It’s Earth Day weekend! I hope that you’ll have a chance to spend time outside basking in our planet’s abundant gifts. Earth day really is every day for as long as we’re alive and calling this place home. We’re so fortunate to be sharing this place, and to be taking up its care during our lifetime together!

I am spending time in the garden this weekend planting those gorgeous hellebores that you see above (my mom got them for me 🥰), weeding, digging up a few things, and making tidy edges around some of the beds. We also need to do some power washing and rock border/patio stone reconfiguration, but we’ll see how much we can get up to. There’s supposed to be one full day of rain and I’m heading out to one of the local wineries with family Sunday afternoon–the one we’re going to has lovely vegan menu options, so I’ll share the goods on Instagram.

We’re also pulling out the Blackstone and cleaning it up along with the BBQ this weekend hopefully. Any fellow Blackstone cooks out there? I honestly struggle with what to make on it from a plant-based perspective! It’s great for stir fries, pancakes, breakfast potatoes, and veggie burgers… but I’m a bit stumped otherwise. Let me know in the comments if you have some suggestions. Otherwise, be well and take care!

5 Things I’m Reading:

1. Earth Day Is The Victim Of Its Own Success
2. Want to sequester carbon? Save wild animals.
3. There’s no ‘magic number’ for forming a new habit, says study
4. ChatGPT Will Change Housework
5. Are you ready to forgive? A new study shows letting go is good for health.

5 Things I’m Enjoying:

1. Frog Decor Is Living in My Head Rent-Free
2. Another great episode of The Way Out Is In: Zen and the Art of Saving the Planet (the book that this episode is based on strikes that crucial intersection of informational and positive/optimistic)
3. Cannot wait to try Limonada with condensed coconut milk
4. Finally caved and got the PictureThis app for plant identification, history, care tips etc and it is incredible. I wish I had downloaded it earlier.
5. I don’t watch much reality TV, but I absolutely LOVE The Traitors

5 Questions:

1. What are your recipe instruction pet peeves?
   When the ingredients aren’t listed in the order of when they appear in the recipe… this always gets me mixed up and makes the cooking process feel chaotic. The other thing that I find frustrating is when there are minimal to zero visual/aroma/texture cues. It’s fine to say that something will take about 20 minutes in the oven, but what am I looking for at that point? What degree of browning? What’s the doneness? Should it smell a certain way? Is there a texture change occurring over those 20 minutes? Maybe my oven is a bit wonky (it is lol) and doesn’t perform to the same standard as the recipe author’s! Descriptive cues that appeal to multiple senses = cooking confidence.
2. What do you eat for breakfast during a typical week?
   I usually do a smoothie! My go-to is loosely based on this peanut butter vanilla green shake (I’ve been adding wheat bran, broccoli sprouts, and a few other things lately). When we have local fruit in the summer, I like doing overnight oats with some nut butter drizzled on top and diced fruit. Sometimes I just like toast with peanut butter and sliced banana too :)
3. What are you home growing this year?
   We’re putting a veg garden in a temporary spot this summer! Hoping to do lacinato kale, Boston lettuce, arugula, 3 different types of tomatoes, hot peppers, Japanese eggplant, and plenty of culinary and tea-centric herbs.
4. Do you worry about over consuming soy?
   I do not! I eat tofu or tempeh once a week, enjoy edamame often, frequently season with Tamari and miso, and I have soy milk regularly. All of that is accompanied by a wide variety of plant-based foods. I think there’s a lot of sensational commentary about soy online from self-styled nutrition “experts” with zero training or background. On social media, I see a lot of fear mongering with certain foods and ingredients. Folks take one study (or one paragraph in a study) that suits their own brand/angle, and then they finesse it and make their message as clickbait-y as possible. I find it to be a bit exhausting. My friend Desiree Nielsen is a registered dietician that talks about nutrition in a balanced and informative way. I highly recommend this episode of her podcast with Dr. Matthew Nagra ND: Everything You Need to Know About Soy.
5. Favourite strawberry recipe? I just picked a ton!
   I am so jealous. We’re about 6 weeks out from homegrown strawberries here. But we are lucky to have decent hothouse ones in Ontario all year, so I can’t complain. I recommend my strawberry crumble muffins. To me, this is the perfect muffin. Loaded with juicy fruit, perfect sweetness level, and an irresistible buttery-crunchy top!