Cranberry Orange French Toast Bake

December 7, 2016

Cranberry Orange French Toast Bake is perfect for Christmas morning brunch - make it the night before!

Who’s getting excited about Christmas???

*Both hands up!*

Okay. I am really excited. It snowed here for the first time yesterday - and although I am from the great white north (aka Canada), I live in the mild, rainy city of Vancouver, and we have not had snow like this in 3 years! Exciting times, people!!! If there’s one thing to get you in the Christmas spirit it’s snow.

All this snow, and all the eggnog I’ve been drinking lately has got me thinking about Christmas breakfast and how much it absolutely stinks to cook on Christmas morning. All I want to do is spend the morning by the fire, beside my family, chatting and unwrapping gifts.

Which means I like to set myself up for success by putting breakfast together the night before so that all I have to do on Christmas morning is shove it in the oven.

Hearty Autumn Stovetop Oatmeal

November 9, 2016

When the temperatures start dropping, I crave warm, cozy breakfasts. On this particular day, I had been out braving the cold on a drizzly morning run, the wind had blown me home through the front door, and my stomach was rumbling. I needed a warm, filling, and satisfying breakfast. Enter Hearty Autumn Stovetop Oatmeal.

Pumpkin Cranberry Muffins (and I’m married!)

October 1, 2016

Fragrantly spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and ground cloves, and kept moist by a full cup of pumpkin puree, these Pumpkin Cranberry Muffins are a celebration of October.

I’m back on the blog! And all of a sudden it’s October!!

Lots has happened in this month hiatus I took from the blog (and thank you for your patience as I disappeared) - I got married and then went to Europe on honeymoon! That’s right, I’m a wife!

Stay with me as I digress from speaking about these Pumpkin Cranberry Muffins for a moment…

Simple Homemade Granola Bars

January 25, 2016

These homemade granola bars are SO SIMPLE! One bowl, 6 ingredients and 20 minutes from start to finish!

I have a little notebook where I jot down recipes that are given to me by friends on scraps of paper, or from colleagues on post-it notes. Cooking is a favourite conversation subject of mine, so inevitably someone is always giving me a recipe to try. 😉

These Simple Homemade Granola Bars are a recipe given to me by a friend, during the time after university when I was single and learning how to cook for myself. (It was also during the time where me and said friend would get together for ‘Sex and the City’ parties, where we drank Cosmopolitans and watched through the six seasons together.)

So these granola bars really deserve to be called Laurel’s Granola Bars.

Almond Cranberry Whole Wheat Pancakes

January 6, 2016

Okay. Confession time. I hardly ever make pancakes for breakfast. Whenever I’m craving a sweet breakfast, we always make our family-favourite Fluffiest Waffles. Because they’re just so darn fluffy and delicious!

But, sometimes you gotta break out of your box. And pancakes deserve some love too! Especially because pancakes are so easily stuffed with deliciousness like shaved almonds and sweet tart cranberries, which really ups the yum factor.

Tart Cranberry Scuffins

November 17, 2015

What’s a scuffin, you ask? Well, scone + muffin = scuffin!

A scuffin is essentially a scone baked in a muffin pan, therefore retaining its crumbly texture, and often they are fruit or jam filled. Scuffins were invented in San Francisco, of course, the birthplace of Toast, and numerous other food trends.