Scratch Food with a Side of Geek Mom and Pop Culture.
I don’t know about you guys, but I’m glad April is here! It’s finally spring. The time where Canadians come out of their home-caves and all swear to lose weight gained from being sedentary over the winter. I mean, you can hardly blame us, especially the last couple of winters. Too bad hubs isn’t retired…
If you’ve read my how-to on making vegetable stock, then you’ve probably got some idea how much stock I go through. I really, really like my version of vegetable stock (it’s far soup-erior to the store bought stuff, which usually tastes overwhelmingly of parsley), and I consider it to be the par of any good…
This post won’t be for everybody, and that’s cool. After all, the real foodies among us have the option of butter instead of margarine. But if you’re vegan, or you’re contending with dairy allergies, butter is a no-go. My tale of vegan margarine begins with a commercial brand, the only vegan brand available, that my…
It used to be that the fall season was heralded by back to school sales, some lovely apples, and the changing of the leaves. Now I know that winter is coming when I see my first Instagram photo of a pumpkin spice latte. Within hours, the internet becomes full of Pumpkin Spice Everything and I’m…
I don’t know about anybody else, but here in Ontario, August is always the hottest time of the year. Heating up the kitchen with the oven? Ain’t nobody got time fo dat. Eggs are a huge staple over in my household. In baking, I constantly use them as the universal binder and leaven-er that they’re…
I’m not sure how it happened that SOMEHOW I made it through an entire year and then some of blogging without a recipe that featured potatoes. Crazy. But then again, maybe not… Potatoes are easy to give love to. Whenever I had a recipe that might have called for a potato, I thought, “Everyone has…
I’m not sure how it happened, but somehow Sunday morning has become pancake morning. Actually, that’s a lie; I know exactly how it became pancake morning. My son would be happy to eat pancakes every morning, every day of the week, but I convinced him with mommy magic that Sunday is the best day to…
Last year I pansied out on canning jam because I was intimidated by the idea of food poisoning. This year, I’m just flipping it off entirely. Canning for shelf-stability is a pretty precise science where well-tested recipes that doesn’t invite a great deal of playing around. It’s limiting, and boring, and many recipes taste pretty…
Happy (early) Canada Day, readers! In honour of the occasion, what’s more fitting than 100% Canadian maple syrup at the BBQ? And make no mistake, there will be BBQ. Lots and lots of BBQ. Being as I’m originally from the south and all, I’m pretty sure that it’s a law of the universe that if…
Happy Victoria Day, Canadians! You gotta love em… Somehow many have gotten this holiday that traditionally marks the “safe planting” date for frost-tender plants mixed up with the first day of summer. So if you go about Ontario right now, you see many a person in shorts and fleece jacket, and there’s always someone among…