ITALIAN PLUM COMPOTE

With Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year) just around the corner, this recipe seemed fitting, almost necessary. Every year, my Oma (maternal grandmother) would make her famous plum pies for the holidays -- an open face pie with a shortbread-like crust, loaded with fresh fruit. During the summer months, blueberries, for jewish new year, italian plums, for her birthday in December, apple slices and cinnamon.

My mom continues the tradition and bakes these pies throughout the year; I on the other hand wanted to feel the warmth and familiarity of the pie, without going through the effort of baking (lazy or efficient, I'll let you decide). That's where this compote comes in -- yielding a similar texture and equally gorgeous colour as the plums baked atop the pie crust. Eat it straight out if the jar, or top your morning oats or yogurt with it. Either way, you're going to wish you had made a double batch.

WESTERN CANADA

We spent the last week of August soaking up the end of summer in Western Canada. We've both skied out west before, but never experienced the Rockies in the summer. 10 travel days later and I can confidently say that I've been seriously missing out on some jaw-dropping landscapes by living on the east coast.

We kicked off the week with 2 wonderful days in Vancouver, surrounded by great friends who we hadn't seen in far too long. Saturday was spent biking the sea-wall, hanging on the beach in Stanley Park, and chowing down on phenomenal tacos and margaritas in Gastown. On Sunday, we ventured out of town to Deep Dove - a charming waterfront town just a short jaunt from the City. We had planned on renting stand up paddle boards, but the threatening weather held us back. Instead, we indulged in local donuts, drank the local beer, and lounged on the grass listening to live bands (thanks to the unexpected Deep Cove Daze Festival).

CUCUMBER, GIN + CHARTREUSE COCKTAIL

A few years back, I traveled to the French Alps to visit a dear friend. It was the first time I visited the French Mountains, and the first time I was spending any real time with her man. A few days in, post dinner, he took out a bottle of Chartreuse, a common after dinner drink in France. "Enjoy it straight, on ice," he said. I tried, I really did, but with its intense green colour, earthy tones and potent flavour, I knew I wasn't going to be able to drink it straight (sorry Matt). I returned home from that trip with my own bottle of Chartreuse, determined to develop a pallete for it. Three years later, I'm still working my way through the bottle, tucking it into cocktails whenever I can, and if I'm feeling bold, sipping on a small glass post dinner.

When I decided to join in on #drinkthesummer, I immediately knew my drink had to have chartreuse as the base. From there, I added some puréed summer cucumbers (they're looking so fine at the market right now), and some gin (because cucumber + gin, always). Then a little lime and simple syrup to round off the flavours.

Be sure to check out all the fabulous blogs taking part in this year's #drinkthesummer, and mega shout-out to Sherrie for organizing such a fun party!

SUMMER PASTA WITH HEMP SEED + BASIL PESTO (V+GF)

Between a wedding weekend away, a week of working in the Toronto office and a long weekend cottage getaway, it was beginning to feel like I'd been away from home for a while. When I stepped out onto our balcony on Tuesday morning and noticed the size of our basil plant, I knew right away that I'd been gone for too long. Summer getaways are fun and all, but sometimes, all I want is a home-cooked meal and a good night's sleep in my own bed.

My Italian girlfriends tell me that an abundance of basil always means pesto, so I took the overgrown plant as a sign. I invited my gluten-free, dairy-free sister over for dinner, and then set out to whip up a pesto that she'd eat -- void of dairy and packed with protein. I had a bag of Trader Joe's gluten free pasta that I picked up in Vermont a few weeks back, and swung by the market for some plump quebec tomatoes, and some perfectly sweet ontario peaches -- ideal summer pasta add-ins if you ask me.

DAIRY-FREE FLUFFY "BUTTERMILK" PANCAKES

My new laptop allows me to shut down for the night with webpage tabs still open. At first, I thought this was great - I could read things at a more leisurely pace and not worry I'd forget about a new post, or hot article.

But now, mid summer, when the last thing I want to do at the end of a work day is face my computer, I find myself struggling to keep up with all of my favourites, leaving 20+ tabs looming week after week. It sounds ridiculous to say that I feel stressed about having too many blogs to read, but that's how I feel. The blogger community is one that I feel very lucky to be apart of, and a huge part of that is reading, commenting, liking, and supporting one-another. I got through a handful of them this weekend, more coming up this week. Baby steps, right?

We celebrated 4 years yesterday, and though we had a celebratory dinner planned, breakfast needed to feel a little special too. These pancakes, doused in all the summer berries, just felt right.

STRAWBERRY RHUBARB CRISP (GLUTEN FREE + DAIRY FREE)

We spent the weekend up at the cottage and it was absolute bliss. We were outside practically the whole time, hanging en famille, boating, drinking and playing cornhole with friends.

When the whole family is up at the cottage, meals can often be a little challenging. Everyone has their preferences, and everyone has their dietary restrictions -- no dairy, no gluten, no cinnamon, no tomatoes. Breakfast is easy, everyone kind of does their own thing, depending on what time you wake up. Lunch comes together as a giant salad with a side of protein (for those who want it). Then there's dinner - always barbecued and always delicious. Finally, dessert. Often just fruit and dark chocolate, but not this weekend. This weekend, I was on dessert duty. Using what I could find in the kitchen, I tweaked my go-to crisp recipe it into something dairy and gluten free. Not sure if it was the country air, the last of the season's rhubarb, or the fun of being all together as a family for the weekend, but the crisp turned out better then I could have imagined. Do your best to swoop up some of the last of the rhubarb before it disappears; if not, no stress, bookmark this recipe for next year!

VEGETARIAN VERMICELLI BOWLS

Summer has arrived in full force, and totally caught me off guard. I'm still hoarding rhubarb from the market, all the while its already late June (WHAT?!). This month has been filled with weekend visitors, al fresco dining and ice cream. Lots of ice cream. We're heading to the lake this weekend, which can only mean loads of sangria and all things barbecued. I can't wait.

To counter all this indulgence, I'm trying to keep weekday lunches and weeknight dinners light, healthy and packed with fresh produce. These vermicelli bowls are just that. They're the perfect balance between eating a bowl of raw veggies, and the comfort of rice noodles and warm baked tofu -- perfect for a working lunch, or a relaxing evening on the patio with a glass of vino.