cranberry citrus bundt // cinnamon glaze

bundt- a funny little word isn't it?

there is just something about a bundt cake that hollers holiday right at you -

 in nice and wonderful way of course

i had a morning free from work the yesterday and decided it would be fun to cram in as many things possible for me to complete with just four hours - yeah that is my idea of crazy fun

9 times out of 10 it ends up just plain crazy without the fun

this was the exception though - i was able to :

go to the gym

make the fabulous cake you see here today

and make it to work on time with said fabulous cake

i say that is a win-win for everyone involved

hunters stew // ciabatta croutons

hunters stew

an odd thing for a vegan to recreate

when making this stew, i was thinking of what it would be like to live in a cabin in the middle of the woods with a wood stove to cook over and a perfectly seasoned cast iron dutch oven and frying pan

i think i would like to live like this -

i think this until i remember:

a. i don't like smelling like woodsmoke

b. i don't like lugging firewood

a perfect stew for cold winters - a warm satisfying weekend meal you can share with friends

with or with out the wood burning fireplace

maple molasses oatmeal boule

let me share a secret with you, that's right a little closer

shh...are you ready

homemade bread is my ultimate weakness

i can put away an entire, still warm from the oven loaf of bread by myself in a day

for me, the entire process of bread making is very full filling and relaxing

don't believe me?

never tried bread making before?

yes. making homemade bread takes a little time, however

like with most wonderful things in life a little effort & time goes a long way

once you see how simple bread making can be, you will become a bread making fool

i guarantee it

tourtière

i am as french - canadian as you can get...well 50%

the other 1/2 - irish & english

i have a pepe and had a great meme

this recipe is in memory of our meme - my aunts have worked really hard to recreate the recipe that they remember her by, she never wrote down the original - they are pretty much spot on
A tourtière is a meat pie originating from Quebec, usually made with minced pork and/or veal, or beef. It is a traditional part of the Christmas and/or Christmas Eve réveillon and New Year's Eve meal in Quebec, Tourtière is not exclusive to Quebec. Tourtière is a traditional French-Canadian dish served by generations of French-Canadian families throughout Canada and the bordering areas of the United States

this year we had our first ever Houle Family Pork Pie Cook Off - vegan versus traditional

my goal - to prove a vegan pork pie could taste just as good as the original

chocolate spotted cinnamon rolls

since i can remember, cinnamon rolls have been a christmas morning tradition

my sister and i would wake up super early to quietly tear into our stockings, trying desperately to hold back our squeals of excitement

 a few hours later when the sun began to rise we would wake up mom and dad - shortly after hot cocoa and fresh from the oven cinnamon rolls would be ready for our little hands

all grown up now this is my "grown up" version of christmas morning cinnamon rolls - this version has been our tradition for the past six years

these cinnamon rolls never fail to impress - absolutely amazing

sea salted oatmeal stout brownie bites

it is my sisters fault that i am obsessed with trader joes

the very first thing we do after picking me up from the airport is to shop at trader joes

i love everything about that store

this is where she introduced me to sea salted brownie bites - can you say amazing!

of course, that is where the inspiration for this recipe came from - you can thank my sister

after one bite you will want to marry her for inspiring this recipe

gingerbread millet muffins

christmas trees, sugar cookies and gingerbread men - i love this time of year

what better way to kick off the holiday season than with a gingerbread muffin

shh... can you keep a secret?

you won't believe it, but this muffin is healthy

- perfect to balance out the million cookies and treats that i am bound to indulge in everyday leading up to christmas

a muffin with holiday flavors - made with a little birdseed

(millet- bet you didn't know it was for the birds too!)

totally a hippy muffin

roasted garlic potato bisque // scape pesto

i should rename this post "the worlds cheapest soup"

one of the easiest & tastiest soups i have ever made

i could eat this every day and would be a very very happy girl

smelling like garlic may not win me many friends, but at the very least i would have a belly full of warm delicious soup

turtle cheesecake

i think i over did it this thanksgiving

every year i prepare a thanksgiving dinner that would easily feed 15 people, in reality there are only 2 of us ( insert the song just the 2 of us) - we do have an open door policy, anyone who wants to celebrate the best day of the year vegan style is more than welcome to join us

my family is scared of a vegan thanksgiving - they cannot fathom the idea of thanksgiving without a turkey...well actually my uncle mike is all about a vegan t-day however we are lacking in the football category- we have 2 strikes against us

no turkey

no cable for football

but what we do have is delicious turtle cheesecake amongst 3 other desserts, copious amounts of food and a small microbrewery - justins contribution to thanksgiving

delicata rissoles // maple cream

what's a rissole? the name comes from the french word rissoler, meaning "to brown."

don't you feel fancy just seeing that word - sometimes we all need a little fancy in our lives

delicata rissoles were not on my original menu for thanksgiving, however after making & devouring a sample on wednesday they were too good not grace the thanksgiving table

mmm hmmm - i know it is shocking, but i actually deviated from my pre-planned for over a month, strategically assembled thanksgiving menu

potato + arugula pizza // spelt oatmeal crust

did you know that every friday is "pizza friday" at our house

yes i know, we are so exciting

this pizza will definitely excite you - as i am writing this i really wish i polishing off another one of these amazing pizza's

this is definitely not what you consider a normal pizza - thus allowing you to enjoy the entire pizza guilt free; well almost guilt free, it's not as if this is a magical pizza

chocolate pear bundts // frangelico caramel icing

i wasn't quite sure how this recipe was going to turn out

the idea sounded great - chocolate, pears baked into min bundt cakes topped with hazelnuts

these cuties turned out better than i expected - it was love at first bite

butternut squash + apple bisque

for me apples & butternut squash are the epitome of fall

together they form a beautiful & satisfying soup

truth: i would have eaten the entire soup pot had i not restrained myself

yes, yes indeed - this soup is that good

cinnamon spiced whole wheat pancakes

i confess - i tweaked my pancake recipe a bit

...even though i wrote in an earlier post "don't change what works - stick with the classic"

it just so happens this works too - i am allowed one take back aren't i ?

with the addition of whole wheat flour these pancakes pack a bit more nutritional punch 

than just ap flour alone

counter balancing the delicious caramelized apples that are going to top your pancakes

not to mention the pure nh maple syrup you doused them in too

gotta add healthy in there somewhere - apples & whole wheat flour do the job nicely

cinnnamon raisin peanut butter cookies

i write allot about peanut butter - my love for pb has yet to fade

classic peanut butter cookies with a little twist - cinnamon & raisins

certainly if you prefer not to stray away from the classic, regular peanut butter can be used

go on be daring, climb out on a limb, take a chance- go for the little twist

split pea soup

i have been m.i.a

sorry about that - october has been a blur

i usually don't get too personal on this blog....in october i lost my grandfather- this was my very first loss

he was the greatest - we were fortunate to grow up with him living right downstairs from us for the first

8 years of my life

my dad tells me my grandpa would make pea soup with leftover ham bones - he liked to cook

our tradition when i was little was spaghetti dinners - he would let me stir the big pot of sauce and would always make sure to leave the onions out specially for me - my grandpa was good at that, always making me feel special

so this pea soup recipe was made in his honor- he lived a wonderful life, and fought a good fight

...and i must say, i make this pea soup often and this time around the flavors were amazing!

candy apples

warm days

cold nights

fall is officially here

that of course calls for candy apples - your not so traditional, but still oh so good candy apple

who likes to stay within the box all the time - that's no fun

layer on the goodness

you'll be glad you did-  your friends will be pretty happy too, that is if you decide to share

new england apple crisp pie

fall is my absolutely favorite time of year

sweaters, riding boots, crisp new england air

the changing over from one season to the next is always exciting and each season has something unique in itself to look forward to

in the fall, that one thing i look forward to the most is apple picking

beet + corn salsa

 its been a while

but i have a good excuse

i have been elbow deep in tomatoes & end of summer goodness from the garden

this time of year you will find me in the kitchen canning summer's bounty to enjoy all winter long

nothing beats opening a jar of salsa in the middle of winter ...or sauce, jam, pickles

and savouring the tastes of summer

a  few steam burns on the knuckles and scalding water down leg (apparently i did not learn my lesson from canning strawberry jam) is a small price to pay for a ticket back to summer when i need it most - in the middle of a new england winter

being able to preserve summers bounty, in my book is priceless

fridge pickles

this year marks the first year that cucumbers have actually grown to be more than pretty green vines that shrivel away come august in my own garden

next to a tomato fresh from the garden, cukes are second to hold a big piece of my heart

i found myself with a quite a few cucumbers on my hands this weekend

too hot to can, these cukes were quickly turned into refrigerator pickles

peanut butter + jelly cupcakes

i had this past friday morning off- anytime i have a morning free, to me it is like a mini vacation

i went to the gym

enjoyed breakfast in the backyard with my pup along with a cup of tea & the paper;

my morning ritual when time allows

and did i mention that i made the most amazing peanut butter & jelly cupcakes - all before 11:00am

purple + golden plum blueberry clafouti

friday nights are usually pizza fridays

this past friday it was the usual for justin , large cheese- but for me it was clafouti night

say it with me

 kla-foo-tee

it's kinda fun to say, isn't it? well, i think so

what's not fun about having dessert for dinner?

cucumber + zucchini summer salsa

fact - i took 4 years of spanish

fact - i was addicted to my aunt shelly's chicken enchiladas (well, everyone in my family still is)

fact - my mom & dad ate chips and salsa every single night...they liked to warm their salsa in the microwave, is anybody else weird like that?

i am a fan of mixing salsa into my tofu scramble & omelets, topping burgers and loading up anything that includes daiya & a tortilla

heirloom tomato bruschetta

in my last post i clearly professed my love for tomatoes - so there really is no need to go on about it here

straight forward bruschetta is the best

made prettier with yellow & not quite red, not quite pink tomatoes

as my cousin put it best the other night

"these totally taste like summer" -sam

and i couldn't agree with her more

summer tomato panzanella skewers

august + tomatoes = love

i am in love with august for the simple fact that she gives us an endless supply of tomatoes throughout the last of summers months

i could eat tomatoes & cucumbers all summer long and be happy

oh brandywine i swoon over you

this time around i fell for a little basket of heirloom cherries - on a lower shelf at picnic rock, tucked away for the night, they caught my eye.

needless to say they were mine, love at first sight and coming home with me that very night

the cutest little carton of cherries sat on my counter for a few days- they were almost too cute to eat

but their destiny became clear the next day - with multiple family bbq's ahead i saw a panzanella future ahead for these cuties

peach almond upside down cake

growing up, pineapple upside ~ down cake was a staple in our house

what's not to love about an upside down cake - just sweet enough cake over caramelized fruit and sugar .....to me this cake belongs to the 80's, but after a little research the upside down cake has been around a whole lot longer - since 1924!

pure genius adding in the maraschino cherry - give that lady a super high five for creativity

home style baked onion rings

cravings for me come out of no where - like driving down the road heading back from joseph & the technicolor dream coat play that your friend was in , dreaming about ice cold beer & onion rings.

i couldn't stop thinking about onion rings - crispy, chewy, crunchy.

yep. that would describe the perfect ring.

we had one onion ready (shout out to matt, this is one of your baby onions; it survived!) in the garden

justin was dying to pull it - he pretty much asked me everyday if & when he could

my original grand plan was to use all the onions grown for salsa - problem was this onion was massive, and was ready to be plucked from the earth

thus the baked onion ring was born

Mount Cardigan

this post has been long over due, considering we hiked mount cardigan on july 3rd and it is now august 10th; yikes!

for those of you unfamiliar the cardigan trail here are a few fun facts:

AMC Outdoors , June 2005

Difficulty: Strenuous

Distance: 5.6 miles

Elevation Gain: 1,950 feet

Estimated Time: 4-1/2 hours

Highlight: One of the best places to be in New Hampshire, with its 360-degree views and open ridge walks.



blueberry muffins // almond crumb topping

slacker- i am.

i haven't posted in over a week

i am not sure if it is the heat or just pure laziness

but here i am finally; at least with an amazing recipe to share

last thursday, once again while picking up my weekly csa share at picnic rock (if you haven't gone and visited ginny & ward "lauchie" bird  at picnic rock you must! they have the best little farm stand in town and are the nicest, most down to earth family you will ever meet)....anyways like a replay of last thursday i found myself with the perfect little carton of local blueberries callin' my name trying to convince me to bring them home

i didn't need much convincing - i am a sucker for blueberries

cherry berry crisp

the farm stand is an addiction- i could have worse addictions i suppose

i went to picnic rock to pick up my first CSA of the year (yay!) practically shouting out at me from the farm stand sign was "LOCAL CHERRIES" - i was so excited i am pretty sure i almost took out a family pulling into picnic rock

i am a sucker for anything local, super cute, red, sweet & tasty

i also left with a locally made Belgian chocolate cheesecake for justin- but that is a whole other story

strawberry jam

for me, the best part of june in new england is strawberry season. there is about a 2-3 week window to get your pick on and that timeline all depends on miss mother nature.

this year she gave us about 2 weeks and i just made it.

my mom earned the official "top strawberry picker" of the year award- she picked those berries like it was nobodys business; yeah i've said it before, she is the best.

July Garden

it has been about 6 weeks since my last garden update back on memorial day weekend. since that post the garden has come to life and is bursting at the seams.

it is amazing to see how a little seed grows big & strong with the capability of providing us with amazing fruits & veggies

so come on through and take a look at what's been growing (and not growing) in my garden

carob cashew bites

sweet but not overly sweet

chewy, almost fudgy

healthified fudge.....have i ever mentioned i really *dislike* that word healthified-  i do , i really, really do but for the life of me i cannot think of another word

goodified...nah that doesn't sound right

we'll stick with healthified for now

coconut macaroons

sometimes we all want to be a wannabe- the spice girls even made a song about it

this is the story about coconut who envied banana who was the biggest wannabe in town; coconut wanted to be part of the wannabe crowd; coconut debuted as the wannabe macaroon without all that eggy business

in walks almond who wants some of the macaroon action

partnered together they made the cutest & tastiest little coconut macaroons all without turning on the oven

blueberry peach galette

Movin' to the country I'm gonna eat a lot of peaches Movin' to the country I'm gonna eat a lot of peaches I'm movin to the country gonna eat a lot of peaches Movin' to the country gonna eat a lot of peaches 

i totally sang this song while making the galette- you would too. i remember when this song first came out, tell me again why it was such a big ht- oh that's right because you hear it  once and you can't help but sing along and keep singing and singing and singing...even mr spencer my big orange cat was singing along.

baby spinach + cherry salad // maple balsamic vinaigrette

 healthy eats- springtime treats- okay that was a bit corny, not corny in a way a corn dog is but corny as in dorky. 98% percent of the time i eat very balanced and healthy diet, first glance of this blog one would think otherwise with all the chocolaty treats that seem to find their way into my posts. i am certainly a believer that a well rounded diet and lifestyle always, I mean ALWAYS has room for dessert or something sweet to end the day. but this post is featuring the flip side; my crunchy, green & raw side- that kinda makes me sound like a hippy biker dude or a rabbit.

hiking with friends

"Let us be grateful to people who make us happy, they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom"
Marcel Proust.

justin and i had finally freed up sometime last weekend for hiking with our friends jaime and mel. jaime & mel had the day planned for us, all we had to do was show up. it was great spending time with them- it is easy for me to get into a routine and stick with that routine for months at a time, easy for me to forget how important it is to spend time with friends. this weekend reminded me how good it feels not be always be so structured and take a day or two not planning out my entire day and having the need to always cross that last thing off my list before i can relax. the reality is there will always be a list, there will always be one more thing to do. i have come to realize it doesn't need to get done right that very minute, the world is not going to end if i didn't vacuum the floor or put away the clean dishes. i am becoming more aware that those little moments of doing nothing are just as important if not more important than those moments of doing something.

no bake chocolate peanut butter banana cookies- cpbb's

have you noticed a trend- i really like chocolate, peanut butter & banana's

i bought a case of dark chocolate dreams peanut butter- yeah i needed a case

i have an english muffin with peanut butter ( dark chocolate dreams, cinnamon raisin swirl or white chocolate pb) everyday (except sunday) with a banana

i HOARD banana's just ask justin- he told me to stop hoarding and start eating my stockpile

 i eat peanut butter by the spoonful at my desk

yeah you could say i have a peanut butter, banana chocolate addiction

these cookies support my addiction -
and  you don't need to turn the oven on to create these tasty treats; bonus!
i also made some pretty rad peanut butter chocolate cupcakes (you heard right, i said rad admit it you say rad all the time too), but we're talking cookies not cupcakes today, lets save the cupcakes for another day- go on an start your own banana peanut butter chocolate addiction, you won't be sorry!

may flowers & {diy} chalkboard garden markers

this weekend was chock full of seedlings, mulch, weeding, crushing of cutworms and plenty of sun. it is amazing how quickly may's garden takes form after a wet, cold spring bringing with it loads of color, lush green growth and towards the end a perfect planting day for the garden. after months of tending to the start of the garden in the seed house, then to the greenhouse it was time to introduce the kids to the great wide open- or in this case a nice warm raised bed full of organic compost & pro-mix where they will fight for survival against the elements, cutworms, cucumber beetles, raccoon's & skunks- its no easy feat surviving those first few weeks, but with a little help from me & mother nature most of them will make it.

"cookie dough" blizzards

when i was growing up the official start of summer was marked by the opening of dairy queen- you could hear the buzz around town "only 5 more days until dairy queen opens, that means it is almost summer!", the owners would begin the count down until opening day on the marquis for all to see-the line on that first day would be nearly a mile long, everyone looking to get their ice cream fix after a cold & snowy new england winter. ask each person what their favorite first of the season treat is and you are sure to get a different answer from everyone- my dad; peanut buster parfait or a dilly bar, my mom the same, she loves the spanish peanuts that adorn the top of the buster- sometimes she would go with a twist cone, my sister a cone with the red dipped hard candy shell and my choice; almost always a blizzard- snickers, butterfinger or cookie dough!

mushroom stroganoff

when i was younger it was a rare occasion that my mom would treat us to a box of hamburger helper- more often than not it was  when my dad went off to his boys only camping weekend in the fall and us girls where home for our own girls weekend. it was tradition for us to go to the grocery store and pick out any item our hearts desired for dinner - our 2 top picks. hamburger helper and chicken pot pie; why these 2 things you ask? first my dad loathes peas and pre-made chicken pot pies ALWAYS has peas & he thinks hamburger helper is disgusting. growing up i never paid any attention to ingredients, my mom cooked 90% of our meals from scratch, convenience foods for dinner were far and few between. once i grew up a bit i realized hamburger helper was filled with not to good for you ingredients along with more ingredients than i care to count. so i graduated to the grown up version- annie's homegrown beef stroganoff, at $4.79 a box it was a bit more than i wanted to pay. thus deciding how hard could it be to recreate the same meal- come to find out, not hard at all

granola bars

i am frugal...sometimes very frugal. i dislike spending money when i don't necessarily have to. no i am not one of those people that washes out their ziploc baggies or hoards money under their mattress, but i am stingy with my heat, save every penny there is to save, hunt around for the best bargain and make the majority of my meals & snacks from scratch. how do i save on snacks you ask? in comes homemade granola bars. granola bars are your friends. a portable snack filled with sunshine and goodness....okay that line was a bit cheesy- but sometimes my granola bars do taste like sunshine!

after getting over the intimidation factor,  in addition to multiple failed attempts (um yeah pretty sure swearing was involved) at making granola bars i threw caution to the wind, tossed out every granola bar recipe that failed and started my own "granola bar party sunday" . after you figure out the right balance of ingredients, you will find granola bars are wicked (yes wicked, i am a new england girl) easy to make. you now have no excuse to buy granola bars- you know why? because you are gonna make em' and they are gonna take like 5 minutes of your time plus 10-15 minutes of baking and they are guaranteed to be delicious!

coco-nutty rocky road bars

sweet,salty, gooey goodness.

these are the perfect words for coco -nutty rocky road bars.

a cookie bar that can be whipped up in a jiff is another great feature of these almost perfect bars.

super easy

super quick

super duper yummy!

it's EASY being green!

happy earth day everyone!

in honor of earth day i thought i'd share how the poire/devincent home celebrates & loves the earth every day of the year...maybe you will read a few things that inspires YOU to be a little greener

-  trust me, the earth will love you right back for every small step you take

spring has finally sprung...sorta



i really should not be surprised spring is fighting to stay- one day it will be 70 degrees, sun shining, you see the beginnings of a tan; the first of the season and get the itch to unbox the sundresses that have been tucked away for the past 6 month's- you want to wear them and don't care that you are paler than casper this time of year. only to have the next day's high clock in around 30 degrees, rain & snow mix and you find yourself almost surrendering to cranking up the heat (but you don't because it is april & you are bound and determined not to fill the tank until the fall- i am so my mothers daughter). typical new england weather- this is the time of year i find myself a bit envious of our southern neighbors (florida, georgia- you know who you are); this time of year down south there are no shortages of 80 degree weather, fresh citrus, strawberries and farmer markets galore.

envious- yes.

jealous- yes

jealous & envious of hot, humid, hurricane prone weather 6 months out of the year-

not a chance

i think i will keep my fickle new england weather- it makes spring all the sweeter when it finally arrives & decides to stay awhile

weekend projects



dricore is locked & loaded


this weekend we undertook one of our summer projects- the basement floor. we were not planning on taking this monumental project on until later in the season, however lowes had a promotion this weekend- $10 off $50 per transaction, which translates into 20% off. the catch is per transaction- we quickly figured out that we could place online orders for store pick up in $50.00 increments to take advantage of the weekend deal. we totaly scored on this project.

super cute mini apple hand pies

what do you do when you find yourself with 5 pounds of organic apples and a rainy monday morning- you make super cute mini hand pies, that's what you do!

super.

cute.

mini.

hand-pies.

yum. yum. yum.

"springing" into action: spring projects

those of us that live in new england are only given a short window of time to enjoy the outdoors without bone chilling winds and foot upon foot of snow on the ground. after being couped up in the house for months on, end passing the time day dreaming of spring flowers & steamy july weather, justin and i are ready tackle our spring & summer projects . once the weather is bearable to be outdoors - aka it does not take multiple layers of clothing that you start to look like randy from a christmas story to brave the weather- the clock starts ticking & the list making has begun (sorry mudroom, you have to wait until the fall).

gardening is in my genes

Flower Patch 2010

 ever since i can remember gardening has been part of my life. growing up my dad always had a massive garden overflowing with fresh vegetables & beautiful perennials, annuals and flowering trees- he has been creating his little piece of heaven for over 30 years. it is so beautiful and peaceful- i strive to create the same feeling in my garden one day. i have a hard time remembering that it has taken 30 years of dedication, love and hard work to create what he is so prideful of and mine is just in its beginning stages- a little jewel that continues to need polishing. in time i will get there.

creamy roasted mushroom soup

i like mushrooms...alot.

so much so that i didn't reaize i had bought 4 containers of the fungi over the weekend - one of which was a jumbo pack.

when life gives you mushrooms - roast em' with garlic & shallots, bathe them in sherry, and blend em' all together for a creamy, healthy tasty & inexpensive soup.