It’s A Green January

Posted on January 7, 2021 by Deborah

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!

2 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...

Walking Carefully Into 2021

Posted on January 6, 2021 by Deborah

Well, 2020 was a complete $hitshow. My only bright spot was my 2 week vacation in Cuba back in January 2020 before the pandemic and lockdown hit.

Hubby and I bailed southern Ontario on March 25th to spend the rest of the year at the Northern Homestead. Best decision ever. In our remote area, there is not a whole lot of people and the case numbers low compared to Toronto and expanding area.

I spent the summer enthralled in my gardening, helped hubby side the new garage and 3 season room addition, among many other construction tasks. Managed to get … Read more...

Caramelized Onion, Mushroom and Spinach Frittata

Posted on October 4, 2020 by Deborah

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...

Welcome to 2020!

Posted on January 6, 2020 by Deborah

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

What a weird looking number. I thought the Year 2000 was strange looking, and now 20 years have flown by.

I have been pulled in many directions in recent months and there was the whole December holiday hoopla which basically rendered no time to do anything blog related.

Once I return from vacation at the end of January, I will endeavour to get back to blog mode when I get back. Until then, I hope everyone had a fabulous holiday season and I wish you all well … Read more...

Roasted Corn and Poblano Chowder

Posted on September 10, 2019 by Deborah

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

Posted on April 17, 2019 by Deborah

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

Posted on February 7, 2019 by Deborah

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...

Rhinebeck Adventures

Posted on January 7, 2019 by Deborah

It’s been a couple months since my last post, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been doin’ nuthin’! Just busy in all aspects of life but this morning I made myself sit down and finally write out this post from my adventures in NY State back in late October to the New York Sheep & Wool Festival, fondly nicknamed “Rhinebeck” after the town it is held in.

I didn’t go alone, but went with my trusty weaving/fibery sidekick Kathy, Northern Homestead neighbour and all around great gal to get in trouble with.

She drove to my southern home after flying … Read more...

Chunky Roasted Butternut Squash and Root Veggie Soup

Posted on October 12, 2018 by Deborah

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

Posted on October 4, 2018 by Deborah

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...