Food Mamma

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raspberry cream cheese frosting

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Today’s my sister-in-law’s birthday – Happy Birthday R!! As much as she didn’t want to celebrate, we did convince her that cake was in order. Her cake of choice was one of my faves, red velvet. I decided to change up the frosting a little and use some of the great raspberries that we have been enjoying.

With the weather being nice and hot, and not really conducive to frosting, I kept the consistency perfect for spreading. For a stiffer icing that you can pipe, just add a little more icing sugar.

The icing was yummy and complemented the red velvet cupcakes perfectly. With lots leftover, it will be hard to not go dunking everything in it!

Raspberry Cream Cheese Frosting

1 block cream cheese
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup raspberries, mashed with a fork
1 1/2 to 2 cups icing sugar

Cream the cream cheese and butter together until nice and smooth. Add the raspberries and mix again. With your mixer on, slowly incorporate the icing sugar until you reach the desired consistency.

happy birthday to my sister!

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It’s my sister’s birthday today! Wishing she was here so that we could celebrate her big day. Instead, my sister is living her dream, working in the developing world, trying to make a difference. 

Wishing my beautiful sister the happiest of birthdays!  Can’t wait to celebrate with you soon. Love you!


strawberry edamame salad

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Happy Father’s Day to all the wonderful dads out there! Hope everyone had a great time celebrating the men in their lives. We had a family potluck and my job was salad and dessert.

Since we were initially going to have a picnic, I decided that cupcakes were the way to go. They’re portable and everyone could have their own. Although we skipped out on the picnic, I stuck with the original plan and made some mini coconut cupcakes.

I know some people think that being in charge of salad can be kind of boring. I think if it is, the salad is just not worth eating. It’s always fun to play with textures and tastes and make a salad that everyone goes back for.

I started with the greens, both spinach and baby romaine.  I also wanted to add a few of Q’s favourite things, so that he would be enticed to eat his veggies. One thing he can’t seem to get enough of, at the moment, is edamame. These were cooked for less than five minutes and cooled.  Added to the mix were crisp rings of sweet peppers, sweet slices of strawberries, tangy goat cheese and crispy fried onions.

I thought a balsamic dressing would be great to go with the strawberries and goat cheese. The tangy balsamic was cut with a bit of sweet honey and the salad went perfect with our Father’s Day meal of ribs, chicken, rice, corn and potatoes.

Balsamic Dressing

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil
2 tsp honey
salt
pepper

Combine and drizzle as needed.

paya for mother’s day

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On Saturday, hubby and I headed to Banff for the Rocky Mountain Wine and Food Festival. It was a lovely day to go and we enjoyed some amazing food. Lamb, Scallops, Plantain, Chocolate Dipped Baklava, Seafood Risotto – it was amazing!

The next morning Q came running into my room with a bag full of presents, some things he had bought me, some he had picked out from his toy collection. He has the biggest heart ever!

We had invited our families over for a Mother’s Day brunch. This year, I wanted to do something different, something a little Indian. I figured it would be a nice surprise and a slight change from the eggs we were considering doing.

I decided on paya, a favourite for both moms.  Paya is an Indian/Pakistani dish made with goat trotters.  The flavourful broth is eaten with french bread and then the marrow from the bones is eaten.  I find that people either love it or hate it. Hubby didn’t want me to work too hard but this was the easiest of meals. I tossed everything into a slow cooker the night before and it was ready to go in time for brunch. The meal was a success and it was minimal effort for a lot of praise.

Paya

2 pounds goat trotters
3 medium onions, blended
3 cinnamon sticks
10 black peppercorn
5 cardamom pods
5 cloves
2 TB salt
2 tsp crushed garlic
2 tsp crushed ginger
1 tsp chili powder (or more if desired)
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp paprika
cilantro

Wash the trotters really well and place in a slow cooker.  Add the onions and spices, except for the paprika and cover with enough water.  Let cook for 8 to 10 hours on low.  Right before serving, add the paprika, enough to get the desired colour. Sprinkle with cilantro and serve with french bread.

lobster and prawn cannelloni

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Hubby and I celebrated our seven year anniversary on Monday! I feel like I was just reminiscing the other day about our honeymoon and that flashback has already been a year! Time really does fly.

Although we went for sushi with our little guy on the weekend, I wanted to make hubby something special.  My cousin had been talking about lobster mac and cheese a few weeks ago and I had been thinking about it ever since. Lobster definitely had to be in the picture, I just changed the cheese and pasta – cannelloni!

I filled the tubes with a flavourful mixture of ricotta cheese, sweet lobster and meaty prawns. Instead of using a bechamel, I opted for an alfredo sauce which covered the filled pasta shells and baked them in some bubbly cheesy goodness.

The richness was cut by the addition of some fresh tomatoes. The perfect indulgent meal to celebrate!

Lobster and Prawn Cannelloni

10 cannelloni shells, cooked as per package

2 lobster tails, cooked and cut into chunks
10 large prawns, cooked and cut into pieces
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
3/4 cup ricotta cheese
1/2 parmesan cheese
bunch of basil, chopped
salt
pepper

1/4 cup butter
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup whipping cream
1 cup parmesan cheese
pinch nutmeg

Cook the onion and garlic in a bit of oil until softened.  Combine with the cheese, seafood and basil. Stuff this mixture into the cannelloni and place in an oven safe dish.

For the sauce, melt the butter in a saucepan.  Add cream and garlic and let simmer for a few minutes.  Add the cheese and a pinch of nutmeg and stir until the cheese has melted.

Pour the alfredo sauce over the filled cannelloni and bake in a 350 degree oven for 25 to 30 minutes until golden and bubbly.

food mamma is 3! we are celebrating with a few giveaways!

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Food Mamma is 3! Can’t believe it’s already been three years since the inception of my blog. It’s been a great outlet to share my love of food and all the pictures I seem to take of everything I eat. This blog has also helped in connecting me to some fabulous food loving people. Thanks to everyone who follow my blog and for all your support!

In honour of Food Mamma’s 3rd blogiversary, we are celebrating with 3 awesome giveaways from 3 great sponsors! Chocolate, cheese and kitchen gadgets…just a few of my favourite things!

Win a baking basket from Chocolaterie Bernard valued at $100. All the best baking products for you to make some amazing stuff. This prize is for those in Calgary and surrounding areas as it will have to be picked up at one of their stores.

Win a Castello cheese board and $20 in grocery vouchers. Use these vouchers to pick up some cheese to eat by itself or incorporate it into something delicious.

Win a Real Cream whisk and spatula set. These useful kitchen gadgets are perfect for baking or cooking!

Entering is easy! Just leave a comment below. Also, please let me know if you are local to Calgary, so I know which draws I can enter you for. Earn extra entries by liking on Facebook and following on Twitter.  Contest closes on April 3rd.  Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

chocolate mousse cake

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It’s been a lovely month of birthdays and we’ve had a great time celebrating with family, and lots of cake! This past Friday was my dad’s birthday and I wanted to make something awesome for this special man. Chocolate and mousse came to mind.

I made a chocolate cake but baked it in a sheet pan to make a thin layer. I cut this one layer into three to make a nice tall cake, kind of like the tuxedo cake at Costco.  I made a simple mousse by combining melted chocolate and whipping cream and spread it between the chocolatey layers.  It was also the crown of the cake topped with shaved chocolate.  It was kind of a mess of a cake but everyone loved it.

Chocolate Mousse Cake

Your favourite chocolate cake recipe, like this one
1 cup chocolate chips, melted
1 1/2 cups whipping cream

Beat the whipping cream until peaks are formed.  Fold slowly into the melted chocolate until both are incorporated. Let chill for half an hour.  Cut the cake into layers and spread the mousse between the layers.

tasting menu at teatro

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Today is my birthday! As long as I don’t think about the fact that I’m a year older, I love birthdays. That may be due to the fact that in our house, we celebrate all week long! Our celebration began on Friday and since then, we’ve been to the hockey game, had dinner with my fabulous cousins and had a celebration with my awesome family. My birthday present this year from hubby was an evening at Teatro for the chef’s tasting menu.  We had been wanting to do this for a while, ever since we observed another table enjoying the food when we were last there and I was happy to finally experience it on Sunday.

Good food is always better when enjoyed with friends so we were happy that some of our food-loving friends were able to join us. The food came out at a great pace. We savoured the meal and enjoyed the company and I was surprised that three and a half hours had passed by. Every time I thought I had tasted my favourite, they would bring out something even more delicious. It was an incredible experience and definitely worth the time and money.  Teatro is great at making people feel special and their extra touches, like the stools for your purse, are well received. I also love the open kitchen so you can watch the chefs in action as they prepare the delicious food.

Here’s a recap of our fabulous meal:

Venison tartare
Apple consommé with butternut squash

Root vegetables with goat cheese and ouzu encapsulation

Brussel sprouts caesar salad with lemon air, toasted parmesan, shaved parmesan
Duck prosciutto with focaccia, garlic aioli and raspberry spaghetti
Passion fruit marshmallows and dehydrated passion fruit
Kale filled tortellini with red pepper and saffron sauce with a citrus buerre blanc
Parsley crusted scallop with spaetzle and morels and lemon foam
(they also, using liquid nitrogen, created the ambience of the ocean)
Dry aged sous vide beef tenderloin with parisian carrots, fried mashed
potato, brussel sprouts with a fermented garlic beef jus
Goat cheese snowman with a sage cream puddle and dehydrated blueberries for the eyes and buttons
Parsnip creme brûlée

Caramel ice cream made with liquid nitrogen and topped black Cyprus sea salt

Birthday Tiramisu

Teatro on Urbanspoon

sour cream cake

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My father-in-law celebrated his birthday on the weekend, and we definitely needed a cake to cut and enjoy. My FIL has two favourites – the tres leches and just plain cake. Since we had the tres leches last month for my MIL’s birthday, I opted for the plain cake.

Sour Cream Cake

This plain and simple cake is one of my favourites as well. It is moist and buttery and is so comforting dipped in a cup of tea. Since we were celebrating a birthday, I added some icing to make it more festive.  With or without icing, it’s always well received.

Sour Cream Cake
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Ingredients

  • 1 cup butter
  • 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

Instructions

  1. Combine the butter and sugar and beat for a couple of minutes.
  2. Add the vanilla and eggs until incorporated. 
  3. Add the sour cream.
  4. In a separate bowl, combine the dry ingredients and add to the butter and sugar mixture. 
  5. Put batter in a greased pan and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.
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