Coconut Macaroons

I love to bake when the weather gets cold. There is just something comforting about a warm oven and a house that smells like baking when it is snowing and cold outside. Why does this matter? Well the weather here sucks, it is cold and snowing and I am not ready for it to be the middle of winter just yet. Despite having almost my entire kitchen packed (that is right, I am moving in 4 days – why did I think moving in November was a good idea?) I decided that I needed to bake cookies. I needed something simple to make (I didn’t want to unpack 6 boxes to find the ingredients and pans for anything) and remembered coming across this recipe on the Kraft site. It was perfect – they look Christmassy, kind of like a snowball, and I love coconut.

Ingredients:
2 1/3 cups medium or flaked unsweetened coconut
2/3 cup sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp vanilla
Chocolate (I used milk chocolate wafers for melting, but feel free to use whatever you want)

Directions:
1. In a bowl mix together the coconut, milk and vanilla. Once it is mixed together drop by teaspoonfuls onto a cookie sheet (I lined mine with parchment paper – no sticking!).
2. Bake at 350F for about 10 minutes – the edges will start to turn a golden brown. 3. Remove the cookies to cool on a wire rack (they will still be soft, but don’t worry, they will solidify as they cool).
4. Once the cookies are cool, melt the chocolate and dip the cookies as little or as much as you would like.

Reviews:
These were great cookies! I love how simple they were to make and how good they tasted. They nixed my cookie craving and gave me a nice hit of coconut – something I love in the winter. These cookies somehow made it to coworkers who have all enjoyed it. Actually the reason I am posting this 3 days before moving when I really should be finishing my packing is because so many people requested the recipe, it was easier just to put it here than try and get copies to everyone. So for everyone who wanted to try making these – I hope you enjoy them. I am now off to try and finish my packing and get organized for moving!

No Flour Fudge Cookies

I came across these cookies when looking at some gluten free recipes on King Arthur Flour one day (man I love that site), as a few friends and family members are celiac or at least gluten intolerant. These cookies looked amazing and I had to try them right away.

Ingredients:
2 ¼ cup powdered sugar
1 cup cocoa powder
3 lg egg whites
2 tsps vanilla extract

Instructions:
1.Preheat the oven to 350F and line the cookie sheet with parchment paper.
2.Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix until smooth (make sure you scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl).
3.Drop cookies on the cookie sheets (I used my cookie scoop, and that was a good size).
4.Bake for 8 minutes (the tops will be crackly but the cookies will still be very soft). Allow the cookies to cool on the pan before removing to a wire rack.

Reviews:

These cookies are completely addictive; I couldn’t get enough of them. They were fantastic, and I have made a few batches. The cookies were almost like fudge in the shape of a cookie. I did add some instant coffee powder to some of the cookies and these were also enjoyed very much.

Caramel Apple Bunt

We just recieved our first order of apples - just over 200lbs! (Don’t worry I did get some apples for other people and most are windfalls for making juice.) So I have an abundance of apples around the house. I also tried a couple of new varieties this year and wanted to see how they held up in baking before I started the mass pie production. This cake seemed like the perfect opportunity to try out the new baking apples - that and it was my husband’s birthday, so I was in need of a cake.

I found the original recipe on all recipes.com, but modified it a bit to suit my tastes (well hubby’s tastes and my aversion to 1.5 cups of oil in one recipe). Below is what I came up with and it was a delicious fall cake, even without the topping. I may make it again adding cinnamon to the batter and leaving off the topping.

Ingredients
CAKE:
3 eggs
1 cups sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cups vegetable oil
1 cup apple sauce
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
4 cups chopped, peeled apples

TOPPING:
1/4 cup butter or margarine
2 tbsp milk
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
Pinch salt


Directions

1. In a mixing bowl, beat eggs until foamy; gradually add sugar. Blend in oil and vanilla.
2.Combine flour, salt and baking soda; add to egg mixture.
3.Stir in apples and pecans.
4.Pour into a greased bunt pan.
5.Bake at 350 degrees F for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until the cake tests done (toothpick comes out clean).
6.Cool in pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove cake to a serving platter.
7. For topping, combine all ingredients in a saucepan; boil 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Slowly pour over warm cake (some topping will run down onto the serving plate.)

Reviews:
My husband liked this cake and didn't mind having an apple birthday cake rather than the traditional birthday cake. The leftovers were fed to my coworkers and received rave reviews. Everyone really enjoyed the cake, and it was still nice and moist a couple days later.

Weekend update

So this weekend my family and I dealt with nearly 300lbs of fruit, crazy right? There were five of us on Saturday working on the fruit. The count for the weekend was:
17 cups pear jam
16 cups peach jam
7 pints of apple sauce
30lbs of apples became apple chips
28 quarts of pressed apple juice
1 apple caramel pie
1 batch peach ice cream
1 batch caramel apple pie
15 lbs of peaches sliced and frozen
6 pie crusts

Oh, and my brother and Dad made 25lbs of pepperoni sausage for pizzas! I am so excited to eat that this week.

Earlier in the week my mother had made 28 pints of canned pears as well.

It was a busy weekend for everyone, but we managed to get most of the fruit done. There is a few more pears to get canned (Mom wanted to try a recipe of ginger pears), a few peaches for a pie, apples for pies, and about 15lbs more apples to be dried.

I am working on getting some yummy fruit recipes up, so keep looking - hopefully I will get one or two tonight!

An Update

First let me say I am very sorry for the pathetic little that has been posted in recent months. I am still around, and still trying to get updates done - I have a camera full of food pictures to prove it! Sadly life seems to have gotten in the way, I barely have time to cook these days let along write about it. What has been keeping me so busy you ask?

Well it has been a number of things - new job, surprise trip to BC to visit the inlaws and this quilting hobby that has taken over all sembalance of free time! Oh, not to mention that I have had fruit coming in droves to deal with over the last couple of months. To date I have dealt with 80 + lbs of peaches, 10 lbs of cherries, 10 lbs of raspberries and 10 lbs of blueberries. Now it is apple and pear season. The latest batch has just arrived - more on that later - so it has been keeping me busy, and hopefully I will have a few new recipes to post from that!

Just to say that I did finally put up a post - here are some of the quilts that I have finished this summer:



Monkey Time - This is filled with a wool blanket for batting and will be keeping me warm at my husband’s hockey games this winter! I loved the sock monkeys on the fabric so much I had to make myself a sock monkey to go with it.



These are doll quilts that I have made for my cousin’s for Christmas. They are done this early as I have to mail them in a couple weeks so they will actually arrive by Christmas (Darn that overseas mailing!).

Here are a couple more that I am working on for various friends and family members. These should also be done before Christmas (what did I get myself into?)





I have a couple of recipe posts I am working on, so hopefully those will be up in the next few days!

Chocolate Cupcakes, White Chocolate Icing

The chocolate cupcakes

For the wedding I decided to do a twist on the chocolate cupcake – a chocolate cupcake with a white chocolate icing (who doesn’t love chocolate on more chocolate). For the cupcakes I used a one bowl chocolate cupcake recipe from iheartcuppycakes. I adapted the recipe for the icing from Cupcakes take the Cake

Chocolate Cupcakes:

Ingredients:
1 ½ cup flour
¾ cup cocoa powder
1 ½ cup sugar
1 ½ tsp baking soda
¾ tsp baking powder
2 large eggs
¾ cup milk
3 tbsp vegetable oil
1 ½ tsp oil
¾ cup warm water

Directions:
1.Preheat the oven to 350F and prepare your cupcake pan (this recipe doesn’t take long to put together).
2.On medium speed of an electric mixture (or by hand) combine flour, cocoa, sugar baking soda, baking powder in a bowl.
3.Reduce the speed and add in the eggs, milk, oil, vanilla and water. Mix until combined.
4.Fill cupcake liners ½ to 2/3 full (I put about ¼ cup cup of batter, not scraping out what sticks in the cup) into a large cupcake liner and this works well.
5.Bake 17-20 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.
6.Let cool on a wire rack before icing.

White Chocolate Frosting:

Ingredients:
12 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
5 cups confectioners sugar, sifted
4 - 5 ounces white chocolate, melted and cooled to tepid
1/3 cup milk, heated to tepid
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Directions:
1.In a bowl beat the butter for 1 -2 minutes (works best with the paddle attachment of an electric stand mixer on medium speed).
2.Beat in 1 1/3 cup sugar.
3.Mix in the melted chocolate.
4.Blend in 1 1/3 cup of sugar and the milk.
5.Beat for 2 minutes on medium high speed.
6.Beat in the vanilla and 1 1/3 cup of sugar.
7.Beat for 2 minutes and check the consistency – if it is not thick enough (mine was not) add the remaining icing sugar ¼ cup at a time until it reaches the desired consistency.
8.Frost cupcakes.

Reviews:

These cupcakes were delicious and were a big hit at the wedding (especially with the kids!)

I used the leftover icing to fill some chocolate oreo cookies and they were fantastic!

Cupcakes and a Wedding

So the last few weeks I have been busy making cupcakes, testing icings to see how they stand up to the heat without losing it's shape (or melting all together). Why all the testing and baking? Well in a moment of insanity I offered to bake the cupcakes for my friends wedding. Why on earth did I think that was a good I deal, well I guess I will never know. But I ended up making about 100 cupcakes, icing them, transporting them 1.5 hours to the wedding, and setting them up before driving another 20 minutes to try and make the ceremony in time! Thankfully I got there in time, the icing didn't melt and nothing was destroyed in transport.



I ended up making a chocolate cupcake with a white chocolate icing and a vanilla bean cupcake with a strawberry buttercream icing. They were pretty, and held up well. Everyone seemed to enjoy them.



So I hope you enjoy the pictures and I will hopefully get the recipes up soon!

Pheasant Quilt

So sorry for the delay in getting this up (it has been done for a few weeks, and is residing in my parents living room now). I will get to the reason for the day in the next post (I promise I have a reason!).

Anyways, I got the quilt for my Dad done (albeit a little after father's day). He loves it and it goes well with the chair. Oh, and he had to try it out as soon as it arrived, despite the fact that it was the end of June and in the 20s (that is C) outside.



The quilting projects seem to be piling up quicker than I can get them done. I have a sock monkey quilt that will be finished in a couple weeks (just waiting to get the time to do the binding), doll quilts for some of my cousins, a quilt for my mother (fabric is on the way) and some small projects for a friend of mine. I can't wait!

Quick Cheesy Pasta

I was short on time making supper one night and needed something to go with our grilled chicken. I had no pasta sauce of any kind in the house and so decided to try something for a creamy cheesy side. It took only minutes and turned out great.

Ingredients:
Pasta
¼ cup milk (I used 1%)
2 Laughing cow light cheese
1 tsp Italian seasoning.

Directions:
1. Cook pasta according to the package instructions.
2. Drain the pasta and place it back in the pot. Over low heat add the milk, cheese and seasoning.
3. Stir the pasta until the cheese has melted and the pasta is coated.
4. Serve and enjoy.

Reviews:
This turned out great! It was quick and easy, but oh so creamy and delicious. You would never guess that I made it with light ingredients.

Banana Boat Cookies

I loved Banana boats as a kid (bananas filled with mini marshmallows and chocolate chips, mmmmmmmmm) but sadly only have them while camping (I will have to remember to post those sometime this year). Well I always get a craving for them at some point during the year when I just can’t make them – winter or when the first signs of spring are coming out, so I decided to make a cookie to try and replicate them. What I came up with is a soft delicious banana cookie filled with chocolate chips toped with toasted marshmallows.

Ingredients:
½ cup butter (room temp)
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 cup mashed bananas (2-3 bananas – I like to use 3 big bananas and not care if it is a little over. The riper the bananas, the stronger the flavour)
1 tsp baking soda
2 cups flour
1 cup chocolate chips
Mini marshmallows

Directions:
1.Preheat the oven to 350F while you make the dough.
2.Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg until it is light and fluffy.
3.In another bowl mix the mashed bananas and baking soda, let sit 2 minutes.
4.Mix the banana and butter mixtures.
5.Add the flour until just combined – don’t overmix.
6.Fold in the chocolate chips. Drop cookies onto a cookie sheet, top with 1 mini marshmallow.
7.Bake for 11-13 minutes (will be golden) and let cool on wire racks. While cookies are still warm press another marshmallow into the top of the melted marshmallow in the cookie.
8.If you would like to go the extra little bit, you can put the cookies under the broiler for a few seconds to toast the top of the marshmallow – devine!

Reviews:
Oh, how I love these little delights, so moist and delicious. Oh, and there is bananas in them, so I can almost trick myself into thinking they are healthy – right?

The first batch of these I made were supposed to go to the bulldogs during their season, but somehow ended up at the team Captain’s house and never made it to the game, hmmm.

Grilled Salmon Steaks

For Father’s day, we were visiting with both sets of parents. O and I decided that for a special treat for the parents we would pick up some fresh fish at the local fish market and grill it for them. They had some great looking salmon that we picked up and took home. I decided to marinade the steaks before grilling them and found a great looking recipe on all recipes. I changed the recipe a little just to make it easier and so I had to handle to fish less – I am not a huge fan of fish.

Ingredients:
1 ½ lbs salmon ( I used steaks)
Lemon pepper to taste – about ½ to 1 tbsp
1 tsp garlic powder
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup water
¼ cup vegetable oil

Direction:
1.Mix together the lemon pepper, garlic powder, soy sauce, brown sugar, water and vegetable oil.
2.Pour the marinade into a large Ziploc bag and add the salmon. Press out the air and seal. Marinade in the fridge for at least 2 hours (I had mine in for a few more hours).
3.Grill the salmon over medium heat on the grill, until it flakes easily. Don’t overcook or it will become dry.

Reviews:
Everyone loved the salmon! The marinade was simple and didn’t overpower the fish. It was a big hit and some people thought it was better than any salmon they had ever had a restaurant.

Citrus Ginger Spice Cookies

I received a cookie press and off course I had to try it out right away. Upon flipping through the book that came with the press I came across the recipe for ginger cookies, and had to try them. Now, first, these are not a ginger snap, nor a molasses cookie, but a more citrus like cookie.

Recipe:
1 ½ cup all purpose flour
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 cup room temp butter
¾ cup packed brown sugar
1 tbsp orange zest (zest of 1 large orange)
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs

Directions:
1.Preheat the oven to 350F while you prepare the dough.
2.Mix the flour and pumpkin pie spice together and set aside.
3.Cream the butter and sugar together, add the orange zest and vanilla extract and mix until light and fluffy.
4.Beat in the eggs. Mix in the flour and spice mixture. The dough will be soft.
5.At this point either pack into the cookie press and press cookies, or spoon on to a cookie sheet (cookies should be small).
6.Bake for 12-15 minutes. The cookies should be just firm to the touch. Cool and enjoy.

These cookies made the kitchen smell so good. I loved it. The cookies were a big hit, even though they were not a traditional ginger cookie. The one comment I did get was that they went great with either a glass of milk or coffee – whichever you are into.

Despite this being a recipe for a “cookie press” I am sure it would work fine with just spooning out small teaspoon sized cookies.

Quilting - The next project...

My Dad's birthday was in May and Father's day is coming up so I thought I would try making him a quilt (I doubt it will be done in time for father;s day, but here's hoping...).

Here is the fabric that I have for the quilt:



When I saw this I thought it would be great to go with the glider chair in my parents house:



They raise pheasants and pointing dogs, so they have a bit of this stuff around the house.

Anyways, I am hoping to get this done as soon as possible (as well as getting ready for my thesis defense in 3 weeks) so wish me luck!

7 Minute Frosting

This frosting is out of an old cookbook that my Dad got when he left home to go to college. It is light and fluffy, but super sweet. You can easily change the flavor by adding a different extract other than vanilla, have fun with it! So if you have a special occasion coming up or just want to indulge, I hope you enjoy this recipe.

7 minute Frosting

Ingredients:
1 ½ cups white sugar
2 egg whites
½ cup cold water
1 tsp cream of tarter
Vanilla (1-2 tsp)

Directions:
1.In the top of a double boiler (or a glass bowl you can set in a pot, with the rim sitting on the edge of the pot) combine all the ingredients and mix until combined.
2.Place the top of the double boiler (or the bowl) on top of a pot full of boiling water. Beat the ingredients until soft peaks form (I highly suggest using an electric mixer for this!). This should take between 4 and 7 minutes.
3.Remove the top of the double boiler (or bowl) to cool water and continue beating until the frosting has cooled enough to spread.
4.Working quickly (with as few strokes as possible) frost the cake. This icing looks wonderful with lots of little peaks all over the cake – it is not the best for a nice smooth neat surface!

Reviews:
This is my Dad’s favorite frosting to have on top of angel food cake, and it is the cake that he never fails to request for his birthday. The frosting is very sweet, almost like a marshmallow fluff, so while it is great as a special treat, it is not something you would want to use everyday.

First Quilt - Finally Done!

Around Christmas time I was looking for something to keep me occupied during the long dark cold evenings of winter. For some reason I decided that quilting would be a good thing to try, I don’t know why quilting struck me as something to do and have yet to figure it out. No one in my family quilts (well my mother started a quilt some 15 years ago – it is still sitting unfinished in a closet somewhere).

Anyways, I wanted something simple – I don’t do much sewing generally, and wasn’t sure how this was going to go. I found a cute kit on connecting threads, and thought that would be a good way to go. I loved the fabric and then I didn’t have to mess around, finding a patter, picking fabric, determining yardage and such. It looked like a simple enough patter, a lot of squares, in only 2 sizes.

The fabric came in in January, and I got to work. A few weeks later I had a quilt top done and ready to be made into a quilt – the kicker? There is not even close to enough room in my living room unless I move out a bunch of furniture, to put the three layers of a quilt together. This meant that my poor project was left sitting for months until I went to my parent’s place and took over their dining room to finish it.

Well, it is done now, after 1 weekend spend ironing, sewing, pinning and quilting and one weekend spent hand sewing on the binding. I am very pleased with the results, and it turned out much better than I had expected. I have found quilting to be relaxing and a great way to let me procrastinate working on my thesis. In the time since this quilt has been finished (or almost finished) I have somehow come with 4 more quilts I would like to make and am trying to figure out what I can do with other fabrics that I love.



Hopefully there will be more quilt posts to come!

Breakfast Burritos

I saw this on a OAMC website one day and thought it was a great idea. Owen doesn’t like cereal for breakfast, he doesn’t have the time to cook eggs in the morning and toast doesn’t keep him full enough. That means that most weeks we are buying bagels for him, upon seeing this though I knew it would be a great idea.

I made mine different from the original website, and filled them with what O likes in his omletes he makes on weekends and what we had in the fridge. He has now been eating these for two weeks and is really enjoying them.

Ingredients: (made 7-8 burritos)
6 large eggs
1 – 2 cups diced mixed peppers
4 thick slices of bacon, chopped (optional)
½ small onion
1 cup shredded cheese
7 to 8 large tortillas

Directions
1.In the frying pan, fry the bacon until cooked. Leave a little oil in the pan to fry eggs in. You can remove the bacon and add it again with the veggies.
2.In a frying pan (with a little olive oil if you didn’t do the bacon first), scramble the eggs until cooked.
3.Add the veggies and the bacon.

4.Lay a torilla on a piece of tinfoil (if they are dry, heat them in the microwave for 5-10 seconds to make them more pliable).
5.Put ½ to 2/3 cup of egg mixture on the tortilla and sprinkle with cheese.

Fold up the bottom, then fold in the sides and roll. Wrap in the tinfoil and freeze.
6.When you want to cook you bake it in the oven at 400F for 25 min, or you can microwave it until warm. Note: O likes to put his in the fridge the night before, then he doesn’t have to bake it as long in the morning, and he can get in the last couple minutes of sleep.

Reviews:
Owen has been enjoying a little more variety in his morning routine and likes having a breakfast that is healthy and keeps him going. It is a fairly economical breakfast when compared to buying bagels for the week or the better cereals. We have made these a couple times and now just add whatever veggie odd and ends we happen to have in the fridge that might go well.

Bulldogs Update

I have been really bad about posting the bulldog's cookies each week, but with all that was going on I barely had time to get the cookies made let alone write up posts to go with them, so I am giving you the last of their cookies now, and will start working on the backlog.

This is what I made for the bulldogs for the last playoff game they were in - they were playing 2-3 games a week at this point so I was short on time between games. Also supplies for baking was running out in the house, and as I was leaving a couple days later on vacation, grocery shopping was the last thing on my mind. I had tried this with a couple of leftover egg roll wrappers the last time I made egg rolls, and they got great reviews.

Apple Rolls

Ingredients:
1 pkg egg roll wrappers
3-4 apples (use a tarter apple such as Granny Smith)
Brown sugar
Cinnamon
Water
Oil for deepfrying

Directions:
1. Peal and core the apples, cut each apple into 12-16 slices. You want the slices to be no more than 1/2 and inch wide on the widest side.
2. Take one egg roll wrapper, and place an apple slice near one of the corners. Sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon - tarter apples will need a little more sugar, so go with what you like. Top with another apple slice.

3. Fold the bottom corner over the apples, fold in side corners and roll up like an egg roll. Wet the top corner so it will seal.
4. Repeat until you run out of egg roll wrappers.
5. Deep fry the rolls in oil at about 375F until the wrappers are golden. Drain, let cool slightly and enjoy.
Note: they will become soft if stored too long - so just give them a quick cook in the oven to crisp them up again (375-400F for 5-10min).


Reviews:
These were a huge hit, I got more comments on them than any of the others cookies from through the season. One player stated that they were his all time favorite. One warning that O noticed (he has had them twice now) is to make sure you don't overcook them or the apples will be soft. Not a problem if you don't mind soft apples, but he says they are better with apples that are still holding their shape a bit.

Bulldogs:
Alright, the Bulldogs got into their divisional playoffs in first place. Sadly they were unable to make it to the finals.

Mustard Potatoes

First let me apologize for the long break - end of term and thesis writing took over my life for a while. I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel now, and have a little time to get back to actually writing down the recipes I have been trying. So here we go:

We were having salmon for dinner (well I was having chicken) and O had mentioned that he wanted potatoes with it for supper. I knew that there was some mustard going on the fish, so I figured I would put some on the potatoes as well. After a quick search I found a recipe that sounded great and had some good reviews. I modified the recipe a little (I refuse to do shopping trips for 1 item). The end result was delicious and went great with the fish.

Ingredients:
3 Large potatoes (5 med-regular potatoes)
¼ cup grainy dijion mustard
1 tbsp safflower oil (or any vegetable oil)
½ tbsp lemon juice
dash of salt

Directions:
1.Peel the potatoes if you wish, and cut them into small cubes/chunks.
2.Mix the mustard, oil, lemon juice and salt. Pour over the potatoes and toss to coat.
3.Place the potatoes on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake at 425F for 20 minutes.
4.Stir the potatoes around and bake for an additional 25 to 30 minutes until the potatoes are soft and tender.

Baby Quilt

A friend had her lovely baby boy a few weeks ago, and I had offered to make him a nice warm blanket for watching hockey games in – he came to his first game to watch his Dad play at only 2 weeks old, I would say he is going to be a hockey fan. Anyways, I decided to do the blanket in the colours of the team’s jerseys (they are basically the same as the Nashville Predators jersey).


I got the idea from a pattern I had seen with nice large blocks and made a trip to the fabric store. Lucky for me they were having a sale on fleece, and that would make a great hockey blanket! I didn’t do the 3 blankets like the original pattern called for, so I kind of re worked the cutting and fabric amounts to work for me.

Materials:
¼ m Fabric 1 (yellow)
½ m Fabric 2 (White)
½ m Fabric 3 (Blue)
1 m Fabric 4 (patterned)
36 x 42” batting

Squares:
4 – 9X9” squares (Fabric 1)
1 – 18 x 24” square (Fabric 2)
2 – 9 x 18” square (Fabric 3)
2 – 9 x 24” square (Fabric 3)
1 – 36 x 42 square (Fabric 4)

I sewed everything together following the original instructions, and then quilted it with a random curved line. The only thing I added as a stitch around the edge of the blanket to make it neat with a ¼” seam.

Reviews:
I love how thick and soft this blanket it. Sadly the total size of 35 x 41” is a little too small to be of much use to me. I really hope the new hockey fan enjoys it!

Salsa Rice

Salsa Rice

Some days I want something quick, that I don’t really have to think about – this is one of those meals. I love how tasty it is and how easy it is to put together. I originally got the recipe out of a Kraft cookbook and have altered it over the years, as I don’t usually have minute rice in the house. I have also tried to make this a healthy meal, while keeping the cost down.

Ingredients:
½ lb lean ground beef (you could also use ground chicken or turkey)
2 ½ cups cooked brown rice (I use Basmati)
1 ½ cup salsa
1 can corn niblets (drained)
Shredded light Old Cheddar

Directions:
1.While the rice is cooking (however you like to cook rice, I like to through min in my little rice cooker) brown the ground beef.
2.Combine the corn, ground beef, rice and salsa in the sauce pan and let it heat so the corn is hot.
3.Dish up and sprinkle with cheddar to your taste.

Reviews:
This is so tasty and simple that it a great dish to throw together on a busy night. The bonus – my husband can easily make this with little instruction or help for me, which is a great thing if I need to work late. The brown rice gives it a nice flavour that you don't get with the white rice (although it is still yummy).

Butterscotch Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

I had some butterscotch chips in the cupboard to use, and what better way to use them than feeding them to the hockey team? The bars worked so well for them last week that I decided to do a bar again (well that and it takes so much less time to bake when I am in a hurry.)

I looked for butterscotch bars and decided to try the Nestle TollHouse version of Butterscotch Brownies (although they were really just like cookie dough), and decided to add some chocolate to it.

Butterscotch Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
Ingredients:
2 ½ cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup margarine softened
1 ¾ cup packed brown sugar
1 tbsp vanilla
2 large eggs
2/3 to ¾ package of butterscotch chips
1 cup chocolate chips

Directions:
1. In a bowl cream the margarine/butter, then cream in the sugar, eggs and vanilla.
2. Mix the flour and baking powder together, then slowly add to the sugar/butter mixture.
3. Fold in ¾ of chips (both butterscotch and chocolate). Spread the batter into a 9x13 baking pan (I lined mine with parchment paper).
4. Sprinkle the remaining chips on top of the batter.
5. Bake at 350F for 25 to 35 minutes (30 min was a bit too long in my oven, they will be soft in the middle at the end, but set).
6. Cool on a wire rack, and cut into squares.

Reviews:
These were tasty, especially if you like butterscotch or chocolate chip cookies. I actually had members of the Bulldogs stopping to thank me for them this week and tell me they really liked them. The goalie said they were a little heavy for before the game, but he couldn’t stop eating them! I would say that it is a good review anytime someone makes themselves sick because they were couldn’t stop eating it.

The Score:
The Bulldogs beat the Gators 4-2 and are now in second place in their division! Hopefully they keep up the good work, as playoffs are only about a month away.

Peanut Butter Fudgey Brownies

This week the Bulldogs had a late game (10:45 pm start time, nice right?), and so I thought I had tons of time on Saturday to figure out something. Turns out I got a lot busier than I thought that day, and when I realized we would be leaving for the game in 3 hours, I still hadn’t even thought of anything to make. A quick look in my cupboard revealed a bag of peanut butter chipits, hmm what to do with those? I decided on brownies, as I needed it to get done quickly and cool so I could get them to the game, and still had to make some supper.

Fudgey Brownies with Peanut Butter
Ingredients:
1 cup margarine
2 cups brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
2/3 cup cocoa powder
1 cup all purpose flour
peanut butter chipits (I used ½ a package but would up that to ¾, do what you like)

Directions:
1.In a medium saucepan melt the margarine and remove from heat. Stir in the brown sugar until smooth.
2.Add in the eggs and vanilla once the mixture has cooled so it will not cook the eggs.
3.Stir in the cocoa powder and all purpose flour until just combined. Fold in the peanut butter chipits.
4.Pour into a 9x 13 inch pan ( I line mine with parchment paper)
5.Bake at 350F for 25 minutes, cool on a wire rack.
6.Enjoy!

Reviews:
The boys loved these brownies (and I must admit that I stole a few before they made it to the locker room). The peanut butter cuts the sweetness of the brownie just the right amount, and what goes together better than peanut butter and chocolate? When asked what they wanted next week, I was told these brownies (or the oreo cookies). Too bad for them that isn’t happening, I can’t have these things around too often!

The Game:
They won 10-4 against the Canadians! Way to go boys! They play again Saturday evening, and hopefully I will have post up a little quicker this time.

Tai Coconut Curry Soup

I saw a recipe for this in “The best of Chef at Home” by Micheal Smith. The picture had me drooling, and I really wanted to try this soup. However after a trip to the grocery store I was unable to find a few of the ingredients (lemon grass, lime leaves ect), so I picked up a curry sauce instead of a paste and made my own soup!

Ingredients:
2 cans coconut milk
1 jar Thai curry sauce (I used yellow, but if you want spicier go for red or green)
2 chicken breasts, thinly sliced
2 carrots – shredded
1 stalk celery, chopped
1 – 2” knob of ginger
1 box chicken broth
1 packed thai rice noodles

Directions:
1.In a saucepan, cook the chicken strips.
2.Add in the curry sauce (start with ½ the jar and go from there), 1 can of coconut milk, cream from 1 can of coconut milk, carrots, celery, grated ginger and chicken broth. Simmer for 15 to 20 minutes ( vegetables should be cooked).
3.Add the rice noodles and allow them to rehydrate (1-3 minutes depending on heat of soup – check package directions).
4.Serve and enjoy.

Tip: If the noodles are long (as rice noodles tend to be), break them before putting them in the soup, long noodles are hard to dish up or eat with a spoon!

Reviews:
O and I both really enjoyed this soup! It was easy to adjust the spice, and the flavours went really well together. Using the pre-made curry sauce allowed the soup to be made in about 30 minutes, with very little work (and I didn't have to hunt out lemon grass, but still got the flavour). That is my kind of dinner.

The chicken is great in this, but I am sure it would be just as good without and using vegetable broth as a vegetarian version.

Chocolate Chip Cardamom Cookies

First let me let me apologize for the lack of pictures, my camera batteries were dead and then all the cookies were done before they were charged. Also the last week has been terribly busy, so i apologize that this post is a week late.

I love cardamom and usually only get it in cookies around Christmas time. I had a craving for it this week, but didn’t want to make fattigmen or anything like that. I had seen some recipes for Cardamom Chocolate pots, and figured if it went well with chocolate, it should go well in chocolate chip cookies.

Cardamom Chocolate Chip Cookies:

Ingredients:
1 cup margerine or butter
1 cup brown sugar
½ cup white sugar
2 egg
1 ½ tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
2 cups all purpose flour
½ to 1 tsp ground cardamom (if it is fresh, you will need only ½, use 1 for preground, or if you really like the flavour!)
Chocolate chips.

Directions:
1.Cream the butter until it is light and fluffy, then cream in the sugar, followed by the egg and vanilla.
2.Mix the baking soda, flour and cardamom together. Add to the butter mixtures and mix until combined. Fold in the chocolate chips.
3.Using a teaspoon drop cookies onto a cookie sheet and bake at 350F for 10 to 12 minutes.
4.Cool on a wire rack.
5.Enjoy

Reviews:
So I made a half batch with cardamom and a half batch without. I loved the cookies with the cardamom in them and could tell the difference. O thought they were okay, but isn’t a big fan of cardamom so he mostly went for the regular. He could tell which were the cardamom cookies, as he would take a bite then give them to me and get himself a new one!

However the hockey boys could not tell the difference between the two batches. My theory is they weren’t really trying. No complaints on either batch though, and I will be making these again.

All right Game time:
I know I missed last week as I was away – well the boys won sans cookies! Way to go! As for this week, the game ended in a 2-2 tie after 3 periods and one round (5 players) of shootout. They then ran out of ice time and had to leave the game as a tie.

(As this post is a week late, this weeks post will be up soon!)

Cinnamon Cookies

I love cinnamon, so naturally I am fan of cinnamon hearts. I had a large bag of cinnamon hearts and decided to try and make a cookie out of them for valentines, as I wanted something new and special.

Cinnamon Heart Cookies

¼ + 2 tbsp butter
¾ cup crushed cinnamon hearts
1 egg
¼ tsp vanilla
1 ¼ cup flour
½ tsp baking poweder

powdered sugar
crushed cinnamon hearts

Directions:
1.Cream the butter and then add the crushed cinnamon hearts and continue creaming. Add in the egg and vanilla until well mixed.
2.Add the flour ½ cup at a time and the baking powder until mixed.
3.Chill the dough in the fridge for at least 1 hour.
4.Sprinkle the counter top with powdered sugar and roll out the dough to ¼ inch thick.
5.Cut out cookies and place on a cookie sheet, sprinkle the top of the cookies with the remaining crushed candies.
6.Bake at 400F for 6-7 minutes.

Reviews:
I fed these to my students and they all seemed to really enjoy them. Theya re great slightly crispy cookies with a little kick of cinnamon to them. They make a fun and easy Valentines treat, or a great treat for anyone who is a fan of cinnamon hearts!

Lasagna (with Bolognese sauce)

I watched Guy's Big Bite on the food channel one day (seriously big mistake) and they featured a couple of Italian places with amazing looking food. After that I was craving something cheesy and tomato goodness. In that same timespan I found myself on bell'alimento (again, not the smartest plan when I was already craving Italian). As soon as I hit the Lasagna Bolognese I was done. I called O at work, he stopped on his way home to pick me up some cheese as I got to work on the sauce. The result is a mix of bell'alimento's recipe and the ones I saw on the Food Network that week.

Lasagna (made with Bolognese sauce)

Bolognese sauce
fresh pasta dough/ dry lasagna noodles
mozzerela cheese
Bechamel Sauce (recipe below)

Assemble the lasagna.

1.Take the pasta dough from fresh pasta and roll into sheets, or use dry noodles. Cook the dough in boiling water.
2.In a pan layer Bolognese sauce, cream sauce, cheese and top with noodles.
3.Repeat the layers until you have 3 layers of noodles, top with sauces and cheese.
4.Bake at 350F for 35 min. (golden on top)
5.Let sit 15 min before serving.

Note: you could also sprinkle some paresien cheese on the top as well!

Also the Bolognese recipe makes a lot, I got 2 of these lasagnas made in a 9” pan and more for spagetti.


Bechamel Sauce (made enough for 2 9” square pans of lasagna)
4 tbsp of Butter
1/2 cup All Purpose Flour
1 1/2 cups Milk

In a pan melt the butter. Whisk in the flour until it forms a “paste”. Slowly add the milk to the paste and whisking until smooth each time. Once all the milk is in cook for 5 min or so until it thickens.


Reviews:

Oh my, this hit the spot. I almost pulled it out of the oven and started shoveling it in my face before it was done it smelled so good. It was hardy and filling and just good comfort food. I am drooling just thinking about it. This was also a hit with O.

I have one sitting the freezer ready for to bake it in the coming weeks. I am really looking forward to this.

Bolognese Sauce

I have tried a few different Bolognese sauces over the last year or two, trying to find one that I loved. I have eaten at a couple of places that have tasty ones, so I kept trying. While browsing one day I came across bell'alimento, and here delicious looking Ragu alla Bolognese. I knew I had to try it.

I have made a couple of changes, as I was looking for something with a little more tomato in it (also requested by O) that day, but the original sauce is also amazing! I highly suggest checking it out, and all her other yummy looking recipes!

Bolognese Sauce

Ingredients:
2 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 carrots - peeled & minced
2 stalks of celery - minced
1 clove of garlic - minced
1 onion - minced
1 6oz can of tomato paste
2 cups red wine (I used a Shiraz)
1 ½ lb of ground beef
½ lb of ground venison (or beef)
water
s/p
3 cans tomato sauce

Directions:
1. In a large, deep pan, heat the olive oil over medium heat.
2. Once hot add the carrots, celery, onion and garlic. Saute on low heat for 20 to 25 min. The veggies should be soft and tender. Don’t forget to stir it once in a while.
3. Add the meat, salt and pepper. Cook until the meat is brown through.
4. Add the tomato paste and brown for 5 minutes. Add the wine and allow to reduce by half (10-20 min).
5. Put enough water in the mixture to cover the sauce by 1”. Let the sauce simmer on low for a MINIMUM of 1 hour, best is 2-3 hours. If the liquid gets too low, add a little more.
6. ½ hour or so before using the sauce, add in the tomato sauce and stir. (If you want you can add a little basil and oregano – I did this to ½ the sauce.)

Read more: http://www.bellalimento.com/2009/11/10/bolognese-sauce/#ixzz0eK7fPZ87

Reviews:
Both the original sauce found on bellalimento's sight and this version are amazing, just depends on how much tomato you feel like. I am in love with this sauce and I can see I will be making it again in the near future (after the leftovers in the freezer run out).

This recipe make a lot of sauce, and so I have some in the freezer just waiting for me. I am looking forward to see the results of freezing on the sauce. I used this sauce to make lasagna (coming very soon!).

Egg Rolls

I had stumbled across this recipe a while ago on My Kitchen Café, and thought it would be fun to try and make them. The problem I soon discovered was in trying to find egg roll rappers. Apparently they aren’t easy to find around here.

I finally stumbled upon the wrappers and all the necessary sauces and was able to whip up some up. The key was to look in the correct area of the store – and despite the warnings from the author, they were actually called egg roll wrappers, not spring roll wrappers.

I decided to ½ the recipe as it was going to produce way more than I needed.

Egg Rolls
1 package vermicelli noodles
1lb ground pork
1 lb ground chicken
½ head of cabbage, shredded finely
2 whole eggs
1 egg white (save the egg yolk for sealing the egg rolls)
1/4 pound carrots, shredded finely (about 2-4 depending on size)
1 onion, finely chopped

Cook the noodles according the package instructions (soaking in hot water for 10 to 20 minutes). Once soaked, drain very well and chop noodles up a bit into 2-3 inch pieces (not too short).

Mix all the above ingredients (noodles, meat, cabbage, whole eggs, egg whites, carrots and onions) in a large bowl. Hand mixing works best. Then add:

1 1/2 tablespoons salt
4 tablespoons oyster sauce
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1/2 tablespoon black pepper
1 tablespoons fish sauce

Mix together.

Take a wrapper and place filling about a 1/3 of the way up the wrapper. Fold the end over, then fold the bottom up and roll. Seal using the leftover egg yolks.

In a pot heat oil (I used safflower) to about 375F. Drop in the rolls and cook until golden brown and cooked through, you will have to turn them so it cooks on both sides. (I tested the first couple with a thermometer to figure out how long it took to cook the insides.)

Reviews:
I only wrapped about 1/3 of the filling before I ran out of wrappers, oops. I froze the rest of the filling to use later – note this makes a lot of filling.

These were delicious, O loved them and friends enjoyed them. The 30 that I made and wrapped were gone in a matter of days, even after putting them in the freezer! They are completely addictive, and I can’t wait to make up the rest of them (although I am trying to hold out as I can’t imagine they will last very long).

A tip: make a bunch and put them in the freezer after cooked. When you want to have them for supper bake them for 20 min at 350F. They remain crisp and still taste amazing!

Chocolate Dream Cake

I received a cakepan that would allow me to make filled cakes really easily. I couldn’t wait to try it and and decided to make a dreamy chocolate cake filled with all sorts of different kind of levels of chocolate.

Starting with Martha Stewart's One Bowl Chocolate Cake, I then filled it with a dairy free chocolate mousse (my friend coming over is lactose intolerant, so I wanted something she could enjoy), and topped it all with chocolate butter cream (Martha Stewart) and chocolate shavings.

The cake was very easy to put together – pop out of the pan, fill, stack, ice. So simple, with fantastic results.

One Bowl Chocolate Cake

Ingredients

Makes 2 eight-inch square or 3 eight-inch round layers

1 1/2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder, plus more for pans
3 cups all-purpose flour
3 cups sugar
1 tablespoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
3 large eggs
1 1/2 cups soured milk (I used 1% plus 1tbsp lemon juice)
3/4 cup safflower oil (or any vegetable oil)
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 cup warm water
Unsalted butter, for pans


Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter round or square cake pans, and line bottoms with parchment; butter parchment, and dust with cocoa.
2. Into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, sift cocoa, flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. With the mixer on low, stir in eggs, 1 cups warm water, buttermilk, vegetable oil, and vanilla until smooth, about 3 minutes.
3. Divide batter among prepared pans. Bake, rotating once, until tester inserted in center comes out clean, 35 to 45 minutes for 8-inch layers, depending on amount of batter.
4. Let cakes cool in pans on a wire rack for 20 minutes, then remove from pans and cool completely, right side up on rack.

Note: the original recipe calls for 1 ½ cups of warm water but only in the directions, which I thought was weird. After adding 1 cup of water, I thought it was a good consistency and baked it. It turned out great.


Chocolate Mousse

Ingredients

4 ounces 80% cocoa chocolate (I used Lindt)
3/4 cup margarine
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
4 eggs

Directions

1. In a mixing bowl, cream the margarine.
2. Add the sugar, vanilla and melted chocolate and beat until fluffy.
3. Add the eggs and beat for 3 minutes until smooth and thick.
4. Refrigerate until serving, or in this case fill the appropriate areas of the cake.



Chocolate Buttercream

Ingredients

Makes enough for 15 cupcakes

1 cups sugar
1/2 cup egg whites (about 3 large)
¾ cup unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
8 ounces dark chocolate, melted and cooled slightly (I used an 80% cocoa Lindt bar)

Directions

1. Place sugar and egg whites in the bowl of an electric mixer set over (but not touching) a pan of simmering water. Whisk constantly until mixture is heated and sugar is dissolved. Whisk (with an electric or stand mixter) until cooled and stiff peaks form (the peak remains after you remove the beater).
2. With the mixer running, add butter, one piece at a time, until completely incorporated. Continue whisking until a light, fluffy cream has formed. Stir in chocolate until well combined.
3. Use as needed.

Reviews:
Oh wow, this cake truly was a dream. It was 8 to 9 inches high and full of delicious chocolate. The mousse was divine, and I admit I licked the bowl out, not the normal lick off the spoon, but I full on broke out the spatula and scraped every last bit out of the bowl. So good! The cake was moist and delicious, I will using this recipe again.

The only thing that I would have done differently? Used white chocolate and milk chocolate shavings on the top as well as the dark chocolate. mmmmmmmmmm

Oreo Cakesters - Bulldogs

The bulldogs played midweek (Wednesday at 10:30pm!) this week. Sadly after their last game they had requested the soft oreo like cookies that I will sometimes make, and our my brother in law's favorite cookies. These are really tasty cookies, and come together very quickly.

I have previously posted these cookies, so it sadly wasn't a new or fun cookie for the boys this week.

However the cookies were a hit (I had very little doubt on that point) and no leftovers found their way home.

Bulldogs: The boy's lost the game this week by one goal after coming back from being behind by 3 goals.

Next week's cookies: I am really not sure yet, and as O and I will be gone that weekend, I don't know if I will be sending them cookies.

Quick "Asian" Noodles

I wanted something to go with the beef and broccoli I was making, and while in the grocery store I checked out the selection of asian noodles – they had the fresh Shanghi noodles ( a soft, thick yellow coloured noodle) on sale and decided to try it. My mother used to cook with them once in a while and I remembered they were pretty good, and there was a recipe on the back of the package. I combined it with a recipe from Steamy Kitchen (15 min Asian noodles).

Quick Noodles

1 lb “fresh” Asian noodles (refrigerated section, with other asian foods)
2 stalks green onion, cut in small slices/rings
1 carrot, thinly sliced or shredded
4 tablespoons oyster sauce
4 teaspoon soy sauce
2 tablespoon sherry
2 tablespoon cooking oil (canola or vegetable)

Directions:
1.In a hot frypan or walk heat the oil and add the carrots and green onions, and fry until tender.
2.While veggies fry mix the oyster sauce, soy sauce and sherry together.
3.When veggies are almost done add in the noodles (cooked if the package says to cook them first, but these just needed to be heated) and mix with the veggies. Cover the sauce and cook until heated.
4.Enjoy!


Reviews:
These were pretty yummy, and they were ready I about 10 min or so. They paired great with the beef and broccoli.

The noodles I used:

Ice On Whyte

It has been a great weekend around here, the weather has warmed and festivals are running, making finding some entertainment easy.

This weekend, O and I decided to check out Ice on Whyte which opened on Thursday. We don't usually go this early as not all the sculptures are done, but we wanted to see things before the heat destroyed them.

It was great to see the ice carvers at work!




The Castle theme this year was hotel, which they did a great job of. The bar was great with all the bricks. (Top of post)


I even tried the Ice Slide - which was so much fun, I highly recommend. It takes between 6-7 sec to get down (we had timed races)


If you are Killing time in Edmonton this week, be sure to check out the festival.

Beef and Broccoli

Beef and Broccoli

I love beef and broccoli, it was also my favourite dish from the little chinese place growing up. The owner/chef/water made amazing beef and broccoli. Sadly, I have moved away from my little hometown, and I think that he has since closed his restaurant. I came across this recipe after hearing great things about the site Steamy Kitchen and decided to try it.

Beef and Broccoli

Ingredients:

3/4 pound flank or sirloin, sliced thinly across the grain
1 pound broccoli florets
1 tablespoons high-heat cooking oil
1/4 to 1/2 tsp minced garlic
1 teaspoon cornstarch, dissolved in 1 tablespoon water

Marinade

1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon sherry
1/2 teaspoon cornstarch
Dash teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Sauce

2 tablespoons oyster sauce
1 teaspoon sherry
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1/4 cup chicken broth

Method

1. Stir together the beef marinade ingredients in a medium bowl. Add the beef slices and coat, let stand for 10 minutes

2 While beef marinates stir together the sauce ingredients in a small bowl.

3 Cook the broccoli using your favorite method (I steam mine, keeps more of the nutrients in them). Keep them tender crisp, as they will cook a little bit more, but not much in the frying pan.

4 Heat a large frying pan or wok over high heat until a bead of water sizzles and instantly evaporates upon contact. Add the cooking oil and swirl to coat. Add the beef and immediately spread the beef out all over the surface of the wok or pan in a single layer (preferably not touching), fry undisturbed for 1 minute. Flip the beef slices over, add the garlic to the pan and fry for an additional 30 seconds to 1 minute until no longer pink, Pour in the sauce, add the blanched broccoli and bring to a boil. Pour in the dissolved cornstarch and cook, stirring, until the sauce boils and thickens, 30 seconds.


Reviews:
I love this recipe! It isn’t as good as the one from the little hole in wall restaurant I grew up with, but it is still delicious. And the best part – it is so quick and easy to make!

Cranberry Cookies - Bulldogs

It was Bulldog Cookie time again, and I needed to get rid of some cranberries and cranberry sauce from my fridge/freezer. Cranberries go well in cookies right? I am sure they do, so I decided to try and put some cookies together the sauce – the boys are so good about eating just about anything I put in front of them.

I am sorry, but somehow I didn't get a picture of these adorable cookies when they were done baking , but I did get a couple of prep pictures (sorry about the bad quality, the light in my place is worse than usual lately)

Let me just say this – these cookies smelled heavenly when baking!

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter, softened
2/3 cup white sugar
1 eggs
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup of cranberry sauce

Extra Cranberry Sauce (note: I used all homemade cranberry sauce, but I am sure canned will work.)


Directions:

1.Cream the butter until light, then add in the sugar and continue creaming until light and fluffy (3-5 min).
2.Add the egg, cranberry sauce and vanilla and mix until well combined.
3.Add the baking powder and salt to the flour and add it to the butter mixture until combined.
4.Using teaspoons or a small cookie scoop, portion out the dough. Flatten each piece of dough and place a small amount of sauce in the middle.

Wrap the dough around the sauce


Form a ball, and roll the ball in a little sugar


Note: You can also spread sauce onto one flat cookie and top with another, and pinch the edges together to make a flat cookie.
5. Bake at 350 for 8-9 minutes, let cool on the sheet for 1 minute before removing to a wire rack.



Reviews:
I loved the smell and pretty light pink of these cookies – they were adorable. The little dark spots were some of the sauce was peaking through made the look a little like a jelly donut.

The cookies were good without the filling in them, but most people agreed it needed a little more. Instead of mixing extra sauce into the cookies I used it as a filling. Other suggestions I need to dry were adding white chocolate or craisins. The sauce I used was made with orange juice so it had a hint of orange and some people thought it could use a little more.

The Bulldogs loved the cookies, and a few commented that they reminded them of holiday dinners.

Game Recap:
Bulldogs won 6-5 at their late night game. #13 got a hat trick - woo hoo! It was a tight game and after pulling ahead early, the game became tied in the 3rd remained that way until a shorthanded goal by #13 put them back in the lead with only a couple minutes left in the game.

They boys play again on the 27th.