On the Menu Tonight...

Tonight we were eating Italian style.  I walked into the grocery store this morning and instantly knew that I wanted a taste of our Italy trip from a few months ago-- so I decided were were going to grill ourselves some pizza on the BBQ and throw together some caprese salads...

I've never cooked pizzas on the grill before but it was AMAZING.  I used this dough recipe-- and it worked great.  Thin crispy crusts, spicy salami, cherry tomatoes, olives, and tons of cheese-- it tasted just like the pizza we ate along the canals in Venice and the streets of Rome.  Delicious.

We also had yummy caprese-ish salads and warm focaccia bread with lots of balsamic vinegar and olive oil... the perfect dinner on our warm deck.

Even the kids were fans of our grilled pizzas...

We will definitely be repeating this menu again :)

A Yummy Dessert

So I was bringing a dessert to a baby shower last week... and was wanting to try something different-- sometimes I get a little sick of cupcakes (gasp!).  I stumbled upon an idea to make mini fruit pizzas-- and was sold.  I mean-- just look at how pretty they are!

They were also exceptionally easy.  All you do is:

• Make up a batch of sugar cookies-- use your favorite recipe.  Roll them out and cut into circles.  When you bake the cookies make sure they aren't too soft so they won't crumble when you pile them full of toppings.
• Once the cookies have cooled you top them with a cream cheese spread-- beat together 8 oz of cream cheese, 1/2 cup of icing sugar, and 3 tablespoons of frozen limeade concentrate.  It's delicious!
• Top with fruit-- I used fresh blueberries, strawberries, and kiwi-- any berry would be fantastic.

They were amazing.  Caleb was in heaven-- the only thing he loves more than cookies would have to be fruit.  Obviously this dessert was a smashing success with him...

I'm definitely going to make these again.

Tis the season

It's time to let the Christmas festivities start in our house.  This week?  Baking.  Caleb and I have been baking up a storm.  Sugar cookies, muffins, and yesterday-- gingerbread.  My favorite.  I used this recipe.  It is hands down the BEST gingerbread recipe I've ever tried.  And the instructional videos help too :)

So last night I somehow got it into my head that I should pipe and flood these cookies instead of just smearing on the icing-- my more typical approach to icing cookies.  So I got to work... and somewhere along the way I managed to convince Doug to help me.  At one point he looks at me and says, "who really has time to do this anyways?"  I start laughing.  "Obviously me."

As time consuming as it was-- they sure look pretty-- if I do say so myself!

So... now that we've got the cookies... I think it's time to pull out the decorations...  tis the season!!

An ode to summer

So if you're missing those warm summer evenings around the campfire-- I've got something for you.

Can anyone say S'more Cookie Bars?

via Pinterest

While I was at home visiting my family last week we had an extended family get-together to celebrate my new little nephew.  My Auntie arrives with a pan of something that looked quite delicious-- S'more Cookie Bars.  I asked where she found the recipe.  Pinterest.  Of course :)  And oh my-- they were good.  Real good.

So the other night I needed a little chocolate in my life... in a bad way.  I made a quick trip to the grocery store for some milk chocolate and a jar of marshmallow cream and quickly whipped up a pan of chocolaty marshmallow goodness.

Craving satisfied.

I like to start in the middle and work my way out :)

Don't worry-- I didn't eat it all on my own.  Doug helped.

So if you want to remember the long lost days of summer... you need to make S'more Cookie Bars, put the kids to bed, and enjoy a piece of chocolaty summer goodness.  But be warned-- you may not be able to stop after one piece-- you may be saying... Give me S'more of that!!

It doesn't get much better than this...

It's the weekend.

And I have a plate full of Salted Caramel Chocolate Shortbread Bars in my fridge. 

Yup.  It's going to be a great weekend.

I would highly recommend making them.

Another Dairy Free Experiment

The days are feeling fall-ish.  Yesterday I decided to make soup-- it just felt like the right thing to do.  I haven't cooked in a long long time-- cooking and crutches just don't seem to go well together :)  But Doug was working late, the kids and I were hungry, and I had all the ingredients for corn chowder-- so I decided to go for it.

But... not only did I make my usual corn chowder-- I also decided to try my hand at a small batch of dairy free corn chowder for the little lady.  The picture says it all.  Major success.

My normal recipe usually includes farmer sausage not bacon-- it makes awesome corn chowder.  I get my farmer sausage from the Fine Foods in Waldheim Saskatchewan.  It's not exactly the store down the street-- but they sell the best!  I take the casings off while it's still partially frozen so that it kind of crumbles as you fry it.  Add some onions, potatoes (with some water), salt and pepper, corn (frozen, fresh, or canned) creamed corn, and an assortment of milk ingredients-- milk, cream (yes please!), maybe some cream of mushroom soup and lots of cheese!  Not exactly Emerson friendly.

But, I had some Daiya dairy free cheese in my fridge so I decided to give it a try.  The package says it's "Deliciously dairy free"-- I'm not convinced.  It smells a little funky to me-- tastes funky too-- but Emerson doesn't know the difference!  Once the potatoes were cooked, I added the corn, some almond milk (with a little flour to help thicken it up), a little extra dairy free butter for a bit more flavor, and the cheese-- or should I say "cheese".  

It melted pretty well and actually tasted pretty creamy.  The dairy free version wasn't as tasty as my normal corn chowder but Emerson ate it up!  It actually wasn't too bad.  Eme loved it.  And she loved it again today at lunch.

So did Caleb (he ate the dairy friendly version)-- he had TWO bowls full last night and even drank the last bit of soup right from the bowl.  While I tend to discourage this kind of messy eating behavior-- I was happy to see that he enjoyed it :)  So, I'm thinking that this meal will be a staple in our house over the winter months!  And even though the Daiya dairy free cheese was a little bit nasty to me-- I will likely be purchasing it again :)

PSL-- yes please

Pumpkin Spice Latte Cupcakes-- I'm pretty sure it doesn't get much better than this.  I pinned this recipe on Pinterest last night and it was repinned over 30 times in a few short hours.  I'm thinking it's probably a winner.  Can someone please make them and let me know if they are indeed as good as they look?  If they are, I may just be willing to attempt a little baking with my crutches over the weekend.  Or you could just bring me a PSL... just saying.

Update-- I have great friends.  Friends who stop by my house with pumpkin spice lattes.  And who would have thought-- a grande fits into my exercise bike's cup holder perfectly.  Now that's what I like to see!!

They live up to their name

One day I had a craving for blueberry muffins... really GREAT blueberry muffins.  So I did a bit of poking around online and found this recipe.  They live up to their name-- they truly are the best. ever.  I've been making them over, and over, and over again.  My poor waistline.  Here's the recipe... so that you can give them a try if you dare.

Blueberry Muffins—best ever

Ingredients

         1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

         3/4 cup white sugar

         1/2 teaspoon salt

         2 teaspoons baking powder

         1/3 cup vegetable oil

         1 egg

         1/3 cup milk (I used Almond milk)

         1 cup fresh blueberries (I used frozen, but I'm pretty    sure fresh would be incredible-- maybe when I don't have to pay $5 for a teeny tiny basket)

         1/2 cup white sugar

         1/3 cup all-purpose flour

         1/4 cup butter, cubed (used vegan becel instead)

         1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease muffin cups or line with muffin liners.

Combine 1 1/2 cups flour, 3/4 cup sugar, salt and baking powder. Place vegetable oil into a 1 cup measuring cup; add the egg and enough milk to fill the cup. Mix this with flour mixture. Fold in blueberries. Fill muffin cups right to the top, and sprinkle with crumb topping mixture.

To Make Crumb Topping: Mix together 1/2 cup sugar, 1/3 cup flour, 1/4 cup butter, and 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon. Mix with fork, and sprinkle over muffins before baking.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until done.

Sidenote-- this makes a small batch of muffins... at least for me.  I like muffin top (preferably on muffins only-- although a few more batches of these babies and I might start to look like my baking) so use jumbo muffin liners and fill em up right to the top.  Delish.

Mommy Jam

Last weekend I made jam.  Homemade strawberry rhubarb jam.  Just call me Martha... or Jan.  Because Jan is pretty much a Martha.  It all started when I saw this recipe for Strawberry Rhubarb Jam on Mennonite Girls Can Cook.  Rhubarb grows in my yard like a weed.  Some may even argue (my father in law for example) that rhubarb is in fact a weed.  But Caleb likes to chew on it as he's playing in the backyard and he also likes jam... so I figured that making jam out of rhubarb sounded like a interesting experiment to try out at our house.  One afternoon I sent the boys out to the backyard with both Doug-sized and Caleb-sized scissors.  They came back with this.

Once I had the rhubarb sitting on my kitchen counter I decided that the I couldn't use the MGCC recipe... because it didn't actually include any strawberries.  For some reason the thought of consuming jam that was made with only rhubarb was not too appealing... it just looked too "weed-like" sitting there in my kitchen.  So I used the recipe from the certa package.  This was my first jam-making experience-- for some reason I've always thought it was above my level of expertise.  But apparently it wasn't... because it was easy.  And it's delicious... rhubarb and all :)

Caleb agrees.

Jam may not be the healthiest option for my child to consume-- it's pretty much a bit of fruit and a whole lot of sugar.   But I figured my homemade jam is probably better than this:

One night in Superstore (I was alone) I made a big mistake.  I saw this squeeze-able strawberry jam and started to laugh.  Full on laughter there in the aisle of Superstore... all by myself.  Why?  Because I knew how much the boys in my house would love it.  LOVE it.  And love it they did.  Now I can't go to Superstore without Caleb yelling "don't forget the squeezy jam!!!!" over and over again. 

Really, I can't blame Caleb.  Squeezing jam onto your toast is remarkably satisfying and fun.  And the combo of almond butter and "squeezy" jam is quite amazing.

But hopefully the strawberry rhubarb jam, or "mommy jam" as Caleb now calls it... will satisfy for now... Cause we've got a whole lot if it :)

Going all Granola...

So I was shopping for groceries yesterday (bet you can't guess where) and found myself in the cereal aisle.  I've never been a big cereal eater... but lately I've found that it's the easiest way for me to enjoy my  new substitute for milk-- almond milk.  So I'm looking for a yummy cereal option and reading the list of ingredients of every box (a new habit for me) and am starting to feel concerned at first of all... how many ingredients there are in a box of cereal and secondly... that I don't have a clue what half the ingredients are!  I left the aisle empty handed and resolved to make my own granola.  I grabbed a few bags of nuts (not peanuts) and other items that I thought might work in homemade granola and headed home.  I really don't know why I don't make homemade granola more often... it's so good!  This morning I whipped up a batch while the kids were running around the house, toys flying everywhere. I used this recipe.  It's easy.  It's delicious... especially with almond milk.  And... now that I have homemade granola, I think I'm going to have to try making homemade granola bars too :)

Review Time

This week I took a bit of a break from blogging... for no reason in particular.  It just happened.  So, Here's a recap of the week.

I made these delicious sugar cookies.  I'm not really much of a baker.  The cookies I make are usually average.  But these were exceptional-- I made this recipe.  If you want soft, delicious sugar cookies-- make these ones.  You won't regret it.

I also made these delightful ginger snaps.  Again, delicious... I surprised myself.  To be completely honest, I ate these cookies for breakfast several days in row.  Ginger snaps and coffee-- breakfast of champions.  I wasn't too sure if Caleb would like them, but he was definitely a fan.  The recipe was from here (it's a great blog, you should read it).  I highly recommend that you bake these cookies and eat them for breakfast-- while reading her blog, of course.

I made up a few more blankets.  This time around they were boy blankets.  Caleb saw some motorcycle flannel the last time we were at Fabricland and decided that he needed a blanket too.  I decided to let him help me sew it up.  About 10 seconds into him "helping" I regretted the decision.  So I pulled out his scissors, gave him some scraps, and let him cut till' his heart was content.  He then got to sit on my lap and watch the machine sew.  Only once did he attempt to stick his finger under the moving needle.

The chair is still in progress.  Doug spent some time working on it for me this weekend.  The legs needed refinishing, so Doug moved it into the garage, stripped off the old lacquer, did some sanding, and is now re-staining them.  Happy Valentines Day to me!

Emerson got her first taste of real food rice cereal.  She hated it.  Her face broke out into hives.  A couple of days later I tried oat cereal... more hives.  So I decided to give it some time and try again next week (she'll officially be six months then).   Any one have any suggestions?



I also decided to makes some baby food in preparation for the next weeks and months!  At approximately 9 pm on Saturday night I pulled everything out and started chopping, steaming, pureeing, and straining.  I then realized that I didn't have any ice cube trays to freeze the baby food-- so Doug went on a late night ice cube tray scavenger hunt all over town.  By 11 pm we had apple, pear, yam, and carrot baby food ready for the freezer!

And that was the week!