​    Happy Thanksgiving weekend American friends! 

    Here in Canada, we celebrate our Thanksgiving in October, but Canada has in the last few years started tagging along with “Black Friday” and all the sales that go along with it - so, for me, it’s a time to NOT go out because I’m not a big fan of crazed deal hunters! Don’t get me wrong, I am a deal hunter, and I am generally crazed, but I am a quiet deal hunter. For instance, if I see a shelf with a bunch of fantastic items and they are on clearance, I will silently use my arm to make one grand gesture of sweeping all of said item into my cart, and walking away. Pleased as punch. 

    Well, that was all pretty random.

    Let’s talk about today’s recipe! I found it this summer while cooking at Pleasant Bay Camp. Someone had purchased an ungodly amount of frozen blueberries for us to use, and I needed the freezer space, so got looking for a blueberry muffin recipe that was basic, used simple ingredients, and came out looking like a million bucks. 

     This recipe from Chef Savvy hit on all those points! 

    The campers gobbled them up, the staff stole them from the kitchen when I wasn’t looking, AND I got to use up some expiring milk to make up the first batch! 

   The recipe calls for sour cream, but we had an over-order of milk at camp, and it was expiring faster than we could make the campers and staff drink it! It is very common to use souring milk in recipes. A lot of recipes – mine included! – call for sour milk (or buttermilk), so don’t think “bleh! Using sour milk?!? Gross!”. It’s normal, it’s economical, and it creates a softer, fluffier baked good! 

    Some people do say not to use actual souring milk for recipes, but that strange, sour milk taste that is unpleasant if you were to drink it strait changes, and the only taste that remains is a oh-so-slight tangy flavour that really compliments sweet baked goods. I pinky-swear promise it DOES NOT taste like sour milk! 

    Anyway, all that being said, when I didn’t have actual souring milk, I made my own buttermilk by adding some vinegar or lemon juice to fresh milk (about 1 teaspoon to 1/4 Cup), stir, and allow to sit until it’s curdled. 

    As for the streusel top, I hate when super moist muffins get sticky on the top after they’ve cooled and sat. It’s better than a gross, dry muffin, but still. So, when I first looked up the recipe, I looked up “streusel topped blueberry muffins”, knowing that A: streusel is freakin’ delicious, and B: it would keep the tops from becoming sticky. 

    So, without further adieu, and sorry for blabbing on, here’s the recipe! 
​

Blueberry Streusel Top Muffins
Adapted from Chef Savvy's "Blueberry Streusel Muffins"

Ingredients:
For the Streusel Top:

• ¼ Cup butter, melted
• ¾ Cup brown sugar
• ½ Cup flour
• 1 Tbsp cinnamon

 
For the Muffins:

• 2 Cups flour
• ½ Cup brown sugar
• ¼ Tsp salt
• 1 Tbsp powder
• 1¼ Cup sour milk, buttermilk, sour cream or plain yogurt
• 1 Tsp vanilla
• ¼ Cup vegetable oil
• 1 Large egg
• 1½ Cups blueberries, fresh or frozen

Method:
For the Streusel Top:

1. Mix the streusel ingredients together until it’s well combined and you have a crumbly/sandy texture. Set aside

 
For the Muffins:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees and prep a regular sized muffin tray by spraying with cooking spray, or lightly greasing with butter (only to the top of the pan), and line with muffin liners. If you don’t want to use muffin liners, grease or spray the entire pan. This recipe makes 14-15 muffins, so either prep two pans, or be prepared to make this in 2 batches. I like to make a regular sized batch, and a mini muffin batch with what remains. Set aside
2. In a large bowl add all the dry ingredients, and whisk to combine
3. In a different, medium bowl, add the wet ingredients (but not the blueberries yet!), and mix well
4. Now fold the wet ingredients into the dry, stirring until it’s just blended. Don’t go bonkers here, muffins don’t like being over-mixed!
5. Gently fold in blueberries
6. Using a muffin scoop, or just scooping the batter into the prepared muffin tin, fill each one up almost to the top
7. Sprinkle each muffin with streusel
8. Place into hot oven and bake for 20 minutes or until muffins are set. To check doneness,  stick a toothpick or knife in the centre and make sure it comes out clean
9. Allow to cool slightly before removing from muffin tin

    Enjoy!
​
    I think these taste amazing if you eat them warm, with some butter and honey! 

   These lovely little muffins also freeze well, making them great to make ahead for school lunches, or to have on hand to randomly bring to someone who is in need of a pick-me-up!

   Ok, well, I’ll see you later this week! On Thursday (the day I set aside for any autism writing I want to share), I’ll be telling you about something that happened last week with my son Caleb. If you’re new here and don’t know him, he’s my 12 ½ year old son with autism. He’s growing into an incredible young man, and last week he was involved in something that ordinarily might not leaving a Mom weeping with joy (several times in one day!), but that’s what was happening to me! I am overwhelmingly proud of him, his classmates, and his school! Stay tuned for that! 

xoxo
​

   As far as easy recipe go-this one is way up there on the list! It's some really simple ingredients that *most* people have on had  at all times, and can be baked up and cooling on your counter in 30 minutes (ish - haha! The exact time depends on how organized your baking supplies are and how efficiently you can pull them together!). But still, they're easy going cookie bars!

   It's all the goodness of gooey, oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, but without the scooping! I found this recipe at Jamie Cooks it Up, and give it two whole-hearted thumbs up! :)    

    I usually like to post a "Motivational Monday" & "Health & Fitness" post on Mondays.....and this is neither of those things! But, I decided that although I want to give readers something predictable, most readers who I hear from don't give a rip! :)  So, it helps me prepare and be organized if I have a certain "thing" I will post about on a certain day, but sometimes, I just gotta post what I feel like! 

    And this recipe is so simple to throw together for when last minute guests are coming over, or to make and tuck into an airtight container and put into the freezer for quick lunch treats, or after school snacks, well, I just needed to share it! 

    Hope ya'll are ok with that!:)  

    See, so simple, right? 
 
    Today was a suddenly wintry day (a no school, snow day included!), and we went from wearing t-shirts and no coats outside on Friday, to coats, hats, scarves, and mitts today! 

    Oh Canada!!! :)  

    We enjoyed it though with equal parts laziness (watching "Shrek The Musical" on Netflix), and playing outside. 

    I hope you had a lovely day, whatever you were up to! 

    If you've stopped by, please feel free to leave a comment! I'd love to know you were here, and to see how your day went! 
    

xoxoxo
​

   Have you ever set out on a task and thought, "I sure hope I can see this through...", only to realize that at some point, you've done it? And not only have you done it, you find that there were many moments that were beautiful?

    You've climbed the mountain, you've changed your health, you've worked at a summer camp as the cook (true story!), you worked your butt off and saved an important relationship, you did a total room make-over, saved for a down payment on a house? Whatever it was, didn't it take you by surprise? Yes, you set out to do it, but still, to turn around and find that the view from this new place in your life is beautiful and unexpected? Doesn't the view take your breath away? 

     I was recently watching videos of my son Caleb, who has autism. The videos were from when we had our second child, Abigail. Caleb was 4 years old at the time. That was 8 years ago. 

     Watching videos of Caleb when he was young, and seeing how sweet & happy he was left me feeling completely overwhelmed. 

     Those were hard times, and felt like dark days filled with uncertainty. But now, with my view from here, I see his ability, his character, his goofiness has always been there!

      Over the years, he's developed skills that have made him into an amazing pre-teen!

      My view now shows me & reminds me that even if today seems dark & endless and if hopelessness wants to take over, it will be ok!

   My heart today is for the parent of a child with autism who is reading this, and they are in the middle of their storm. 

   Please know that you aren't alone in this journey. And also know that with love, and consistency, using your gut instinct, and raising your child like they are precious, will yield temendous results - perhaps not outwardly as you may hope, but in your heart, and in the heart of your child, no matter how severe the autism.

    The view you have now is not the view you will have forever, take heart in that. This autism journey is tiring, it's emotional, it's so up and down! But it's also beautiful. Because one day you'll see something so amazing in your child that your heart will be filled to the top! But you need to be looking. You need to be seeing the big picture, forward and backward. Last year really sucked for Caleb. But this year? This year has been so absolutely amazing! But I only know that because I am taking stock. 

    You can do this. You're not stuck. Autism is always changing & growing. 

    Trust me. The view from here is amazing.


xoxo

   

   Can you tell I'm pretty excited about homemade mayo? Look at my title! Look at all those exclamation marks!!! 

    Let me tell you though, my tale of mayo hasn't always been a happy one.....

       (.....insert depressing dream sequence music.....)

     Picture this with me, it's 2004.......(all of these ellipses are to help you stay in a dream sequence with me) :)  

     .....I borrowed a cookbook from the library that had a homemade mayonnaise recipe in it. When I first saw you could even make your own mayonnaise, I thought, "sounds fun! I'll give it a try!". I think I was interested because I was eating sugar-free/low carb at the time, and regular mayo has sugar added, and "low carb" mayo was expensive. But, oh, I was so young and foolish. And not to mention wildly inexperienced as a food handler (for real, the newly married me from 12 1/2 years ago would have rolled around on the floor laughing if someone told her she'd be writing a blog that was food and recipe centred!)! Anyway, I digress, back to the story......). There I stood in my kitchen, doing as I was told from the cookbook I'd found the mayo recipe in. All I needed to do was to put an egg yolk, vinegar & some salt in a bowl, and slowly drip in oil while I whisked! And voila! I would have mayonnaise, made by me! And wouldn't I just be bursting proud!

     Well, about 15 minutes later, after I'd whisked until my arm felt like jello, and dripped each drop of oil in slowly (seriously, it said one DROP at a time!), all I had to show was a bowl of pretty gross looking, separated, curdle-y looking nastiness! And I had no internet at home, so I couldn't just quickly look up "how to fix ruined homemade mayonnaise!".

     Dream sequence date transition music.....

     It's now 2006, and I have a new recipe for mayonnaise that says if I use a hand mixer, the mayo will work out because it will be a steady beating, which is important for the emulsification process. You still need to put the oil in one drop at a time, but I thought, "well, at least the other hand won't be whisking, so it shouldn't be as hard?"

     I was wrong. Holding a hand mixer for 10 strait minutes IS hard, and my hand mixer was very overheated, and the mayo still didn't work out!!! 

     Dream sequence date transition music.....

     Now it's 2011 (ish?), and I see a recipe for homemade mayo that says using a blender will do the trick! Apparently, hand whisking, and using a hand mixer doesn't whip fast enough. And for the egg and oil to properly emulsify. It has to happen slowly, but fully at each drop of oil, and that can only happen if it's being whipped fast enough! (hand slapped to forehead!).

     Well, I tried it. Long story short: it failed. 

     I was a homemade mayo failure. 

     I saw some time after, that using a food processor worked great, but after all the failures I'd had, I wasn't willing to try. Plus, I didn't own a food processor with the opening in the top to add food as it's whirling, and that was an important part of making mayo in said food processor. I wasn't about to go out and buy a new food processor either, just to attempt making mayo again!

      Dream sequence date transition music.....

      Here we are, it's 2015, and I'm standing in a second hand store in Tweed, looking at a immersion blender thinking, "well, I have been thinking about getting one of these because making homemade "cream-of" soups would be easier if I could just use this instead of having to dump the soup out into the blender....?". 

      It was $5. So, I got it.
 
    And I was right, making "cream-of" soups is ridiculously easy with an immersion blender! And, not too long after getting the immersion blender, our regular blender broke, so I thought, "well, I sure am glad I bought the hand-held blender!". 

    Then one day....one magical day....I was on a blog, The healthy Foodie, looking at a recipe, and somehow (by way of some rabbit trail I often find myself on when I'm on a blog I like!), I stumbled on "Foolproof Homemade Paleo Mayo", and there was a picture of mayo in a jar, and an immersion blender. I thought, "whaaaaaaa? Foolproof? She's never met a fool like me! I gotta try it". 

     Dream sequence music changes to something triumphant and uplighting....

     It worked!!! People, I am here as a bonafide homemade mayo failure to tell you that this is the FOR REAL foolproof method of making mayo.

     I've made it with cold ingredients, room temperature ingredients, fresh eggs, old eggs, using lemon juice, white vinegar, apple cider vinegar, pickle juice (which was amazing!!!-I used it to make tartar sauce for fish night!) adding dijon, adding yellow mustard, adding pepper, adding garlic powder, cayenne, rosemary, thyme-I've tried it so many ways, and this mayo hasn't failed me yet! 

     I wanted to make a video of making it though, because while talking to my Mom on the phone one day about how crazy easy it was to make this mayo, I could sense some skepticism. That and she wasn't sure what size jar to use, and I told her "well, I'll video tape me making it, and post it to YouTube for you!"

     So, here it is, in all it's glory! 

    I am so happy I'm making my own mayo that isn't a complete failure!

   Now, I eat paleo, and I believe in using healthy oil to make my mayonnaise. What is "healthy oil", well....quite frankly, I don't want to get into that right now.....I'm too happy about homemade mayo to argue about "healthy oil"! Now, I can tell you though that different oils produced different tastes. I use Extra Light Tasting Olive Oil because it has (duh) a light taste. I once used regular olive oil, and the mayo, although thick and lovely, was very olive oil-y tasting, and also kind of green in colour. Bleh. So, just keep that in mind when choosing an oil.

Homemade Mayonnaise
****Super important note!!!***
      You'll need a 16oz,(also called a Pint, or 500ml) wide mouth mason jar for this. Or, some immersion blenders come with a tall, wide mouth, cylinder shaped container that you can also use. The immersion blender needs to fit right in the container for this to work. 

Ingredients:

• 1 Whole egg
• 1 Cup light tasting olive oil, or oil of your choice
• 1 Tbsp vinegar, or lemon juice
• Pinch o' salt

  Something I add in regularly is dijon mustard, about 1 Tsp


Method:

1. Crack the egg into the jar, then add all the other ingredients, including any extras
2. Now, place the immersion blender carefully into the jar, over the yolk (you don't want to break the yolk), bringing the blender all the way to touch the bottom of the jar
3. Using the highest setting or button, begin to blend the mayo, but DO NOT pull it up from the bottom of the jar! You will see the mayo start to come together (or emulsify), and come creeping up the sides of the jar like mayo magic!
4. After most of the mixture is emulsified (this takes no time at all!), you can begin to move the blender up and down gently to draw the rest of the oil in that's been sitting on top
5. Now, you're done! 

   As you can see, my immersion blender is NOT fancy. Not even a little bit! But it works! So, incase you're thinking you need to go out and buy the best, most expensive immersion blender to make this work, you're thinking wrong! Heck, if you don't already own one, and you're in not a desperate hurry to make your own mayo, just keep checking into thrift shops to see if you can snag an immersion blender at a great price! I honestly think my mayonnaise tastes even better because the blender only cost me $5! : )
​ 
   Ok, full disclosure, before I got this hand blender, I did manage to make ONE BATCH of homemade mayo using the whisking method. The recipe I used it in was for Shrimp Stuffed Tomatoes (which are so delicious!), but the effort to make the mayo was too much! I can be pretty lazy, ya know! Now, making those same shrimp stuffed tomatoes with this fast mayo? Game changer. Game. Changer.

    I had honestly gotten used to a no-mayo life. But , there were things I really wanted it for. Tartar sauce for fish nights, for example. Or to make a ranch dressing to eat with a pile of veggies as a bedtime snack. How about creamy coleslaw? Yes please. 

     It is a welcome addition to my life! And, my kids eat it too, although I've never told them it wasn't store bought. I feel like they'd be skeptical if they knew I made it? They are my worst critics. Anyway, maybe they wouldn't be skeptical? Either way, I find immense pleasure in knowing that they'll eat it! : )  

     Well,  that's it, I guess! 

     I'm happy to be here writing a post and sharing something new that I'm excited about! 

     I hope you had a great Monday!      
​

   I love history, but I wouldn't claim to know much about it at all. I just love knowing that I am grounded here in Canada. My house, for instance, was built more than 100 years ago, and young men who lived in my house may have fought in some of the wars. 

   But knowing all of the details of history, and honouring the people who gave their lives for my freedom aren't the same things, in my opinion.

    I wasn't going to write today, but this morning while at a Remembrance Day Service at the Tweed Cenotaph, the ceremony MC said at the end of the service a thank-you to all the children who came out to the service because the children are "the interest on debts so dearly paid". I couldn't help but get teared up, looking my my kids standing there with students from their school, and thanking God that we live somewhere that is safe, and free. 

    So I thought, why not write something today? Why not say "thank-you" to all those who have fought, and are currently fighting for the freedom we value so highly here in Canada. 

    I wouldn't encourage fighting, but I think that the brave individuals who stepped (or still step) forward, or had been drafted and went forth with courage, deserve honour. As a nation, we are who we are because of brave men and women who believe in our country. 

    Last summer, while in Europe, my husband and I had the opportunity to visit many war memorials, and it was overwhelming, to say the least. 
  
    So, instead of prattling on, I just wanted to share some of the photos I have from the memorials we visited. 
   

   Below are photos from some of the memorials we visited in Belgium

   Here you see a marked grave, and a photo of the young man buried (elsewhere) in the cemetery. Also a grave with the marking "Just a thought of sweet remembrance by Mother", as well as graves marked with "Gone but not forgotten", and "known unto God" (which are marked on many graves where the soldier could not be identified).

   Pictured here is "Sanctuary Wood", located in Belgium. 
"After the First World War a farmer returned to reclaim his land in and around what was left of the wood he had left in 1914. A section of the original wood and the trenches in it were cleared of debris and casualties but generally the farmer left a section of a British trench system as he found it" (source).

    This is Hill 62 Memorial, 
  
    "The memorial is located beside Sanctuary Wood on the top of Mount Sorrel, which lies next to 'Hill 62' all of which the Canadians held or recaptured from the Germans during those offensive operations in early June 1916. The British Official History of the war recorded "The first Canadian deliberately planned attack in any force, had resulted in an unqualified success."

   These are photos from a very emotional ceremony, the Last Post Ceremony, in Ypres, Belgium. It is similar to a Remembrance Day Ceremony you may attend with the sounding of the Last Post, a minute of silence, the “Réveille” bugle call, and laying of wreaths in memoriam. 

         After the wreath-laying a member or guest of the Last Post Association, a visiting dignitary or a visitor will have been invited to say the words of the Exhortation, taken from Laurence Binyon's poem “For the Fallen” (fourth verse). Standing in the centre of the road under the arch of the Hall of Memory the person will say the words:

“They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them.”

(Source)

    The Flanders Field cemetery is in the area known as Flanders Fields, where fierce fighting took place throughout the war on the Western Front.
    Canadian Lieutenant Colonel, John McCrae, was a Canadian poet, physician, author, artist and soldier during World War I, and he wrote the poem "In Flanders Fields" on May 3rd, 1915, after witnessing the death of his friend, Lieutenant Alexis Helmer, the day before.
       The animation below gives a quick summary of how the poppy became our symbol of Remembrance (Source)

   Below is the poem "Flanders Field" by Colonel John McCrae

   I was sitting and talking with my 8 year old daughter the other day, and she was asking about the wars and Remembrance Day. I couldn't help crying talking with her about it all, and what it meant to those families all those years ago, and today. Seeing graves in Europe marked "Known unto God" because they could not be identified, broke my heart. And the "just a thought of sweet remembrance by Mother" left me feeling so much pain for all the mothers who lost their sons in The Great War. 

    Whatever your views on war, and conflicts between countries, you cannot deny that we live in a place that is beautiful, strong and free. 

    My children can play outside without fear, they can attend church services, go to school, spend lazy Saturdays in their pajamas watching Netflix. They are free! I am proud to be a Canadian, and to celebrate Remembrance Day. 


​Lest We Forget

    Well, here I am! I'm back!!! : ) 

    Ok, I've been back since the last week in August, but things have been moving at a mile a minute at the Van Londersele's! 

    However, I had been working on this post with the intention of having it up by the first Monday in October, but when I'd finished it all up, and I hit "publish".....it VANISHED!!!!! After I sat crying at the computer for about 15 minutes, I turned the computer off, walked away and thought "well, I'm not sure when I'll have time to re-do that!

    And here I am, a month later, finally (hopefully) publishing this (re-done) post! 

    So, I've been away, but I've been trying, trying really hard, to get my blog back up and running! 

      Ok, well, now that I've got that out of my way, let's re-cap the last 4 months, shall we?!

​(insert dream sequence music....) 

     I was a camp cook at Pleasant Bay Camp in Consecon! 

    This job left me sleepless and stressed for weeks leading up to the start date, and after the first week (where at one point I shut myself in the storage room to cry!), things seemed to click. I had some cooky and wonderful teens working with me, and they made everyday fun (and loud - we sang A LOT, and VERY loudly!). There were some failures, some successes, but mainly I grew a lot! I have serious F.O.F. (fear of failure!), and the pressure of this job felt crippling, then I got there, figured out all the quirks of how everything worked (ovens, stoves, steamers, etc.), figured out what worked and what didn't, and trusted myself, and things worked out!

     I needed to do a ton of planning, prepping, and figuring out exact times for (what felt like) 100 things at once so it all came out together at meal time! It was my kind of stress, it turns out! I do this at home basically everyday! When it comes to meals at home, my personality lends itself to exact planning, prepping and figuring out exact times. So, I had to tell myself to stay calm, and do what I knew how to do. 

     In the end, I walked away feeling so proud for not completely bombing, I felt fulfilled for working so hard at something worth working at, and I felt love from my new "kitch" family (as one of my staff called it). :)   

     And my kids had such a great time spending their days with other kids, going swimming, playing sports, making crafts (SO MANY CRAFTS!!!!), and getting a ton of sun! 

     Last summer Adam and I had the opportunity to go to Europe where we got the chance to visit with a lot of our family. 

     This summer, 2 family members who we stayed with for a whole week in Belgium came to Canada!

      We got together for lunch one day shortly after they arrive in the True North, but later in the month we met up in Toronto (with my in-laws too) and went to Caribana. So, it was super loud, there was a lot of near-nudity (seriously!) :) , but most of all we got to see our family again which filled my heart up!      

     A week after we left Pleasant Bay Camp, we headed to Brantford so the kids could attend Day Camp at Circle Square Ranch, and so I could be a member of the horse staff! I spent years and years working at this camp, and I was so excited to be heading back to work for the week. 

      I was a little nervous about teaching horseback riding again because it's been a while, but it all came back to me and it went great! And my kids had so much fun in day camp! 

     I loved (x 10000000) being there for the week!

    With the 2 weeks we had between leaving the Ranch and school starting, we crammed in as much "normal" summer fun as we could! 
    
    We got to the Peterborough Zoo, the Tweed splash pad, the Tweed park, went for walks, visited neighbours, spent time in our jammies, cuddled our cat who we missed a lot, and went to Adam's work Labour Day Family Picnic.

      It was a little hectic, but wonderful!

    Somehow my little babies were going into grades 6, 3 and 1! (*tear*)  The kids looked so good, so grown-up, so beautiful, and I felt so old! 

    So far, this school year is going so good. Caleb's class had a teacher switch 2 weeks into the year which left us feeling upset and worried, but his new teacher is amazing, and Caleb clearly loves him and his class. Caleb also has a rock-star for an E.A. this year, so she is really helping to keep Caleb moving forward and working hard. 

    The girls teachers are also really wonderful, and they seem to be working well together. 

     So, the day before my birthday I was in Belleville for an Art Show & Sale, and when I came home, my sister and her family, and my brother and his family, and a bunch of my friends were at my house! Surprise! I really was surprised, and it was so great to have everyone celebrating the 13th anniversary of my 20th birthday :)   Hardy har har. I'm 33 and I'm ok with that! 

    We carved pumpkins. We dressed up. We collected candy. It was awesome!

     This needs to further explanation! :)  

   
      So, now that I've recapped the last few months of my absence, I would love to move onto a recipe that is so simple, and if you aren't into veggies as noodles, you can make this with your fav gluten-free or regular pasta. Just cook it up as usual, rinse well in cold water, and add to the pan! 

Bacon, Rosemary & Parmesan Sweet Potato Noodles
Serves 2 large portions, or 3 smaller portions

Ingredients:

• 6 Pieces bacon, cut into 1 inch strips
• 1 Yellow onion, diced
• 2 Medium sized sweet potatoes, Spiralized or julienned 
• 1 Tbsp fresh rosemary, or 1 Tsp dried
• Salt & pepper to taste
• Parmesan-as much or little as you'd like! 

Method: 

1. Heat a large skillet or pot on medium heat, and once warmed, add the bacon pieces
2. Cook bacon for 5-8 minutes, until it starts to release some of it's fat, and then add in the onion
3. Cook the bacon and onion for another 5-8 minutes, or until it's as done as you like it (each person has an opinion about how crispy they like their bacon!)
4. Add the sweet potato "noodles", or noodles of choice and gently toss to coat
5. Add in the rosemary and gently toss again
6. If using sweet potato noodles, allow them to cook for 5-7 minutes MAXIMUM. You don't want them getting overcooked or else they'll start to break apart
7. If using gluten-free or regular pasta, allow them to warm back up for a few minutes in the pan, tossing often
8. Divide noodles into 2 bowls, and top with parmesan cheese

Enjoy! 
​

     That's all there is to it! 

    Truthfully, when I make this, because my kids aren't overly fond of sweet potato noodles, I'll cook up a pot of gluten-free pasta, then I'll rinse the pasta in cold water, and start this recipe in the pot I used to make the pasta, and add the cooled pasta to it at Step 4. In another large skillet I'll start a second "batch", and make it with sweet potato noodles. It's really not that much extra work, I'm literally doing the exact same recipe, just on 2 different burners, and with a different noodle. When all is said and done, it's still a simple meal, and has relatively few dishes! Seriously, making it 2 ways at once only yields 1 pot, 1 pan, 1 colander (for rinsing the cooked pasta), and one Spiralizer to wash! Well, and our bowls and forks, of course. Not bad for a freakin' delicious meal! :)

    Well, I'm happy to be "back". I'm not sure what my blogging schedule will be these days....sorry! I will work it out though! I used to like to work first things in the morning...but I've been having a heck of a time getting up early these days! So, instead I've taken to writing in the evenings, after the kids are in bed and Adam is on a night shift. It works, and hopefully I'll be able to get some lovely recipes out to ya'll, as well as some Health & Fitness posts and whatever other random things that pop into my head! 

     I will be taking you through my soon-to-be kitchen renovation, so stay tuned for that! 

     Until next time,
​
xoxoxoxox