Sourdough Cheddar~Jalapeno Bagels

Doesn’t the name alone just make your mouth water? Since Spring of 2020 (when the world was thrown into Covid Chaos), I have created and kept a Sourdough Starter and have been experimenting with all things sourdough since.

Those that know me, know that I LOVE a really good bagel, always have, ever since music class in Grade 7 when I first introduced to them (why music class you wonder? I have no idea, must have been part of the curriculum lol), anyway, since then, I have adored bagels. Even traveled to Montreal for their famous bagels (which did not … Read more...

Cheddar Jalapeno Sourdough Bagels

I am turning into a bagel junkie, actually, I think I always have been a bagel junkie since I “discovered” bagels in Grade 7 music class.  I bet you are wondering why our teacher brought in bagels and cream cheese into her music class that day, well, it was because we were studying the soundtrack for the 1970 rock opera “Jesus Christ Superstar” by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice. So what does bagels and cream cheese have to do with a rock opera? I have no idea as bagels originated in Jewish communities in 17th century Poland… but I … Read more...

Taco~Refried Bean Casserole

Leftovers. Some people love them, others not so much! I always like to try to reinvent leftovers into something else. Like when I repurpose old sheets into weaving strips for rag rug weaving. I have always been a big proponent of not wasting anything, especially food.  I don’t like letting them sit in the fridge until whatever becomes a green, fuzzy science experiment.

In the freezer I had some leftover taco beef in one container, and refried beans in another. Instead of reaching for the hard taco shells to make tacos, I thought, what if I transformed these humble, but … Read more...

It’s A Green January

In a corner of the livingroom here at the Homestead sits a folding blue patio table adorned with 3 pots and a small overhead LED light strip.

What are the lights focused on?

Cilantro!

20210106_0937012 pots that are overflowing with bright green leaves and stems that are standing up amazingly well from my daily assault with the scissors since they sprouted over a month ago. I simply cannot go the entire winter without fresh cilantro. Yes, I could buy a sad looking bunch in the grocery store, but they would last a week at most before becoming limp and mushy … Read more...

Caramelized Onion, Mushroom and Spinach Frittata

This morning I woke up to the sound of gunshots, don’t worry though, it wasn’t directed at any humans, just the annual Fall duck hunters blasting my duckie buddies out of the water.  It makes me sad, but I know people hunt to put food on the table and I am ok with that aspect, after all, I am a meat eater myself.

So to keep my mind off the hunters, I headed to the kitchen to make a fabulous Sunday brunch frittata.  Yesterday I had cleared out the raised garden beds except for the carrots and came away with … Read more...

Roasted Corn and Poblano Chowder

It has been a very hectic Spring and Summer here at the Homestead, not just the usual busy gardening season (which is now winding down), but we have had a lot of excitement with the construction of a new garage as well as a 3 Season Room addition to the Homestead. Exciting, but also anxiety filled when dealing with a contractor, glad that part is now behind us!  Now that the structures are up and usable it is time to get back to doing what I love, crafting and cooking!

We had a lovely hot, dry summer and the pepper … Read more...

12 Grain Bagel How-To

Again, necessity is the mother of invention.  I was happily munching away on Costco’s Whole Wheat Bagels when a month ago, they decided to stop selling them. Perhaps I was the only one buying them, but it still irked me that they yanked them from the shelves.

So… I decided to look around the fabulous interweb for either a whole wheat or better yet, a 12 grain recipe and surprisingly there is quite a few available.  I spent one morning a couple weeks ago reading through the top 5 or 6 on the google search, some more detailed than others, … Read more...

Keto Low Carb Tortillas

Late last year I dabbled in eating in the Ketogenic (Keto) lifestyle.  I achieved both good and bad results over the course of about 4 weeks. I didn’t go hog wild and go total Keto, but enough to make a difference in my weight.  After dropping 7 lbs very quickly (the good), I also sent my cholesterol levels skyrocketing (the bad) and had a shocked family physician who wondered what the heck I did to send my total cholesterol up by 2 points into the danger zone.  The backstory here is that I have a family history of heart disease … Read more...

Chunky Roasted Butternut Squash and Root Veggie Soup

Sometimes I like to have an adult version of butternut squash soup.  Don’t get me wrong, I love the pureed version, but there are times when a chunky version fits the “chilly Fall day” without feeling like you are eating baby food.

This recipe came about like most of the ones I do…..I look in the fridge and see all the leftovers and “not-enough-ofs” and go from there. Today, October 9th, in Northern Ontario, Mother Nature decided to jack up the temperature,  just for fun I guess after a solid week of cold, blustery, rainy weather.  It ended up being … Read more...

Mushroom and Spinach White Pizza

I am all about pizza.  Pretty much any kind put in front of me will get eaten as long as there are no anchovies present.  Surveying the fridge yesterday (day prior to grocery shopping), it looked like it was time to use up an abundance of mushrooms and garden spinach so I sat down in the early afternoon and googled “mushroom and spinach recipes” and as you can imagine, oodles came up in all different cuisines.

Since I wasn’t in the mood for Mexican (shocking, I know) and there was some ricotta cheese to be used up as well, I … Read more...