Category Archives: Snacks

Cinnamon Zucchini Muffins

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Long time no post.

So I’ve slowly been working on content and with having my hard drive replace in my laptop, there were certain things that had to be delayed. I have pictures ready to go, I also have more content just waiting to be posted and all I needed was a fully functioning computer!

But it all seems to be functioning now that I’ve re-installed everything. The worst part is that there is always something missing. You think that you remembered to install all of the other things, but you always forget one thing when you go to use YouTube and volume doesn’t work.

Anyways, these muffins I made a few weeks ago. I had some zucchini in the fridge and I didn’t want to eat it with dinner. So I decided that it would be more fun to make muffins!

I used a favorite muffin recipe, I usually use it with blueberries or raspberries. So I took the plunge and added squash instead.

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Cinnamon Zucchini Muffins
Author: 
Serves: 48
 
Ingredients
  • White muffin mix, or bran muffin mix
  • 2 cups grated zucchini
Instructions
  1. Prepare muffin mix as per instructions, or prepare your plain muffin recipe as per your instructions.
  2. Grate zucchini, and put into muffin mix
  3. Spoon out into muffin tin with muffin cups. Make sure to put spritz baking spray into the muffin cups so that the muffin cups don't stick to the muffin.
  4. Bake for the time specified in your recipe or on the package.
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Double Chocolate Icebox Cookies

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There is nothing like a little bit of rich chocolate nibbles on a night when you know you can’t have wine.

So I decided to take my time to make something crisp and a little soft and full of chocolate since as I mentioned above, I really shouldn’t have wine tonight.

In this recipe I did substitute the butter for the lactose free margarine, and again I’m finding that the oil is just not the same as butter, I might start making up for it with putting some Sunflower oil or olive oil in the mixture just so it has the same oiliness. Also after the chilling process, I did have it in a nice log and it would have sliced up quite nicely if the chunks of chocolate weren’t so big. So I do advise that you don’t use chucks of chocolate that are all ready to go in a bag (so convenient!). If you were to use small chocolate chips, it would also work. I guess I’m just not a fan on cutting up squares of chocolate because I always have to clean my floors the same night (Thank you ants! How you manage to survive in our 10th floor apartment I’ll never know).

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Double Chocolate Icebox Cookies
Author: 
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
 
Ingredients
  • 9 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
  • ⅔ cups white sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • ⅓ cup cocoa
  • ½ tsp baking powder
  • ¼ tsp kosher salt
  • 3 oz good-quality bittersweet chocolate cut into small chunks
Instructions
  1. In bowl, beat butter with sugar; stir in vanilla.
  2. Whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt.
  3. Stir into butter mixture in 2 additions
  4. Stir in chocolate to make crumbly dough.
  5. On plastic wrap, form dough into a 1½ inch diameter log; wrap in plastic wrap and chill for 1½ hours.
  6. Using a sharp knife, slice log into ½ inch thick rounds. Place, 1 inch apart, on parchment paper-lined baking sheet.
  7. Bake 1 sheet at a time, in 325 degree oven until edges are dry but centre is still a bit moist, about 12 mins.
  8. Let cool on pan on rack for 5 minutes, transfer to rack, let cool completely.
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This recipe was taken from Canadian Living Special Baking Edition Holiday Fall 2012.

 

Blooming Baked Onion

2013-08-28-16.13

 

So I had some onions that were sitting there, and for some reason I’ve had a serious craving for onions lately. It was all from the onion rings from Harvey’s…. yeah that’s where it started…

Anyway, I was thinking of something tasty to do for a snack for when Nick got home from work. Since when he does it is followed by eating all the food…

So I had fun crying with the onions cutting them up, I learned a few things though! If you are going to do this, please use onions that are very round, you’ll have an easier time. But it does pack some serious tastiness on its own, even if there were no dip. But the dip just helps it go the extra tasty mile.

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Blooming Baked Onion
Author: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 2
 
Ingredients
  • 2 large onions (anything but red)
  • ⅔ cups bread crumbs
  • 1 tbsp jerk chicken spice
  • ¼ tsp salt
  • 2 eggs
Instructions
  1. Take onion and cut off the top, so that a few of the inside layers are visible, and then peel the outside of the onion until the root. You will leave the root so that the rest of the onion will stay intact after cutting and fanning.
  2. Cut the onion into quarters and then into eighths and then into sixteenths, but not all the way through the onion, just cut down to get close to the root. This is best accomplished if you turn the onion to you root side up and cut down to the exposed end.
  3. Once you're done cutting it up, flip it over and fan out the layers.
  4. Once it looks like a nice bloom, in two separate bowls you will combine the breadcrumbs and spices and in the other you will beat the two eggs well.
  5. With either a brush or if your bowl is deep enough dip the onion in the egg mixture until it's completely coated. Then follow with sprinkling the breadcrumb mixture onto the onion so it is also completely coated.
  6. When the onions are well dusted, place on a baking sheet in a tent for 5 minutes at 400 degrees. Then you will remove the tent and continue to cook for another 15-20 minutes until the onion is soft and the tips are brown and crispy.
  7. Enjoy!
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The recipe you see here was adapted from http://www.gimmesomelife.com, so thank you ladies!

I did dream up my own sauce though. I’ve never been big on chipotle mayonnaise, and singular ketchup in this situation is just boring. So I adjusted and adapted my own! It was super tasty!

1/2 cup mayo, 1/2 ketchup, 1 spoonful dijon mustard, 1 spoonful red pepper jelly, salt, pepper, and some jerk chicken spice.

2013-08-28-16.15

Banana Bread

 

Banana bread is close to one of my favourites. I just want to be able to make it like Starbucks does. It’s so tasty! So I tried my hand at it, and found a recipe, again from the lovely Bethany’s Best garage sale cook book, that I’m still pawing through. Enjoy!

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Banana Bread
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Cook time: 
Total time: 
 
Ingredients
  • 2 medium ripe bananas
  • ¼ cup butter
  • 2 cups sifted flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • ½ tsp salt
  • ½ cup sugar
  • ½ cup sour milk or buttermilk
  • 2 eggs
Instructions
  1. Sift flour, baking powder, soda and salt 3 times.
  2. Cream butter and sugar; add eggs one at a time.
  3. Add mashed bananas to milk alternately with flour mixture.
  4. When well blended, pour into a greased 9" loaf pan and bake at 350 degrees for approximately 50 minutes or until brown.
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A couple of notes for those who are making this milk free: For the butter I used the vegan margarine. I’m finding only a slight difference in the results, being that butter is more oily than the margarine. And as for the milk, I still used almond milk which  made the banana bread a little firmer, instead of the buttermilk.

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Also a shout out to my Aunt Eva who made the lovely tea towels that you see in the photo. She weaved them herself! I’m so lucky to have such talented family!

Sweet Roasted Chickpeas

I never really knew what to do with beans.  Many others suggest to eat beans because they are healthy.  My family and I never did eat beans very often when growing up.  When we did, I made sure to not sleep on the same floor as my father.  But i guess that is a story for a different day.

So what to do with the beans? I was lucky and recently managed to stumble on a Chickpea recipe from www.fitsugar.com.  I modified the recipe by adding some brown sugar and added extra nutmeg. For some reason I just love nutmeg, allspice, cloves, and cinnamon.  I guess this is the reason that makes me right at home when spice cake comes around.  I hope you enjoy these tasty little treats, which were an excellent snack for when I was writing this post. 😉

 

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Sweet Roasted Chickpeas
 
Ingredients
  • 1 can chickpeas
  • ½ tbsp olive oil
  • 1 tbsp honey
  • 1 tbsp brown sugar
  • ½ tsp cinnamon
  • ¼ tsp nutmeg
  • ½ tsp sea salt
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
  2. Drain chickpeas in a colander, and then on a towel to dry.
  3. Spread chickpeas on baking sheet on a single layer. Bake for approximately 45-60 mins. If still soft put them back in the oven at 5 minute intervals.
  4. While chickpeas are warm, toss them in a bowl of the above mixture.
  5. Store remainders of the snack in an air tight container.
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