Caught Red Handed

On Saturday I went to my local farmer's market and was, for the most part, pleasantly surprised.

I found a lot of goodies and it was lucky I brought my pack horse, Luke, to carry the fresh veggies, home-baked breads, beautiful crafts, and local fruit back to the car for me.

But, like I said, I was only pleasantly surprised for the most part. And the local fruit was the part I was not so pleasantly surprised with...

I wandered over to a stand and saw a basket of sour cherries and thought, oh I've never tried these. So of course I bought a basket full.

Who Says Slaw is Blaw?

You know you saw the word slaw in the title of this post and immediately thought boring.

I bet you thought of that tie dye green stuff that's almost neon and tastes like a pile of mushy goo. I'm here to tell you that that junk is not the only coleslaw in the world.

No there is more out there. Some have a crunch. Some are real colours. And some have real taste.

But if you're still on the fence about it, please hang with me for a few more minutes and read this yummy recipe. I am sure you'll quickly change your mind because this coleslaw recipe is a keeper at my house.

And who knows, it might even become a family favourite at yours.

That's right. It's just that bright, crisp, refreshing, and yummy.

Fit For The King

So what King is this? Well.... Obviously it's not Prince William since he's not the King yet. And I'm not very familiar with a lot of other royalty, so it must be Elvis?

That's right. I'm talking about Elvis Presley.

I don't know if you're one of Elvis's biggest fans, but if you are, you might know that this weekend was the huge annual Elvis festival in my little hometown of Collingwood, ON.

Sloppy Sarahs

This is a dinner to make kids smile because everything about it, including the name, encourages you to get messy.

I'm not talking food fight messy, I would be the last person to condone wasting a tasty meal. But I am talking drip-down-to-your-elbow or needing-three-napkins messy.

Because what's life without laughing while you eat?

My mom used to make this dinner for my siblings and me when we were kids. And she's just taught it to my youngest brother this week.

Let's just say that if Jonathan can make them, anyone can. He's not quite as interested in cooking as I am.

So get your little kids ready to giggle (you might want to grab a few bibs) and get your somewhat bigger kids ready to learn, because it's time for dinner.

I Carrot About You

When I was young, my mom used to write little notes for me where she pretended to be the Easter Bunny, Santa, the Tooth Fairy, and any other character she could think to celebrate.

The writing always looked exactly the same, big swirly letters with little curls on the ends, but somehow I didn't catch on.

I think I just wanted to believe so badly that I didn't notice. I still like to get the notes too, so I think that must be it.

One thing other thing she did with the notes was include rhyming poems in them. The poems were so much fun to read, and I felt like I was Santa's favourite because none of my friends received individualized poems from Santa!

Here's a few lines from one of my favourites, see if you can guess who she was being when she wrote this gem It's not hard, so I know you'll get it.

I carrot about you Sarah. I hop you have a great Easter.

There was a lot more and there were rhymes too, but I think you get the gist of it.

Here's a tasty fresh summer salad inspired by my mom's poem.

And don't worry. Even if you found the poem a tad corny, the salad doesn't have any corn in it at all. :)

6 Ingredient Fix

Check these out!

These cookies look like something you could find in a cookbook or maybe even in a bakery, but when you read my recipe you'll see that there are only 6 ingredients!

Creamy and Dreamy

I love asparagus. It's very versatile and equally tasty. 

You can steam it, BBQ it, roast it, pan fry it, and pretty much do anything you want to it. 

One way I had not tried asparagus was in a soup. I didn't think that the delicate veggie would stand up to be in a pot of hot soup long enough for me to finish eating it all. I thought it would fall apart and go mushy. 

But when my mom told how my Papa brought up a batch of creamy and delicious asparagus soup, I just knew I had to try it. And let me tell you, it was delicious. 

Before you read my recipe below, try and think of what you bet could be in it. Think hard and I bet there is one ingredient on the list that you won't name. It sure surprised me. 

So thanks for the soup recipe Papa, hopefully I can pass along a few more recipes your way too!

Lemon-Aid

I have been an ambitious person for as long as I can remember. I used to take cans of lemonade concentrate and mix them up with water to sell to people on the street.

I was so important that I also took bags of cookies to sell and also didn't wash the glasses when I was done.

Nope, instead I counted up my profits and squirrelled them away for a rainy day.

Today I don't sell lemonade on the street to my neighbours, but I still think I am ambitious--- at least in the kitchen.

It's hard to be completely original when cooking, but I thought when I came up with this recipe that I was original. It turns out that there are dishes similar to it all over the place, but I've never had one and this dish is original to me.

Lemon definitely helps make the dish pop with a freshness I've rarely tasted in a pasta dish.

Curious yet? Read on and you'll find out the secrets to the dish!

Brain Frrrreeeeze

Whenever I bite into an ice cream treat and devour it as fast as possible I get something called an ice cream headache, or brain freeze.

The funny thing about it is that brain freeze doesn't have anything to do with your brain at all. It has to do with the volume of cold food in your mouth.

When the ice cold food touches the roof of your mouth, nerves are triggered and a cycle of blood vessel contractions and dilations occur that cause a stabbing pain in your head.

So the good news is that nothing bad happens to your brain, the bad news is that it can really hurt like a migraine for a bit.

But what can you do? Sometimes those icy treats are just too good to pass up.

I guess it's a personal decision on risking the chance of an ice cream headache to eat something cold and delicious as fast as possible.

Here's one yummy icy treat that you can decide how fast you eat.

Don't Scrimp on the Shrimp

I love to eat shrimp and sometimes feel bad for everyone out there allergic to the little crustaceans when I'm enjoying them. However, sometimes I make something that makes me forget to feel bad that others can't enjoy what I can.

Today's post is all about that.

I used a recipe for inspiration on this dish; but instead of doing everything they did, I changed it is up a bit. If you know me at all, you know I love to save money anywhere I can. And I think I did pretty well on that in this recipe.

I didn't want to scrimp on the flavour, but I did feel annoyed at the thought of wasting huge shrimp when I would be pureeing them in a bisque.

Here's my recipe.

Let me know if you like it or think it would be worth the extra money (and time) of using large shrimp and making your own shrimp stock with the shells.

Gotta Be PB

I love peanut butter and with all the peanut butter foods out there, a lot of people must agree with me. 

You've got sandwiches, sauces, desserts, popcorn, ice cream, and everything else --- even dogs love the creamy stuff. 

Although... Maybe I am not the best person to talk about dog food. Olli gets "toppers" of steak, chicken, cheese, and veggies on her kibble every day and sometimes even sweet treats. 

No chocolate though -- we do have a line. 

Sail Boat Supper

Luke is going to Vancouver this weekend to take part in a sailing competition, but due to my sea sickness, I have decided to remain at home.

I don't hate boats. I actually love to be on a boat for a short time if it's a clear calm day. Pack me a picnic and plenty of comfy warm clothes and I'm set! That being said, zipping from Point A to Point B for lunch is one thing.

Boating across from Vancouver Island to Vancouver while dragging a sail boat, bobbing around in the waves, and then sleeping on the boat for two nights? That's definitely not the same, and I know that I'd be an absolute, throwing up wreck.

But since Luke loves boats and was really excited for the races, of course he had to go.

So instead of sailing, I'm making a sailing inspired supper to enjoy with both my feet on the ground.

Really, I think I would enjoy almost anything with both my feet on the ground. But I think this Asian dish would be fun and fresh whatever the occasion.

Hail Caesar!

What a beautiful day out today. The weather is so warm and beautiful that it just makes me crave cool dinners.

One of the favourite cool dinners at my house is a BBQ Chicken Caesar Salad because it is substantial enough for the big eaters, especially in large quantities, and light enough for the smaller eaters.

And cooking just one meal to suit everyone is definitely a triumph, I should know!

When I was younger I told my mom that I was going to stop eating red meat. I said it in the fifth grade and didn't stop my vegetarianism until I started university.

Hey, my university was small and so was my cafeteria. Whatever looked good, I was going to eat.

But during my time as a vegetarian, I think I must have driven my mom bonkers with all my rules.

1. No eating red meat. No beef, pork, lamb, etc. Chicken and fish were ok, maybe they just less cute?

2. No cooking my food in the same dish or with the same utensils as said meat. Yes, I was that picky. Who knows if my mom actually did it though...

3. I wanted as nice a dinner as everyone else, even if the dinner for everyone else was something I didn't choose to eat. And that meant sometimes cooking two dinners.

So all that being said, I am happy to enjoy a BBQ Chicken Caesar Salad with my big eating boyfriend. Neither of us complains and we both leave the table full and happy.

Mind Your Ps and Qs

You're in for a treat today.

Wait, scratch that. You're in a double treat today because not only am I sharing a simple and tasty recipe, but I am also sharing a somewhat embarrassing story.

My Mom is my best friend and when we get together, I can get a little silly. I make silly jokes and say every single silly thing that comes to my mind.

One of those things was my exclamation of enjoyment at seeing a beautiful plate full of appetizers that my Mom set before us to share before dinner one night.

Here it goes... I named the plate of appetizers a Princess Party Platter.

Before you burst out laughing at me, let me tell you why I called it that.

I felt like a Princess because the food was so delicious looking. It looked like it could be for a party, but it was even more special because it was for just the two of us. And obviously, it was on a great big platter.

What makes it funnier to me was that calling it a PPP is kind of accurate. Sarah means Princess in Hebrew and all my Mom's friends call her Q or the Queen.

And yes I have a short form for a PPP, the name stuck around and Princess Party Platter can be a bit of a tongue twister.

So mind your Ps and Qs (both please and thank yous as well as Princesses and Queens) and you might just get yourself a beautiful Princess Party Platter.

Family Style

Whether your family is large or small, lives close by or spread out across the country, related by blood or pieced together by friendships -- everyone has someone they call their family.

And what's one of the things that we do when have a family get-together?

We eat, drink, laugh, and talk.

But if I were to lose one of those things, it would definitely not be the eating. Because as everyone who loves me knows, I love to eat.

When I am home visiting my family, my mom rarely plates our food for us. We're a cozy family and we love to eat family style.

Family style is just sitting around the dinner table and passing large dishes of food around.

There's no "Mary doesn't like raisins, so don't give her any of that" or "Jonathan needs a piece of meat with no fat on it or he won't eat it". We just take however much we choose of anything and get to talk as we do it.

And those little stipulations I mentioned may or may not be true about my family members... I'm not saying...

So before I share with you what we're eating, I think I should share a couple of pictures of who I'm eating with!

Here's the gang:

My step dad George and me

My boyfriend Luke and me

My brother Jonathan, my dog (or sister, I can't tell sometimes with all the coddling) Olli, and my Mom

My brother Jonathan, my brother Stephen, my sister Mary, and me

Fireworks!

I absolutely love watching fireworks, especially when they are put on by a big city with an equally big budget.

I love not knowing what type of firework to expect next. I love seeing all the colours, shapes, and sizes. I love the great big finishes. And I love seeing other people's faces of awe when they are enjoying the fireworks too.