Beating the Winter Blues

If there is one nice thing about winter, its taking a little walk after a snowstorm and seeing all the freshly fallen snow. I took Whiskey to the park yesterday and it was blindingly white, but also incredibly quiet and serene.

In the summer, this place is packed with people picnicking all day, but right now its quiet and empty. The only evidence of anyone coming through here is the tracks that go from the sidewalks over to the little hill that kids like to toboggan down.

All this grey and white winter weather can also make it easy to get a little down. While picking up groceries, I grabbed a $10 bouquet of flowers to add some colour to the apartment. Its amazing what a pick-me-up fresh flowers can be. Even Whiskey likes to stick his nose in and smell them.

I'm hoping to keep this tradition up for the next few months until the flowers in the garden are ready for clipping. Spending $5-10 a month on a small bouquet or a little houseplant isn't much, but its worth it to come home to it every day.

What do you do to help beat the winter blues?

Hibernation

Every morning I try to remember to make my bed so that it is nice and neat for when I get home. But sometimes I have a problem getting out all of the "lumps".

See this little bump?

No matter how I move it around, I can't seem to get it out of the bed. After some poking, prodding and the promise of "treats", the "lump" finally emerged....

It was none other than my super lazy pup, Whiskey. It gets harder and harder to get him out of bed in the winter.

For a dog that spends his whole day sleeping at the office, you would think he wouldn't have so much trouble getting up in the morning.

Look at that "bedhead". He usually has perky ears, but you can always tell when he has been sleeping under covers when you see these floppy little things.

I can guarantee you that the second that I walk out of the room, he'll be back under the covers. Wish I could join him!

Genoa Salami and Red Wine Risotto

I am a huge fan of risotto, but not of the crazy prices that you pay for it at restaurants. It take a little time, but making it at home is worth the effort. I love to make it when I have company coming over, so that I don't get tempted to eat the whole pot over a weekend!

This recipe is adapted from an article that I read in Reader's Digest. Its a basic risotto, but the addition of the red wine and salami give it a unique taste.

Adding the salami was similar to adding the pancetta like I did in the Summer Pea and Pancetta Risotto. I know that plenty of people out there are vegetarian (like my sister. Hey Sis!), but I love adding a little bit of meat flavour.

What you'll need:
1 large Onion, chopped finely
1/3 cup Butter
2 cups Arborio rice, not rinsed
1 cup Red Wine
284 ml can of Beef Bouillon
4 cups water
300 g Genoa salami, casing removed, sliced in thin strips
4 tbsp Pecorino Romano cheese, grated
Salt, to taste

In a large dutch oven, melt 3 tbsp of butter.

Saute onion until soft.

Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan bring water and bouillon to a boil. Reduce the heat and keep at a simmer.

To the large pot, add rice and stir for 2 minutes to coat each grain with butter.

Moving Mayhem

It would be an understandment to say that my next few days are going to be chaotic. I'm in the midst of packing up my office to move into a new smaller space about a third of the size.

Its taken me a couple of weeks to get this fortress of boxes ready to move and I'm not looking forward to lugging all of theses down to a moving truck, and then across the city, only to move them up more stairs.

The past few days I have been daydreaming about being Samantha in Betwitched and just being able to move the whole mess with only the twitch of a nose. That would be amazing.

I'm sure that Whiskey would prefer it that way as well. Just me packing up the boxes seems to have been stressing him out enough as it is, so he'll be spending the next few days cuddled up at home while the rest of us schlep everything across the city.

Just looking at this picture of what still needs to be packed (the computer, the binders, the dividers, posters off the walls, etc) is making my stomach flip. I'm heading out to take an hour off for a much needed Hot Yoga class and then I'm coming back to tackle this with a clear head. Wish me luck!

Happy Robbie Burns Day!

Some of you are probably wondering what I'm talking about....

Robert Burns is a famous 18th century Scottish poet who's birthday is celebrated worldwide on January 25th.

A song/poem by him that many of you may know is Auld Lang Syne, which is often sung on New Years Eve. Although its a little different from the original, I personally love this rock version that the Red Hot Chili Peppers do in concert!

Tonight is the second year in a row that my friends here in Toronto have gotten together to celebrate the Scottish holiday. Although you traditionally serve Haggis today, I just don't have it in me to cook anything inside a sheep's stomach. You can see a video of Burns' "Ode to Haggis" on YouTube.

I was up early this morning chopping vegetables and browning some meat for a nice big beef stew that will do its thing all day while I'm at the office. I love using my crockpot and coming home to the smell of a delicious dinner already done!

I'm also trying out a new recipe for rutabaga baked with apples. Looks yummy and if it turns out well, I'll post it here.

And of course a Scottish night would not be complete without some whiskey. Both the liquor kind and the pup :)

All day I know that I'll be thinking about getting home to celebrate with everyone. Hopefully its one of those days that I'm so busy that it just whizzes by!

Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Stevia Protein Muffins

Lately I have been trying to increase my protein consumption and have been getting a little sick of egg white omlettes in the morning, so I decided to do some experimenting with baking using protein powder. Waking up to the delicious smell of freshly baked muffins in the morning was such a treat.If you don't want to use protein powder in these muffins, you can substitute it with more oats and flour.

Another addition I made was continuing my baking adventures with stevia. I've had some real trial-and-error recipes using this stuff and its taken a little while to get used to it, but I'm really starting to come around to liking stevia. The trick seems to be not to use just stevia, but to mix it with sugar or sugar sources into the recipes. You'll use less sugar, but still have plenty of sweetness. In lieu of sugar in this recipe, I used apples and raisins. Very tasty!

What you'll need:
3/4 cup Rolled Oats
3/4 cup Whole Wheat Flour
1/2 cup Protein Powder
1/2 tsp Salt
3 tsp Baking Powder
2 tsp Cinnamon
1/2 tsp Nutmeg
1 1/2 tsp Stevia
3/4 cup Milk
1/4 cup Oil
2 Egg
1 medium Apple, peeled, cored and chopped
3/4 cup Raisins

Preheat oven to 400°F

In a medium bowl, mix oats, flour, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and stevia with a fork until well blended.

In a large bowl, mix together milk, oil, egg, apple and raisins.

To Each His Own Mug

I love a good cup of herbal tea, especially on a cold winter morning. That is why I was incredibly excited when I got a little red Le Creuset teapot, to match my beloved dutch oven. I had visions of steaming cups of tea the second that I opened it.

 

You see,  I’m not a coffee person. I’ve admitted this before. Unfortunately, my boyfriend is one. He has to walk down the street to pick some up at a café any time he needs a fix and the hostess in me just didn’t sit well with this.

I wanted to find a solution that didn’t take up much of my valuable counter space and was small enough to fit in the cupboard. I was lucky, and was able to find a Bodom Brazil 3-Cup Glass Coffee Press, which he loves. This handy little device turned out to make exactly one cup of coffee. If I’d known that, I might have gone up one size bigger so that he could have more than one cup at a time. Thankfully, it only takes 4 minutes to make another one, so it isn’t the end of the world.

One of our favorite rituals we have is to put the kettle on first thing in the morning and make tea and coffee to share at the coffee table while we watch the morning news programs. Whiskey likes to cuddle up in between us too. What a nice way to start the day!

Its -20 today in Toronto (-30 with the wind chill!), so I am planning to stay indoors all day with a nice cup of tea. When the weather is like this, I have no desire to leave the warmth and comfort of the apartment. Its just tooooo cold. Hope that you're all having a nice, relaxing, warm weekend. Check back tomorrow for the recipe for the Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Stevia Protein Muffins from the first picture. They're a great way to up your protein intake in the morning!

Warm on the Inside and Cold on the Outside

This past weekend I was back in my hometown for the wedding, I took the time to enjoy the beautiful winter white of the country.

Despite the bitter cold weather, I bundled up to go walk around the property and see the freshly fallen snow…..which was up to my knees! Talk about a workout!

I had two friends who were more than eager to join in for a walk. I love how even on his hind legs, Whiskey isn’t as tall as Shadow. Poor guy just can’t compete.

Shadow loves the freedom of running around in the yard, bounding through the snow.

Cookie Dough Ice Cream Pie

This is one of my favorite recipes that I have made in the past year. So decadent, but it still reminds me of my childhood love of chocolate chip cookie dough. Who am I kidding. I still love eating cookie dough.

I made this for my boyfriend's birthday and he went crazy for it. The crunchy crust, chewy dough and creamy ice cream makes it a delicious dessert. Its sure to please!

What you'll need:
1/4 cup Butter, softened
2 tbsp White Sugar
1/4 cup Brown Sugar, packed
1 tbsp Milk
1/4 tsp Vanilla Extract
1/2 cup + 1 tbsp All-Purpose Flour
1/2 tsp Salt
1/4 cup Mini Semisweet Chocolate Chips
1 Chocolate Cookie Pie Crust (I used Keebler, but you could also use Oreo)
3 cups Chocolate Chip Ice Cream, softened
1/2 cup Chocolate Fudge Ice Cream Sauce, heated

In a large bowl, mix butter, sugar and brown sugar until creamy. Add milk and vanilla, mixing until well blended.

In a small bowl, mix flour and salt. Mix dry ingredients into wet ingredients.

Stir in mini chocolate chips.

Spread cookie dough evening along the bottom of the Oreo crust, pressing it in.

A Trip to Ottawa

Earlier this week I had to travel to Ottawa (our nation's capital) for work, and despite the -24°C weather I knew that I had to walk around and enjoy some of the beautiful architecture.

Its been years since I've been here, but I can still picture how gorgeous it is in the summer with all the luscious gardens and parks. The bonus in the winter is that you can skate down the Rideau Canal, but unfortunately I forgot skates and it was a wee bit too cold to venture too far out on the ice.

One of my favorite parts of Ottawa are these great maps that are located around the downtown.

All of the key buildings are shown in a much smaller scale and it gives you a great impression of the city's layout.

Its fun to look down at the small scale....

...and then look up to see the real thing.

I was only in town for less than 24 hours, but I took full advantage of the time that I was there. I finished my meetings in the early afternoon and used the rest of it to explore around downtown, popping into shops here and there. In the evening I had the pleasure of meeting up with two of my roommates from university and having a wonderful dinner together in the fun Byward Market area. Now that we live 5 hours apart, we don't get to see each other as often, so getting to catch up was a real treat. I'm thinking I'll have to make a trip back in the summer when there is nicer weather!

A Winter Wedding

It may have been a cold outside over the weekend, but inside there was a party heating up for my friends’ Sadie and Trevor.  On a crisp January afternoon, these two lovely people became man and wife! Its still so crazy to say it out loud.

The wedding was beautifully decorated, and I'll get to more on that further down in the post, but first I want to share some photos from the ceremony.

The ceremony was held at a big church, with a packed crowd, eager to see these two lovebirds tie the knot. When the bride arrived everyone was beaming. She looked so pretty and incredibly happy.

I love this photo, because this is the exact moment that she saw all of us in the pews. It captures all the happiness that just seemed to be bubbling over her.

The reception was held at a nearby banquet hall, gorgeously decorated in lovely blues and white, with delicate snowflakes everywhere. The head table was gorgeous with fluffy tulle with little lights under it, looking like freshly fallen snow.

From afar, this crystal garland and lights looked incredibly enchanting in amongst the tulle "snow".