Sunday Afternoon Biscotti

It was a beautiful day today, relatively speaking...sun was shining, and it was not minus 40.  Seriously though  it was lovely and we even got to take the puppy for a long walk (she's so tired, she's still sleeping!).  So my daughter and I, who crave chocolate on the best of days, wanted biscotti.  Not just any biscotti...we wanted good chocolaty biscotti.   So, we did what anybody would do...we made some!  And it was surprisingly easy!  She found a recipe from Allrecipes.com for double chocolate biscotti...who could resist that?

The finished product...dressed up with icing sugar
just to make it look sexy!

Here's what we did (which is of course slightly different than the actual recipe!)

1/2 cup butter

2/3 cup sugar (we used 1/3 white sugar and 1/3 brown sugar)

~cream together butter and sugar, then add:

1/4 cup cocoa powder 

2 teaspoons baking powder

~beat 2 minutes, then add:

2 eggs, one at a time (preferably no shell!)

Now...get that wooden spoon out, and use it to mix the rest:

1 3/4 cup flour

3/4 cup chocolate chips

Four 1-oz squares of white chocolate, chopped (did not have this, so left it out, plus that sounds like too much work)

So mix the flour and chocolate chips and let the dough cool in the fridge for 10 minutes...then shape like this and put on a cookie sheet:

Here's the biscotti right before putting it in the oven to bake....

Bake 20 minutes on 375 convection (or 25 minutes on regular bake, depending on how hot your oven is.  Once done, take out, and cool for 10 minutes on baking sheet and cut in strips like this:

Soooo goooood......

Turn and bake cut-side-down for about 10 more minutes and voila!  You have home-made biscotti.  The original recipe says you have to cool on a wire rack for an hour...I have no wire rack, and I don't have an hour to wait for my treat...so I just waited 10 minutes, and cut with a long non-serrated knife, and it worked beautifully!  

And my house smells......ahhh......like chocolate!  Cheers!  Time for tea!

Winefest 2013!

Doesn't the title say it all?  And isn't a picture worth 1000 words?

We went to Winefest on Saturday night for a date night, and it was delicious, filled with all my favourite things...fine wine, delectable cheese plates and mini yummy appies and desserts.  Springbank Cheese supplied the cheese for the evening, and I had a plate from each of the THREE locations in the Big Four Building.  Maybe this seems excessive...but each station had different types of cheese, so it only seemed right to try each and every one!  And no evening would be complete without port....and not just one kind....at least 5 kinds...but by that part of the night, my mind was fuzzy... so it could have been more, but I cannot remember.

Delicious appies and desserts!

Cheese Plate number 3.....I could have gone for a fourth

Are these wines the same?

No..they were different...right?
Either way...same...different....delicious!

And to finish the night...my three favourite port wines...
I am sure I tried two more, but can't remember.

Apparently I fell asleep on the floor with my puppy.  What a great night!

Brown Goddess Does Turkey!

Some beautiful flowers from my sister-in-law Tammy!  Thank you!

 Happy Thanksgiving!  Truly one of my favourite times of year, as it involves lots and LOTS of awesome food, fantastic times with family and friends, and just remembering to be thankful and grateful.  We had two amazing dinners this year, which also means double the weight gain, but no regrets from me!  I enjoyed every bite, from eating some of the crispy skin during the carving of beast (yes, I do that! I am like a vulture hanging out over the "garbage bowl"!) to the pumpkin pie, Saskatoon berry pie and apple crisp to finish off weekend of non-stop eating.

Dressing from turkey dinner # 1 at our house.
I made the dressing in the slowcooker...and OMG D-LISH!

 On Saturday, we made a 20-pound bird for some of my hubby's family (his mom and sister) and for some friends of ours that go back to the days when we had no kids.  It was a great time had by all!

Turkey dinner at our house!

On the menu:  Roasted Bird (of course), dressing made with Cobs bread, Spolumbo chicken apple sausage, bacon and fresh herbs (oh my), roasted yellow beets with herbs, mashed potatoes, broccoli casserole and a fresh green salad with pecans and apples (so yummy).  Dessert...was pumpkin pie and Saskatoon berry pie with whipped cream or ice cream or both.  I can't remember what I wore...but I know that the pants had some stretch to them!  

Oven roasted vegetables at turkey dinner # 2 at
my sister-in-law's place...so very delicious, and festive!

 Sunday was a family affair at my brother-in-laws house, and I believe there were 17 for dinner!  Again, there was a traditional bird with stuffing, which was so delicious, I had to take seconds and graze around where the food was so I could sneak in "thirds".  We also had roasted veggies, mashed potatoes, cabbage rolls (two kinds!), and some Ukrainian delicacies called Nalesniki.  Now I am sure I am not spelling this correctly, but basically they are home-made crepes stuffed with either sauteed mushrooms or cottage cheese (again, both kinds were available) AND...then, they are covered in heavy cream and baked.  Oh. My. Goodness.

Dinner # 2 was followed by many desserts (that's "stressed" spelled backwards, ya know!).  But again, the desserts were delectable, and could not be avoided.   Best to just eat what you want in these situations, and just be really really REALLY good for the next month.  

All in all, it was a fabulous weekend, and today, was the best, because today...was leftovers day! Hurray for leftovers!  

What's in store for tomorrow?  Time to get back on that scale (ugh) and figure out how many weeks I have until Christmas to lose that weight.

Dessert....Day 2.  Traditional pies, and....
Apple crisp which was truly the best!

Seriously...check out this spread!  Everything
from turkey and stuffing to 2 kinds of cabbage rolls
and some Ukrainian Nalesniki...soooo goooood....

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

And now....we sleep....

Off To The Market I Go!

Happy October!

October is such a great time of year...lots of great produce around at the farmer's markets, leaves changing colour, turkey dinner with all the trimmings....yum!  Fall is a fantastic time to visit all the Farmer's Market's in the city, and to get really fresh local produce and baked goods and celebrate the harvest.

The old Farmer's Market at the Curry Barracks had all my vendors in one place...I'd go down the far aisle to the Greek Gals and get pita and hummus, then right next door was the Stock and Sauce guy and I'd get a variety of dips and bruschetta.  I'd visit Sylvan Star Cheese guy, and buy my gouda and a dozen eggs, and basically just make the rounds.  Next was Pearson's Berry Farm, and  hands down, they have the BEST pie EVER.  Pumpkin, Saskatoon, Saskatoon Apple, butter tarts, Saskatoon butter tarts...

Pumpkin Mini Tarts...so delicious!

Once the old CFM (that's Calgary Farmer's Market) closed, and moved, it was hard to find all the vendors in the same place.   And last year, tragically, I could not find my Pearson's Berry Farm....which meant, NO PIE!   I  looked at CFM and I looked at Kingsland, but they were not there.   Finally, I gave up, and ended up buying sub-par-pies at another vendor.  This year, I searched on Google, and found them at the Calgary's original Farmer's Market:  Crossroads!  I took a trip there yesterday, and boy oh boy, I went a bit overboard.  

Saskatoon Apple...warm it up, add ice cream...
and....ahhhhhhhhhh

I bought 2 pies (pumpkin and Saskatoon-apple) and 2 tray's of the pumpkin mini tarts.   While I am a great baker, one thing I can't do well is pie or pie crust...so I do the next best thing, and find someone else who can.

The flavour and the crust in these pies are flawless.  They are already baked when you buy them, and the freeze well!

Pumpkin Pie....soooo goooood.......

What more could you ask for?  Just looking at these pictures is making my mouth water!

Now...I guess my goal this week will be to save up my calories for Thanksgiving dinner and dessert!

Check out their website and the locations...if there is one near to you, I highly recommend it!


http://www.pearsonsberryfarm.ca/

Chocolate Energy Balls

Yesterday I tried yet again an amazing (and healthy) chocolatey treat.   Of course I had to have the recipe from a series of cookbooks that I have not heard of (which surprised me!).  The cookbook series is called "Whitewater Cooks" written by Shelley Adams.

I found different variations of these energy balls on-line.  The recipe itself is so versatile and looks like it would accept different ingredient substitutions.  One thing is for sure...Shelley Adams has created something amazing, simple and delicious and nutritious.  I even had one for breakfast.

Whitewater Energy Balls

1 cup toasted sunflower seeds

1 cup toasted sesame seeds

1 cup rolled oats

1 cup chocolate chips

1 cup dried cranberries (1 used 1/2 cran, 1/2 raisins)

1/2 cup cocoa

2 cups peanut butter (out of necessity, I used 1 cup organic peanut butter, 1 cup of "Wow" peanut-free peanut butter)

1/2 cup of honey

1 1/2 cups toasted coconut for the coating. (I didn't have coconut so used cocoa powder to coat mine)

Put everything in a bowl except the coconut.  Mix ingredients well.  More honey may be needed to hold everything together.  I had to put mine in the fridge overnight to firm it up a bit.  Roll into them into timbit sized balls, and then roll in toasted coconut (or in my case, more cocoa powder).  From what I read, you can store these in the refrigerator for a week, or in the freezer for up to one month.

Healthy, nutritious and sinfully delicious!   Thanks Whitewatercooks!   I will definitely be buying this series of cookbooks and trying some new recipes!

http://whitewatercooks.com/index.html

11:35pm Brownies!

Yes, it is 11:35 pm, and I am baking.  Am I crazy?  A little.  But, as usual, I have run out of time.  The day today was crazy busy, between end-of-the-year school activities, meetings, a lovely impromptu dinner date with the husband and add that we were determined to finish watching The Descendants (which we LOVED).  By the time this was all done, it was 11:30, and I really wanted to bake something for my daughter's field trip tomorrow.   I am usually THAT mom that bakes, but lately, the kids have gotten Oreo's for their treats (not that there's anything wrong with Oreo's!).  So I was determined to bake the easiest brownies in the world (no, not a mix).

Thought I'd share the recipe...its not the best recipe (will share that later), but in a pinch, if you need to bake something for school the next day, and need to do it quickly, efficiently AND peanut free, here's the recipe:

1 cup of brown sugar
1/2 cup melted butter
1 egg
3 TBSP cocoa
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup flour

Melt the butter, and mix in brown sugar, eggs, cocoa and baking powder and vanilla.  Stir well.  Then add the flour, and mix til blended.  Bake in a greased 8 x 8 dish on 350 for 20 - 25 min.  PRESTO!  I usually double the recipe and bake it in a 9 x 13 pan.

And the result (shortly before midnight!)...

Baked, blogged and tweeted all in span of 25 minutes.
Hurray!  Brownies for everyone!

Bliss Balls

Need I say more?   It's a chocolate ball of bliss.  A friend of mine introduced me to these...and now I can't get enough bliss from the ball!   If you are a chocoholic read on, but be warned you will crave chocolate!  If you are not a chocoholic, then I can't help you at all.  

So where can you find your own ball of bliss?  I bought these at Planet Organic, and honestly, once you start buying them, you won't be able to stop.  You will think of excuses as to why you just happen to be passing by.  Well, we're passing by, we might as well stop and get a few essentials, you'll tell yourself.  But thankfully, these balls are good for you!  The ingredient list is amazingly simple and there is nothing in there that you can't pronounce (always a good sign).   They are covered in chocolate and inside the ball,  the uniform consistency is a bit chewy, but not so chewy that it sticks to your teeth.  Ingredients are:  cashews, chocolate, dates, almonds, brown rice syrup and cocoa powder.  Just to let you know, it does have traces of milk, peanuts, other nuts and sesame seeds.   Each one has 110 calories, and while this may seem like a lot, these balls have benefits!   They also contain 4 grams of fibre, 3 grams of protein and a bit of iron as well!  

I don't know about you but I have a craving!  Even if all you have in your cupboard are chocolate chips or...sigh...crushed Oreo cookie crumbs (which my friends know I have eaten before to satisfy a craving..but that was a LONG time ago!), I suggest you listen to what your body is telling you.  Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go to the pantry!