Happiness is Baking + Win a copy!

Hachette Book Group Canada sent me Happiness is Baking in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

“Years ago I heard a doctor talking on television about the dangers of stress. It can kill you. It can cause a heart attack or a stroke. The doctor listed ways of coping with stress. Exercise. Diet. Do Yoga. Take a walk. I yelled, ‘Bake cookies.’ I often talk to the television. I yelled it again and again. The doctor went on with his list of 12 ways to reduce stress…and he never once mentioned my surefire treatment. Baking is a great escape. It’s happiness. It’s creative. It’s good for your heath. It reduces stress.” — Maida Heatter, Happiness is Baking

Yes Way Rosé: A Guide to the Pink Wine State of Mind

Hachette Book Group Canada sent me Yes Way Rosé in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. 

If you’ve never been properly introduced to the splendour in the glass that is rosé, you’ll be in the pink with Yes Way Rosé: A Guide To the Pink Wine State of Mind by Erica Blumenthal and Nikki Huganir. Part pink wine primer, part lifestyle guide, it’s a smart and playful celebration of la vie en rosé. 

Breakfast time! April’s OatBox 😋

I received April’s OatBox for free in exchange for an honest review. This post also appears on A Year of Boxes. 

I think breakfast is my favourite meal of the day, so I’m always excited to see what’s in my OatBox. It’s a monthly breakfast subscription box from Montreal that comes with two large bags of handcrafted granolas that are 100% natural and preservative-free, plus two recipes. Gluten-free boxes are available and subscriptions can be delayed or cancelled free of charge.

A tisket, a tasket: Five things for your tween’s Easter basket

Easter is almost here and THANK GOODNESS! I’m ready to bite the ears off chocolate bunnies and see fuzzy newborn chicks and set the table in pretty pastels for a special dinner celebrating our favourite Spring holiday. But I think I have the most fun (next to decorating eggs) building Easter baskets for my kids. Usually a few little treats tucked around a special chocolate bunny — smaller treats when the kids were smaller, and now a little more substantial. Mainly because I find so many cute things they’d like and I CANNOT RESIST. But also because I want them to really value what they get and enjoy it for a while. Today I’ve got some ideas for an Easter basket I made with my tween in mind but older and younger kids might like them just as much too. 

Love & Lemons Every Day by Jeanine Donofrio

Penguin Random House Canada sent me Love & Lemons Every Day in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

There are so many great books launching this spring, and we’re just getting started! Today’s includes this beauty for anyone looking for fresh ways to put veggies (and fruits!) on their plates: Love & Lemons Every Day: More Than 100 Bright, Plant-Forward Recipes For Every Meal by Jeanine Donofrio. It’s the follow-up to her first book, The Love & Lemons Cookbook: An Apple-to-Zucchini Celebration of Impromptu Cooking, published in April 2016. Inventive recipes for every meal encourage cooks to introduce new flavour combinations into the rotation — think Strawberry Baked French Toast for breakfast; Parsnip Chickpea Noodle Soup for lunch; Spicy Black Bean and Mango Stuffed Peppers for dinner; and Chocolate Cake with Sweet Potato Frosting for dessert — and special features like the giant grid of salad dressings, tips for using veggie scraps, and 6 ways to scramble equip readers to experiment with tasty results.

No blender, no problem: Evive Smoothie Cubes + A giveaway!

Evive Smoothie sent me the products in this post for free in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

They say the smoothie was invented when Chuck Norris interrogated a banana. But who has time to karate chop a bunch of fruits and vegetables when time is short and the need for something quick and healthy is big? Enter Evive Smoothie. The Montreal co. created frozen cubes of organic fruit, veggies and plant protein that you pop into a jar or a bottle, cover with liquid (water, almond milk, whatever you prefer) let sit for a few minutes and then shake up to make creamy, nutritious smoothies in a jiffy. No blender required! Evive Smoothie sent me their eight flavours to try. Let’s check them out.

It’s bloomin’ March! What’s ahead

Well hey there, good lookin’! I hope you’re having a sweet Saturday. I wanted to get this out earlier but I’ve been cleaning like a woman possessed (it rarely happens, so when it does I’ve got to go with it) so here we are. Both of us with a cup of tea (yes?) and a few minutes to ourselves to look at what’s coming up here and elsewhere this month. 

Inside February’s OatBox 😋😋

I received February’s OatBox for free in exchange for an honest review. This post also appears on A Year of Boxes. 

OatBox is a monthly breakfast subscription box from Montreal. It includes two large bags of handcrafted granolas that are 100% natural and preservative-free, plus two recipes that use them or make a tasty pairing. Gluten-free boxes are available and subscriptions can be delayed or cancelled free of charge.

Fantastical Cakes: Incredible Creations for the Baker in Anyone + Win a copy!

Running Press sent me Fantastical Cakes in exchange for an honest review. Here’s what I think. 

You know you’re getting old when you get that one candle on the cake. It’s like, ‘See if you can blow this out.’ — Jerry Seinfeld • I’ve loved baking and decorating cakes since I was a kid but I can’t remember any that were spectacular to look at or eat. (Well none except the Strawberry Shortcake one I had for my 10th birthday, but that was store-bought.) It’s only since having my own kids (and a few years later, starting this blog) that I’ve learned a little about the hows and whys of baking and decorating and experimented with a few different techniques. If I could turn back time (🎵 If I could find a way🎵) I would have read Gesine Bullock-Prado’s Fantastical Cakes: Incredible Creations for the Baker in Anyone YEARS AGO because it taught me so many things I wish I’d known before. Unfortunately the book only came out in November and before that Gesine was busy running her Vermont baking school and writing five other books and tending to two dogs, two cats, a flock of chickens and the other animals on her farm. (She’s still got the baking school and the farm. And probably another book already started.)