Pumpkin Cupcakes with Brown Butter Icing

Today we are welcoming the first day of fall with arms wide open!

There is a chill in the air, the wind is twirling the first fallen leaves around and it is definitely a day for a jacket and scarf.

To celebrate the new season, I made cupcakes, because every celebration is better with cupcakes.

And not just any cupcakes, pumpkin cupcakes with delicious brown butter icing smeared over top, because nothing says fall like pumpkin... and sugar!

Buttermilk Pancakes

There are certain recipes that people have that are their "go-to's". A recipe that they have found, over years of trying others, that works and is perfectly in line with what they were searching for from the beginning.

Go-to's are tried and true recipes that they know are crowd pleasers, recipes that are executed properly every time they are made and they are recipes that make that person proud to serve to people they love.

There have been many Sunday mornings spent with me in the kitchen trying a new pancake recipe. In the few years I have been cooking I have google searched and tried numerous recipes, but each one lacked that certain taste I was going for.

Whole Grain Bread

I am still new to the whole bread thing.

However, I am an expert at the smothering it with butter and eating a whole loaf of crusty bread in one day thing.

The whole activating yeast, rising and kneading process is still new to me, but it has become a great learning experience.

Mmm.. nothing smells better than fresh bread

With cooking I can adjust the flavours, throw some more sauce in, add some more spice. With bread measurements need to be exact and you need time and patience to let the yeast do its thing.

Don't let this intimidate you though, just take your time, know that the bread needs a little more attention than, say, cooking a stir fry would.

In the end, I think you'll be surprised at how simple it is to create, from scratch, a beautiful loaf of whole grain bread. Even if the bread is a little dense, has some brunt sports on top or didn't rise as much as you hoped, it is totally satisfying to eat something that you created with just a few ingredients.

Strawberry Compote

Once upon a time I was allergic to strawberries. Yes, this beautiful red fruit was once my enemy.

It wasn't always this way, I could eat them by the handfuls and be fine. Then one day red spots started showing up all over my body and from that point on, I was cut off.

How could you cut a little girl off from her favourite fruit?! It was pure torture, not just for me but for my whole family as my dear Mother didn't let them come into the house. I think everyone secretly resented me...

Qunioa Cakes

I have been wanting to make these for awhile.

I spotted them on other food blogs and each one was different and looked delicious.

The recipe comes from the beautiful cookbook - Super Natural Everyday by Heidi Swanson, this is the second recipe I have tried since picking up this book a few months ago. The first one, a rice and mushroom casserole, didn't turn out the way I was imagining but these Quinoa Cakes, are better than I thought they would be.

A true test to them being as delicious as everyone says - my fiance had second helpings! Second helpings of something that has no meat! I struck meatless-meal gold with this recipe!

Product Review - Cheeky Cosmetics

I love makeup.

I don't wear a lot of it and I tend to stick to the safe side in terms of colour choices but I love how much variety there is out there.

When I was making the switch to all natural make up I came across Cheeky Cosmetics and fell in love with the company. They are a Canadian company out of British Columbia, all their products are natural, handmade and vegan friendly.

The great thing about their shop is the ability to order samples in almost every product they make so you can try it out before making the commitment to a larger jar of product.

Over the past year or so, I have purchased around 10 eye shadows, primer, bronzer, mineral veil and lip gloss (I have previously talked about their lip gloss here!)

All-Natural Spring Cleaning

Spring is here! Hurray! 

Winter has melted away into warm breezes, longer days and sun shining through my windows... my filthy, filthy windows.

There is something about spring that reminds us how dirty everything got over the winter. My shelves are that dusty?? My windows are THAT dirty!? Goodness, winter's grey skies really hide a lot don't they?

Product Review: All Natural Lip Products

If you could only pick one beauty product to have for the rest of your life, what would you choose?

My choice ~ Lip balms!
I use to have a problem with picking my lips, it was one of my worst habits. I would constantly have chapped lips and I would pick the skin off my lips, which would in turn make them even worse than before.
What I finally realized was the chap stick I was using wasn't doing my lips any good. A lot of commercial lip balms out there give temporary relief from dry lips but have ingredients in them that don't help repair the skin and keep them healthy. Many commercial products have chemicals and preservatives that are meant to make them last a long time, but those ingredients end up in your bloodstream and are by no means good for you. Start reading labels, if you can't recognize or pronounce more than half of the words on that list, do you really want that in your body?
I have tried a lot of lip products, whether coloured or just moisturizing and have comprised a list of my favourites:

Burt's Bees -Replenishing Lip Balm with Pomegranate Oil - $4.50

This is my #1 favourite lip product! I have tried other Burt's Bees lip products but found this one to be the most soothing for lips. They never dry out (so no more picking skin off - Yay!! Bad habit kicked!), the scent is subtle, the moisturizers are long lasting and one tube lasts a long time. With commercial lip balms I would be reapplying every hour or so, with this product I put it on after I brush my teeth in the morning and I usually only reapply once during the day. Also, it is 100% natural - score!! It is widely available and cheap - definitely give this a try!
http://www.burtsbees.ca/natural-products/lips-lip-balms/replenishing-lip-balm-with-pomegranate-oil.html

Korres Lip Butter - Jasmine - $12Very creamy and rich with a subtle pink sheer colour. Long lasting, a little goes a long way! Super moisturizing from the Shea butter. Comes in other colours but I love Jasmine for the touch of pink.
https://www.korresusa.com/product/5005/butter/color/category/lips

Cheeky Cosmetics Organic Lip Gloss - First Kiss - $12
Handmade, all natural, organic and Canadian! I can't recall how I found this company but I fell in love instantly. Everything is handmade with all natural ingredients and their lip gloss is oh-so-amazing! With a touch of peppermint oil, organic, natural ingredients and mineral pigments, their lip gloss glides on smoothly and stays on well. P.S. - their eye shadows are AMAZING!
http://cheekycosmetics.com/lipgloss.html