Woman in Real Life

If you follow my Instagram stories, you know that I now brew my own kombucha (a fermented tea beverage). I have been wanting to brew kombucha at home for a very long time. I enjoy drinking bottled commercial kombucha from the health food section of the grocery store, but it's expensive (about $4 or more per bottle). My husband and daughter like kombucha too; it gets pricey for the three of us to drink it. What stopped me from brewing kombucha earlier was that general mental barrier to starting something new. To overcome that mental block, a couple of months back I took a kombucha brewing class at my local library. The instructor sent us home with a basic kombucha recipe, tea bags and the SCOBY needed to start brewing kombucha.

Photos: Brilynn Ferguson

I've always loved the idea of getting together with friends and family for brunch - a leisurely, long meal packed with breakfasty goodies, eaten after sleeping in until 10. My mom tells me that her grandmother (in Nova Scotia) used to have people over for brunch every week after church. "They were poor people, but the baked bean pot was filled, tea biscuits made, teapot on (no coffee)," says Mom. "Probably eggs (from their own hens) and homemade condiments (beets, pickles, chow-chow). Oh yes! Always homemade bread." The coal stove kept everything warm as extended family and neighbours casually dropped in. Sounds like a beautiful way of building companionship and community, huh?

I'm definitely not that industrious. I am not efficient enough at cooking for crowds to get a weekly gathering going. But a nice brunch for the family and a few friends now and then would be lovely. I recently received a copy of  The Edgy Veg: 138 Carnivore-Approved Vegan Recipes. I was invited to share a couple of recipes with you and I settled on two fantastic brunch recipes - a vegan eggs benedict and a mimosa with a difference. Read on for the recipes, and enter to win a copy of the book.

Happy What I Ate Wednesday! So far I haven't made any Christmas cookies. If I had, I would be forced to show you lots of photos of all the cookies I nibbled on while I was baking. That's still to come.

In the meantime, a look at some of the stuff I ate this week. 

I like my smoothies to be a little (or a lot) sweet. So, rather than going totally green, I added a bit of veg and a lot of fruit to my breakfast smoothie today. The result is this delicious yet healthy green-ish smoothie.