~ real food, balanced living ~
Since posting this recipe, many of you have dropped in to share your love of the creamy Peruvian bean (commonly known as the mayocoba bean).
The bean’s mild flavor and plump, buttery texture contrast beautifully here with the bolder, earthen flavors of Romesco and its ripply, almond textured body. The result is a pleasure dome for the senses (yes indeed, more Romeo’esque yearning coming your way)….
I can’t help but think that Shakespeare really meant to write a love story about Romesco.
Have you tried it?…
Food photo tip #27: be sure to shoot on a full stomach otherwise you’ll probably eat the dish before you get the perfect shot.
No truer words have ever been written. …
Oh nothing to see here.
Just some warm, melty and scandalously moist muffins that will have you falling in love with the cold weather again.
(versatile too so if chocolate’s not your thing, you can easily swap that out — it just means we can’t be friends, that’s all). …
Well friends, the days are getting shorter, the heating pad’s been dusted off and I’ll soon be digging into the Christmas box for the fairy lights (I especially like them on those dark mornings when we’re up before the sun – I hang them on the fireplace mantel for a little twinkle and cheer).
Inching our way closer to the season of cozy with this warm cup of homespun tea by our sides. It’s incredibly simple, beautifully aromatic and a great way to use up those apple peels (and cores) that would otherwise get discarded this time of year making sauces, preserves and pies, etc. …
Not exactly the picture of fall maybe but we still have a few more weeks of summer on the clock and I intend to use them! (besides, pretty sure grilling season is eternal). …
The dog days of summer have quickly settled in and if you’re looking for a cool and refreshing way to start your day, this recipe is for you!
Muesli – the original overnight oats – was first introduced in the 1900s by Swiss physician and pioneering nutritionist Maximilian Bircher-Benner as a way of supporting the health of his patients (my kind of renaissance man). The original Bircher Muesli contained raw oats and grated whole apple (skin-on) together with some variation of nuts, seeds, lemon, milk/cream….
I keep a binder of recipes. I started it about 25 years ago before the age of the internet and never stopped adding to it. It holds some of my favorite stuff — handwritten recipes from my mother-in-law, articles written by Joe Schwarcz (food chemist) that my Mom saved for me from the Montreal Gazette, gardening diagrams made by my father-in-law and a bunch of four-leaf clovers gathered by my youngest over the years (I can still see him running full tilt towards me with cupped hands in the kitchen of our Ottawa home).
Of course much of my life is now cataloged on the web, stored in some soulless cloud, but that’s not my preferred resting place. I like paper, always have, and every time I open the pages of my now tattered, gravy spattered binder, it brings me back to some of the people and memories I love most. …
There’s a small park about a 20 minute walk from our home. It’s easy to miss, tucked off to the side of a quiet road without the usual attractions. I stumbled across it one day with my four-legged companion and discovered pretty quickly how different I felt there. There’s a stream that runs along the right side of the walking path and some heritage oaks lining the left. Those big old trees with their noble moss-covered trunks (I love running my fingers along their spine) — it’s hard not to feel awed by their visual beauty but it’s their smell that really sets my senses on fire….
While it may not make the best cocktail party conversation starter, if you’ve ever suffered from a bout of constipation, you know how uncomfortable and frustrating it can be, and how welcome effective solutions are.
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Many factors can influence bowel function beyond diet and exercise, including: hormonal fluctuations (pregnancy/menopause/underactive thyroid), stress and medication. And while there is no one size fits all when it comes to addressing bowel concerns, (particular conditions may require specific protocols), here are a few strategies I have found particularly helpful for easing constipation and restoring regularity: …