SHIFTING ROOTS

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Hutzelbrot: a German Fruit Bread Recipe for People who Hate Fruit Cake

November 27, 2018

Is there a smell the immediately transports you back to your childhood?  For me, it’s a special blend of yeast, lemon zest, cloves, cinnamon, and fruit that takes me back to December at my grandma’s house.  There would be baking piled high on the counters, more on it’s way to the freezer, and plenty of loaves of Hutzelbrot destined for friends, family, and our own bellies.

Hate fruitcake?  You'll love this German-Canadian hybrid of hutzelbrot and stollen.  It's a delicious Christmas fruit bread recipe in a loaf pan that your friends and family will actually want to eat this holiday.  Make it for Christmas breakfast or as an easy homemade gift. #fruitbread #christmas #bread #hutzelbrot #stollen

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Kristen Raney

Kristen is a former farm kid turned urban gardener who owns the popular gardening website, Shifting Roots.  She is obsessed with growing flowers and pushing the limits of what can be grown in her zone 3b garden.  She also loves to grow tomatoes, but oddly enough, dislikes eating them raw.

www.shiftingroots.com

1 Comment
Filed Under: Baking, Christmas, Recipes Tagged: Baking, Christmas baking, Christmas bread, Christmas fruit bread, Christmas traditions, fruit cake, German fruit bread, hutzelbrot

Chocolate Covered Rice Krispie Christmas Tree Treats

November 10, 2018

Tired of the same old Christmas baking?  These easy Chocolate Covered Rice Krispie Treats will shake up your usual holiday baking.  The recipe comes together in minutes and is sure to impress.  Your only problem will be keeping enough on hand for friends and family.

Give your holiday baking a little extra cheer with these white chocolate covered Rice Krispie Christmas Trees. Simple and easy to make as gifts or to add to your Christmas baking tray. But be warned, everyone will be asking for the recipe! #christmas #holiday #baking #ricekrispie #ricekrispietreat #christmasbaking #holidaybaking #easy #recipe #dessert #kids #gift #diygift #whitechocolate

[Read more…]

Kristen Raney

Kristen is a former farm kid turned urban gardener who owns the popular gardening website, Shifting Roots.  She is obsessed with growing flowers and pushing the limits of what can be grown in her zone 3b garden.  She also loves to grow tomatoes, but oddly enough, dislikes eating them raw.

www.shiftingroots.com

9 Comments
Filed Under: Baking, Christmas, Recipes, Simple & Easy Tagged: Baking, chocolate, Christmas, Christmas baking, dessert, easy recipe, Holiday, Holiday baking, Kids, recipe, Rice Krispies, sprinkles, white chocolate

Pumpkin Seed Brittle: A New Twist on an Old Classic

October 1, 2018

Don’t throw away those pumpkin seeds from your jack-o-lanterns or your last recipe of pumpkin puree!  You can combine those delicious pumpkin seeds with a few simple ingredients to make a fall take on the the Christmas classic, peanut brittle.

It’s also really similar to a dessert that Costco sells, so if you’re addicted like I am, make this instead and save yourself a bit of money.  One batch whips up in about 20 minutes, not including time for hardening.

Spiced pumpkin seed brittle is a fun fall twist on classic peanut brittle. It's an easy dessert recipe that you can make for homemade gifts, cookie exchanges, Christmas baking, Thanksgiving, and more! #pumpkinseed #peanutbrittle #Thanksgiving #pumpkinrecipes #fallrecipes #dessert #sweettreats #cookieexchange

[Read more…]

Kristen Raney

Kristen is a former farm kid turned urban gardener who owns the popular gardening website, Shifting Roots.  She is obsessed with growing flowers and pushing the limits of what can be grown in her zone 3b garden.  She also loves to grow tomatoes, but oddly enough, dislikes eating them raw.

www.shiftingroots.com

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Filed Under: Baking, Christmas, Halloween, Recipes Tagged: Baking, Christmas baking, cookie exchange, fall baking, gift exchange, homemade, pumpkin brittle, pumpkin seeds

No Bake Peppermint Mocha Cheesecake Bites

December 4, 2017

This Christmas season often means a lot of preparation, parties, concerts (for me and my fellow musicians anyway!), and late nights.  I’ve created a stunning and easy dessert you can take to the office or the party with a little caffeine boost to keep you going.  Make sure you get one first–they’ll be gone fast!

Trouble staying awake with all the Christmas baking you're doing? Make some of these no-bake mocha mint cheesecake bites. It's an easy mini cheesecake recipe with oreos, candy canes, and Dusty Plains Cold Brew Coffee that's like a party in your mouth. #cheesecake #christmasbaking #holiday #coldbrewcoffee #coffeerecipe #christmas #holidaybaking #nobakecheesecake #cheesecakebites #candycane #oreo

[Read more…]

Kristen Raney

Kristen is a former farm kid turned urban gardener who owns the popular gardening website, Shifting Roots.  She is obsessed with growing flowers and pushing the limits of what can be grown in her zone 3b garden.  She also loves to grow tomatoes, but oddly enough, dislikes eating them raw.

www.shiftingroots.com

25 Comments
Filed Under: Baking, Christmas, Entertaining, Recipes, Sponsored Tagged: Baking, Candy canes, cheesecake, cheesecake bites, Christmas, Christmas baking, cold brew coffee, Dusty Plains, Holiday, Holiday baking, mint, mocha

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Welcome!

Hi, I'm Kristen and I help new gardeners learn to grow their own vegetables and beautify their yards. I also share recipes that use all that delicious garden produce. Grab a coffee (and your gardening gloves) and join me for gardening tips, simple recipes, and the occasional DIY, all from the lovely city of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

P.S. First time gardener? You'll want to download the quick start gardening guide below!

Recent Posts

  • 26 Best Flowers to Grow for Dried Flower Arrangements
  • 17 Perennial Flowers That Love Shade
  • How to Design a Cut Flower Garden in Raised Beds
  • How to Start a Cut Flower Garden
  • How to Make Watercolour Decorated Sugar Cookies

Welcome!

Hi, I’m Kristen and I help new gardeners learn to grow their own vegetables and beautify their yards. I also share recipes that use all that delicious garden produce. Grab a coffee (and your gardening gloves) and join me for gardening tips, simple recipes, and the occasional DIY, all from the lovely city of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

Connect with Shifting Roots On. . .

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Find What You’re Looking For. . .

Privacy Policy

Do you tend to plan out your garden to the nth deg Do you tend to plan out your garden to the nth degree, do you just wing it, or are you somewhere in-between?⁠
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I tend to plan it all out, and then when I actually get out in the field, so to speak, the plan changes a little bit. ⁠
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If you need a garden planner that's both pretty & practical, my garden planner is available in the ebooks section.  It's only $9 and has lots of upgrades from the previous planner.  Use code CANADA if you're Canadian to account for the exchange.⁠
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P.S. You can see exactly what you're getting in the video--no surprises. ⁠
P.P.S  I get my planner bound and printed at a printing place.  Lots of people just print their own and put the sheets in a binder.
Are you gardening in containers this year? When y Are you gardening in containers this year?  When you're shopping for vegetable seeds, look for varieties that have names with words like patio, tiny, small, etc.  While lots of vegetable varieties will do fine in a container, you'll have an easier time with ones that are specifically bred for that situation.⁠
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📸 by @blushbrandphotography
I'm living the pepper dream in this photo. While I'm living the pepper dream in this photo.  While these ones are a bit on the small side, who doesn't want ripe peppers in July in zone 3?!?! ⁠
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Over the years I've gotten better at growing peppers, and I promise I'll spill my secrets in February when it's actually time to start them.  Until then, get yourself all or one of my four favourite varieties: ⁠
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🌶️Carmen⁠
🌶️Escamillo⁠
🌶️Candy Stripe⁠
🌶️Hungarian Hot Wax⁠
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Do you have a favourite pepper variety?⁠
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Have you flipped open a seed catalogue lately? It Have you flipped open a seed catalogue lately?  It's so easy to get completely overwhelmed, especially if you're new to gardening.  Why are there so many varieties of everything and which ones do I choose?⁠
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Here's how I try to narrow it down.⁠
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🌤️ Short growing season like me?  Try and prioritize varieties that have short dates to maturity.⁠
🥗 What do you or your family actually eat?  While I think you should always try a couple of new things, there's no sense in planting a giant garden filled with vegetables that you're not going to cook with. ⁠
🥒 Do you care whether your vegetables are heirlooms or hybrids?  Heirlooms are the kind that have been around for 50+ years and you can save seeds from.  Believe it or not, this year we're prioritizing hybrids for some of our garden.  The Hermit @mgsraney is obsessed with production this year, so anything that's going in "his" greenhouse better be able to produce a lot.  I'm using more heirlooms in my "glamour garden" as we call it, because I want things that are pretty and I can save seeds from.⁠
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What do you prioritize when you're picking out seeds?⁠
Last week we started thinking about our plans for Last week we started thinking about our plans for cut flower gardening, now this week we start thinking about plans for our vegetable gardens.  Unlike cut flowers, there's not as many vegetables that need to be started ridiculously early.  However, it's still fun to plan and dream and get your thoughts sorted.⁠
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I'm curious--what size of garden do you have to work with?  Are you on an acreage or farm, city backyard, or do you have a couple of pots on an apartment patio?⁠
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As for me, I have quite a mix.  I have my container garden on my backyard deck, the small cut flower garden in my yard, then vegetables in raised beds.  We also garden at my Mother-in-law's acreage, so there's a giant garden over there where we're figuring out how to grow food on a larger scale.  Then finally, sometimes my Mom grows things for me in her garden if I'm nervous that I'll ruin them in my own garden--call it a backup garden if you will.⁠
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📸 by @blushbrandphotography
I hope you've enjoyed this week of chatting about I hope you've enjoyed this week of chatting about the best flowers to plant in a cut flower garden.  There's so many options, these 5 that I talked about all week don't even come close.  If you need more help creating a small cut flower garden, I created this plan intended for a raised bed (but you can plant it in-ground too.⁠
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Head over to my insta links page on my profile, and you'll see the button to click on that will take you directly to it.⁠
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#cutflowergarden #cutflowers #raisedbedgarden #raisedbedgardening  #growyourown #greenthumb #raisedbeds #urbangarden #urbanfarm #squarefootgardening #slowflowers
Hey friends! There's a lot of new faces in this l Hey friends!  There's a lot of new faces in this little corner of IG, so I wanted to introduce myself.  My name is Kristen and I'm the gardener & content creator behind Shifting Roots.  I'm wife to @mgsraney and mom to 3 kids, ages 8, 23 months and 7 months.  Needless to say, our house is BUSY.  I garden in zone 3 in Saskatoon, SK, so if I can grow it in my short growing season and cold temperatures, you probably can too.⁠
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Here's a few fun facts, can you relate to any of these?⁠
🍅I don't like raw tomatoes, but I grow a ton of them because I like tomato sauce.⁠
💐I probably sound like every flower is my favourite flower, but my two favourites are peonies and zinnias.⁠
🌈I can't pick a favourite colour--I love so many of them in different circumstances.  If you force me to choose, I think I've got it narrowed down to coral and turquoise, but even then I still want to throw in yellow, emerald green, fuchsia. . . ⁠
🖤Even though I love colour to the moon and back, you'll often find me wearing black and white in real life, because it's just easier and I don't have to think about it going together.
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