On August 30th, Canadian chain South Street Burger Co turned ten years old. The South Street Burger celebrated in a big way by not only launching their secret menu but also giving out free coupons, cake and ice cream.
When South Street Burger launched their secret menu, they turned to you their fans for inspiration. These four new items were inspired by fan photos of their favourite orders and includes:
The Cheesy Vegetarian: their veggie burger with brie cheese.
The Naughty Vegetarian: their veggie burger with bacon (!).
The South St Chicken Club: a traditional chicken club with grilled chicken, bacon, cheese, tomatoes, lettuce and garlic mayo.
Mac’s Big Burger: two 4 oz burgers, two slices of cheese, lettuce, pickles, onions and signature sauce. This burger was named after the founder Jay Gould’s son Mac who always orders his burgers this way.
South Street Burger wants to know how you like to dress your burger. Head in to any one of their thirty locations in Canada and show South Street Burger on social media how you like to have your burger. Use the hashtag #SouthStSecretMenu and tag them on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Sharing your photos and the hashtag will give you the chance to win Burger Bucks.
After a long weekend of tryouts, we headed into the Burlington location to celebrate the first tryout hurdle for our son and enjoyed the Cheesy Vegetarian, The True North and two regular 4 oz burgers. The combos also come with New York Fries (always a favourite in our home). Talk about mouth-watering goodness!
What is your favourite way to dress a burger?
Disclosure: I received Burger Bucks to try out the Secret Menu. All opinions expressed are my own.
A family is torn through loyalties in the novel, The Inheritance.
About The Inheritance
Set during the period 1897 to 1913, the Calabria region was subject to earthquakes and tsunamis; the land harsh and poverty the norm. Superstition clashed with religion and a class system ruled the people who lived there. Calabria is the perfect backdrop for the tragedy that unfolds in The Inheritance.
Caterina is an atypical woman, and The Inheritance chronicles her life from birth to young womanhood. Born with an inheritance of loss into a society that has predetermined what she can and cannot do, she vows to live a life of her choosing. Caterina refuses to allow the limits of her gender, the constraints of her class and the demands imposed by those in power to stand in her way. Caterina remains steadfast in her commitment to become the woman she imagines. Her decisions ignite conflicts and fuel a chain of events that result in dire consequences for all whose path she crosses.
My Thoughts
Wow. My first thoughts after I finished this novel, was just wow! It was far more intense and powerful than I had ever imagined. Living in our times, it is hard to imagine the rules that were imposed on people by others who assumed control by force and violence. Women were expected to do as they were told but yet in this novel we see a young woman try to break out of this control and live life as she wants to. The repercussions of these actions are shocking and heart breaking.
Her life is intertwined with a young man who ultimately his family becomes her demise. It is her love for him that gives her strength and courage. He to is forced into the constraints and expectations of Italian men during this era, of putting family and blood first. He was always viewed as the outcast, the weak one and it is unclear as to how far he will go to either gain his Father’s acceptance or to defy him. The ending was difficult but promising at the same time. It shocked me with its probable truth and pain. It was full of raw emotions and heart ache but also hope. I definitely would love to see and find out what happens to Caterina. The Inheritance is a novel that you will definitely not want to put down until you find out what happens to our two main characters.
Family dynamics, genealogical research to solve ancestral mysteries and international travel are Marianne Perry’s priorities. A second-generation Canadian-Italian, she is the author of The Inheritance, a historical fiction set in Calabria, Italy from 1897 to 1913 inspired by her grandmother’s early life in Calabria. With a thirty-year career in education and communications, Marianne holds a Master of Education Degree from The University of Western Ontario (Canada).
A past member of the Board of Trustees, the Canadian National Arts Centre Corporation, she has also published non-fiction genealogical articles throughout North America. As a girl, Marianne fell in love with The National Geographic Magazine and dreamt of exploring the world. With her recent visit to Antarctica, she achieved her goal of stepping foot on every continent. The mother of two grown children, Marianne and her husband live on the shores of the St. Mary’s River, which drains Lake Superior on the outskirts of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada. She continues to research family history and write non-fiction genealogical articles. In addition, she is working on her second novel and planning further adventures.
It is hard to resist the creamy, satisfying and just overall goodness of macaroni and cheese. It is a meal that all family members love but making it from scratch can be difficult during the busy school week, we just don’t have time for that. What I am not okay with is unhealthy ingredients that make you cringe not to mention that you can’t even say the names on some of the boxed products.
So how do you find a simple boxed macaroni and cheese that helps you eat better? Enter Nudge Foods. The Nudge team set out to create a product that not only tasted great but also be a product that you would be confident to bring into your home.
The result: four macaroni and cheese products that are:
made with organic ingredients
made with grass-fed dairy
peanut free
non GMO ingredients
no artificial colours, preservatives or flavours
a source of Omega 3 fatty acids (from the grass-fed dairy and flax pasta)
My family and I were quite impressed with the creamy taste of the macaroni and cheese, good doesn’t have to taste yucky!. The gluten free shells were fantastic and delicious, sometimes gluten free pasta can be quite textured and almost mushy tasting but the shells maintained their shape and texture with a great taste.
While the Nudge Macaroni and Cheese variety is perfect on its own, why not shake it up a little bit and add in vegetables to not only fill you up faster but add even more nutrient value to your meal.
Ingredients
one box of Nudge Foods Gluten Free White Cheddar Macaroni and Cheese
margarine or butter (2 tbsp)
milk (5 tbsp)
one zucchini and one carrot (other great vegetable combos are: spinach and red pepper, mushrooms and green beans)
one tbsp of coconut oil
ground black pepper to taste
Directions
Prepare the macaroni and cheese as directed on the box.
While the macaroni is cooking, cut up your carrots and zucchini. I like to quarter my zucchini and shred my carrots. In a separate pan, add the coconut oil, zucchini and carrots and cook until tender. Add the black pepper as desired.
Once the macaroni is fully cooked, drain the pasta and mix in the butter/margarine and milk. Add the cooked vegetable mixture to the macaroni and cheese and mix.
Serve and enjoy!
Make sure you follow Nudge Foods on Twitter and Facebook to keep up to date. Watch out for another simple, week night recipe using Nudge Foods that your children will love.
Watch out next week for a new recipe using my kids favourite the elbow macaroni and cheese!
Disclosure: I received the above mentioned product free of charge. All opinions expressed are my own.
Sometimes fate has its own plan for us. In Finding Gabriel, Gabriel learns this lesson first hand.
About Finding Gabriel
After a decade of bloodshed fighting in Napoleon’s army, Gabriel returns to Paris a shattered and tortured soul. He is plagued by his inner demons and decides to end his suffering with a pistol. But fate intervenes.
Ariah Larochelle is a survivor; orphaned at twelve and the victim of a terrible crime. Ariah has learned to trust no one and to keep her back to the walls. When she finds a gravely injured soldier on the shores of the River Seine, she is moved by compassion. She rescues him and brings him into her home.
Now scarred on the inside and outside, Gabriel discovers a kindred spirit in Ariah. The feelings he thought he had lost forever are re-awakened in the face of adversity. But when Ariah’s secret past is revealed, the ghosts of her past threaten their new love. Can they find hope or will the pattern of their history repeat itself.
My Thoughts
An extremely exciting novel from start to finish! Not only was it sexy, romantic and exciting but it was full of adventure and raw emotion. Ariah and Gabriel are not your typical main characters. They are battered, broken and as far from perfect as you can imagine but their story is so compelling and real.
I love how Ariah pulls Gabriel out of his belief he is broken. He is lost, hurting on the inside and feels so much pain that he wants it all to end. Like so many of us who are suffering with our past and depression, he is suffering so much on the inside and can’t find a way out of it. It is Ariah and her imperfect past who shows him that we must look past our suffering and learn to live with it. That they are not badges of dishonour or that people look at us with hate but that they are marks of our strength and courage to keep moving forward. Ariah shows him a compassion and love that he has never known. Not even when he reveals the worst parts of him, is she swayed from her belief that he is a good person at heart.
A fantastic, raw and powerful novel from start to finish. I finished this novel in one sitting as I did not want to put it away. I was so engrossed in Ariah and Gabriel’s story, and how they overcame their pain to move forward not happy and blissfully but at peace with all around them and their own personal demons. While it has some sexy and romantic scenes, I love how the focus is on the characters and their personal scars from their past that they must deal with.
The novel is available August 27th, 2015 and you can purchase a copy on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
Rating: 5/5
Book Trailer
About the Author
Rachel L. Demeter lives in the beautiful hills of Anaheim, California with Teddy, her goofy lowland sheepdog, and her high school sweetheart of eleven years. She enjoys writing dark, poignant romances that challenge the reader’s emotions and explore the redeeming power of love.
Disclosure: I received a digital copy of this book in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.
Learning about the world around us is important for so many reasons. It expands our children’s horizons, allows them to see the world through fresh eyes and understand how the world works and how far we have come. Geography captures your imagination and takes you around the world. The DK Canada Smithsonian Geography uses images to draw you into the encyclopedia, sparking a curiosity of the world around you.
Geography, a visual encyclopedia was created in conjunction with the Smithsonian Institution. The book is broken down into the following sections: Planet Earth, Rocks and Minerals, Water, Climate and Weather, Life on Earth, The Human World, Mapping the World and Country Factfile. There is literally something for everyone on your list and you can start anywhere in the book. Just pick it up and let the book take you on an exciting journey. If you turn the book on its side, you will notice each section is colour coded so if you prefer to jump to a specific section you can easily do so.
Each page contains many colourful photographs that help to bring the story to life. For example, in Crystal Cave, the photo covers both pages of the book and brings home how huge the crystals are in comparison to the miners working there. I found myself at times reaching out to just touch the page, not because I thought it may have a texture but because the photographs were so powerful and touching. It makes you want to travel the world.
My personal favourite section of the book was under Life on Earth where it examined the Moorland and heath. My kids loved learning about volcanoes, tornadoes and hurricanes. This book was not only perfect for my kids to enjoy together but I also learned so much about the world around me. Geography, a visual encyclopedia fits in perfectly with our home library.
Make sure to check out more titles at the DK Canada Back to School Boutique for more top titles from DK Canada.
Disclosure: I received a copy of this book in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.
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