Apricot Lavender Jam

July 13, 2016

For many years, J and I have subscribed to a CSA box from a local farm. Each week throughout the summer we’ve received delicious fresh veggies - always a surprise, and always so fun to find recipes to use them.

This summer, we decided not to subscribe to our beloved CSA box, since we will be on honeymoon for a good chunk of the summer. We decided to put more effort into our rooftop veggie garden, and created a serious planting schedule that would keep us in constant supply of lettuce and salad greens, carrots, beets, snap peas, etc. It’s been working great! Although I do miss the vegetable surprises that keep my meal planning on its toes!

The one thing that I always wished our CSA box had was fruit. So this summer, when I found a fruit ordering service that delivered stone fruits from the Okanagan region, I was thrilled! (Thanks sis-in-law!) I signed up in a heartbeat.

Which leads me to the reason as to why I found myself buried in 10 lbs of apricots. Happily buried, I might add. 😉

We’ve been eating apricots with our oatmeal, apricot crisp, apricot galettes, apricot muffins - and then, to finish off the box of apricots (and to make way for my next delivery of 10 lbs of nectarines!), I decided to make jam. But not any old apricot jam - Apricot Lavender Jam.

Gluten-Free Lemon Blueberry Ricotta Muffins

June 29, 2016

These Gluten-Free Lemon Blueberry Ricotta Muffins have pockets of bursty sweet blueberries enclosed in a moist, lemony fresh muffin.

Do you know one of my favourite things about summer? THE FRUIT.

I have a summer fruit addiction. I could consume my weight in fruit every day. My happiest moment this past week was finding a company who will ship me fresh stone fruits from the Okanagan (best fruit growing region out here on the west coast) straight to my door - today I received 10lbs of apricots! Mmmmm… now to decide what to do with them all.

I also just bought a giant box of blueberries from the market last weekend and have been devouring them all week - truly, there are only a handful left. I knew I had to whip up some blueberry muffins - because there’s nothing better than pockets of bursty sweet blueberries enclosed in a moist, lemony fresh muffin.

Upside-Down Rhubarb Brunch Cake

May 19, 2016

Whenever I think of upside-down cake, I think about the Pineapple Upside-down cake that was popular in the 80s, when I was a kid - a piece of cake topped with an unnaturally bright red maraschino cherry in the middle of a ring of too-sweet canned pineapple.

This is not your typical upside-down cake from the 80s. This Upside-down Rhubarb Brunch Cake is the real deal.

Rhubarb is overflowing from my local farmer’s markets and grocery stores and I’m taking full advantage this year! I’ve already made Strawberry Rhubarb Jam and Mini Banana Rhubarb Muffins - and now I’m baking it into a cake.

Strawberry Rhubarb Jam

April 25, 2016

IT'S RHUBARB SEASON! Rhubarb is such a unique fruit - so tangy and versatile and truly signifies the arrival of Spring. Here I've captured the flavours of Spring in Strawberry Rhubarb Jam.

IT’S RHUBARB SEASON! Rhubarb is such a unique fruit - so tangy and versatile and truly signifies the arrival of Spring. It reminds me of being a kid and playing in my grandma’s back yard where she grew huge rhubarb plants with leaves the size of my entire little body. Of course, as a child, I could care less about her rhubarb plants - I was more intent on picking the sugar snap peas or raspberries or grapes.

In my dreams I would have a yard (hahaha! Having a yard is actually a laughable concept, given that I live in a city where real estate prices are sky high!) full of fruit trees - and would be able to preserve all fruit to enjoy year round. As a kid I used to dream about living on a farm - and still to this day, I can’t say I disagree! As long as the farm has my dream orchard 😉

Lemon Blueberry Scones

April 4, 2016

Maybe don’t make these Lemon Blueberry Scones with frozen blueberries, like I did. I admit that the faint blue hue to these scones is not that appealing! But I’ve recently realised how amazing it is to have frozen fruit in the fridge - it is so much more inexpensive than buying fresh berries, especially in the winter! My giant bag of frozen blueberries was just begging to be used in these scones, and I couldn’t resist.

Strawberry Sticky Buns

February 8, 2016

Strawberry Sticky Buns are like soft fluffy pillows rolled together with gooey strawberry jam, and drizzled with a tangy lemon glaze.

STICKY BUNS.

SO YUMMY IN MY TUMMY.

I normally make regular ol’ Cinnamon Rolls, but this time I decided to put a Valentine’s Day spin on my go-to recipe and use strawberry jam as the filling - because all things pink and red are Valentine’s Day festive, right?!

These Strawberry Sticky Buns are like soft fluffy pillows rolled together with gooey strawberry jam, and then drizzled with a tangy lemon glaze.

Cinnamon Streusel Muffins

January 28, 2016

Bakery-style Cinnamon Streusel Muffins for a sweet breakfast!

Sunday was our 1 year anniversary of being engaged! The countdown to the wedding begins! We love to celebrate the little things around here - it’s always a good excuse to open up a nice bottle of wine! 😉

To celebrate, we went for a walk on the beach where J proposed, and then came home and made a delicious dinner together - cooking in the kitchen with him is one of our favourite things to do together. We made beef tenderloin (!), garlic mashed potatoes, and roasted brussels sprouts. For dessert I whipped up one of my famous apple crisps using the recipe that’s been passed down through my family.

As I was sprinkling the crumble topping on top of the sliced apples I wondered if I could turn it into a muffin topping. Streusel-topped muffins? Yes please!

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