Hello and welcome to another Saturday catch up! The weather has been dreary and cold here, but things are looking up this weekend. I’m hoping to get outside to clean up the extra brush and do some light pruning. We’re also ordering wood for our raised veggie beds project!

We have a family gathering to go to this weekend and we’re trying a new-ish restaurant as well. I also want to hit the gym and so some light meal component prep for the week. Typically I wash and cut berries, melon/pineapple, broccoli/cauliflower, kale, squash etc and mix up a bean or lentil salad. It takes me about 1.5 hours if I really focus and it’s sooo helpful for quick lunches and getting dinner going throughout the week.

Hope you’re keeping well out there! Feel free to email me questions for future editions, or leave them in the comments if that works for you. Sending a hug your way ♥️

5 Things I’m Reading:

1. Meet the Butterflies Thriving While the World Convulses via The New York Times (gift link)
2. in defense of moss via Pizza Friday by Front Yard Veggies on Substack (my favorite newsletter these days!)
3. How To Create A Digital Minimalism Practice And Protect Your Mental Peace via The Good Trade
4. Does Luck Exist? via New York Magazine
5. A skeptic’s guide to quitting your smartphone via Vox

5 Things I’m Enjoying:

1. Making chai concentrate this weekend so that I can enjoy frothy dirty chai lattes with soy milk all week (diry chai = chai latte with a shot of espresso)
2. Learning so much about veg gardening from Huw Richards on YouTube
3. Clive Nichols’ garden photography keeps reeling me back to Instagram
4. I loved this episode of The Way Out Is In podcast: Zen: Meaning in Simplicity
5. Purdy’s sent me all of their vegan Easter chocolate offerings this week, which was so sweet (😉) of them. For my Canadian pals, you truly cannot do better than their black salt caramels and the sweet Georgia browns. So good!!

5 Questions:

1. Curious if you have a favorite tofu press?
   I don’t really press tofu anymore! I prefer the hot salted water soaking method outlined in this recipe. Sometimes you do need to press a block of tofu though. I love this one by Tofuture and it’s sold through lots of different online retailers.
2. How do you store banana, lemon etc loaves after baking?
   I take them out of the loaf pan and wrap them loosely in aluminum foil or beeswax wrap. All of my loaf recipes are pretty moist, so I avoid any storage situation that is air tight.
3. How do you pick yourself up when you fall off of healthy routines for too long?
   Just start with one small thing to jump back in again and don’t be too hard on yourself. Sometimes taking a break from our habits can be the healthiest choice in the moment. If you’re mad at yourself all day for not fitting in all 5 components of your morning routine, are those practices really serving you? Ultimately on any given day, I know what I need to do to feel good and if I can get it in, I get it in. If I can’t, I try again next time. Sometimes the rigidity we have around routines can get in the way of touching the real intention behind it all.
4. Who are some of your favorite Canadian food and nutrition content creators?
   @urbanfarmandkitchen, @stemsandforks, @livingkitchenco, @saltnpepperhere, @dialaskitchen, @desireenielsenrd, @eatwithafia, @mynewroots, @nicoleosinga_rd, @hello.fran.allen, and @maplechutney
5. Looking for a homemade salad dressing to compliment spring produce?
   Either the sweet mustard dressing in this salad recipe or the spicy almond dressing from this power salad recipe. I’m resurrecting the spicy almond dressing in a salad coming up next week 😉. Also: mint poppy seed dressing is a good one for this time of year!

5 Seasonal Recipes:

1. Crispy Sesame Garlic Tofu
2. Smoky Grilled Beets with Mint & Parsley Pistachio Pesto
3. Creamy Mustard Slaw
4. Spring Rice Noodle Salad with Chili Maple Peanuts, Celery & Peas
5. Rhubarb Mango Crumble with Almond Coconut Topping