wordless wednesday: baking cookies
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sour cream cake for mom’s birthday
Happy Birthday to my beautiful mom! She is a selfless person with a big heart and always puts her family first.
Since we keep Q busy with activities all week, we celebrated my mom’s special day yesterday. We had a delicious dinner out and ended the evening with cake. You’ve got to have cake!
I made one of my go-to’s – sour cream cake. I have been making this for years and don’t remember where the original recipe comes from. It takes minutes to prepare and bakes in an hour. It always turns out moist and is a favourite of many.
I love the versatility of this cake. It can be smothered in buttercream for a delicious birthday treat or baked in a bundt pan with a layer of cinnamon, brown sugar and nuts in the middle. This is also great as cupcakes, after adding a handful (or few!) of chocolate chips.
Happy Birthday Mom!! Love you!
Sour Cream Cake
1 cup butter, room temperature
1 1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1 cup sour cream
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
Cream the butter and sugar for three minutes. Add the vanilla and eggs and beat until combined. Mix in the sour cream. Add the dry ingredients and beat until combined. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.
salsa for game day
It’s Grey Cup weekend and although the Stampeders didn’t make it, there are many people holding parties this Sunday. What’s a must at any Grey Cup party? Salsa!
I have been wanting to make Ree’s salsa every since I saw it on The Pioneer Woman. It is super easy to make and this recipe makes a lot! It’s perfect for when you’re having a big gathering to watch the big game. It would also make great Christmas gifts, a nice break from all the sweet treats.
I didn’t have the tomatoes with the chilis so I upped the spices. I love all the green specks from the cilantro! The salsa was delicious and paired nicely with some baked corn tortillas. Cut into triangles, drizzle with olive oil and bake at 400 degrees until golden brown.
What are you serving at your Grey Cup party?
Restaurant -Style Salsa
Adapted from The Pioneer Woman
Two 10-ounce cans diced tomatoes
One 28-ounce can whole tomatoes with juice
1/2 cup fresh cilantro leaves
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 clove garlic, minced
1 whole jalapeno, quartered and sliced thin, with seeds and membrane
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon sugar
1 whole lime, juiced
Combine the tomatoes, cilantro, onions,
garlic, jalapeno, cumin, salt, sugar and lime juice in a blender or food
processor. Enjoy!
wordless wednesday: jamming on a cold day
chocolate coconut cupcakes
I am truly lucky to be surrounded by family. Life gets busy, but every month, we have a family lunch for all of us to share a meal and spend some quality time together.
There are many birthdays to be celebrated in November so of course, cake was in order. I tried out these chocolate coconut cupcakes from So, How’s it Taste?
The cupcakes were really easy to make and were baked in less than 30 minutes. I decided to go with a classic cream cheese frosting, which paired really well with the coconut and the chocolate. To top it all off, I toasted some coconut in the oven while the cupcakes were baking, which provided the perfect crunch with every bite.
These were great and perfect to celebrate both the young and the young at heart.
Chocolate Coconut Cupcakes
From, So, How’s it Taste?
2 cups sugar
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup Cocoa
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. coconut extract
1 cup shredded coconut
1 cup boiling water
Heat oven to 350°F.
Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil, vanilla, and coconut extract; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Gently fold in shredded coconut.
Line muffin cups (2-1/2 inches in diameter) with paper bake cups. Fill cups 3/4 full with batter. Bake 22 to 25 minutes.
wordless wednesday: the excitement is building
usa rice and seafood paella
I was very excited to participate in a blogging opportunity featuring USA Rice.
In
our house, we mostly use Basmati and I was happy that I was able to
find one that was grown in the US, so that I could feature it in a
recipe. Normally, I cook rice in a rice cooker. For this recipe though,
the stove top and oven were used for the delicious seafood paella.
Check out this video featuring one of Canada’s culinary experts, Rose Reisman.
Here are some interesting facts about rice:
The
U.S. is one of the largest exporters of rice, supplying about seven per
cent of the rice that enters world trade. Approximately 45 per cent of
the U.S. rice crop is exported to more than 100 countries.
There are approximately 30 mills in the U.S.
Canada produces no rice of its own. Canadian wild rice is not a true rice, but the seed of an aquatic grass.
Almost 70 per cent of rice consumed in Canada is grown in the U.S.
The U.S. produces over 40 commercial varieties of rice each year in paddy, brown, white, parboiled and precooked forms.
There
are thousands of rice varieties. At the International Rice Research
Institute Genetic Resources Centre in the Philippines, there are 80,000
rice samples in cold storage.
Rice is grown on every continent except Antarctica.
One
seed of rice yields more than 3,000 grains. It is the highest yielding
cereal grain and can grow in many kinds of environment and soils.
With
rice, the possibilities are endless but I decided on making paella. I
adapted this recipe from Ina Garten’s for lobster paella. I made this
savoury dish with lobster, prawns and mussels. Definitely a comforting
dish but sophisticated enough for entertaining.
Seafood Paella
Adapted from Ina Garten, Barefoot Contessa
Olive oil
2 small onions, chopped
1 red pepper, sliced
1 orange pepper, sliced
6 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups USA basmati rice
5 cups chicken stock
1/2 tsp saffron threads, crushed
1 lobster tail, cooked and chopped
1 pound prawns, cooked in butter
1 pound mussels, cooked
salt
pepper
parsley
lemon
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
Heat the oil in a pot, add onions and cook over medium-low heat for 5 minutes. Add the peppers and cook for another 5 minutes. Lower the heat, add the garlic, and cook for 1 minute longer.
Stir in the rice, chicken stock, saffron, salt and pepper and bring to a boil. Cover the pot and place it in the oven. After 15 minutes, stir the rice gently and return in to the oven to bake uncovered for 15 more minutes, until the rice is fully cooked.
In the meantime, cook the seafood. I cooked the prawns and lobster in butter.
Transfer the paella back to the stove and add in the seafood. Cover the paella and allow it to steam for 10 minutes. Garnish with parsley and lemon.
remember
a mickey birthday and a giveaway
Yesterday was Q’s fifth birthday. I can’t believe he is five! He has brought so much joy to our lives and I am thankful for him everyday.
Since our Disney cruise is coming up, we have Mickey on our minds. It made sense that the theme for his school celebration should be of our favourite mouse. Chocolate chip cupcakes were topped with buttercream, finished with a couple of mini Oreos made to look like Mickey ears.
To continue with the theme, I was eager to use my new Mickey Mouse cookie cutters. I rolled out some chocolate shortbread and made the cutest little cookies.
Want to win one of these Mickey cookie cutters for yourself? Just leave a comment, either here or on Facebook, telling me who your favourite Disney character is. Contest closes on Monday, November 11th at noon MST.
