Cathy Connally

Happy July Fourth to my American friends. 🇺🇲🇺🇲 I hope you have a great holiday. For your dessert, here is something you might like. 🍓🍓🍓 I spied an interesting recipe from @kingarthurbaking called Simple Strawberry Cake. 🍓🍰🍰 Being a rebel, I had to try to convert it to a plant-based version. This is the second try. It worked quite well. Thank you King Arthur for such great recipes! . For the frosting, I tried out using coconut cream with some monk fruit, agar, and arrowroot starch. Then I whipped it by hand with a whisk for about 7 minutes. It tasted great. Instead of eggs, I used 3 flax eggs, and instead of butter and sour cream, I made a slurry of nut butter with 20% water. I substituted cake and pastry flour instead of all-purpose to prevent toughness due to the lack of butter, but for a third try, I will probably try regular flour and step down the baking powder. Finally, instead of sugar, I used pure monk fruit. 🇺🇲🍓🍰 🇺🇲🍓🍰 So this is my tribute to the red white and blue. May you always be strong and true. God bless America. 🇺🇲🍓🍰 #cupcakes #fourthofjuly #4thofjuly #bakeiteasy #plant-based #flavourwithbenefits #flavorwithbenefits #baker #chef #nutritionist #foodphotography #foodart #cathyconnally #charleybest #bestsellingbooks #awardwinningauthors #smallchangesbigbenefits #dessert #summer

Happy Canada 🇨🇦 day to all who celebrate. She is 157 years old. Oh Canada, you are beautiful and strong. . .. . It doesn't get much more Canadian than a field of Canola 🌼🌼🏵🏵near my house. Thank you to farmers for growing our food. . . . #canadaday #canola #plants #farmers #plantbased #cathyconnally #charleybest #flavorwithbenefits #Flavourwithbenefits #flavorwithbenefitsFrance #flavourwithbenefitssicilycalabria #bestsellingbooks #awardwinningauthors #smallchangesbigbenefits #chef #baker #nutritionist #summer #grateful #woman

Going out on the town. I hope everyone is having a great weekend. I love my dress 👗from @mariannestylefashion and comfortable stylish flats 🥿from @vivaia_official . @coach handbag. . . . #cathyconnally #flavorwithbenefits #Flavourwithbenefits #smallchangesbigbenefits #datenight #dressedup #selfie #charleybest #thesix #plantbased #awardwinningbooks #bestsellingbooks #flavourwithbenefitssicilycalabria #FlavourwithbenefitsFrance #woman

In Grey County, Ontario, we are fortunate to have quite a few organic farmers who grow specialty crops and berries such as haskap berries. They look like an elongated blueberry, but they taste much different, and they really go red when you cook them. . This is my adaptation of a rye blueberry bar from @kingarthurbaking . I love it. They taste amazing, and this is an easy recipe to make with any berry. The rye flour, my fav, is a nice addition for some extra flavour. Hope you are having a great week. . . . . . . . . #flavourwithbenefits #flavorwithbenefits #flavourwithbenefitsFrance #haskap #flavourwithbenefitsSicilyCalabria #cathyconnally #baker #charleybest #plantbased #rye #baker #chef #bestsellingauthor #awardwinningbooks #smallchangesbigbenefits #recipe #demo #healthydessert #greycounty #ontario

As part of my Master’s degree program in Applied Clinical Nutrition, we are exploring the exciting area of herbal remedies. What I am showing here is what is called Fire Cider. It is a blend of unfiltered vinegar (with a mother), grated fresh horseradish, ginger, hot peppers, onions and what extra herbs fresh or dried you want to add. You can either cook the ingredients and then store them away which is a bit faster or just add them and shake them once each day for 2-4 weeks. They should be stored in a dark cabinet. Then the herbs and vegetable remnants will be strained off and used for compost. It can be used for a spicy salad dressing, a tonic to ward off colds or just to give you a bit of pep in your step with a shot each day. There are so many versions. Have you ever heard of this or tried it? #flavorwithbenefits #flavourwithbenefits #cathyconnally #firecider #naturalremedies  #vinegar #naturalsolutions #tonic #smallchangesbigbenefits #bestsellingauthors #awardwinningbooks #charleybest #vegan #vegetarian #student #homemaderemedies

Happy Father’s Day! There are so many fathers to celebrate today. My father and my husband and so many friends. Thank you for all you do. 🍓 🍓 I made you a strawberry cake. The strawberries are so beautiful right now, and they are all grown without chemicals,  from the Mennonites. This recipe is a modification of the Gateau D’Arles from our first book, Flavour with Benefits: France. Tastes great. It features strawberries inside and out. The frosting is a cashew cream with monk fruit for sweetener and strawberries pureed. The top has pureed strawberries. 🍓 I hope you enjoy your day. 🍓 #flavourwithbenefits #wholefoodplantbased #vegan #oilfree #dairyfree #recipe #author #flavourwithbenefitsFrance #flavourwithbenefitssicilycalabria #sugarfree #cake #baker #fathersday #cathyconnally #charleybest #strawberries #organic #foodart #foodphotography #cakedecorating

Well that's pretty exciting. We were notified about being shortlisted for the @tastecanadaawards in the Regional Culinary Cookbook category. Our first nomination in a Canadian award. We will know more in the Fall. Stay tuned. A special thank you to @tastecanadaawards for this really cool Reel. . . #tastecanada #flavorwithbenefits #Flavourwithbenefits #flavourwithbenefitssicilycalabria #bestsellingauthors #cathyconnally #Charleybest #sicily #Calabria #plantbased

Let’s make rye crackers. From a recipe from my friend @klaracard . Serve with anything you like such as guacamole or just eat plain. They are addictive. Be careful. LOL. Sourdough Whole Wheat Rye Crackers Ingredients: 350 g mature starter (I use rye starter, but you can use white flour starter) 1 cup (120 g) all-purpose flour or bread flour 1 cup (120 g) whole wheat flour ⅓ cup (50 g) rye flour ¼ cup (50 g) cashew cream or Avocado oil 1 tsp sea salt ½ cup 115 ml water ¾ cup sesame seeds ½ tsp hot pepper flakes ¾ cup pumpkin seeds ⅓ cup nutritional yeast   Instructions: Combine and knead all ingredients except seeds and nutritional yeast until the dough comes together in a smooth ball. Let rest for 30 minutes to let the water incorporate into the dry ingredients. Combine sesame seeds, hot pepper flakes, pumpkin seeds and nutritional yeast in a small bowl and set aside. Divide into two balls. Place in a covered container. Let rest at room temperature for 6 hours and then refrigerate for 8 hours. For resting at room temperature, cover lightly in the container. When you refrigerate the dough, be sure to cover the container tightly so it does not dry out. I put some oil in the container. Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Divide each ball into four pieces. Roll each ball in the seeds and salt to get them to stick. Roll out each piece of dough really thin (2mm) and cut into squares with pizza cutter (or large sharp chef’s knife). Don’t worry if the edges are not straight. This gives a nice rustic feel to them. Bake 16 minutes-20 minutes until brown. Halfway through check and see if they need to be turned for even baking. Check at 10 minutes if you made them really thin to see how much more time they need to bake.  They should be fairly crisp right out of the oven. They will crisp up more after they cool. Let cool and serve. #sourdough #recipe #crackers #rye #homemade #plantbased #oilfree #dairyfree #flavourwithbenefits #chef #baker #flavorwithbenefits #bestsellingauthor #awardwinningbooks #flavourwithbenefitsFrance #flavourwithbenefitsSicilyCalabria #cathyconnally #charleybest

He's back! The male hummingbird made his entrance in mid-May. He is very diligent with the flowers 💐 There is a female around which is good, but for now, she is keeping to herself in a different part of the yard. Hopefully, they get together to make some babies soon. . . The red Fuchsia is his favourite flower. But he like other birds love sitting on the clothesline to provide overwatch of his territory. Quite something to see the hummingbirds and larger birds sitting side by side. Enjoy. Happy new week. #hummingbirds #birdlover #summer #backyard #fuchsia #cathyconnally #charleybest #flavourwithbenefits #flavorwithbenefits #floral #photographer #naturephotography #ontario #greycounty #Canada

It was with great anticipation that we awaited the awards notice from Nautilus Book Awards @nautilusbookawards . We were notified that we won 2nd place, a silver medal, in the Photography and Art category for Flavour with Benefits: Sicily & Calabria. This is our first award in this category. This is an exciting addition to the travel and food categories awards the book received in 2023. . . Flavour with Benefits: Sicily & Calabria has received such wonderful reviews around the world. It has been an exciting ride so far. Thank you to everyone for your support. The books are available on Amazon, hardcover in the US and Canada, and on Kindle ebook worldwide. . . The second book joins the first book, Flavour with Benefits: France, as a multi-award winning book. . . Stay tuned for some promotions on both books in July. #flavourwithbenefits #flavorwithbenefits #flavourwithbenefitsFrance #flavourwithbenefitsSicilyCalabria #awardwinningbooks #bestsellingauthors #food #travel #France #Italy #Sicily #Calabria #Italianfood #Frenchfood #photography #foodphotography #travelphotography #dronephotography #cathyconnally #charleybest

There's nothing like street corn in the summer when it's nice and fresh right on the cob grilled right in your backyard. Then let's add some smashed potatoes with some onions and let's also add some plastic plant-based Mayo and queso cheese. Then, lots of other toppings you have handy. Ahh, summer, my favourite season. . There are recipes for both of these doozies. You can find them in my stories today, and I hope for those of you celebrating Memorial Day, it's great. And for the rest of us, we can just enjoy the street corn and the smashed potatoes.  I hope everyone has a great week, and thanks to everybody for all the love on my post with Dr. Klapper, it means a lot. So have a good one and check out my stories for these recipes. #flavourwithbenefits #flavorwithbenefits #flavourwithbenefitsFrance #flavourwithbenefitsSicilyCalabria #smallchangesbigbenefits #cathyconnally #charleybest #streetcorn #plantbasedmayo #plantbasedqueso #smashedpotatoes #vegan #vegetarian #recipes #homemade #healthyfood #foodphotography #backyard #summer

It was my great pleasure to meet Dr. Michael Klaper, MD, yesterday in Toronto. He gave a rousing and inspiring speech about the benefits of a plant-based lifestyle. Thank you to Plant-based Canada and American College of Lifestyle Medicine for the great group of presenters. . It was a thrill to present Dr. Klaper with our award-winning second book, Flavour with Benefits: Sicily and Calabria. #drmichaelklaper #wfpbsos #plant-based #vegan #cathyconnally #charleybest #flavorwithbenefits #Flavourwithbenefits #smallchangesbigbenefits #flavorwithbenefitsFrance #flavourwithbenefitssicilycalabria #bestsellingbooks #award-winningauthors #baker #chef #nutritionist