pricey with the free range chicken and chanterelle mushrooms...we'll wait for something cheaper to come into season!!)



Maple (local) glazed free range chicken with thyme (from my garden), salad (from my garden) with local tomatoes, caramelized carrots (local) and beans (from my garden), and chanterelle mushrooms cooked with garlic scapes (from my graden).



The kids menu: RAW...of course, they wouldn't touch the little bit of mushroom I gave them! They are catching on quick. They finished the last of the orange juice with supper and I told them that they would be getting any more and Liam said "...because oranges aren't local". I hate to hear what he says, though, when I tell him that sugar isn't local either!
Our only real fear for this week was the lack of fruit we have. Sure, we've picked cherries but that was it. Then, as if planned, after supper there was a knock at the door and some wonderful local young adults offered us fresh local blueberries that they picked this afternoon. They (both the kids and the berries) were wonderful (and there are PLENTY left over).



I'll certainly keep you up to date on this adventure in healthy eating and share any great creations I might come up with (and maybe some failures, too *lol*)

To learn more about The 100 Mile Diet click here.

Whole Food Cooking with Sue Gregg

This is not an official review of Sue Gregg's cook books but I did get the opportunity to taste test a couple recipes from her website. We've always tried to eat as healthy as possible and limit our intake of processed foods so I jumped at the opportunity to try out some new recipes.

Black Bean Chowder


Liam, who fluctuates between wanting to be a chef or an architect (he likes to create stuff), was very eager to help me prepare this meal. He likes to see what things go into recipes so he was my little "gopher" (go get this, go get that). There was a fair amount of chopping in this recipe so that bored him a little but he liked being the one to add everything to the pot.

The verdict

Liam gave this meal a 5 1/2 out of ten because he thought it was a little too spicy for his taste.

Morgaine, who is almost 4, enthusiastically gave this recipe a 9 out of 10 and said she'd be happy to eat it EVERY day. However, once Liam said it was too spicy she also decided it was too spicy *lol*.

Mike gave the soup a 7 1/2 and said it was something that he would like to eat again, however, he found it a little bit too chili like.

I, personally, give the the recipe a 7 because I also found it to be too chili like. I would have also preferred to use dried beans as opposed to canned. I liked that it was hardy and easily felt like a complete meal.

As a family we agreed that it was something that we like and would make it monthly and maybe a bit more often in the winter months as it is so warm and filling.

Baked Parmesan Chicken



This recipe is quite simple as it asks you to basically throw all the ingredients into a blender to make a coating for chicken breasts. However, because I was somewhat afraid that my blender would not be able to handle dry ingredients I kept Liam busy tearing up the bread and parsley needed in the recipe. We also had the opportunity to talk, again, about food cross contamination and safety as it was a busy day in the kitchen and we were cooking several dishes at once.

The Verdict

Liam did not like this meal but he is going through a phase where chicken just seems to fill him up (and that is what he told us) therefore causing him to not want to eat it. He told us that we would likely like it on another day when it wasn't filling him up so much.

Morgaine gave this recipe 7 stars. She liked the taste of it but didn't say much else.

Mike liked it and gave the topping an 8 1/2. His only comment was that it was a little too dry. However, I did overcook it slightly because he was busy outside and instead of taking it out of the over I left it in order to keep it warm.

I quite liked the taste of this meal, it was crunchy enough and had pleasing taste. Having tried it about 10 minutes earlier than the rest of the family, when it was cooked just perfectly, I also found it to be juicy.

It is a meal that we would likely enjoy once every couple of weeks (though for now would have to think of something else for our little boy). It was simple to prepare and with it's relatively mild taste something that can be served with various other dishes making it versatile and one of those dishes that can be served just about anytime. I believe it would even be good cold, served in a salad during the summer months when one doesn't feel like having a hot supper.

We would be more than happy, as a family, to have to opportunity to try out other Sue Gregg recipes. As a family who tries to eat healthy and have tried various other whole food ideas, we were happy (especially, Mike, who has been somewhat whole food resistant) to see that these meals were healthy without necessarily feeling that way. Check out her site and try one of her recipes for yourself!

Monkey pudding....err, bread.

I've talked about monkey bread on my blog (and facebook) a few times and have gotten curious questions about it each time. Basically monkey bread is as pull apart cinnamon bread dessert that is just divine. Rich, cinnamony, ooey- gooey goodness- what more could you want?

I had the most AMAZING monkey bread recipe but can no longer find it on the internet. As I promised the recipe, I decided to wing in on Wednesday and make up my own monkey bread recipe.

So here goes

1 cup whole wheat flour (just beacuse I am the Mommy and I can throw some health goodness into the most unhealthy treats)
2 cups white flour
1/4 cup of butter
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
Wee tad of brown sugar



Mix these ingredients together with water (I added about a cup and a half) until you get a sticky wet dough (you want it to be significantly wetter than your standard bread dough).

Then melt 1/2 cup of butter

and make a cinnamon and sugar mixture to roll your bread balls in.

Make a small bread ball and send it swimming in the butter mixture (it is incredibly hard to take pictures of this recipe as it is so messy).



Fish out your bread balls and roll them into your sugar mixture and place into a baking pan (traditionally, one would use a bundt pan but I don't have one of those).



Continue until you have used all your dough and then throw the remaining butter and sugar over the bread.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 30-40 minutes.

Unfortunately, though, if you follow this recipe you will NOT end up with monkey bread! We pulled them out of the oven, anxious to get our fingers on them but were surprised to find that instead of monkey bread, we had something quite different. The kids declared it, not monkey bread, but monkey pudding and I totally agree.



It definitely had the consistancy of pudding chomeur (poor man's pudding) or Grand-pere au Sirop d'Erable (a real Quebec treat...maple syrup grandfathers *lol*) but with a definite cinnamon twist. Quite yummy, just the same.

If you want true monkey bread, though, I will have to direct you to my beloved Michael Smith of Chef at Home. Not the recipe I normally use but he is the man that started my love affair with Monkey Bread.

Enjoy!

I'm Loving - Homemade Bread

I loving...

homemade bread and all the possibities it brings,



the process and having 3 bowls of risen dough ready to be transformed,



the end results, ready to share with my family.

Fit for a King

This year we've hunted with the cavemen and sailed down the River Nile with the Egyptians (Liam's first lapbook to be posted soon). For the past couple weeks we've been defending our castle and learning about the feudal system of the medieval period. We love food so as part of our study we decided to have a poor serf supper one day and then have a meal fit for a king another. Last week, we had pea soup, a hunk of bread and some cheese for supper and it was enjoyed by all. Yesterday it was time for our medieval feast.



It was quite the spread- potage, boiled eggs, meatballs, bone marrow, turkey legs, shrimp, smoked mackerel, sparkling grape juice.

It was an interesting meal...



The kids clinked their glasses, took a sip and declared the sparkling grape juice "not very good".

Morgaine outright refused the potage.





They each grabbed a turkey leg and looked like they were going to devour them. However, like the potage and the sparkling grape juice it didn't win them over.

Morgine refused to try anything else. The sight of all the meat completely turned me so the girls sat and watched the boys eat. Then as I was clearing everything away a little theif came and ate ALL the left over meatballs!

Cooking with Children

Cooking is one of my favorite things to do and the wonderful thing is that it is something that can easily be done with the children. They also learn so much from the experience. It's pretty much the perfect homeschooling activity.

Here are some of the wonderful benefits of preparing food with your children.

1. The kids get to choose healthy produce from the grocers (or even better, from your garden).

2. They learn about nutrition and the human body when you talk to them about why certain food choices are better than others.

3. They learn that it is okay to be creative and to try different things (a big hit here is Mum's never the same way twice spaghetti sauce).

4. The learn cooperation and turn taking when you cook with more than one child at a time (each taking their own turn to stir or add ingredients).

5. It's a wonderful opportunity to "teach" math concepts such as fractions, time and measurement).

6. They also get to learn about science concepts like boiling/freezing and reactions (like yeast or baking soda making things rise).

7. They teach us that the best part of cooking is just being a kid and stealing tastes out of the bowl!

Oh what a day

For a beautiful green drink.

Okay, well, it's a deep purpley red. It's a start. I've started juicing every morning as a way to get my body back into a healthy, sexy, beautiful piece of machinery. So my days will be starting out with the juice of 1 beet, 1 stalk of celery, 2 carrots, a bit of whatever lettice or cabbage I have, 1 apple and some cucumber and a little later a handful of raw almonds. It's actually quite yummy and I have enjoyed it thus far. I'm hoping to make it a lifestyle change as I've been thinking about doing it for a long while and I can certainly see the health benefits of it. I'll keep you posted and if I find some really cool and yummy concoctions I'll let you know!!

Lentil Soup-Well, it is finally here!!

So I promised you my lentil soup recipe and was meaning to get to it sooner but we've had sick kids in the house and a very tired Mommy (they just won't stay in their beds....Liam that is....Morgaine is permenantly back in my bed). So needless to say my bed has been calling me in the evening (as opposed to the blog).

So anyways, I made this soup last week while I was on the phone with a dear friend from highschool. Nothing has changed. We talked for hours. However, because I was talking on the phone I didn't write down the measurements of the spices I used (though I did measure them). A week later I am at a loss for what I put in it. Here is the general recipe anyways.

Katrina's Indian Ispired Lentil Soup

You'll need:

• 1 cup of red lentils


• 4 cups of water (approximately)


• 1 red onion


• 1 pepper (I would have used red or orange if I had them but I only had yellow)


• 2 stalks of celery


• curry (I used about 1 tablespoon...maybe a bit more)


• ginger


• corriander


• pinch of cinnamon


• salt (it needs quite a bit)

Add the lentils to the water and bring to a boil. Simmer for about 20 minutes.

At the same time chopped onion, pepper and celery and saute until celery is soft.

When cooked add to the lentil mixture and cook for an additional 5 minutes (or whatever really).

I then pureed it with a hand held blender but am thinking that it would have been just a good and probbaly had a better texture if I'd diced the veggies a little smaller and not pureed the soup (as I said this is totally out of my head here). The texture was a bit funny we found and I'd forgotten to salt it. It did taste good though (a nice spice blend) but it REALLY needs the salt.

Anyways, that was my invention for the week (and y'all might be saying....DON'T try again....or at least don't share with me....but I promised y'all).

Have a good rest of the week.....and Heather check back tonight....I'll have a couple pics for  you up here!!!

Epicure-Informational Post

I am sorry to say that some wonderful products will be leaving the Epicure line-up this coming season (so please contact me with your orders before March 1....it's while supplies last). However, I look forward to introducing you to the new and wonderful year of Epicure in the near future (sometimes ya just got to make room for even better stuff, you know?).

I wanted to give any of you that might be customers of mine a list of what is leaving. If you continue reading you'll also see what items that are only available in the fall/winter catalogue. BIG NOTE that two of my hot products are now seasonal only.....popcorn seasoning (so please stock up now) and the Belgian chocolate chips....I've only had people order this far but apparently there were melting issues this summer for some customers (darn Canada Post without refrigerated trucks *lol*).

Discontinued Items

Allspice

Berbere

Cardamom (whole)

Chinese Five Spice

Cloves (both ground and whole)

Coriander

Cumin

Fines Herbes

Garam Masalas

Harissa

Juniper Berries

Malay

Lavender

Mint

Nonya

Nutmeg (both ground and whole)

Greek oregano

Pink Peppercorn

Roasted Garlic (a note to my clients....you've order minced garlic...that is definitely staying).

Star Anise

Tandori

Mild Smoked Spanish Paprika

Black Sesame Seeds

Green Bell Pepers

Parsley

Herbed mustard

Pink Hawaiian Sea Salt

Smoked Alder Sea Salt

Lemon Pepper

White Pepper

Pink Peppercorn Dressing

Japanese Rice Vinegar

Sherry Vinegar

Almond Extract

White Belgian Chocolate

Decadence-Triple Chocolate (hot chocolate)

You'll no longer be able to buy the coffee topper as singles any more (only in the variety pack of 4).

White Sugar Crystals

Amber Sugar Crystals

Cedar Plank Set

7" pizza pans

pizza wheel

pastry blender

green basting brush (apparently you'll still be able to get red)

BBQ and marinade cruets (English and French)

Oval measuring cups

Stainless Steel Colander

Deluxe Wooden Spoons

Sauce Laddle

Spagetthi Server

Pasta Machine

Pasta Bowls

Zester

Vegetable Peeler

All the graters (excluding the four sided grater)

Garlic Press

Kitchen Shears

Locking Thonges

2004 recipes

Monday-Friday recipe book

5 ingredient cook book

10 anniversary cook book

Home for the Holiday book

Seasonal Products

Ginger

Poudre Douce

Pumpkin Pie Spice

Both Stuffing Seasonings

Cranberry Sauce

Mulling Spices

Hot Buttered Rum

Pinot Noir Wine Jelly

Blanc des Blancs Wine Jelly

Turkey Rub

Fireside Rim Trimmer

ALL POPCORN SEASONING

ALL BELGIAN CHOCOLATE CHIPS

Christmas Tea

Cinnamon sticks

Mocha beans

Cherries and Berries

Coffee Topper Set

Crystalised Ginger

Decorating Sugar

Cocktail Shaker

I know the list sounds long but there are still plenty of wonderful products to chose from (and there's still time to stock up on favorites before they disappear....give me a shout) and I heard that you'll all be quite happy with what's in store for the spring catalogue. So check back because as soon as I know what the new products are you'll be sure I'll be back sharing them all with you!!!

Christmas Cookies

My absolute favorite part of the holidays is the baking. I have very fond memories of baking with my mother. She always made a wide array of cookies in the month leading up to Christmas: a caramel fudge square with red or green srinkles on top, a chocolate log filled with multicoloured marshmallows and rolled in coconut, nanimo bars, fruit cake (sometimes....I didn't get to help with this), short bread (with chopped up red or green marachino cherries on top), ginger bread, and I am sure there was many more. She'd keep them in a red container in the basement and I am sure that I wasn't the only one that would sneak one out on occasion. I loved that there was always an assortment of goodies for when someone stopped by. I loved that she'd attend an annual Christmas cookie exchange a come home with even more goodies. Most of all I loved spending time in the kitchen with my Mum.

It's definitely a tradition worth passing down......

Newfoundland Toutons

Yes, I am a Newfie (and darn proud of it)!

So, I have a splitting headache. I've had a splitting headache since yesterday morning and I've done EVERYTHING imaginable to try and get rid of it, to no avail. This morning my daughter got up insisting that I get her BREAKFAST. Picture this. I stumbled-half drugged, half asleep- out of bed (which pretty much means I'm really not there). I'm gropped around for my glasses I can't find and she's yelling at me for BREAKFAST. "Breakfast cereal or Breakfast bread" I say as I haul on my robe.

"BREAKFAST" she insists.

"Do you want a banana? An orange?" I finally find my glasses and stumble on out into the kitchen an open the fridge door.

"BREAKFAST!!!"

This goes on and on with me naming every breakfast food I can think of. I'm loosing my patience. I am tired. I want to crawl back in bed. I desperately go into the room where Mike is laying there and he says "she's so pleasant this morning, isn't she?" All the while the kid is screaming, screaming, SCREAMING and I am getting very near wanted to run and hide under my bed.

Finally, a breakthrough "Syrup, breakfast" she says.

"Oh, I say, you want pancakes".

"Pancakes." she replies.

I don't feel like making pancakes at 7am. She screams and cries. We convince her that I'm going to rest for half and hour and then I'll get up and make pancakes. "I PROMISE."

So half and hour later I drag myself out of bed and there are no eggs in the fridge. What do you do? Make Newfie toutons. I mean all you need is flour and water and a little bit of yeast. Who doesn't have that? So at 7:45 this morning I am making homemade bread dough so that we can have toutons for breakfast. I'm cheating and I'm going to send you here for the recipe as I love  the guys over at  Steel White Table for the sheer randomness of their posts and their little taste of home every now and again.

So anyways, an hour later we sit down to a meal of newfoundland toutons minus the salt pork and molassas (can you tell I really wasn't prepared for toutons this morning either?). It's a Newfie treat we have maybe twice a year by b'y is it some good.