My lemon tree has a wee lemon growing!

Sorry no recipe.

I haven't been cooking or baking too much the last several weeks but I felt like making a waldorf-inspired salad. I'm so eager for spring, even eating salads doesn't seem to be bringing it on.

On the topic of salads, the other day I bought a new salad dressing and after shaking it well, I went to pour it onto my salad and drenched my lettuce leaves. Apparently, this bottle did not have the pour spout top. I would say 99% of the store-bought dressings I purchase have that small pouring spout so when it does not, I get taken aback. Because it happens rarely enough, I never think to check it first.



It has become my pet peeve. This isn't the first time it has happened to me. My family loves to take little jabs and make funny comments every time I grab a salad dressing at family dinners.

"Har har har" I reply.

I will never live that one down.

To the person who came up with the small pour spout tops, I thank you. To all those food companies, please use them. Use them every time and on every brand of your dressings.

Please and thank you.

I thought when my youngest would enter grade 1, I would have the whole day to do all sorts of cooking and baking and that I would prepare myself the most glorious lunches! But alas, the lunch hour comes and goes I can't be bothered to heat up or cook anything.

This is where the "lunch for one" sandwich comes in. Just so you know, I'm not complaining, I really love sandwiches. It's actually one of my favorite things to eat. I think I eat sandwiches at least 4-5 times a week. Sometimes, people will ask what I am preparing for dinner and I'm sure they think I am joking when I say sandwiches.

And those beautiful slices of tomatoes are from our garden. We have quite the harvest still that we are whittling away. Cream cheese and tomatoes on a thin slice of bread. Sounds good to me.

I've been intrigued about edible flowers lately but I haven't done much research into it yet.

My hubby brought home this lavender plant for me on Mother's Day and I thought it would be edible but alas, it said not for ingestion. I thought ALL types of lavender were? Guess not.

Long weekend here for us. We have no plans but to enjoy the weather and do some work around the house maybe.

Happy Friday!

How often do you actually stop, take a moment to enjoy & experience something that would otherwise be an auto-pilot part of your day. To make something pretty to eat, even if it's just for you and no one else, irregardless of how small it is?

I was thinking about this the other day. If I want a snack, I often grab it out of the fridge or pantry and eat it while I'm doing something else. I take no time to make it more visually appealing or even really mentally register every bite. More times than not, I have finished my snacks (or meals!) and barely remember eating it at all.


My yogurt received some attention today and I swear, it tasted so much better.

Why don't take an extra 10 minutes to do something nice for yourself today. No matter how small.

I'm in the dining room, making up a grocery list...

"I've got to go buy some eggs for Easter." I mention to the hubby looking at grocery flyers.

"I got it. The farmer friend is coming in with fresh eggs" says the hubby.

"Great! I'll take it off my list."

Hubby comes home with 3 cartons of fresh eggs. I open the box....

Sometimes, a little pizazz goes a long way.

Rainbow-colored chocolate chips in your white cupcake batter makes everything so much better.

It's true.

Just ask my kids.

My mom made this delectable cake for my birthday a couple weeks ago. Visually pleasing and so good.

Some of you may see rotten or spoiled bananas.

I see yummy banana bread in the making!

Have a super weekend!

*scanned McDonald's flyer

I was going through my mail the other day and the McDonald's flyer caught my eye.

I like the look of the food photography. Nice styling and soft lighting. I like the shallow depth of field too. I'm surprised not seeing the logo'd fry box!

Yesterday's post of baked sesame covered hummus balls but with a sweet chili sauce instead of tzatziki. Looks prettier but I prefered the tzatziki.

The last of the kohlrabi from our garden.

It's officially started. I pulled out the Christmas decor!

I'm so excited. Christmas is one of my very most favorite-ist holidays ever. No other holiday quite compares to it, in my eyes. I had to work real hard to put off the decorating, the Christmas music and baking until this weekend. It's so difficult when commercials and stores start with the Christmas cheer after Halloween (why do they do that to us?) and really upping it right after Thanksgiving!

Hey, Lequan! I found myself a white tree! I am so giddy.

I may have gone a little overboard in decorating (yup, got TWO trees setup in my house) but, I am not apologizing for it. I absolutely love it and don't mind the effort in takes to put it all together.

It's been one of those weeks, a very long and busy one. Long weekends just add more crazy to it all. I'm tired.

We've hardly been home much but my house is a disaster. Every time you come home, you drop a heap of stuff and then head off right away. Dirty dishes, loads of laundry and the need to vacuum. Yikes.

As I'm typing this, the kids are talking about cleaning their rooms so they can vacuum it. HA. Love this age, where they think vacuuming is so cool.

So, no time today for a recipe post just some photo p0rn instead.

Blueberries are around folks. I (heart) blueberries. They are equal in my love for raspberries, though, they might nudge out raspberries a bit because they don't have all those little seeds.

Man, how is it Tuesday already? I swear it's Monday!!! Damn you long weekend, I need one more day this week.

Guess what I got in my yard, ready to be eaten. Uh huh. RASPBERRIES!!!!!!

There is just a few here and there ready to be picked but it is just beginning: BERRY SEASON!!! We actually harvested a couple of strawberries too.

For those of you not in luck with fresh berries in your yard but want to go berry picking, here are some directories of U-Pick Farms that I recently looked up:

Alberta Agri-Tourism U-Pick Listings or Google Map

Alberta Farm Fresh

Fruit Growers Society of Alberta - Farm Directory

Edmonton's Countryside U-Pick Directory

Don't feel like picking it yourself, some of the farms will pick it for you at an additional cost. Also, I'm sure you will find all sorts of berries at your local farmer's markets in the Edmonton or surrounding regions. I heard it's strawberry picking time already.

I have this chamomile plant in my yard and people often think it's daisies. I've never harvested it to dry for tea. I'm guessing you just pop the heads off and allow it to completely dry before using for tea but I'm not too certain. Have any of you done so?



Cooking in the summer? Don't want to turn on your oven. Why don't you make some lasagna in your dishwasher. Yeah, you read right Dishwasher Lasagna.

You say Arugula, I say Rocket. Well, I say either really, especially once I learned they are in fact the same thing. Apparently, this salad green has many different aliases: Rugula, roquette and rucola. Clever really, because if someone tells you they don't like Arugula, you can serve them Rocket salad instead. HA!

I harvested these pretty leaves last week. You can easily distinguish their leaves, given their lobed appearance, very much like acorn leaves. They are quite meaty looking greens in comparison to some of their fellow green leaf varieties out there.



Upon a sampling of a leaf in my garden, I was unsure if I was hooked on the flavor. It's quite a strong leafy-green flavor with a peppery bite. It actually felt like it packed some heat.

But, I tried it in a salad recipe (it will be up tomorrow) and I have to say, it's a hit around here. We've already planted another row in our garden. I love having fresh produce, right in my back yard!

Found a photo from my archives.

Did you know that a Clementine is a variety of mandarin orange. It's also known as seedless mandarin or tangerine. Most people around here associate them with Christmas, calling them "Christmas oranges" because they are available during the winter months.

...

So, sorry for lack of blogging. The weather has been so phenomenal and I have hardly been in my kitchen at all.

But, I'll be back soon!

Hope you are all keeping busy!