Hello!

     I don't know about you or where you live, but here in Tweed, it's been feeling more like spring this week. It's actually raining right now....which is just yucky and miserable, but the spring makes me want something bright, light, and palate cleansing as a treat. Am I the only one? We spend the cold winter months eating comfort foods, then when it feels like the warmer weather is approaching we feel the need to switch it up? Maybe it's just me? I know I would, and have, eaten these cookies any time of the year, but they feel particularly "springy" to me because of the refreshing lemony-ness of them. 

    This recipe is one I've been using for a while now, but I made some changes, basically because I needed it to reflect what I usually have on hand! The original recipe is from a blog I frequent, Lauren's Latest. She's shares about home, travel, family, and she's got some wonderful, delicious and simple recipes (one of my favourites is her copy-cat Cinnabon cinnamon rolls! They are sooooooooo good!!!). 

     Anyway, I'm keeping this post short and sweet....and sour? Get it? Lemons? Sour? Hardy har-har, I know, I'm funny. : ) 

Lemon Crinkle Cookies
Adapted oh-so-slightly from Lauren's Latest Lemon Crinkle Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1-½ Cups flour
• ¼ Tsp salt
• 1/2  Tsp + 1 finger pinches worth baking powder (or an additional  ⅛ tsp if you've got that tiny measurement!) 
• ½ Cup butter, room temperature
• 1 Cup sugar
• 1 Drop yellow food colouring (optional)
• 1  Egg
• 1 Tbsp lemon Juice
• ½ Cups icing (powdered) sugar

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper, or lightly grease and set aside
2. In a small  bowl, whisk together the flour, salt and baking powder, then set aside
3. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer or your muscles, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy
4. Now add in your egg and lemon juice and mix together well. Be sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl as you mix to make sure you've got that egg well incorporated!
5. Add in the dry ingredients you mixed together in the small bowl, and gently stir until just combined. Scrape down sides of bowl, and mix once more
6. Grab a large plate, or bowl with a large, flat bottom, and pour the icing sugar onto/into it
7. Using a scoop, or a spoon, scoop out a heaping teaspoon of the cookie dough and roll it into a nice little ball, then roll that nice little ball in your icing sugar! Place the sugary ball of dough onto your prepared baking sheet and repeat this step until you've used up all your dough! 
8. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until bottoms begin to just barely get brown, and cookies look matte {not melty or shiny}
9. Remove from oven and cool cookies about 3 minutes before transferring to cooling rack

   So lovely looking, right? They are just delightful, soft on the inside, lightly crisp on the outside, and so refreshing! Well, as "refreshing" as a cookie can be, I guess! Haha! 

   Have a great weekend friends! 
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    April Fool's Day! Planning any good pranks? The origins of April Fool's Day are murky, but it seems as thought every country recognizes it, and takes part in some way or another.

   My kids love Sponge Bob Square Pants....ok, I kind of love the show too, but there's an April Fool's Day episode where Sponge Bob plays pranks, and the level of his pranking is pretty close to my level.....    

   Needless to say I shan't be pulling any pranks today because I'm pretty crappy at thinking up any!

   So, let's move onto food! 

   I found a recipe for spaghetti squash with bacon, spinach and goat cheese from BuzzFeed Life and it looked like a super yummy and simple recipe, but I was feeling pretty sick of spaghetti squash. I've really been enjoying noodles made from sweet potato though, and thought the recipe would still be good if I swapped out one veggie noodle for another. And it was indeed!

    This dish comes together really quite quickly, but has so many wonderful flavours that you'd think it required more skill or effort. Ooh!! Is that an April Fool's prank?!? I make a meal that seems really difficult to make, and when my husband and kids are all, "oh, what a delicious dinner! You are so skilled, this must have taken some time and effort!", and I let them go on for a bit, and then I spring a "April Fool's! This meal was hilariously easy to make!!!"  

    Haha, some days my geek is all out there for the world to see, isn't it? Whomp whomp. My husband and kids don't talk to me like that at dinner anyway....they always say if they think something is yummy, and they say thanks for dinner, but that weird 1950's dialogue I had going up there was cra-cra!

    I think I should just move on now. 
   

Spinach, Bacon & Goat Cheese Sweet Potato Pasta
Makes 2 nice, big servings, or 3-4 smaller "lunch size" servings

Ingredients:

• 6 Pieces bacon, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1 Large onion, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 2 Tbsp vinegar (apple cider or red wine are both great choices)
• 1 Tbsp maple syrup
• 1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
• 3-4 Sweet potatoes (should yield about 8 cups un-cooked)
• 1 Five ounce bag of baby spinach 
• 3 Ounces goat cheese, divided (you can choose plain, or any nice flavour you can get-I used a garlic and herb kind this time)

Method:

1. Heat a large skillet over medium heat, then add the bacon pieces. Cook slightly over medium heat, stirring often, just until the edges of the bacon have begun to get crispy
2. While the bacon is browning, spiralize your sweet potatoes and set them aside
3. Add the onion to the bacon in the pan, and caramelize the onions while the bacon finishes cooking 
4. When the bacon and onions are done, add the vinegar while stirring and scraping the bottom of the skillet. This is called "deglazing" and it gets all of the delicious caramelized bits of bacon and onion off the bottom of your pan
5. Once you've scraped the bottom of the pan sufficiently, turn the heat to low and add the maple syrup and dijon mustard and stir it all to combine well
6. Now add your sweet potato noodles, and gently toss to combine and allow to cook and soften, anywhere from 5-8 minutes, it all depends on how soft you want them! You'll need to gently turn/toss them a few times to get them evenly warmed an soft
7. Once the sweet potato noodles have been cooking for 4-6 minutes, add your spinach one handful at a time, stirring gently so that is combines and wilts slightly, giving your pan enough room to keep adding more spinach
8. Once all of the spinach has been added in, put 1 ounce of the goat cheese into the pan with the noodles and gently toss to warm and melt the cheese slightly
9. Now divide the pasta between your bowls, and crumble the remaining goat cheese on top of the pasta 

    Alright, well, have a good day! Watch out for those trying to play tricks on you! 

    Don't forget that today marks the beginning of Autism Awareness Month, and that tomorrow is World Autism Awareness Day. My son's wonderful resource teacher sent me the link to this article about how awareness is important, but acceptance is vital. The author of the article puts it this way, "Why acceptance? Because autistic people deserve the love and respect that come with acceptance, not merely acknowledgment that autism exists. Awareness is passive. Acceptance is a choice".  That is so well said.
 
     I talked about a few ways people can promote autism awareness in a post a few years ago "World Autism Awareness Day" if you wanna take a look there for a few practical ideas.

    Until next week, adiós, adieu, arrivederci, ciao, auf Wiedersehen, au revoir, sayonara, and goodbye!  : )  

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