Friday Favorites: The Last of January

January always feels so long. If you told me January really had 60 days, I would believe you. We had some exciting weather this week in Montreal - there was a crazy snow storm on Sunday & Monday then more snow and freezing rain on Wednesday and yesterday. Traveling around was an adventure and it sure made for some exciting stories! Here are some of the highlights from this week:

1. I talked a little about this recipe yesterday, but I didn't share it yet! It'll be up next week and I promise it will be well worth the wait. These Thin Mint cookies from Cara Reed's fabulous cookbook and they are the most delicious copy cats of the Girl Guide Thin Mint cookies. I was seriously impressed with how well these turned out and I could not stop eating them!

2. Cara Reed's cookbook has me baking up a storm! I made these ginger wafer cookies upon my Dad's request and they turned out so good too! Are you familiar with those little ginger cookies from IKEA? These taste exactly like those IKEA cookies but they are totally gluten free, vegan and refined sugar free! These were a major win in my house! This recipe will go up next week too!

3. And finally, my last baking venture from this week - these blueberry muffins with a streusel topping. These are also gluten free, vegan and refined sugar free and they are darn good! They make the most perfect mid day snack! I have been having a muffin everyday in my lunch! This recipe isn't from Cara's cookbook but it is from her website. You can just call me one of Cara Reed's biggest fans now. If you need me, I'll be baking my way through her blog & cookbook!

4. More food? Yes, there is always more food around here! Last Saturday, we hosted my grandparents for dinner. I thought it was a 'just because' occasion but everyone was saying happy new year, so apparently we were still celebrating the new year! I know I'll be down to celebrate as long as this salad is on the table! This is my very favorite Fall Harvest salad (I know it's not Fall anymore but I will eat this salad in every season!). This salad is the most perfect combination of flavours that always keeps me coming back for more! You can find the recipe HERE.

5. Let's take a break from the food talk to chat about grammar. Here in Canada, we write flavour, colour, neighbour... and all of those kinds of words with 'our' instead of just 'or.' Well since I've started blogging, all of my 'our's get turned to just 'or's. For the most part I let it go because I'm a sucker for those little red lines that pop up under words - I love to have a piece of writing without red lines. But, know that every time I write words like flavour, colour and neighbour I have a little internal battle of wanting to be a proud Canadian and wanting to have a technically error free blog post. I just looked this up and fell down a rabbit hole of Canadian vs. American spelling. Do Americans really write dialog instead of dialogue?

***I'm Linking up with Katie from Cup of Tea, Della from Della Devoted, Tif from Bright on a Budget and Becky from byBMG for High Five for Friday, Andrea from Momfessionals, Narci from Grace and Love blog and Erika from A Little Bit of Everything for Friday Favorites, April from Smidge of This and Christina from Carolina Charm for Five on Friday and Amanda from Meet at the Barre for Friday Favorites.

Happy weekend, everyone!