The 31st July Edition of The Hearth and Soul Hop

Welcome to The Hearth and Soul Hop, the place to share and be inspired by food from the hearth to feed your soul. Thank you to everyone who linked up last week. My highlights from contributors to last week’s hop include recipes from The Not So Super Mama, Cooking My Way Through My CSA, The Meltaways and My Sweet and Savory.

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A Visit to Southern Ontario

With my cousins on the shores of Lake Huron

I grew up in Canada, and the majority of my family still live there, so I always enjoy visiting. It’s an incredibly beautiful part of the world. The more I see of further-flung places, the more I appreciate the wonderful place I called home for the first twenty years of my life. 

The best part of any visit is the chance to catch up with family and friends, and we have been doing a lot of that over the last week. It’s been great to spend time together too.

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The Make It From Scratch Edition of The Gallery of Favorites

Alea of Premeditated Leftovers and I want to welcome you to our weekend blog hop; The Gallery of Favorites, a place to share your favorite posts from your own blog. 

Thank you to everyone who shared posts last week. This week Alea and I are featuring three  Made From Scratch posts.

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Chinese Style Orange Beef with Noodles

This is another slow cooker dish, perfect for hot summer days when you don’t want to heat up the kitchen. Slow cookers generate so little heat, and warm, spicy dishes can be incredibly cooling. (Think of all the curries that are served in the hot places around the world.) This dish is delicious with an ice cold beer, and perfect for one of those days when you would rather be out enjoying yourself. It’s also mild enough to be kid-friendly (minus the beer of course!).


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The Hearth and Soul Hop with The 21st Century Housewife

Welcome to The Hearth and Soul Hop, the place to share and be inspired by food from the hearth to feed your soul. Thank you to everyone who linked up last week. My highlights from contributors to last week’s hop include recipes from Happy in Dole Valley, Aunt B on a Budget, Sumptuous Spoonfuls and Allergy Free Vintage Cookery. 

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The Herb Edition of The Gallery of Favorites

Alea of Premeditated Leftovers and I want to welcome you to our weekend blog hop; The Gallery of Favorites, a place to share your favorite posts from your own blog. 

Thank you to everyone who shared posts last week. This week Alea and I are featuring three posts featuring summer herbs.

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Deliciously Spicy Sausage Pasta

Photo Alex Harris

This is such a quick and easy meal, and it’s kid friendly too. You can adjust the amount of spice to suit your family, and there is endless variety to this recipe because you can use absolutely any type of sausage you like, including vegetarian sausages. This recipe is wholesome too, especially if you use homemade tomato sauce or pure passata (sieved tomatoes). 

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Anne's South Carolina - The Place Where I Live

This post is the third in a new series of guest posts called The Place Where I Live. Learning a bit about the place people call home is a great way to get to know them better, and also makes a wonderful resource of insider knowledge for places you might like to visit one day. 

Anne of The Saturday Evening Pot is another one of the wonderful people who helps to make the blogosphere the great community that it is, and I am so glad to welcome her today to share the beautiful place where she lives.

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Delicious Lemon Blueberry Streusel Muffins

Photo Alex Harris

I’ve blogged about my late Mom’s Blueberry Muffin recipe before. It’s my go-to blueberry muffin recipe of choice and a great frugal option because you can use fresh or frozen blueberries depending on the season. The thing is, it’s a pretty basic muffin recipe and I fancied jazzing it up a little. 

I always like working with my parents’ recipes. It’s a great way of remembering them, and sometimes it feels almost like they are in the kitchen with me. I know Mom wouldn’t mind that I played around with her recipe. 

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The Hearth and Soul Hop with The 21st Century Housewife

Welcome to The Hearth and Soul Hop, the place to share and be inspired by food from the hearth to feed your soul. Thank you to everyone who linked up last week. My highlights from contributors to last week’s hop include contributions from MJ's Kitchen, From Ministry to Motherhood, Cooking My Way Through My CSA and Frugal and Kosher.

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Easy Ideas for Summer Dressing

This year’s British ‘summer’ has been so cold and rainy that the temptation has been to stick to dressing in sweaters, my Levi’s and Wellington Boots. I can’t stand missing out on summer fashions though, even if I’m missing out on the weather. (I am so looking forward to our upcoming trip to Canada and New York City where I understand there is actually a summer - in fact perhaps maybe slightly too much of one!) 

I’m a big fan of Tommy Bahama’s relaxed take on summer dressing, and the pieces I picked up on a recent visit to California have been perfect for our changeable weather. 

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The July 13th Edition of The Gallery of Favorites

Alea of Premeditated Leftovers and I want to welcome you to our weekend blog hop; The Gallery of Favorites, a place to share your favorite posts from your own blog. 

Thank you to everyone who shared posts last week. This week Alea and I are featuring Melynda of Mom's Sunday Cafe.

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Delicious Slow Cooker Chinese Style Beef

Photo credit Alex Harris

I can’t believe I am posting a slow cooker recipe in July, but the abysmal weather here in the UK is making me crave comfort food. Of course the beauty of a slow cooker is that it doesn’t generate very much heat, so if you are lucky enough to be actually having a summer this year, it may come in handy for you too. Even in the hottest of weather, it can give you an incredible feeling of well-being and comfort coming home safe in the knowledge that your dinner is waiting for you. 

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The Wonderful Henley Festival of the Arts

Photo Alex Harris

The Henley Festival is one of the biggest, best established and most well-loved art festivals in the UK. The black tie event is held for five nights every summer on the banks of the Thames, welcoming visitors and performers from all over the world. At its heart, The Henley Festival is a charity, and profits go to help support the activities of The Henley Festival Trust. Providing a music therapy programme for the brain injured, supporting the Henley Festival Youth Orchestra and offering  grants for individuals, schools and colleges, the Henley Festival Trust “profoundly believes that the arts have the power to transform lives at every level”.  My husband and I support The Henley Festival Trust as Friends, and have attended the Festival for several years. There are art installations, pop up art galleries, cabarets, stand up comedy, bands and orchestras, roaming performers and stellar performances on the floating stage. In my opinion, it gets better every year.

My favourite performer this year had to be Sting. 

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The Hearth and Soul Hop July 10

Welcome to The Hearth and Soul Hop, the place to share and be inspired by food from the hearth to feed your soul. Thank you to everyone who shared posts last week. My highlights from contributors to last week’s hop include contributions from Cult of Kale, Tessa The Domestic Diva, Cozy Home Scenes and Hun...What's For Dinner?

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Meatless Monday - Vegetarian Appetizer Tray

Photo Alex Harris

I love serving appetizer trays. I even serve them at dinner parties; it’s the fastest way I know to help a group of folks who don’t know one another feel relaxed and find conversational common ground. Nothing looks more welcoming than a table laid out with a selection of breads, olives, spreads and dips.

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A Wonderful Day at Wimbledon

Photo credit Guy Harris

There is nothing quite like The Championships at Wimbledon, the world’s most famous tennis tournament. Whether they attend in person or watch the coverage on television, for those two weeks every summer, you’d be hard pressed to find someone in the United Kingdom who isn’t a tennis fan. 

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The Gallery of Favorites 6th July 2012

Alea of Premeditated Leftovers and I want to welcome you to our weekend blog hop; The Gallery of Favorites, a place to share your favorite posts from your own blog. 

Thank you to everyone who shared posts last week. This week Alea and I are featuring Elsa of Elsa Cooks and Elsa's Baby Talk.

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The Hearth and Soul Hop 3rd July

Welcome to The Hearth and Soul Hop, the place to share and be inspired by food from the hearth to feed your soul. Thank you to everyone who shared posts last week. My highlights from contributors to last week’s hop include contributions from Ms enPlace, Mexican Wildflower, Girlichef, A Latte with Ott, A and Deserve-Desserts.

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The Henley Royal Regatta July 2012

Photo credit Alex Harris

One of the events of  the iconic ‘Season’, The Henley Regatta was established in 1839. It became known as The Henley Royal Regatta in 1851 when Prince Albert became its first Royal Patron. This annual five day boat racing event takes place from Wednesday to Sunday over the first weekend in July and attracts international competitors including many teams from the US and Canada. 

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