These are so good. They are more of a treat than a healthy snack but that hasn’t stopped them from disappearing from my kitchen in less than 2 days! Every time I turn my head another muffin goes missing. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. Recipe adapted from Food52.

Makes 20 muffins

• 1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1 egg
• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
• 1/3 cup molasses
• 1/2 cup buttermilk (if you don’t have buttermilk use just under 1/2 cup milk+1 tbsp white vinegar or lemon juice)
• 1/4 cup candied ginger, chopped
• 1 tbsp vanilla
• 2 tbsp dark spiced rum
• 1/2 cup raisins, *soak in rum/vanilla for 1 hour before using
• 1/3 cup pepitas
• 1 tbsp brown sugar+1 tsp cinnamon for topping

1. Preheat the oven to 350
2. in a large bowl mix together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg.
3. in a medium bowl whisk together the egg, pumpkin, sugar, coconut oil, molasses and buttermilk.
4. combine the wet ingredients with the dry.
5. add the candied ginger and raisins.
6. stir until just combined. Do not over mix.
7. distribute the batter evenly amongst 2 muffin tins making 20 muffins.
8. sprinkle with cinnamon/sugar mixture.
9. bake for 30-33 minutes.

*Note: If you want to make this recipe into a loaf simply add an extra 2 tbsp coconut oil and bake in a 9″ x 5″ loaf pan. Bake for 40-45 minutes.

Thanks to Antiques on Queen  for the beautiful dishes used in this post.

I made rugelach for the first time a few months ago. Since then I haven’t  been able to stop thinking of  all the delicious fillings you could make them with. This time I used pumpkin, spices, pepitas and raisins. They were so good. Not overly sweet….although if that’s what you are going for you could easily toss in some extra sugar.

The Dough

• 4oz cold cream cheese, cut into tbsp sized pats
• 1/2 cup of cold unsalted butter, cut into tbsp sized pats
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• confectioners sugar for dusting table

The Filling

• 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
• 2tbsp sugar
• 2tbsp brown sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• pinch of salt
• 1/4 cup of raisins
• 1/4 cup pepitas, whole or chopped

Egg Wash

• 1 egg, beaten + 1 tbsp water

To make the dough-

1. remove the butter and cream cheese from the fridge. Let stand for 10-15 minutes or so.
2. add the flour and salt to your for processor and give a quick pulse.
3. add the cream cheese and butter. Pulse just enough to incorporate the ingredients, you want large crumbly chunks. Do not over do it!
4. divide the dough into 2 balls. flatten into disks, wrap in plastic wrap or wax paper.
5. refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight.

To assemble-

1. when the dough has chilled, remove the first disk from the refrigerator and let sit for a few minutes.
2. dust the work area with confectioners sugar then roll out the dough into a 12 inch circle.
3. spread half of the pumpkin mixture evenly over the dough.
4. mix together the sugar, spices and salt.
5. sprinkle with a little less than half of the sugar/spice mixture.
6. top with half of the raisins and pepitas.
7. using a knife or pastry cutter, cut the dough into 16 triangles.
8. roll up each triangle, starting with the wide end of the triangle.
9. place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.
10. refrigerate for about 30 minutes.
11. repeat with the second disk of dough.
12. preheat the oven to 350.
13. brush the cookies with the egg wash.
14. sprinkle with the remaining sugar/spice mixture.
15. bake for about 25 minutes or until the tops are golden brown.

*tip-to prevent the bottoms from browning too quickly I like to double up my baking sheets!

Alternative fillings-

• favourite jam(not too runny),nuts of choice
• caramel, chocolate chips and shredded coconut
• chocolate hazelnut spread and toasted nuts
• apricot jam, almonds and mixed dried fruit
• butterscotch, raisins and pecans

A few weeks back I had a large amount of limes come into my possession (thanks dad!). We were spending the week at his place; when I mentioned I needed a lime for a recipe I was planning on making, he came home with the biggest bag of limes I had ever seen. They have now been sitting in my fridge for a while and the thought of them going bad was enough to get me searching for the perfect recipes to use up this overabundance of limes. Here was one of my favourites, recipe adapted from the nourishing gourmet

• 3 eggs
• 1-2 tbsp fresh grated ginger
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1/2 cup lime juice
• 6 tbsp coconut oil, melted then cooled to room temp
• splash of vanilla

In a medium pot whisk together the eggs, ginger and honey over medium heat. Stir in the lime juice, coconut oil and vanilla. Continue to whisk until the mixture thickens and small bubbles start to pop to the surface. You now have two options, you can leave it as is or scrape through a fine sieve placed over a bowl. It has a stronger ginger flavour if you skip the sieve but it will not be as smooth.

To serve: This tastes great warm or cold. It will thicken once refrigerated and should last up to a week in the fridge. Serve alone or topped with whipped coconut cream or with some fresh meringue.

I woke up this morning with the intention to make these for our “Pancake Tuesday” breakfast but due to Poppy’s urgent desire for 100% of mommy’s attention I wound up making them for lunch instead, giving me a bit more time for morning snuggles.

*Warning these are extremly addictive.

1 1/2 cups of flour-reg. or whole wheat

3 1/2 tsp baking powder

pinch of salt

1 tbsp brown sugar

1 1/4 cups milk

1 egg

3 tbsp melted coconut oil

In a medium sized bowl sift together the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt. Make a hole in the center and pour in the milk, oil and egg. Mix. Cut banana into 1/4 inch slices. Dip the banana pieces into the batter and fry for about 3 minutes per side. You want them to be nice and crispy. I topped mine with a little sun seed butter and some coconut spread. Beyond yummy…enjoy!

*note-these are also fantastic alone or with a sprinkle of confectioners sugar.

Tip- you can freeze the finished product. Simply pop them in the toaster oven and serve!

Getting Poppy to eat has been a challenge. From the start it was quite clear that Poppy was going to eat what she wanted when she wanted and if she didn’t like it then there was no way it was staying in her mouth. We have been through the “headshaking” phase where I would try to distract her to get a quick bite in ( this doesn’t work well if you want to get more food in after the first distraction ); then we were in the “just because it’s in doesn’t mean it’s staying in” phase where she would happily eat a ton of food, stuffing her cheeks to the brim and as I sat watching with joyful relief that she was finally eating she would open her little mouth and proceed to spit every last bit out. This was beyond frustrating. I knew there were a few different options on how to deal with this and I chose simply not to react as it seemed to me she was trying to get a reaction every time she did it. Thankfully after a few weeks this phase ended and now we are into the “Mommy gives Poppy a wide variety of food and Poppy decides what she wants” phase. These days what Poppy wants is smoothies ( this is how I get veggies into her )  bread, cheese and fruit. Because she is so into bread I thought I would try and make my own bread and see how much good stuff I could throw into it without Poppy knowing. This bread was my first try. It is quite good – both Poppy and “grownups” love it. It’s full of goodness and super moist..maybe a bit too moist but that hasn’t stopped anyone from devouring the 2 loaves I have made so far. I have a few tricks I will try next time to see if I can shorten the baking time and take a bit more of the moisture out of it but for now this is my go to bread recipe for Poppy and if she could talk she would absolutely tell you to make it!

• 1/2 cup cottage cheese, pulse in food processor if you don’t want any chunks
• 1/2 cup pitted dates + 1 tbsp water, puree in food processor until the dates turn into a paste
• 1/4 cup unsweetened apple sauce
• 1 super ripe banana, mashed
• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• 1 med zucchini, shredded and pressed between paper towels to get some of the excess moisture out
• 1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp cinnamon

You can also add about 1/4 cup flax seeds or other seeds, dried fruit, nuts, choc chip or carob chips if you want.

Preheat oven to 350. In a Med bowl mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon. In a separate medium bowl mix the cottage cheese, date paste, apple sauce, mashed banana, pumpkin, oil and egg. Combine the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients. Fold in the zucchini ( and nuts, seeds, fruit, choc chips etc if using ). Pour batter into a well greased 9″ loaf pan and bake for about 1 hour 30 min. Insert thickest point of loaf with a wooden skewer; if it comes out relatively clean it’s done. Remove from oven let sit for 10 min and then turn out onto a cooling rack to finish cooling.

I serve this to Poppy as is or with a little organic apple butter for a treat.

• serves: 4
• 2tbsp Earth Balance butter, room temperature ( you can use regular butter if you prefer )
• 1/2 tsp Tabasco sauce- feel free to use as much or as little as you like.
• 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1-2 bunch asparagus – I used one bunch but wish I had used two.
• 1 cup uncooked quinoa
• 1 can white kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 4 med vine tomatoes, diced
• 4 eggs
• more Tabasco sauce to taste

First make the Tabasco butter. Whip the butter until it is light and creamy. Add the Tabasco sauce, lemon juice and salt, whip some more. If you want a bit more kick add more hot sauce.

To cook the asparagus, first snap the bottoms off of the spears. Brush with a little oil ( canola or olive ) and fry for a few minutes turning regularly until it begins to soften and brown a bit, I used a Skillet. Once the asparagus has cooked remove from skillet or pan. Set aside.

In the same pan quickly fry up the white kidney beans in a little oil, salt and pepper until slightly browned. Remove from heat. Set aside.

Cook quinoa according to package. Once quinoa has cooked, mix with Tabasco, lemon butter. Serve with asparagus on the side or chopped up and mixed with the quinoa. Add some kidney beans and freshly chopped tomato. Top it off with a poached egg and a little more Tabasco. Enjoy!

This also tastes great with a little lemon zest sprinkled on top or some freshly shaved parmesan.

*Recipe adapted from http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/tabasco-asparagus-quinoa-recipe.html

Every year I get a bunch of amazing cook books for my birthday and Christmas. Every year I look through the pages and drool…then put them on my shelves or pile them beside my couch with every intention to go back to them in the near future and whip up some of the amazing recipes that scatter my floor and shelves. In the end this never seems to happen, making me a cookbook hoarder rather than a woman who has cooked a ton of fantastic things. This christmas I got 6 cookbooks!! So I have decided I will do my best this year to dust off the old and open the new cookbooks I have received and cook at least two new recipes a week….I can not promise that I will follow the recipes exactly as I love making things my own but I will absolutely be putting these beautiful books to use!. This recipe is my version of one of Donna Hay’s amazing salads.

• 6 slices of bacon
• 1 cup green beans, trimmed
• 1 bunch asparagus, trimmed
• 1 handful of mixed salad greens
• 2 eggs
• 2 tbl white wine vinegar + a splash for the egg water
• 2 tbl olive oil
• minced red onion to garnish
• salt and pepper to taste

Blanch the green beans and asparagus in a pot of salted boiling water for about 1 minute or until just tender. Drain and place in a bowl of ice cubes and cold water ( to stop the cooking ) once cool drain again and set aside. Cook the bacon in the oven under broil for a few minutes. In a deep frying pan bring about 2 inches of water to a simmer. Add a splash of vinegar then using a wooden spoon create a gentle whirlpool. Crack each egg into small seperate bowls and then one at a time gently dump the eggs into the water. Cook until the eggs, minus the yolk  are solid white not translucent. When the eggs are done ( about 4-5 min ) remove with a slotted spoon. To serve, divide the lettuce, beans, asparagus and bacon on two plates. Drizzle with white wine dressing. Top with egg and a sprinkle of red onion.

White wine dressing

• 2 tbl white wine vinegar
• 2 tbl olive oil
• season with salt and pepper. Whisk together.