Bigger and better things

If you follow The Starved Writer, you may have noticed that I haven’t posted in a while. No I am not going to make up a whole bunch of excuses about being busy and not having time to cook. This...

Spaghetti squash incarnations

My grandma always says that small things amuse small minds–usually referring to herself, sometimes to me–and the other night I proved that the saying is true. I had heard from so many other...

Quinoa with cauliflower, spinach, peas and green curry

You know how it goes: Your days start to slowly be taken up useless meetings and long shifts at the restaurant and the time you have to yourself is spent editing drafts and writing papers and...

Vegan pumpkin spiced cookies

I was way late to the pumpkin party this year. Only in the past month have I begun to make warm bowls of pumpkin pie oatmeal and spicy pumpkin curries. It may be February, but there is something...

Show & Tell Saturday

Remember in elementary school when you had to bring in something from home that you thought would be worth showing and telling the other kids in your class about? Yeah, well, for my first show and...

Beyond the painted hearts of the True Love Café

Seeing as that I am beyond busy with school and just started hostessing at Trattoria Mercato, I don’t know when I’ll be able to do much cooking, baking and blogging. So, for now, I have dug up a...

Chili cheese poutine at Lou Dawg’s

People are always surprised to hear of how much I love poutine. Perhaps it is the Canadian in me but I never seem to have a problem waiting in the long, cold line outside Smoke’s after a night of...

Vegan curry, roasted vegetables and more minestrone

It has been almost a month since I last posted, which is shameful. December was just such a disaster of chocolate and pecan pie and buttery mashed potatoes and beer that I spent most of January...

Warm, hearty minestrone soup

Minestrone soup, with its warm, hearty broth, was one of the best things that I discovered when I went vegetarian. It was one of the only broth soups that I was able to eat and I could even get...

Skinny girl, Big Fat Greek Buffet

This babe loves buffets. If you want to win my heart just give me a pair of stretchy pants with an elastic waistband and a room full of all the warm stews, roasted potatoes and mounds of rice that...

Rich, creamy tofu Alfredo sauce

As I write this I am sitting here with my feet up, snacking on some raw carrot crackers and hummus, drinking chai tea, listening to Stone Me and letting out a most wondrous sigh of relief. For the...

Apple, banana, almond butter and raisin oatmeal

These winter mornings are something else. It can be so hard to haul yourself out of bed for a run when its still dark outside and you know the temperature is pushing itself to just below negative....

Family brunch at the Ancaster Old Mill

Eating out in Ancaster may consist mostly of chain restaurants and a couple of pubs, but our one culinary redemption is the Ancaster Mill and the enormous, sumptuous brunch buffet that the Ancaster...

Acorn squash macaroni and cheese

We may have had just a few flurries but its definitely winter here in Toronto. I almost got hypothermia on my run this morning, Ray LaMontagne and Bon Iver are on permanent rotation and last night...

Lentil linguine bolognese

Macaroni and cheese may be the comfort food of choice for most but, for me, comfort comes in the form of spaghetti and tomato sauce. Maybe its the carbs, maybe its the warmth or maybe its the...

Spinach and goat cheese scrambled eggs & eating brunch for dinner

I used to think that there was nothing better than breakfast for dinner. And then I had brunch for dinner. The joy that is brunch for dinner, or brinner, came to me last night while I was curled up...

Roasted red beet, goat cheese and pumpkin seed salad

After weeks of searching Craigslist and phoning landlords and bugging the produce guy at Loblaws for cardboard boxes and hauling all of my worldly possessions from one apartment to another, I am...

Vegan huevos rancheros at Sadie’s Diner

I’ve always been the friendly vegetarian. The one who will admit to loving the smell of roasted chicken and chuckle at your unoriginal bacon jokes and say nothing while my dinner date eats steak. I...

Tomato, avocado and asiago wrap

I almost didn’t share this since it is such a simple lunch but I think the simplicity is what makes it so wonderful: A couple smears of avocado, a few slices of tomato, a handful of artisan lettuce...

Vegetarian lentil and ricotta meatball sandwich

In a couple of days I’ll be moving from my small, shared apartment to a (somewhat) larger, bachelor apartment nearby. I have lived in my apartment with its black and white checkered floor and...

Embracing my salad days with corn, chickpeas, tomato, carrot and butternut squash

Everyone has a gift. For some it singing. For others its jumping hurdles. Some people are good at swimming or telling jokes or calculus. And then there are those people who have the natural talent...

Salad, potatoes and roasted vegetable orzo

This blog has changed a lot since it started and I have decided to start making a few more changes. The more I read other blogs (see: Keepin’ It Kind, The Inquiring Chef) the more I learn what I...

Wordless Wednesday: Maize

Broccoli, black olive and feta quinoa

Do you have any foods that you forget how much you like? For me its carrots, hard boiled eggs and olives. I always forget how much I love olives but then, once I remember, I cannot rest until I get...

Roasted tomato and tortellini soup

I’ve never been a big fan of tomato soup but when the tomatoes are freshly picked from my grandparents’ backyard garden and slow roasted in the oven, I can definitely warm up to a bowl of it. When...

Fudgy chocolate and sweet potato brownies

I never know how to feel when other bloggers post things like black bean brownies or carrot French fries or cashew cheese or roasted beet red velvet cake. On one hand I think “Wait, I can have...

Avocado, egg and sprout sandwich

Its back to school time and you know what that means: Sandwiches. Lots of them. For any journalism student at Ryerson, fourth year means a lot of sleep-deprived days doing layout design and...

Wordless Wednesday: Farmers’ market zucchini

Mojitos with white rum, fresh mint and lime

I’m mad for mojitos this summer. Seriously.When I went to Brickworks for a meeting the other day, what did I order? Mojitos. And when I went to the Drake for brunch with my lovely friend Steph,...

Mushroom and gouda sandwich at Cafe Unwind

The other day I took the boy to Kensington market. He had never been to Kensington and its pretty much a home away from home to me so we had to spend a sunny afternoon there. We browsed the shops,...