Magnolia's Pecan Pie

I am not a huge pie person, but I just love me some good pecan pie, and apparently it makes me talk all Southerny! It was my Dad's birthday way back in September, and for his birthday and a reward for doing so amazingly well with his weight watchers I decided I would make him a pie and chocolate cake. No better reward to loosing weight than eating junk food right! I have to admit I hate making pastry so Chris made the pastry for this, I don't have a clue what recipe he used, so I will just share the filing recipe, if it were up to me I'd just buy the frozen kind! Sorry Granny!

This is from one of my favorite baking cook books, Magnolia bakery, where they tell us that they got this recipe from a friends Texan grandma. I have also added chocolate chips to the bottom of the crust prior to pouring the filling it to make a taste chocolate pecan pie, but not everyone loves that.

Pecan Pie Filling

1/3 C unslated butter, softened to room temp
3/4 C firmly packed light brown sugar
3 large eggs, room temp
1 C light corn syrup (I actually ran out when I made this so used half light and half dark, didn't notice a huge difference)
1 tsp Vanilla extract
1/8 tsp salt
1 1/2 Cups coarsely chopped pecans (I save a few whole ones to throw on top too)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees
2. In medium bowl, cream the butter and sugar. 
3. Once well creamed, add the remaining ingredients, except for the pecans, one at a time until each is well incorporated.
4. With spatula stir in pecans. 
5. Pour over prepared crust.
6. Bake for 50-60 minutes or until filling is fairly set (filling will firm up as it cools).
7. Allow pie to cool for at least 2 hours before serving.

Annie's Freaking Chili

So as I've mentioned before I come from a long line of great cooks, my grandma has a few staples and her chili is definitely one. When Buppy and Nanny lived in Port Angeles she made chili ever single Saturday night for the races and it flew out of the concession, none of that can crap for us. She also made it for her the PIG Club at the tavern, but that's a whole different story and honestly we don't have time for that. Let's just say my grandparents are 2 of the funnest people that ever hit Port Angeles! Nanny's chili became some what famous and her friends even gave it a crud name so I've made it a bit more kid friendly.

I figured this was a good time of year to post a chili recipe, especially boy friendly served over a hot dog. I also hear it's football season (I hate sports on TV) so this could be a great thing to serve at a football party, or if you are like my kick butt girlfriends you like boy food too, the messier the better!

Enjoy my grandma's chili and I take no responsibility for the noises it may make, hehe!

Annie's Freaking Chili

Equal parts canned diced tomatoes and red kidney beans
Large Onion, Chopped
Large Green Pepper, Chopped
 Note: Depending on the size of your cans of beans and tomato you may need more veg. If I have mushrooms in the fridge I throw those in there too.
4-6 tbsp of chili powder (this is to you/your families taste)
Approx. 1lb of ground beef
 Note: depends on how much chili you are making

Directions:

1. In large pot brown ground beef.
2. Once cooked through add onions and peppers, stiring occasionally until softened.
3. Add beans and tomatoes (liquid and all), stirring until well mixed. 
4. Add Chili powder and simmer ... the longer you the simmer the better. 

Serve over of a cooked hot dog and fresh bun with shredded cheese and chopped onion. You will need a knife and fork! 

This doesn't photograph well, but MAN does it taste good!

Giada De Laurentiis Pasta w/Brown Butter Sauce

Holy smokes, it's been a VERY long time since I blogged. I've missed this loads, but between the craziness of summer, which is sadly a distant memory, and a September/October that left me a bit under the weather, I'm ready to take the reins back and share my favorite favorite recipes and disasters with you!

I've taken a few days off work and yesterday thought I should make my hubby a delicious but easy pasta dish by one of my favorite chefs, Giada De Laurentis. I saw this made on Giada At Home last spring and made it for my Dad and Margaret one night when they were here, that night I served it with lemon chicken, which is one of my favorite meat dishes. However last night I wanted something a little less labor intensive, so went with a mild Italian turkey sausage from the red barn market. As usual I changed the way I did a few of the things from Giada's recipe, but that's the joy of cooking, making it your own.

Enjoy!
Danielle

Pasta with Brown Butter, Arugala, Pine Nuts and Lemon Dressing


Dressing:

• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

•    NOTE: I only use a splash as the butter provides enough grease

• 1 large lemon, zested and juiced

• 2 teaspoons salt

• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

• Pasta:
• 1 pound of your choice of pasta

• 1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter

• 4 cups baby arugula

• 1 cup cherry or grape tomatoes, halved

• 1 cup grated Parmesan

• 1/2 cup toasted pine nuts 

• 2 tablespoons capers, rinsed and drained.

•    NOTE: I like to pan fry my capers to take some of the liquid out of them and give them a little bit of a different texture. If you've ever had the Caesar salad at Haro's in Sidney, this is a trick I learned from that! 

Directions:

For the dressing: In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice, lemon zest, salt, and pepper until smooth. Set aside.

For the pasta: Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, 8 to 10 minutes. Drain and reserve about 1 cup of the pasta water (I don't do this).

In a high-sided skillet, whisk the butter over medium heat until melted. Simmer until foamy. Continue to cook until the butter has a nutty aroma and turns a caramel color, 3 to 5 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat. Add the pasta, dressing, arugula, tomatoes, Parmesan, pine nuts, and capers. Toss until coated, adding the reserved pasta water (I don't do this), 1 tablespoon at a time to loosen the sauce, if needed. Transfer to a large bowl and serve. Serve with extra Parmesan and a protein on the side for a well rounded meal. 

Bite Size Brownies

WOW, it's been way to long since I posted a blog post, apparently I am a bad blogger. I've made several yummy and new things including some cute cupcakes for a baby shower, but I keep forgetting to take pictures! OOPS! Also in the summer life is just busier, on the weekends we try and spend time at Shawnigan Lake, and when we aren't doing that, the hubby is racing at Western, or Saratoga Speedway.

Anyways, tonight I decided to make my favorite little morsel treats to take the ladies I work with, for our administrative team meeting tomorrow. These are my go to's for a quick make for company or myself and you can switch them up easily by making them bite size, or bar style, or by adding peanut butter chips, smarties, or any type of icing!

This recipe came to me in the cook book that my fabulous Aunty Sandy made for my cousin Kim when Kim got married in 2007. The cookbook features a bunch of family favorites plus recipes provided by friends and family that they wanted to share with Kim as she embarked on married life. My cook book is looking a little used as I frequently pull it for dinner and dessert ideas.

This is the wording from Aunty Sandy about where this recipe came from:
"When Kim was in grade 2 or 3, her class made a cookbook. She took the recipe for Banana Loaf and a boy in class brought this recipe. They had bound it and gave to their mom's for mothers day."

Brownies Ingredients

1/2 C room temp. butter
1 C brown sugar
1 beaten egg
3 T. Cocoa powder
3/4 C flour
1/2 tsp Baking Powder

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

1. Using an electric mixer, mix butter and sugar until well beaten.
2. Add beaten egg, followed by remaining ingredients.
3. Place into un-greased 9 x 12 pan and bake for 20 minutes.
4. Remove from pan, and let cool (though let's be honest, these are amazing hot out of the oven)

Alternate way of baking: Use mini muffin tin and fill 3/4 full and bake for 12 minutes or until tooth pick comes out clean.

I made these with butter icing on top as that's my favorite thing to make. Just follow the recipe on the icing sugar bag, and it's perfect every time! I also made them for my girlfriend Mal when she was in Victoria and put Reese peanut butter chips in the top before I baked them.

Pulled Pork Sliders

One of my favorite things is pulled pork, I love messy food you can eat with either a fork or with out utensils. One of the first things that I started making and kind of got requests for was pulled pork. My family use to have a weenie wagon at the Sidney Market and we sold pulled pork, once we got rid of the weenie wagon I figure out how to make my own! It's a great thing to make because you can literally put it on and walk away from it for hours, ahh... the beauty of a slow cooker! There are many different variations to make this, but this has to be favorite. I but the pork logs from Costco, same as used in my pork chili, and cut a hunk off to make this.

Ingredients:
hunk of pork loin/butt/shoulder (whatever you have a hunk of is good)
Mexican chili powder
Garlic Powder
Season Pepper
Garlic Cloves (approx. 5)
1 Can of Coke/Diet Coke

Take the pork and slice some holes in it with a knife. Rub the pork down to taste with the 3 powdered seasonings. Take your garlic cloves and cut them in half, shove them into the holes of your pork. Place the can of pop into slow cooker and place your prepared meat into the slow cooker. COok on Low for approx. 5 hours. Once ready you should be able to pull the meat apart, you will have to drain some of the pop out of the cooker. Leave on keep warm until you are ready to serve. You can slather your choice of BBQ sauce onto the pork at this point or you can add a bit more pop to keep moist until you are ready to serve, I do this so people can choose their BBQ sauce.

I served mine on home made sweet buns (see earlier post for directions) with mayo, grated chedder cheese and a few pickled banana peppers. ENJOY!

Max Turns 5

Today was a very special day in the Root house... it is Max's 5th birthday. He started out the day with scrambled egg, peppers and a tiny bit of bacon, then he had a couple of the birthday cookies that his mommy and daddy got him, and he opened his brand new devil ball! I know it's kind of crazy pants of me, but I decided that this year he needed a birthday cake, it's no small feet turning a whole paw old, so he got a yummy banana peanut butter cake.  We had mom, dad, nanny and Baxter over for dinner and had a yummy pulled pork sandwich dinner, which I will post later this week (I will not be ignoring my blog any longer). Max and Baxter had their normal dinner as I knew that the cake was coming!

Banana Peanut Butter Cake
Yields 1 9" cake

2 smashed bananas
1/2 C of melted low-sugar/natural peanut butter
1 C whole what flour
1/4 cup canola oil
water till moist just right
1/2tsp baking soda
dash of salt

Mix all ingredients in a bowl until well combined. Once combined pour into greased cake pan and spread out. Pre-heat oven to 350 and bake for 30 minutes.

For the icing I simple whipped some cream, do not add sugar, until well combined, spread a thin layer on the cake, for the 5 and decor on the cake I melted some peanut butter and combined with the leftover whipping cream and pipped it onto the cake. Since I thought that putting candles in the cake would be going over the top... I used some of Max's favorite treats and placed 5 in the cake.

We then put a piece on plate for Baxter and Max and let them have at it!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAXIE BEAR!

My family thinks it's time for Chris and I to have a real child.... lol

Nanny Lesson

My goodness what a busy couple of weeks! It's been so busy I've had no time to get blogging. Tonight though I have a special blog for you. My Nanny is a superb cook, however she hates doing it now, so she has started teaching me how to make some of her key things. So far she has assisted me in making a turkey dinner for thanksgiving (truth be known she did it), won ton soup, buns, and lemon meringue pie to name a few. On Sunday we had our most recent lesson on how to make her filo wrapped halibut. Delicious. We've never been a big fish eating family, which since my hubby is all about fishing I am learning to like, though Salmon and I do not like each other, however this recipe has long been a favorite of my moms!

So at about 2pm I went over to prep dinner with Nan, we got everything already then I came home, got the man and pup and headed back for dinner, we made the sauce right before serving as the fish was cooking.

Ingredients

Fish
4 sheets of filo pastry
1/2 C melted butter
2 x 5-6 Oz Halibut filet
1 bunch of fresh spinach, stems removed (and steamed)
2tbsp shallot, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
salt and pepper cracked pepper

Sauce
1 tbsp shallot, chopped
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 C heavy cream
2 tbsp capers (drained)
1 tbsp chopped chives

Fish Directions

1. Saute shallots and garlic in a little butter, then add in the steamed spinach. 
2. Season the fish with salt and pepper to taste. 
3. Taking 1 sheet of filo and slather with butter, apply 2nd piece of filo pastry and cover in butter, place 3rd piece of filo ... continue until all 4 sheets are stacked with butter in between. 
4. Cut filo stacks in half to make rectangles, place spinach mixture in the centre of the filo pastry, place fish pieces on top. Wrap the filo around the fish to make a package presentation. If you need to use butter to close flap on filo.
5. Bake fish at 425 for approx 15 minutes. 

Sauce Directions:

1. saute the shallows in a little bit of butter and saute until translucent. Add the lemon juice to the shallots, cook until lemon juice reduces.
2. Add the ream and reduce until lightly thickens. 
3. Add the capers, chives and season with salt and pepper to taste. 

To serve place layer of sauce on the plate, place the cooked filo wrapped halibut ontop of the sauce and then drizzle more sauce over the filo fish.

Now for the best part... devour! 

Crab Pasta

Oh my gosh i can't believe how long it has been since I posted. It was a busy week with a quick trip to Kamloops for work and two, four legged friends coming for a sleepover. It was a gorgeous weekend in Victoria and today when Chris and I walked the dogs, I actually had on my sandals and a dress! SHOCKING! It was also a great weekend because Nanny came home from Palm Springs! So good to see her, I missed her terribly and tonight, she taught me to make her potato salad, but that's another post.

Anyways last week Chris, and his buddies went out crabbing two days in a row, so day one we had just crab with butter etc... but day two I made pasta and had Mom and Dad down. There kitchen is still in the hallway, so we are trying to have them down lots.

Anyways here is our crab brown butter pasta

Ingredients:
Cooked crab
1/2 C salted butter
Juice of two lemons, plus zest of one
handful of cherry tomatoes
asparagus spears
goat cheese/parmigiana cheese
toasted pine nuts
salt and pepper to taste
your choice of pasta noodles

Directions:

1. Cook Pasta(Chris has a theory, the more water the better, and 8 minutes makes the perfect pasta every time).Toast pine nuts, approx 9 minutes at 350. 
2. Slice cherry tomatoes in quarters and place at bottom of serving dish.
3. Wash and snap bottoms of asparagus off, place in microwave for 3-4 minutes to tenderize slightly, place in cold water to stop cooking process. Cut spears into 3 or 4 depending on what size you like in your pasta, and place on top of tomatoes.
4. Place cooked pasta into serving dish and mix with tomatoes and asparagus. Crumble goat cheese over top and top with pine nuts. 
5. In a saucepan, make some brown butter, pour over pasta and then pour lemon juice over top. Mix well. 
6. Serve with cooked crab over top and enjoy with salt and pepper to taste, plus add parmasean cheese. 

Martha's Coconut Cupcakes

One of the best cupcakes I have made to date is Martha's Coconut Cupcakes, which I made for our Birthday celebrations a few weeks back. I have never been a huge coconut fan, but my girlfriend Laura, who's birthday is on April 5, likes it and these seemed like they would compliment the other two rich cupcakes well. Turns out these were a huge hit, and one of the hubby's favorites. They were deliciously moist, with amazing icing and were not overpowering sweet, like I feared they would be. I do have to admit thought, I had never used coconut milk before and didn't realize that there was a thick layer of hardened liquid on the top with liquid on the bottom, so these cupcakes only had the hardened coconut milk in it, but honestly I think that is how I would make them anyways.

I also have to take two seconds to wish our god daughter Claire a very happy second birthday, she lives in Edmonton with my fabulous cousins, Kim and Ryan so I didn't get to join in, in her birthday celebrations but I'm looking forward to hearing all about it and hope to have a Skype date to chat with her. Claire shares a birthday with another one of the amazing people in my life, and someone who taught me how to be a good wife, friend and daughter, so Happy Birthday to my Nanny! Nanny is also the person who has taught me several things in the kitchen, including Aunty's Bets buns, won ton's, and  she assisted me when I made a full turkey dinner (let's be honest, she did it), including a scratch made lemon meringue pie. Love ya Nanny and Claire, and all the best for a fabulous year!

Martha's Coconut Cupcakes
Yields 20

1 13/4 C All Purpose Flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 C packed sweetened shredded coconut
3/4 C unsalted butter, room temp
1 1/3 C Sugar
2 large whole eggs, plus 2 egg whites, room temp
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3/4C unsweetened coconut milk

Directions:

1. Preheat Oven to 350 degrees, line standard muffin tin with paper liners. 
2. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. 
3. Using a magic bullet/blender/food processor, pulse shredded coconut until finely ground and add to flour mixture. 
4. With electric mixer on high, cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Gradually add in whole eggs, whites, and vanilla. 
5. Reducing speed add in flour mixture, alternating with coconut milk until combined. 
6. Divide batter evenly among prepped muffin tins, about 3/4 full and bake for about 20 minutes, rotating tin half way through. 

It calls for Seven Minute Frosting, but I don't have a Candy Thermometer so I made Fluffy Vanilla Frosting.

Fluffy Vanilla Frosting
Makes 4 Cups

1 1/2C unsalted butter, room temp

4 C confectioner's sugar, sifted

1.2 Ts vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Using an electric mixer, mix butter until pale and creamy. 
2. Reduce speed and add confectioner's sugar 1/2 C at a time, once combined add vanilla and mix until frosting is fluffy and smooth. 
3. Frost cupcakes and sprinkle with coconut if you wish. 

note: icing can be stored for 10 days in fridge, in airtight container. 

On Saturday I decided I wanted to try my hand at making french bread, so I googled and found a recipe and went to the kitchen and got to work. I ended up finding a very easy recipe that made two beautiful loafs of bread. On Sunday morning we had french toast with home made french bread which I have to say was amazing, I always add cinnamon and vanilla to my mixture to make it extra sweet. Then from Sunday's dinner at Uncle D's we had left over roast beef, so since I had Monday off, Chris came home at lunch and I made him a grilled beef sandwich using the bread. It looked so good, sadly though, I couldn't have any, my jaw is still super sore from my wisdom teeth being removed. Anyways here is a super easy recipe to make your very own french bread.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 Tbsp. or 2 packets (1/4 oz./7 g each) dry active yeast
1/2 cup warm water
1/2 tsp. granulated sugar
2 cups hot water
3 Tbsp. granulated sugar
1 Tbsp. salt
1/2 cup oil
5 – 6 cups all-purpose flour

Directions:

1. Dissolve yeast, warm water, and 1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar in a small bowl.
2. Using stand mixer, combine water, 3 tbsp sugar or splenda, salt and oil, mixing until well combined. 
3. Add 3 C of flour to mixture, mixing well, once combined, add in yeast mixture. 
4. Add remaining 2-3 C of flour until everything is well blended. 
5. Grease large bowl and place dough in bowl, cover with tea towl, let rise in cool/warm place for 1 - 1 1/2 hours. 
6. Divide dough into 2 equal parts, and shape into french loaf shape (I can't explain how to do this because mine were kinda ugly, but it worked, see picture below). Grease baking sheet and place formed loaves onto sheet. 
7. Place tea towel over formed loaves and let rise for another hour. 
8. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees, and bake for 30 minutes. 

Over the long weekend my parents tore out their kitchen, it's the kitchen that's hosted many of our family dinners and holds many memories as Nanny and Buppy built the house in 1978. If those walls could talk, they would probably mention the leg wrestling contest that they witnessed back when Nanny and Buppy lived in the house, and tell you about a young Hanna making Won Ton's with "Nanny Dearest." However all of those memories are safely tucked away in the walls of the kitchen, and in just six short weeks (it might not feel short to mom), it will be a brand new kitchen with all new appliances, tile floor and granite counter tops, ready for all new stories. In the mean time Mom has set up a funny little kitchen for herself in the hallway, where she can probably make a meaner meal then most young adults could make in a gourmet kitchen. After a long day of demoing I thought a nice home cooked meal might be in order for them and I was sick to death of eating scrambled eggs and ice cream, so Chris and I decided that we would make something else that is soft and easily to chew, so ended up with home made sweet potato gnocchi with home made pork/chicken sausage in a brown butter sage sauce.

Gnocchi

2 large sweet potatoes, cleaned and pricked with a fork
12 oz, ricotta cheese, drained
1 C Parmesan grated (Plus more garnishing)
2 tbsp splenda brown sugar
2 tsps seal salt
1/2 tsp nutmeg
2 3/4 C All Purpose Flour

Directions:

1. Cook sweet potatoes in oven until soft (approx. 1hr at 425).
2. Cut into cooked sweet potato and let cool for about 5 minutes until you can handle. In large bowl mash or use a potato ricer to get sweet potatoes very fine. 
3. Mix cheese and seasoning into sweet potato mixture until well combined, with wooden spoon. 
4. Place remaining flour onto cleaned dry surface, dump sweet potato mixture on top and kneed until all flour is incorporated. 
5. Once well incorporated, make gnocchi's and place onto baking sheet until ready to use. If you haven't made gnocchi before, it's simple, take chunk of dough and roll out until a cylinder shape, about 1/2" wide, cute into cubes approx. 1/2".
6. To cook gnocchi, place into pot of boiling water until gnocchi float. Drain and serve. 

Brown Butter and Sage Sauce

1/4 C of butter

Fresh sage to taste

Directions: 

1. In sauce pan over medium heat, melt butter until froth's and becomes fragrant, and is a beautiful golden brown. This usually takes about 5-10 minutes. 
2. Once butter is browned, add sage and stir

Pork/Chicken Sausage

We literally wung this as we hadn't done it before. After some googling and getting some tips, we learned that you should use dried herbs not fresh so we took a meat grinder and ground up 1 breast of chicken with 2 pork chops, cut off the bone. We seasoned with fresh ground pepper, garlic powder, season salt, 1 shake of paprika, and an egg. We mixed until everything was well combined. We weren't sure how to cook so we took half the mixture and did on the stove top like you would cook ground beef, then the other half I formed into balls and baked in the oven until cooked throughout. 

To serve all of this we placed in a bowl, threw the sausage on top and mixed, drizzled the brown butter sauce over and added some Parmesan cheese.

It was delicious!

Enjoy! 

Happy Easter to everyone!

I hope everyone is enjoying their long weekend! I got an extra long weekend because I got my wisdom teeth removed on Thursday and things went really well so I've got to enjoy the weekend, a stiff jaw is my only complaint, and my food intake has been limited, but I've been trucking through eating what I can, very slowly.

Tonight we are going to Uncle D's and JoDee's for dinner, where rumor has it Uncle D is making one of his bad a$$ roasts, Mom's making the veggies, and I'm supplying the dessert, it's always a family effort, one of the things I love about our family. I decided that since it was Easter I had to make something suiting the occasion and something that was cute and compliments the holiday, so introducing, Chocolate Egg Nest Cupcakes. As always, I made momma a diabetic treat, so watch for those on the blog later this week.

Chocolate Chip Cupcake
Yield 30 (I half-ed the recipe)

3 1/4 C + 1 tbsp sifted Cake Flour (not self rising)
4 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1 C + 2 tbsp milk
1/2 C plus 6 tbsp unsalted butter, room temp
1 3/4 C sugar
5 large egg whites, room temp
2 C semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F, line standard muffin tins with paper liners.
2. Whisk together, 3 1/4 C flour, baking powder, and salt. 
3. Stir vanilla and milk together. 
4. With electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter until smooth. Add sugar, mixing until pale and fluffy.
5. Reduce speed to low, alternating between the flour mixture and milk, slowly add into butter mixture, until well combined.
6. Using a separate bowl, on medium speed whisk the egg white until stiff peaks form.
7. In three parts, gently fold the egg whites into the flour mixture. 
8. Toss the chocolate chips with the left over flour and fold into batter. 
9. Divide batter evenly among lined cups, and bake for  22 minutes, rotating half way through.

Dark Chocolate Frosting

1/4 C plus 2 tbsp Fry's Cocoa Powder
1/4 C plus 2 tbsp boiling water
1 1/2 C unsalted butter, room temp
1/2 C confectioner's sugar
pinch of salt
1lb good quality semi-sweet chocolate, melted and cooled
    Note: to melt chocolate, use double boiler, then rest in cool bowl.

1. Combine cocoa and boiling water string until cocoa has been dissolved. 
2. Using an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat butter, confectioner's sugar, and salt, until pale and fluffy. 
3. Reduce speed to low, add melted chocolate, once combined, add cocoa powder mixture. 
4. Whip until is consistency you would like for your cupcakes. 

Assembling cupcakes.

Using a pipping bag, pipe thick layer of icing onto cupcakes. Using some shaved chocolate pieces, or toasted coconut, sprinkle onto icing. Take 3 mini eggs, nest into icing to give the look of a bird's nest. 

For those of you who know me, you know that my dog Max, is like my child. Back in the fall, at the suggestion of our vet, we switched his diet to be more natural and no more of those crappy kernels. In the months since we switched him off the kernels his weight is better and his eyes no longer run! We thought we'd been feeding him the good kernels, but no matter what there was stuff in it that obviously he was allergic to. Tonight when I was making his dinner for the week, chicken, egg noodles, veggies with spinach, I had a whole lot of leftover spinach so decided he deserved some special cookies. I purchased a cook book from our vets so that I knew what I could and couldn't feed him, and it's shocking the things he can have! He loves his fresh made meals, and I try to give him variety. Some people think I am nuts, but I make enough for approx. 12 days and freeze it, and if you'd seen his eyes before you know it was for the best!

Introducing, Maxie Bear's Spinach and Cheddar Cookies! 

Using my food processor, I chopped 4 handfuls of fresh spinach, then added one egg white and approx. 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil. Once that was blended I added 1 cup of whole wheat flour with 2/3 cup of oats. Once that was all well mixed, I mixed in about 1/2C cheddar cheese. With the oven at 350 degrees, I scooped onto cookie sheet and baked for 12 minutes. I will keep these in freezer to keep as fresh as possible for the little man. He has already taste tested them, and they passed!

Laura introduces me to new foods that I always want to try but am kinda weirded out by trying. I grew up in a meat and potatoes kind of house, and I love it! However as I get older I am learning that I like things like quinoa, polenta, and things a little more out of the norm then a potato or rice. Once of my new favorite things is quinoa, and using it as a salad. The first time I made it, it was slightly boring, but then the next time I had it Laura brought it to a girly movie night at our friend Tai's house and I was hooked. Each time I make it, it's a bit different but the base of it is always these core ingredients. It goes great with a nice piece of BBQ chicken (we BBQ year round) to make for a great light meal. Your men will like it too. Just a little tip, Costco sells TruRoots, Organic Quinoa at a great price, and personally it my favorite one to purchase. It can be VERY pricey at the grocery store. Also if you have the time check out the Root Cellar on Blenkinsop and McKenzie they have fabulous ingredients, that's were the veggies below are from.

Base Ingredients: 

1C quinoa 

2-3 steams of green onion sliced thinly

handful of cherry tomatoes,sliced thinly

1-2 jalapenos, sliced thinly (I leave the seeds, you don't have to)

1-2 ears of corn, BBQ

1/2C toasted pine nuts

shredded or crumbled goat feta to taste (I cover mine in it)

Dressing:

1/4 Cup Agave Nectar (or honey)

2 tbsps Apple Cider Vinegar

1 garlic clove minced

Juice of one whole lemon

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Directions: 

1. Cook your quinoa according to package, and set aside to cool, I would not recommend using broth as the base as the quinoa takes on the flavor which doesn't match the dressing. 
2. Chop all of your ingredients and place on top of quinoa, to this salad I added red pepper, celery and cucumber as I had some kicking around and we really needed some extra veggie's in our meal. Laura adds cilantro to her's which is amazing, but it's not the hubby's favorite.
3. Mix well so that each bite will have a variety of crunch, salt from the cheese and quinoa pieces. 
4. For your dressing, place all ingredients in a magic bullet and mix well. If you want a bit more sweetness add some more agave nectar.
5. Dress your salad immediately and it will keep for one night in the fridge, makes great left overs for lunch! 

I think every family has a designated person that makes the buns come Christmas, Thanksgiving or whatever the occasion might be. In our family that honor goes to Nanny and she makes the best sweet buns ever. Nanny got her recipe for her buns from her sister Bet, so it's only fair that I call these what they are "Bets Sweet Buns"  When I made my chicken dinner last Sunday I made home made buns to go with it, they were pretty successful, fell a little flat. When Nanny taught me how to make these she said that weather can drastically change how bread rises, and it was pouring rain, so maybe they were flat because of all the moisture in the air but who knows! All that mattered is that they tasted good, but honestly I'm looking forward to nanny coming home from Palm Springs in a few weeks to take over making the buns!

Ingredients

8C flour (warm)

2 tbsp sugar + 2 tbsp yeast + 1 C warm water

2 C scalded milk

1/2 C Sugar 

1/2 C Canola Oil

2 eggs, beaten

4 tsp salt

Directions: 

1. Make yeast mixture and set aside for approx. 15 minutes until foams on top. 
2. Once yeast is ready, scald the milk.
3. In separate bowl add remaining sugar, salt and oil to beaten eggs, and add in scalded milk. 
4. Once mixed, add in yeast mixture. 
5. Work flour in, until a dough forms. Once dough has formed, rub top with oil, cover with tea towel and rest 1 hour in warm dry place. 
6. Once rises, kneed and form into balls, place on baking sheet. Cover with tea towel and leave to rise for one more hour. 
7. Set over to 375 Degrees F. and bake 20 minutes or until just browned on the top.
8. Remove from baking sheet and using melted butter rub over the top to put a nice glaze on the buns. 

Note: to warm flour place in oven at 170 Degrees F. Nanny says all of your ingredients, when working with yeast, should be warmed a bit so that your yeast is going into a warm environment and doesn't disturb the yeast. I keep my oven on keep warm to assist in the warming process also when you turn it off it make a nice cozy place for the dough to rise. 

Diabetic Note: I always use Splenda not sugar to make it so the momma can eat them, and it\s an even swap! 

Another busy weekend at the Root house! Yesterday was my fabulous hubby's birthday and we started the day by going to the R'n'R diner in Central Saanich. It is a very cool place that is old school diner style, with checked black and white tile floor, pictures of hot rods and race cars through out it and full of old dudes talking about cars. It also serves a fabulous meal complete with mini packets of Cheese Whiz at your table... YUM! After that we went and met up with our friends, Laura and Dave "the Augerfeldts" as Laura and I had a mani/pedi date, and the boys went and did whatever boys do.  Our spa stuff was at a cool little joint on Haultain called OM, they have natural vegan organic nail polish and they have their own line of natural hair care products, very cool if you are looking for more natural items. Once the boys picked us up we headed for lunch at a place called McRae's and then we headed home to get dinner ready. We had all our friends over to celebrate all the March/April birthdays (5 in total I think) with a spaghetti dinner, and a fun gathering. It was loads of fun plus Chris and I just love it when our house is full of friends enjoying food and laughing, it's what makes our home, our home. It's funny how quickly things change, as we had two little people joining us, and the living room was full of toys, it was great! Brielle, Lisa's baby girl gives the best hugs and when she wants you to read to her she gives you the book then backs onto your lap. Then DJ, my little nephew is the happist baby ever and I started the tradition of the dirty dancing lift with him, which he adored, he also is a tiny bit of a flirt! Next year we will for sure have one more baby joining the mix when Baby Wilson makes her debut.

Anyways enough about my Saturday, I have a delicious fun looking way for you to make a cupcake cheesecake, and last night they were a HUGE hit! Actually I had several requests for them to be made for thir next birthdays. Another successful Martha treat!

Cookies and Cream Cheesecakes
Make at least 4-5 hours before serving)

Ingredients:
21 Oreo's, 15 left whole, remainder coarsely chopped
1lb of cream cheese (2 bricks)
1/2 C sugar
1/2 tsp of vanilla
2 large eggs, room temp, lightly beaten
1/2 C sour cream
itty bitty pinch of salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 275o F, line muffin tin with papers, and place whole cookie in bottom.
2. Using an electric mixer on medium-high, beat cream cheese until smooth, scraping sides of bowls as nededed. 
3. Gradually add sugar, and vanilla beating until well combined. 
4. Drizzle in egg a bit at a time, beating to combine, 
5. Beat in sour cream and salt, until all well combined. 
6. Stir in cookie chunks, by hand. 
7. Divide batter evenly among tins filling almost all the way to the top. 
8. Bake for 22 minutes, rotating tins halfway through. 
9. Cool on counter in tins until almost cool, place in fridge for 3- 4 hours. 
10. Remove from fridge just before serving.

I took them out of the paper liners and flipped them upside down to serve as I thought they looked really cool with the Oreo wedged in the cheesecake. Also Mom and Joan will be happy... they can definitely be made diabetic, and don't worry I will be doing that soon! 

Almost five years ago now my fabulous momma went through a bit of an ordeal, and at the end of the day she became a diabetic. It was a bit to adjust for her because our family is known for their sweet tooth's courtesy of Nanny Midge. I've made many diabetic recipes from the Splenda website, but they are all kinda the same so I sometimes switch them up and just create my own thing, as I don't want mom to miss out. I think Mom likes this, however they are sometimes just a one time thing! This however I made notes of, as it was yummy and light, and even a non-diabetic would enjoy it. Enjoy

Vicci's Special Peanut Butter Tart

Ingredients
8 frozen tart shells
1/2 large container of cool whip (light), room temp
1/2 - 3/4 C Adams All Natural Peanut Butter
1 sugar free chocolate bar or eaqual parts unsweetened chocolate w/sugar free chocolate bar
2 tbsp heavy cream

Directions:

1. Cook tart shells per instuctrion on box, let cool.
2. Melt chocolate over double boiler, add cream, should be thickish.
3. Spread chocolate over bottom of cooled tart shells, to make thick layer.
4. In electric mixer, mix cool whip and peanut butter until fluffy. 
5. Place peanut butter mixture into piping bag, pipe into tart shells. 
6. place in fridge until ready to eat. 

One of my cousin-in-law's mothers raises chickens, and sells them as a whole roasting chicken. They are massive, I would say between 6-9lbs, and have delicious meat on them, and they are ten times better than any chicken you can buy in a store. Mom had one in her freezer so I stole it to make us a roasted chicken dinner last Sunday. Dinner included a chicken, roasted vegetables, bean casserole and home made Nanny Buns, which will be posted later in the week. To finish dinner off I made mom a bit of a creation that was diabetic friendly and tasted like a Purdy's peanut butter bar. With birds we cook in our family, turkeys, or chickens we usually start referring to it as "him" through out the cooking process... just another quirky, Midgley trait!

First thing in the morning I took the chicken and cleaned it and prepped it for dinner. The most repulsive thing I have ever done in my life is pull the liver and neck out of a chicken, yes this might make me a city girl, but I literally almost gagged. SO GROSS. Once I got passed the grossness and placed a call to mom to tell her about how repulsed I was, I moved on and started seasoning the bird. I put some season pepper, coarse salt, poultry seasoning, roasted dried garlic and sliced lemon on the bird, I even put some lemon IN the bird, and covered it and placed it in the fridge until it was time to stuff him and cook him. You cannot pre-stuff the bird as the chicken can sometimes ruin the stuffing if it sits in there for too long, you are way better off to stuff the chicken then shove him directly in the oven. I let the chicken sit in the fridge for a good 4-5 hours seasoning before I cooked it, and during that time, I made buns, went grocery shopping and made the tasty Peanut Butter Tarts.

For the stuffing I purchased one of those frozen sacks and then I added some toasted coarsely chopped pecans, 4 slices of bacon and some stove top, as well as a few dashes of poultry seasoning. I shoved it in a stuffing back, shoved it in the bird, put the leftovers in a casserole dish and called it stuffing! 

For the veggies, I used parsnips, carrots, new potatoes, shallots (as I couldn't get pearl onions) and some garlic. I cut these all up in hunks, toasted them in some coarse salt, pepper and oil and placed them all around the bird once he was stuffed and ready to roast. 

The chicken, since it was so big, took just over 2.5 hours to cook at 350, and the chicken/veggies were perfect.  

For the bean casserole, I used frozen french cut beans (bad I know... but it's what I had on hand), mixed with some low-sodium cream of mushroom soup, lea-n-parins, and on top some frenchies fried onions. I baked it for the last 25-30 minutes that the bird was roasting.  

Mom and I made some gravy, which we used the pan drippings from mixed with a packaged mix to make it a bit thicker, it worked super well and was so tasty, it required some very good straining! 

Dinner is served! 

You have to wait for tomorrow for the diabetic dessert, sorry Joan, there just isn't enough room on this post! 

Sorry for the delay in getting my weekend blog posts up, but yesterday was a very special day in our house, it was our first anniversary and my very fabulous husband made the ultimate date day for us. On Friday night it was the best mom in the whole wide worlds birthday, so we had a bit of a busy weekend.

Today's post is more about food, not cooking or baking that I've done.

On Friday night we tried somewhere we hadn't been before but had heard amazing things about, and my fellow blogger Lyndsay Molcan along with my girl friend Lisa, told us we HAD to try Bin 4. It was amazing, it is a gourmet burger joint on the corner of Yates and Vancouver downtown Victoria. The wait was 45 minutes to get in, and worth every second. We started out with a delicious goat cheese bruschetta that came with mad toppings on 4 pieces of perfectly toasted baguette with a deep fried ball of goat cheese. For my main I had the wild mushroom burger that was to die for. It's a hearty piece of Angus beef, with wild mushrooms, garlic, cream, truffle oil, parmigiano, and baby arugula (tomato too, but I took mine off), with hand cut fries and the best panko crusted onion rings in the world. I also had a grapefruit mojito (clearly the diet was out the window) that was delicious and a nice twist on the standard mojito. The rest of the family had different burgers but everyone enjoyed it just as much as I did and we will definitely go there again. Since they knew it was mom's birthday they gave her a piece of flourless chocolate cake, which she couldn't eat, but Chris and Dad helped her out and loved it, as it was served with delicious praline almonds all ground up and caramel sauce on the plate. We all left happy and uncomfortably full!

Yesterday for our anniversary, my man took me out for the ultimate date day which included doing our favorite pass time, eating of course. We started out the day at Dish in Sidney, near Sleggs, which serves delicious diner style breakfast that would make Guy Fieri proud. We then headed into town and took the dogs for a walk (we had Baxter too) at beacon hill park, where we enjoyed the delicious ice cream from the drive in. We came home and had a little rest and got ready to go for a late appie style lunch to my favorite place, Brentwood Bay lodge, where we shared Tuna Tataki, Sushi and some edamame beans, then we were off to see The Artist, which is an incredible movie, honestly I was feeling a bit skeptical about it, but seriously you don't even notice there are is no dialogue. After the movie we came home and got gussied up and went to Haro's in Sidney, my fabulous hubby had reserved a seat overlooking the ocean and we had an amazing meal, I highly recommend this place if you are looking for something a little fancier then say the Keg, but not as fancy as say the Deep Cove Chalet. All in all it was the perfect day, because i got to spend it with my husband, and it's true what they say, each year you fall more in love (awww....). Thanks hunny for the best day ever.

Some pictures to reminisce on our wedding day!

The Palm Springs Gang!

All you need is L O V E

Right after the ceremony, Mr. & Mrs. Root

The delicious cake, YUM 

My favorite picture from our photog.

Tomorrow a new blog post will be up including a diabetic dessert that I made for mom last weekend, that went along with a delicious roasted turkey dinner.

Have a great Sunday evening, we are having chicken and salad as pretty sure i ate my weight yesterday, but I enjoyed it!

These are a few of my favorite pictures from our wedding last year.

It was my girlfriend Lisa's birthday on March 13th and for her gift I made her some Red Velvet Cupcakes. Now, the only time I've ever had Red Velvet cake was in December 2010, when Chris and I went cake tasting for our wedding to the Pastry Swan in Palm Desert, so that was a tiny taste, but I remember liking them. I never knew what the fuss was about them, but now I do! My god they are light with just a hint of chocolate and then the cream cheese icing, WOWZA is all I have to say. When I set out to make them, I have to admit I was shocked that there was vinegar in them, and I honestly don't know what that does, but they were so fluffy that I think that has something to do with it. These could easily be one of my new favorite types of cake.

Cupcake Ingredients
Yields 24 (I only made half a batch)

2 1/2 C cake flour (not self-rising)
2 tbsp unsweetened dutch-processed cocoa powder (I sifted mine)
Note: I had to Google this ingredient, and it turns out dutch cocoa is what it's called in the states, in Canada Fry's cocoa powder is what we have.
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 C Sugar
1 1/2 C vegetable oil
2 large eggs, room temp
1/2 tsp red gel food colouring
1 tsp vanilla extract
1C buttermilk
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp distilled white vinegar

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350^o F, and line muffin tins with paper liners.
2. Whisk together flour, cocoa and salt, set aside.
3. With electric mixer on medium-high speed, whisk together sugar and oil, until well mixed. Add eggs one at a time until each is incorporated. Mix in food colouring and vanilla.
4. Reduce speed to low, add flour mix alternating with buttermilk, until all is well incorporated. 
5. In small bowl, sitr together, baking soda and vinegar (it will foam), add to batter and mix for 10 seconds on medium speed.
6. Divide batter evenly among tins, about 3/4 full.
7. Bake rotating pans half way through for a total of 20 minutes. 

NOTE: Cupcakes can be stored overnight at room temp, or frozen up to 2 months

Cream Cheese Icing
Makes 4 Cups

1 C unsalted butter, room temp

12 oz cream cheese, room temp

4 C confectioner's sugar, sifted

3/4 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

1. with electric mixer on medium-high beat butter and cream cheese until fluffy, 2-3 minutes. 
2. Reduce speed to low, adding sugar 1/2 C at a time, then add vanilla until smooth and combined. 
3. Spread onto cupcakes, or pipe. 

Cupcake #3, Brown Sugar Pound Cakes

Cupcake #3 from Martha's cupcake book is the best yet, Brown Sugar Pound Cakes.

It is a delicious dense cake made with brown sugar and a soft glaze/icing made with brown butter, which is one of my new favorite techniques, but I'll tell you more about that later! These are the perfect cupcakes to serve at your next tea party. Yes I realize that I am young and having a tea party seems odd, but why not bring it back, old school style, even wearing the funny "English wedding hats." Actually scratch that, these would go great for any girls night, and wine... Girls you interested? I will be hosting a shower in June and these are for sure going to make it onto the cupcake stand, I'm just going to third the recipe.

Quickly to tell you about the brown butter, you simply stick it in a sauce pan over medium-high heat and wait for it to become golden and fragrant. We've used it over pasta with a lemon and garlic sauce, and now we've used it in icing, the possibilities are clearly endless with  this delicious way to turn ordinary butter into something spectacular. Would be amazing over asparagus come to think of it! YUM! 

Cupcakes
Yields 28

3C sifted all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1C unsalted, room temp, butter

2 1/4 C packed ligh-brown sugar

3/4 C buttermilk 

Directions: 

1. Preheat over to 325^o F, and prep muffin tins with cupcake liners.
2. Whisk together flour, baking powder and salt, set aside.
3. On medium-high speed of electric mixer, cream butter and brown sugar until pale and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time until incorporated
4. Alternate adding flour and buttermilk, until well incorporated. 
5. Divided butter evenly among lined tins, filling 3/4 full. 
6. Bake rotating tins half way through for about 25 minutes total. Cool 10 minutes and ice. 

NOTE: Can be stored 3 days at room temp or up to 3 months in the freezer. 

Brown Butter Icing

Makes 1 C

1/2 C unsalted butter

2 C sifted confectioner sugar

2 tsp vanilla

2 tbsp milk, plus more if needed

Directions: 

1. Melt butter in small sauce pan over medium-high heat, swirling pan occasional, until nut-brown in colour, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and pour into bowl, leave behind any burned sediment.
2. Add remaining ingredients to brown butter, stirring until smooth, if require more milk, eyeball it until is smooth. 
3. Use immediately, you can either dip the cupcakes into it, or spread, depending on consistency, I spread, to get more icing! 

Dinner for the week!

This week, we have a busy week so I've made a PIP (Plan in Place) for all of our meals and laid them out on our white board in the kitchen. I know that seems kind of Type A personality, but it works for us, plus it gives me the opportunity to write out my entire shopping list for the week, which in the end saves us money. We also go on Sunday's to Red Barn Market on West Saanich Road to pick up our veg as it is also a better way to purchase, and they have some more local options and things you can't necessarily find at Thrifty's or Safeway. Also we typically head to Glen Wood Meats to get our meat, but today Chris had to run up the cabin at Shawnigan to make sure that awful wind storm didn't do any damage last week, so he just popped in for us and grabbed what we needed. He sent me a text from the cabin and it looked gorgeous and made me really look forward to summer and BBQs on the deck and endless afternoons laying on the dock with a good book, and wine spritzer!

This is our week night meals for the week:

Monday: Weight Watchers Pork and Black Bean Chili (told ya it was going into rotation)
I picked this for Monday as it's super easy to take for lunch for the week too. 

Tuesday: Portebello Mushroom Flat Bread Pizza's w/Goat Cheese, Spinach and Pepper
I'm going to a GFs for a gab session, so this will be quick to throw together a bit later, and Chris can start  without me!

Wednesday: Turkey & Rice stuffed Peppers (inspired by my momma)
Chris has a WILROC meeting, so this will be something easy to make before the meeting.

Thursday: Flank Steak Salad with Zucchini Ribbon's and Corn (WW Point Plus 6)
 This will be a first time for this meal, so I'll be sure to take some pictures and give you the recipe

Friday: It's the momma's bday so we will probably go out or do a special meal, her choice!

We hope you all had a great weekend and a have a great Sunday night and week ahead!
If you want any of the recipes for these let me know and I'd be happy to pass them on, or request and I will ensure that they make it onto the Blog.

Something Different!

Chris and I are always looking for new things to add to our weeknight rotation, you know the foods you go to when you don't know what else to have for dinner. In our house our go to's are some kind of Mexican wrap, like a fajita or taco, spaghetti, flat bread pizza, turkey burgers, chicken souvlaki, etc... so last Sunday we thought we'd try to bring something we’d never had before into rotation. On Sunday morning we laid in bed watching Eat St. which is a fabulous show about food trucks throughout North America, which in my opinion is the best invention since The Magic Bullet (the food blender, DUH). One of the food trucks that they went and visited was Liba Falafel on the streets of San Francisco. This truck featured delicious looking vegetarian food with a bunch of sauce options to add to them. Neither of us had tried Falafel but just that week my girlfriend Laura had shared with me a recipe for these and a yummy dressing she had out last time we were at her house for dinner. So off the grocery store we went to buy the ingredients. In my opinion these were good, but not a new favorite, however it was a texture thing for me, and Chris really liked them. We ate them in pita pocket with lettuce, tomato, onion and feta cheese and made a quick salad to go with it. Next time I make them I am going to make the balls way smaller, coat them in Panko and fry them up to give them a crunch on the outside. If you are looking for something different to try and are wanting a good vegetarian option then these are for you! Thanks to Laura for sharing the recipe and letting me share it with my followers. The Lemon Tahini dressing is AMAZING, and goes good on any kind of salad.  

Happy eating! 

Falafel  - Yields about 22 balls

2 1/2 C cooked chickpeas (if you buy the can drain and rinse them)

2-3 cloves garlic, chopped 

1 egg 

1/4 C tahini 

3/4 tsp salt 

1/2 tsp ground cumin 

1/4 tsp tumeric powder 

2 tbsp parsley chopped 

2 tbsp green onions chopped 

Preheat oven to 375 F 

In food processor (or magic bullet) combine chickpeas, garlic, egg, tahini, salt, cumin and turmeric, and puree until smooth.

Transfer mix into bowl and add in parsley and green onion, mixing well.

Roll into 1 1/2" balls and place onto lightly oiled cookie sheet. 

Bake for about 10 minutes. 

Lemon Tahini Dressing

2/3 C 1% milk or unsweetened soy milk

5 tbsp lemon juice

1 garlic clove

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup tahini

1/2 tsp sesame oil

Place everything in magic bullet and blend until smooth.

Random thought: If you do not have a magic bullet, I highly recommend purchasing one, they are awesome for making salad dressings, crushing nuts and for smoothies in the morning.