Hello and welcome to our weekly hang. Not much on the books this weekend and the summer weather is coming back apparently. I am bopping in and out today because I admittedly waited to the very last minute to throw this together, oopsy. Hope you’re keeping well and taking care of each other out there. If you have any questions for next week’s edition, let me know in the comments or shoot me an email/DM on Instagram :)

5 Things I’m Reading:

1. Canada Grows a Hell of a Lot of Lentils. Why Won’t We Eat Them? via The Walrus
2. Six Ways to Start Early and Lift Your Mood via The Atlantic
3. why time felt slower when we were kids (and how to get it back) via mindbox on Substack
4. We Take Clouds for Granted via The New York Times (gift link)
5. 7 Major Lessons from 13 Years of Serious Meditation via Elevate with Yung Pueblo on Substack

5 Things I’m Enjoying:

1. I learned last week that if you add “-AI” to the end of a search query, you can get results without an A.I. generated summary at the top (thank you Jacquie!!). This has been so great for my web surfing life!
2. Ninja gifted me one of their Slushi machines right on time for a late summer/early fall heat blast. Apple cider slushies are happening!
3. This episode of the Mongabay Newscast: Rewilding the world, one acre at a time
4. Inside Michelle Dockery’s London Townhouse
5. I am deep into Frank Lloyd Wright YouTube right now, and it all started with this video exploring one of his final designs.

5 Questions:

1. A lot of people use onion and garlic powder in recipes, you included. How do you keep them, especially garlic powder, from becoming a solid mass?
   The issue here is excessive moisture! If your garlic and onion powder jars have the little screen with holes on top (sometimes called a shaker lid), throw in a big pinch of long grain rice and shake it up. The rice will absorb excess moisture and won’t pop out of the little shaker lid holes. Also, you know those little silica gel packets that come with over-the-counter medicines? Their function is to keep the product dry. You can pop one of those in the jar and the onion/garlic powder will keep its powdered form! I also recommend never opening the jar near a steaming pot and always closing the lid tight.
2. I was wondering if you have your 50 gram breakfast protein smoothie posted somewhere?
   Okay, turns out I overestimated by 2 grams on this! I think 48 grams is still pretty good though. I drink this on a lifting and running combo day. It gets the job done and is super filling (also great for the fiber maxxers among us). You’ll need: 1 cup soy milk (12 grams protein), 1 tablespoon peanut butter (4 grams), 1 tablespoon hemp seeds (3 grams), 1/2 cup cooked brown or green lentils (YES lentils in the smoothie–9 grams), 1 serving vanilla protein powder (20 grams), 1-2 cups fresh/frozen mixed berries (I prefer raspberries and strawberries), squeeze of lemon, pinch of salt.
3. What’s been your skincare routine lately?
   I’ve been so inflamed honestly. Allergy season has my skin going crazy right now. The tiniest dab of May Lindstrom’s Blue Cocoon over moisturizer is helpful at night. Beyond that, I’m going pretty minimal. Cleansing with Osea Ocean Milk cleanser, misting with water, Sahajan serum during the day, my last bits of Weleda’s Sensitive Skin lotion (I think they’ve discontinued it, which is such a bummer), and Elta MD sunscreen. At night, it’s the same minus the Sahajan serum and sunscreen, but with the Blue Cocoon added at the end.
4. Do you have any favorite Canadian Companies to buy whole grains and beans in bulk?
   Yes, Flourist!
5. Are you working on cookbook 2? I’ve cooked every recipe from the first.
   I am always stunned when people share that they’ve made every recipe from my book. So impressive and also the highest compliment! I am not working on cookbook 2 and don’t foresee that ever happening honestly. I know that’s not the answer that everyone wants, but it does bring me immense relief. I was close to getting started on another one and signing a deal at the end of 2024, but ultimately listened to my intuition and backed out before I got in too deep. I’m in a good work/life balance groove with the blog and newsletter currently. It’s filling my cup to precisely the right level and I don’t want to mess with that. I was getting pretty strung out in the closing months working on the first book and I’m not sure how well I would handle that at this stage of my life. The promotion end of it was also rough for me. I like to make/release the thing and move on, but that is not the correct strategy when you release a book apparently! Found that out the hard way haha.
   

5 Seasonal Recipes:

1. Creamy Corn & Lemon Pasta with Thyme
2. Spicy Butternut Squash Flatbread with Za’atar & Miso Garlic Sauce
3. Creamy Vegan Tomato Soup
4. Coconut Couscous with Golden Roasted Cauliflower & Chickpeas
5. Salted Caramel Apple Smoothie