Hey guys! Carleigh here from PlantYou, writing this from my kitchen counter while staring out at a five-foot snowbank and questioning all my life choices.

One of my big goals for 2026 is to reconnect with you via newsletter.

During the end of my pregnancy and post-baby, my amazing Online Business Manager, Pam, has been scheduling our recipe newsletters (thank goodness!), but I miss you guys and feel reinvigorated to write to my friends!!! Don’t worry, those will still be sent, but I wanted to add something more personal and welcome any feedback.

It’s been about -20C in Canada this week, which is about -4 Fahrenheit for my friends across the border.

Do you like the cold weather? Every single winter I say I’m going to embrace it… but truly, when it’s this frigid, is it really worth venturing outside? It seems my son, Wes, has also inherited my hatred for the cold and immediately screams anytime we try to go on a walk, which is a perfect excuse to come back inside. 😂

Nonetheless, my husband, Jesse, is dragging us all out every Sunday for baby swimming lessons, which I would say has been one of our highlights of the past month.

Wes loves the water, but we recently found out he is a 99th percentile baby, and the difference in size between him and all the other babies in the class is striking. He is so heavy now, at just 7 months that I think by the time he starts moving around on his own, I’m going to have arms like Popeye. 💪

Other than that I’ve already failed at my two New Years Resolutions.

How about you?

First, I usually set a word for the year.

I chose CALM, and I swear I shouldn’t have put that out into the universe because this January has been anything but. We’ve had a lot of work stuff happening behind the scenes, and when the clock struck midnight, I told myself I was going to enter the year approaching everything with a super zen mindset. But apparently, old habits die hard because why does my body treat every incident like I’m being attacked by a grizzly bear in the wild?

My other resolution was to stay off my phone completely from 5 until 7:30 p.m. That lasted about a week, until the work emergencies crept in and I folded. There’s always next week.

Also, I heard someone say that New Year’s resolutions should be remarketed for the spring, because who wants to start their new life right after the absolute chaos of hosting Christmas, the frigid weather, and… honestly, I couldn’t agree more.
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Anyways - let’s delve into what I’ve been cooking and eating this week.

What I’m Cooking 🍲

I could eat soup for every meal of the day winter or summer but when it’s this cold, it’s basically obligatory.

A favorite in this home is my sheet pan tomato soup (Wes also loves it—I save him some before we salt it), and I make it a bit different every time.

You can find the recipe here: https://plantyou.com/roasted-garlic-tomato-soup/​

What I’m Loving 💕

A book that I wasn't able to put down was Slow Burn!​

Have you read it?

It follows Kit, a chef whose life in New York completely implodes (breakup, burned-down restaurant… plus much more), and she escapes to the Italian countryside to help her best friend’s pasta-making nonna while she figures things out. What’s supposed to be a short, quiet reset turns into getting swept up in small-town rituals, slower living, simpler cooking, and of course a charming olive oil producer with a complicated past.

It’s warm, witty, romantic without being cheesy, and made me want to book a ticket to Italy immediately.

What I’m Learning 📚

We’ve had wild bunnies in our backyard all winter, and we recently learned that you’re not supposed to feed them raw, fresh vegetables in the wintertime (I was leaving out my carrot scraps lol).

It can cause fatal digestive issues. Apparently, their winter diet requires high-fiber, low-moisture foods like hay, bark, and twigs. The more you know!

I hope you liked this countertop catchup, any feedback is appreciated. 😊

Until next time,

Carleigh