Welcome to the weekend. I hope that you’ve been taking care and protecting your peace out there. Winter has been an absolute doozy for us so far this year. It feels like our whole region is encrusted with ice. I even got my car stuck in the driveway the other day! I am flipping through my gardening books with frequency these days and will be extra grateful when Spring arrives.

We’re hoping to pop out to our fave café for a coffee today if weather allows. On Sunday, there will definitely be nachos for the Kendrick Bowl. My partner and I are also getting ready for a little trip with the doggies and trying to get ahead of some stuff so that we can fully enjoy our time away. I will be deleting my social media apps for the trip and I’m very excited. Let the social media-free experiment begin!

As always, feel free to ask me a question for next week’s edition in the comments of this post or via email if that’s preferable. Big hug from me to you ♥️

5 Things I’m Reading:

1. Let Us Be Brave via Lion’s Roar
2. My nail-biting quest for confidence via Vox
3. The trouble with ‘donating our dopamine’ to our phones, not our friends via NPR
4. The mind/body revolution: how the division between ‘mental’ and ‘physical’ illness fails us all via The Guardian
5. How the Capybara Won My Heart–and Almost Everyone Else’s via The New Yorker

5 Things I’m Enjoying:

1. Science Friday podcast: Michigan-Based Team To Resuscitate Shipwrecked Rye Seeds
2. The Way Out Is In podcast: The Beauty of Imperfection
3. Super handy guide from NYT Cooking: The Easiest Way to Cook Rice and Whole Grains
4. If all of my favorite dog accounts on Insta could switch to newsletters that would be great! @colethedeafdog and @allthefosterpups bring so much light to my limited scrolling time ☺️.
5. This Gobi Manchurian recipe from Rainbow Plant Life is 100% ideal for your game day enjoyment. I’ve made it and it’s kind of wild how good it is. SO CRUNCHY ✨

5 Questions:

1. Trying to buy more Canadian-made goods these days! Any favorites?
   Love to hear it! I definitely recommend shopping local and checking out some of the independently-owned grocers, shops and farmer’s markets (when in season) in your area. The selection of locally made/grown products just tends to be better than the big box options in my experience. But some Canadian food brands that I especially love: Logan Petit Lot + Mumgry nut butters, Flourist flours and grains/beans, Yoggu coconut yogurt, Tealish + Lake & Oak tea, Zazubean Chocolate, Silver Hills sprouted grain breads, Earth’s Own alternative milks, Birch Bark Coffee, Prana Foods, Cedar Valley pita chips, Healthy Crunch, Sunflower Kitchen hummus and pesto, One Degree Organics, Second Spring Foods, Nuts For Cheese, Nature’s Path, Kozlik’s mustard, Organic Matters for bulk goods, Maison Orphée oils and salt, Giizhigat Maple Products, Wabanaki maple syrup, Kanel spices, Covered Bridge + Que Pasa chips, and so many more! Feel free to shout out your faves in the comments.
2. Do you remove the gills of a portobello mushroom or not?
   It depends on what I’m making! If I’m just chopping them up and sautéing them or using them in a soup/stew, I will leave the gills in place. If I’m stuffing the mushroom with something wet, like these grilled pizza portobellos, I will remove the gills. This stuffed portobello with cauliflower rice and tofu recipe has a relatively dry filling, so I leave them in place. Ultimately the gills hold a lot of moisture. If that’s going to be a problem for your recipe, scrape them out. If not, go ahead and leave them!
3. Do your dogs eat meat?
   Their food does have meat and fish. I know it might upset some folks out there, but it’s what’s best for them based on their health and eating history. Our vet has also approved this choice, which is important to us.
4. Why do you often include broccolini in your recipes? Why not broccoli?
   I just like it! In my everyday cooking life (away from the blog and social media) we eat a lot of broccolini. I buy it and regular broccoli pretty much every week! The long stems also just look very elegant in a recipe sometimes (like this seared broccolini with chili hazelnuts, whipped tahini & wheat berries). Pretty much any time I call for broccolini, you can substitute appropriately sized pieces of regular broccoli 🙂. Let me know if I should post more broccoli recipes!
5. My daughter has a nut and sesame allergy. What is a good substitute for sesame?
   If you’re looking to substitute tahini, I recommend an ultra smooth and fluid sunflower seed butter, like the one from 88 Acres. 88 Acres used to have a watermelon seed butter that was an excellent substitute for tahini, but unfortunately they discontinued this product. If you can find watermelon seed butter from another brand, I recommend checking it out. For replacing toasted sesame oil, I’ve seen folks recommend Perila oil, which is pressed from leaves of the perilla plant (also known as Japanese shiso, Chinese basil, and kkae-nip) and has a nutty flavor. For when sesame seeds are used as a garnish, I recommend sunflower seeds, hemp seeds, or Nigella seeds if you like that slightly toasted onion flavor.

5 Seasonal Recipes:

1. Creamy Vegan Gnocchi Skillet with Pesto, Lentils & Broccoli Rabe
2. Cauliflower & Sweet Potato Chowder
3. Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms with Cauliflower Rice, Crispy Tofu Bits & Poblano Cream
4. Hearty Mushroom & Beet Bolognese
5. Harissa Coconut Lentils with Kale & Roasted Sweet Potatoes