I’m still cooking and baking up many cozy recipes.

So, let’s chat all about which recipes to make in February and some cookbook inspiration!February is my birthday month so there’s a few favourite dishes and cocktails I can’t wait to make:

• We’re enjoying this Coconut Cake from Ina Garten for both mine and my husbands birthday.
• I’m still sipping this Winter Spiced Old Fashioned on weekends.
• I’ll be making a batch of these One Bowl Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies, my Mom’s classic recipe!
• Definitely going to cheers with one of these Blood Orange Negroni’s too!
• We’ll probably enjoy these Sweet & Spicy Hot Chili Chicken Noodles from Ambitious Kitchen a few times.

Between winter walks it seems my plan for February is practically eating! I truly find so much comfort in making and baking a lot doing the cooler months so I just lean into it and enjoy.

So what else is in season to make in February?

Recipes to Make in February

Apples – Apple Cinnamon Crumble Cake

Broccoli – 30 Minute Chicken Broccoli Stir Fry

Carrots – Peanut Chicken Power Bowls

Cauliflower – Easy Cauliflower Tacos

Kale – Winter Oven Baked Risotto with Mushrooms & Kale

Sweet Potato – Sweet Potato and Cheddar Drop Biscuits

Winter Squash – Roasted Butternut Squash and Apple Soup

And if you love to read and explore cookbooks, here are a few of my favourite’s that I’ve enjoyed from the library as of late:

Eat What You Want from What’s Gaby Cooking

Cravings from Chrissy Teigen

Eat With Us from Chef Sous Chef

Until the next cooking adventure,
Jess

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At the farmer’s market I’m starting to see a lot more fruit come in from British Columbia and much more seasonal vegetables too.

A lot of my inspiration for dishes come from What’s In Season so let’s chat what’s fresh for June plus my favourite recipes, cookbooks and a peak at my backyard garden too!

I absolutely adored this cookbook I took out from the library, Bake the Seasons, mostly classic baking recipes based on each season and some savoury recipes too. I didn’t have nearly enough time with this book so I’ve added it to my list to take out again.

We also made this tasty Spicy Noodle Salad from Food by Maria, a local blogger from Calgary! She also has a beautiful vegan cookbook, and even if you’re not vegan you can totalllly enjoy her recipes – many of them are just simple and delicious!

With some beautiful almost summer-like weather in May, we started planting our vegetable gardens! So far we’ve planted golden and candy cane beets, carrots, breakfast radishes, onions, garlic and arugula. Out of all of the vegetables, the breakfast radishes grow super fast so we can plant them almost 3 times throughout the summer.

If you like radishes I’d highly recommend trying them out! Radishes are such a great ingredient in salads and I also love them on toasts with feta or goat cheese. They’re such a great vegetable to plant when you’re starting out; whether you have a container garden or backyard garden, both are great!

This weekend I’m planting herbs, kale and jalapenos (they grew SO well last year, who knew!?)

So with all that said, let’s check out What’s In Season for June!

Cherries – Cherry Bourbon Lemonade Smash

Cucumbers – Summer Vegetables & Grains Salad

Fresh Herbs & Greens – Swiss Chard, Goat Cheese & Leek Frittata

Peppers – Roasted Summer Vegetable Salad

Strawberries – Strawberry Lemonade Rosé Punch

Rhubarb – Strawberry-Rhubarb Hand Pies

I’ve been testing many recipes this last month including a delicious tomato, arugula and pesto salad with fried halloumi cheese (OMG try this cheese if you haven’t yet!)

And, you’ll also see TWO rhubarb recipes coming to you in June; apparently I’m on some sort of a rhubarb kick but hey, it’s the season so why not! So I hope you like rhubarb too 🙂

Until the next cooking adventure,
Jess

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I can hardly believe it’s the New Year but I’m so very excited to get back in the kitchen, developing and photographing recipes and sharing all of my monthly favourites with you!

I hope you all had a lovely holiday season and are feeling refreshed. From recipes to make in January and my favourite cookbooks, I’m ready to get started with 2019! Let’s get to it!

We ended last year with a trip to Ontario for Christmas. It was lovely to see family and friends and enjoy each other’s company over many delicious meals and drinks.

We spent time reading, relaxing and playing board games, and took some time to enjoy the gorgeous weather by Lake Ontario.

I came home with a couple new cookbooks including The Pretty Dish from the How Sweet Eats blog. And, I also dove right into Love Real Food from blogger Cookie & Kate; a vegetarian cookbook that I am LOVING for ‘meatless Monday’ recipes!

One of my goals for this year is to cook a new dish once per week. Scott and I used to do this but were not consistent so back to it we go! It’s a great way to really dive into the cookbooks I already own and discover some new favourites.

So, What’s In Season to make this month!?

Apples – Mojito Smoothie

Beets – Roasted Harvest Vegetable Bowls

Citrus – Tropical Blood Orange Smoothie

Kale – Sweet Potato Kale Flatbreads

Peppers – Green Pepper & Mushroom Pita Pizza

Sweet Potatoes – Savoury Turkey Breakfast Sausage Egg Muffins

Beyond cooking new recipes in the first couple weeks of 2019, I’m planning on taking things slow, enjoying more time at home and with our dog, Doug, and reading. To me, there’s value in taking a bit of a step back to acknowledge accomplishments from last year and give space to dream and create amazing things in the New Year.

I can’t wait to share all of that creativity with you this year so stay tuned for all of the deliciousness to come!

Until the next cooking adventure,
Jess

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Since I was little I have always felt a sense of joy around the holiday season; there was always something sort of magical about this time of year.

So, let’s dig into all of the deliciousness of the season with my Monthly Favourites including which recipes to make in December!

I had A LOT of client work in November and not much downtime, so I’m really excited for a slower holiday season.

We did get away for a little long weekend in mid-November, heading to BC for a little mountain downtime which was the perfect re-charge before finishing up many projects the rest of the month.

During the last week of November we got our Christmas tree up and decorated. I bought alllll of the butter at the grocery store to start my Christmas baking and I’ve watched my favourite holiday movies about 8x each, haha.  Some of my favourites are Elf, The Holiday, Love Actually and Home Alone which I like to watch whilst baking!

Stay tuned to the blog during December as I have a few more treats up my sleeve plus my baking list for the season and perfect shareable recipes for entertaining!

And, I’m planning all of the delicious dishes to make the rest of this month too! Here are some of my favourite recipes to make in December:

Prosciutto Parmesan Brussels Sprouts

Cranberry-Pear Chia Seed Jam

Kale, Apple & Cheddar Salad with Spicy Chickpeas

Baked Pears with Cardamom Cream

Baked Parsnip Fries with Garlic Yogurt Dip

Lemon Squares

PLUS, if you need holiday appetizer inspo, check out this awesome round-up of 20 appetizer recipes from Food Bloggers of Canada which includes my New Year’s Eve Party menu!

I’m really looking forward to being at home this month; enjoying time reading by the Christmas tree; visiting with family and friends; and, cooking at home.

And, if you need any book gift ideas, a couple of my favs from this year are:

Healthyish is one of the only cookbooks I’ve purchased this year and we cook out of it all, the, time! Seriously so many delicious dishes that are simple to make, especially during the week. There is a Spiced Chicken & Chickpea Flatbread with Cucumber-Dill Tzatziki that is so simple for a weeknight dinner, plus a TON of flavour! Then my other favourite recipe in the book is a Single-Serving Chocolate and Peanut Butter Cookie; for when you need a cookie, stat!

If you need a few novel ideas, The Little French Bistro and Little Beach Street Bakery  are two really cute books that I absolutely loved. Both books have a foodie-twist, are easy to read and totally heartwarming.

I’d love to know what some of your favourite dishes are to make during the holiday season! Drop me a note below in the comments or visit me over on Instagram.

Until the next cooking adventure,
Jess

P.S. Thank you to the lovely Janelle Saccucci for the photos of me in this post! We had a great time taking holiday-inspired photos!

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From the gorgeous colours of the trees to all of the delicious Fall flavours, I really can’t get enough.

As usual October flew by BUT I’m not going to lie, I’m pretty excited that it did because I love the holiday season! So come on over for some Autumn recipe inspiration and a look at What’s In Season for November.

Throughout October in Calgary we enjoyed some seriously amazing Fall days (after a small snowfall blip). So I took the opportunity to take my dog Doug on some epic walks at a park near our house.

I also took a trip back to Ontario for some work and family time. I spent a couple days enjoying the lovely views of Lake Ontario and then a bit of time in Toronto.

My brother and I ate lunch at this really cool spot called Assembly Chef’s Hall which is a group of ‘chefs, restauranteurs and baristas…under one roof in Canada’s first chef-driven community market.’ There were SO many delicious options to choose from, it was really hard to pick! We decided on Love Chix for their Honey-Hot Fried Chicken Sandwich and Crispy Brussels Sprouts – OMG, it was amazing! I know I’ll be going back because there were so many other delicious food option to try too!

And when at home cooking this month, two cookbooks we’ve been enjoying are Healthyish and Chrissy Teigen’s new book, Cravings – Hungry for More. Both are filled with simple and flavourful dishes, especially easy to make during the week.

So, what to cook in November? Here are some favourite dishes AND cocktails:

Apples: Apple Sponge Cake

Cranberries: Festive Market Cheeseboard

Pears: Pear Cider Sangria

Pomegranate: Spiced Winter Punch

Sweet Potatoes: Savoury Turkey Breakfast Sausage Egg Muffins

Tomatoes: Pesto Baked Chicken

Along with these recipes I made a Turmeric Golden Mylk Granola in partnership with Botanica Health which is currently my Fall breakfast obsession.

I can’t wait to start sharing holiday-inspired dishes and cocktails with you coming up for the next two months.

If you have a favourite holiday dish or ingredient you’d love to see in a recipe, drop a comment below – I’d love to hear from you!

Until the next cooking adventure,
Jess

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I have to say a massive THANK YOU for all of the blog-love this past month in celebrating my 2-year Blogaversary! It’s been really neat to look back on what I’ve created over the last 2 years and it’s made me so pumped to share with you a ton of new recipes and stories in the coming months!

A lot happened this month including cooking and sharing THREE new recipes – my favourite breakfast, lunch and dinner recipes! It was really fun to create my favourite recipes for you and I hope you’re having fun making them for your family and friends.

The Bacon, Mushroom & Spinach Quiche is actually quite perfect for an Easter Brunch so if you’re looking for a recipe to feed a crowd this would do the trick! And, even though it’s technically Spring, I’ve been enjoying my ultimate Grilled Cheese sandwich a couple of times on the cooler Spring days.  Last but not least I made my favourite dinner, Delicious Shrimp Pasta, for my husband and I the other night – it’s a comforting pasta dish with big flavour but includes light ingredients perfect for this time of year!

I’ve also added a couple of awesome new meals to our weekly meal rotation including these 20-Minute Sticky Basil Thai Noodles and Asian Quinoa Turkey Meatballs.

So as you can see I spent a lot of time in the kitchen but I also managed to get away for a couple of days back home to see my family. Just before I went away though I attended this really cool event called ‘Feeding 9 Billion People’ where a mix of University of Calgary students, alumni and local influencers sat down for a delicious dinner and thoughtful conversation around food security. I wrote about my experience here on the blog.

So back to my trip…when I go home I LOVE to take walks by Lake Ontario so I went on a couple of strolls and I really took some time to relax! I visited with my parents, cooked, relaxed and watched movies..it was wonderful.

I also enjoyed some delicious meals out at The Drake 150 in Toronto and at Shrimp Cocktail in Oshawa, and found these beautiful macarons at Nadege.

And I caught up with my best girlfriends over brunch! We made my Easy-Baked Croissant French Toast and pretty much devoured the entire thing over mimosa’s and great conversation.

So my month was pretty full of food – family – food – friends – food and I wouldn’t have it any other way!

Spring is definitely ‘in the air’ I can’t wait to share with you what I’ve been cooking up lately – Spring flavours coming at you! I’ve also been inspired by the bright colours I’ve been seeing everywhere including these salad servers with bright pops of turquoise and I’m obsessed with the serving bowl AND cheese board too (hello bring on the summer cheeseboards!)

These colours also made their way into TWO new recipes that I collaborated on with Sam from the Sugar and Sam blog so watch for those later in April!

Until the next cooking adventure,
Jess

Cookinginmygenes.com participates in select affiliate advertising programs. This means that if you click and/or make a purchase through certain links on this site or any related social media platforms, Cookinginmygenes.com may make a commission from that click and/or purchase. All opinions are my own, and all brands featured represent what I personally like and support.

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I went with a friend on a cross-country skiing adventure one day which included copious amounts of hot chocolate before and after our our outing.

I also enjoyed hunkering down inside on super cold days (I’m talking -30C with the wind-chill) and cooking tons of seasonal and comfort food.

This month I’m sharing with you some of the recipes I’ve been cooking, books I’ve been reading and other favourites from January.

We participate in a farmer’s share where we get local produce every other week and currently I’m obsessed with parsnips! Martha Stewart’s recipe for Roasted Parsnips is pretty much how we prepare them at home – I cannot stop eating them!

And along with roasting a ton of parsnips, we’ve also been into roasted broccoli. One of my fav recipes for this is from Killing Thyme where she roasts broccoli with garlic & parmesan.

I’ve been cooking a lot of recipes from Donna Hay’s cookbook, ‘Life in Balance,’ which I received for Christmas. Two of my fav recipes so far are the Tomato & Roasted Quinoa Soup and Chicken, Zucchini & Feta Meatballs. Both recipes include simple ingredients but also have massive amounts of flavour!

My curiosity gave in to find out more about a Danish lifestyle trend ‘hygge’ which translates roughly to mean ‘coziness.’ This book was just too beautiful not to read so I downloaded it to find out more about how to incorporate this into my own life – I will report back!

I also got a library card so I’ve been borrowing books like crazy, making my way through a massive booklist I have on my phone including ‘A Modern Way to Cook,’ by Anna Jones. She divides the book into 20 minute, 30 minute etc meals which is wonderful for weeknight dinners. Last week we made the Smoky Pepper & White Bean Quesadillas which were absolutely delicious.

And, not to be forgotten my husband’s and my birthdays are coming up!  We started a tradition a couple of years ago where we pick a cake recipe that we make for ourselves.  A couple of years ago we almost took it a bit far when we made this insane Bobby Flay Toasted Coconut Cake that legitimately took almost 3 DAYS to make! However, it was SO worth it.  This year we’re keeping things a little more simple. We’re going to make this classic Vanilla Cake with Caramel Pastry Cream from Anna Olson so stay tuned to my Instagram feed & Facebook page for updates on our birthday cake!

Until the next cooking adventure,
Jess

Cookinginmygenes.com participates in select affiliate advertising programs. This means that if you click and/or make a purchase through certain links on this site or any related social media platforms, Cookinginmygenes.com may make a commission from that click and/or purchase. All opinions are my own, and all brands featured represent what I personally like and support.

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