Mason's class Christmas Party

We enrolled Mason in a nursery school last fall after he became best friends with a little boy who was going there.  Turns out it was the best decision because he's in a class of 8 little 3 year old boys with a wonderful teacher.  He loves going to school and seeing all his friends and it has created in him an amazing sense of independence, accomplishment and has planted the seed for the love of learning.

As the holidays were approaching we decided to host a class Christmas party at our house (what better time than when it's such a small class!) and invited his friends and their families.

Fuelled by ideas I'd come across on Pinterest, I think it may be one of the best parties to date.  I was also very lucky to find out that one of our new employees was a recent graduate from a college photography program and she came to capture the afternoon.  All the pictures that follow are the ones she took.  Many thanks to Amanda! (check out her blog Amanda Manners Photography)

Let's take a Cookie Break... Testing a Mrs. Fields Recipe

I've been on the hunt for the perfect chocolate chip cookie for at least a year.  Last week DH sent me this link to a video about the secrets behind the yummy-ness of Mrs. Fields cookies.  Apparently, the key is to use cold butter, refrigerate the dough for at least 30 minutes and bake them low and slow (300° for 20-22min).


I couldn't wait to try the recipe and made my first batch the night after I saw the video.   I must have put too much butter in (I almost always cut the block of butter according to the markings on the wrapper which isn't terribly exact!) because they spread way too much and although crispy around the edges, after eating two my jaw hurt because they were so chewy (not in the good way).


After thinking about my disappointing results I had to try it again.  This time I wanted to compare the difference between using the Mrs. Fields secrets and how I would normally bake cookies (room temp butter, batter left on the counter, 350° oven).  Truthfully, I wasn't convinced their way would be better but needed to know for sure.

Adventures in Baking: Peach & Strawberry Shortcakes

For Mother's Day I asked for a subscription to a couple magazines.  DH is Australian and is kind of a 'go big or go home' kind of guy and he ended up getting me four, one of which is Fine Cooking.   It's an incredible magazine and I've been really impressed because it's very accessible (for non-cooking people like myself) but still focuses on more 'refined' recipes with fresh seasonal ingredients.

In this month's issue I found a recipe for Strawberry Shortcakes.  I don't know if I've actually ever had one before but it sounds so lovely and summery (and we have a family dinner tonight to which I'm bringing desert) so I thought I'd give it a try!

Go Bananas for Guilt-free Ice Cream

I came across this post a little while ago that said you could create 'ice cream' from plain old frozen bananas.  I found the idea intriguing and bookmarked the site.

Last night my baby girl had a fever and I thought it might be a perfect time to test out whether bananas could be a delicious (healthy) cold treat.

Adventures in Baking: One Bowl Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

One of my sisters stopped in for a visit yesterday afternoon and I always like to have something for people to nibble on when they come over.

I didn't have a lot of time so I fell back on one of my favourite quick and yummy recipes - Chocolate Chip Banana Bread.  No beater necessary, mix it all in one bowl and then pop it into the over for app. 55 min.  Perfect.

It's moist and delicious with a perfect balance of banana and chocolate.

Simple & Delicious Quiche Recipe

I've been meaning to do this post (and others) for days but I've been swamped with work since the weekend.  Ah well, c'est la vie!

Since we're going to have all sorts of eggs (from blowing them out for our Easter Eggs) and a nice long lazy weekend ahead of us, I thought I'd share a simple delicious quiche recipe I found last year.  It saves time by using an unbaked pie crust that you can find in the freezer section of the grocery store and I love that it's such a great base that you can replace the type of cheese with whatever you have on hand and then throw in whatever veggies/meat that you feel like!

Adventures in Baking: Low/er Fat Chocolate Chip Cookies

Low fat Oatmeal Chocolate Chip   &   Lower Fat Chocolate Chip Cookies

I have been ravenous for the last few days and craving chocolate chip cookies.  Since I`m not the type of person who just eats one (it`s likely that a batch is gone within 24 hours... yikes!), I thought it might be worth testing out some low/lower fat recipes.  I know, they`re still full of sugar but as least one of the two evils has been tamed with these!

The first batch I made is from my Joy of Cooking cookbook.  It's a low-fat oatmeal chocolate chip cookie recipe that I modified using a mashed banana instead of oil and fewer chocolate chips to make it even lower fat. 

My Healthy Creamsicle Smoothie

I bought a bike trailer on Craigslist a couple weeks ago so that my little ones and I can go on bike rides together.  We were out for an hour on Sunday and when we got home I was hungry, thirsty and craving something citrus-y.

Last night the craving was still there so after my workout I decided to see if I could re-create the deliciousness of a Creamsicle but without any of the guilt :)  I have to say I'm pretty happy with the result!  It's thick and orange-y and creamy.  YUM. 

Adventures in Baking: The BEST Brownies EVER

As many great discoveries come about, I found the secret to the best brownies by mistake!  I doubled my brownie recipe and was trying to adjust the baking time.  Based on the old adage, if you don't succeed at first... well I tried, tried and tried again.  In the end I had the most wonderful crispy-on-the-outside-smushy-yummy-goodness-on-the-inside brownies. 


The secret: Triple baking them.  Seriously!

Sunday Morning Pancakes

Good morning!  Here's a quick & easy pancake recipe.  I used to make this all the time and forgot about it until one of my best friends reminded me about it!.  It's delicious with a mashed banana, blueberries or cut strawberries.

Sunday Morning Pancakes

Ingredients:

1 1/4C buttermilk
(to make buttermilk add 1 1/2 tsp vinegar to milk)
1C flour
1tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda

Mix & cook.

Enjoy!

Easy Cheesecake Truffles

I stumbled upon this recipe 2 years ago, made it once and hadn't thought about it until the other day.  I'm hosting a get-together this evening for a group of my friends and wanted something sweet to balance the savoury nibblies.  These are easy, beautiful and delicious.

My Healthy Chocolate 'Milkshake'

I find it really hard to eat regularly and nutritiously most days.  There are always a million things that seem more important than food.  After I started working out again thanks to my brother's incredible online training site TrainWithGreg.com, I found I had to find a way to get something into my system, not just to get through the day but to make sure I had the energy to go down to our little home gym once the kids were in bed.

My solution is a twist on a smoothie that my sister-in-law told me about.  It's thick, rich and chocolately which feels indulgent even though it's really nutritious.  It's my go-to meal on the go because it's quick, filling and delicious.



My Healthy Chocolate 'Milkshake'



Basic Ingredients before adding the milk

Ingredients

1 frozen banana (peel over-ripe bananas and keep them in the freezer so they're ready to use)

1 individual serving vanilla yogurt (single serving = app. 1/3 C) - or 3 heaping tablespoons
1/2-1 tablespoon natural peanut butter*
1 heaping tablespoon cocoa
1 scoop protein powder (optional)
1/2 - 1C milk



The tablespoon I use for this is from my kitchen drawer, not a proper measuring spoon.  Feel free to adjust ingredient quantities to your taste.  I bought a pseudo magic bullet and use that to blend it until it's smooth.

Tonight I added frozen strawberries.  Yum!

*Note: Natural peanut butter is non-hydrogenated and contains nothing but peanuts and therefore much healthier for you.  PC at Loblaws & No Frills makes it and I believe that Kraft does too so you should be able to find it pretty easily.


Enjoy!

- Jacs

Adventures in Baking: Carrot Cupcakes and Chocolate & Cream Cheese Cupcakes

As of Thursday evening I've baked 4 different cupcake recipes.  Two of them (plain chocolate and vanilla) get a thumbs down but the other two were great!  Here are the recipes with some pictures.

These carrot cupcakes are dense and moist with a rich flavour because of the brown sugar which carmelizes slightly on the top when they bake.  The icing is velvety smooth and the butter gives it a lot of depth.  Add the powdered sugar in 1/2 cup at a time and taste it frequently to get the consistency and sweetness that you enjoy best. 

Carrot Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing

Carrot Cupcakes

Ingredients:1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 1/2 cups finely shredded carrots
1/2 cup oil
2 large eggs
1/3 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Icing:

1/2 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
1/2 cup butter (room temperature)
1 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/2-2 cups powdered sugar

1. Mix dry cake ingredients.
2. Add carrots, oil and eggs.
3. Stir till all is wet.
4. Add nuts, (optional) then fill lined muffin tins almost to the top - these don't rise very much.
5. Bake at 325*F for app. 25 minutes.  Test them around 18 min and then add time in 2 minute increments until a toothpick comes out clean.
6. Cool.
7. Cream together cream cheese, butter, vanilla Add powdered sugar.
8. Spread over cooled cupcakes.

These chocolate and cream cheese cupcakes have a light spongy chocolate base with a cheesecake-like topping.  I didn't put any icing on them because they're delicious as is.  However if you wanted to have icing, a raspberry American Buttercream would be delicious!

Chocolate & Cream Cheese Cupcakes

Chocolate & Cream Cheese Cupcakes

Ingredients:1 1/2 cups flour

1/4 cup cocoa
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup sunflower or canola oil
3/4 cup water
2 teaspoon white vinegar
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2/3 cup soft cream cheese
1 large egg, lightly beaten
heaping 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1. Sift together the flour, cocoa and baking soda into a large bowl.
2. Stir 3/4 cup of the sugar into the flour
3. Add the oil, water, vinegar and vanilla extract.  Stir until well combined.
4. Place the rest of the sugar, cream cheese, and egg in a bowl and beat until well mixed.
5. Stir in chocolate chips.
6. Spoon the chocolate batter into a lined muffin pan.  Top each one with equal amounts of the cream cheese mixture.
7. Bake at 350*F for app. 25 minutes.  Test them around 20 min and then add time in 2 minute increments until the top springs back when you touch it.

- Jacs