Making my Way Through The UnDiet Cookbook + Giveaway

Almost exactly seven years ago I was diagnosed with Crohn's Disease. It feels like a lifetime ago.

My doctor told me to eat a "healthy, well-balanced diet" and to avoid things like nuts and seeds that might cause problems. He offered traditional medicinal options including medication, surgery and hardcore, experimental medication -- none of which sounded like great options to me. I made the decision to see a naturopath, made major changes in my diet and saw incredible improvement.

Before my diagnosis, I knew nothing about Crohn's Disease and didn't know anyone who had it - so I did what any good person does and took to the internet! I searched for blogs and other folks who also had Crohn's. While reading the comments on a random blog post one day, I discovered the blog of a Toronto nutritionist who also had healed herself from Crohn's Disease.

Her name was Meghan Telpner.

I started religiously reading her blog and decided to treat myself to some of her cooking classes for my birthday. Gluten free, dairy free cooking was all new to me, so I needed all the help and inspiration I could get! I documented our weekly classes here on the blog and the recipes I learned from Meghan became staples in my new way of eating.



After the cooking classes ended, Meghan continued to be an important person in my life. I followed her blog, helped out at events, cheerleaded for her programs, took a life-changing adventure to St. Lucia and beamed with pride when her first book, UnDiet came out. While it was awesome that I could finally stop using the duotang of recipes and had them in proper book form, it was mostly so inspiring to see someone I admired so much reaching their goals and doing awesome things in the world.

This past March I was taken down with that horrific godzilla flu and was pretty much confined to bed for over a week. After a nap one day, I checked Facebook and saw that Meghan had posted a job description for an 'Executive Assistant and Director of Outreach and Customer Happiness'. I eagerly read through the job description and when I got to the bottom of it I thought to myself - that is the perfect job for me. I applied. I interviewed. And a few weeks later I had my first day in the kitchen, working with Meghan (and her small but kick ass team).

I knew that the UnDiet Cookbook was going to be coming out in the fall and Meghan and I discussed some of the plans leading up to the release of the book. Because of things that we were working on, I actually had a manuscript of the book (in a word document) on my computer before the book even came out. I started to peruse recipes and got really excited for what was to come.

The book included 130 gluten free, dairy free recipes including some old revamped favourites (from the duotang days) and a whole bunch of brand new, shiny ones! The first recipe I made from the Word doc was the Banana Berry Oatmazing Muffins - Corbin joked that they were muffins from the future since the book hadn't even been released.

He also said they were some of his favourite muffins ever.

They were incredibly easy to make, adaptable (depending on the type of berries you used) and didn't taste "gluten free" - they just tasted like a delicious muffin!! I brought them into the kitchen for Meghan and Maeve, and Maeve declared it one of her favourite muffins as well. Success!

However cool it was to have the word doc version, it was even better to get my hands on the actual book. The recipes themselves are amazing, but when you couple the recipes with the beautiful photography from Catherine Farquharson and Miya Visneyei and incredible food styling, it really is something else. Every photo is amazing, and that visual appeal is so important to me in a cookbook!

The book starts with an introduction to Meghan's story, what it means to live the UnDiet Life and provides some guidance on how to get started in the kitchen. From there, the recipes are broken into 8 sections, followed by an awesome Lifestyle section including beauty care recipes, entertaining, travel tips and some thoughts on how to live the very best, most vibrant life.

I have peppered my book with stickies, highlighting the recipes I want to make and have had a blast cooking my way through it. 

I'm obsessed with the 'Begin with Brekkie' section. The Sweet Potato Zucchini Hash Brizzles are absolutely delicious and so easy! I paired them with poached eggs and it was the perfect combination. I also loved the Chocolate, Chocolate, Say it Twice Pancakes (which are like eating cake for breakfast) and the Vegalicious Quiche complete with millet crust!

Everything in the book is vegetarian / vegan friendly, and there are also options to make many recipes in the book nut-free, grain free or protein-powered. Meghan's UnDiet philosophy is all about breaking the rules and leaving the labels for tin cans - and advocates for people to eat what works for them while remaining open to the evolutionary nature of what our bodies need at different times in our lives.

Everything I've made has been a success so far! Favourites include the Creamed Mushroom Love Soup, Flourless Ginger Pear Tartlets, Balsamic Roasted Vegetables, Golden Girl Citrus-Spiced Tempeh and the Let's Stay Together Crackers (which impressed Corbin immensely "you're making homemade crackers?!")

Even though I've gotten a pretty good head start with the recipes, with 130 in total, I still have a ways to go! I haven't even dipped into the beauty care section (homemade toothpaste? yes!!) and want to try my hand at making some of the condiments from scratch, like the Spicy Mango Chutney.

This book is beautiful.
The recipes are awesome.
And it's already a staple in my kitchen.

I may be a bit biased, but I truly mean it. Even if I weren't working for Meghan I would have bought this book on release day and be cooking through it just the same (just without the bootleg word doc preview maybe...)

Meghan was a person I needed to meet seven years ago and her recipes, enthusiasm, passion, drive and philosophy have played a huge impact on my healing and my life. Her story reassured me that I was on the right track with my own healing and everything else that has followed has been a big beautiful bonus! I'm grateful that I now get to go to work in the kitchen where so much changed for me and work alongside someone who has been such an incredible mentor, cheerleader and friend.

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The UnDiet Cookbook is all kinds of awesome and I'm really excited to be able to give away a copy to one very lucky reader! (And since I see the author on a pretty regular basis, I can probably even get it signed for you!)

Congratulations to Faith!! I'll be emailing you to get your details so I can send the book out to you ASAP. 

To win your very own copy of The UnDiet Cookbook:

Leave a comment below with your name, email address + the recipe you'd want to make first from the UnDiet Cookbook (you can take a peek inside the book to get some ideas or see what other folks have been enjoying on the Virtual Book Tour!)

Contest closes at 11:59pm Thursday November 12. I'll pick a random winner from all comments received and notify the winner by email. Contest is open to US and Canadian residents.

Good luck!!

I’ll Show You Mine If You Show Me Yours….

It’s pretty fantastic when other people cook for me. I know that I’m not the easiest person to feed, so it means an awful lot to me when people make the effort to prepare Ashley-friendly meals. It’s especially awesome when you ask for comfort food and get this:

Mashed potatoes, steamed collards and veggie burgers topped with everything imaginable on gluten free buns. I wish we had taken pictures of me trying to eat the damn thing because it was pretty comical.

As if the meal wasn’t already brilliant, we followed it up with a s’more tart from LPK’s Culinary Groove.

When I walked into LPK’s that day I went straight up to the fridge and immediately asked what the tart was as I had never seen it before! (you know you go somewhere too often when…) It was a gluten free crust filled with chocolate and a cream filling topped with a vegan marshmallow.

Or we can just call it heaven and call it a day.

I absolutely love cooking for other people (especially when they’ve made something for me!!). When I cook for other people I actually challenge myself and go outside of my default easy peasy yummy meals that are quick and easy to prepare. Following the comfort food extravaganza, I made plans for a delicious meal last week, thanks to the wonder that is Veganomicon. Seriously, that cookbook can do no wrong…

I went with a Mexican theme and made the potato kale enchilladas with Mexican millet.

The one and ONLY issue I have with Veganomican, is that some of the recipes require A LOT of steps. All the steps are worth it. Homemade enchillada sauce? Oh yes. Toast the millet? Sure. I had initially planned to do some of the prep ahead of time, but that didn’t happen the way I wanted it to, so after all was said and done we ended up having a late dinner.

Every single step was TOTALLY worth it.

It also made for wicked leftovers the next day. I had my lunch whilst listening to a conference call and I was the happiest girl ever.

Even happier when we enjoyed these sundaes

I. Don’t. Even. Have. Words.

Another cookbook that hasn’t failed me yet is the SECOND Babycakes book. These thin mint cookies taste just like the mint Girl Guide cookies, with the added benefit of being gluten free and vegan and therefore Ashley-friendly. Along with some Coconut Bliss, chocolate chips and cacao nibs, they were out of this world.

Two spectacular meals.
Two very happy people.

Now to figure out how to outdo myself the next time… I’m open to suggestion

Chaos is the Story of My Life

Dear bloggies,

Oh how I’ve missed you! Thank you for your amazing comments and emails of the post about my mum last week. I love that I am able to honour her memory here on the blog. I am forever indebted to you for your love and support. I am so blessed to have this medium to connect with each and every one of you.

The show is going so well. I couldn’t be happier and I can’t believe that we’re in the final week. We received a great review and audiences have been loving the show. I’ve been so excited to have some sweet guests in the audience! 2 weeks ago, Laura and Kristy made the trip down from Ottawa and Hamilton to have lunch and see the show. We headed to Fresh where I feasted on a singer’s saving grace, delightful soup and sweet potato fries – yum! I couldn’t help but snap a photo of Laura’s adorable cupcake Like Hostess, only vegan and a million times better I’m sure! After an afternoon stroll in Kensingston, I headed up to the theatre where the lovely ladies graced me with their patronage the following dayThey loved it! Laura and I have been friends since the sixth grade and it was absolutely wonderful that she was able to make the trip down and see me perform for the first time in this role. I’ve happily adopted Kristy as well and I only wish that the two of them lived closer so that I could spend more time with both of them.

Some of my gorgeous bellydancing ladies made it out last Friday as well! So amazing to have dancers and friends that I admire so much come see me on stage in another capacity!

My eats have been fairly simple of late due to my hectic show/school/work schedule so there have been a lot of bowls with quinoa or rice with veggies like this green goddess inspired bowl from the Fresh at Home cookbook or this quinoa-broccoli-tempeh-hummus mix My fridge has also been fairly bare because I moved this past Sunday! Remind me next time that moving at 6pm, after doing a show while Canada is winning gold in hockey is probably not the best idea on Earth… It was challenging to consolidate a whole house of stuff into one room but everything went fairly smoothly. It was a pretty emotional day, but I’m loving my new space and starting to settle in now that most of the boxes are unpacked.

My roommates are lovely (3 guys + 2 cats) and I am happily in the heart of my favourite neighbourhood. Proper pictures of my new girly room to follow once EVERYTHING is unpacked, but here is a sneak peek… My amazing bedding from Liloo. I fell in love a few weeks ago and I knew I had to have it! The picture doesn’t really do it justice… I will have to try and snap one in the daytime. Makes me feel like a queen!Poäng chairs from our dear friends at Ikea. Special thanks to Lori for making the trek out to Etobicoke to get the cushions I wanted! The closet of Ashley… it has a light! See the Weight Watchers program materials peeking out? And the fun Expedit bookshelf courtesy of Ikea. A good mix of nutrition, acting, cookbooks, great novels and mindless fluff.

Iris will be joining us once the dust has settled a bit next week and I hope she’s as happy here as I am. I am looking forward to settling in during March and enjoying the end of my run, getting back to activity (fun stuff coming in March, stay tuned!) and yummy cooking. The boys are impressed with my canisters in the kitchen so I think I have some impressing to do.

Hope to see some of you at the theatre this weekend!! I have lots of visitors coming, so expect some more pictures. I do have pictures of the production as well, but I’m having issues with my Dell, so those will be coming down the road.

How is March shaping up for all of you??

Why Am I Smiling?

I can’t tell you just yet… but I promise that I will soon. If you’re anything like me and hate waiting, check out this post from back in May for a little hint. I can’t wait to share the news with you. All I can say is that I’m so excited for January!!

Until then let’s talk about some yummy food, shall we?

I hauled out my crockpot and remembered how much I love it. It seriously makes my life so much easier, especially when I’m doing a show!! I made this indian inspired spinach and tofu dish. Joey and I both liked it, but agreed that it wasn’t the best thing we’d ever eaten. It was good, but needed a little extra something. I may give it another shot because I think it has potential! I also made (but haven’t tried) the sweet potato chili but Joey messaged me at lunch to say that he loved it. This coming from someone who doesn’t love the sweet potato, so it must be a hit!!

If you’ve been neglecting your crock pot, dust it off and give it a whirl. I love just throwing everything and coming home (or waking up) to a house that smells like someone has been working away in the kitchen for hours! Stephanie O’Dea has some amazing recipes on her site and in her cookbook Make it Fast, Cook it Slow. Or if you’re a Weight Watchers member who was able to take advantage of the 50% off cookbooks sale this month, the Momentum cookbook has a whole chapter on slow cooker favourites! It is perfect for those days that you know you don’t have time to cook, but want a home cooked meal.

I really don’t think that there’s a single bad recipe in Eat, Drink and Be Vegan. Either that or I just have really good luck!! This week I tried my hand at four new Dreena recipes: orange-sesame tofu with coconut rice and simple swiss chard with a bowl of perfectly ripe mango slices for dessert and the black bean and corn tortilla lasagna



Everything was brilliant. The tofu, rice and swiss chard were actually the perfect meal. Each component complimented one another and Joey even exclaimed that he likes swiss chard more than kale. Yay for green veggies!! The black bean and corn lasagna caused him to proclaim that “it’s meals like this that make me forget that you’re gluten free and vegan”. Isn’t that awesome??

I had someone innocently ask me yesterday if I could take pills so that I could eat dairy or gluten. I responded by saying that I work on eating food that makes me feel good and I don’t want to be putting more crap into my body in order to eat the foods that make me feel bad. That seems like a lose-lose situation to me. I too used to be in the mind frame that I couldn’t live without cheese, ice cream, bread or regular pasta but I’ve really come to realize that I don’t need those foods, nor do I crave them. We eat tonnes of good food in our house, and it just happens to be gluten free and vegan.

I’m so excited for next week’s Crohn’s Week posts!! It’s been really interesting to reflect on the year that has passed this week and I hope to raise some awareness for IBD and share my other bit of exciting news with you.

Yesterday was my dad’s birthday so I wanted to say Happy Birthday to him!



My dad is so sweet and supports me in everything that I do. I am very lucky to have him!! Dad, I hope you had a great day and I look forward to seeing you soon.

I feel like everything is falling into place and that is certainly a reason to smile. Happy Friday my dear bloggies!

Truly Unbelievable Vegans

See what I did there?

With the objective of getting through the entire alphabet by Saturday, I’ve combined the next three letters to talk about some vegans I adore. I thought it would be fun to spread a little link love to vegans who inspire me through their blogs, cookbooks and initiatives on this planet, so here we go! (I’ve created an Amazon Store that features many of the lovely authors I’ve highlighted in this post, so be sure to check it out!)

Sarah Kramer truly is a “vegan cookbook superstar”. She is the author of 4 cookbooks including the first vegan cookbook I ever bought “How it All Vegan”. She’s cute and funny and the recipes are lovely for vegans and non-vegans alike. I made the black-bean & lentil salad from “La Dolce Vegan” for a potluck at work today!

Gena from Choosing Raw needs to get going on a cookbook, or maybe just a book about life and eating in general. Her posts are thoughtful, passionate and accessible for all. I love her simple approach to food. The day frozen bananas were introduced to my blender, creating banana soft serve was pure heaven and I have Gena to thank for that! Want a taste of Gena’s point of view? Check out her fantastic post from earlier this week called What Food Is Not; it will absolutely get you thinking.

I first encountered Jae Steele when I borrowed her cookbook “Get It Ripe” from my local library. I fell in love with the recipes like the gluten free blueberry buckwheat muffins and really enjoyed her culinary point of view. This summer I had the pleasure of testing recipes from her upcoming cookbook Ripe From Around Here which focuses on the importance of local food. Conveniently Jae lives in Toronto, which meant whatever was local to her, was also local to me! Recipes like the phad thai (to feed an army), curried split pea soup, roasted ratatouille, and pear ginger amaranth crumble brought joy to my kitchen and I can’t wait for the book to come out so that I can easily access all of the recipes whenever I want.

Some of my other favourite vegans include:

• Dreena Burton – I probably make a recipe from Eat, Drink & Be Vegan nearly every week
• Lazy Smurf – and not just because I won her recent giveaway! She has some awesome food pictures and I love hearing about life as a vegan in Texas
• Angela – Oh She Glows is just a beautiful site, period. I didn’t even realize for the longest time that Ange was actually vegan!? She loves food and is incredibly sweet, what’s not to love?
• Isa Chandra Moskowitz – How could I make a list of vegans and not include the creator of Vegan Mofo herself? Veganomican is a staple in my kitchen. I also recently enjoyed a copy of Vegan with a Vengeance that I borrowed from my local library. It’s going on my wish list because it was full of amazing recipes and inspiration! Such yummy vegan goodness!
• Hannah Kaminsky – Bittersweet is such a gorgeous blog. Hannah is such a talented gal behind the camera and in the kitchen and her book, My Sweet Vegan is a fantastic resource as well.
• Lisa – Another Torontonian vegan I found as a result of the recipe testing. Her blog is an awesome resource full of recipes, links and pictures of fabulous vegan (and sometime raw) goodness.
• Meghan – Although not strictly vegan, I use more of Meghan’s recipes that anything else in my kitchen including those from my time in her cooking classes as well as from her blog (banana –chocolate cuppins are also joining the pot luck party today). She’s another one who needs to get on with writing a cookbook!!

I could go on and on here folks, but I’m going to leave it at that. I’m constantly updating my blogroll with blogs I love and will continue to add books to my Amazon Store as I come across them.

I have to thank all of these bloggers and authors for providing me with daily inspiration in my kitchen. I learned awhile back that focusing on the foods I can (and want to) eat, makes meal time a lot more fun. These lovely ladies ensure that there’s a lot of love in my kitchen and fantastic food on my plate at every meal!

Which bloggers or authors do you look to for inspiration?

P is for Pumpkin

P is also for punching, which I would do to my laptop if I were a violent person since it just lost the post I just spent the last 30+ minutes working on.

Pumpkin and squash are quintessential fall foods. Ever since Thanksgiving I’ve been eating a lot of pumpkin especially at breakfast! It snuck into my bowl in the form of pie…as well as at the bottom of the following mess:

~3 tbsp pumpkin
1/3 c. Whole-O’s (gluten free Cheerios)
1/3 c. almond milk
1 tbsp cranberries
1 tbsp pecans
drizzle of agave
dash of cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger

I then proceed to turn this glamorous looking bowl into a disgusting mess of orange goo, that tastes like heaven!! I also love that it takes less than 90 seconds to throw together, but is a lot more exciting (and filling!) than your average bowl of cereal. Pureed pumpkin or squash also makes a great addition to oats or rolled quinoa.

One of my favourite ways to indulge in some beta carotene (a natural antioxidant and anti-inflammatory), fibre and Vitamin C is by indulging in some of the other winter squashes that are abundant in produce aisle at the moment. I love that I can find organic winter squash for .69-.79/lb right now!

My favourite is probably the spaghetti squash (otherwise known as spaghetti marrow in the UK) Once cooked, the innards of this squash can be separated into spaghetti-like strands making it a great substitute for spaghetti or just a lovely addition to dishes like spaghetti squash mexicana (Veganomican) or roasted vegetable ragout (Gluten Free Vegan)

This dish was so simple, just lots of awesome veggies with some herbs, oil with a large helping of spaghetti squash to tie things together. It had fantastic flavor and texture and thanks to all the fiber, was incredibly filling.

Do you have a favourite squash? What is your favourite way to indulge in this festive, fall treat??

C is for Cookbooks, Favourites & Finds

Thank you to everyone who has been visiting my blog and commenting as a result of Vegan Mofo! I’m happy to hear that you’re enjoying the theme (and I appreciate the suggestions for the more obscure letters of the alphabet – keep ‘em coming!)

My first vegan cookbook was How it All Vegan. I bought it on a whim, more than two years before I became vegan. I saw it at a used book store and thought “what the heck”. There were some yummy soup and side dish recipes that I enjoyed right away and had fun trying out something new.

Once I went gluten and dairy free I began to turn to vegan cookbooks because:
a) I didn’t have to worry about any dairy in the recipes and
b) Vegan cookbook authors seemed to be more cognizant of gluten free options
By the time I had actually gone vegan I had acquired quite a few, so I was all good to go!  I thought it would be fun to share some of the vegan cookbooks lining my shelves along with some of my favourite recipes from each.

• Eat, Drink and Be Vegan – Still a favourite in our house with yummy goodies like cashew ginger tofu, broccoli-pepper stir fry and chickpea-zucchini-tomato stew
  

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• Veganomican – I can’t believe I haven’t done a proper review on Vcon. In all seriousness, it’s amazing. So much goodness to come out of that book including lentil-cauliflower curry, spaghetti squash mexicana, snobby joes, mexican millet – I could go on and on! I trust Isa and Terry so much and just run with their recipes and in return I’m rewarded with fabulous food.
  

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• La Dolce Vegan – After having such great luck with How it All Vegan, I had to pick up La Dolce Vegan when I saw it at the used bookstore awhile back. I’ve had no regrets!! I made one of my favourites for Lindsay last weekend
  

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Lentil black bean salad (with Martha Stewart’s Portobello zucchini tacos) It’s such a simple, filling, delicious salad that I’ve made for a variety of folks who have all enjoyed it equally. Love, love LOVE this book!

• Cooking Class recipes – Although not a cookbook (yet), I still make a ton of recipes from Meghan’s classes. We’re still in love with the lemon-lentil soup, lentil patties and veggie wraps and I don’t foresee that changing any time in the near future!

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• Jae Steele’s upcoming cookbook, Ripe Around Here – I’ve had the pleasure of being a recipe tester for this book and there has been a lot of awesomeness in my kitchen as a result. Recipes like pad thai, curried split pea soup, raw almond-date bars, and roasted ratatouille are going to make it worth your while to be lining up at your local bookstore when that cookbook comes out!

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In honour of Vegan MoFo I picked up a couple of new cookbooks to try from the library

The Gluten Free Vegan and a well-loved copy of Vegan with a Vengeance. I was reading them on the streetcar the past two days like some people would read the latest from Oprah’s book club. Feeling inspired I made the Mexican quinoa salad from The Gluten Free Vegan.

I used red quinoa for a little something different and enjoyed it alongside a honey crisp apple and some mini lemon poppyseed muffins that I made from the Babycakes cookbook (finally!) It was such a satisfying lunch and definitely helped me to get through a BUSY Friday afternoon. I’m so excited to try more recipes out of all three books in the coming weeks and share the results with all of you!

There are more vegan cookbooks on my shelves and plenty more on my Amazon wishlist, but for the moment I’m really having fun working through the ones I have. Seeing that it’s fall, I’m looking forward to making more delicious soups, stews, curries and casseroles to keep me warm until spring!

What’s your all-time favourite vegan cookbook? Do you have any suggestions of things I should make from the cookbooks I already own?

And What’s More, Baby, I Can Cook

While it may look like I know what I’m doing in the kitchen in my weekly meal recaps, it hasn’t always been that way!

I did a lot of cooking and baking with both of my grandmothers when I was younger. My Nana (dad’s mom) was Ukrainian and during the holidays we would make perogies, cabbage rolls, and borscht plus tonnes of cookies, cakes and sweets in addition to the turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy and vegetables!

Nana was always in her kitchen and I have a lot of fond memories of us chatting away while we cut out circles of dough for perogies or kneaded dough for bread.

With my Nanny (mom’s mom) I did a lot of baking. We would put on little cooking shows in her kitchen while making every kind of cookie imaginable! Every time I went to visit, Nan would make me a lemon meringue pie because it was my absolute favourite! We always laughed a lot in her kitchen and I have a lot of funny memories of us acting silly together and singing while we did the dishes (like in this picture she made me hold for – I was putting butter in that bowl and when I went to flick it off the spoon it ended up on my face instead)

In my teenage years I didn’t do a ton of cooking. I have to hand it to my dad for feeding my brother and I. I didn’t become particularly maternal after mum died, and he did the best he could to put meals on the table for us. I fell into the habit of buying my lunch and the dining out trend continued when I was in high school and constantly on the go.

By the time I was in college, I was eating in restaurants all the time and I really think that it contributed to my weight. I made my lunch sometimes and brought some snacks with me, but most of my meals were eaten outside the home.

This really changed when I joined Weight Watchers and met Joey. I realized when I joined WW that I needed to change my habits and I knew that I wasn’t going to be able to figure out the Points values for everything so I just started cooking.

I met Joey the week I joined Weight Watchers and sometime in those first couple weeks I invited him over and made him lasagna.He was impressed! When I moved into his house, there was a box of leftover pad thai, and some vinegar in the fridge and some cereal and ramen noodles in the cupboard – boy, did that change quickly! I began getting ideas from websites and magazines and then I started to amass my cookbook collection. I experimented with meals; most were successes but there were definitely some failures in there too. After I reached my goal weight I treated myself to some cake decorating classes with the amazing Bonnie Gordon and since then have made a lot of celebration cakes including two wedding cakes.

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I’m really proud of how far I’ve come in the kitchen and it’s really become a place where I feel at home again. Since going gluten and dairy free, and ultimately vegan, I’ve worked to keep things interesting at our table. I bring my lunch almost every day and make dinner most nights so I love trying new recipes and reading new cookbooks. It has been fun to experiment with new techniques and see my progress from that very first lasagna. Joey often sends me messages at work to tell me how much he loves his lunches and that brings me a lot of joy. I look forward to trying new recipes and nourishing people with delicious, healthy eats. I still consider myself a work in progress and have areas where I would like to improve. I would like to work on my confidence in the kitchen. I’m not always sure of myself, so I just need to work on trusting my instincts. I would also like to use this confidence to create more of my own recipes. While I adore using cookbooks and other people’s recipes, I want to be more experimental and try some things on my own.

I know that getting busy in the kitchen can seem like a daunting task for many people, so I’ve compiled a list of tips that helped me:

• Take baby steps– Don’t start out with a huge meal with lots of unfamiliar equipment and complicated steps. Keep it simple!
• Take a class – There is so much to learn from the experiences of others and gain knowledge from other people’s passion for food!
• Use your favourite foods – Do you have a favourite food item? Maybe a dish from your childhood that you can’t live without? Use the things you love, and your enthusiasm will shine in the meal
• Make soup – Before I started cooking regularly, the only soup I knew came out of a can or carton. I’ve since learned that making soup is not only incredibly easy, but it’s one of the most rewarding dishes you can make
• Get the right tools – While I do advocate keeping it simple, proper equipment can make your life so much easier. Start with the basics (a good knife, cutting board, measuring cups/spoons, bowls of different sizes, spatula) and work your way up to the big guys (I don’t know how went on without my food processor and I really love my blender, mixer, and slow cooker)
• Cook for someone you love – There’s nothing more rewarding!

Julia Child is quoted as saying, “I was 32 when I started cooking; up until then, I just ate” and I totally understand! I feel like I lost out on a ton of cooking years, but finally woke up around age 22 and got my butt back in the kitchen. I’m so happy that I did and can’t wait to see what culinary masterpieces are around the corner.

How did you learn to cook? How would you like to improve in the kitchen? Do you have any tips for people starting out?

It’s Labour Day, so let’s talk about my Summer Reading List

Happy Labour Day!! I hope you’re enjoying this three day weekend, especially with all the sunshine and blue skies we’ve been having! I got to spend some time with Jess & Jessica on Saturday night before heading to Joey’s show. Jess’ new apartment is super cute and it was nice to see Jessica while she was in town! My best friend Melly came to the show, which was awesome and the guys played a good set to a pretty decent sized crowd. It was a fantastic evening with great friends and awesome music!

I’m happy to report that I got through a lot of the books on my summer reading list, plus a few others!

Sleeping Naked Is Green - Vanessa was recently chewed out by a writer from the New Yorker who ripped apart strangely chosen selections from the book and said that the challenge was an “incoherent” eco-stunt. Um, what?

The original point of Vanessa’s blog was that she was going to make changes in her life, every day for a year, to better the environment. The blog was eventually turned into a book. Both the blog and the book have been read by many many people and both mediums have inspired people (including myself) to make some changes in their lives. What’s wrong with that? You can read my full review here.

I talked about my thoughts on The Writing Diet, Meals that Heal Inflammation, Go Dairy Free and Bitter Is The New Black in this post. You can also check out Nikki’s thoughts on The Writing Diet as she was the winner of my giveaway!

While I didn’t read either of Ani’s books, I did check out a couple of Raw books from the library including Everyday Raw and Raw Food/real World. Both had some great recipes in them and I look forward to trying some in the future! While I don’t intend to go Raw or High Raw anytime soon, I like to incorporate raw foods into my diet and I like many Raw recipes because they are almost always gluten and dairy free! I like to think of Raw food as a type of cuisine that I bring into our meal plans each week.

One book that inspired me a lot this summer, was Meghan’s e-book, The Healthy Cookie:Unbaked. I feel like I gush about Meghan like an 8 year old girl would about their third grade teacher, but it’s really excited to have met someone who has had a similar journey and shares a passion for good food! It’s a great read and it seems that I wasn’t the only one who thought so! Lauren and Heather posted great reviews as well. I’m so happy that Meghan’s story is touching so many people and I can see myself going back certain sections later this year when I need a little inspiration.

I did read one other book… but I’m going to wait to tell you about that book on Wednesday in my next video post! The title of the book would actually give away what it is that I want to talk to you about, and that wouldn’t be any fun now would it? Any guesses (now that I’ve told you it’s nothing like this)?

Did you read any good books this summer? Whatcha reading now that it’s fall? Anything exciting planned for school reading?