Monthly Archives: September 2013

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
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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.

 

Chicken Salad

2013-09-08-17.54

 

Nick and I went to my parents for the weekend, and as my mother always does, she made a chicken. It’s the really nice thing about going home is that there is always something tasty coming home with us. My mom was craving freezer space so she can start making her legendary apple pie, which is the best part about Christmas and Thanksgiving. You know the company is good, but the food, its all about the food.

So since I came home with a bunch of chicken, I wanted to do something a little different than having to make the sides to go with it. I didn’t really want to turn my oven on tonight, I won’t lie. So I opted for chicken salad. It’s not something I normally do, I’m more of a cold cut on my sandwich kind of person and like keeping it that way. So this is a nice stretch for both me and Nick.

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Chicken Salad
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Serves: 3
 
Ingredients
  • 1 cup mayonnaise or miracle whip
  • ½ cup celery chopped fine
  • ½ yellow onion chopped fine
  • ½ red pepper chopped fine
  • 2 tbsp lemon juice
  • 1 tbsp salt
  • pepper to taste
  • 1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
  • 5 leaves of Korean cilantro
  • 4 cups of cooked chicken, white and dark meat
Instructions
  1. Chop all the vegetables really finely and put into bowl. Do the same for the parsely and cilantro.
  2. Separate and cube chicken into the same bowl as the vegetables. Set aside
  3. In separate bowl, mix miracle whip and lemon juice. Add the salt and pepper to taste.
  4. Combine the chicken to the miracle whip mixture and toss until well coated.
  5. Spoon onto toast for sandwiches, store in airtight container.
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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
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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.

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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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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!