Hello and welcome to the weekend. There are so many yardwork jobs to get to so I will be a bit brief today. I’ve got one garden that I need to dig up from scratch, one that needs the border re-done and mulched, and a bunch of perennials that need to be split and planted elsewhere. It feels like there is never enough time in the month of May! But I know that it will all come together eventually.

I’m making Ina Garten’s famous chocolate cake for my mom this weekend and I’ll be visiting with her and their new puppy Dotty (picture below). She is a little sweetie with a lot of energy haha. Sending my love and gratitude to all of the mother figures out there and a little bit extra for the folks that are moving through grief and difficult feelings over this holiday. I see you ♥️

Love you! Take care out there.

5 Things I’m Reading:

1. The ‘We Can Do Hard Things’ Crew Is All Out of Advice via The New York Times (gift link)
2. Will I ever feel okay? via Human Stuff on Substack
3. On crystals and capitalism via Kismet Magazine
4. The Sex Lives Of Common Vegetables via Noēma
5. How to Avoid Burnout with the Middle Way via Lion’s Roar

5 Things I’m Enjoying:

1. Paul Rudd on Amy Poehler’s podcast! Cannot wait to see him in Friendship
2. Updates on sweet little Tiki are making my day every day lately. It’s the first thing I check when I look at my phone in the morning!
3. Watching: The Pitt
4. Made my banana bread with mini chocolate chips this week and it was a huge improvement on an already excellent base recipe (if I do say so myself hehe). The way they scatter throughout the loaf and sort of “melt” is so pleasant. I used all purpose flour for this particular one.
5. Treating myself to a tree-formed White Chiffon Rose of Sharon that I spotted out of the corner of my eye on a recent Canadian Tire run.

5 Questions:

1. I’d love for you to address what Substack is and why so many are pivoting to that. I haven’t quite figured out the difference between that and a blog.
   Substack is a publishing platform that is subscription based. Folks that use Substack mostly seem to use it for newsletter-style communications, but there are also podcasts and video-based media on there. They have an app where you can subscribe to a bunch of Substacks and also engage with their Twitter-like Notes feature. From my perspective in the recipe space, it is quite similar to blogging. The main difference is that it has the potential for monetization built right into its model. Creators can generate income from their content on Substack if folks sign up and pay a subscription fee. Whereas with a blog/independent website like mine, you need to boost pages that are seen in search results/gain link equity/increase clicks overall and partner with an ad network to monetize. I subscribe to a lot of great newsletters over on Substack! I can’t see myself ever moving to a platform like that though. Maybe if I started a totally different stream of content, but that’s a HUGE maybe lol. I’ve been working on improving my blog’s search ranking for years and I would like to avoid switching to a pay walled model.
2. Is there a hack for mixing up natural almond butter and keeping it mixed?
   Honestly no. I wish I had a better answer for you! When I bring almond butter home, I place the jar in my pantry upside down to get the oils mixing up a bit. When I first open it, I give it a good mix with a butter knife and then subsequently re-mix it pretty much every time I use it. I’ve read great things about this nut butter stirrer, but it just seems like it would be another gadget taking up space.
3. Any way to help homemade nut milk to not separate in coffee?
   Heating the nut milk to the same temperature as the coffee and adding liquid sunflower lecithin to the milk (after straining) can be helpful! Sometimes the amount of acid in coffee can make it split no matter what though.
4. Where are you finding inspiration for recipes lately?
   A lot of the recipes that make it here are just nicer, more defined (and tested) versions of things that I make at home. Of course all the seasonal produce coming out is a big inspiration right now. I usually start with one vegetable/fruit that I want to highlight, think of flavor pairings that I enjoy with that vegetable, and then think about how the recipe would function in someone’s life ie is it a fancy or quick dinner recipe, a side salad to go with something grilled, a potluck-appropriate thing, a grab and go breakfast etc.
5. Why can’t I prep the food as fast as your recipes predict? I’m usually at least 30-40% slower.
   I’m sorry if this has been frustrating for you. I do have a stop watch going when I run through the final version of a recipe and the times that I post are accurate to my experience. Having said that, I can move pretty fast in the kitchen and have made the recipe a few times by that point so I have a better idea of how to go from one thing to the next without pausing to read the recipe. I will try to be more mindful of this going forward! The only suggestions I can offer in the meantime: read the entire recipe and notes before starting so that you have an idea of the flow/sequence and have all of your tools/ingredients out and ready to go.

5 Seasonal Recipes:

1. Vegan Potato Salad with Dill Pickle Dressing
2. Hummus Crunch Salad
3. Vegan Kale Cobb Salad
4. Lemony Sautéed Broccolini & Green Beans with Almonds
5. Vegan Strawberry Lemonade Smoothie
6. Vegan Strawberry Crumble Muffins