This is for my mother, who taught me to love who I am and what I do,

Reading is my favourite thing to do beyond cooking, writing or photographing since books have been a wondrous habit of mine since I was young. My mom, a real champ about my book addiction, would stop at garage sales to look for new books for me, would fill out my order card for the book fair at school every year with at least three new books and we were frequent card users at our local library. She was a single parent for the majority of my life, worked two jobs to feed and clothe my sister and I but she never complained or questioned my need for books. Whenever we were at a family gathering and my social anxiety was at an all time high, she never pushed me to “go play with the other kids” since she knew I was most comfortable under a tree in the backyard reading a book. I had a bad habit of hiding in odd places to avoid my younger sister or cousins so I could read in peace. One of my favourite places to do this was the linen closet in the hallway. I would climb up the shelves, tuck myself in between the sheets or towels, turn on a battery-operated push light that my mom taped to the wall and read my book in a little space all to myself. It really freaked my mom out to see a small child’s head amongst the linen whenever she opened the closet. Her reactions were always very funny to me.

When I was eleven, I started reading the Harry Potter series and absolutely fell in love with the magical world, as I am sure all of us who read it did. Money was very tight during this time of my life but my mom, bless her heart, still bought me the newest Harry Potter books when they came out. She told me that there were worse things to spend money on than her daughter’s books and kept encouraging me to read. She hugged me when I sobbed over a character’s death and never once suggested that, “it wasn’t real,” even though I was sixteen when the seventh book came out. She knew that I was emotionally invested in the story and my feelings about it were very real to me. I will always appreciate her compassion. The Harry Potter series is still on my bookshelf, 17 years later, and I have refused to lend them out since they are my most special collection, thanks to my mom.

My sister and I played dress up quite often since we grew up with tinfoil covered rabbit-ear antennas and a VHS player that occasionally ate our beloved Disney tapes, we were left to entertain ourselves for the most part. For Halloween one year, I was Belle from Beauty and the Beast and I loved that bright golden dress with the matching gloves. I definitely pretended I was Belle and would hang out in the yard wearing that dress and reading a book. My mom never said anything about me wearing a Halloween costume in July but simply reminded me to bring out a blanket so I wouldn’t mess up my dress. 

My mother has helped me become a life-long reader and introduced me to my ultimate passion in life. She encouraged me to be myself, that odd book-reading kid who hides in the linen closest to catch up on her R.L. Stine and stood up for me whenever a family member questioned my desire of isolation. Sure, I was a weird kid that got really excited when I saw my mother carrying old dusty books in a grocery bag but she was more than happy to feed my addiction.

A special thanks to my mom for encouraging me to do the things that make me the happiest and allowing me to be myself, despite what others might think. Happy Mother’s Day to you.

Love, Jessica

This recipe is adapted from At Home in the Whole Food Kitchen: Celebrating the Art of Eating Well

*This post contains affiliate links, which means I receive a *teeny* commission if you make a purchase using this link.

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As a January baby, I was very jealous of those who had birthdays in the warmer months and I always wanted the super awesome (and totally cliche) pool party. Too bad there is 30 inches of snow when my birthday rolls around. When I was 12, my mother rented out the local YMCA indoor pool to grant me my birthday wish. She rented out a fitness room as well so we could stuff our faces after swimming with pizza and more chocolate cake. The smell of chlorine always reminds me of this special day. All of this was on a single parent income and I have no idea how she did it. These are the little things that I did not really appreciate until I became an adult; the extra shifts my mother picked up in order for me to have the best birthday, the strategic present hiding so my gift wouldn’t be found, the late night wrapping and the early cake pickup. The amount of work my mother put into making each of my birthday so special is just one of the reasons I love her and celebrate all that she has done to raise my sister and I. Though certain periods of my life (read bratty teenage years) she and I never got along I knew she would always be there for me, ready to talk about anything over some leftover Chinese food that we would eat cold and right out of the boxes. We won’t be celebrating together this year if we did we would be having this brunch since a little bit of breakfast and a little bit of lunch is our favourite meal. Happy Mother’s Day!

I served this dish with some steamed asparagus topped with cracked black pepper, chopped capers and slice cherry tomatoes and a berry salad with thin ribbons of mint.

P.S. There are a few days left of my Forks Over Knives Prize Pack Giveaway!! Check it out here and enter to win these awesome prizes!

Portobello Florentine with Lemony Hollandaise Sauce

 

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Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

25 mins

Total time

35 mins

 

This recipe is oil-free, gluten-free and soy-free. If you want the sauce thinner add 1 tablespoon of water at a time until desired consistency. This recipe easily doubles and I suggest 2 cups of spinach (raw) per mushroom cap since spinach reduces considerably when cooked.

Author: Jessica DeMarra

Serves: 2

Ingredients

• Lemony-Hollandaise Sauce
• 1 tablespoon minced shallot
• 1 small clove garlic, minced
• ½ cup raw cashews, soaked
• 3 tablespoons nutritional yeast
• 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/16 teaspoon ground turmeric (optional for colour)
• 9 tablespoons water (or more if you like it a littler thinner)
• Portobello Florentine
• 4 Portobello mushroom caps
• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
• ¼ teaspoon + ⅛ teaspoon kosher salt, separated
• Pinch of pepper
• 8 cups baby spinach, rinsed thoroughly
• Smoked paprika for garnish

Instructions

1. Add the garlic and the shallots to a small bowl and cover with boiling water.
2. After 5 minutes drain the aromatics and add to a blender along with the rest of the ingredients for the sauce. Blend until completely smooth. Keep warm until ready to use.
3. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Destem and degill the mushrooms, sprinkle with lemon juice, salt and pepper.
4. Lined baking sheet with tin foil or parchment paper, roast for 22-25 minutes, turning half way through. A lot of water will come out of the mushrooms.
5. This is where timing is crucial- before wilting the spinach make sure your sauce is prepare and the mushrooms are almost ready to be served. If using the paprika have that ready as well.
6. Over medium heat in a pot with a tight fitting lid, add the spinach, ⅛ teaspoon salt and a touch of water. Place lid on the pot and allow the spinach to steam and wilt- this is a quick process. Once the spinach is wilted, place the spinach in a clean dishtowel and squeeze out any excess liquid. Top the mushrooms with the wilted spinach, dress with the hollandaise sauce and sprinkle paprika on top. Serve.

3.3.3077

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Barb does not like the Cone of Shame. Look at that cut eye she is giving me.

Mark and I also put in our 2 months notice for our current place and are on the hunt for another place. We have been searching online and have been to several apartment showing but nothing yet that we both agreed on. On top of all this vet trips and apartment viewings, I am sick. Blah. My voice sounds like I have been smoking for 100 years so it has been nothing but tea, soup and green smoothies for this girl. Once my throat calmed down a little yesterday I needed something solid.  This is the first time I had made biscuits and loved them! So much flakier and buttery than the biscuits I have tried before (aka Tim Horton’s and Bisquick). At first I made them plain but I wanted more. My friend once made this green onion biscuits for a potluck brunch and dammmn they were so good. This recipe is adapted from hers except made vegan. These freeze really well and toss them in the oven to reheat. Don’t put any baked goods in the microwave since they will turn into rocks.  Serve these as a side to any meal plain or with a little extra vegan butter.

Yield depends on how large you want your biscuits!

• 8 tablespoons Earth Balance
• 1 cup all-purpose
• 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 tablespoon organic cane sugar
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt, grinded to fine or fine grind sea salt
• ¾ cup plus 1 tablespoon unsweetened almond milk
• 1/2 cup minced green onions
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
• 1/3 cup nutritional yeast
• Flour for dusting

Line a dinner plate with wax or parchment paper and measure out the butter onto the plate in individual pads. Freeze the butter for about 15 minutes. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and preheat oven to 425 degrees. Meanwhile, in a large bowl whisk together the flours, baking powder, sugar and salt.

When the butter is frozen, add it to the bowl and cut into the flour with a pasty cutter until it is a pea size crumble.

Add the rest of the ingredients and stir with a spatula or wooden spoon until fully combined but don’t over mix, a few streaks of flour is fine. Add 2 tablespoons of all-purpose flour to your countertop and dump the dough onto it. Create a circle with the dough about ½ inch thick. With a flour dusted cookie cutter or small drinking glass rim, cut your dough into even pieces (depending on how large or small your cutter is determines how many biscuits you will get. I used a 3- inch wide cutter and got 7 biscuits.) I took the excess dough made a little circle and cut the dough for 1 last biscuit.

With a flipper, transfer the cut biscuits onto the parchment lined baking sheet. Bake for 12-15 minutes until golden brown. Serve!

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