for the love of bees

we have a colony of bees in our front yard.  to say it is a conversation starter is an understatement.  it stops people as they drive by the house.  to hear someone ask about honey for sale is not surprising.  we started the colony last year in april and after wintering, they have built up an amazingly strong hive.  we found lots of honey both above and below the queen exc

Red Fruit Salad

The low chuckle followed by a head shake. I've come to know it well. It's the reaction friends have when they stop by and get a glimpse at how this project has overrun our house. The towers of boxes, the tape guns, the bins of favorite things - it's all a bit much. I can't help but think of QUITOKEETO as my pretty little monster, one who only has an appetite for physical space. So, we've been

Chia Seed Chocolate Pudding

I apologize in advance for the terrible photos in this post. Yes, I took them with my phone. This is what happens when I leave the house without my DSLR, but NEED to share an amazing recipe with you guys … Continue reading →

Peering Down the Pie Hole - Rustic Apple w/ Sage and White Cheddar

I tend to go for the gender/bender kind of flavor combinations when it comes to dessert. I don't know about the rest of you... but ice cream with bacon, or pancetta brittle sounds pretty damned good to me. I like the play of savory against something bracingly sweet.... Nothing really finishes a meal more perfectly than a well thought out cheese plate Those of you that follow us on Twitter

Crab Dip

Crab dip always makes me think of summer – warm, breezy days sitting somewhere near water and enjoying a meal without a care in the world. When my Chief Culinary Consultant lived outside of Washington, D.C., we did a lot of eating out at restaurants when I would visit for the weekend. Crab dip was [...]

The Wednesday Fresh Foods Link Up Week #39

Good day my darling readers!This past weekend I was in Victoria for a visit. Uh, yeah. Why do I live in Toronto again? The entire trip was just jam packed (and I do like me some jam!) with friends and beaches and patios and fresh air, free of smog and noise pollution and smokers. It was glorious! I can do mail art sitting at the bar in Victoria without receiving strange "WTF?" glares; I can wear s

Moroccan Beef Stew

My Thought for the Day can be found, here. If you like it, give us a thumbs up and share it with your friends. From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...While it goes against conventional wisdom, I like to serve this stew at least once during the summer season. I love its vaguely Moroccan flavor and I think it is a perfect meal to serve when your palate's in the doldrums and you have a taste for som

Enjoying our CSA: Herbi-churri Sauce

  There seems to be no shortage of herbs around here lately. From the garden, our weekly CSA pickup, and my impulsive need to hoard parsley from the market, there is a sea of green everywhere around me. I hate seeing extra … Continue reading →

Trio of Grilled Aubergine, Feta and Mint

Well wouldn’t you know it, we are slap bang in the middle of  National Vegetarian Week  and what better way to celebrate by indulging in a favorite vegetable of mine; the aubergine. No, let’s correct that. The grilled aubergine. Fried aubergine just doesn’t taste the same! Stick it under the grill until the skin gets [...]

Five Ways to Eat Oatmeal

This weekend I ventured for a much needed music festival:: BFD hosted by Live 105 at the Shoreline. The day started with the ever so classy Cook's champagne. Who says you can't relive college? Life after college? Cook's still happens.Let's be real the whole budget situation is about the same...But hey friends and music are two things money can't buy, it was one hell of a day!(2 pts for b

Paleo Slow Cooking

#FoodChamp Challenge ~ Dessert

I’ve officially thrown my apron into the ring. My goal – to become the next World Food Champion. My weapon – the Zestuous courage to try any combination of food. Join me on my journey as I experience trials, failures … Continue reading »Rating: 0.0/5 (0 votes cast)

Cherries with Chocolate

When mothering three small children you get your peace though small stolen moments. Instead of grand days out at the spa or retreat weekends away from it all, I steal five minutes lying in a soft bed or a few seconds sitting at an open window. Tonight was one of those moments. After getting child #3 in bed for the third and hopefully final time, I sat down at my bedroom window. After tonight’s tea

Easy to Grow-My Garden View

Source: Easy To Grow, Flower Poem www.FamilyFriendPoems.com I don’t have a lush garden. I live in very dry, West Texas. I do have spots of color and I direct my eyes to those bright spots. I celebrate anything I plant … Continue reading →

T.J.’s Butternut Squash and Ravioli with Béchamel Sauce

This seemingly over-indulgent and altogether gorgeous dish will beguile you. You might think that you can’t possibly eat this without guilt. Believe it or not, this dish, with shaved cinnamon-crusted Toscano cheese, béchamel sauce (pronounced bay’-sha-mel), butternut squash ravioli, and passion, is but 10 points on the old Weight Watchers Points system (Points Plus and […]

#MuffinMonday: Berry and Mango Buttermilk Muffins

These irresistible berry and mango muffins are the just perfect to start to your monday morning.   Print #MuffinMonday: Berry and Mango Buttermilk Muffins Author: taste.com Serves: 12   Ingredients 2½ cups self-raising flour U cup caster sugar 1U cups buttermilk ¼ cup olive oil 1 egg 200g frozen mixed berries 1 small mango, peeled, sliced Instructions Preheat oven.

Cashew Chicken Meatballs

Hot Donair Dip (aka HaliDip)

It's not the first time I have blogged about Donairs.  If you are from Halifax, and you like beer, you probably love 'em. I feel like this post should be an informercial.  You know how they go... during the set up, they show the clumsiest, most uncoordinated goof trying to do a simple task without success.  In this case, there would be a girl in her 'Downtown Finest' sitting at a booth at KOD

Can Spring Come to My Street?

It's sunny days with Rhubarb Cornmeal Upside-Down Cake served with The Republic of Tea's Iced Tea + Learn how to receive a FREE bottle of agave nectar. Continue reading →This is only a summary. Visit "Can Spring Come to My Street?" for yummy photos, to read the rest of the story and to get the recipe. Your feedback and comments are appreciated.

I'm Moving!

In 2009 I created my blog, At Home with Vicki Bensinger having no clue at all what I was doing or what a blog actually was.  I created it as a place that my culinary students could go, to stay in touch with me, ask questions, and learn new techniques and recipes.  Now four years later my blog reaches my culinary students and the world.  It's truly been an exciting journey.We all nee

Red Quinoa, Avocado and Spinach Salad

How do you turn a salad into  your entrée while keeping it meatless?  Simply turn to quinoa. And how about some organic red quinoa? Warm or chilled, this salad combines this gluten free, protein-rich grain-like crop with salad mainstays like spinach, cucumber, tomatoes, onions and avocado, topped with peanuts and crumbled feta cheese. Who needs […]

Avocado for the Win!

1/2 avocado, cubed Canned green beans Lentil chips What Came Home? Packing the 2-year-old’s lunch is becoming more and more of a challenge, so I decided to go back to one of his first loves: Avocado. This kid will jam chunks of avocado in… Read the rest of this post »»

Blueberry Sugar Shortcakes with Mango Compote

ahh! hi! Sorry, I feel like I’ve been seriously cheating on you all lately. I’ve been cooking, baking, and cooking obnoxiously more (as usual) but instead of sharing it with you all I have been EATING it all! Oops. Life’s been crazy busy lately so I’ve had absolutely no time to to take pretty pics [...]

Bakery Style Chocolate Chip Muffins

I'm baa-aaack!I'm really hoping that I have some readers left after abandoning this blog for six weeks with no explanation. Multiple areas of my life have suddenly become quite busy (in a very good way!), leaving me little time to cook anything more exciting than a Lean Cuisine or my new go-to speedy dinner.  I've been going out to dinner a ton, so I'm still eating some good food..

Peanut Butter S'mores Cookie Cups

So, I guess my Nutella s'mores bars went viral on Pinterest. No big deal. Pffft, who am I kidding? Biggest deal ever. They also got reblogged a ridiculous amount of times on Tumblr. I'm still pretty hyped about it. To thank you guys for making all the viralness possible and flattering the heck out of me, I made you another s'mores inspired dessert. This time, I threw in some peanut butter.And inst

DIY Easy Coconut Oil Sugar Scrub Recipes

Recently, a few of my recipes for coconut oil sugar scrubs were published on CoconutOil.com and Health Impact News. I wanted to share those recipes with you here as well, since sugar scrubs are one of my favorite DIY projects. They are so easy to make, very customizable, and make great gifts! This is a [...] You're reading DIY Easy Coconut Oil... ~~ This is only a small summary of the full pos

GCC: Fruit Stuffed Pork Loin

This past weekend I had every intention of doing this dish, except that I spend it running around doing errands and Saturday dinner turned into pizza. Instead I decided, I would do it for Sunday’s dinner. Sunday came and went and back in the refrigerator everything went. But, I made a mental vow that I was going to do this for our Monday night dinner no matter what. I had doubts that this w

Asparagus Bundles and a Visit to an Island Asparagus Farm

Yesterday, I paid a visit to Tim Dixon in North Tryon, PEI.  Amongst other crops grown on the family farm, Tim grows a small acreage of asparagus which he markets to Island restaurants and also sells at the farm gate. Below is a photo of an asparagus spear just about ready to be harvested. Tim [...]

Pasta Sauces in a Jar. White sauce, Spicy Sriracha, Chipotle, Ranch, Mac and Cheese and more. Vegan Glutenfree recipe

Some ideas come out of the adventurous trials and some out of need. These sauces in a jar were made during the months I was not able to stand in the kitchen for longer than 5 minutes. The jars helped me for sure and also hubbs cook up a quick meal without much thought or time going into the process. The sauces are based on my hubbs fave White garlic jalapeno sauce and Quinoa shells. Sup

YeastSpotting 5.20.13

Loaves and Rolls, First Batch Loaves and Rolls, Second Batch Flat Breads, Sweet Breads, and More YeastSpotting is a weekly collective showcase of yeasted baked goods and dishes with bread as a main ingredient. For more bread inspiration, and information on how to submit your bread, please visit the YeastSpotting archive. © Wild Yeast, 2013. [...]

Memorial Day Refreshing Treat, Watermelon Pie!

Memorial Day is coming up and I'm sure many are going to have the Beginning of the Season BBQs!Love a Great BBQ. For us, that starts the Watermelon season too! Last year I made a Watermelon Pie that was the Hit of the Season. Give it a try, it will MAKE your BBQ!WATERMELON PIEIngredients:2 Cups Crushed Graham Crackers1/2 stick Butter (melted)2 tbsp Granulated Sugar3 cups Heavy cream3 tbsp Conf Sug

Chicken Kiev with Garlic-Herb Butter

Traditional chicken kiev is a simple dish of breaded, fried chicken breasts stuffed with pieces (or small logs) of cold butter. The boneless breasts need to be pounded to an even thickness to allow for easier rolling. In this recipe, I enhanced the butter with the savory flavors of garlic and fresh herbs, which cook into the meat as the butter melts. The result is moist, tender chicke

National Vegetarian Week - Vegetarian Food Bloggers

I thought it would be nice to celebrate some of the best veggie and vegan food bloggers this week. I won't be able to include all of the wonderful veggie and vegan blogs I visit, but I would like to introduce you to a few of my favourites. Today I would like to introduce you to some of the best vegetarian food blogs. 1. Allotment 2 Kitchen Vegan Chocolate Ginger

BWJ - Savoury Brioche Pockets

 I had a bit of a brain freeze and totally forgot that this was BWJ week. Luckily without a mixer I have perfected a brioche dough made in the breadmaker and whipped these beauties out in about 2.5 hours!They are called Savoury Brioche Pockets, and just as the name suggest, they are a brioche dough wrapped around a savoury filling. As I had forgotten about the recipe I didn't have any goat's

Lemon Cake Pie

(Another repost for you this morning.  I'll be home in just a little bit more than a weeks time, but in the meantime I want to share with you another tasty recipe from my delicious archives.  This one is a really tasty one.  It's also really nice in Strawberry season along with a few sliced fresh berries on the side.  Enjoy!)I want to tempt you just a little bit this morning wi

Restaurant Style Chinese Hot and Sour Soup (+ GIVEAWAY!)

Good restaurant Chinese hot and sour soup has a very distinct flavor that can be challenging to replicate.  And not all restaurant hot and sour soups are created equal.  Not by a long shot.  Though you may not be able to pinpoint the difference, you can tell when shortcuts have been taken.  And have you [...]The post Restaurant Style Chinese Hot and Sour Soup (+ GIVEAWAY!) appeared first on The Da

Paleo Banana Blackberry Muffins

Cook Eat Paleo - Simple recipes for gluten-free, grain-free living  I made these paleo banana blackberry muffins this morning to use up some leftover fruit. I had some huge fresh blackberries and one lonely overripe banana that looked like it wouldn’t last another day. I thought blackberry and banana would be a great combination with coconut. One of the things I like about baking [...]T

Monkey Bread

Monkey Bread is a gooey, delicious, cinnamon-sugar pull-apart bread that looks way more difficult to make than it actually is.  It’s as easy and dropping some dough in cinnamon and sugar and pouring butter and...The post Monkey Bread appeared first on Culinary Hill.

Radish Salad with Mango-Ginger dressing

Now that the dark cold days are gone, it is time for fresh vivid and lively food. Salads perfectly fall into that category. As some of you may have known, I was not a great fan of Salads until I taste the pine nut caesar salad at "The Melting pot" and after that salads feature regularly once a week in our dinner table. I have become a great fan of radish salad especially with a tangy dre

A Frittata For Brunch

About.coms Culinary Arts says that...".In the culinary arts, a Frittata is a flat Italian-style omelet that's usually prepared in a cast-iron skillet. A brunch menu classic, the frittata may also have its origin in Spanish cuisine".Whether it's origins are Spanish or Italian, this is a  favorite brunch item in this house. I have laying hens that give me 5 fresh eggs a day and 10 pullets tha

Chickpea-quinoa Burgers with Sun Dried Tomatoes

Meatless burgers are easy to make and they freeze well, too. Try switching up the ingredients in your burgers from time to time. This recipe for Chickpea-quinoa Burgers with Sun Dried Tomatoes combines great flavors and textures for a fab meal that’s easy to make.

Monk Fruit In the Raw Sugar Cookies for Eat, Write, Retreat

In two weeks,  I will be attending the Eat, Write , Retreat in Philadelphia and I am so excited!   Last week, you saw that I received some cool tools from OXO and potatoes from the U.S. Potato board for a contest. Well this week’s fun came from In The Raw. They are one of the sponsors for the event and sent [...]The post Monk Fruit In the Raw Sugar Cookies for Eat, Write, Retreat appeared fi

Extended Nursing with Mombo Deluxe!

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Comfort and Harmony for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.       When I was pregnant there was no doubt... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

How To Not Follow A Recipe

In this life there are rule-followers and rule-breakers. I’ll never forget the day that Mrs. Murley, my high school A.P. European History teacher, kicked Brian T. out of class for being impertinent. As he was leaving, Mrs. Murley said, “Don’t fall off your motorcycle this summer.” Brian T. replied, “Don’t fall off of your high [...]

English Muffin Bread

Imagine the best English Muffins you’ve ever tasted. Now step it up a notch by baking this English Muffin Bread, then slicing it and toasting the individual slices as you need them. English Muffin Bread has long been a favorite of mine, and I don’t make it anywhere near often enough. So, each time that I do bake this delicious bread, I’m once more pleasantly surprised by the texture and tas

Black and white fideuà for the MTC

Every month the challenge of the MTC becomes bigger and bigger. And, in April, Mai challenged us proposing us the fideuà, a Spanish dish (Catalan, to be precise, because I learned that Castilian and Catalan aren’t the same thing), a sea dish, a complex dish, but simple at the same time, because it was born on [...]

Grilled Cheezy Polenta with Spicy Pomegranate Salad

I’m planning a bunch of photo shoots in the upcoming months and I have to start watching what I eat…. Sound awful right? lol  No worries it’s not THAT bad because my head is full of delicious ideas to keep me happy even when I have to watch what I eat… This is a fun [...]

How To Not Follow A Recipe

In this life there are rule-followers and rule-breakers. I’ll never forget the day that Mrs. Murley, my high school A.P. European History teacher, kicked Brian T. out of class for being impertinent. As he was leaving, Mrs. Murley said, “Don’t fall off your motorcycle this summer.” Brian T. replied, “Don’t fall off of your high [...]

Meal Planning Monday (Week beginning 20 May 2013)

Here is my quickly put together meal plan for National Vegetarian Week. I would have liked to have made a more exciting plan, but sometimes life is just too busy. This had to be an easy plan for a week where I work four days and two late nights. A week where Cooper has two martial arts classes. A week where Graham won't get home until after Cooper is in bed and a week where I

Grilled Chicken Cobb Salad with Strawberry Vinaigrette

Salad TIME!If you have been following my site, you already know, I love salads. I know from the appearance of my blog you would think I only eat bacon, butter, more bacon. Not true! Now, although I do love those things, let's be a little realistic, we can't eat bacon everyday. I know, sad, huh? But we can have salads everyday if we choose too.   Today, I am making  one of my favorites, C