Apple upside-down cake recipe (egg free)

Can you believe the fall season is already here? Where has the summer gone? Time flies so fast around here it's crazy!

We've got so many wonderful things to look forward to this fall I can barely wait for it all. Jumping in gigantic piles of fallen leaves with the kids, decorating pumpkins, layering clothes and of course, visits at the local orchard.

For the past couple of years, at around this time, one of our emerging family traditions is to have a day at the farm, pick apples, eat some freshly picked corn on the cob, and then return home for some canning and baking. It's a lovely day filled with tractor rides, muddy feet and barn animals. Sometimes, the kids even get a pony ride. 

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We always come home with a ton of apples and we'll spend the afternoon preparing lots of apple goodies together; apple pies, apple crumbles, apple sauce, and just enjoying apples raw.

I've already shared my go-to apple pie recipe with you and today, I'm going to share our apple upside-down cake recipe, and this one is egg free for those of you with an egg allergy. All you need is my egg free white cake recipe, some apples and spices, and you're ready to go!

What kind of fall activities are you looking forward to this year?

Ingredients

6 apples
1 tbsp of cinnamon
1 tbsp of brown sugar
Vanilla cake recipe (no eggs)

Steps

1. Line a pot with a baking sheet so that your apples don't stick to the bottom of the container.
2. Peal & cut your apples in slices, and put them at the bottom of your pot.
3. Sprinkle the apples with the brown sugar and cinnamon.
4. Prepare the eggless white cake batter and pour over the apples.
5. Bake at 350 degrees Celsius for about 50 minutes.
6. Flip the cake over a plate, remove baking sheet and enjoy! 

5 quick summer recipes for garden cucumbers

For the past few summers, I've slowly been learning to grow my own fruits and veggies. I started with tomatoes; I tried growing them in pots, and in garden beds. I moved on to beans and lettuce, then tried carrots. This summer, I added fine herbs and cucumber.

Sometimes I wonder why more people don't have gardens at home, it's so easy! I mean, if you want to open up a business and maximize productivity, maybe not, but if you just want to garden for pleasure, you should seriously consider it.



Back to cucumbers. So I planted like, 8 seeds. I thought I'd plant a few more than I wanted because you always have loss. Some seeds don't germinate, others die when they're baby plants, and sometimes you get pests that eat your crop. I guess I was super lucky because none of that happened to my cucumber plants.

In case you don't know, cucumbers aren't like carrots. It's not one cucumber per seed. The plant grows into a really long vine which produce about 10-15 fruits per plant.  So we're looking at about 100 cucumbers in a matter about 2 months. Yeah.



My toddlers have taken a liking to picking and eating directly from the garden, so quite a few disappear daily. But I still have a LOT. So, I had to come up with ways to use them. Here are 5 of my favorite.

Have you tried growing your own fruits and veggies?

CUCUMBER MINT INFUSED WATER

Not so long ago, I shared my coconut lemonade recipe and although this is my go-to recipe for a nutrient boost and intense thirst quenching relief, I wanted something a bit more neutral in taste for the office. You can never have too many refreshing drink recipes for the summer.

INGREDIENTS
Cucumber
Mint
Water

DIRECTIONS
Wash, cut, mix. Let sit for a few minutes and enjoy!

I was pretty surprised at how much you can taste the cucumber in the water. It's super refreshing. You could even add a bit of lemon juice if you wanted. Once you're done you can either eat your slices of cucumber, or pour yourself another drink!

CUCUMBER CREAM CHEESE TOAST

I don't know about you, but when it's really hot outside, the last thing I want to do is eat a hot and heavy meal. Sometimes it's a spinach + lemon salad, sometimes it's some guacamole, but lately, with all these cucumbers growing in my garden, I had to get creative.

To be honest, it was a really hot day and I didn't want to cook. I just felt like eating a piece of bread. We had just spent the morning in the pool and the kids wanted to eat freshly picked cucumbers, so I thought we could make some cucumber sandwiches. 

Since my son is allergic to eggs, I usually replace mayo with humus. That day though, I had none in the fridge. I did find some cream cheese, which I buy to make the frosting for my egg free cupcakes. So bread, cucumber & cream cheese... just some protein missing. Seeds! I added a bit of chia and hemp.

INGREDIENTS
Bread
Cream cheese
Cucumber
Seeds (Optional - I used chia and hemp)
Salt + Pepper (Optional)

DIRECTIONS
1. Toast your bread + spread some cream cheese.
2. Wash + slice your cucumbers in the long using a mandoline .
4. Add some cucumber slices over the cream cheese then sprinkle some seeds, salt + pepper.

GREEK SALAD with OLIVE OIL

Oh my god you guys. Have you ever tasted freshly picked garden tomatoes? They're god sent. Seriously, it's like eating extra sweet and juicy grapes. Can you imagine? Winter grocery store tomatoes, you are a crime to nature.

INGREDIENTS
Cherry tomatoes
Cucumber
Feta cheese cubes
Olive oil (you could also use reduced balsamic vinegar as a dressing)
Red onion (Optional)
Salt + Pepper (Optional)

DIRECTIONS
1. Wash and cut all your ingredients (I leave out the onions because they're too strong for my toddlers).
2. Put everything in a salad bowl.
3. Add some olive oil, salt + pepper.
4. Instead of #3 you could also bring some balsamic vinegar to a boil and drizzle over your salad.

COLD YOGURT CUCUMBER SOUP

This totally sounds like mush doesn't it? Lol. I promise you it's not, it's actually quite refreshing and super delicious. Plus, it's fast, nutritious, and cold (such a treat on a very hot day!).

Prep time: 5 minutes
Serves: 2

INGREDIENTS
1 cups of plain yogurt
2 cucumbers
1 clove garlic
Salt + Pepper (Optional)

DIRECTIONS
Just clean and peal the cucumbers and garlic, and blend everything together. Season to taste and enjoy!

CUCUMBER CREAM CHEESE BITES

Just feel like eating a snack? Grab a cucumber, a knife, some cream cheese and dried fruit. Slice, dip, sprinkle and enjoy some cucumber cream cheese bites!

Maple buckwheat crepes

Buckwheat is such an interesting and nutritious ingredient. Did you know it's packed with iron? In my books, it's a super food.

When I was little, my grand mother often made us buckwheat crepes. As children, we didn't really care for them so she would drown them in maple syrup. Growing up, I developed a finer taste in things, and so buckwheat has become on of my flours of choice.

You make the buckwheat crepes, add a bit of salty butter, a drizzle of maple syrup, and you've got yourself a little party in your mouth. Maple syrup is just so out-of-this world delicious that I want to spread it over everything I eat. Oh wait, I already do. That's a fact.

Oh, and this crepe recipe is egg free! So if you need to make some for a person with allergies, this is a perfect choice. :)

Do you like maple syrup or are you more of a honey person?

INGREDIENTS

2 cups of buckwheat flour
2 cups of milk
1/2 cup of Oil (I use canola)

This recipe makes about 12 small sized crepes or 6 big ones.

DIRECTIONS

1. I use the my Kitchen Aid blender to mix everything together. I just dump all the ingredients in and blend. I find the mix easy to pour into the pan that way.

2. Before I start making the crepes, I make sure the pan is already hot (heat on medium). I don't know why but when I pour the mix into the pan as it's heating up, my first crepe always ends up sticking to the pan. Annoying. Trust me.

Easy + healthy spinach cream

There's nothing quite like warm soup after a fun day playing in the snow. Need I say more?

Not too long ago, my in-laws cam e to visit us from Mexico. My mother-in-law made this delicious meal called Mole Verde. Essentially, it's a sauce made with greens and seeds. You serve it on top of meat, usually bird. I also like it on rice!

Anyway, we had a whole bunch of spinach and broccoli trunks left over so I thought it would be a good time to use up some of my homemade chicken broth to make a new and delicious soup for the upcoming winter months.

I just got around to taking pictures of it to share with you, hope you like it!

INGREDIENTS:
Spinach (a handful)
1 small potato
Cream
Chicken broth
Water (as needed)



OPTIONAL:
1 small onion
2 tbsp butter
Salt + pepper
Leftover greens



You want about a handful of spinach per 2 cups of liquid. Enough so that the broth covers all your greens so they can cook evenly. If you don't have broth, you can just use water, it'll just taste a bit different but still good, just add a bit more spices! As for the cream, just add as much as you like for the desired consistency, you could also use milk. If a lot of liquid evaporates, don't forget to add a bit of water!

1. Chop the vegetables.



2. Boil everything.



3. Blend and add cream (or milk!). At this point you can also season with spices and butter.



I like to sprinkles a bit of grated cheese on top for added flavor, the I serve it with crackers. Enjoy!

What kind of soups do you like to make at home?

Basic homemade hot chocolate mix

Dear winter, thank you for forcing me to slow down and enjoy the simple things in life.

With the increasingly cold weather keeping me inside, I've been taking every opportunity to cozy up with my kids in front of the fire place with some hot chocolate. I've never really been a big fan of winter, I prefer heat (beaches!!!), but I have to admit that since having kids, winter is a lot more fun; snow angels, snowmen, sliding, skiing... and most importantly, cuddling up on the couch! I also love the slower beat of things.

This year, for our Christmas tree decorating party, I wanted to give out Christmas themed party favors. That obviously meant gingerbread cookies and hot chocolate. I prefer things being personal and we all know I love making my own recipes. So I spent a bit of time trying to figure out the exact ingredients to my basic homemade hot chocolate mix. This is another one of those things where I usually just randomly dump ingredients together and just like magic, out comes deliciousness (that's a word right?). 

It turned out quite delicious and smooth. If you want it sweeter, you can always add a bit more sugar, but I find it just right this way. I have every intention of making tons of variations of this basic recipe so stay tuned!

hot chocolate mix

INGREDIENTS:
1 1/2 cup cocoa powder (pure, unsweetened)
1 1/2 cup sugar
2 tbsp corn starch



To make the mix is very simple. Just pour all the above ingredients into a container and shake. If you want to make sure it's homogeneous, you can mix the ingredients in a bowl first.



When you're ready to have some hot chocolate, all you have to do is add 2 tablespoons of the mix to 1 cup of cold milk and bring to a boil on med-high, stirring constantly (it shouldn't take more than 2-3 minutes). You could also microwave it, but I prefer the stove.

And if you want to give this as a gift, don't forget to make a pretty label with the instructions!

single serving

If you don't want to make a big batch and prefer just making a cup as you go, you can use the recipe below.

INGREDIENTS:
1 cup milk
1 tbsp cocoa powder (pure, unsweetened)
1 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp corn starch

Easy gingerbread cookies (Egg free)

Christmas time is in the air and nothing screams Happy Holidays louder than gingerbread cookies.

Can I just take a minute to say how much fun I had with this photo shoot. I'm getting so much better at styling my photos and using daylight (although challenging with babies) to my advantage.

Oh, and also, I discovered that I have absolutely no self control. I ate every.single.cookie. Every last one of them.

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I'm so happy that I finally have an egg free gingerbread cookie recipe... and just in time for our Christmas Tree decorating party!

Do you have any cookie recipe you make every Christmas?



INGREDIENTS:
5 cups Flour
1 cup Butter
1 cup Sugar
1 cup Molasses
1/3 cup Plain Yogurt
1 tsp Baking Soda
3 tsp Ginger
2 tsp Cinnamon
1 tsp Ground Cloves

(makes about 75 small cookies)



1. Mix the dry ingredients together.



2. Add the wet ingredients and mix.



3. Roll dough and use cookie cutters to make pretty shapes.



4. Carefully place each cookie on a platter and bake at 350F for 9-10 minutes.



I have to be honest, the gingerbread cookie, in my opinion, is all about the molasses. A brown molasses will make a milder tasting cookie than a darker one.

I ended up making another 2 batches of cookies to serve at a family Christmas event and they were devoured. DE-VOU-RED. They are seriously yum.

Hearty taco rice

I love quick and easy meals. Who doesn't right? Personally, there's a hundred other things I'd rather be doing (unless it's baking - 'cause I just can't get enough sweets).

I've been playing around with rice lately. I just adore how versatile it is. You can have it warm or cold. You can have it as a meal or as a dessert. You can have it on its own or mixed with other ingredients. It's seriously one of the most fun ingredient to play with.

INGREDIENTS:
1 cup Rice (cooked)
1/2 can of Corn
1/2 can of Red kidney beans



To be honest, I've never really calculated the portions. I kind of just mix everything in to my liking. You might like it with more rice or more veggies, with more oil or more salt. It's totally up to you, play around with it!

OPTIONAL:
1 or 2 tomatoes (diced)
Hand full of chives
Olive oil, salt & pepper (to taste)



1. Mix the rice, corn and beans.



2. If you're going to add the optional ingredients, cut them and add them to your rice.



That's it. Pretty easy no? The whole thing takes about 10 minutes to prepare. That's about how long it takes for your rice to cook. While it's cooking, you can wash and dice your other ingredients. Once the rice is ready, just dump everything in and mix. It seriously can't get any quicker than this. Oh, and did I mention it's deliciously tasty?

Do you have any quick and easy go-to lunch recipes?

Cucumber cream cheese bites

I'm all about fast, delicious and healthy bites when it comes to party food. For M's second birthday I wanted to make a veggie platter, but it was just too boring for me. So I decided to turn the veggies into simple and original bites sized snacks! Meet the cucumber cream cheese bites. c:

The best thing though is that you don't even have to prepare them ahead of time. All you have to do is slice up some cucumber and put everything in a platter with a knife to spread the cream cheese and let your guests make their own! You could even get creative and offer different toppings. It's almost like a cracker bar but with cucumbers instead. (:

INGREDIENTS
Cucumber
Cream cheese
Dried cranberries


Seriously though, these are delicious. Do you have any quick snacks that you prepare for guests at special events?



On another note, I started to think about Christmas gifts. I know, kind of early, but I'm always late, and this year I promised myself I'd be early! As I was writing this post, I found out that Blurb is offering Canadians an exclusive 25% off photo books until October 31 (using code CANADA25). So I thought I'd turn my recipes into a book and give them away as presents. Good idea no?

Disclosure: This post was sponsored by Blurb. All opinions are my own.