Plum Lucky

I just got back home from visiting my family and I'm ready to start sharing recipes again!

First up is a great scone recipe that my mom and I put together one cold morning at the cottage. We didn't have all the ingredients we needed so we subbed in what we had and came up with a winning combination.

Here's to the delicious Zesty Plum Scones we made. It's lucky we had a big stock of plums!

Saturday Morning Muffins

My favourite meal is breakfast. I know you are probably thinking it's dessert. But if I had to choose one meal to live on for the rest of my life, it really would be breakfast.

I mean, you can have cake for breakfast, right?

This recipe is not only a cake recipe, but it also celebrate how amazing summer fruit is right now. I love throwing in peaches, pears, or whatever fruit is ripe and plentiful in my fruit bowl. I also toss in coconut and speckle each muffin with lots of raisins. I guess that's why I call them Goody Muffins, because they're chock full of goodies.

Bananas For Breakfast

There is nothing I love more than a leisurely long weekend breakfast. I love throwing a big breakfast for friends and enjoying one with my sweetie in our pjs. If you asked me to choose which I loved more, I don't think I could do it.

For BC Day this year, I made one of my most simple pancake recipes and topped it with a truly decadent sauce. It's a little reminiscent of bananas foster, but or so simple and perfect for a leisurely long weekend breakfast.

Ready for my Brandy Banana Nut Pancakes? Read on for the recipe!

Chocolate for Breakfast?

When I find a breakfast I like, I make it a lot. But I don't like to make it exactly the same each time, so I come up with new versions of my favourite concepts. This is how I came up with the dish I am sharing today, my Chocolate Chia Pudding with Bananas.

I love the fact that this breakfast is super quick to whip up the night before you eat it, it travels well, it's pretty healthy (considering you could be choosing a donut or sugary cereal), and it tastes great. Plus, bananas and chocolate are always a great combination.

Ready for the recipe? Keep reading.

Pie for Breakfast

I have to say that pie for breakfast is one of the best things in the world. And when it's not really pie, but a healthy yogurt and fruit parfait that makes you think you're eating pie, well that must be the very best thing in the world!

When I first saw Oh She Glows recipe for Sugar Free Apple Pie Chia Jam Breakfast Parfait I thought that it sounded good but a wee bit too healthy for me. I can handle vegan or sugar free, but I don't think I am interested in both.

So I just used that recipe for inspiration and made my own version. My version isn't vegan or sugar free, but it's still healthy - especially compared with the alternative of pie for breakfast!

Dulce de Leche Apple Cake

Dulce de Leche Apple Cake. How have these words never left my lips before?

I'm not ashamed to admit that those words actually only left my lips because of Duncan Hines Apple Caramel Decadent Cake Mix, but I'm happy to say that my homemade version was much better than the surprisingly delicious boxed version.

That's right. Today's recipe is homemade version of a Duncan Hines mix. It's full of apples, almost as many as a pie in fact. It's full of dulce de leche, almost too full if that could be possible. And it's a cake that I am proud to serve for breakfast or dessert. Or for a midnight snack. Or lunch. Or pretty much whenever.

Read on for my Dulce de Leche Apple Cake recipe!

Breakfast Memories and Pillsbury #Strudelgram Contest

Breakfast has played a starring role in some of my favourite childhood memories. This might be because I am a morning person or maybe because I love tea and toast, but whatever the reason, I know breakfast will always be important to me.

Whenever my grandfather visited and we had pie for dessert, I always knew I could catch him in the kitchen the next morning digging a fork into straight into the leftover pie. On nice days in the summer my mom would pack up a breakfast picnic for the whole family to eat at the "water's edge". And cinnamon buns drizzled with cream cheese frosting will always have an important place at my family's Christmas breakfast meal.

Today my mornings are a little more rushed and I don't get to enjoy quite as many leisurely morning meals. But, Pillbury's Strudelgram contest is making breakfast fun again. It's not time consuming and it's easy for the whole family to get involved. All you need is a box of Pillsbury Toaster Strudels, a camera, and a little imagination.

First, decorate your breakfast pastry with frosting. Next, take a photo of your delicious creation. Finally, post it to the Strudelgram contest website. The contest is live from now until March 28, 2014 and there are two great prizes to be won. Find out more details at www.strudelgram.ca.

My first entry is shown below. I've called it "Morning Pie". I think it's pretty clever, but I'm going to try to top it tomorrow!

“Disclosure: I am part of the Pillsbury Strudelgram Campaign with Mom Central Canada and I receive special perks as part of my affiliation with this group. The opinions on this blog are my own.”

Red and White Breakfast

It's February so, if you remember my New Year's resolution to try one new food a month, that means it's time for me to bring you something new. This month my new food is amaranth seeds and, in a weird way, the new recipe I made with them is bringing back some old childhood memories.

I was inspired by a recipe for Amaranth Porridge that I saw in Pinterest and one taste of it made me remember sitting in my Nana's kitchen and asking for big bowls of cream of wheat. These memories set my dish up for something special, but when you factor in that amaranth is full of protein and other healthy benefits, it's a real winner.

Plus, I top my Amaranth Porridge with beautiful red strawberries and tasty white coconut and yogurt covered raisins, so it's perfect for serving on Valentine's Day and for cheering on our Canadian Olympians!

Blackberry Crumble Muffins - My Canadian Love Affair

I love digging into the first bite of anything delicious. But my favourite first bite is always one from a fruit pie or crumble. I love fruit pie and crumbles so much that I'd love to eat a big helping each and every morning, but sadly my waistline doesn't agree.

So in when I heard that this month's Canadian Food Experience Project's challenge was to write about  My Canadian Love Affair, I knew exactly what recipe I'd share in my post.

Today's recipe isn't exactly a pie, instead it's a healthier breakfast version of a pie - Blackberry Crumble Muffins. And to make them even more Canadian, I've used the blackberries that grow wild in my own backyard.

Go Team Canada! #CheerForGold

Canada always seems to be known for winter fun. I have even seen an American car topped with skis and toboggans driving through Canada in August. I hope they weren't looking for a ski hill to be open, but if they were, at least they knew where to come back to in the winter.

Because Canada is so known for winter, I am always especially excited for the Winter Olympics. Our athletes are talented and they are going to be so much fun to cheer on!

Since I am so excited for the games next month, I want to learn a little more about our athletes and General Mills, a great supporter of Team Canada, has made that easy and fun to do. For a limited time, you can bring specially-marked boxes of Cheerios* Cereals, Oatmeal Crisp* Cereals, Lucky Charms*, Cinnamon Toast Crunch*, Reese® Puffs, Nature Valley*, Gushers* and Fruit by the Foot* to life on your Apple or Android smart phone or tablet with the help of the Blippar app.

New Year's Resolutions

For this month's Canadian Food Experience Project, we were asked to share a post on our resolutions. Every year I make resolutions, but I don't usually finish the year having kept them.

After spending a bit of time thinking about it, I think I know what my problem is. I think it's that my resolutions are usually too big and too difficult to keep. Or are something I just don't enjoying doing...

But I know this year will be different because I am only resolving to try one new food each month. That's just 12 new things and I can surely do that! I'll be posting about my new foodie finds each month and I hope that you'll be interested in trying a few of them along with me.

This month I am starting off by trying chia. I bet you once had a chia pet, one of those little terra cotta animals that you would scoop a little pile of seeds onto, water it, and then get to watch the plants grow? Well I had heard that chia seeds were really good for you and tasty too. Now I know that whoever said that was right!

Read on for my recipe for Chia Puddings, inspired by one from Giada's new cookbook, Giada's Feel Good Food.  I used fruit fitting for a Canadian winter and made a few other changes as well.

Apple Crisp Granola a la Mode and a Giveaway! #OPAYOPA

Everyday day I get out the door with a full belly is an achievement to me. And when I get out the door with a belly full of something delicious, well that's a great achievement because I'm a sucker for anything delicious.

When I first heard the Yoplait was coming out with a new Greek yogurt, YOPA!, I got excited and could see lots of delicious breakfasts in my future. I have always loved Greek yogurt, but YOPA seems to take the cake because it's really good for you and tastes like it should be considered a dessert.

YOPA comes in lots of delicious flavours including Mmm Mango Tango, Lotta Piña Colada, and my favourite - Va Va Vanilla Bean. Plus there are lots of added benefits with choosing YOPA. YOPA has double the protein of regular yogurt, no fat, no article colours or flavours, no gelatin, and only 80 calories per serving.

To celebrate my love of YOPA, I created a yummy Apple Crisp Granola recipe that I like to enjoy "a la mode" with a healthy serving of YOPA Va Va Vanilla Bean. It's the perfect breakfast or the perfect dessert -and I should know because I've it enjoyed it both ways!

Read on for my recipe and a great YOPA giveaway!

Minted - Christmas Cards and More!

I know many of us are busy focusing on back to school right now, but it's also creeping closer to my favourite holiday season and it will soon be time to think about planning Christmas and holiday cards. It might sound too soon to some of you, but I know I start receiving cards at the beginning of December which means they must have been mailed in mid November, must have been personalized in early November, and in homes ready to go in October. It's going to be September in a just a few short weeks, so it's now time to start planning to stay ahead of the game!

Minted is a new website that I've just discovered and I am loving Minted's beautiful Christmas photo cards. I also love that choosing Minted cards means supporting independent designers and that the cards are reasonably priced. 

One of my favourite of Minted's Christmas photo cards is the template below. You can customize your photo card with five of your own photos and choose from a selection of colours for the background too.  I love this card because I love to include a simple holiday recipe in my Christmas cards and I would love to include a photo of my recipe as one of the photos. 

This year I am thinking about including a recipe for a simple Christmas fruit salad in my Christmas cards. Read on for my recipe and for a few great holiday gift ideas from Minted!

Flavour Bombs

I have a favourite recipe for banana muffins so I am always unsure about trying something new. So even though when I heard that Janet and Greta Podleski's Bananaberry Bombs were too good to pass up, I almost passed them up. 

After just one bite, I was happy I tried out the recipe. They're now my favourite banana muffin recipe and these flavour bombs really shouldn't be missed! 

If you don't like bananas, or don't have any super ripe ones, I would suggest trying these muffins with apple sauce in the banana's place. I often substitute mashed banana and apple sauce and have always gotten great results. 

Read on for my version of Bananaberry Bombs (AKA Applebarb Bombs) or visit the Looneyspoon's website for their original delicious version. 

Breakfast Fanatic

I used to be someone that didn't bother with breakfast. I would rather skip the time it took to make it, eat it, and tidy up in exchange for a few precious extra minutes of sleep. Now, I don't know how I did that because I love breakfast!

I love waking up in the morning and knowing that I'm going to be doing my body good by eating something healthy and delicious. And Dorset Cereals' muesli and granola served over yogurt are some of the best quick and easy breakfasts that I've discovered recently - and I should know because I was given all seven of their yummy versions to try!

So other than a quick and easy breakfast, why do I think you should try Dorset Cereals? Here are my top five reasons:

1. They're from Poundbury, England - a lovely village created by the vision of Prince Charles. Who doesn't love England?

2. There is no added sugar or preservatives - they contain only natural sweeteners.

3. There's enough whole grains and goodness to keep you full from breakfast to lunch.

4. With seven awesome flavours, there's enough to choose one per day of the week so you'll never get bored.

5. They make really good, chewy cookies too.

If you don't believe me about the cookies, read on for a great recipe!

Hearty Breakfast

Have you ever found a flavour of Cheerios you haven't liked? I know I haven't; I've loved every single flavour I've eaten - original, honey nut, peanut butter, apple cinnamon, and chocolate - and I cannot wait to see what's coming up next. 

Not Just for Easter

Hot Cross Buns are traditionally a food made for Good Friday that brings health and luck for the year to come. I like to think that we could all use a little health and luck throughout the year and suggest that we enjoy these buns as often as we want. 

I made this batch for my family's visit to Vancouver Island and they were gone before I knew it. I hope they bring lots of good health and luck to us all. 

Breakfast in Bed

One of these days I think I might be served breakfast in bed. I've certainly dropped enough hints about wanting it as a treat, but it still hasn't happened yet. 

I've mentioned how special a cup of tea feels when it's brought to me, and while that might be enough for some girls, this one is going to keep dreaming for the real deal. 

I might not be making you breakfast in bed today, but this breakfast is a make ahead treat that just needs to be thrown into the oven in the morning. I think something like this would be perfect for my breakfast in bed dream!

Read on for how to make this yummy French Toast Bread Pudding!

Popeye Sandwich

As a child I loved a breakfast my mom called a Popeye Sandwich. It doesn't have spinach or any muscles at all, so looking back, I am not sure why I just accepted the name.

Most people call this breakfast Egg in the Hole Or Toad in the Hole, but I'll keep my old name. I'll keep the name even though I now don't think that it was named after the muscular, spinach eating man. I now think the sandwich was named a Popeye Sandwich because there's one egg, or one eye, in the middle and the other eye was popped out.

Who knows if I'm right, all I know is the sandwich tastes yummy and brings me back 20 years ago.

Sunshine in a Bowl

Some mornings bring grey skies and snow. Those are the days that I know I will need a little pick me up to get going. Sometimes a glass of orange juice will do it, but sometimes it takes a little more and it took me a while to figure out the perfect thing.

Today's post is a Hawaiian style Carrot Cake Granola that is perfect for making me happy on a grey day. This granola has everything that I love in a carrot cake - raisins, coconut, pineapple, walnuts, and of course it's full of grated carrot! I wasn't sure how the carrot would work as it baked with the granola, but I was pleasantly surprised with my experiment. It worked on the first try!

Read on to find out how I made sunshine in a bowl.