Spoon It On

Oh where, oh where, have I been these last 6 months?

2010-07-25T18:55:00.004-04:00

Oh, dear! I seemed to have put the blog on the back burner over the last few months. Out of sight, but not out of mind actually. I have many stories to share with you, both good and bad news, and many cooking triumphs and cooking disasters. The problem that I had was that because there was a lapse in time from the last blog, I couldn't decide where to begin. Should I start from today, or should I continue where I left off? I guess I've decided that maybe I should just start from today and recall some stories in between.

Here in the suburb of Toronto, we've been having lovely summer weather. Today was probably one of the perfect days as there was less humidity in the air making it more comfortable to be outdoors. Nonetheless, we decided to take the kids to see Dispicable Me since I had two free movie vouchers about to expire for Toy Story 3. Yes, I did the obvious. We saw Toy Story 3 already at a birthday party so today I purchased 3 for Dispicable Me and redeemed the two freebies for Toy Story 3 and we all snuck into the theatre for Dispicable Me. I know, I'm a terrible person, but what the heck. I'm sure I'm not the only person that comes up with these things.

Sunday October 24th, 2010.

Wow! So, it's no longer summer, but now we're in the middle of fall. Has a lot ever happened. and yes again, before even having a chance to get back to finishing off the last post, I again, put this blog back on the back burner. It's not that I don't enjoy blogging, so much as not having the time to do it in. I do think often about it and many of my friends have asked why I haven't written. With so much to write about, without enough hours in the day, it just didn't make the cut.

Well, I'm back again and I'll try to post more often, and I think I'm so far behind on the pictures, that I've captured in the last year that I may just forget and just look ahead.

Today we're going to celebrate another birthday. It's been birthday weekend. I made the cupcakes for my dear friend Toula's son's birthday party and they were a hit. Simple enough, I used boxed cake mix with butter instead of the oil which REALLY DOES change the texture for the better, of the cupcake. I can't understand why people buy boxed "CUPCAKE MIX". Have they not figured out that it doesn't make a difference whether it's cupcake or cake mix? CUPCAKE MIX is much more expensive in than CAKE mix. It's twice as expensive and it yield's half the number of regular cupcakes than a CAKE mix does! So, don't buy the CUPCAKE mix if you do.

For James' birthday, it was a Star Wars Theme so we decided on simple white icing with 4 colours of jimmies to represent the 4 colours of light sabres (I don't think the kids got that - and neither would I have), with a gummy candy in the shape of a fighter jets. These were given a thumbs up by all - by both adults and kids.

I found the perfect buttercream icing recipe on www.allrecipes.com, called Rick's Buttercream Icing. With a bit of tweeking, it's the perfect topping, easy to prepare and easy to pipe on. It holds its shape well and stands up warm temperatures.

I doubled the batch and am making some again for Daniel's 17th birthday party. Hopefully, it'll be a success again with this tougher crowd!

Baked Pears

2010-01-20T16:09:00.002-05:00

(photos to come)

Since we went over for a Boxing Day luncheon at our dear friends' house across the street, my family have fallen in love with the baked pears that were left over from her Christmas dinner. She used to use these delectable slices of pears as a part of a trifle but found that her guests were picking them out and leaving the rest of the layers in shambles after digging around for the prized pears, so she just makes pears now and nothing else. So far, everyone that has tried this, has LOVED it.

Served warm or chilled with a dollop (or two or three) of fresh whipped cream, makes for a wonderful treat anytime.

Baked Pears

Preheat oven to 275F.

10 semi ripe Bartlett or Bosc pears, peeled, seeded and quartered
1/3 cup sugar
juice of half lemon

Put all three ingredients into a large bowl, toss to coat. Place pears in a single layer in a 9x13 baking dish and cover with foil. Bake for approximately 1-1/2 hours. Remove from oven and toss.

Fresh Whipped Cream

1/2 litre fresh whipping cream (35%)
2 tbsp confectioner's sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla

Place in a mixer bowl and beat on high speed until stiff or desired consistency.

Pan Seared Salmon, Sweet Potato Fries and Green Beans

2010-01-16T21:49:00.000-05:00

After a beautiful day at the Toronto Zoo, I was exhausted and actually had to take a little nap. I haven't been exercising much these days and with the past few weeks being pretty cold here, this had been a hard day's work for me! We had pan seared salmon served with the best store-bought sweet potato fries (frozen from Costco), and sauteed green and yellow beans and baby carrots. This is one of our family's favourite meals and best of all, it's fast and easy as well! For a night when cooking wasn't really fitting into my agenda, this was the perfect meal. For dessert, we had the To-Die-For Blueberry/Raspberry muffins we made together this afternoon. Without fresh berries onhand, we used frozen berries and it was just as scrumptious.

Salmon filets
seasoning salt
Montreal Steak Spice
about a butter for frying

Sprinkle filets lightly with seasoning salt and Montreal Steak Spice. Heat pan on medium high and melt butter. Add lightly seasoned salmon filets and cover for about 7 minutes (depending on the thickness of your filets). Turn and sear the other side or until fish is cooked through. Serve with your favourite veggies.

Wonton Soup

2010-01-10T21:25:00.004-05:00

Doesn't matter how they look when they're wrapped because they never look like that after they're cooked. (This was served with a bit of rice noodles, vegetables and broth.)

All ingredients combined until it looks like a paste.

Place filling in centre, fold into a triangle and pinch the edges together.

My mother used to make these little simple dumplings on those cold winter days. They're simple enough to make but it almost seems like a bit too much work to wrap each one individually and then only to have them gobbled up and swallowed in two seconds flat. TIP: Recruit some family members to help out. Even my hubby learned quickly how to wrap these up!

Wonton Soup

1 lbs. lean ground pork
1 lb of fresh shrimp, shelled, deveined and chopped
1 large carrot, grated
4 shiitake mushrooms, diced
4 green onions, chopped
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 package of wonton wrappers

Chicken stock/soup to serve.

Make your chicken stock or wonton stock from soup mix available in asian supermarkets.
In separate large pot, bring water to a boil while you begin wrapping wontons.

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and mix well with your hands until well blended.
Before wrapping, you can wrap a couple and cook them in a pot of boiling water. Taste and if needed, add more salt, soy sauce, etc.

Wrap about a teaspoon of meat filling in each dumpling and set aside until ready to cook. Bring large pot of water to a boil and place dumplings in. Bring water back to a full boil and after the wonton dumplings are floating, continue to cook for another minute or two.

Serve with broth and vegetables cooked in the broth.

We're back from Montreal with beer, bagels and baked goods

2009-12-29T21:32:00.012-05:00

YUMMY -O!

"This is where the polar bears live?!" exclaimed Lauren.

Our new discovery in D.D.O. Abie's Smoked Meat and Steak.This is medium old fashion smoked meat. If you order lean, it will be a little dry. This was SO tender and juicy.

Nicholas' eyes almost popped out of his head when he saw this gigantic platter placed in front of him!

We made another pilgrimage to Montreal to celebrate Christmas with the family. All I know is that it is TOO BLOODY COLD in Montreal and when I got in the car today before gladly making the 6 hour drive back to Toronto from Montreal's South Shore, I just kept asking myself why anyone would want to live there! I've also made up my mind that we MUST be snowbirds since as I get older, this four season business is WAY overrated! As we were heading to the highway, my four-year-old asked, "This is where the polar bears live??!!" I REALLY wanted to say YES! but that would really confuse her. With all the drifting snow on this blustery cold winter day, it was after all -14 C (for those of you who are not on the metric system, that's a cool 6.8 F!). My husband says that those who have been brought up anywhere west of Quebec, are winter wimps! After all, the mayor did call the army in a few years ago to clear the snow off the streets. He says that in Montreal, the people would've be out there on the highway ready and armed with shovels!Fresh cut french fries. A little too sweet for my liking but still good!

When we go, it's a food/eat-fest. I feel like a stuffed turkey myself after all that I've eaten over these past couple of weeks. I just keep telling myself (yet again) that my new year's resolution is to lose 20 lbs. But this year is going to be different - I swear! When we arrived in the West Island of Montreal, we headed to Abie's Deli and Bakery for lunch. It was SO good. With my hubby's favourite Ben's gone, and Swartz's so out-of-the-way, we'd have to try this place since an article in Maclean's magazine said it was one of the best smoked meat joints in Montreal. Well, it was REALLY good. I think this is better than Ben's or Swartz's in my opinion, but why should my opinion count since I'm not a Montrealer nor an ex one? What do I know about smoked meat anyway? But if it does count, then I say it is VERY good! Their fresh cut fries were good (I thought they were a little too much on the sweet side) and the cheeseburger made Nicky's eyes pop (and tummy, too!). A fresh hamburger patty with tons of fries and fixings on the side. YUM!

For lunch, I had brought along my leftover Christmas roast beef and juicy turkey and we made a turkey soup. This is perfect since there were two turkey's a generous amount of meat was left on the bones. Perfect to make it a all-in-one meal. We got a few (brother-in-law actually bought 6 baguettes - enough to feel 15!) and we had a hearty soup and sandwich lunch. For dinner, we had Montreal style pizza. You have never had pizza til you've had pizza in Montreal. Di Giovanni's is probably my favourite place there, but after trying several take-out places after St. Bruno's Pizza burnt down, we found a keeper this time. I don't know the name of it though. The pizza is different in that when we order a pepperoni pizza, we might get a few little pepperonis here and there with a little layer of sauce and cheese. Montreal, you order a pepperoni pizza and they give you a nice artery clogging meal! The pepperoni AND cheese are both laid on thick! Now that's a pepperoni pizza if you ask me.

SOOOO GOOD! I almost died when I first had pizza like this from DiGiovanni's Pizza.

Montreal Pizza. The ball of dough is placed in the middle to prevent the boxes from collapsing onto the pie.

La Chocolataire Veux Boleoil.

We also took a walk in the old town of Boloeil. After visiting countless times, they must've finally found that I was worthy of seeing this place. The church my sis and bro in law got married in 20 years ago.

My sis-in-law eyeing the assortment of caramels. We came home with 4 small jars of caramels that are made by this chocolate store - plain, maple, white chocolate and hazelnut.
The church across the river is where my mother-in-law went to school at as a little girl.To-die-for chocolate truffles.

It is a beautiful spot where 20 years ago, my brother and sister in law got married, and across the river is where my mother in law used to go to church and school. The chocolate store made their own caramel and we had to bring a few flavours home to try. As of today, we still haven't had the chance to try any of them but when I do, I will post.

By the river in the town of Boleoil, Quebec.

Before heading home, as usual, we stopped in at Costco. You see, some items just aren't readily available to us in Ontario. For example, classic Montreal Bagels. These are SO yummy especially if you get them hot out of the woodburning oven in downtown Montreal at the Fairmount Bagel Bakery. Because we don't have the time to go downtown, we just get them from Costco (and it's a bit cheaper too). We also get my favourite dessert mille feuille.Yum! One of my favourite desserts - mille-feuille. Must go on hunt for some closer to home!

Authentic Montreal bagels are boiled and baked in a wood-burning oven.

I think I deserve a holiday after all the marathon cooking and eating that I've been doing. When we got home tonight, I actually grabbed a frozen turkey carcass from Christmas dinner and made a delicious soup again. My family aren't real soup lovers but they sure loved this simple soup. Next time I'll try to remember to not carve the turkey so close to the bone so my soup will have more meat.Ah, home sweet home...nice to be home again.

Christmas morning Wild Berry Streusel Coffee Cake

2009-12-26T23:09:00.007-05:00

This cake is delicious especially warm, right out of the oven~

We put the milk and 3 Oreo cookies down on the hearth but before we left for our annual Christmas Eve party at my dear friends Grace and Calvin's house, (Lauren says that mommy's favourite friend is Auntie Grace), the dog walked by and snatched one of them! Kids didn't notice, so why waste good cookies and put more out? I didn't get to bed until well after midnight but like a kid myself, I was up before anyone (5:34 am to be precise), wondering if Santa had been good to me this year. With nothing left that I could think of to search online with the ipod in bed, I couldn't linger in bed any longer, so at 6:30, I made my way downstairs. No one else was to follow until 7 am. Incredibly, this was probably one of the latest that they've ever slept in until on a Christmas morning.

Santa was apparently very good to everyone this year. (Thank you, Santa!) The most exciting thing for all of us was that Lauren, being just 4 years old, understood the meaning of the magic of Santa for the first time. She had been so excited from the day we put the tree and trimmings up. The fireplace doors were constantly being opened by someone, which we figured probably was Lauren so when we finally caught her in the act one day, and asked her not to and her response was, "But we have to leave it open or Santa can't come in!" It was only mid-November (oh, I was SO organized and prepared this year! :) All she wanted was a horse and carriage (Barbie version only thankfully) and soft mittens. She hates the nylon waterproof ones that she has attached to her winter jacket. When she first came down, she was excited and wanted to see if Santa had answered her wish and with so much more, she actually kind of lost interest opening gifts after a while. But before she made it to the stocking, she saw the Oreo cookie which she polished off before opening her gifts. After all that, I think she thought the horse and carriage was overrated since the horse doesn't neigh and it doesn't pull the carriage, so we think in the end, her favourite gift was the Hungry Hippo game from her big sis.

Actually, I forgot to mention that it is NOT the Hungry Hippo game that she's most excited about. It's the rodent, I mean hamster named Shaylee that her big sis got her! I have to admit that it is quite cute. I think it'll be cute as long as Bailey, the dog doesn't mistaken her for a snack.

Anyway, where was I??? Oh yes, so... once I started, I was on a roll and baked and cooked all day, strumming up 1 Berry Coffee Cake, 2 plain bundt coffee cakes, 4 banana loafs, then we went out to the dim sum with my mom, siblings, neices and nephews and then back home again to prepare for Christmas dinner which was a turkey, prime rib roast, two salads (Caesar and a Winter Salad), a couple of dips, and some spring rolls. My brother brought an ice cream cake, my other brother brought a couple of coconut cream pies and my cousin brought a shrimp platter, a fruit platter and we were set! Needless to say, we were stuffed by the end of the evening. I made two turkeys over two days and Christmas Day's turkey was probably the juiciest one I've ever made. It was done to perfection!

We have some of the best neighbours ever! To thank them for being so good to us throughout the year and to wish them a very merry day, I had the boys send over some warm cake, hoping they could have something to go with their morning coffee. Each sends their love in their own special little packages. As my boys opened the door to leave, there were a couple of specially wrapped gifts for my little guys. We get a delicious homemade peanut brittle each year from another and other little pleasant surprises from others. We are so lucky to have the friends that we do! Oh, did I mention my arse has gotten a smidgen bigger over these last few weeks?? (sighhh)

Wild Berry Streusel Coffee Cake

(Canadian Living Cookbook)

Streusel:

¾ cup light packed brown sugar

½ cup all-purpose flour

1 tsp cinnamon

¼ cup butter

Cake:

½ cup soft butter

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

1 cup sour cream

2 cups berries (fresh or frozen)

Streusel: Mix together sugar, flour and cinnamon; blend in butter until crumbly
Cake: Cream butter with sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time, then vanilla.
Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add to creamed mixture alternately with sour cream.
Spread batter in greased and floured 13 x 9 inch pan. Sprinkle evenly with berries then, streusel.
Bake in a 350F oven about 45 minutes or until tester inserted in centre comes out clean. Serve warm. Makes about 12 to 16 servings.

Downtown Adventures

2009-12-20T16:26:00.012-05:00

I was born and raised in downtown Toronto. My father came to this great country in hopes of a better life than he had in China, in 1949 at the young age of 18 with not much more than a few dollars in his pocket . He worked in a laundromat and learned English at night, practising at every given opportunity. His next door neighbour, Mel Flowers and family, down at the Toronto beaches on Queen Street had a store and he would visit and help them stock their shelves in exchange for the chance to practice is English in the evenings after work. From a very young age, I remember paying them a visit every Christmas, a chance to say "hello" and express his gratitude for making him feel welcome. He continued to visit the Flowers Family even after Mr. Flowers past.

A few years ago, my husband and I started a tradition of spending a day in December before Christmas, downtown just visiting the old neighbourhood, having lunch at my favourite little pizza joint, Bitondo's Pizzeria and shopping at the Toronto Eaton Centre and enjoying the Christmas windows. This time of year is wonderful! A lot of fond memories are rekindled for me this time of year. As a young child, my parents (a field trip with our class some years) took us to see the windows down at Eaton's at College and Yonge and Simpson's at Yonge and Queen. A lot has changed. There are now only about 5 windows that are dressed up at The Bay (renamed from the old Simpson's) but the feeling of the season is still eminent in the air.

At the New City Hall (Nathan's Phillip Square), they have the huge beautiful Christmas tree. If I remember correctly, this tree is donated to the city annually. As a matter of fact, I learned how to skate here (without a helmet!) with my older siblings, and along with friends each Friday and Saturday as a teenager, would hang out and play tag on the converted outdoor water fountain display. What else was there to do? Although the rink is huge, it seem REALLY HUGE back then. I haven't donned a pair of skates on that ice rink in years (although I REALLY have an urge to, but my kids aren't really interested in even coming downtown with us, it probably won't happen too soon. One day, I will again though. Perhaps sooner than I think.

When I think of The Toronto Eaton Centre, this scene comes to mind - The array of beautiful flying geese suspended in the middle of this atrium.

My favourite pizzeria which brings back a lot of childhood memories. We visit almost every chance we get and it's always as good as I remember.A gigantic veal sandwich is amongst my favourite things on the menu! This is really huge!

This artery clogging giant deep fried ponzo is filled with nothing but homemade tomato sauce and cheese. Hmmmmmm....Harry's Store, where we got our milk and penny candy from (I don't think I really knew the real name of the corner store) is now a Starbucks! We lived 8 houses up from it.
This century home (circa 1887 or so), is the house that I was raised in from the time I was 6 months old. My parents sold it about 12 years ago. It was a ugly yellow colour back then. Now it's a spooky gray colour.
This building, located up the street and two short blocks over had me running or avoiding that route home for years. When I was a kid, I was SO spooked by this building. Why? Back then, it was surrounded with a hedge where the black iron fencing is now. I never asked and I wish I had but I learned later, that it was a synagogue. See the Stars of David on the windows? I thought it was the sign of Satan!!! LOL!Interesting space suits these two ladies had on - like they were from ABBA!This is the New City Hall. I learned to skate on this rink! I have lots of fond memories of this place with my friends.

The Christmas tree at The New City Hall (aka Nathan Phillip's Square).Santa's sleigh with his reindeer at Toronto Eaton Centre.

The Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory - lots and lots of yummy treats.Bad parents that we are, we "forgot" to go back for one of these treats!

Christmas windows at downtown The Bay on Queen Street. Sadly, the display seems to be getting smaller and smaller each year.

Down at the Toronto Eaton Centre in front of the beautiful Swarovski crystal tree.

Adventures of Little Miss-chief

2009-12-19T19:32:00.004-05:00

Oh, let's see what little Miss Wrecking-Ball has been up to these last couple of weeks: 1st, last week, before our party, we walked into the living room to find a bit of art work on our glider chair with permanent marker. But when asked whether or not she did it, she told us she didn't know who did it. Pretty good EYE for art, won't you say??

Also, she was playing in the kitchen while I was cooking one day, and off she went. I go to get an onion, only to find them ALL gone! Hmmm...to where, she had them hidden around the house and had peeled off all the loose dry skin leaving traces of cooking onions EVERYWHERE!

Our Book Club Christmas Party

2009-12-13T21:36:00.011-05:00

Look Karen! You are a published author!!

A few who are dear to us, gather near to us...

The Kitchen Help...(our gracious host, Nancy & dear friend Karen)

Could anyone guess what she the little conical shaped handmade and baked clay item with some red stuff on the underside is used for somewhere in ? Many had creative guesses such as war paint, ashtray, diaphragm, hat, etc. Its lip colour container!Linda was the closest saying it was face paint. She won a beautiful set of ornaments, which in this case, after a few drinks, it can double as earrings and even nipple ring ornaments as well!

A few years ago, 6 to be exact, there were just 4 of us plus hubbies that went out for Christmas dinner and this turned out to be the beginning of our little "Book Club" - minus guys. Each month, we'd decide at the last dinner where and when the next would be. The list has since grown to about 16 great ladies. The thing is, its no longer a book club, but a code word for many of us to retreat for a nice evening without any kids or husbands. We always have a ton of fun, and this year's Christmas get-together was no different.Bonnie sporting part of her new find. I wonder if it was hubby approved...

For someone who has three grown boys, I don't think they'd want to be feeling up this nice silicone mousepad.

This year, 11 of us in all joined in the holiday fun. One of the ladies, dear Nancy, offered to host it and did a wonderful job doing so. Her house is so warm and welcoming and we felt like we were at home! In a beautiful setting, not to mention the beautiful table setting (I would've served everyone with paper plates - at least it would've had Christmas motif!!), great friends, great food, Secret Santa, Christine's Guess-what-this-is game, Karen's cheerful poem - what more could we ask for to make it a perfect evening?

Give me drinks, give me camera, give me cleavage!

With Secret Santa, a gift that could be ANYTHING. You should see some of the fun things that went around. I think these photos will convey what a great time we had.

Look at this great Secret Santa gift - a GIANT bottle of Pinot Grigio, complete with a thong for her and a Santa hat for him!

Cheers, to all the wonderful ladies in my life. And to many more years of friendship!

Chocolate Sugar Cookies, Best Sugar Cookies, More Cookies and Royal Icing

2009-12-09T12:31:00.013-05:00

Our 20th annual Christmas party is this Saturday and already as it stands, I'm WAY behind in my baking. Each year, I host a friends and family Christmas party and we have anywhere from 60-90 guests, including children. Each year, it is held on the second weekend of December and this is where everyone expects to see one another to wish each other a happy Christmas and new year. I used to cook for everyone and about 7 years ago, someone suggested doing potluck since everyone asks what they could bring anyway. I learned many moons ago that if someone offers to help, take advantage of it! And, so I did and still do! I still make the rib roast and huge proportions of veggies and some appetizers to go along with it. In the past, we've always had a good spread and nobody leaves hungry - NOBODY!

Before the party, guests who have young children are invited to decorate gingerbread and sugar cookies. Up until 3 years ago, each child would take home a self-decorated mini gingerbread house. Then I got lazy and it's just cookies now. Last year, my girlfriend brought store-bought cookies and icing leftover from her company party! It was nice, but not the same. So, here I am, busting my arse trying to get these darn cookies baked.

It's actually a week-long process. A couple of days to get into the mood, then I have to actually take the stuff out, then I have to find my favourite tried and true recipes, then another day to make the doughs, another day to make the cut-outs and bake them all, then another night to make the icing and tint.

For the last two nights, I've been contemplating making my huge batches but sleep won me over. So, today, I spent all day making monstrous batches of cookie doughs doubling and tripling some. Sugar cookie, gingerbread cookie, triple chocolate chip, triple chocolate macadamia nut cookies, and oatmeal raisin cookies, and a Chocolate cut-out cookie (recipe below - all others on other posts under cookies) as well more Cora's Holiday Cookies, too! Lots of butter and shortening went into these, I must remind myself!

The Cora's Holiday cookies were made with the candied fruit and NOBODY in my family liked them. Now what am I to do with these?? There are three more rolls to be baked in the freezer!

I've rolled the triple chocolate and oatmeal cookies into balls ready for the freezer, and Holiday Cookies rolled and frozen into logs. Tomorrow will be rolling and cutting the gingerbread and sugar cookies and making the royal icing and glazes for Saturday. I also volunteered to make the cookie cut-out trains for the my daughter's kindergarten class to decorate at their Polar Express pajama party next Thursday! That's gonna be fun!

If you don't like gingerbread cookies, these Cocoa cookies are a great substitute. This recipe is great in that the dough is VERY easy to work, as is the Best Sugar Cookies.

Cocoa Sugar Cookies
(Canadian Living Magazine, Dec. 08)

3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
2-1/4 cup flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt

- In a large bowl, beat butter with sugar until fluffy; beat in egg and vanilla. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, abaking powder and salt; stir into butter mixture in 2 additions to make smooth dough. Divide in half and flatten into discs; wrap each and refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour. (make ahead: refrigerate for up to 24 hours.)

- On flour surface, roll out each disc to 1/4 inch thickness. Using cutter or template, cut out shapes, rerolling scraps and chilling dough before cutting again. Place, 1 inch apart on parchment paper-lined pans. Freeze for 15 minutes or refrigerate for 30 minutes or until firm.

- Bake in 350F oven until edges begin to darken, 20-25 minutes. Transfer to racks; let cool. (Make ahead: Store in air-tight container for up to 1 month.)

**I'm not sure why you have to refrigerate before baking (I didn't and they were great). My husband is a big fan of chocolate and he said these were REALLY GOOD!**

The Best Rolled Sugar Cookies

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/The-Best-Rolled-Sugar-Cookies/Detail.aspx

This is my favourite sugar cookie recipe. Very easy to roll out and not sticky.

1 1/2 cups butter, softened
2 cups white sugar
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
5 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

Directions

In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour (or overnight).
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Roll out dough on floured surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter. Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
Bake 6 to 8 minutes in preheated oven. Cool completely.

Royal Icing
for "gluing" and decorating your cookies

Royal Icing Using Egg Whites:

2 large egg whites

2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

3 cups (330 grams) confectioners (powdered or icing) sugar, sifted

Royal Icing Using Meringue Powder:

4 cups (440 grams) confectioners' (powdered or icing) sugar

3 tablespoons (30 grams) meringue powder

1/2 teaspoon extract (vanilla, lemon, almond)

1/2 - 3/4 cup (120 - 180 ml) warm water

Note: Food Coloring (I use Gel Pastes that can be found at cake decorating and party stores or else on-line)

The Pampered Chef - Apple Nut Ring

2009-11-21T00:34:00.006-05:00

A little slice of heaven...

I love most The Pampered Chef products. They can be much pricier than stuff that you can get at a kitchen store or dollar store, but I can genuinely say that the majority of the stuff they sell are of better quality and they really stand behind their products. I have so much of their stuff and most everything I use in my everyday cooking, from spatulas, stoneware in most every size and shape, mulitiple cutting boards, spreaders, and even pots and pans! One of the first things that I sampled and then made many times over and everyone enjoys, is the Apple Nut Ring Recipe. It is quick, easy and delicious! Also, nobody will even guess that it's Pillsbury Crescent Rolls and not fresh dough from scratch! Guaranteed to to be a winner!

The Pampered Chef Apple Nut Ring

¼ cup butter, melted

½ cup brown sugar

1 tbsp cinnamon

¼ cup maple syrup

¼ cup walnuts or pecans, optional

2 Granny Smith apples

2 cans regular size Pillsbury Crescent Rolls

Preheat oven to 350F. Melt butter in small micro streamer in microwave oven for 1 minute. Stir in brown sugar, cinnamon and maple syrup. Lay nuts on bottom of Stoneware bundt/flute Pan or Stoneware Round Baking Pan. Lay apple slices over nuts (if using). Pour batter mixture over the apples. Slice crescent rolls into about 10 pieces each and ocver the ingredients in pan. Bake for 25-30 minutes. Invert onto plate, cut into slices using Pizza Cutter and serve with Mini Serving Spatula. Enjoy!

Slice and layer your apples over your nuts in a bundt pan or round pan.

Slice your crescent rolls and place side by side layering over the apple and nuts (if using).

Bake for about 30 minutes until dough is golden brown and cooked through.

Invert onto a large plate quickly and carefully.

Thai Green Curry Chicken

2009-11-19T07:30:00.006-05:00

I've been craving curry again since I made the Thai Green Curry with beef brisket a couple of weeks ago. I have three fresh chickens so I decided to chop it up and try it green curry chicken.
This green curry has the perfect amount of heat.

I love curry but am not too keen on cooking it for a couple of reasons: 1) because it stinks up the whole house, 2) because I've made it in the past and it just wasn't too tasty so I usually will just go out and buy it, and 3) because I'm more or less the only one that eats it in our family. So unless I know friends are coming over to join us for a meal, I don't usually make it. So, one day a while back, I saw Leela of She Simmer's post. What a great delicious post it was. If you haven't read her blog in the past, I can guarantee that you'll love it. She is very creative, artistic and an eloquent, articulate writer, not mention cute, as well, with amusing stories to go along with her posts.

After I read that post, I was inspired to try to make it for myself. The only difference is that she uses a 4 oz. can of Masaman curry paste and I used about 2 tablespoons of the curry paste and I also added carrots and yellow peppers to mine as well. The results: YUMMMM! My hubby likes it too and I think I ate half the pot!

Massaman Beef Curry: Unctuosness in Curry Form
(Serves 8-10)*

2.5 lbs tri-tip or rump roast, cut into 1-inch cube**
1 12-ounce can of coconut milk
1 4-ounce can of Maesri Massaman curry paste
6-7 smallish Yukon Gold potatoes or new potatoes, cut into thirds***
4 medium yellow onion, quartered
Fish sauce or salt, to taste
Sugar, to taste

Dump the curry paste into a large pot, set over medium-high heat, along with the creamy part of the coconut milk that usually rises to the top of the can; stir briskly.

When the mixture starts to bubble up around the edges, turn the heat down a notch, and continue to stir until the fat starts to separate somewhat.

Add the beef chunks and stir to coat the beef with the curry mixture.

Dump the rest of the coconut milk into the pot along with two cups (16 fl. oz.) of water. Stir and bring to a boil.

Once the mixture starts boiling, immediately turn the heat way down and cover the pot. High heat and furious boiling will only ruin what would have been unctuous pieces of meat. As is the case for any stewed or braised dishes, long simmering on low heat is best.

Let the curry simmer for about 45 minutes.

Add the potatoes and onions.

Bring the curry to a boil once more, then lower the heat to simmer and continue to cook, covered, for another 10-15 minutes. Season with fish sauce or salt and sugar. The curry shouldn't be sweet. The sugar is added in very small amount just to round out the flavor; it can even be omitted altogether.

When the potatoes are fork-tender, your curry is done.

Cora's Holiday Cookies

2009-11-18T22:49:00.005-05:00

What they're supposed to look like...

Do they look like the ones in the recipe card?

Roll into three logs, wrap and freeze.

I sliced them about 0.5 cm but I think they should be a little more thicker.

I had breakfast with a couple of friends at a restaurant chain called Cora's and they usually have little tear-off recipes at the table to take home. This recipe is supposedly handed down from generation to generation, that they are sharing with everyone. It sounded good, so I thought I'd give it a try. The server saw me taking a copy and said that if I took one, I'd have to bake her some. So, I will be visiting again on Friday and will definitely take her a few.Here's the recipe...

Instead of candied fruit, I used craisins. I don't know if this makes too much of a difference in flavour but that's all I had. Next time I will use the candied fruit before Christmas for a more festive look. I made a batch of 12 cookies for dessert and they disappeared before they even had a chance to cool. They tasted a lot like a shortbread cookie and were not bad. Probably not one of my favourite cookies, but I'd make them again. The recipe was easy and it must make about 5 dozen cookies.Very much like a shortbread and didn't do anything more than brown at the edges after laying them on the cookie sheet.

Festival of Trees - For a great Cause

2009-11-15T21:46:00.009-05:00

Lauren in front of the tree that just wasn't meant to be ours - maybe Christine will be kind enough to come decorate our tree just like this one! Great job, Christine!

A ton of volunteers put a lot of time and effort to pull this event off, I'm sure!

Today, Steven, Lauren and I went to an annual fundraising called The Centre for Dreams - Festival of Trees. The money raised went to a good cause, helping adults who are intellectually challenged, have the opportunity to integrate into the community through educational and social skills training programs.

Reindeer food was two scoops of oats, a scoop of green and red jimmies and a dash of sparkles. Just sprinkle on grass or driveway where Santa will park his reindeers on Christmas Eve!

From what I scribed for Lauren in her letter to Santa,she didn't ask for much. She asked for mittens - soft mittens, that is -not the ones that have the warm filling and nylon to make them waterproof, snow so she could make a snowman, a tree and presents, and a big horse and big carriage. She's been eyeing it at Costco and we keep telling her she has to put it on her list. Guess where we're going tomorrow?
Sitting on Sa... I mean Mom's lap.King Kong tree. Cool, eh? It won a prize for most Creative.

It was an exciting day with lots to do and the organizers did a fantastic job. The trees were decorated and donated to this worthy cause by various organizations, corporations, families, etc. They were awesome and many original decorating ideas, too! Hand Sanitizer tree

$20 got you 20 tickets for the raffle for the trees/wreaths. We bought raffle tickets for the trees and kept our fingers crossed all afternoon hoping for a call to come pick up our tree - this would have saved a bit of time decorating this year! Actually, I would have used it as a second tree in the foyer. But lost hope. No call. There was our favourite, the green Grinch tree which won the prize for most captivating, even though the website said it was most traditional, obviously a typo. (I have to say this since it was my good friend Christine's tree donation - just kidding, since it really was - we put half of our tickets into the can and still didn't win since her tin was full of tickets!) There was the King Kong tree, a Longo's (grocery sponsor) which had gift cards hanging, a tree that had bottles of hand sanitizers, traditional trees but however done, they were all equally beautiful.
The nice fresh wreaths.

We went on a horse drawn carriage ride, saw Santa's reindeers, had storytime, wrote a letter to Santa, won a few prizes from putting, fishing and just getting lucky pulling lollipops. She got tattoos, refused a fake finger cast, made reindeer food, had lunch and saw Santa. That was an exciting fun-filled afternoon! We're already looking forward to next year's event.

Santa's reindeers.

Lauren and Santa.

Another trip to Buffalo

2009-11-15T10:49:00.006-05:00

My hubs and William after the Buffalo game.

Some guy was nice enough to give William the game puck. It was still icy cold!

Last week, my cousin and her hubby came up from L.A. to visit. Her husband is a big hockey fan and has made it his goal to visit every NHL arena on this continent. On this trip, they fared well. They went to a Toronto game and a Buffalo game. My hubby and one of the my boys is a big hockey fan as well. William's birthday was on the 3rd and his present from us was tickets to the Buffalo game. Montreal is his favourite team but we were too late getting tickets at a reasonable price.

My cousins managed to buy 4 tickets from season ticket holders via craigslist and we made a night of it. William got to skip an afternoon of school to make the two hour trek down to Buffalo. We had a nice dinner at the Cheesecake Factory which is as good as I remembered it to be. No pics but we knew we were in America when our dinners arrived. Guess what we didn't have time for at the CHEESECAKE FACTORY? Yep, cheesecake! No time. Oh well, next time. Besides, my arse could spare the extra 9000 calories anyway.

While they went to the game, my daughter and I went shopping. I only bought the usual groceries from Sam's Club since the savings staples as butter, milk, juice, chicken, cheese are about 1/2 compared to here. I only had enough time to hit Sam's Club and Marshall's. I had to put things back knowing that I'm going with the girls on US Thanksgiving weekend shopping anyway, because if i bought anything besides groceries (no tax or duty on groceries), my hubby would KILL me for holding us back at the border. :(

It's almost funny that a guy born and raised in a warmer climate where there is no such thing as snow, only beaches could be a hockey fan. I never asked but, Ricky, can you even skate? ;)

Our Wedding Anniversary

2009-11-15T02:29:00.006-05:00

On Friday, it was our wedding anniversary and to my surprise, while I was out driving one of my kids someplace, my dear sweet husband went out and got me a beautiful bouquet of roses. He even arranged them nicely in a vase as opposed to leaving them on the hallway table for me to take care of! Normally, I don't like roses as they are so temperamental and they usually droop after a day or two. I could never figure them out. These, after two days, are looking good and are even beginning to bloom!

Two days and counting...still looking good...

We had a nice dinner and then saw Jersey Boys, which was a great performance. We don't often get a chance to do much of this kind of thing anymore so we really appreciate the times we do.

Jersey Boys: Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons - there were a few songs that I didn't know were originally his.

To the best hubs in the world, I love you!

So-Easy Apple Crisp Pie

2009-11-14T16:32:00.004-05:00

So, what did I do with the 30 lbs. of apples that we picked in the fall? Most were made into apple pies, apple crisps, apple nut ring, apple sauce, apple this and apple that... Apple crisp is by far my favourite. Unfortunately, the photos of the pies are nowhere to be found in my files since I'm still having technical difficulties with my computer. :(

Out of the goodness of my heart, I made two double crusted apple pies for my hubby since that's what he prefers. What a good wife I am, huh? :) I think we're appled out for a while now.

What every child needs to learn...

Apple Crisp Pie

1 tbsp flour

1 deep dish pie crust

4-5 cups apples, peeled, cored, sliced (about 5 apples)

2 tbsp cornstarch

½ cup brown sugar

¼ tsp cinnamon

1/8 tsp nutmeg

Topping:

¾ cup rolled oats

½ cup brown sugar

1/3 cup flour

1/3 cup butter

1. Sprinkle 1 tbsp. (15 ml) flour over the bottom of an uncooked pie crust and set aside on a cookie sheet.

2. Prepare apples.

3. Combine cornstarch, sugar, spices and sprinkle over apples. Set aside.

4. Combine oats, brown sugar and flour. Cut in butter to make crumble topping.

5. Place apples in pie shell.

6. Sprinkle topping over apples, and press gently.

7. Bake at 350F on a cookie sheet for about 45 – 50 minutes.

I'm a garbage picker!

2009-11-08T17:16:00.003-05:00

Look what I found in the garbage last week! A neighbour around the corner was throwing away their Weber Silver B bbq. I know this because we have the exact same one. My eyes went BOING! when I saw it just because my girlfriend who also has the also has the same model but older without the solid cast iron grills wanted the cast iron grills. I stopped armed with rubber gloves and a cardboard box. TO my surprise, the bbq was in, compared to ours, in great condition, except for the flavor bars which were a little rusty. I took the drip pan and the grills but later called my hubby to come and load the entire thing up into the van. I could have just wheeled it home in broad daylight, but no, I couldn't take the chance and be seen by someone I knew! :) I was planning on buying a second one off of craigslist since the one that I have which I love is too small for our family, but now I don't have to!

I'm baaaacckk!

2009-11-08T16:31:00.014-05:00

Toronto Beaches

Cousins and brothers down at the Beaches

Waiting for the ferry on Lauren's 4th birthday at Centre Island.

A day by the pools with little friends.

In Montreal at the arena where the Habs practice. (My hub's and son's favourite hockey team)

I've been away for a long time. It became a daunting task knowing that I'd have a lot to catch up on. So much has happened and after not blogging for a couple of weeks, I really didn't know where to begin. Then laziness started to set in. And today, I thought... hmmm...maybe I should just put in a short entry.

It was friggin 9C at one point while driving!! In the middle of JULY!!

Well, a quick update. Summer (which weather-wise didn't feel much like summer) came and went. The kids broke my camera little pocket camera AGAIN! That's two in 14 months, the second only being two weeks old, back in August. I don't like cooking and using my SLR in the kitchen with my dirty hands, so that put a damper on things for me. Last week, I ordered another one exactly the same and now have three batteries for back up which is great. I loved the fact that it can shoot in low-light without a flash perfectly, not to mention that the video mode has a clearer image of movies than my Sony DVD handycam. I had even bought a cheapy from Costco and had to return it since I AM a creature of habit and once I get used to something, that's the way it's gotta be, to my own detriment.

An expensive taffy on snow.

A view from the top of Mont Tremblant. (Even colder at the top!)

We had a fun-filled summer, making trips to places around town like the Toronto Beaches, Scarborough Bluffs, Centre Island, the CNE (Canadian National Exhibition), Markham Fair, Applefest and apple picking with the family. I even had time to whip up 9 apple crisp pies one afternoon! We also went to made a couple of weekend trips to Ottawa (my hubby did a triathalon with his brothers), then Montreal (to visit family) and then another to Mont Tremblant (believe it or not, I've never been till this summer - it was beautiful but it was WINTER IN JULY! The worse possible week to go). So between soccer games, lots of bbqing, hanging out at home by the pool (used up a lot of gas heating it this summer, too!) and galavanting around town with the kids, it made for a busy, busy summer.

The best are left for last. William being hoisted for the juiciest ones at the top. Apple-picking at Applewood Farms.

Potato sack races at Applefest at the Markham Museum.

The Allman Brothers at the Ottawa Tri. They didn't place this year, but they're still the best in our eyes!

Halloween was also a blast. I guess as our neighbourhood grows older, the kids also grow old along with it. This year, we only had about 30 kids come to the door. That left us with a ton of candy and chips plus what my two kids who went out came back with. This is when an office full of hungry adults come in handy. Out a bunch of stuff went with hubby last week. Better in their tummies, than my arse!

A picnic at Centre Island.

Well, I sent my eldest daughter off to university in September. That was a sad time, but she's only about 1-1/2 hours drive away and guess what?! She's been home visiting EVERY weekend except for the weekend we went to visit, since the beginning of the school year. I don't think she thinks that university life was all that everyone made it out to be. Too bad.

As my eldest goes off to university, my youngest daughter, started Junior Kindergarten this past September as well. She's adapted very well to her new school since she was attending preschool three mornings a week. She was very excited to be in the same school as her two older brothers and is doing very well.

The Markham Fair. She loves these cutout backdrops!

Also, having such a large family, there always seems to be a birthday celebration in our house or at least something to celebrate for every month of the year! My birthday in July, Lauren's in August, September is Ryan, Nicholas in October and William in November. Now we have only Christmas to look forward to. This also means cha-ching and hard on the wallet with all these parties. We also managed to sneak in a trip to Disney World in early October making up summer weather with record high humid temperatures as well! On the way down, we made stops in beautiful Lexington, Kentucky visiting the Kentucky Horse Farms, and then Atlanta, Georgia visiting the World of Coca Cola.

Kentucky Horse Farm. It was beautiful!

"Just me and my dad!"

As for the boys, they seem to be having a problem adjusting to the homework thing. I was in my youngest son's class blasting his teacher for assuming that he is a special needs student before he even tried to help him! This teacher has been teaching 5th grade for a little too long... For as long as I know that he's been there (now all four of my kids have had him as their 5th grade teacher, sadly), he's been teaching 5th grade! WTF?! He doesn't realize that he's all talk and no action and that his program is stale. I don't understand why the principal allows him to remain teaching the same thing over and over and over again. I understand that some teachers are do remain teaching the same grades over but I'm sure they make it more exciting for the kids. I think what the problem with this guy is is that he appears to care about the kids but there is no follow-thru. Like I said, he's all talk. He can't walk the talk. I won't get into the details of the debate last week, but let's just say that when I walked out of the classroom that day, I was furious and my hands were shaking. I have NEVER reamed out a teacher before. I was always afraid of my child being treated unfairly in class, because generally speaking, I'm a chicken.

So, this sort of sums up what I've been up to instead of planting myself in front of the computer.

PS. Did I mention that I lost almost ALL of my digital photos from 2002 to June 2008 off my defective external hard drive after I reformatted my C: drive??!! Good thing I had everything backed up on an online server - it saved the day!

Lauren's 30 second visit with Ariel after a 40 minute wait at Magic Kingdom. It was SO busy for an October day. Don't kids have school???

She was a "good witch" up until the day before she had her party at school. She wanted to be a "princess". So, as it stands, tags are still on the witches hat, cape and broom. Maybe next year...humphhhh

Yummy Peach Custard Pie

2009-08-18T22:17:00.006-04:00

Peach Custard Pie

My simple recipe "card" which is kept in an old pocket photo album.

One of my best friends, Grace, had been making this for years and believe me, no offense to her, but if Grace can make this, you can too!! Yes, it's that easy! She had to reassure me that it was that simple.

It's peach season! Mmmm...and I'm so glad that it is because peach pie has become one of my favorites, after apple pie. You can get a basket of fresh peaches and make it into this delicious, easy as 1, 2, 3. Please let me stress the word "easy". Just look at the recipe "card" I make it from.

6-8 medium peaches
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 tbsp. flour
1 prebaked deep-dish pie crusts

This recipe is so easy to double or triple. No exact measurements are required. Add more peaches if you want more filling.

Prebake your pie crusts according to instructions if using frozen like I do because I still can't make a nice flaky crust.

Preheat ove to 325F. Bring a large pot of water to boil. Place washed peaches a few at a time into boiling water for about 40 seconds. Remove from boiling water and dip into a large bowl of cold water. Skin the peaches. They should slip off quite easily. Discard skins and pits. Slice and fill pie crusts, set aside.Sweetest yellow fleshed peaches.

In a separate bowl, combine sugar, eggs and flour, mix thoroughly and pour over peaches. Place in preheated oven for 1 hour.

Serve hot! Enjoy!

Single-Serve 5 Minute Microwave Chocolate Muffin

2009-08-17T00:19:00.006-04:00

I was going through some of my photos and came across this old picture of one of those email recipes I got a long while back. I followed the recipe to a 'T' since it sounded simple enough, and look at the results. It looks disgusting but it really wasn't that bad. It was a bit on the rubbery side but we all had a taste of it and it was gobbled up none-the-less. If you have a 9-1-1 chocolate emergency craving, this might just hit the spot!

Microwave Mug Cake
4 tbsp. flour
4 tbsp. sugar
4 tbsp. cocoa
1 egg
3 tbsp. milk
3 tbsp. oil
3 tbsp. chocolate chips (optional)
Small splash vanilla

Measure flour, sugar, and cocoa in a large mug. Mix well.

Add egg and mix well.

Add milk and oil and mix well.

Add chocolate chips and vanilla and mix well.

Microwave for 3 minutes at 1000 watts. If it looks like it's going to overflow, stop and adjust the power level a bit. There's no exact science to this, so do what you think is right, or you'll end up with a yummy mess like I did!

A Handy Tip Email I got

2009-08-13T10:32:00.003-04:00

It's been a pretty busy summer - I can actually say summer now because for the entire month of July, we've had so much rain, it felt like spring. Apart from my computer crashing and losing 3 and a half years of pictures even after backing them up on an external hard drive (I carelessly "moved" instead of "copy" the files before reformatting a second time). Luckily I have them backed up on flickr but now I have to pay to get them back because our service provider no longer gives us flickr pro for free. Sometimes I wonder if technology is worth the headache. I've been up late trying to sort everything out, and get my computer life back in order.

This past month has proven to be a stressful, expensive month with our handy dandy gadgets that we so much "need" has either gotten lost, damaged, or needed replacing. From our car (wouldn't start) to my new 6 week old little camera (kids dropped it this time), to replacing the ipod touch and replacing my computer and losing my precious photos. I can't take no more of it! It's too hard on the wallet and my body!

I hope your month was better than mine, with lots of sunshine and no stress.

I did get this good email that I think you'll learn a thing or two from.

DID YOU KNOW?

Peel a banana from the bottom and you won't have to
pick the little "stringy things" off of it. That's how the primates do it.

Take your bananas apart when you get home from the store.
If you leave them connected at the stem, they ripen faster.

Store your opened chunks of cheese in aluminum foil.
It will stay fresh much longer and not mold!

Peppers with 3 bumps on the bottom are sweeter and better for eating.
Peppers with 4 bumps on the bottom are firmer and better for cooking.

Add a teaspoon of water when frying ground beef.
It will help pull the grease away from the meat while cooking.
To really make scrambled eggs or omelets rich add a couple of
spoonfuls of sour cream, cream cheese, or heavy cream in and then beat them up

Add garlic immediately to a recipe if you want a light taste
of garlic and at the end of the recipe if your want a stronger taste of garlic.

Leftover snickers bars from Halloween make a delicious dessert. Simply
chop them up with the food chopper. Peel, core and slice a few apples. Place them
in a baking dish and sprinkle the chopped candy bars over the apples. Bake at 350
for 15 minutes!!! Serve alone or with vanilla ice cream. Yummm!

Reheat Pizza
Heat up leftover pizza in a nonstick skillet on top of the stove, set heat to med-low
and heat till warm. This keeps the crust crispy. No soggy micro pizza. I saw this on
the cooking channel and it really works.

Easy Deviled Eggs
Put cooked egg yolks in a zip lock bag. Seal, mash till they are all broken up. Add remainder of ingredients, reseal, keep mashing
it up mixing thoroughly, cut the tip of the baggy, squeeze mixture into egg. Just throw bag away when done easy clean up.

Expanding Frosting
When you buy a container of cake frosting from the store, whip it with your mixer
for a few minutes. You can double it in size. You get to frost more cake/cupcakes
with the same amount. You also eat less sugar and calories per serving.

Reheating refrigerated bread
To warm biscuits, pancakes, or muffins that were refrigerated, place them in
a microwave with a cup of water. The increased moisture will keep the food
moist and help it reheat faster.

Newspaper weeds away
Start putting in your plants, work the nutrients in your soil. Wet newspapers,
put layers around the plants overlapping as you go cover with mulch and for-
get about weeds. Weeds will get through some gardening plastic they will not
get through wet newspapers.

Broken Glass
Use a wet cotton ball or Q-tip to pick up the small shards of glass you can't see easily.

No More Mosquitoes
Place a dryer sheet in your pocket.
It will keep the mosquitoes away.

Squirrel Away!
To keep squirrels from eating your plants, sprinkle your plants with cayenne pepper.
The cayenne pepper doesn't hurt the plant and the squirrels won't come near it.

Flexible vacuum
To get something out of a heat register or under the fridge add an empty paper towel
roll or empty gift wrap roll to your vacuum. It can be bent or flattened to get in nar-
row openings.

Reducing Static Cling
Pin a small safety pin to the seam of your slip and you will not have a clingy skirt
or dress. Same thing works with slacks that cling when wearing panty hose.
Place pin in seam of slacks and ... ta da! ... static is gone.

Measuring Cups
Before you pour sticky substances into a measuring cup, fill with hot water.
Dump out the hot water, but don't dry cup. Next, add your ingredient, such
as peanut butter, and watch how easily it comes right out.

Foggy Windshield?
Hate foggy windshields? Buy a chalkboard eraser and keep it in the glove box of
your car . When the window s fog, rub with the eraser! Works better than a cloth!

Reopening envelope
If you seal an envelope and then realize you forgot to include something inside,
just place your sealed envelope in the freezer for an hour or two. Viola! It unseals
easily.
Conditioner
Use your hair conditioner to shave your legs. It's cheaper than shaving cream and
leaves your legs really smooth. It's also a great way to use up the conditioner you
bought but didn't like when you tried it in your hair.

Goodbye Fruit Flies
To get rid of pesky fruit flies, take a small glass, fill it 1/2" with Apple Cider Vinegar
and 2 drops of dish washing liquid; mix well. You will find those flies drawn to the
cup and gone forever!

Get Rid of Ants =
Put small piles of cornmeal where you see ants They eat it, take it "home," can't
digest it so it kills them. It may take a week or so, especially if it rains, but it works
and you don't have the worry about pets or small children being harmed!

INFO ABOUT CLOTHES DRYERS
The heating unit went out on my dryer! The gentleman that fixes things around the
house for us told us that he wanted to show us something and he went over to the
dryer and pulled out the lint filter. It was clean. (I always clean the lint from the fil-
ter after every load clothes.) He told us that he wanted to show us something; he
took the filter over to the sink and ran hot water over it. The lint filter is made of a
mesh material ... I'm sure you know what your dryer's lint filter looks like. Well ...
the hot water just sat on top of the mesh! It didn't go through it at all! He told us
that dryer sheets cause a film over that mesh that's what burns out the heating unit.
You can't SEE the film, but it's there. It's what is in the dryer sheets to make your
clothes soft and static free ... that nice fragrance too. You know how they can feel
waxy when you take them out of the box .. well this stuff builds up on your clothes
and on your lint screen. This is also what causes dryer units to potentially burn your
house down with it! He said the best way to keep your dryer working for a very long
time (and to keep your electric bill lower) is to take that filter out and wash it with
hot soapy water and an old toothbrush (or other brush) at least every six months.
He said that makes the life of the dryer at least twice as long! How about that!?!
Learn something new everyday! I certainly didn't know dryer sheets would do that.
So, I thought I'd share!

Note: I went to my dryer and tested my screen by running water on it. The water ran
through a little bit but mostly collected all the water in the mesh screen. I washed it
with warm soapy water and a nylon brush and I had it done in 30 seconds. Then when
I rinsed it ... the water ran right thru the screen! There wasn't any puddling at all!
That repairman knew what he was talking about!

Look how pretty I am! Lauren gets her ears pierced.

2009-07-30T13:42:00.007-04:00

Okay, I'm ready...

On your mark...

I've wanted to take my youngest daughter to get her ears pierced since she was a baby but once she passed a certain age, I couldn't do it anymore since I knew she wouldn't understand and probably would be inconsolable. I'll never know, but that's just what I thought. I guess ear piercing for a girl could be equated to a boy having a circumcision procedure, no? Ok, probably not. But either way, more than likely, if you had a boy, you'd never as a child have to contemplate whether or not and when if you decided to have his ears pierced.

Well, Lauren is a big girl now - almost four in less than 4 weeks! She decided on her own, as I let my eldest daughter, as to when she was ready to have her ears pierced. After all, I myself, didn't have my ears pierced until I was 10! I have fond memories of my father taking me to the department store, Eaton's down at the Toronto Eaton Centre. My mother would always say "No, you're not ready." I knew I was. It was after a dentist's appointment during the day, and I quietly asked my father if I could get earrings. He said YES! Oh, that was one of the best days of my life. I wanted to SHOW THEM OFF! I was SO happy!

I haven't been regularly wearing earrings over the last few years, so when I put a pair of diamond studs on (fake, of course but don't tell!) a few days ago, Lauren said, "Oh mommy, those are PRETTY!", I asked if she wanted to wear earrings too. Her response was "yes" over the last few days, so I guess she was ready.Get set...

I was hoping that Lauren would be as happy as I was when I got my ears done, and she was. She stopped crying the moment she looked into the mirror, we got her a frozen yoghurt and headed home. She burst through the garage door and called for daddy to look at her pretty earrings. THen when her Uncle Peter, Auntie Grace and all her cousins came over, she was happy to show her ears off to them as well.Go...

Oh, that wasn't SO bad...I'm pretty

All better now.

Noah's Ark Cookie Cutouts

2009-07-30T12:00:00.000-04:00

The Blessings Cookie Kit by Hallmark

Look what I made!

Need a little break! Mmmm...popsicles!Make sure it's all mixed up...Then roll the chilled dough out and cut with your favorite cutters.Place the cut out dough on a cookie sheet.Place cookies in a preheated oven and wait patiently...Et voila! Scrumptious sugar cookies!

My friends Christine and Susan dropped by on my birthday a couple of weeks ago and got Lauren this cute little Noah's Ark Cookie making kit for Lauren. The cute little animal shapes made it that much more fun and exciting for Lauren. The problem was that when making sugar cookies, they have to be refrigerated for about an hour before rolling out. She had a blast rolling, cutting, baking and eating these when they were done!

I didn't use the recipe that was provided in the mini cookbook included in the kit because there was an ingredient that I didn't have on hand I think. I did use this recipe but the cut-outs puffed up a bit too much. They were more cake-like than cookie-like. They tasted yummy and I think I ate the bulk of them - what's new? I think the problem was that when we were about to roll them out, I left them out too long, back to room temperature.

I got this recipe from allrecipes.com with great reviews. This recipe is VERY easy to roll out.

1 1/2 cups butter, softened
2 cups white sugar
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
5 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

DIRECTIONS

In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour (or overnight).
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Roll out dough on floured surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter. Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
Bake 6 to 8 minutes in preheated oven. Cool completely.

A New Fridge - Hubby Thinks I'm Nuts (AmI??)

2009-07-23T15:35:00.010-04:00

Don't Like: The Kenmore basic panel with the refrigeration temperature controls inside fridge.Like: Samsung's at-a-glance control panel with accurate temperature readings on the outside.

Like: Kenmore's compact ice maker which only uses up about two shelves of the door.

Don't Like: Samsung's ice maker which takes up the upper shelf of the freezer plus a couple of shelves of the door. Like: the extra storage of the "cupboard" to the right of the icemaker which can fit about 3 pizzas and more.

Don't Like: Kenmore's freezer upper shelves are not adjustable, leaving approx. 15"+ of space on a mid-level shelf with a gap to the back of about 4" which could lead to food falling off and blocking the circulation of the cold air. How are you suppose to stack anything? In pyramid form? Also, only 1 basket.
Like: Kenmore's extra freezer space due to the compact ice maker.

Don't Like: Kenmore's shelf above on the crisper drawer is not tempered glass!! How are you suppose to put anything on it?? The floor model in the store IS though.

Like: Samsung's nicer interior and separate temperature controlled compartment to quick thaw, quick freeze, etc.

A few weeks ago, our Frigidaire Professional Gallery which was only about 10 years old totally failed on us! I think that we actually got more time than we should have since the first time I had it serviced for a broken ice dispenser/water switch, the guy commented that he was surprised I hadn't had any problems with it previously. It was quite stressful, as replacing the refrigerator was definitely was not in our budget at this time - such a huge expense! It's incredible how much we take this great invention for granted, until we no longer have the use of one.

If it were winter, it might not have been as bad, since I could use the garage as a refrigerator. A garage actually comes in quite handy, not only to protect our cars in the winter to save us also from cleaning the snow off in the mornings, but also to use as an extra cold storage space if the fridge is full. I place things that need to be colder further away from the entrance to the door, and anything that we don't want to have freeze, must sit close to the entrance to the mudroom. We take advantage of mother nature and am glad especially when we have parties in the winter time when both the deep freezer and small fridge in the basement are packed tight. BUT it IS NOT winter, and so it goes...

For a couple of months, it was kind on not cooling properly but I refuse to put in any money into the fridge because of the age. Perhaps it might have been a simpler solution than waiting for it to die the way it did. The freezer was not freezing ice cream past the stage of a nice thick milkshake, concentrated juices would remain liquid and even freezie pops wouldn't freeze which was beyond my comprehension since meats and frozen vegetables and fruits froze solid and remained that way until I needed them.

With the bad combination of a full tub of ice sitting in the freezer's dispenser, and a fairly warm day, without the air conditioning on, this proved to be a disaster. In the morning, we thought the milk wasn't as cold as it should be. We ice from the ice maker was dripping quite furiously, so I just emptied it all out into the sink and mopped up the floor. We continued to open and close the door throughout the day and by mid-day, we realized that there was condensation on our bottles in the refrigerator. I didn't give it much thought until my son called me to come take a look downstairs at the ceiling! Holy s***! About a 3 square feet area of the ceiling was stained and stucco falling away! I had to quickly empty the contents into fridge and deep freezer downstairs and gave away a huge bag of veggies to my brother.;( See that black mark in the middle of the pic? That's what one of those sticky spider things left when the kids decided to throw it up on the ceiling. Did they think earth was lacking gravity and it was going to "crawl" along the ceiling?? On the walls, boys! On the walls next time - and outside!

More money into the money pit, this was all it meant! Depressed, stressed and far from being a happy camper and buying a new fridge under duress is also not a good combo. My husband now spent a day of his vacation with me scouting out fridges at Lowes, Home Depot and Sears. Generally, I'm pretty easy to please. I know what my needs and wants and we ended up with a Sears Kenmore fridge which was the lowest price of the year. Generally, I don't shop at department stores. I feel that they up their prices but a lot of the Kenmore line is (but won't be much longer) made by whirlpool which is quite good. Consumer's Report always gives them a good rating, so we were in and out of Sears in less than 15 minutes. This is after spending all morning thinking we were going to buy an LG fridge.

What the heck was I thinking??? I'm not really sure. Two days later, the fridge was delivered. I opened it up and looked at the configuration of the shelves and instantly hated it! Everything except for the newly designed ice dispenser which only took up the first two shelves of the freezer door, I HATED IT! I think I had grown too attached to my last fridge which had three baskets (this one only had 1), there weren't enough shelves on the door, the piece of glass over the vegetable crisper was not tempered glass, and therefore not suitable for using as a shelf. The wire shelves in the freezer had a 3" gap to the back with a unadjustable shelf which meant that it would be over 12" high. How do you put stuff in there without it falling to the back and blocking the cooling system? Do I have to stack it in a pyramid fashion? I don't think so.

I dropped my son off at soccer and headed directly back to the store to check out whether this is what we signed up for. The glass shelf that should've been in ours was in fact tempered glass in the floor model. The sales lady didn't care and gave me attitude and told me that I just didn't like the fridge (she was darn right) but went to say, "what difference does the glass shelf make?" Maybe she wasn't too bright afterall and I went straight to customer service. The lady there was very nice and informed me that they do offer a customer satisfaction guarantee but read the back of the receipt, with a restocking fee which in this case was 20%! Not to mention a $75 pick up fee. So, if we wanted to avoid the charges, then we'd have to buy something from Sears and it would be a straight exchange. Where does that leave us? We are basically forced to buy from them again even though we found good deals in the meantime.

I saw this Samsung refrigerator (model RS277ACRS) when I went back which was in our price range and thought that was what I wanted. There are glass shelves in the freezer and drawers in the freezer which makes for easier storage. The shelves looked nicer in both compartments and also has a meatdrawer with a separate temperature control system to quick freezer or thaw meats. Hmmm. When we get back from our trip, I'm going to buy it. I did have 30 days, afterall. The problem was that it was about $600 more. Should I or shouldn't I? My husband thinks that if it's going to save him the headache of listening to me complain everytime I opened the fridge door for the next 10 or 15 years, then $600 is nothing! Go for it, he said. If it'll make you happy, go for it.

So, when we were in Montreal, I made up my mind. How? My wonderful brother-in-law, who knows how much I love reading Consumers Reports publications always picks up copies for me during our visits, since he probably knows I won't pay the $8 for each copy. I thank him for his thoughtfulness and kindness. Well, the exact Samsung fridge was a CR Recommended Buy this month. That's it! I was SOLD! I will suck it up and be happy whenever I pull on the handle of the new fridge door.

Last Friday, I once again, marched into Sears Home to tell the sales guy who sold it to us, what the problem was and what I want. But before doing that, I went online to do a search on the model number to price compare. I had taken photos of the Samsung store after delivery of the Kenmore, I photographed the manual which was inside the fridge but I couldn't find a single thing on it - no reviews, or prices on the specific model. I lucked out and went on Sears.ca and it was $200 off. I cut and pasted the exact model number (I was missing 4 digits), and one result came up. Believe it or not, Futureshop's regular price is $600 less than Sears regular price!! How the heck can they justify that huge of a price difference?? Well, I just printed it out, walked into the store and showed them then two printouts. The girl at customer service was delightful and did not give me an ounce of trouble. In fact, she was actually very knowledgable and helpful. We paid the $90 difference and had the fridge delivered today. Ahhh! What a difference this fridge makes. I LOVE IT! I am almost giddy about it. Who would have thought one could get so excited over a fridge??

Refreshing Summer Pasta Salad

2009-07-17T19:41:00.005-04:00

I love this refreshing pasta salad anytime of year, but especially in the warm summer months.

8 cups cooked rotini pasta (I use Smart pasta)
1 red pepper, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
1 apple, cored, and chopped
2 carrots, peeled and shredded
1/2 English cucumber, chopped
1 can mandarin oranges with juice
Italian salad dressing, to taste

Throw all your ingredients into a large bowl and toss. Refrigerate for a couple of hours before serving.

Leftover Flattened Chicken = Noodle Soup

2009-07-17T15:46:00.006-04:00

What do you do with leftover chicken? There are a lot of things you can do with leftover chicken. You can make chicken salad, chicken sandwich, chicken lasagna, chicken potpie, chicken filled phyllo and whole lot more, but I decided to make a simple chicken noodle soup.

cooked chicken, off the bones
4 cups of pasta, cooked as per instructions
2 cups of frozen or canned vegetables
1 15 oz can of seasoned diced tomatoes
1 large carton Campbell's chicken broth
salt and pepper to taste

Put everything in a pot and bring to a boil. Serve with some fresh bread.

Garage Sale Treasures

2009-07-17T13:46:00.005-04:00

I haven't been garage saleing for a while but the last time I went, I think I came home with some pretty good finds. What do you think?

These brand new Sharpies (I LOVE Sharpies) for $3 and the cake lifter was free (my favourite word)!

All these books and CDs for $3!

I figure that one day when I do start knitting for my grandchildren these lovely books would come in handy. You're welcome to borrow them in the meantime...

$1 for both brand new items(the plate stand has at $35 price ticket still on it!)

$5 step stool for the washroom. It looks and fits in the powder room better than the white Rubbermaid stool we were pushing around. It was in tip top shape until I took it home!

$3 for this libary bound copy -I think she worked for the library and ordered book at a discounted price. The knitting books were from the same seller. The books were all in perfect condition.

Flattened Chicken

2009-07-09T01:52:00.012-04:00

Peppers, peppers and more peppers...

Amish vendors selling their fresh maple syrup and handcrafted furniture.

Fresh veggies and baked goods.

The line up for the Apple Fritters go way out the door and they have a constant flow of patrons.

Apple Fritters

We went to St. Jacob's Market in Kitchener-Waterloo, which is an Amish community based farmer's market. It was started by the Amish but most of the vendors are run by people who live "normal" lives, pretty much like ourselves. We got some fresh veggies and a couple of roasting chickens for dinner. Even some fresh AUTHENTIC Montreal Bagels are sold there. They must somehow truck them in each week. A bit pricey but at least we don't have to make the trek. Everything is SO fresh (as it should be at a farmer's market).

There's a place that sells fresh fried apple fritters. Mmmm!! I've gotta find a recipe for their batter. They peel, core and slice the apples into rings, dip in batter, deep fry until golden brown, and then dip in brown sugar and cinnamon (what wouldn't taste good dipped in brown sugar and cinnamon??). The line ups are out the door and silly me, lined up for nearly 35 minutes to get a dozen of these little hip-inflating suckers! Well worth the binge extra 2000 calories though! :)

This coming weekend, we are leaving for Montreal to visit family and then on to Mont Tremblant for a few days. Unfortunately, the weather is not looking too good for that part of the country.

For dinner, I split the fresh roasting chickens in half and seasoned with a marinade and let it stand for only about two hours but it was still juicy, full of flavour and VERY delicious. I'm sure if it marinades for at least 3 hours or overnight, it would be even better!

For two chickens:

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
juice of 1 fresh lemon
1/4 cup of fresh chopped oregano
1 tbsp Italian Seasoning
1 tbsp Montreal Steak Spice
1 tsp praprika
2 tbsp fresh chopped lemon grass, if desired

1. With a cleaver or kitchen shears, chop or cut the chicken down the back side. Remove all the extra fat plus the bum.

2. In a bowl, combine all the ingredients and pour over the chicken. I also sprinkled both sides with praprika before placing on the bbq.

3. Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Lay chicken in a large Tupperware or ziplock bag and pour over chicken, making sure it is coated. Also, try to spoon some of the marinade under the chicken skin. It makes a huge difference in the the flavour of the meat.

4. Marinade in the fridge for at least 2 to 3 hours or overnight, turning a few times.

5. Preheat bbq to about 300 F (or low heat) and grill bone side down, turning once until done, about 1:15 total cooking time.

Before putting the chicken on the grill, I sprinkled liberally with praprika.

My first Blog Award

2009-07-02T21:40:00.005-04:00

I got an award! I got an award! I'm glad that someone out there is reading my nonsense. :)

Thank you, Bergomot - Cooking Escapades for sending this to me. If you like Indian food, then this is the blog for you!

I would like to send it to a few other bloggers that I love to follow along when I have the time, to tell them that I really appreciate their hard work!

Fork in Food
Cate's Plate
She Simmers
Angelnina's Cottage
Lovin' From the Oven
Little Corner of Mine
Just Jenn Recipes
Lily's Wai Sek Hong

Angel Food Cake

2009-07-02T20:33:00.006-04:00

Simple angel food cake with fresh whipped cream and farm picked berries.

In case the beaver tails didn't work out, I also baked an angel food cake which was featured in the July, 2009 issue of Canadian Living magazine.We didn't end up eating it because the beaver tails did happen to turn out great, but I snuck a little piece and topped it with fresh whipped cream and freshly picked strawberries my great neighbour passed along to us, just because I had to try to be sure that it was a keeper. Well, it is.

1 1/4 cups sifted cake and pastry flour
1 1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups egg whites (10-12 but I used egg whites in a carton I had in the freezer)
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla

1. Into bowl, sift flour with 1/2 cup of the sugar; sift again into separate bowl. Set aside.

2. In large bowl, beat egg whites until foamy; beat in lemon juice, cream of tartar, and salt until soft peaks form. Beat in remaining sugar, 2 tbsp at a time; until stiff glossy peaks form. One quarter at a time, sift flour mixture over top, gently folding in each addition until blended. Fold in vanilla, Scrape into ungreased 10" tube pan. Run spatula through batter to eliminate any large air bubbles; smooth top.

3. Bake in 350 F oven until cake springs back when lightly touched, 40 to 45 minutes. Turn pan upadie down and lt hang on legs attached to pan, or on bottle, until completely cooled. Remove from pan. Serve with your favourite toppings.

Meringue.

Fold in sifted flour/sugar mixture.

Pour into tube pan put a knife through the batter to eliminate large air pockets, and smooth out.
Bake at 350 F until done, remove from oven and turn upside down on legs or on a bottle to cool.Put a knife around the rim to loosen cake before removing.
Serve as is or with toppings.

Celebrated Canada Day with Beaver Tails

2009-07-01T21:55:00.001-04:00

A baby beaver tail.

Happy Canada Day! So, how better to celebrate Canada Day, but to make the all-Canadian famous beaver tails?! AKA fried flat piece of stretched out dough in the shape of an oval hence the name beaver tails. AKA flat donut. A little company in Ottawa started up this business and sells a butter with basic cinnamon and sugar beaver tail for about $5 although they are probably twice the size of the ones that I turned out tonight. Additional toppings such as apple, maple butter, cinnamon & lemon, chocolate hazelnut (aka Nutella), garlic, etc. We usually don't deviate from the basic cinnamon and sugar as it's tried and true. These are made to order and are absolutely delicious especially when eaten piping hot. Truly worth the extra calories - at least they're whole wheat! Just think of them as a wholesome fatty dessert. That should take a bit of the guilt off! There are several franchises opened throughout Canada, so if you are ever in Canada, be sure to try one of these!

Occasionally, to make simple "beaver tails", I pick up a pack of Greek pita bread (not pocket style) because these are more bready and top with a layer of butter, and brown sugar & cinnamon blend, and toast these up in a toaster oven.

My hubby suggested that we have these for dessert. A while back, I found a recipe online for these delectable desserts. The recipe called for all-purpose flour. I used 2 cups of all purpose and 3-1/2 cups of whole wheat flour. As you can tell by the pictures, shaping these to look like a beaver tail wasn't as easy as it seemed. I did eventually get the hang of it. I rolled a piece of dough into a ball, and with a rolling pin, rolled it out to the desired length and then one or two rolls over the width. Perfection was then achieved! We topped with a generous dose of melted butter, and dipped in a combo of brown sugar and cinnamon. Mmmmmm... Not exactly like the original, but close enough.

Beaver Tails

1/2 cup warm water
5 teaspoons dry yeast
1 pinch sugar
1 cup warm milk
1/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
1/3 cup oil
2 cups all-purpose flour +3 cups whole wheat flour
oil (for frying)

TOPPINGS:

Whatever your heart desires:

-In a large mixing bowl, stir together the yeast, warm water and pinch of sugar.
Allow to stand a couple of minutes to allow yeast to swell or dissolve.
Stir in remaining sugar, milk, vanilla, eggs, oil, salt, and most of flour to make soft dough.

-Knead 5-8 minutes (by hand or with a dough hook), adding flour as needed to form a firm,
smooth, elastic dough.

-Place in a greased bowl.
-Place bowl in a plastic bag and seal. (If not using right away, you can refrigerate the dough at this point).
-Let rise in a covered, lightly greased bowl; about 30-40 minutes.

-Gently deflate dough. (If dough is coming out of the fridge, allow to warm up for about 40 minutes before proceeding).
-Pinch off a golf ball-sized piece of dough.
-Roll out into an oval and let rest, covered with a tea towel, while you are preparing the remaining dough.

-Heat about 4 inches of oil in fryer (a wok works best, but you can use a Dutch oven or whatever you usually use for frying).
Temperature of the oil should be about 385°F
Add the beaver tails to the hot oil, about 1-2 at a time.

-BUT -- before you do, stretch the ovals into a tail - thinning them out and enlarging them as you do. Turn once to fry until the undersides are deep brown.
Lift beaver tails out with tongs and drain on paper towels.

-Melt some butter or magarine in the microwave and using a pastry brush, brush on one side of the pastry a layer of butter/margarine. Fill a large bowl with a couple of cups of brown sugar mixed with cinnamon and dip the buttered side into it shaking off excess. Add additional toppings such as hazelnut spread and enjoy!

Combine dry to wet ingredients.

Using dough hook, or by hand, mix until combined, adding more flour as needed to create a dough ball.

This is of the dough before rising.

The dough after rising for about an hour.

Using a rolling pin, roll out a golf ball sized piece of dough into the shape of a beaver's tail.

Immediately place in hot oil, until golden brown on both sides.

Drain oil on a piece of paper towel and lightly brush with a coat of melted butter/margarine.

Dip in brown sugar/cinnamon mixture or your choice of toppings.

To-Die-For Blueberry Muffins

2009-06-29T15:26:00.007-04:00

So, it wasn't even quite 10 am this morning and we rolled out a couple of batches of doggy biscuits and a couple of batches of yummy blueberry muffins. With the abundance of berries at every grocery store and market and the prices so low, this is the perfect time to turn out a batch with fresh blueberries. Last week, in my inbox from allrecipes.com, there came an entry for this To-Die-For Blueberry muffin. I have been looking for a muffin recipe that isn't dense and like a lot of the close to 3000 reviews from people like me, our search for the perfect muffin had arrived in my in-boxes!

While stirring this batch up, I was a bit skeptical. The batter was quite thick and heavy. It also says to fill the muffin cups to the top, which I only filled to 4/5 and it was only enough batter to fill 21 cups. Perhaps my muffin cups were a little larger than normal. I went ahead and baked them anyway with water in the empty tins.

I was pleasantly surprised, as were all my kids at how scumptious these are! They were light and fluffy, almost like a muffin mix, but without the full sweetness of a packaged mix. The crunchy crumb topping was delicious and was the perfect combination for this muffin.

I will use this muffin recipe as a base for muffins and try adding different fruits or frozen berries when they aren't in season. The crumb topping would also be the perfect addition to any muffin, but I think it would be even better with brown sugar, or just plain sugar crystals, which I'm going to try next time

MUFFIN MIX

1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1/3 cup milk (approx.)
1 cup fresh blueberries

CRUMB TOPPING

1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup butter, cubed
1-1/2 tsp cinnamon

TO MAKE MUFFINS:

1. Preheat oven to 400 F. Grease muffin cups or line with paper liners.

2. Combine flour, sugar, salt and baking powder. Measure out 1/3 cup of oil into a 1 cup measuring cup and add an egg and enough milk to fill the cup. Mix this with flour mixture, stir until combined. Fold in blueberries. Fill muffin cups to the top and sprinkle with crumb topping mixture.

TO MAKE CRUMB TOPPING:

3. Mix together all 4 ingredients with a fork until combined, and sprinkle over muffins.

4. Bake for 20-25 minutes in a preheated oven or until done.

**This is enough crumb for a double batch of muffins.

Mix egg, oil and top with milk to equal 1 cup..

Mix dry ingredients together.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix thoroughly.

Batter's consistency is very thick. Hard to imagine this can turn out fluffy!

Add fresh or frozen blueberries and gently stir.

If you have a large scoop, put one scoop into each muffin cup.

Combine ingredients for crumb topping and stir.

Sprinkle each muffin with a bit of crumb.

Bake at 400 F (I set it at 390F on convection) and baked for 30 minutes.
Enjoy!

Treats for Bailey

2009-06-29T10:39:00.010-04:00

A double batch turned out about 90- 2" scrumptious doggy bones.

It's only the second day of their summer holidays and not even 9 am and look what we've already turned out! A double batch of homemade Garlick & Cheddar dog biscuits but the thing is, there's no garlic in the ingredients! I got this cute little Dog Biscuit cookbook with a removable built-in bone-shaped cookie cutter from a garage sale a few weeks ago and have been promising the kids that we'd make a batch soon. Well, now that summer vacation has begun, we have more than a few moments to hone their math skills and cooking skills at the same time.

This dough is amazingly easily to roll out and cut. Whether or not Bailey really likes them or not, we'll never know because as like most dogs, they devour anything like it's the best thing in the world or they've not eaten for days. I'm almost embarrassed to say that I actually tried one but I did. Well, they are made from wholesome first quality ingredients, just not enough or lacking a few key ingredients we would put into our treats, that's all. Okay, the whole family tried them. Lauren actually spit hers out onto the floor and Bailey cleaned up after her! I thought it tasted like cardboard. Nothing much too these biscuits. Not much flavour, no salt, no nothing, including moisture! But with the stupid kid tricks, which my husband thinks all good dads should teach their kids, I feel a bit better about the kids putting these in their mouths than Milk Bone dog biscuits from the store.

Look how much fun your hubby can have teaching your kids thing you can do with Milk Bone dog treats!

This recipe is adapted from The Doggy Bone Cookbook.

1/3 cup of shredded cheese such as mozarella or cheddar
3 tablespoon of margarine or butter, softened
1-2/3 cups whole wheat flour
2/3 cups milk

Preheat oven to 375 F. Mix cheese and margarine/butter, add milk and flour and knead until combined. Roll out into about 1/4" thickness and cut into desired shapes. Place on ungreased cookie sheet or parchment paper and bake for 30-35 minutes, or until edges start to brown. Makes approximately 50 bones.

Don't these look good enough for anyone to eat?

Bailey thinks they smell delectable!Bailey would do anything for these cheddar crisps!Lauren tried one too.

Today the Beasts Were Released for Summer Holidays!

2009-06-26T00:02:00.007-04:00

Thursday June 25, 2009.

Oh, look what I found in my drafts...

Standing here patiently waiting.A Deep Blue Sea - As each of their names were called, I wondered where each of these kids will be in 20 years . It's incredible how many Ontario Scholars there were in this graduating class - almost half!

Today was the last day of school for my boys. It started out a very nice morning, with the kids going swimming at 7:30 am before heading off to school but by lunch time, instead of the kids kicking up their heals and screaming, they were all huddled in the school worried about how awful the weather was and how they were going to get home without getting drenched. The good mother that I am : ), I drove around the corner and parked the car to find my boys inside the office waiting patiently for me, looking kind of glum.

Oh dear, what am I going to do with them this summer besides going on a couple of short weekend road trips and hanging out by the backyard pool and having a some friends over? Unfortunately, these kids are a hard bunch to entertain and please. Each summer, they are usually enrolled in a few weeks of camp but this year, they aren't enrolled in anything as yet. They HATE going to camp and they complain that they're bored at home as well. What to do??

They were actually kind of sad that they weren't going to see many of their friends very much over the summer holidays. I remember growing up, summer holidays seemed SO long. By the time August rolled around, I was looking forward to the new school year which always starts on the Tuesday after Labour Day here in Ontario.

Terrilyn on her way to graduating!

It was also the graduation ceremony for Terrilyn. Today, she is officially no longer in high school! She's on her way to being a full-fledged grown-up! I told her and her friends that some of the best times of their lives is now, while they're still in school. Especially for these bunch of spoiled brats. They get their tuitions and boarding paid for so they don't need to get a part-time job unless they need beer money or fashion money.Waiting patiently for the ceremony to finish!

I attended the ceremony with Lauren and Nicholas. There was a limit of only 3 tickets per family and since William had a soccer game in the rain, it was decided that I take Nicholas and Lauren along with me. What a mistake that was! With program in hand and nothing better to do, Nicholas did exactly what I would've done - added up the number of grads listed in the evening's program book. 248! Two hundred and forty eight! Who was I trying to kid when I thought they would be fine to sit through the entire ceremony?

Before the principal's address begun, Lauren was already bored out of her mind. She was mimicking the guys who were testing the mics. When the guy spoke into the mic with "testing testing", she would repeat after him. It was quite funny actually listening to her. Then she would start asking a million questions and rocking back and forth standing on the chair, etc. Not to mention Nicholas's persistent "How much longer?" So, I text messaged my hubby and asked him to drive over to pick them up after the soccer game. He arrived an hour and twenty minutes after the ceremony started and Lauren had actually gotten SO bored, she climbed into my lap and fell asleep! Gosh! To think....I have four more of these high school graduations to go to!

I teared up at the ceremony just thinking about how my first baby will be going away in a couple of months and starting a new chapter in her life. A road that she will travel to find her dreams. She was a very difficult teen, but normal nonetheless. Very strong headed and strong willed. She showed signs of this from a very young age. Peer pressure was a very big part of it. At one point, we thought she was heading down the wrong path. We tried steering her back with all our might and I guess it must've worked because she has truly turned into a gracious young lady who I am very proud of.

One day, in four years, I will be looking back and hear myself repeating this over again once more for her.Jessica & Terrilyn

Beer Can Chicken...Beer Butt Chicken

2009-06-22T12:48:00.013-04:00

Two birds awaiting to be eaten. I was too keen on getting the flavour under the skin and I tore one of the breasts. It pulled back during cooking, but was still tender and flavourful.

The $1 deal.

Or whatever you want to call it...I've been seeing so much about beer can chicken lately that I thought I should try it one day. Everyone says how great it is and moist and delicious. My aunt even sent me a (note I say "a" because I need TWO! I always cook TWO for my huge family!), but I'm thankful to her for thinking of me and taking the time and money. We were at Home Depot on Saturday morning and I came across the exact same chicken holder for C$1 (that's like $1.95 US - just kidding it's only about US$1.15), but she did pay US$3 on sale for it in L.A. There are fancier, much more expensive chicken holders out there where you just pour all your ingredients into the built in cup, which look like a plate with a cup in the middle, in case you don't want to take the chance and get poisoned by the chemicals that haven't been associated with any diseases they haven't discovered yet. I'm just waiting for the day when CNN reports that people who used beer cans in their chicken recipes more than once a week are now developing mysterious skin lesions or alzheimers, cancer, etc. Well, I'll take the chance.

Then I made my husband stop by the grocery store to get two 3-1/2 lbs. air chilled chickens so I could go home and start my new experiment finally.

All dressed up and no place to go.

I'm not a beer drinker or a wine drinker, or a drinker for that matter. My boss way back when I was just a cute little young thing, use to say I was such a cheap date! LOL! Guess what? I still AM?! But hubby does drink on occasion when we have company who want free alcohol! Normally, we don't buy canned beer, but when we were driving over the Detroit/Windsor border crossing, my husband came out with a case of canned Bud Light. Now, 9 months later, guess what? There's still 18/24 cans left! Well, 16 now. He had to drink 1/2 from each can so that I had a can to put the chicken on. Hmm...if I had thought a little harder, I could have just opened one can, and emptied half into a Coca Cola can which we have plenty of.

If you google "BEER CAN CHICKEN", you will find so many different versions of it. Everyone has their own seasoning combination, method of preparing the chicken and basting the chicken. Butt, I think that no matter how you do it, it will always be a juicy and deliciously awesome!

For two whole air-chilled chickens:

2 whole 3-1/2 to 4 lbs. air chilled chickens
1 cup butter
2 cloves fresh crushed garlic
1 tbsp onion powder
1 tbsp paprika
1 tbsp cayenne pepper
1 tbsp Montreal Steak Spice
2 sprigs of fresh rosemary
2 cans of beer (drink or discard half from each) or use gingerale if you don't have any beer on hand

Butter mixture. I'm probably doing it all wrong but if you know me, I don't follow directions very well and have a poor memory.

Directions:

1 tbsp cornstarch mixed with a bit of water for gravy.

1. In a medium bowl, melt butter in microwave. Add spices and mix to combine.

2. Separate skin of the chicken breast as much as you can down into the legs and spoon 1/4 of butter mixture under skin of each chicken and add a sprig of rosemary. Pour the remaining butter mixture into the beer can with the beer. If it starts bubbling over, just pour the rest into the chicken cavities, divided evenly between the two. Or spread some salt and pepper into the cavity of each chicken.

3. Let it marinade in the fridge for at least an hour or overnight if possible.

4. When you're ready to cook, preheat the oven to 350 F or your BBQ on low. Place the beer can with beer/butter mixture into the chicken holder in a large roasting pan and place the chicken onto the holder.

5. Cook until internal temperature reaches 180F (about 1-1/2 hours), use a basting brush to brush juices from the bottom of the pan every 1/2 hour. When it is cooked, remove from oven and let it rest for about 20 minutes before cutting.

For gravy:

6. pour into a small pot and skim off as much fat as possible. Bring to a boil, add a bit of cornstarch slurry and return to a boil. Add more or less cornstarch for desired thickness.

Leftovers make great sandwiches as well.

I served this with broccoli and mashed potatoes. It is very tender and juicy. I'm sure the type of chicken that you use does impact the flavour and the texture of the meat. I think that air chilled chicken and turkey are the best for roasting because even if it is overcooked, the white meat is still juicy, of course unless you REALLY overcook it.
Beer volcano after adding butter to beer. I didn't do well in chemistry.

Mess all over the counter and floor. Maybe if I spent the extra money on the fancy one, I wouldn't have this problem.

Twins awaiting.

Peekaboo -see how juicy it is? Pour it out for the delicious gravy.

Happy Father's Day!

2009-06-22T12:34:00.010-04:00

A Starfish in our garden - I love starfish!

What a Sunday! It seems summer has finally arrived here in southern Ontario! Beautiful weather, great family and great food. Problem was, food was coming all day long! We went to dim sum with all my siblings and nieces and nephews and then my cousins came over to celebrate Father's Day with us. We spent the afternoon in the pool (not me - I haven't been looking too good in my bathing suit these days - still trying to shed those 15 lbs. of hibernation fat buildup). Our dinner was complete with a baby spinach salad, prime rib steaks, premarinaded rosemary lamb chops, cheese sausages, grilled veggies (peppers and zucchini), grilled fish balls, baked potatoes and sweet potatoes. It was a hot day so nothing was to be made in the oven or cooked indoor for that matter.Enjoying a lovely sunny day in the pool!

Our feast - how do you know we're not vegetarians?

Veggies seasoned with Montreal Steak Spice & Seasoning Salt.Ughhh! Rosemary Lamb chops!

I have to say, I DO NOT like lamb. It just is too gamey for me. Even if the lamb touches my meat, I find it difficult to palate what it's touched. I've tried it several times starting from my youth and even recently I've tried to enjoy it, but I just can't. It's the same with sushi and smoked salmon. I guess it's for the better since all of the above are expensive. I do cook it for my kids and especially my hubby, but not too often. When we were in Greece a few years ago, I told my hubby that he'd better eat up because I won't be cooking it as good as they do and only on occasion. So what did he do? He had at least one meal with lamb everyday to get his fix. Did he ever think that he could buy it and cook it for himself? Guess not.

To be honest, when we put the pool in a few years ago, I knew I wouldn't be going in much. We had a pool at our last house, and in two years, I might have gone in no more than 5 times, 1 of which I was thrown. I love the aesthetics of the pool. It was either a pool or a nice grassy backyard with a hot tub. We decided to go with the former since I knew the kids would get more use out of a pool. My husband would have used the hot tub all year round. That just means that in a couple of years, we may just end up with a hot tub too, I guess.

Baby Cole had a blast in the pool! He really LOVES water!

Happy father's day, Hunny! Hope you had a great day!

Is this what you call a seedless watermelon??

2009-06-21T12:45:00.000-04:00

I hate it when this happens. It's the second time in the last month it's happened to me! Don't you hate it?! I cut it open and look what I saw! A ton of black seeds! I haven't intentionally bought a seed-more watermelon in years. I always thought it was worth paying the little extra to get seedless. Then you have the kids asking, "If it's seedless, then how do they make more?"

Dumplings & Green Onion Patty

2009-06-17T19:16:00.010-04:00

Pork Filled dumplings.

Being that I had a busy day again, not to mention that I had a HUGE breakfast (Theo's), skillet of veggies, egg and fruit at Cora's, I didn't feel like cooking a huge meal. Something quick and simple would do.

Frozen Pork Filled Dumplings.

You can purchase these northern Chinese style dumplings at most western large chain grocery stores now but I think that there are too many fillers apart from the meat. I had ordered a two hundred pork dumplings (4 bags) from Shanghai Dim Sum in Scarborough. Can you imagine wrapping dumplings all day long, 7 days a week?This little mom and pop shop supplies to restaurants and has a small storefront made up of a few deep freezers. Nothing fancy - no fancy signs or packaging - they just package each pack into plain plastic vegetable bag that you get at the grocery store scrawled with a single Chinese character with a plain old Sharpie on the outside of the bag, indicating the type of dumpling . No directions as to what the heck to do with them when you bring them home! Simple enough though, once you're told.

Dumplings being browned to crisp bottoms.

Pork dumplings are my family's favorite (except Ryan's). These little dumplings have a slight hint of ginger, and are so tasty and juicy. You have to be careful when biting into one of these as they do have a tendency to be so juicy that they squirt hot liquids across the table or onto yourself. It's happened many times and can be funny and painful at the same time, not to mention the much-needed heavy use of Spray-and-Wash on your tops afterwards.

A pretty nice box for green onion patties. Very interesting poem on packaging.Very interesting cooking instructions, too.Frozen Green Onion PattiesFlaky green onion patties.

He makes several different items other than the many types of dumplings, such as green onion patties, and red bean paste patties. I'm not a big fan of his green onion patties as I think they aren't flaky/layered enough, but too much of a doughy texture. He must be doing something right, because this little joint must be a little gold mine, as my friend who owns the place often makes his deliveries in his sparkling yellow Porshe 911. I guess I'm contributing to his wealth. My friends and family will place their orders through me. Maybe, I should be asking for a discount, shouldn't I?

Dipping Sauce

How could I deny myself the pleasure of standing there and wrapping these dumplings for my loving family? Well, at 50 dumplings for $10 for the plain pork filled dumplings, it's a lot easier to buy than to make. Time is money, isn't that how the saying goes??

There are many ways that I cook my dumplings:

**DO NOT DEFROST BEFORE COOKING**

Way #1: To cook these delicious dumplings the faster way, just drop these suckers into a huge pot of boiling, salted water, stirring occasionally for about 10 minutes and serve in chicken broth.

Way #2: Boil a large pot of water. Drop the dumplings in until they are done, around 10 minutes. Heat a frying pan and coat pan with cooking oil. Place dumplings on pan to brown one side and serve.

Way #3: Arrange dumplings neatly with the pinched side up in a large skillet with lid. Add about a 1/2" of water and cover. Turn to medium high heat and bring to a boil. Continue to boil until all the water has evaporated being careful not to burn the dumplings. Remove when bottoms of dumplings are golden brown. Serve immediately.

Dipping sauce:

1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
1 tsp chili paste
1 close minced garlic
a dash of sesame oil

Mix and stir together all ingredients in a small bowl and serve.

Happy 40th Linda!!

2009-06-15T19:29:00.003-04:00

It was one of my best-friend cousin's milestone 40th birthday on Thursday and a few of us gathered for lunch to ring in the new decade with her! She'd been celebrating for the last 2 weeks with her other friends already so we thought why not jump on the bandwagon? I thought since she's been continually celebrating, she's probably had so much cake that she wouldn't want another bite. This is why I decided that cookies would be a nice change.

It was also Lauren's last day at preschool so I doubled the batch, and with the help of the kids, we rolled and baked the cookies. I decorated them using a #8 round tip for the spirals and a #4 tip for the writing. Now that I'm looking at the pictures, maybe I should have done pink instead of orange icing. They still were very pretty and these were a hit!

For the recipe, follow this link:
http://chiccookiekits.blogspot.com/2008/11/cookie-dough-and-frosting-recipes.html

Prime Rib Roast

2009-06-12T13:07:00.010-04:00

Unfortunately, I didn't get a photo of it after it was cooked and I didn't tell them to take one. I'm sure it was a lot better than the dinner that we had tonight at Captain John's!

Captain John's in the Center there - It was an actual ship that sailed at one time long, long ago.

We're going out tonight! Just me and hubby with two other couples! What a rare occasion this is. I got tickets to see Russell Peters, the comedian. He is a Canadian born Indian guy who is just hilarious! We've watched all of his DVDs and nearly peed our pants every time! Ok, I'll share a secret with you guys - I forgot to empty my bladder last time and had a bit of an accident! We were forewarned to go the the bathroom before we watch his show tonight.*

Terrilyn and her boyfriend Peter.

Also, it was Terrilyn's prom night. She looked beautiful! Where has the time gone? She's graduating in less than two weeks from high school!! She's off to Wilfred Laurier University, Waterloo in the fall. It's great that it's not too far from home - approximately an hour away from home. I got some lovely photos of her in the backyard and was sorry that I couldn't join her at the pre-prom at a friend's house where everyone was gathering for photos as it was at the same time as we were meeting up with our friends to go downtown. I'm sure that there were a ton of cameras there but I know she would have loved for us to be there with her and her friends. We had bought the Russell Peters tickets before she had the date of her prom written in my agenda.

My cousins, who are the best cousins that anyone could ask for, are babysitting our kids so that we go downtown for a nice evening at Captain John's Seafood **(the cheapskates that we are, we're all using our Entertainment Book Coupons) and then a short 5 minute walk to the Air Canada Center to have a good laugh.

Since we're having surf and turf for dinner, I would be considered an ungracious person if I left my cousins who so kindly are using their Friday night to play with my kids, with a pepperoni pizza, wouldn't I? Even better, they are bringing a sushi platter since they know how much my kids enjoy it! Geez, talk about giving us the guilt trip for going out! Alright, alright, I'll pay them back for the sushi! Oh, they also had Shake 'n Bake chicken wings, too!

Before putting my roast in the oven, I prefer to make a rub/paste of soy sauce and other seasonings and rubbing it all over the meat and leaving the roast on the counter for about 1/2 an hour before placing it in a preheated 325 F oven.

For Rub:

1/4 cup soy sauce
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1 tbsp Montreal Steak Spice
1 tsp dry mustard
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder

In a small bowl, combine all of the ingredients and then rub into the meat and let the roast stand for about 1/2 hour before cooking.

Peel and cut up a whole cooking onion, 4 medium potatoes and 4 carrots into fairly large pieces and place at the bottom of the pan. Cover vegetables with water and sprinkle with a bit of salt and pepper (or anything you feel like), place your roast on a rack in your roasting pan over the vegetables. Bake at 325 F until desired doneness.

I know some people say you aren't suppose to put water at the bottom of your pan since it would be like you are steaming it, but for whatever reason, I don't feel that it affects the texture of the flavour of the meat. In fact, I have always gotten compliments on my roast. I believe that if you tent the roast with foil, the steam can get trapped, therefore retaining the moisture, otherwise, I've never had a problem. The vegetables are to die for as well, absorbing the juices from the roast. Then the water can be made into a nice gravy.

* Russell Peters was REALLY funny but not as funny as he is on his DVDs. We think it's because they've pick and chosen the best from many shows to put on the DVDs.

** The waiter looked like he'd been there since 1972. He was a cute little man which provided great service. He had a quirky kind of sense of humour. Our appetizers were great. I had mussels in a tomato sauce with celery and mushrooms. My main was a Fried Louisiana Shrimp and hubs had baked salmon, both of which were bland. Luckily we had coupons which saved us almost $30 per couple! I don't think we'll be returning there even if we have a coupon!

Simple Chicken & Noodles in Soup

2009-06-11T08:43:00.004-04:00

I was at the zoo the other day and arrived home a bit late to cook a full-fledged meal so I had to think fast. Thank goodness for freezers! I called home to ask my husband to put a large pot of water on to boil. When I got home, I removed 5 seasoned chicken breast filets from the freezer and soaked in warm water for a quick thaw. I poured 1 large carton on Campbell's chicken broth in another medium pot to boil. I washed the spinach and bean sprouts that I had on-hand. When the large pot of water boiled, I cooked the medium broad noodles with a bit of salt (like cooking spaghetti or pasta). You can get these noodles at any asian grocery store or stores that have an Asian grocery section, which usually comes in a box or in a plastic bag wrapped in paper. I can't remember what type of noodles these are (and I will post the next time I visit the grocer), but they are probably just flour, salt and water.

I love the texture of these noodles. They are firm and slippery, making it tricky to eat. I often break them in half before putting into the salted boiling water.

1/2 lb of noodles
1/2 chicken breast per person
1 large carton or 2 cans of condensed chicken broth with water
1 lb. spinach
1/2 lb. bean sprouts
salt and pepper to taste
Heat a large skillet and add some cooking oil to coat bottom of pan. Add sliced chicken breast meat, sprinkle with some fresh ground pepper and stir fry till no longer pink. Divide into each bowl. No need to add salt unless you're using fresh chicken breast.

When the noodles were cooked, I divided them into portioned sized bowls and set aside. When the chicken broth boiled, I blanched the spinach for about a minute and divided it into each bowl. Then I blanched the beansprouts (I don't like raw beansprouts), for about a minute and then divided it amongst each bowl.

Ladle chicken broth into each bowl to cover noodles (to reheat especially if they cooled down). Serve immediately. Fresh peeled stir-fried shrimp is delish in this as well!

Waffles for Dessert

2009-06-08T21:10:00.007-04:00

Nicholas's creation...

At my kids' request, like they had to twist my arm, we had fresh waffles for dessert again! We just had these on Saturday night, but how can anyone say NO to an ice cream waffle, topped with fresh strawberries and vanilla ice cream with a bit of fresh whipped cream? Not me!

Waffles:

2 cup All purpose Flour
4 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Salt
1 tbsp Sugar
1 1/2 cup Milk
2 Eggs separated
2 tbsp Butter melted

Beat the eggs whites until stiff and keep aside.
In a separate bowl, beat egg yolks till creamy.
Continue the beating, adding milk.
Mix all dry ingredients together, add slowly, beating until smooth.
Add the egg whites and melted butter.
Place 1/2 cup of batter onto a preheated, lightly greased waffle maker.
Close lid. Bake until golden about 2 minutes.
Repeat with remaining batter.

Cook waffles in an electric waffle iron, following manufacturer's instructions. Waffles should be cooked until they stop steaming, about 3 minutes. Best if eaten hot off the griddle. Top with what your heart desires! Eat!

These can also be frozen and toasted to reheat. Just lay them on a cooling rack and completely cool before freezing.

OR just use ready made pancake mix and follow the waffle recipe.

Chicken Chow Mein

2009-06-05T21:35:00.004-04:00

Today's lunch was a quick one since my cousins and I had planned a trip to the local farm where we are allowed to feed the animals. It's all FREE! and the kids always have such a great time together there. Did you know that Llamas spit? Well, they do and will. My cousin learned the hard way and it was FUNNY!! It's like a giant sneeze all over you! Disgusting! She had just fed it a carrot and puff, she was covered! eheheheh! I've been going to Lionel's Pony Farm for years, since my other kids were little and have never known about the "spitting llama" m as he is so affectionately called. Then there were a couple of other visitors proclaiming to have had this happen to them in the past a couple of times as well. I guess I should count myself quite luckily. Well, now I know not to get too close to the thing.

I wish I still had my compact camera that I could pack in my purse. A few weeks ago, we were at the zoo and Lauren was climbing on the brass orangutang. She lost her footing, I leaped and my sunglasses AND camera went flying into the air, landing on the hard concrete. Needless to say, my camera is busted. It was a great little Fuji FInepix F47 that I picked up from Costco not even a year ago for under $200. The sad part is that the thing still had 2 years warranty left. I sent it in to be repaired, only to be advised of the $209 repair bill! Nuts, eh? Ebay searching has been a priority this week. Hopefully I can get the same one so that I can utilize the battery and XD card. This little camera actually took great video footage that was easily transfered to my computer. I stopped using my DVD camcorder for the image wasn't anywhere nearly as sharp as the the Fuji's!

Before heading out to the zoo, we had a quick lunch of chicken chow mein. You can essentially put anything into a stir-fry and whatever you have on-hand would do. Today, I used basic ingredients of frozen seasoned chicken breast (this way, I don't have to premarinade the meat), broccoli, carrots, and red onions.

1 pkg of fresh chow mein egg noodles (this is a lot of noodles)
3 skinless, boneless seasoned chicken breasts, sliced
1 bunch of broccoli, florets separated
2 carrots, thinly sliced
1 red onion, cut up into eighths
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup oyster sauce
2 tbsp cornstarch, a bit of cold water to make slurry
1 cup water
cooking oil

Preheat oven to 375 F.

Fill a large jumbo skillet with lid half with water and bring to a boil. Blanch broccoli and carrots for about 2 minutes and with a slotted spoon, remove and place aside. Bring pot of water to a boil again and add noodles, blanching for about 2 minutes. Drain water and spread the noodles over a baking sheet. Pour cooking oil over the noodles to coat the bottom of the baking sheet and place in oven to brown/crisp noodles. Remove when desired crispness is reached.

Heat skillet on medium high heat. Add oil to skillet and stir-fry the red onion pieces and chicken slices and unless no longer pink. Remove and set aside. Heat skillet and add a bit of cooking oil and salt. Add the broccoli and carrots, stir-fry for about a minute and return chicken and onion to pan. Add sugar, soy sauce, oyster sauce and water and bring to a boil. Form a well in the center and pour cornstarch slurry in, tossing ingredients to coat. Bring to a boil until gravy thickens. If the gravy's consistency is too thick for your liking, you can add a little water to thin, or visa versa.

Scoop out stir-fried ingredients and serve over noodles.

***One package of egg noodles doesn't appear to be a lot but it really is enough to feed my whole family!

After precooking for 2 minutes in boiling water, drain and spread out on a cookie sheet. Chinese people prefer their noodles in chow mein a little crispy. Or if you prefer, you can pan fry in smaller batches but this would mean more oil.

Stir-fry the ingredients all the ingredients and spoon it over the noodles before serving.

Cutting Up a Pepper

2009-06-04T23:59:00.006-04:00

For some of you, cutting up ingredients is a no-brainer, but for some of us, who haven't learned all the tricks-of-the-trade, there is a simpler way. I know I didn't always know the how-tos for a lot of things that didn't come naturally, and am certainly still learning new things all the time. So, this is for those of you who don't know how to cut up peppers easily yet. I used to cut it in half through the stem and then removed the seed and it was a bit finicky. I think this is the quicker and easier way to cut peppers up. And if not, let me know how you do it.

Place the pepper on its side and cut the top off horizontally as close as possible under the stem.

Remove the seed and stem, and you are left with the perfect "bowl" for dips.

Slice or dice your peppers to required size.

BBQ Chicken Kebobs

2009-06-04T12:22:00.003-04:00

Our family generally eats each dinner together, believe it or not, which in today's busy hustle and bustle household is a rarity. I generally aim for a 6 p.m. dinner time and usually hit it smack on. My two youngest boys had dentist's appointments after school yesterday at 5:30 - right smack in the middle of dinner hour. I knew I needed something that could be cooked fast on the grill if prepared ahead of time, so chicken kebobs, it was going to be.

After our cross-border trip to Sam's Club in Buffalo, NY, I came back with about 15 lbs. of whole chicken breast, 5 lbs. of chicken breast filets, 20 lbs. of split chicken wings and 4 lbs. of butter, 3 qts of whipping cream, 10 lbs. of shredded mozzarella cheese, 5 lbs. of brick mild cheddar cheese, 5 lbs. of shredded cheddar, a giant bag of sliced pepperoni, and a few other grocery items. As I stated in a previous post, some of the grocery savings are substantial, especially that our dollar is gained back some strength again.

On Sunday morning, I cubed/chopped, marinaded, and prepackaged everything to place in the deep freezer (thank goodness for deep freezers!) If you do premarinade, here's a tip for easy defrosting: make sure you get as much air out as possible before sealing and then squeeze the contents so that the bags is flat. This will help your defrost the meat more evenly and at a quicker rate than if you pack it in a clump.

For this Chicken Kebob:

3 lbs. skinless, boneless chicken breast
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp. Italian Seasoning
1 tsp. seasoning salt

Combine all ingredients and marinade for at least an hour in the fridge, or freeze in a freezer bag till ready to use.

Soak bamboo skewers in water for 15 minutes and skewer chicken pieces alternating with pepper, onion, pineapple, mushrooms, etc.

Preheat grill and place skewers when hot and cook on medium heat for about 10 minutes on each side. You know your grill, so turn the skewers as they are cooking.

I served this with tzatziki sauce, a Caesar salad, oven roasted potatoes and broccoli.

Check this Cool Hip T - I'm going to win one! or not...

2009-06-02T18:28:00.004-04:00

Angela, from Oh She Glows is a gorgeous girl, who eats REALLY healthy, dreams of opening a healthy bakery and chronicles everything along the way. Angela is giving away a Hip-T, which is a "layering accessory to cover your assets"I think I'm going to win me one of these from Oh She Glows

These are great for when you bend down wearing a pair of the low-cut hipsters, preventing your butt-crack from making an appearance for all to see. Visit Angela's site and you might win!

Quick and Easy Chili

2009-05-28T19:02:00.003-04:00

Today was a gloomy, cool, rainy day and so for dinner, I wanted something nice and warm. Yesterday, as we were at my good friend and neighbour, Natalie's house having coffee, she was preparing a quick and easy dinner. I like chili very much but always thought nobody else in the family really enjoyed it so I just never got around to making a huge pot, but rather just buying the canned Stagg Chili. I find it a bit thick, but it would suffice. Today, I made a trip to Costo for a family pack of ground beef amongst all the other stuff I didn't really need, and chili for dinner it was going to be.

Quick and Easy Chili

1-1/2 lbs. ground meat (beef, chicken or turkey)
1 whole cooking onion, chopped
1/2 lb. of fresh mushrooms, sliced or 1 can sliced
1 large can of diced tomatoes
1 12 oz. can of mixed beans, rinsed and drained
1 12 oz. can of red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 cup of salsa sauce
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp cayenne powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper

Heat a large pot and add a bit of cooking oil. Saute onions and mushrooms. Add ground beef and cook until no longer pink.
Add the remainder of the ingredients to the pot, bring to a boil and simmer for 30 minutes. Top with cheddar cheese and serve with bread.

Cinnabon Clone Recipe

2009-05-28T17:36:00.008-04:00

A fresh bun just out of the oven.

I've been meaning to make this recipe for quite a while now and finally remembered to buy "bread flour". I was also looking out for a breadmaker but then thought I'd better not. I have bad memories of bread makers. Years ago, my ex thought he was doing me a favour and got me a Black and Decker bread maker for one of my first mother's day. That was very nice except that it was something HE really wanted and wanted me to immediately make the f***ing bread right then and there! Needless to say, when we separated, I packed the bread maker up and out it went along with him so that he could make his own dang bread!

Ever wonder what the difference is between all-purpose flour and bread flour is? Well, here's an explanation:

Bread Flour vs. All-Purpose Flour

Bread flour is a high-gluten flour that has very small amounts of malted barley flour and vitamin C or potassium bromate added. The barley flour helps the yeast work, and the other additive increases the elasticity of the gluten and its ability to retain gas as the dough rises and bakes. Bread flour is called for in many bread and pizza crust recipes where you want the loftiness or chewiness that the extra gluten provides. It is especially useful as a component in rye, barley and other mixed-grain breads, where the added lift of the bread flour is necessary to boost the other grains.

All-purpose flour is made from a blend of high- and low-gluten wheats, and has a bit less protein than bread flour — 11% or 12% vs. 13% or 14%. You can always substitute all-purpose flour for bread flour, although your results may not be as glorious as you had hoped. There are many recipes, however, where the use of bread flour in place of all-purpose will produce a tough, chewy, disappointing result. Cakes, for instance, are often made with all-purpose flour, but would not be nearly as good made with bread flour

http://www.ochef.com/Question.htm

I found this recipe on www.allrecipes.com. I also have Todd Wilbur's Top Secret Recipes collection which also offers up his version of a copy-cat real-thing ooey gooey Cinnabon. I actually like this homemade version better than the real Cinnabon, which is to say that it isn't an exact replica of Cinnabon's famous rolls. The real Cinnabons are actually not as fluffy as this one, I found, although both versions are scrumptious, I think at the prices that they charge for a large bun, I'll just charge my kids half price and I'm sure thye'd be happy to pay up for a piece!

Sliced before rising.

After 30 minutes of resting on the stove top.

Fresh from the oven.

The recipe below is for a bread maker. I no longer own one so I did the "no bread machine" version which is just as simple. See below for it.

DOUGH:

1 cup warm milk (110F/45C)

2 eggs, room temperature

1/3 cup margarine, melted (I used butter)

4-1/2 cups bread flour

1 tsp salt

1/2 cup white sugar

2-1/2 tsp bread machine yeast (I used regular dry active yeast)

FILLING:

1 cup brown sugar, packed

2-1/2 tbsp ground cinnamon

1/3 cup butter, softened (I accidently melted mine in the microwave)

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING:

1 pkg cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup butter

1-1/2 cups icing sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/8 tsp salt

DIRECTIONS:

Place ingredients in the pan of the bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Select dough cycle; press start.
After the dough has doubled in size, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface, cover and let rest for 10 minutes. In a small bowl, combine brown sugar and cinnamon.
Roll dough into a 16" x 21" rectangle (I used a jelly roll pan). Spread dough with 1/3 cup butter and sprinkle evenly with sugar/cinnamon mixture. Roll up dough and cut into 12 rolls. Place rolls in a lightly greased 9"x13" baking pan. Cover and let rise until nearly doubled, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400F.
Bake rolls in preheated oven until golden brown, about 15 minutes. While rolls are baking, beat together cream cheese, 1/4 cup butter, confectioners' sugar, vanilla extract and salt. Spread frsting on warm rolls before serving.

FOR NO BREAD MACHINE:

Dissolve sugar in milk, add yeast. Let foam. Then add eggs, salt and butter/margarine. Use mixer to combine flour, then use bread hook to knead. Continue with step #2 above.

**TIP: After the frosting is whipped, place in a disposable zip top bag and snip a corner to pipe.

Strawberry Shortcake (Sponge Cake)

2009-05-25T20:54:00.014-04:00

The weather has been so great these last couple of weeks, the long lazy days of summer can't come soon enough. BBQ season has come, and the American fresh berries and other fresh produce are readily available at reasonable prices now. I had been looking for a good sponge cake recipe ever since the bakery, Diana Sweets, where we got all of our birthday cakes from when we were kids went out of business down on Yonge Street in Toronto. With fresh whipped cream and slices of fresh strawberries in between the layers, and the not-so attractively arranged whole strawberries as the decorations on around the edges on the face of the cake, with a scantly written message, we looked forward to this cake at each birthday.

Unfortunately, my kids never got to try a Diana Sweets cake since it closed down before my first child was born. It was my mission to replicate it as I still craved the taste of this special cake. I would scour libraries for baking cookbooks (no internet back then), and magazines looking for the perfect shortcake recipe. I made several different recipes, including some that were actually more like a scone, which is what a shortcake really should be.

Then one day, many years ago, a friend brought this AMAZING dessert to our house. I finally found it! I got the recipe and it has never failed me. Everyone LOVES this cake. I had been making it for a few years. It's a little bit of a nuisance in that you need two separate mixing bowls and quite a few different ingredients, but believe me, it is worth it!

A few years ago, the local grocery store started selling this in a roll form as their "jelly roll" (no jelly though). It was the perfect fix when I didn't feel like baking. About 5 years ago, it was selling for $8.95. The fresh cream, eggs and berries cost me that much! But today, they sell them for $15.95! We still buy it occasionally, but more often than not, I just make it and throw it together myself in a layered fashion.

It is just like the one that the local Village Grocer turns out. Actually, my husband says it's even BETTER!

Separate egg whites and egg yolks.

My little helper.
Beaten egg whites and egg yolks.

Flour added to the egg yolks create a thick pasty consistency.

Fold the egg yolk mixture into the egg white mixture.
It becomes a light batter.

Pour into a jelly roll pan and spread evenly.

Bake for a bout 15-17 minutes at 325 F. The baking time for a 10" round is about an hour!

Slice cake in half to roll or layer.

Spread whipping cream (my can was low on cream).

Get assistants to add fruit.

Roll or place second half on top and add more fruit and cream for garnish.

Sponge Cake

8 eggs, separated

½ tsp cream of tartar

½ tsp salt

1-1/2 cups sugar, divided

2 tbsp cold water

1 ½ tsp vanilla extract

1 ½ tsp almond extract

½ tsp lemon extract

1 ¼ cup sifted flour

1. Beat egg whites, cream of tartar and salt at high speed until foamy. Add 1 cup of sugar and beat until stiff.

2. In another bowl, beat yolks and ½ cup sugar, water, vanilla, almond and lemon extract. Beat for 5 minutes at high speed until thick.

3. Stir in flour all at once.

4. Gradually fold in egg yolk mixture into egg white mixture.

5. Pour into 10" spring form pan, ungreased. Bake at 325 F for 60-65 minutes or until top springs back when touched.

** For this cake, I spray a 12 x 18 jelly roll pan, being sure to spread the batter evenly and bake for 15 minutes. You can either cut it in half and roll two halves or cut it in half and layer it. Before serving, layer with whipped cream and fresh berries and top with the second half. Before serving, slice cake up, place piece of cake of plate and garnish with a dollop of whipping cream and a strawberry.

**Normally, you don't spray or grease pans for sponge cake, but I find it a lot easier to remove when you give it a light coat of PAM.

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies (turned Craisin Chocolate Chip)

2009-05-23T17:52:00.007-04:00

One of Nicholas's lovely teachers who adores him, occasionally sends him home with little treats. She happened to send along a few cookies last week. She knows how much Nicholas enjoys hanging out in the kitchen and also his favourite channel is the Food Network! I saw her in the hallway a few days ago and mentioned that they were delicious and two days later, Nicholas came home with the recipe and a little bag of toasted wheat germ. She knew I probably wouldn't have any of this at home, and she was right! We made a batch that same evening and they were just as good. But instead of the raisins that the recipe calls for, we put in craisins. They were quasi healthy right up until the part where we added a cup of chocolate chips for good measure!

These turned out nice and crispy and very delicious.

3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 cup toasted wheat germ
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
1 cup packed light-brown sugar
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 large egs
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1-1/2 cups raisin

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Stir together the oats, flour, wheat germ, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl; set aside

2. Put granulated and brown sugars and the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer with paddle attachment. Mix on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Mix in eggs and vanilla, scraping sides of bowl as needed.

3. Reduce speed to low. Add oat mixture; mix until just combined. Mix in raisins.

4. Using a small (1-1/2 tbsp) icecream scoop, make balls of dough, and place them inches apart on parchment-lined baking sheets.

5. Bake until cookies are golden and just set, 12-14 minutes. Let cool on sheets for 5 minutes. Transfer cookies to wire racks and let cool completely.

** You can roll these into balls and then place in a ziploc bag and freeze until needed. Just plop balls onto a baking sheet and bake as usual.

I can't even boil an egg!

2009-05-21T23:29:00.007-04:00

For Christmas, my daughter gave me a gift card for Williams Sonoma. Since there are only 2 locations in the Toronto area, neither of them are close by. So, during boxing week, my girlfriend and I went to the Yorkdale location and I thought I'd try to pick up something. I wanted to buy some kitchen bling but there wasn't anything that I REALLY wantedor needed. I did pick up a glass pedestal dessert plate with a domed lid and a really expensivee silicone spatula (the most expensive one I'll ever buy which had better last a lifetime - 23 fricken bucks plus tax!) and this device which helps you cook a perfect egg. This was an $8 gadget. Necessary? Yes!

All of us, except for Nicholas, love hard-boiled eggs. He chooses to be difficult and wants his eggs soft boiled so that he could spoon out the egg, dip his bread in the runny yolk and and try to have a near perfect egg shell in the end. I have tried many different ways to time an egg. Before this little discovery, I could never get the egg white cooked and the yolk warm, the way a soft boiled egg should be.

I could tell you how to cook eggs to perfect hard boiled but I'm at a loss and have actually gone around asking people and looking it up on the internet. Everyone has there own way and says it's perfect. I've tried 'em all and nothing works for soft-boiled. So, if you can't find one of these handy gadgets or refuse to pay the astronomical price for one, (I'm sure I got ripped off), and want a perfect hard-boiled egg, start with a pot of cold water with eggs straight from the fridge. Bring water to a boil and set the timer for 10 minutes. Simple. If you want a perfect soft or medium, run out and get one of these!

The Egg-Perfect is a simple ingenious little acrylic half egg-sized-shaped, flat-bottomed thingamajiggy really has perfected my egg-cooking skills and works like a charm!

Simple instructions.

Just place it in a pot of water with your eggs.

A perfect soft-boiled egg.

A perfect medium egg -the way I like it.
A perfect hard-boiled egg!

California Rolls & Avocado Salad

2009-05-21T21:24:00.010-04:00

We got a real taste of summer over the last two days here with temperatures today reaching 30 C with humidity feeling like 34 C! Can you believe that my Nicholas, William and Lauren swam today?! The water is FREEZING COLD! They braved it and again, Nicholas was the first one in again this year.

This morning, I made some California Sushi Rolls for their lunch boxes. I just wanted to give them something different from the same humdrum of sandwiches almost everyday. I had made the rice and prepped it with the powdered vinegar last night and just left it in the rice cooker so that it would be cooled by morning. It's kind of more time consuming than making a sandwich but my kids are worth it. For whatever reason, whenever I make these rolls, I can't help but lay the rice on a little too thick making HUGE rolls. It all tastes good still though. We had these for breakfast as well.

California Rolls
I found a site that better explains how to make this - from making the rice in the beginning to rolling it at the end. http://whatscookingamerica.net/Appetizers/CaliforniaRoll.htm

This is the way to make proper California Rolls - after putting the rice on, you flip it nori-side up before putting the filling.I like the nori on the outside.

I used the food processor to blend the crabmeat with some Miracle whip to give it a creamier sweetness. Except I had to make some unblended for William who likes the crab in chunks.

Too much sesame seeds, I think.

I prefer the nori on the outside.

What was for dinner? BBQ, of course. I just marinaded that last of my chicken drums from my last trip to Buffalo and put a few Octoberfest sausages on along with a few Costco Roadhouse burgers on the grill, boiled up some broccoli and made an avocado salad which was delicious and refreshing. Problem is, nobody really likes avocados in this family except Nicholas and myself. Even then, he's not a big salad eater and didn't even try this. Everyone else just picked out the avocado pieces.

Avocado Salad
1 large or 2 small ripe avocados, peeled, pitted and diced
1 large red pepper, seeded and chopped
1/2 seedless cucumber, chopped
2 ripe tomatoes, chopped
1/2 red onion, chopped
1/4 cup cilantro, finely chopped
1/2 fresh lime, juiced
salt and pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and mix well.

My Mother's Day Herb Garden

2009-05-20T13:45:00.011-04:00

The beautiful potted herbs. Now I have to remember to water them!

I know I'm working backwards here, but I have been so busy lately, and so much to blog about I don't quite know where to start.

When my sister-in- law and I went out garage saleing the Saturday before Mother's day, it was POURING rain. We were one of the few who were either crazy enough or desparate enough to be out in the downpour. Then again, there were people who actually just pulled plastic tarps over their goods and it was business as usual. At one of the houses, there was a kid about 12 years old haggling for some brand new candles to match the candle holders he had just bought from another neighbour across the way. He said it was for his mother for mother's day. I think this gave him some bargaining power. That almost brought tears to my eyes that this kid, who probably didn't have much money was thoughtful enough to know that he could get something decent from a garage sale. HIs mom wouldn't care whether it was new or used, or if he spent $2 instead of $20. I'm sure of this because I wouldn't.

William's card to me.

I could never say that any of my boys would do the same for me. That's not to say that they've never given me anything in the past. Sure, there were the arts & crafts from school, or the gifts that my hubby went out to buy and said it was from the kids. Although, when she was old enough, it was always my daughter who would save up her money to get me little something. For whatever reason, I always unwrapped some perfumey soap, bubble bath or cream of some sort. I think she knows now that I can't use up all of the supplies that she's gotten for me over the years. Except this year, she said she had no money and lately seems to be borrowing money from me quite frequently.

I have always said that they didn't have to buy me anything and to save their money for themselves. Perhaps this is to my own detriment that now I must eat my own words. Maybe I've taught them to be selfish by doing this. Do you think?

Transplanted a bit of chives and parsley into a planter we brought back from Southern Spain a couple of years ago. The pot was nothing special but we really couldn't find anything to buy as a little souvenier, believe it or not!

So, my eldest teenage son Ryan calls me on Saturday afternoon and to my surprise, he actually considered getting me a mother's day present! That was certainly unexpected. He said he was going to Chapters Book Store and wondered if there was a book that I would like. Wow! I was utterly speechless. Dumbfounded, as a matter of fact would be the correct word! You have to understand - the thought that he would part with his money at his own will to actually buy something for someone is a magical breakthrough! I was quite excited about it and thrilled! He's coming around! I then proceeded once again to say that he didn't have to get me anything but thanks for thinking of me and since it's garage sales season, I can get my books for about a quarter a piece so to think that he's going to pay $20 for one, I just couldn't get passed it. But then added, "Well, since you're going to the book store, maybe instead of a book, you can tell your dad to drive you to the grocery store's garden centre and pick me up a little potted herb garden. Oh, I was excited! I was going to get something similar to the potted herb garden that I was too cheap to buy ($16.99 plus 13% tax) earlier on in the day!

Sunday rolls around and he comes home for dinner. I expected my potted herbs. Maybe I could even use a few clippings from it for mother's day dinner! He came empty handed. :( What the... Well, it turns out that his dad said that if he buys me something, then he would have to buy something for his step-mother as well. He didn't want to, so we both got nothing. That's ok - it's the thought that counts, right?

During the week, I did however go out and get my herbs and transplanted them into existing pots that I had from last year. It was more or less the only thing that I wanted this year. I have to admit - I am a difficult person to buy for as I usually go out and get what I need/want on my own leaving nothing for anyone else in case they need to get me something. I'm SO BAD in that way.

Lauren's bean plant from Nursery School.

The rest of the family gave me cards with enclosed lottery tickets and scratch tickets (no, we're not rich YET and the Lotto 649 is $49 million buckeroos tonight!!) But I did win $5 from one of the ticket and traded it in for tonight's draw with which I think I have the winning ticket!! (A true gambler! I should quite while I'm ahead, right?) If you hear a scream from where you are at around 11 pm, don't panic - it's probably me doing the happy dance. But even if I don't get the chance to ever do the happy dance, I still have a million dollar family right here in our home.

On Saturday, Ryan handed me $20. He said that it was for me to go out and buy myself the herb garden that I wanted! I pointed at the herbs and said those were from him. I almost felt guilty taking it from him! It's sort of like stealing candy from a baby, isn't it? My sweet Ryan is growing up and is beginning to appreciate the things that I do for him. They look great and hopefully, I can bury them in the fall and have them come back year after year. I will remember this mother's day as a special one because apart from gifts that were made at school, which are usually made because it is part of an activity, this year, he thought to go out on his own will to get me something I wanted. This is a life lesson here. He's going to have to do the same for his wife one day. He only now has to learn how to learn what I want and go out and buy what he thinks I want. Maybe next year... But for now, I am perfectly happy with this...

Happy Belated Mother's Day!

2009-05-19T19:09:00.015-04:00

A proud Nick posing with his first steaks!

What we had for dinner...

One of my most favourite desserts!

Happy belated mother's day to all! Hope you had a nice relaxing day and that your kids and hubby were good to you.

We've had a busy week here, not that every week isn't busy but this past week and weekend had been a particularly busier one than usual with my brother-in-law and family staying with us. We had a wonderful weekend doing the touristy thing in downtown Toronto visiting the Hard Rock Cafe, CN Tower and Toronto Eaton Centre. I also think we ate too much AGAIN! What's new?

Let's see what we had for mother's day:

Grilled T-Bone Steak with Chipotle-Chili Rub and Cilantro-Lime Compound Butter

My son Nicholas got a new cookbook - Cooking Rocks! Rachael Ray 30-M inute Meals for Kids. It is a very nice spiral bound cookbook that has very enticing simple recipes that kids can make and of course, kid-friendly. Nicholas wanted to make T-Bone Steaks from this book so I said he could cook dinner for me on Mother's day. Out I went to get all the ingredients and he did a fabulous job. Everything we delicious and we had a feast!The beginnings of the butter compound.

1 lime
1 cup butter, cut into chunks (2 sticks)
3 tbsp finely chopped cilantro
4 T-Bone Steaks (we used ribeye), 1-1/2" thick
2 tbsp steak seasoning blend for the grill, such as Montreal Steak Seasoning by McCormick (we used Clubhouse)
1 tbsp chiptle (smoky) gruond chili powder or dark chili powder
1 tbsp sweet paprika

Preheat a two-burner grill pan over high heat or a tabletop electric grill to high, or preheat the outdoor grill. Grate the zest of the lime (the green part of the skin - not the white part) on the small holes of a grater. Cut the lime in half crosswise and squeeze all the juice from the lime halves into a bowl.

Place butter in a microwave-safe bowl. Place bowl in microwave and cook on high for 15 seconds. Stir in cilantro and lime zest and juice using a rubber spatula. Transfer the butter onto a large piece of plastic wrap.

Gather the ends of the plastic wrap in one hand and use a straight edge, like a small cookie sheet pan, to push the butter back and away from your body making the butter take on a log shape.

Gently roll the log wrapped in plastic back and forth on the counterop to evenly round out the shape. Twist up the extra wrap on the ends and place the compound butter log into the freezer to make the butter cold enough to slice.

Remove the steaks form teh refrigerator and unwrap. Combine the steak seasoning blend with ground chiptole pepper (smoked jalepeno powder) and sweet paprika. A tablespoon is about a palmful of powdered or ground seasonings. Rub the seasoning blend into the steaks, distributing the spices eveningly amond them. Go wash your hands. Using tongs, place steaks on hot grill , carefully place the thin tip of one steak facing the wide end of the next so that all 4 steaks fit onto the grill at the same time. Cook steaks 6 to 7 minutes on each side for medium doneness. Remove steaks and let them rest so the juices can redistribute, 5 minutes.

When ready to serve, top steaks with discs of sliced compound butter, and serve with salad or vegetables on the side.

We also had grilled Shrimp Satay served with Thai Peanut Sauce (SO GOOD!!) both from www.shesimmers.com. I didn't have coriander so I substituted cilantro and size 31-35 shrimps because that's all I had :( They didn't quite look like hers, but they were delicious still.

I think I should have mixed all the ingredients in a bowl and then poured it over the shrimp. I don't follow directions very well. Live and learn...

Looks and tasted a bit pasty but with the Peanut Sauce, it was PERFECT!

A very yummy combo.

Oh so simple and delish peanut sauce. Just combine all ingredients...

Stir to blend everything...

Bring to a boil and it's peanut sauce which can keep in the fridge for months!!

My cousin also celebrated her first mother's day with us and brought korean short ribs. I will post the recipe on a separate post. We wrapped it in lettuce and dressed with the Thai Peanut Sauce and MMMMMM! SO Yummy!!Korean BBQ Beef Short Ribs

Beef short-ribs wrapped in lettuce with peanut sauce and grilled veggies would make a hearty meal. YUM!

Grilled vegetables seasoned sliced and tossed with olive oil, Montreal Steak Spice and bit of seasoning salt and baked potatoes and baked sweet potatoes, wrapped individually in foil and cooked over the BBQ for about 45 minutes, were our sides. For dessert, we had a delicious White and Chocolate Mousse cake from Baby Cole's Daddy. It's one of my MOST favourite combinations for a cake from our local fabulous Village Grocer who make some of the best desserts around town. I think I gained 8 pounds that day alone!

Veggies with olive oil, steak spice and seasoning salt. So simple and delish.

We then finished off our evening watching The Amazing Race. We haven't been able to follow a show or program in years! We are finally see the light as our kids reach an age where they can entertain themselves and we can watch something WE want to watch on tv once a week! I'm sure the day will come that I will miss them at this age. But for now, I'll look forward to the day that we can start calling the shots again on everything from what to watch on TV, what and where to eat, what movies to go to, etc.