Quick Vegan Cinnamon Raisin Soda Bread

Considering that I'm half Irish (the kind that has never been to Ireland) you would think I would have made soda bread before now. According to this history of Irish soda bread, this quick loaf was created out of necessity. For poor people with few resources, you couldn't ask for a bread that requires fewer ingredients. Flour, salt, baking soda (in lieu of yeast) and sour milk (or buttermilk). That's it! I have veganized the traditional recipe by using non-dairy milk mixed with vinegar in place of buttermilk. And this particular variation also calls for cinnamon and raisins.

What I Ate Wednesday (A Day of Vegan Eats)

This mason jar full of orange-hued juice is starting to look familiar, huh? The good news is I'm keeping up with my (almost)daily juicing. The bad news is my What I Ate Wednesday posts are getting a bit repetitive. This week's day of vegan eats starts with the usual juice - a blend of carrots, apple, orange and celery.

Off The Shelf: Women in Sunlight by Frances Mayes (Book Review)

I was drawn to Women in Sunlight: A Novel for a few reasons. For one, sunlight. We didn't have much of that over (a very long) winter and the more sunlight in my life right now, the better. Even if I'm reading about it. Two, the novel's author is Frances Mayes, who wrote the bestselling memoir Under the Tuscan Sun: At Home in Italy, which I actually haven't read. But I've watched the movie Under the Tuscan Sun, featuring the lovely Diane Lane, several times. Because Tuscany. Italy is my third reason for reading Women in Sunlight.

The story sees three American women at crossroads in their lives, deciding between a comfy but potentially boring retirement community for seniors and adventure in Italy. Spoiler alert: they choose Italy. Their stories parallel and intertwine with the story of poet/author Kit Raine, another American who has made her home in Italy. Kit shares her story in the first person while the third-person narrative takes us through the other three women's adventures.

New Gardening Books for Spring 2018

I'm going to admit right up front that I don't have a green thumb. It's not that I kill plants - it's that I have little to no experience with growing them. At the moment we have (count 'em) three lonely plants in our house. One is a pot of lavender I bought very recently. The other two are succulents that (fortunately) thrive on neglect. Outdoors my husband takes care of any planting that goes on. And there hasn't been a whole lot the last two years, despite my visions of ripe red tomatoes and thick, leafy kale. I'll take it as a hint that I recently received all these lovely gardening and plant-related books to review. I need to set aside a sleepy weekend afternoon to read through these instructive books in more detail with a glass of iced tea in hand. And then maybe get to planting?

What I Ate Wednesday (A Day of Vegan Eats)

May is always the busiest month in our house (and I know it's the same for lots of other households). We Canadians come out of hibernation when the snow ends (this year in April!) and then it seems we have to fit all the events in over four to six weeks. Dance competition season is over seemingly as quickly as it began. We were fortunate that my girl's ankle healed (well enough) for her to compete in two out of three of her competitions. Now she just has recital in June.

Basketball season also ended for my son this past weekend with a trip to Ottawa for the year-end tournament. Then, I put my daughter on a bus for her Grade 8 trip to Ottawa this morning. Shockingly she didn't want me to go along as a chaperone. This upcoming May long weekend we actually don't have an event planned. We are dog-sitting so we're staying close to home and hopefully getting lots of de-cluttering and gardening done.

In terms of recent meals in our home (the rightful subject of this post), I'm showing highlights from the past two weeks, starting with these incredibly delicious Carrot Cake Pancakes, above, from a recipe in Isa Does It: Amazingly Easy, Wildly Delicious Vegan Recipes for Every Day of the Week. The kids said these pancakes really do taste like carrot cake, but they didn't eat a lot of them so I guess the carrots smacked of health food. More for me.

Making Mother's Day Cards With Cricut

Mother's Day is coming up on Sunday and it's time now (if we haven't yet) to think about how we are going to celebrate the moms, mothers-in-law, grandmothers and mother figures in our lives. Cards are always a nice way to share sentiments. And homemade cards are even better.

A couple of years ago, my youngest child stopped making Mother's Day cards at school. I have to say I have missed the little homemade crafts and cards the kids used to bring home. But kids who are too old to make crafts at school are old enough to make (more sophisticated) cards with Cricut. And that includes adult children, like me. This year, I made three (easy) homemade Mother's Day cards with my Cricut Explore Air™. The Cricut does all of the cutting for you (even the envelopes) so all you have to do is glue pieces together! And compose a really great greeting, of course. Here's a closer look at the cards I chose to make.

What I Ate Wednesday (A Day of Vegan Eats)

I'm on a real juicing kick of late. For the past week or so, I've left my juicer out on the counter and I make a tasty blend of fruit and vegetable juice to start my day each morning. I generally put in carrots, celery, apples, an orange and a chunk of cucumber. I've been able to continue the practice largely because I'm committed to cleaning the juicer right away after making my juice.

In the past, I've tended to give up juicing after a couple of days because of the inconvenience of cleaning the machine. But it's really not so bad if you do it relatively quickly. At least give it a quick rinse and you can clean it more thoroughly later. I feel like, since spring is finally here, it's a good time for a rebirth of sorts, ie. getting lots of fresh nutrients into this just-out-of-hibernation body. Exercise wouldn't hurt either. But that's for another day...