Fall Inspiration

SOURCE

 

OK, so I know it's still only August, but I can't help but to be excited about Fall! My FAV season, Halloween, Thanksgiving, leaves crunching under your feet, the smell of pumpkin pie in the air- it's all too familiar, and a trip to Michael's a couple days ago put me even more in the fall spirit and everything that comes along. This year will be extra special because I have a little one of my own! so trick-or- treating begins again and all the innocence that comes with being a child. What inspires you this coming season?

Veggie recipes

So I have started the Vegetarian challenge, and it's going well so far, my body is actually eating healthy for once- mind you I have eliminated pastries. I've already made a few recipes from pinterest.com (my go-to site) and I want to share with you some delicious fun!

Click HERE for recipes.

Hope you enjoy :)



August Challenge

So recently I have decided to take on a new challenge, Vegetarian for a month. Lately the sight of meat is repulsive to me and that's saying a lot since I am addicted to the food network. So I have decided to give being a vegetarian a try- this will also help me explore new ways to eat healthy foods- being a vegetarian is a good way to lose some weight because it takes me away from a lot of my favourite fast food places. The month of August is when I am starting my challenge so you will probably see a lot of new interesting recipes...

Anyways on that note, I invite you all to challenge yourselves, whether it be vegetarianism or not, I'd love to hear your ideas- and any meat-free recipes you have!

Mexican Night!

So this past weekend I decided to host my first (small) dinner party- the theme, MEXICAN! um delish? yes. So I went all out and made 3 different dips, Mexican Lime Salsa, Guacamole, and 6 layer dip. I think they all turned out pretty well, considering I made 2 of them for the first time, and the salsa recipe can be found here. We had yummy margaritas, and an unlimited supply of tacos adding onto my delicious dips. Of course I will show you the recipes, below. :)

Soften cream cheese and spread evenly on a pizza pan. Add the salsa, spread evenly amongst the cream cheese. Add all veggies- evenly! so every bite get a mix of everything! chill for a half hour- server with corn chips- enjoy!

Take a chip and DIP!!!

Cut avocados in half and scoop out contents. Add all ingredients together, add as much salt and pepper as dsired. After everything is well mixed together refrigerate for half hour so ingredients combine then serve!! (I served with corn chips)

All and all I think the night went well, Noah behaved, the food was great, and the company even better!! Have you had any gatherings recently? I would love to here you ideas or any new exciting recipes to share!

My table setting

What themed dinner party will I do next? Hmmm....

Happy Monday :)

Fresh Lime Salsa

This is a simple easy way to make amazing salsa- I make it every summer when I can get all of the veggies fresh and in season. Just chop all your veggies into small cubes, finely chop the fresh cilantro I usually add 3-4 tbsp. Add the juice of 1 1/2 lime- taste after 1 lime (it's really preference, the past salsa I made I added 2 for that extra lime flavor. Add a few dashes of Tabasco sauce or your favourite hot sauce for extra spice, or add none at all for a more mild salsa. Finish with Salt and Pepper to taste. Not only is it delicious, but it's low fat!

Variations:

I have used in the past fresh jalapeno instead of jarred, make sure you take the seeds out or it gets wicked hot! I also added some of the pickled juice from the jar of jalapenos for that extra tang and spice sensation.

If you try out this recipe let me know what you think! Or if you made your own variations feel free to share!

Easter Cupcakes!

So with only one day away until the Easter bunny arrives I had a lot to do today. And one very important task on my "To Do" list is make some deliciously colourful Easter themed cupcakes...and oh how delish they are! The recipe I used is Vanilla Cupcakes found HERE. The icing is a fluffy marshmallow frost found HERE.

The fun part is decorating...

To make the cupcakes colourful, just separate batter in 3 different bowls, and use food colouring to dye- then scoop the colours one at a time in each cupcake holder (filling half way)

 To decorate, I dyed coconut green to make it look like grass (dyed with food colouring)

 This is fun fun part... gather all your favourite goodies to top the cupcakes!

 Then (the obvious part) decorate them!

Also, some more Easter fun... I helped the Easter bunny put some of Noah's basket's together today :)

 

Tomorrow is when we celebrate Easter, we go to church, then have brunch, then of to grammas to see tons of family  :) Have a great weekend!

I smell cupcakes!

ahhh, Easter is in the air, and of course holiday's always inspire a new recipe. This one is going to be extra special, you see cupcakes are my specialty- the one thing in the world where I can focus my full creativity and taste buds all in one. So the decorations... obviously Eater themed, I went shopping today and picked up some extra special treats. And the recipe you are wondering???? WELL... it's down to 3 quite similar recipes. OF course I always add my own baking twist on everything. Here are my top 3:

White Cupcakes

 Vanilla Cupcakes

 Coconut Cupcakes

 Saturday is the day of baking! So look for a post on my delicious treats :) oh how I love baking...

Gettin in Shape!

So today is day 3 of the madness, dieting dieting dieting! Today Is also day 1 of workout- way intense when you haven't in a year!

On a good note I found a ton of recipes by Herbal Magic that will make the diet a bit more pleasurable (food wise) god knows I love my food! I found this awesome workout video by Denise Austin (love her workouts!) So I'd like to share with you all a recipe I tried today and a fool-proof workout that only takes 15 mins!

This workout video is great for cardio, and the second half is all working on hips, thighs, and buttocks. Usually what I try to do is do this 4 times a week, and in the middle (being Wednesday) I do something more relaxing, like stress free yoga, really communicate with my senses.

What you need: 
½ cup fat-free mayonnaise
¼ tsp. garlic powder
2 regular pitas
5 oz. cooked chicken breast, cut into strips
1 cup lettuce, shredded
½ cup tomato, chopped
½ cup cucumber, peeled and chopped
¼ cup water, divided

Directions: 
Combine mayonnaise and garlic powder. Open and separate each pita into 2 and spread mayonnaise mixture evenly on each round. Arrange chicken strips evenly down centres of pita round. Top evenly with lettuce, tomato, and cucumber. Fold over left and right sides of pita rounds. Fold short sides over to form a rectangle. Coat a skillet with nonstick cooking spray. Place over medium-high heat until hot. Sprinkle 1 tsp. water in skillet. Place 1 pita, seam side down, into skillet; press firmly. Cook 2 to 3 minutes or until lightly browned. Turn pita, press firmly, and cook 2 more minutes or until lightly browned. Repeat with remaining 3 pitas.

Serves four. One serving equals ¼ protein, ½ vegetable, 1 starch, and 1 free exchange. 

Source

Easter is a week and a half away, and I'm taking on the challenge! If you want to with me and want anymore information on what I'm doing leave a comment or email me :) Happy living! 

a twist on vanilla butter cake

So remember a few posts ago I said I was making a birthday cake for mom? Well, I was so undecided on what to make I asked her opinion, she was leaning toward the hummingbird cake, but then I came to the conclusion that with Noah around there is no way I'm going to have the time to make that cake. So I decided on the Vanilla Butter Cake- but with a twist.

What you need (cake):
2 large eggs
1 3/4 cups of sifted flour
2 tsp of baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter- room temp
1 cup white sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup butter milk
1 handful of crushed walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C) and place rack in center of oven. Butter and flour two - 8 inch (20 cm) round cake pans. Line bottoms of pans with parchment paper and grease and flour parchment paper.
While eggs are still cold separate the eggs, placing the yolks in one bowl and the whites in another bowl.  Cover the two bowls with plastic wrap and allow the eggs to come to room temperature before using (about 30 minutes).

In a mixing bowl sift or whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

In bowl of electric mixer, beat the butter until soft (about 1-2 minutes). Add 3/4 cup (150 grams) of the sugar and beat until light and fluffy (about 2-3 minutes). Add egg yolks, one at a time, beating after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the vanilla extract and beat until combined.

 

With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and milk, in three additions, beginning and ending with the flour.  

In a clean bowl of your electric mixer, with the whisk attachment, beat the egg whites until foamy. Gradually add the remaining 1/4 cup (50 grams) of sugar and continue to beat until stiff peaks form. With a rubber spatula gently fold a little of the whites into the batter to lighten it, and then fold in the remaining whites until combined. Do not over mix the batter or it will deflate.

Add crushed walnuts in processor until finely chopped, then mix in with batter. Add the mixture into your greased pan and bake for 18-25 mins- until you can stick a toothpick and it comes out clean. Once cake is finished, let cool before turning over pan, then frost. 

What you need (Frosting):

8 ounces cream cheese

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup icing sugar

2/3 cup heavy whipping cream

In the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add the vanilla and confectioners sugar and beat until smooth. Using the whisk attachment, gradually add the heavy cream and whip until the frosting is thick enough to pipe. Add more sugar or cream as needed to get the right consistency.

 

Garnish with: Shaved Toblerone chocolate bar

 

So that is my beautiful cake. Because there is so much oil in walnuts the cake was rather dense, so don't worry if it doesn't rise to much. Instead of tasting like a cake, it actually tasted more like a vanilla walnut brownie, it was good but definitely different. For the original recipe click here. 

peace.love.shoes.

Birthday cakes

So mom's birthday is coming up  and I am in charge of making the cake. I've decided this time I'm going to make it from scratch- it's always easy to bake a cake from a box, but I want to add my own twist on things. So of course when baking I turn to my fav website "joyofbaking.com" here are just some ideas I'm bouncing around.

This to me is the traditional Birthday cake, but the great thing about this is it's a blank canvas, I add an any special tweaks. Recipe
This cake is a lot like the first one, which I love because again I can add some tasty surprises, however the icing recipe is a smooth cream cheese frosting (which has go to be the greatest icing ever!) Recipe

ahhhh the delicious Red Velvet cake with cream cheese frosting, I actually just recently tried red velvet cake- and fell in love <3I thought it was just a plain cake with some red food coloring, but it's really so much more, I was extremely excited to eat it. Recipe

So this cake I find the most interesting, considering my mom LOVES pecans, it's definitely something I've never had before, especially since the recipe calls for pineapple- which might I add I will NOT add, really not a fan of pinapple, but I think minus that the cake sounds awesome. Recipe

So I think all of these cakes are wonderful choices, but I really have some fun ideas to add to them, so on Thursday when I actually make the cake, I will show you what I decided and the extra touches to make it that much better!

Happy Baking :)

peace.love.shoes.

Recipe: Dumplings

So I decided today to make a stew (first time ever) and gathering all my friends recipes I made my own version, one thing I love about stew is dumplings, my gramma makes them the best! I found a fool-proof recipe online it's so easy and only takes 10 mins! Although if you are cooking in a crock pot (which I did) it take about 20-25 mins. Click Here for the complete recipe.

What you will need:

• 2 cups flour
• 4tbsp butter - at room temperature
• 4tsp baking powder
• 1tsp salt
• 1 cup of milk 

Combine salt, baking powder and flour in a bowl, add butter, and slowly stir in milk- towards the end to mix everything well I used my hands, if you don't make sure the butter is evenly combined throughout.

Spoon in mixture teaspoon by teaspoon in crockpot, (make sure crockpot is on high) let cook for 20-25 mins, or if doing it in a saucepan 10 mins.

Alterations: We were completely out of milk, so I used cream, I filled half a cup with cream, and the rest water (mix), they turned out wonderful! :)

enjoy!

peace.love.shoes.

2 new recipe trys: Hashbrown Potato Casserole

All week I have been creating this cheesy hashbrown casserole yumminess that a friend used to make- so I've set out to find the perfect recipe to try a duplicate that. I will be making this for dinner, along with a yummy meatloaf- also a new recipe to me.

So to be inspired I have been to multiple cooking websites searching for the tastiest sounding recipes, and so far I've only come up with one: Hashbrown Potato Casserole. I will try this tomorrow and let you all know how it goes :)

What you will need:

2 lbs. frozen hash browns, Southern style (thawed)
1 stick melted butter
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 pt. sour cream
1/2 c. chopped onions
10 oz. pkg. shredded cheddar cheese

Topping:

1 c. crushed corn flakes
3 tbsp. melted butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all ingredients. Arrange in baking dish, 9 x 13 inches. Sprinkle with corn flakes. Top with butter. Bake for 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

Want to read this and more recipes from cooks.com? Click here.

 peace.love.shoes.

Baby Shower Goodies

Today my task is to find two recipes for the shower, mom wants to do most of the baking tomorrow (well cookies wise, because we can freeze them). The two recipes are: Peanut Blosson Cookies and Sugar Cookies (she also wanted me to look for decorating ideas) And what website would I go to? joyofbaking.com of course! :) I found the recipes here (they have everything!) I'd thought I'd share with you the recipes, and decorating ideas!

Peanut blossom cookies:

What you will need:

1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature

3/4 cup (185 grams) peanut butter (smooth or crunchy)

1/3 cup (70 grams) light brown sugar

1/3 cup (65 grams) granulated white sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2 tablespoons milk

1 1/2 cups (195 grams) all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

Coating (optional):

1/3 cup (65 grams) granulated white sugar

Garnish:

48 Chocolate Kisses, unwrapped

 

To read the whole recipe click here Sugar Cookies What you will need: 3 cups (390 grams) all purpose flour 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 cup (227 grams) unsalted butter, 1 cup (200 grams) granulated white sugar 2 large eggs 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract  To read the whole recipe click here                                                                                                 peace.love.shoes.