Sometimes, it's hard to get the kids to eat healthy things. Other times it's not.

Sometimes, it's all in the presentation and other times they don't care if it's in a pleasing Mickey Mouse plate, all they want is treats.

"Mom, can I have a cookie?"

"Is there any candy?"

"I want chocolate!"

I'm ok with giving them small treats everyday, as long as they eat the healthy stuff first. And this carrots salad I came up with is pretty kid-friendly. Carrots, raisins and sunflower seeds... simple yet healthy.

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carrot salad with raisins and sunflower seeds

1 cups of mini carrots, peeled length-wise with a carrot peeler
1/2 cup raisins
1/4 cups sunflower seeds


I make a simple dressing of apple cider vinegar, diluted down with a bit of water and add sugar, to taste. You may stir in oil but I usually don't.

I'm saddened this week by the passing of my friend's mother. It sure makes you stop and think about your life and all the people in it. Gives you perspective and appreciation of all the things you have. During the funeral service, I was reaffirmed with how important it is to get together regularly with people.

One thing that definitely brings people together is food. Whether you go out to eat or make food at home, it is a way to celebrate life and create memories. The time spent around the table, telling stories and tidbits about your day, bringing everyone closer.

It's wonderful how food conjures up feelings too. How good you feel with a big bowl of your favorite comfort food or how something like these cupcakes can put a smile in my eyes.

Make sure you take the time to "stop and taste the cupcakes", preferably with friends.  Make those plans to finally "go out for coffee, sometime" with someone, visit a new place or taste something different.  Life's too short. Don't waste it.

To those of you of Orthodox faith, Happy Easter!

I often have people ask me why Orthodox Easter is a week "late" and my usual funny reply is that we're not late, the Catholics are just a week "early"! tee hee.

My parents are of Orthodox faith but when they emigrated to Canada some 30+ years ago, they also observed the Catholic holidays, such as Easter and Christmas, so that us children never felt left out. Best of both worlds!  I think my parents did this because secretly, they loved having parties and celebratory dinners. It's all about the food at my parent's home. And heck, who doesn't like a good get-together around food!

Thus, I'm off tonight to dinner at my parent's home and much more cracking of Easter eggs. It's thought you will have good fortune or a lucky year if your egg is the last one standing. Though, I don't really believe that because I want everyone in my family to have good fortune. But it sure is a fun game.

Happy, Happy Easter to all who celebrate it "earlier" or "later".

Continuing on with my after-Easter egg consumption. (The food prep and styling for the above photo was done by my hubby. I think he was bit over excited with the paprika shaker, no? hehehe)

As a child, I remember eating hard boiled eggs after every Easter. It seemed like my mom always boiled and colored at least 10 dozen eggs. I'm sure it wasn't that many but it always felt like we were eating a lot of eggs. It could be also be that we observed both catholic and orthodox Easters. Thus, TWICE the amount of eggs. The egg farmers really loved us, I'm sure.

If you like hardboiled eggs, this isn't a problem. However, I only liked the egg yolks back then. I have grown to like the whole egg but I still much more prefer the yolks. Being the smart cookie that I was (and still am... ahem), I noticed that my sister liked the egg whites more than the yolks. So we struck up a egg eating team. She ate my egg whites and I ate her egg yolks. How perfect was that. AND to top it off, my brother, he liked BOTH so it's like us kids were 3 peas in a pod. No squabbling but working together to get the job done! Suh-weet.

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deviled eggs

Gently scoop out the egg yolks and mash them in a bowl.  Add mayonaisse (and some dijon mustard if you like) and mix.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  

Scoop or pipe the yolk/mayo mixture back into egg white shells.

Top with a touch of paprika and green onions.  Serve.

You've got all those colorful hardboiled easter eggs left over and you are thinking to yourself, what do I do with all these now...

well, don't throw them out.

That's right.

Make an egg salad sandwich. I know, some of you are thinking that the egg whites have some of the food dye on it but who cares, a little food dye never hurt anyone. (Unless you are of course allergic to certain food dyes, then I would say, forgo using the eggs. ) *smiling, with 2 thumbs up* 

But this sandwich is very simple. I love curry. And, the little hits of green onion kick it up a notch for me too.  It's highly addicting.  I may just make another sandwich tomorrow.  

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curried egg salad sandwiches
serves 2

4 hardboiled eggs, chopped up
3 tbsp mayonaisse
1 tsp curry powder
2 green onions, minced up
salt & pepper to taste

4 slices of bread of your choice

Mix the above 5 ingredients in a bowl. Spread between 2 slices of bread.

Hope you have an "eggcellent" Easter weekend!

Is everyone enjoying the weather??? I think that Spring is FINALLY here! I'm crossing my fingers and knocking on wood because I just don't want to jinx it. Yesterday, we ate our lunch outside. I cleaned up the outdoor table and chairs and cranked open the umbrella. Oh gosh.... please oh please let it stick around.  **knock, knock, knock**.

I picked up the Kitchenaid Best-Loved Recipes book last month at the bookstore and what's the first recipe I try out of it? Stuffed potatoes. All the yummy desserts, muffins and cookies and I pick stuffed potatoes. Funny. But I needed a side dish for dinner and I have a big bag of red potatoes asking to be used before it grows eyes.

well, not outside it isn't. But in my basement it is!



The hubby has started his seedlings a couple of weeks back. He has a "grow-op" downstairs, as I call it. It involves 2 tubes of fluorescent lighting and a heating cord to help with germination. Last year, he started his seeds way too early and we had massive green plants everywhere. This year, as you can see, they are very reasonable.

My windowsill has sage and oregano growing. Truthfully, I barely use the sage. I'm looking forward to my basil and mint again this year. We usually have chives and parsley growing outside. That's about the only herbs I grow. Are there any herbs you grow and look forward to every year? I know many people like rosemary, but I really dislike it. If I want the taste of pine needles on my chicken or potatoes, I'd just use the branch off my 50+ year old pine tree in my yard. Blech. No thanks.

Countdown to may long weekend of planting!

It's that time of the year again, Birthday time!

This time around I tried a different chocolate cake recipe than the one from last year. I received a new cookbook from a friend for my birthday and I've been eager to try out some of the recipes.  This cake came out very moist.  I added a thin layer of raspberries and buttercream in the middle to give it extra shot of flavor.She's totally into anything princess, especially the Little Mermaid.  The Disney store is fantastic for reasonable price figurines.  It really makes the cake look wonderfully decorated.