Today's Motto: One Day at a Time

Today's post is coming from a place of thought and introspection.

Recently, my family has been going through some pretty difficult things. Actually, as a family we've faced a number of challenges and, for lack of a better word, interesting times. But the past few weeks definitely take the cake.

All of it though, every thing we've dealt with as a family unit, has led to our family motto, our mantra, our driving force:

Just take it one day at a time.

White Bean Cracker Spread

If you're anything like me, hunger is just not an option.

"oh, I get HANGRY" people say, and they laugh about how irritable they are when they don't eat.

I don't get "hangry" so much as I get "I would burn down a village for food"... 

My best friend calls it "feeding the Laura". I am the girl that will rip open a chocolate bar while I'm grocery shopping and pay for it when I get to the counter. I'm not diabetic, just a monster that needs to feed... lets hope I never become a vampire.

anyway, I DIGRESS. Hunger. Not an option!

When you need a snack that sustains, and FAST, my go to is a White Bean Cracker Spread.

Learning to Date Yourself

This past weekend the world was swept up in love for Valentine's Day!

I'm a pretty lucky lady. The mister is my Prince Charming (even when he's annoying me from my nose to my toes, I love him to pieces). While love is important, and I wouldn't trade him for the world, lately I've been taking some time to date myself.

Because, ultimately, a girl needs to wield her own happiness.

This all started from a point of stress; lots of work stuff, lots of family stuff, lots of general life stuff... I needed to start doing more to take care of myself.

And so project "Date Myself" began.

Chinese Pork Stir Fry

Happy (Chinese) New Year!

Chinese New Year was this past Monday, we are officially in the Year of the Monkey!

And who doesn't love monkeys?

Ordering out for Chinese food is one of those things we avoid in my house (peanut risky-ness), so what's a girl to do but make up a delicious home made stir fry to celebrate!

Vegetarian "Sausage" Rolls with Lentils

Recently, I've been trying to incorporate more vegetarian substitutes into my cooking.

For my health, for the planet, for ethical reasons... While I don't know if I will ever give up meat entirely, I do like trying to cut back on how much of it I eat. Where I struggle though is in trying to replace my favourite foods with a vegetarian substitute.

Finding vegetarian substitutes for food can be challenging but rewarding. Especially when the meal you're creating a substitute for is essentially JUST meat.

I was at a party the other day and the hostess was serving one of my FAVOURITE appetizers, Sausage Rolls! After a few bites I thought "I bet I could make these with lentils instead".