recipes – 2nd Avenue

Delcious-ness in a jar

My mum’s granola has always been a serious crowd-pleaser. Crunchy, nutty, different from batch to batch—and regularly requested in care packages. But when I was eating vegan a decade ago, its butter content made it unsuitable.

I couldn’t very well live without homemade granola, so tried a few vegan recipes. Most simply subbed in oil for butter, leaving the final product bereft of buttery richness and slightly greasy. Then, I stumbled on a delicious alternative…

Classic Canadian comfort food

… and an outdoor twist

Foil-wrapped macaroni and cheese on an outdoor grill along with sausages

Canadians love Kraft Dinner. I’ve yet to meet a fellow Canadian who doesn’t have strong opinions about the best variety, a not-so-secret tweak (mine is less milk, more butter, and added broccoli), or a deep certainly that homemade mac and cheese (or at least Annie’s) is better.

But does macaroni and cheese belong at a barbeque?

Yup! And it’s a delicious meat-free alternative to the standard Swiss sausages—although as evidenced by the photo, there were plenty of sausages, too.

The perfect cocktail for a dumpster fire

The year so-far personified as a dumpster fire

I’ve found dumpster-on-fire gifs a more relevant and appropriate response in 2020 than I could ever have imagined. Cancelled trip? Cartoon dumpster on fire. Laid off and job hunting in a seriously low economy? Well, that merits a flaming dumpster floating down a flooded street.

Of course 2020 has brought some good things. A couple of healthy, happy babies were born to people I love earlier in the year (not me, thankfully). The lock-down period was relatively easy for me and my husband (maybe even downright delightful for Sofie having both of her humans around almost all the time). I’ve discovered the joys of teaching yoga online (I’m planning another virtual yin yoga class for Friday, August 28th—more info coming soon) and practicing with teachers from a distance (HealHaus in NYC has been a lifeline).

And I’ve come up with my perfect margarita. An ideal cocktail for reflecting on 2020’s dumpster fire tendencies and planning for better days.

Comfort baking

These strange (and physically isolated) have me missing friends and family, uncertain about what’s to come, and feeling generally anxious. To help me cope, I’m making comforting, familiar, satisfying recipes that call to mind childhood memories—and don’t require any strange, hard-to-find ingredients.

These super-simple, super-delicious blueberry/lemon cornmeal muffins certainly fit the bill! And, as a bonus, they’re wonderfully high-protein and delightfully filling.

Damn bunnies can’t hold their booze

Off with their heads—and in with boozy whipped coffee!

In perhaps the funniest late night TV show segment I’ve ever seen, Seth and Rihanna go day drinking (if you haven’t seen it yet… go watch it now) and reveal the greatest Easter hack ever: beheading chocolate bunnies and using them as glasses.

Genius.

But tequila is a little intense for QuarantEaster—and I don’t have Rihanna’s skill for downing shots. My solution? Combining current Instagram-darling #WhippedCoffee with a slightly lighter white Russian.

Not a cookie catastrophe

Healthy-ish chocolate oatmeal peacan cookies on a wire cooling rack

The COVID-19 crisis has me feeling overwhelmed—so much uncertainty, anxiety, misinformation, and just plain unease.

And what makes me feel better in uneasy times? Baking, of course!

Can bread pudding save the world?

Despite being a carb-loving family, we frequently aren’t able to get through a loaf of bread before it goes stale or, even worse, starts to grow green stuff. I hated throwing away the last bits of gluten-filled goodness and started stashing leftovers in the freezer. The most obvious solution was to transform those bread cubes into bread pudding, which I love—especially topped with a creamy, buttery, boozy sauce!—but opportunities for a decadent dessert proved few and far between. Inspiration hit and I tried turning regular, sweet bread pudding into a main-course-worthy dish. Voila savoury bread pudding, also known as strata and more commonly served for brunch.