Jenny's Cookbook

Pear Pie

2013-05-19T13:06:00.001-04:00

I always find that the hardest part about making pies, is making the crust. If you want to save yourself some time, use a ready made pie crust! The rest is easy. Here we go.

Pear Pie
Adapted from allrecipes.
8 Servings

Ingredients
1 ready made pie crust, 9" unbaked
6 pears, peeled, cored and sliced
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 eggs, beaten

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350F.

In a bowl, beat the butter and sugar together until smooth, then beat in the eggs one at a time on medium speed until light and fluffy. Stir in the flour, cinnamon and vanilla, followed by the pears. Place the pear mixture into the pie crust.

Bake for 1 hour, or until the pears are soft and the centre of the pie is set. Cool completely before serving.

I tasted it warm (a la mode of course) and at room temperature. It's best when it's cool.

Our Favourite Carrot Cake

2013-05-19T12:50:00.003-04:00

My husband is a huge fan of carrot cake. Sometimes when you buy it from the store or a restaurant, the flavour isn't as good as when you make your own. So, why not just make your own then? This is the best carrot cake recipe I've tried, and it's not difficult. Sometimes I make only half the recipe and still get a good size cake out of it. You can easily serve 8 people with half the recipe. I think the crushed pineapple helps keep the cake moist too! It called for vegetable oil, but I always use canola. Come to think of it, I don't remember ever purchasing vegetable oil.

Our Favourite Carrot Cake
Adapted from allrecipes.
16 Servings

Ingredients
6 cups grated carrots
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup raisins
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 cup canola oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup crushed pineapple, drained
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 cup chopped walnuts

Directions
In a medium bowl, combine grated carrots and brown sugar. Set aside for 60 minutes, then stir in raisins.

Preheat the oven to 350F. Spray and flour two 10" round cake pans and set aside. Sometimes I also cut a round of parchment for the bottom.

In a large bowl, beat the eggs for a minute on medium speed, until they get a little fluffy. Beat in the white sugar, oil and vanilla, then, switch to a spoon and stir in the pineapple.

Sift together the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon and stir into the wet mixture just until everything's combined.

Now stir in the carrots and nuts and divide the batter between the two pans.

Bake for 45 to 50 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean. I allow mine to cool in the pan for about 1/2 hour. If you try to remove the cakes while they're hot, they may just fall apart.

Serve the cake as is, or top with your favourite cream cheese frosting.

Here are some recipes you could try for the frosting.

Philadelphia Cream Cheese Frosting
easy cake ideas Cream Cheese Frosting
Pryia Rao's Recipes Cream Cheese Frosting (this one has white chocolate in it)

Homemade Butter - Secret Recipe Club

2013-05-13T00:00:00.000-04:00

This challenge I was given yet another fabulous blog to choose a recipe from. Sid's Sea Palm Cooking is the blog and if you're looking for Tapas ideas, you'll definitely want to go have a look!

While Sid has an amazing selection of delicious recipes, I chose to make butter. I'm thinking now that I may have chosen something a little too simple, but before I saw it on Sid's blog, I never thought about trying to make my own. If I didn't try it now I may never have tried it at all! It's so easy you won't believe it. After I made it, I used it to fry some veggies. It works just like real butter. Oh wait, it IS real butter!

I agree with Sid, making your own butter is expensive. You can get butter on sale for less than it would cost you to buy the cream to make it, but it's still fun and your friends will be impressed when you tell them you made it.

After the whipping cream stage, a little more beating will turn it into this.

Keep whipping and the liquid will start to come out.

Now it's drained. I should have whipped a bit longer but it still worked!

Butter!

Ingredients

Heavy Cream (35%)

Salt (optional)

Directions

Place the cream in a large bowl and whip it on medium speed until it turns into whipped cream. Looks pretty right?

You're not done yet. Keep whipping. Oops, now it looks curdled! Your whipped cream is ruined! BUT don't throw it away. Keep whipping! The solids will separate from the liquid and you will have butter!

Drain off as much liquid as you can, then whip a bit more. There may still be some liquid left to whip out. I think I could have whipped it slightly longer because I noticed some liquid coming out when I put a blob in the hot pan to melt. You can also add some salt if you like. Store the butter in the fridge. I'm not sure how long it lasts but Sid suggests freezing it if you're not going to use it within a few days.

You can use the buttermilk in your baking. You could also add some cinnamon or herbs and spices to the butter. Wouldn't that be fun?!

Cardamom Tea Cakes - Secret Recipe Club

2013-04-15T00:00:00.000-04:00

Who likes cardamom? We do! We use it in Yazdi Cupcakes and it’s also in our tea. If you can’t find tea already flavoured with cardamom, just drop a few pods in to brew with your loose tea. Crack the pods or poke them with a knife to get some of the flavour out.

When I saw this recipe for Cardamom Tea Cakes on Melissa’s blog, Smells Like Brownies, I knew this was the recipe I was going to choose for the April Secret Recipe Club Challenge. Melissa is mom to a cute baby boy and a fruit hater, but I won’t hold the fruit thing against her, because she obviously likes chocolate and I’m okay with that!

I cut the recipe in half because the more sweets I make, the more sweets I eat. I’m still on Weight Watchers, so that’s not a good thing. I also added rosewater because I really like the flavour of the Yazdi Cupcakes and thought it might be nice in these tea cakes. Mine didn't look like Melissa's, but they were delicious. My husband asked me why I didn't make more.

This is my 3rd month participating in the challenge and it’s a lot of fun. I only wish I had time to visit everyone else who plays. Last month I made Spaghetti Squash with Sauce, and the month before I made Peanut Butter Cups. This time I was almost tempted to make Camp Hanover Fudgies, but it’s got chocolate and peanut butter, so I didn't want to make the same type of food twice for the challenge. It doesn’t mean I won’t make them for no reason though!

My first batch was a bit crumbly. I chilled the dough first.

I also forgot to dip them in sugar.

Cardamom pods.

Cardamom tea.

Here's my second batch. I used the whole egg the second time.

The texture was less crumbly and more cakey.

I didn't chill the dough this time, and I remember to dip them in sugar.

Cardamom Tea Cakes

Adapted from Smells Like Brownies

Makes 20 Tea Cakes | Points Plus per Tea Cake:

Ingredients

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

1/3 cup sugar

1 egg yolk, room temperature (1 whole egg works too)

1/2 teaspoon rosewater

1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

pinch of salt

1 cup all purpose flour

Extra sugar for dipping

Directions

In a large bowl, cream the butter and 1/3 cup of sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy (about 3-5 minutes). Scrape the bowl now and then during mixing.

Beat in the egg yolk, rosewater, cardamom, and baking soda and continue to mix until combined. Now stir in the flour. I switched to a wooden spoon here because I like to make things harder than they need to be. Actually, I just don’t like adding flour using an electric mixer, because it ends up all over my kitchen and then I have to clean it up.

Cover and chill dough for 1 hour, or until firm.Or don't chill it. It works either way.

Preheat oven to 350F. I like to use a silicone liner or some parchment on my cookie sheets, but Melissa recommends using an ungreased cookie sheet. I’ll leave that up to you.

Shape the dough into 1 inch balls and place them on the cookie sheet. I was able to scoop the un-chilled dough with my small cookie scoop, the chilled dough was too firm.

Bake for 8-10 minutes or until the edges and bottom start to turn golden.

Cool the tea cakes on the cookie sheet for 1 minute before transferring to wire racks to cool completely. Once cool, dip the tops into the extra sugar. You could also dust them with powdered sugar, but your kids will make a mess on your rug and furniture. I prefer to find money between the cushions.

I bet these would be nice with some raisins. Maybe next time!

Bacon and Roasted Pepper Quesadillas

2013-03-14T00:41:00.004-04:00

I made this before I started Weight Watchers so I used the full fat cheddar, but you could use light cheese if you want, in order to save a point. Or maybe use turkey bacon?

I like to roast peppers all the time, so one day I was looking in the fridge and noticed that I had some roasted peppers and also some leftover bacon. What? Leftover bacon?! I wanted to eat it at breakfast, but I didn't want my family to think I was a pig for eating so much bacon by myself, so I did the right thing and saved it.

Taking a picture was a last minute idea. You can see I used yellow and orange peppers in here. Yes, that's a Bob the Builder plate. They're always on top of the real plates, so I use them all the time because they're easier to grab.

Bacon and Roasted Pepper Quesadillas
1 Serving | PointsPlus per Serving: 9
(or 7 PointsPlus using 1oz light cheddar and 2 slices cooked turkey bacon)

Ingredients
1 small flour tortilla
1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 1/2 slices cooked crispy bacon (that's what I had left over)
1/2 a roasted pepper

Directions
Place the cheese, bacon and roasted pepper on one side of the tortilla and fold it over.

Heat a small pan over medium heat and cook your quesadilla on one side until the cheese starts to melt and the tortilla starts to turn golden. Carefully flip it over and continue to cook until the other side is golden.

Carrot and Mango Salad

2013-03-14T00:20:00.001-04:00

Of all the places in the world, I found this carrot and mango salad at a Chinese buffet. I came home and I tried to make it myself. This is what I came up with. It's another easy salad, and it's SO delicious! And best of all, it's 0 PointsPlus!

I think the buffet used the most common green/red mangoes, but I much prefer the yellow ones. We call them Ataulfo here, but I think they have other names for these too. Sometimes mangoes can be sour so try to make this salad when they're in season. Check out this site to see how many varieties there are in Hawaii. Amazing!

Normally I take a regular carrot and use a vegetable peeler to create ribbons, but I only had baby carrots this time, so I just sliced them thinly.

If you like this salad, you'll probably also like my Carrot and Zucchini Ribbon Salad.

Carrot and Mango Salad

1 serving | PointsPlus per Serving: 0

Ingredients

1 large carrot, thinly sliced into ribbons

1 ripe (but not mushy) mango, cut into matchsticks

juice of 1/2 a lemon

salt

pepper

Directions

Mix everything in a bowl and store in the fridge until ready to serve. Easy right?

Kadhai Chole (chickpea curry)

2013-03-13T23:57:00.000-04:00

This chole is really delicious, but it was nothing like the saucy one we get in the restaurants. I realized later that the reason for that is because Chole (Chana) Masala is the saucy one that I was originally looking for. Kadhai Chole is the dryer version.

I had a really hard time finding any kind of nutritional information for mango powder, so I just didn't count it in the recipe. I doubt a teaspoon of this stuff will make that much difference to the points value per serving anyway.

I also cooked my own chickpeas, but you could easily use canned ones if you rinse them first. To make your own, simply soak the dried chickpeas in water for several hours (I left them all night), then drain, rinse and boil for at least an hour, or until they're tender. Drain them and put them in the fridge until you're ready to use them.

There are many different masalas out there and I wasn't sure which one to choose. In the end I just picked one and hoped for the best. Clubhouse also had an Indian masala blend. I love the Tandoori Masala for chicken but I have a feeling it would also be good in this recipe. The mango powder is easy to find here in Toronto. We have so many different ethnic food stores here, and our regular grocery stores also have ethnic food sections in them. I also found a ready made spice mix for Chole, but I will try it out next time.

Kadhai Chole (chickpea curry)
Adapted from tarladalal.com
4 Servings | PointsPlus per Serving: 6

Ingredients
1 teaspoon canola oil
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 small onion, diced
1 teaspoon fresh ginger, grated
2 cloves garlic, grated
1 medium tomato, diced
2 teaspoons masala
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon mango powder (amchur)
1 teaspoon ground coriander
3 cup cooked chickpeas

Directions
In a pan, heat the oil over medium high heat and cook the cumin seeds for a minute until they start to smell.

Add the onions, ginger and garlic and cook for about 3 minutes or until the onions are translucent.

Stir in the tomato and cook for 5 minutes more stirring occasionally.

Stir in all the spices and cook for another minute.

Stir in the chickpeas and water and simmer for about 10 minutes or until the sauce thickens.

I served this with plain yogurt, but you can also serve it with some naan.

Here are some other Chole recipes that are a bit more saucy.
Spice up the Curry - Chole (Chana) Masala
Red Chillies - Chana Masala
Google - I ran a search - check out the images and click for recipes.

Easy Cucumber Salad

2013-03-13T23:06:00.000-04:00

I needed some kind of salad to go with my lunch tomorrow but I was feeling really lazy. This 0 PointsPlus salad took only minutes to prepare. You can use a mandolin to get the cucumbers really thin, and use fresh dill if you have it. I only had dried today so that's what I used.

Easy Cucumber Salad
1 Serving | PointsPlus per Serving: 0

Ingredients
1/2 to 1 cup thinly sliced cucumber (I peeled it)
2 tablespoons vinegar (I used apple cider)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon dried dill (or use 1 tablespoon fresh)

Directions
Mix everything up in a bowl and chill until ready to serve.

Healthier Orange Chicken

2013-03-12T22:54:00.001-04:00

The first time I made this recipe, I didn't have orange marmalade, so I used Apricot jam instead. I figured it would give me a kind of sweet and sour flavour. It was really yummy! And it doesn't really get any easier either! The second time I used orange marmalade and of course it tasted more like orange. Love it! I also cut open a blood orange by accident, but it worked just as well.

The only real issue I had with this recipe is that it tells you to deglaze the pan with vinegar. BIG mistake. My entire place smelled like fried vinegar for hours and it was not pleasant. Also, it splattered all over my stove and floor. I had to mop up after. The second time I got smart. I would recommend deglazing the pan with orange juice or a bit of water instead. I also took the pan off the heat for a minute to let it cool slightly, as I wanted to try and avoid a second round of splattering and mopping.

And here it is with the marmalade Had I let it cook a minute longer the sauce would have been slightly stickier. This portion may look small to you, and it is, but when you're watching your portion size, this is very comparable to any of those frozen meals you'll find in the store.

Here it is with the apricot jam.

Healthier Orange Chicken

Adapted from Balancing Beauty & Bedlam

4 Servings | PointsPlus per Serving: 7

Ingredients

16oz boneless skinless chicken breast, cubed

¼ cup all purpose flour

5 sprays of Pam (using oil will cost you more points, but if you’re not counting, go for it)

4 tablespoons orange marmalade (or apricot jam)

2 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce

Sriracha or other hot sauce (or chili flakes) to taste

Juice of 1 orange (about 1/3 cup), or 1/3 cup water/broth

2 tablespoons rice vinegar (not seasoned, check the label)

2 cloves garlic, minced

½ teaspoon fresh grated ginger

Directions

Coat the chicken pieces in flour and tap off any excess. Heat a non-stick pan over medium high heat and spray it (or add oil).

Place the chicken pieces into the pan and fry on all sides until golden, then transfer them to a plate. The pan may seem like it's getting dry if you used the spray, but don't worry, nothing bad will happen. The chicken doesn't necessarily have to be cooked through at this point.

You can mix the sauce ingredients while the chicken is cooking. Mix the marmalade, soy sauce, chili sauce, orange juice and vinegar together and set aside.

Once the chicken is removed from the pan, add the garlic and ginger and cook for a few seconds.

Remove the pan from the heat for just a minute (I already told you I learned my lesson the first time), then add a bit of orange juice or water to the pan. Just a tablespoon or two should do. Return the pan to the heat and scrape all the bits off the bottom of the pan with a wooden spatula.

Add the sauce mixture to the pan and let it simmer for a minute or two, then add the chicken back to the pan. Don’t worry, another few minutes and the sauce will thicken nicely. The chicken will finish cooking if it’s still a bit pink inside.

Serve with steamed rice. Add points for rice. 1 cup white or brown rice = 5 PointsPlus – ½ cup rice = 3 PointsPlus.

Banana Juice With Pistachios and Honey

2013-03-12T22:36:00.000-04:00

This recipe has been published on Allrecipes.com!

My husband served this to me the first time I ever visited his house when we started dating. He doesn't really know how to cook, but this recipe is one thing he makes well. Of course, it only has 4 ingredients so it's a little hard to mess up. You can serve it with or without ice cream, or cut the recipe in half and make one serving in your magic bullet. I find it easier to clean than the blender. If you're adding ice cream and you're on Weight Watchers, remember to add the points. I'm only including the value for the juice.

You can also put your bananas in the fridge ahead of time if you want your drink super cold, but we usually just use them at room temperature.

Now, when I enter the info in the recipe builder, it comes to 8 PointsPlus per serving. That's a bit much don't you think? If you remove the bananas from the calculation (because bananas are supposed to be free), it works out to 5 per serving. I'll leave it up to you to track however you want.

I posted another version of this recipe last year and called it a smoothie. It's really the same recipe but it uses 2 bananas for one serving, which makes it nice and thick.

Banana Juice with Pistachios and Honey

2 servings | PointsPlus per Serving: 8

Ingredients

2 ripe bananas

2 cups 2% milk

2 tablespoons pistachios

1 tablespoon honey

Directions

Place all the ingredients in a blender and let it go until smooth. Divide into 2 glasses. That is all.

Irish Soda Bread

2013-03-11T23:07:00.000-04:00

With St. Patrick's Day coming up in a few days, I thought it would be nice to finally try making Irish Soda Bread. I wasn't sure what to expect at first, but when I took it out of the oven it looked like a giant biscuit! How exciting is that?! Who doesn't love biscuits? It was really good, a little sweet from the sugar so we put butter and jam on it. It would also be nice with raisins as I see a lot of recipes for Irish soda bread have raisins in them. I think it would also be nice with cheddar in it, but then I don't know how Irish it would be.

Whatever you decide to do with it, you should definitely give this recipe a try. It comes together in minutes, but takes quite a while to bake up, and you need to let it cool before you cut into it or bad things will happen.

I'm going to make this for my daughter's St. Patrick's Day bake sale They do it as a fundraiser every year at daycare. I'm sure it'll be a nice change from all the cupcakes that other mom's will bring. Last year I made several sweet items and they were all a hit. You can check out that post here.

Irish Soda Bread
Adapted from Allrecipes.com
12 servings (1 loaf) | PointsPlus per Serving: 5

Ingredients

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/3 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 cups buttermilk
1/4 cup butter, melted

Directions
Preheat the oven to 325F and lightly grease a loaf pan (I also used a piece of parchment just in case).

Combine flour, baking powder, sugar, salt and baking soda in a large bowl.

Beat together the egg and buttermilk, then add all at once to the flour. Stir just until combined. Finally, stir in the butter.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan. It looks full doesn't it? I thought it would overflow so I put a piece of foil under the pan. It did rise, but it didn't go over the edges.

Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until a tester comes out clean. I checked it after 1 hour and it was still wet inside so I let it go for another 15 and it was perfect.

Let your bread cool for 15 minutes in he pan and then tip it out onto a wire rack and allow to cool completely. Apparently it tastes better if you let it rest for several hours or overnight, but I don't have that kind of patience, do you?

Serve it with butter and jam, or add raisins to the batter before baking.

Spaghetti Squash with Sauce - Secret Recipe Club

2013-03-11T12:00:00.000-04:00

This month I was given another wonderful blog to choose a recipe from for the challenge. Robin Restored is the blog and Robin has so many wonderful recipes to share. You'll also find some good recipes that won't cost you a lot to make, which is a bonus! Normally I would go with one of the cheesy ones, but I'm on Weight Watchers (again) so I had to choose something a little healthier. I also had a party to go to on Saturday so I couldn't even splurge. It was hard to choose but I decided to go with the Spaghetti Squash with Sauce.

I've been meaning to try spaghetti squash for awhile now. I also wanted to see if my kids would like it. One of them ate a bit but she didn't seem very impressed. The other one wouldn't even look at it, and my kids are pretty adventurous when it comes to food, so I was surprised. They knew by the appearance that it wasn't spaghetti. I thought it was pretty good, I guess I'm still a little more adventurous than they are. I was making steak that night so I decided to leave out the ground meat, and I forgot to put in some tomato paste. Oops! The sauce I used was a canned pasta sauce. I made a cheater version of Robin's recipe by using garlic and onion powder instead of the fresh stuff, and I followed the recipe on the sticker of the squash for cooking it in the microwave. I brought the squash home and was hungry, so I didn't want to wait for it to bake.

When I enter this recipe in the WW recipe builder it tells me it's 6 PointsPlus per serving because it's marking down 9 points for the squash!! If you just record squash in your tracker it's worth 0. Yeah, I'll go with that. I'm only charging myself for the sauce and cheese.

Spaghetti Squash with Sauce
2 servings | PointsPlus per Serving: 3 (sauce and cheese)

Ingredients
1 spaghetti squash (mine was about 2lbs)
1 cup tomato sauce (I used Primo tomato & basil)
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried parsley
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

Directions
Heat the squash in the microwave for 1 minute. I'm not sure why, but that's what the sticker said to do, so I did it. Now, cut the squash in half lenght-wise and scoop out the guts. It looks and smells like a pumpkin.

Place the squash in a microwave safe dish with about 1/2 cup of water, and cover it. Microwave on high for about 12 minutes or until you can pull strings of squash away from the sides. Once cooked, scrape the squash completely into strings and place it in a bowl.

While the squash is cooking, heat the tomato sauce with all the spices until it starts to bubble. When the squash is done, mix it with the sauce and top with a bit of Parmesan cheese.

When the squash is cooked, you'll find that it really doesn't make a lot. I could probably have eaten the whole thing myself. Next time, maybe I will!

Mango Pound Cake

2013-02-23T23:10:00.000-05:00

Danielle is my coffee and food loving best friend, who I've known since grade 2 (which was a very VERY long time ago). She has a cute little boy who requested a mango cake. How could I say no? I had to make something that would hold up in a suitcase, because they live in Winnipeg and I live in Toronto. I came across this recipe for Mango Pound Cake was was originally a recipe for Sour Cream Pound Cake by Paula Deen. I love her! After reading both recipes, it seems that the only change that was made from the original recipe was swapping the sour cream for mango puree. I added a pinch of salt too.

I made a pound cake yesterday (and a few small sample cupcakes) to send back to Winnipeg with Danielle. They were a little sweet and there wasn't a lot of mango flavour, but they were delicious! I tried again today with less sugar, and I made cupcakes instead, because they bake a lot faster. I'm writing the recipe with the changes I've made, but if you decide to go with the original and use sour cream, you could probably add the extra 1/2 cup of sugar. Obviously the mango is sweeter than sour cream, therefore, not as much sugar is needed.

One other thing I did was use canned mangoes and pureed them. You can also buy canned mango puree, or use fresh mangoes. I had to make this cake yesterday because Danielle was leaving today, and the mangoes at the store were just too hard. That's why I had to go with the can. If you're using fresh mango, make sure it's sweet and ripe.

Yesterday, I alternated the eggs with the dry ingredients and used an electric mixer. Today I tried mixing the eggs with the sugar mixture and then mixing in the dry ingredients just until combined. Both of these methods produced the same texture.

Mango Pound Cake
Makes 1 loaf or 12 cupcakes

Ingredients
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup mango puree
3 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350F and grease a loaf pan or line 12 muffin cups with paper liners.

Beat butter and sugar together on low speed for about 2 minutes. Mine didn't get fluffy, it just looked like wet sugar. Beat in the mango puree. Now it will start coming together.

In a bowl, lightly beat the eggs with vanilla.

In another bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda and salt.

Add the flour mixture and the egg mixture to the sugar mixture on low speed (so you don't make a big mess). Alternate, beginning and ending with flour.

Pour the batter into the loaf pan or divide among the muffin cups. Bake the loaf for about 50 minutes or until a tester comes out clean. Cupcakes will take somewhere between 15 and 20 minutes. Cool before serving.

Apparently these taste better the next day, but who can wait that long? I'm definitely trying this with sour cream next time, and putting glaze on them. I'm hoping they taste like sour cream glazed doughnuts!

Chicken Kabobs

2013-02-15T12:51:00.000-05:00

Chicken Kabobs are one of my favourite things to make. They're so easy and healthy. Something really great happens to food when you grill it so I usually put these on the barbecue, but you could probably bake them too. Check out my post on U.S. Kids Parents & Teachers to find out how to make these yummy Kabobs.

Peanut Butter Cups (Secret Recipe Club)

2013-02-11T12:00:00.000-05:00

I was so excited when I got the email from April asking if I wanted to join the Secret Recipe Club! And then when I got my first assignment, I immediately went over to browse the blog that was assigned to me. Betcha Can’t Eat Just One is a fabulous blog loaded with sugar, sugar and more sugar! I was dying to pin recipes, but then I didn’t want to give anything away until reveal day.

I’m supposed to be trying to lose weight, but there was no way I was about to mess with these recipes by trying to make them low fat. I made cupcakes the night before, so what was one more night of being bad? I chose to make peanut butter cups. I shared one with my kids and brought the rest to work the next day so I wouldn’t be tempted to eat them all myself. No, I’m not the kind of person that can eat just one! The only thing that saves me is getting the goodies out of the house fast. My daughter was disappointed when I told her she couldn’t take one to school for snack. The schools and daycares here are all nut free facilities, but my office isn’t! I cut them in 4 pieces each and everyone enjoyed having a little treat. Hmm, now I’m wondering if these can be made with one of those no nut butters.

Peanut butter cups are one of my favourites, so when I came across this recipe on Katie’s blog, I knew it was the one I was going to make. Katie’s a Canadian mom who obviously loves sweets, just like me! She learns through the internet, cookbooks (and she doesn’t say so, but I bet she probably watches the Food Network), just like me. See, we just met and already have so much in common.

I didn’t have parchment muffin liners, so instead I used a silicone muffin pan. It’s a jumbo size pan, so I made 6 instead of 12 peanut butter cups. I found that there was too much filling though, so next time I would cut the filling part of the recipe in half. I’ve also written the recipe up with the reduced measurements for the filling. If you are looking for some fabulous sweet recipes, feel free to visit Katie and browse her blog.

Spread the chocolate on the bottom of the muffin pan, and up the sides a little.

Does yours look like this? Don't give up! Use your hands instead, it WILL come together!

See, it came together. I told you it would.

They popped right out of that silicone pan.

Here you see the filling placed on top of the first layer of chocolate.

Peanut Butter Cups

Makes 6 jumbo PB cups

Ingredients

1 ½ cups chopped chocolate (I used milk chocolate chips)

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

½ cup powdered sugar

1 tablespoon graham cracker crumbs

pinch of salt

Directions

In a microwave safe bowl, heat the chocolate chips with 2 tablespoons of the peanut butter for about 1 minute. Stir until smooth.

Place about 2 tablespoons of melted chocolate mixture into each of the silicone muffin cups and spread it around the bottom and up the sides a bit. Place this into the freezer while you prepare the filling.

Mix the rest of the peanut butter, sugar, graham crackers crumbs and salt in a bowl. I had to get in there with my hands after awhile and it came together much easier.

Remove the muffin cups from the freezer and divide the filling among them. Press it down to even it out but leave a little space around the edges. Now pour more chocolate over the tops and spread it until it reaches the edges. Place this back in the freezer for just a few minutes until the chocolate hardens. They should pop right out of the pan. That’s it, now you can eat it! Easy right?!

Apple Cinnamon Cake

2013-02-08T22:37:00.002-05:00

I adapted this from an apple brownie recipe on Allrecipes. I decided to call it a cake because I wouldn't really describe the texture as brownie-like. I cut back the apples by 1 and used brown sugar instead of white. It was delicious! It doesn't rise like a cake, and it looks like a brownie, but it's not a brownie in my opinion.

I read some of the reviews on Allrecipes and some people said it took longer than 35 minutes. I guess if you like them extra crispy and charred, go for it. Otherwise, 35 minutes it is.

Apple Cinnamon Cake
16 Servings

Ingredients
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 cup brown sugar
1 large egg
1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
2 medium apples, peeled, cored and diced
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350F and grease an 8x8 pan.

Whisk melted butter with brown sugar and the egg until fluffy. This won't even take a minute.

Sift in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Stir with a rubber spatula until well combined. It'll be a bit thick.

Stir in the apples and walnuts. It looks like a lot of apple right? Imagine adding 3 like the original recipe said? It might be a bit much. Spread the batter into the prepared pan.

Bake for 35 minutes or until a tester comes out clean. Let the cake cool before cutting into 16 squares.

Oatmeal Cranberry Date Muffins with Flax

2013-02-04T08:00:00.000-05:00

Try replacing some of the white flour with whole wheat in some of your recipes. The whole wheat flour and oats in this recipe will keep you feeling fuller a little longer.

Oatmeal Cranberry Date Muffins with FlaxMakes 12 muffins

Ingredients
Muffins
2/3 cup all purpose flour
2/3 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup rolled oats
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons flax seed
1 cup fresh cranberries
3/4 cup pitted and chopped dates
1 large egg
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup 2% milk
1/4 cup canola oil
Topping
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon unsalted butter

Directions
Preheat the oven to 400F and line 12 muffin cups with paper liners.

Mix together both flours, oats, sugar, baking powder, salt and flax seeds. Mix in the cranberries and dates.

In a separate bowl, beat together the egg, milk, oil and vanilla.

Pour the wet mixture into the dry and stir only until combined. It will be lumpy but don't worry about it.

In another bowl, mix the streusel ingredients with your fingers until it's crumbly.

Divide the batter among the muffin cups and top each one with some streusel topping.

Bake for about 18 minutes or until a tester comes out clean.

Banana Blueberry Muffins

2013-02-03T07:00:00.000-05:00

Sometimes a girl just needs a nice muffin for breakfast or with her evening coffee. Don't you agree? Well, I usually have some brown bananas hanging around so I'm always looking for something to do with them. You can't go wrong with banana muffins.

Banana Blueberry Muffins
Makes 12 muffins

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 bananas, mashed
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 cup fresh blueberries
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Directions
Preheat the oven to 375F and line 12 muffin cups with paper liners.

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. In another bowl, combine bananas, both sugars, egg, vanilla and butter. Stir the banana mixture into the flour mixture just until moistened.

Gently fold in the berries and nuts. Divide the batter among the prepared muffin cups.

Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean. Cool completely before storing in an airtight container.

Yazdi Cupcakes with Honey Rosewater Syrup

2013-02-02T14:00:00.000-05:00

I've made these yazdi cupcakes before, but this time I wanted to do something a little different with them, so I made a nice syrup which made them extra yummy! The flavours of cardamom and rosewater really make these cupcakes special.

Yazdi Cupcakes with Honey Rosewater Syrup
Adapted from the book New Food of Life by Najmieh Batmanglij.
Makes 9 cupcakes

Ingredients

Cupcakes
2 eggs, separated (room temperature)
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1/2 cup plain yogurt, room temperature
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
a few pinches of salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1-2 teaspoons rose water
1 1/8 cups all purpose flour, sifted
1 tablespoon finely chopped nuts

Syrup

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon rosewater

1 tablespoon liquid honey

1/2 cup water

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350F and line your muffin tin with paper liners.

Beat egg yolks and sugar for about 2 minutes until creamy. I did this by hand with a whisk. I suppose you could follow the recipe from the book and do it for 5 minutes, but after 2 my arm was about to fall off. Or you could get smart and use an electric mixer.

Add the butter, yogurt, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cardamom and rosewater. Whisk again until combined, then gradually whisk in the flour.

In a clean bowl, beat the egg whites (this time I used the electric mixer) for several minutes until they're fluffy and stiff. Use a rubber spatula to fold the whites into the batter.

Divide the batter among the muffin cups and sprinkle a few nuts on top. Bake for about 16 minutes or until a tester comes out clean. Let them cool for 10 minutes.

Start making the syrup while the cupcakes are baking. Heat the sugar, rosewater, honey and water in a small pot over medium high heat and let it bubble for several minutes until it thickens. It should coat the back of a spoon nicely without dripping off.

Let the syrup cool while your muffins are baking and cooling, then remove the paper liners from the cupcakes and place them in a dish with deep sides (put foil in the dish if you like). Pour the syrup over the cupcakes and let them soak it up before you eat them. Store in an airtight container.

One Bowl Maple Walnut Brownies

2013-02-01T08:17:00.000-05:00

I really don't like washing dishes. Do you? These brownies are easy and I since I'm on vacation from work this week, it was easy to eat too many of them. Usually I bring leftovers to work to get rid of them. My co-workers LOVE treats. Since Valentine's Day is coming up, you could probably use a cookie cutter to make heart brownies for your Valentine, or bake the mixture in a heart shaped muffin pan if you have one.

You could use different types of chocolate or nuts in these, or replace the maple extract with vanilla or other extracts.

Obviously my healthy lifestyle isn't going well so far this year.

One Bowl Maple Walnut Brownies

16 squares

Ingredients

1/3 cup milk chocolate chips

1/2 cup unsalted butter

3/4 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

1/2 teaspoon maple extract

2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

2/3 cup all purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup chopped walnuts

1/4 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

1/4 cup white chocolate chips

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350F and spray/flour an 8x8 inch pan.

In a microwave safe bowl, heat the butter and chocolate chips for about 45 seconds, or until you can stir them together and the chocolate is melted.

Stir the sugar into the chocolate mixture until well combined, followed by the eggs and maple extract. I used a rubber spatula to mix everything.

Now, add the cocoa and flour and stir just until combined. Gently stir in the nuts and chocolate chips.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and spread it out evenly.

Bake for about 15 minutes or until a tester comes out clean.

Cool completely before slicing into 16 squares. Store in an airtight container. If you leave them sitting out they will get dry around the edges.

Slow Cooker Tangy Pulled Pork

2013-01-31T17:54:00.002-05:00

I had some pork tenderloin in the freezer that I needed to use up. The first thing that came to mind was pulled pork of course! This is really easy, delicious and I know my family likes pulled pork, so it was pretty much guaranteed to please them. By the end of cooking, the sauce got nice and thick. I added some water in the middle of cooking because the sauce was getting a bit thick. 1/2 a cup was just enough for 4 hours of cooking. If you cook it any longer you may need to add a bit more liquid to keep it moist. But by 4 hours the meat was perfect.

Slow Cooker Tangy Pulled Pork
Adapted from tasteofhome
6-8 servings

Ingredients
2 pork tenderloins (about 1 lb each)
1 cup ketchup
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon grainy Dijon mustard
1/2 cup water
red chili flakes or hot sauce (optional)

Directions
Place the pork in the slow cooker.

Mix all the other ingredients together and pour it over the pork. Lift the pork up a bit so the sauce can get under it.

Cook on low for 4 hours. Once cooked, shred the meat with 2 forks and stir it around in the sauce. Serve it on toasted buns if you like.

Chocolate Caramel Sauce

2013-01-28T12:30:00.003-05:00

Finally, after trying 3 times I managed to make a caramel sauce that's thick like it should be!And it really doesn't take much effort, you just have to get the timing right on the sugar so it doesn't burn and become bitter.

Chocolate Caramel Sauce
Makes about 1/2 cup (I didn't measure)

Ingredients
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup 1/2 &1/2 cream, room temp
1 teaspoon cocoa

Directions
Place a large, heavy bottomed pot over medium low heat and add the sugar spreading it evenly over the bottom of the pot.

Once you see the sugar starting to melt along the edges, watch it carefully. You can start swirling it around every now and then. When the sugar melts completely and starts bubbling remove it from the heat. Don't let it get too dark because that means it's burnt and it will taste terrible. Really REALLY pay attention to the colour. A light golden colour is perfect.

Now, as soon as you remove the pot from the heat whisk in the butter. Once the butter is melted and stirred in, slowly add the cream whisking the entire time. Be careful here and don't put your face close to the pot, it will bubble up. That's why it's important to use a large pot. Finally whisk in the cocoa until well combined.

That's it. Now let it cool and it will become thick!

Breakfast

2013-01-28T12:28:00.000-05:00

I never skip breakfast. I never really skip any meal for that matter. I love food! During the week I pack breakfast for work. Here are some of the things I like to eat for breakfast. I eat a lot of boiled eggs because they're easy to prepare, but my favourite breakfast is feta cheese with bread. I buy it marinated or I marinate it myself. Sometimes I put olives or peppers in it.

I love this breakfast. This was my mom's idea and it's so simple.

A nice buttery croissant with Emental, sliced cucumbers, salt and pepper. That's it!

My kids love it too. My kids are crazy about croissants and cucumbers.

Sometimes a girl just needs a doughnut!

I roasted some red peppers and boiled some eggs then served it all up on a weight watchers bagel the next morning. Okay, it's a bit healthier than a doughnut!

For the low carbers, how about some stacks.

Cucumbers, turkey pepperoni, cheddar and boiled eggs.

Here's another way to bake eggs. Instead of using a muffin tin and having to remove the eggs from them, place the eggs in their own silicone liners and bake them at 350F until they're cooked the way you like them. They reheat nicely the next day and are easy to pack since they're already in their own cup.

How about peanut butter and bananas?

My favourite, marinated feta. Sometimes I eat it with croissants, or whatever other kind of bread I'm in the mood for.

And there's always cereal! Pack the milk separately of course, and it's easy enough to take to work. Just slice a banana over the top at the last minute.

Creamy Mushroom Sauce (from scratch)

2013-01-20T22:56:00.003-05:00

No canned soup here! I like making this sauce whenever I’m making breaded chicken or pork chops. I coat the meat with egg and then breadcrumbs, and fry it lightly in a bit of oil or butter. Okay, not really diet food, but my family likes it every now and then. So I make pasta and of course that means there has to be a sauce. We like cream sauces and this would be a nice alternative to your cheddar mac & cheese. I didn’t add salt because sometimes cheese is salty already. Taste your sauce at the end and decide if you need to salt it.

This made enough for 4 bowls of pasta. I didn’t measure the finished product though.

Creamy Mushroom Sauce

4 servings

Ingredients

1 tablespoon butter

1 small onion, thinly sliced or diced

4oz button mushrooms, sliced

1 heaping tablespoon flour

½ teaspoon black pepper

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

2 cups 2% milk (or more)

1/3 cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

If you’re frying up some chicken or pork chops then use the same pan. The crusty bits on the bottom from the meat will be tasty in your sauce. Don’t clean the pan! If you’re just making the sauce, your pan will start off clean (obviously). Either way, add the butter to the pan over medium high heat.

Fry the onions and mushrooms in the butter until they get soft and the onions start to brown slightly. If the pan seems a bit dry at this point, add a little butter.

Stir the flour, pepper and nutmeg into the mushroom mixture, then, pour the milk in. Scrape the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon. Once it starts bubbling, keep stirring until it thickens. You can add more milk if it’s too thick for your liking.

Once it’s thick, stir in the cheese. If you stir in the cheese before it thickens it looks almost curdled, so make sure the sauce has thickened first.

I buy the cheese in chunks and grate it myself, or our deli grates it and you can buy it in containers already grated. Of course there’s the canned stuff in the spaghetti sauce aisle, but the flavour is not the same. I’m not even sure it’ll melt into the sauce the same way?

If there are leftovers, store the pasta and the sauce separately Heat both and mix before serving. If you mix it and then refrigerate it won't be very creamy.

Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato Soup (2)

2013-01-20T22:48:00.000-05:00

This soup is slightly different from the recipe I posted in 2010, also titled Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato Soup. This version doesn't have cinnamon or chickpeas but I added paprika instead. I used Campbell ’s No Salt Added Chicken Broth, and it seemed a little bland. Normally I use the lower salt one, but then they came out with the no salt and I had to give it a try. I added my own salt, maybe it wasn't enough. You be the judge of your own soup, but either way, it was still yummy.

We also thought maybe the tomatoes weren't as flavourful at this time of year, and decided that we might use canned ones next time until tomato season rolls around. I love roasted peppers though. I put them on my bagel with cream cheese for breakfast and you can put them on sandwiches too. They add a really nice flavour. You can also used the ones in the jar for this soup.

Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato Soup (2)

6-8 servings

Ingredients

4 large red bell peppers

4 large ripe tomatoes

1 tablespoon butter or oil

1 medium onion, diced

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon black pepper

1 tablespoon paprika

1 box no salt chicken broth (about 4 cups)

1 cup half & half cream

Handful of fresh basil, chopped

Directions

Place the peppers and tomatoes on a hot grill, or in a preheated 425F oven (on foil). Grill or bake for as long as it takes the tomatoes and peppers to get charred and soft. The tomatoes will take much less time. Check on them after 10 minutes. You don’t want them to fall apart or lose all the juice.

Transfer the grilled veggies to a bowl and cover with plastic wrap to let them steam a bit. The skin should peel right off. Remove the core from the tomatoes and the stems/seeds from the peppers as well.

Roughly chop the tomatoes and 3 of the peppers. I did this in a large bowl so I didn't lose any of the juices. Set them aside. You don’t need to get fancy here as you’re going to puree the soup later.

Chop the other pepper into smaller pieces; we’ll add these to the soup after the rest has been pureed.

Heat a pot over medium high heat and cook the onions in butter until they start to turn golden. Stir them regularly.

Now stir in the salt, pepper and paprika and cook for a minute more. Stir in the tomatoes and roughly chopped peppers, followed by the broth. Simmer this for about 10 minutes. You can add some of the basil if you want, but save most of it for the end.

Using a hand blender, puree the soup until it’s smooth. You can also use a blender for this and then transfer it back to the pot.

Stir in the cream and the rest of the peppers and basil. Bring it back up to a simmer. Serve hot.