Hazelnut Orange Cakes

I always keep these in my freezer, which means I have to bake them often! My fussy husband (originally I accidentally wrote fuzzy, which is also accurate) and son love them, even though my son has otherwise become skeptical of my healthy ‘cakes’. They are also a favourite of my diabetic mother, so I try to keep her freezer stocked with them. Although I have served them with whipped cream in the photo above, they really don’t need any topping at all. Continue reading →

Does language work against vegans (and co)?

When I recently tweeted a photo of my miniature pecan pies, I wondered whether I should identify that they were vegan. I did, but it got me thinking about the stigma placed on certain diets, and whether this stigma is in part caused by the language we use when we talk about those diets – focusing on which foods are absent, rather than which are included.

I will be serving the miniature pecan pies at my upcoming Mostly Fructose-Free (Diabetic) Mothers Day High Tea, to a somewhat skeptical audience of family members. Imagine if I served two types of pecan pie, and I told them that the first was made of pecans, walnuts, coconut, dates and spices – cinnamon, vanilla and nutmeg. Then I told them that the second pie was vegan, dairy-free, egg-free, gluten-free, and refined sugar-free. I can already see my sister rolling her eyes and heaving a big sigh. One guess for which pecan pie they would go for. Even though both pies are actually exactly the same. Continue reading →