easiest peanut butter cookies...EVER

and boy are these bad boys EPIC!
Preheat oven 325F
1 cup Peanut Butter (i use kraft as i was brought up on the bears and its the ONLY kind i love more than life itself.)
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg.

that is all. mix the shit outta those 3 SIMPLE ingredients that i can guess most people have in their homes most of the time.
make 24 balls
place on cookie sheets, press with fork
bake for 15 mins or until golden brown

VOILA! the best PB cookies ever.

if you finish the jar, feel free to share it with your furry kids.

i feel like chicken tonight...

does anyone remember those ridiculous commercials from the 90ies? lord. Anywho i was racking my brain as to what to have for dinner tonight. I had pulled the crock pot out for last nights feast of slowcooker stewing beef in cream of celery soup (do NOT knock it till you try it, its one of my mom's BEST....mmmm) so i thought lets be lazy again tonight and figure something else, something NEW, something FANFUCKINGTASTIC out for the crockpot. So i threw a bunch of stuff together, and now...we wait.

What I Did:
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts (still frozen...like i said..being lazy)
aprox 1/2 C organic Italian Dressing poured over top
handful of baby/bite size potatoes from our garden harvest
oregano (dry)
basil (dry)
garlic powder
parmasean cheese
ADDITIONS
i also chopped some mushrooms on top
green onion
and added just a splash of balsamic vinegar.

placed it all in the crock pot on high...will check it in a few hours. Oh....i bought mushrooms a couple days ago...ok...throwing a handful of mushrooms on top.

We shall see if this becomes a new favourite or a "do NOT make this again" recipe.

Whats delicious and makes a fabulous lunch wrap?

Pitas of course!

I was racking my brain for a lunch idea today, i didn't want to bake an entire loaf of bread and i thought about making tortillas when i realized, "eh, i can make pitas!" So i went in search of a recipe and found one to my liking, it was SIMPLE and EASY to do!


Note: I replaced HALF of the white flour with organic whole wheat and left the other half white (used unbleached organic flour)

Ingredients

• 1 1/8 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 1/2 teaspoons white sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast

Now the instructions are for use with a bread machine, yes i have one, but i tend to use it less and less unless time is a problem or i'm making just plain white bread (which is not very often)

so i will do the first step the way *I* did it.

In my kitchen aid (or in a bowl) place the warm water , yeast and sugar. Let it proof for at least 10 minutes or until frothy. Then add the oil (i used olive) and then add the flour with the salt premixed in (i use 2 grinds from my seasalt grinder)

then complete as follows:

1. Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface. Gently roll and stretch dough into a 12 inch rope. With a sharp knife, divide dough into 8 pieces. Roll each into a smooth ball. With a rolling pin, roll each ball into a 6 to 7 inch circle. Set aside on a lightly floured countertop. cover with a towel. Let pitas rise about 30 minutes until slightly puffy.
2. Preheat oven to 500 degrees F (260 degrees C). Place 2 or 3 pitas on a wire cake rack. Place cake rack directly on oven rack. Bake pitas 4 to 5 minutes until puffed and tops begin to brown. Remove from oven and immediately place pitas in a sealed brown paper bag or cover them with a damp kitchen towel until soft. Once pitas are softened, either cut in half or split top edge for half or whole pitas. They can be stored in a plastic bag in the refrigerator for several days or in the freezer for 1 or 2 months.

Now, MY pita circles once rolled out and covered for 30 minutes did not really seem to rise...at all. I thought ohhhh wonderful they are going to be flat as heck...boy, was I wrong or what?!

Raspberry Almond Torte

Ok the recipe calls it a tart...but i prefer the fancy name of Torte :)


this was the dessert i made for Jackson's birthday/homecoming from his surgery trip to Toronto. It was DELICIOUS!
it was moist and chewy on the inside with a bit of a crunch on the upper crust. the flavour was wonderfully sinful.  AND it gave me an excuse to buy a set of tart pans with removable bottoms which i did not own previously.

my whipped cream placement was a wee bit off oops.

Ingredients

• 1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 cup sugar, divided
• 1 cup butter or margarine, divided
• 3 eggs, divided
• 1/2 cup raspberry jam, divided
• 1 cup ground almonds
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
• 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice

Directions

1. In a mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder and 1/3 cup sugar. Cut in 1/2 cup butter until fine crumbs form. Beat 1 egg; add to mixing bowl and stir until dry ingredients are moistened. Press dough evenly into bottom and up the sides of 9-in. x 1-1/2-in. tart pan with removable bottom. Spread 1/4 cup of jam over dough. Cover with plastic wrap and chill.
2. Meanwhile, cream together remaining sugar and butter; stir in almonds and extract. Add remaining eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition; spoon filling over jam. Bake at 350 degrees F for 50 minutes. Cool in pan, then carefully remove sides from pan. Spread remaining jam on top. Combine confectioners' sugar and lemon juice; drizzle over the top.

This is where I add that I did NOT use a drizzle on top, and I used a LOT more jam. 

Boston Baked Beans....Northwestern Ontario Style

I was sitting here the other morning thinking to myself, gee what can I make from scratch that I know Jackson loves and will enjoy muchly? Then it dawned on me. BAKED BEANS. That boy eats more canned beans than you can shake a stick at. So I went hunting online until I found a recipe and instructions that I thought best suited the style of beans we will both enjoy. They are currently getting awesome epic in the slow cooker. So here is the recipe I used along with the instructions. I also have pictures of the prepping process.

Slow Cooked Boston Baked Beans Recipe

• Cook time: 8 hours

INGREDIENTS

• 1 pound (2 to 2 1/4 cups) dry white beans such as Navy beans or Great Northern beans (can also use kidney beans)
• 1/3 cup molasses
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 3-4 Tbsp Dijon mustard
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
• 3 cups hot water
• 1/2 pound salt pork (can sub bacon), cut into 1/2-inch to 1-inch pieces
• 1 medium onion, (1 1/2 cups) chopped

METHOD

1 Place beans in a large pot and cover with 2 inches of water. Soak overnight and drain. Alternatively, bring a pot with the beans covered with 2 inches of water to a boil, remove from heat and let soak for a hour, then drain.

2 Mix the molasses, brown sugar, mustard, and ground cloves with 3 cups of hot water.


3 Line the bottom of a slow-cooker (or a Dutch oven if you are cooking in the oven) with half of the salt pork (pick the fattiest pieces). Layer over with half of the drained beans. Add all of the onions in a layer, then top with another layer of beans and the remaining salt pork. Pour the molasses water mixture over the beans to just cover the beans.

Everything set up and ready!!

 layering the bacon (thick cut)

second layer, the beans go in!

Third layer, the onions go in!!

Layers finished, bacon on top

Liquid is poured on top, yum!

4 Cover and cook in a slow-cooker on the low setting for 8 hours (or in a 250°F oven), until the beans are tender. Check the water level a few hours in, and if the beans need more water, add some. Add additional salt to taste if needed. Note that fresher beans will cook faster than older beans. Your beans may be ready in less than 8 hours, or they may take longer. Best the next day.

Serve with Boston brown bread.

Yield: Serves 5-6 as a main dish or 10-12 as a side.

Apple Pork Chops and Pumpkin Cheese Cake

Earlier this week someone on my FB was asking about slow cooker recipes. I gave her my patented Apple Pork Chops Recipe. I thought "hmm maybe I should also post this recipe on my foodblog. I should also note, I have contemplated talking about other things in life on this blog, but I know I have posted the address on both my FB accounts. So for the time being, it shall remain all about food/crafts and food. 


Apple Chops
I like to use boneless...bones creep me out. 

Use anywhere from 1-6+ chops. Today I did a flat of 6 boneless chops from Metro. We have a friend coming for dinner :)
You will need at least 1-4+ apples, depending on number of chops. I used 3 today for the 6 chops. Type of Apple depends on your tastes when it comes to apples. My husband prefers Empire, and I prefer Mac's or Granny Smith. We had organic grannies, so I used 3 of those.
Peel and slice apples. (I have this wonderful do-dad that spins the apples, peels and cores and slices them all at once! Best thing I ever bought!)
Now I actually pulled the chops out of the freezer last night and let them sit in the slow cooker "pot" overnight in the fridge with pumpkin pie spice sprinkled on them. Remove the chops from the pot if you also do this. Place the first layer of apples on the bottom of the pot and then place the first layer of chops. Place another layer of apple slices and then sprinkle the whole sha-bang with either cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice  etc. Repeat until you have no chops left and there are apples on top of everything. At this point I like to pull out my whole nutmeg and fresh grate nutmeg on top of everything. Yum! Place lid on slow cooker and turn on high. Today we are having dinner late-ish and I was up bright and early prepping at 730am. So I am going to leave it on high until about 11 or 12pm and then set to low for the remainder of the day. The entire thing is done when the chops basically fall apart and the apples are apple sauce. Perfect for serving ON the chops! As per usual I will add pictures. So far I only have one. This is a recipe I have made about a million times in my life, and apparently is the recipe that won my now husband over. Awesome Possum.


As for side dishes...tonight's menu will be Oven roasted baby red potatoes (from the garden), Ontario grown Cauliflower with shredded cheese, honey glazed carrots (the last from the garden) and Pumpkin Cheese Cake. 


I've never done this cheesecake recipe, it's from the Kraft Living magazine that the previous house owners still get in our mailbox :) 
Here is the recipe and directions as per the Kraft Website.

Cheesecake

3/4 cup Honey Maid Graham Crumbs

1/2 cup finely chopped pecans

3/4 cup packed brown sugar, divided

3/4 cup granulated sugar, divided

1/4 cup butter, melted

1-1/2 cups canned pumpkin

3 eggs

1-1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg

1/2 tsp. ground ginger

3 pkg. (250 g each) Philadelphia Brick Cream Cheese, softened

1 Tbsp. cornstarch

Praline

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 Tbsp. water

1/2 cup chopped pecans

1/2 cup thawed Cool Whip Whipped Topping

CHEESECAKE: 
MIX graham crumbs, nuts, 1/4 cup each brown and granulated sugar, and butter; press onto bottom of 9-inch springform pan. Refrigerate 1 hour.

HEAT oven to 350ºF. Whisk pumpkin, remaining brown sugar, eggs and spices until well blended. Beat cream cheese, remaining granulated sugar and cornstarch in large bowl with mixer until well blended. Add pumpkin mixture; mix just until blended. Pour over crust.

BAKE 45 to 50 min. or until centre is almost set. Run knife around rim of pan to loosen cake; cool completely before removing rim. Refrigerate 4 hours. Meanwhile, prepare Praline.

PRALINE:
BRING sugar and water to boil in small saucepan on medium-high heat, stirring constantly. Continue boiling, without stirring, 5 to 7 min. or until syrup is thickened and golden brown. Remove from heat. Stir in nuts. Spread onto parchment-covered baking sheet. Cool. Break into bite-size pieces.

 TopCheesecake with Cool Whip  and Praline just before serving.
 Variation:
Today I am attempting a variation on this recipe. I loved the crust so much (the cake btw was AMAZING) that I am attempting to use the same crust and make a pumpkin pie with the left over pumpkin. 

EDIT: the pie was ALSO a huge success. I am never making a pumpkin pie in a traditional pie crust again.

Sláinte!

lets make love and die...

from a chocolate overdose of epic proportions!

Ok i always said i would never ever give out my death by chocolate recipe..no way no how.

here i am giving it out :)

Now the recipe i adapted was small to begin with, then i made it huge as i made massive batches for work. I am attempting to reshrink the recipe now.

I do not take responsibility for any loss of life or cavities.

1 egg
1 1/8 cups butter
1 1/4 cups cocoa
1 1/2 cups sugar
pinch of baking soda
splash of vanilla (can you tell i don't measure very well?)

dry + wet

2 cups (give or take) flour
and anything you want...chocolate chunks/chips/nuts/raisins (eww!) ETC

bake at 350F for aprox 8-10mins...they should puff just a bit and be soft and chewy.

the dough will end up thick almost like fudge.

the won't flatten out much at all. do not panic.

I will make a batch later today and post pictures of the entire ordeal. I will also try making them with this condensed smaller batch version to ensure quality control.

placed in a lovey jar with a bit of wax paper to seal them in, a ribbon and VOILA. a gift!

The experiment worked fine. They are fantastic.
Sláinte!

gra-gra-granola!

hurray! granola!

I randomly realized this morning that i have not made granola in a really really really long time. Infact, i cannot even remember the last time i made this delicious cereal/snack/awesomest food ever. So i gave Jackson the option of Granola bars or just granola for eating with yogurt and milk. He went with granola.
so here follows is the recipe i used...after finding one online and modifying it. (it was huge!)
i do apologize now to my American readers, as the original recipe was in metric, and being Canadian, i left it that way.

I also tried to use as much organic stuff as i could, but since i was using what i had, it was only 1/4 organic (ok fine, only the oats were organic)

454gr of old fashioned rolled oats (no quickies!) (1 lb)
50g ground walnuts (the recipe called for ground almonds, i switched it up for fun.)
50g pecan pieces (again it called for almonds...boooring!)
50g almond slices (i gave them a chance.)
50g flax seeds (it said to use ground, i had whole, i tried to grind them in my grinder, they don't really grind that well...too bad, they went in anyways!)
then i added pumpkin pie spice, because, really is there ANYTHING in this universe better than pumpkin pie spices?

mix all the dry ingredients together
in a separate bowl mix approx 1/3 cup honey and 1/2cup canola oil (i didn't have canola, went with sunflower) you can warm these so they mix slightly better, then pour into the dry ingredients and mix mix mix!

stored in an airtight container, it should keep for at least a couple weeks.

i line my cookie sheets with parchment paper, so i don't grease them...lay the granola out on baking sheets and put in the oven at 250F for 50mins, pulling them out to stir every 15-20min. After it is cooled mix in a fruit of your choice (dried cherries, raisins, cranberries) I went with cranberries.

 The doubled recipe said it would make 31 half cup servings, but we tend to eat more like 1/4 cup to 1/3 cup servings which is why i halved the recipe. So far the house smells like lovely lovely cinnamon and toasting nuts.

did someone say SQUASH!?

ah, autumn is upon us here in the NW of Ontario. It barely made it past 15C today and the leaves are already beginning to crisp on the edges and flutter to the ground. This makes me sad for only 1 reason...it means it is September and i will be 30 in less than a week. Ok ok, not the end of the universe, the real reason it makes me sad is because it means winter will be here all too soon. I used to say i loved NW ontario after living in the SW of the province for the first 24 years of my life....but now as i get older and i realize how much i miss the long drawn out days of autumn and the warmer nights of winter, that they endure down there, i realize i could probably put up with the sweltering summers simply for the longer autumns, the longer growing season, and the ability to have my olde english rose garden that i have always longed and dreamed of owning. Southern Ontario, you might be more polluted and crowded, but you have your strong points, and i think if we find the right house in the right locale where i can't see my neighbours and i can't hear a highway, i think we may just find our roots and come home to you.

Ok so today's adventures in the kitchen involved my delicious curry fall squash soup and some delicious no bake chocolate peanut butter oat cookies.

As for the soup, i originally used a recipe to figure out how exactly to make the soup. Now its more of a trial and error each time i make it. Sometimes i use carrots, sometimes i don't. the basics of it are as follows.

halve an acorn squash (i imagine you could use a buttercup also, i use always seem to use acorn) remove the seeds. next i place each half on a sheet of tin foil while the oven heats to 350F I put about 1 tsp of butter in each half and liberally sprinkle them with either cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice  and then yellow curry. Depending on how "hot" you like your foods, gauge how much curry you might like to use...and remember, you can always add more later.
wrap up the halves and place on a cookie sheet and let them oven roast for about 45-60mins. I do this to A) make my house smell like autumn, and B) it makes removing the rinds oh, so much easier.
While that is going on you can get everything else ready. I chop up about half an onion and sautee it with butter in the bottom of my soon to be soup pot. I usually use about 1 handful of baby carrots and 2 medium sized potatoes. (any colour flesh is fine) tonight i didn't peel the taters as i used superior golds and they have a nice thin skin. mmm fiber! chop up the potatoes so they cook faster. Next either use a carton of veg or chicken stock or make some. Careful if you make it...too much powder means yucky salty soup. I've learned this the hard way. i now make my stock separate and then add it, ensuring it tastes ok. Now comes the whole how thick do you want your soup to be step. if you prefer a nice thick almost baby food like soup texture (we do! it stays on bread better!) then only use enough stock to cover everything once the squash and veggies have been added to the pot. If you want it watery then add a bit extra. I would say for 1 squash and 3 med sized potatoes (no carrots, didn't have any) i used about 850ml of stock. once the squash is done roasting you can remove them from the oven and either let them cool or as i call them use your working woman's hands and handle them hot-ish LOL...jackson always freaks when i do things with my bare hands and they are hot. Remove as much flesh from the skin as you can with a spoon/knife and add to the soup pot, then add carrots/potatoes and cover with as much stock as you desire. Once it is at a nice simmer let it cook until everything is nice and soft. If you find it doesn't have enough curry/cinnamon etc add more! once its all cooked, i use a hand blender to puree the soup into a delicious golden mess of flavour. Serve hot with sour cream or whatever you like, and some nice fresh bread. I'd say this is one of our most cherished soups, we make it year round, but since we went to the fair yesterday and bought 3 fresh local squash, the fall is most def. the best time of year to make it. I might try making squash filled ravioli next week...stay tuned!

goes great with a nice panini for a warm filling lunch!