Homegrown: Kale Tossed Salad with Roasted Garlic Dressing

With my manuscript and photographs for the cookbook due in just a handful of days, time around here is tight.  The days are long - testing the last few recipes and going through the manuscript, crossing i's and t's and making sure I make sense.  My house is a mess.  I don't leave the dirty house, unless it's to get groceries and have a little human contact with the outside world.  I can't believe on April 1st, it will be all over.  What in the world will I do with myself?!  I know, clean the house!  Go for a massage!  See friends I haven't seen for 6 months.  There is a light at the end of the tunnel, but still so much work to do before then.  Wish me luck!

Black Bean Tostadas

Time is flying by, isn’t it?  We’re already well into March, and spring is definitely in the air given the amount of melting going on around here.  My cookbook manuscript and photographs are due on April 1st, so you can well imagine what I’ve been up to.  I’m almost done the recipes - just 10 left to shoot - and my testers are hard at work making sure everything is turning out the way it’s supposed to.  Let me tell you, having all these sweets in the house sounds pretty dreamy, and for the most part it is, but holy smokes, I’m having to run across the street with a dozen cream puffs for my neighbours, or calling up friends asking them to take away a cake.  I figure I’ll need a month of green smoothies to detox from the sugar and butter I’ve accumulated in my system over the past 7 months, but oh my, the treats coming out of my little green kitchen are impressive.  I made French honey crullers the other day, and oh lord, I swooned.  Needless to say, meals around here have to be relatively easy and healthy - I don’t have much energy to feed myself after a long day of baking, photographing and writing.  That’s where pulses come in - they are quick, tasty, economical and good for me.  Now if only someone could wash the dishes and give me back rubs…