Category: Recipes

I grew up in a community that had a strong Mennonite/German population, many of whom immigrated from Eastern Europe. A staple traditional recipe in those homes at Easter time is Paska, which is a sweet bread.

My childhood best friend’s mom, made a loaf of Paska just for me each year. When we graduated from high school, a family friend took over when she found out how much I loved it. Then when I got married, my sister-in-law made it for me. And then we moved from Canada to the U.S. and my supply chain of Paska….stopped!

Ever wonder how some chef’s stay so skinny? For some of them I’m pretty sure it’s because they know that if they eat food that is loaded with nutrients and protein they’ll stay full and keep their energy up for hours at a time.

Take this Chocolate Shake that you can make for breakfast that Jennifer Iserloh created (adapted from Secrets of a Skinny Chef – 2010) filled with power foods!

I LOVE Pancakes. They are one of my favorite foods. I could eat them all the time. I’ve begun experimenting with my pancake batter to try and make my pancakes even tastier by stirring extra things into it. Last week I made Rocky Road Pancakes, and here’s how.

Many, many moons ago, my husband was at a technical conference for his job.  One of the guest speakers at said conference was Cliff Stoll, an astronomer turned systems manager at Berkeley who found a computer hacker in their system. 

He related his story to the attendees, and also had his book, The Cuckoo’s Egg, for sale about his experience hunting down the hacker.  My husband bought a copy, read it, and then it sat on our bookshelf…for many, many years.

What do cookies have to do with this you ask?

It’s been a long time since I’ve been caught up enough in both my blogging life and my real life that I have a chance to share some things that aren’t sponsored or haven’t been sent to me by a brand to try out! I’m hoping (and I say that with just a bit of facetiousness), that I’ll be able to do this more in the future, but every time I say I will…well you know life happens!

That being said, I chronicle just about everything I make and we eat in our home.

In the community I grew up in, Lent was not a thing to take part in. When we moved, I genuinely had questions about all the ‘fish’ deals popping up before Easter. A few questions here and there and I finally understood. We don’t practice Lent in our home (although I probably should, there are a number of things I could sacrifice for 40 days and it would likely make my life a lot better because of it), but fish once a week is something I do.

I’m sharing on behalf of American Heart Association and their Go Red for Women Campaign. Women’s heart health is important to me as my dear mother-in-law passed away five years ago from heart disease. February 1st, is the 10th National Wear Red Day, a moment in time when women and their families take action against the #1 killer of women – heart disease. While the movement has succeeded in saving 627,000 lives through awareness and education, the fight is far from over.

We’ve all thought it when we’ve seen a celebrity chef that’s slim – “How do they stay trim with a career like that?”

Allison Adato explores this in her new book Smart Chefs Stay Slim by interviewing America’s Best Chefs and getting lessons on eating and living from them.

I was thrilled to be able to read this book, as well as try some of the chef created recipes in my own kitchen.

I have a smile on my face every time I walk into my dining room and this is why.

Having no extended family where we live means that Christmas around here is pretty quiet.  Last night we went to church for Christmas Eve service and then we went to go see The Hobbit.  Christmas Day is usually just a time that we sit around and play games together, maybe watch a DVD.  But one thing we always do is have Waffles for Breakfast/Brunch and watch the Disney Christmas Parade.

Here’s the waffle recipe I used this morning.