Your guide to activities and fun things to do with your preschoolers, toddlers and kids in toronto, CN

Yummiest Web Resources for Cooking Inspiration

by Katie

April 27, 2009

Cooking inspiration is something I pretty much need daily. I wish I was more creative in the kitchen but I seriously need help in order to make a plain meal into something magical. Or at least desirable. Or even edible.

Back before the days of Gigi, I used to have all the time in the world to watch cooking shows (and a whole lot more television plus read books! Without pictures even!) But those came to an abrupt halt when she became aware of the television during those marathon nursing sessions and I thought I’d better curb it now lest she becomes addicted.

Enter my current day life-saving ring: the Internet.

These days I rely heavily on the web to bring me that same cooking magic as the televsion, where a chicken dish can go from plain chicken to lemon garlic chicken or a fast-prep / cook family favorite, salsa chicken

All Recipes has the handy ingredients search function which is great when I know I’ve got something with all this stuff in the fridge and pantry, I just don’t know what.

The kitchn is an offshoot of Apartment Therapy and it has a recipe section that hasn’t let me down yet. The photos make me drool and I want to make this Hot Pink Raspberry Cake right now. And um, YUM I say when I salivate over these goat Cheese Pops with Herbs, Pecans, & Bacon. Gigi would like them because they are cheese lollipops.

Another site that makes me want to whip out my mezzaluna and start chopping up fresh herbs, David Rocco. His show on the Food Network always made me hungry and the images on the site are enticing. I have never wanted frittata more after seeing his ‘Clean out the Fridge” Frittata; he makes it seem so easy.

But, my first stop whenever I’m stumped and just need to look at yummy food to get the kick start, I turn to a site the brings all the beautiful food together: Tastespotting. Tastespotting is a community driven blog or as they refer to it, a community driven visual potluck. It allows the reader to just drool over the photos, or jump to the original post or search by categories or popularity. And yes, it has a recipe section. Because the site always links back to the original recipe or post about the featured food, I find myself falling down a rabbit hole of cooking blogs that are thankfully calorie-free.

What can I say, I like to look at food p*rn, the more fat and sugar, the more I drool.

Everyone loves a giveaway

by Katie

January 07, 2009

January is a great time to start something new or start doing something you've always meant to do, a new way. Everyone else seems to be making resolutions so why not join in on the "fun". When it comes to my friends, declared resolutions usually revolve around health lifestyle choices - heck, even I, Madame Lazybones, committed to flossing each day this year and so far, so good ( day seven and  Read more...

It's important to me!

by Katie

January 06, 2009

Three has presented some interesting challenges in parenting. And when I say interesting challenges, I mean to say: Three has presented some of the most frustrating and head-butting moments in my history as a parent. But I say that with love - no really, I do. Don't get me wrong: I find Three a lot of fun and so far this year has been full of all sorts of amazing magical parenting moments. But  Read more...

Not a babysitter to be found this New Year's Eve

by Katie

December 29, 2008

We do not have a baby sitter this New Year's Eve, nor do we have concrete plans, so what the heck are we going to do? Personally, I think the evening deserves some kind of recognition because it is the perfect time to declare some resolutions and it might as well be done with a bang ( though most of those declared resolutions are bust within a day or week ). In the past, New Year's involved  Read more...

Table manners for little ones

by Katie

September 25, 2008

Yesterday I talked about manners in general and made some book recommendations . Today I'm going to talk specifically about table manners and taming the savage preschooler. Okay, so Gigi isn't exactly a savage but her table manners leave room for improvement. I hate to say it, but many of our meals involve convincing Gigi to eat her food, stay at the table, and not use her meal as a projectile  Read more...

What's for lunch?

by Katie

September 18, 2008

What's for lunch? A common question from Gigi, especially since nursery school began last week and she has suddenly developed the appetite of a teenage boy on the football team. I find it amusing that she is so darn hungry, because if the food isn't just "right", it is completely and utterly rejected. *Big Sigh*. Her finicky taste is going to be the death of me, I swear. So what else could I  Read more...

Top Five dinner table destinations

by Katie

July 22, 2008

When the decision is made that it's too hot to cook our own food - which is so easy to do in this humidity - we prefer that all eat-out fare consists of food that none of us would ever dream of creating in the kitchen. So that usually means sampling other cultures and making me feel all exotic for breaking away from my spaghetti or grilled-cheese areas of specialization. Living in Toronto makes  Read more...