Melanie Hunter

Well, even if this snow storm wasn’t worthy of calling in the army to dig Toronto out, we still felt like we needed a little warm-me-up from having been outside trudging through the snow. And it doesn’t even have to be cold out to give in to Homemade cappuccino or Homemade hot chocolate cravings, right? You’ll find these warm drink recipes listed in the Valentine’s Day-worthy menu suggestions at the back of the cookbook.

My 19-year-old sister-in-law chose the Chunky Sweet Potato Fries with Herbed Yogurt Dip and paired it with her favourite Chatelaine recipe to date, the Hearty Middle Eastern Supper Salad. She had invited a classmate over to join us for a weeknight dinner before they headed out for the evening. I approved of her choices. Who doesn’t love sweet potato fries? And with freshly-made herbed yogurt dip? Yummy.

Realizing that the now full-term baby in my belly could come any day now, it was time to prepare something for my husband and midwives to snack on while they alternate helping me in labour. I don’t recall what we gave them during the birth of my son, just over two years ago, but I can assure you that it was nothing that I had made. I thought that the Cranberry-bran muffin recipe would be perfect, since muffins are an any-time-of-day treat. Plus, I figured that freezing a package of them would be great for when I go into labour – we could throw them into the hospital bag, thaw them out in the delivery room and be ready to eat when my helpers got hungry.

Perhaps the best way to coax this baby out of an obviously too-comfortable womb would be to invite it to a birthday party, complete with a freshly made cake. Even if my plan to entice this baby to come out and join us didn’t work, at least the rest of us fully gestated people could enjoy a nice dessert while impatiently waiting for my labour to begin. I chose the Carrot Cake with Fluffy White-Chocolate Icing recipe for baby’s birthday cake. Plus, I had been promising my sister-in-law/housemate/student to make it for months now. Carrot cake is her absolute favourite cake in the world.

Nothing warms me up inside like a nice, steaming bowl of chili on a cold winter day. Or on a rainy B.C. afternoon where I'm staying with relatives and have offered to cook dinner for six adults and five little ones, ages 5 years and under. I doubled the recipe and set to work. But would the chipotle chilies be too much for the toddlers’ tiny taste buds?