RECIPE: Cinnamon Buns!

Who doesn't love cinnamon buns?

We were at the mall the other day and smelt that sweet sweet smell of Cinnzeo, and G and I were both like, yup before we leave we have to pick one up.

Until you have a toddler needing a nap ASAP.

We didn't realize we forgot this precious treat until we were at home, and as the closet mall is 45 minutes away from us, G was like - didn't you make some that tasted exactly like them a while ago. And I was like- Yes, yes I did.


 The recipe I used was from Jo's Cook

The Goods:

Dough

• 1 package active dry yeast
• 1 cup warm milk
• ½ cup sugar
• ⅓ cup  softened butter
• 1 tsp  salt
• 2 eggs
• 4 cups  all purpose flour

Filling

• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 3 tbsp cinnamon
• ⅓ cup softened butter

Cream cheese icing

• 6 tbsp butter
• 1½ cups icing sugar
• ¼ cup cream cheese
• ½ tsp  vanilla extract
• ⅛ tsp salt

The How To:

1. For the rolls, dissolve the yeast in the warm milk in a large bowl.
2. Add sugar, butter, salt, eggs, and flour to the bowl of a mixer and mix well.
3. Pour the milk/yeast mixture in the bowl and using the dough hook, mix well until well incorporated.
4. Place dough into an oiled bowl, cover and let rise in a warm place about 1 hour or until the dough has doubled in size. - This is the part that takes FOREVER!
5. Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface, until it is approx 16 inches long by 12 inches wide. It should be approx ¼ inch thick.
6. Preheat oven to 350 F degrees. Grease a 9x13 inch baking pan.
7. To make filling, combine the butter or margarine, brown sugar and cinnamon in a bowl.
8. Spread the mixture evenly over the surface of the dough. Alternatively you can spread the butter first on the dough and then the brown sugar and cinnamon mixture.
9. Working carefully, from the long edge, roll the dough down to the bottom edge. The roll should be about 18 inches in length. Cut the roll into 1½ inch slices. You might find it easier if you use a piece of floss vs a knife.
10. Place the cut rolls in the prepared pan. Cover them with a damp towel. Let them rise again for another 30 minutes until they double in size.
11. Bake for 20 minutes or until light golden brown. Cooking time can vary greatly! Mine took 24 minutes.
12. While the rolls are baking make the icing by mixing all ingredients and beat well with an electric mixer until fluffy.
13. When the rolls are done, spread generously with icing.

*Note - I didn't actually make this icing, because 1) I did not have  cream cheese other than the herb and garlic kind and 2) I was lazy. So I used store bought canned vanilla icing and it was just as delicious.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Squares

Check out my cool plate (from Home Sense)

These are delicious. I've made them twice so far. Which also means they are easy.


The Goods:

 - 2 cups of flour
- 1tbs pumpkin-pie spice
- 1tsp baking soda
- 3/4tsp salt
- 1 cup butter
- 11/4 cups of sugar
- 1 large egg
- 2tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup canned pumpkin puree
- 1 package (or how many you want) of chocolate chips

The How To:

1) Preheat the oven to 350
2) Line with foil a 9x13 pan (although I am sure greasing a pan would work as well)
3) Cream butter and sugar together
4) Beat in egg and vanilla
5) Beat in pumpkin puree
6) Reduce to slow and add the rest of the dry ingredients
7) Fold in chocolate chips
8) Put in pan, spread out evenly
9) Bake for about 40 minutes
10) Enjoy!

Blackened Salmon. Blackened Taste.

Our neighbour gave us a few frozen filets of salmon from his recent fishing trip. so I decided to go onto pinterest and find a new way to prepare it instead of my usual lemon/butter/thai chili flakes.


 And I came across a recipe for blackened salmon, and thought perfect! G and I both usually love that type of spice, so I thought it was gonna be a win for sure.


The actual seasoning isn't hard to make at all, just combine all of these spices:

2 teaspoons Garlic Salt 
1 teaspoon Paprika 
1 teaspoon  Onion Powder 
1 teaspoon Oregano 
1 teaspoon Black Pepper
1/2 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper 
1/2 teaspoon Thyme
Then you rub it on the salmon.  Again, pretty easy.

I even pulled out my cast iron pan. 

G said it tasted old. And I had to agree, it just wasn't worth using the salmon for. I have a sneaking suspicion that it is because of my paprika, as its a sweet/"old" type version..

(also forgot to take a pic of it)

RECIPIE: Green Thai Curry Chicken Vemicilli Soup with Bok Choy and Mushrooms

Actually I don't know what to call it- so I called it everything. But it was good and different. And has the added benefits of being very anti-inflammatory.

The inspiration came from pinterest (surprise surprise) while I was looking for things to make with bok choy (as it was super cheap at the grocery store). I came across Thai Coconut Soup with Bok Choy and Mushrooms.

Looks very pinworthy to me.

And well, I had everything that the recipe called for, but as I like to change things up I did. And as you will be able to tell I didn't really measure anything. Which is the best kind of recipe in my opinion. Add more or less of what you want.

This is what mine looked like -a little less soupy. A little less professional photos (Side note: must start taking better photos)

The Goods:
- 1tbs of Coconut Oil
- 2 Sliced Chicken Breasts
- 1 pack of Mushrooms
- A hand full of bok choy (how much depends on how much you like bok choy)
- about 1/2tsp of Turmeric
- about 1 tbs of Ginger
- about 2 tbs of Green Thai Curry (depends on how spicy you want it)
- 1 can of Coconut Milk
- About 2 cups of chicken broth (or vegetable..whatever you have on hand)
1 pack of vermicelli noodles

The How To:
1. Fry chicken in coconut oil, add ginger. It now already smells divine.
2. Add mushrooms in (as I like mine cooked)
3. Add the turmeric and green thai curry
4. Add the coconut milk and chicken broth
5. Keep stirring.
6. Add bok choy.
7. Let simmer.
8. Add vermicelli if you so desire.
9. Enjoy!

RECIPIE: Chicken Parm Spaghetti Squash

The first time I tried to make spaghetti squash didn't go to well. I think I just microwaved it and called it a meal. I always wanted to try it again, but my hubs swore he never would eat again.  After seeing this TASTY video on my facebook feed for the 100th time, I decided to try it and well if the hubs didn't want to eat it... cereal is always available.

The verdict: It turned out really good.  Sure good ol' carb filled noodles would be better, but, as an alternative it was very tasty. It will definitely be going on the rotation list. 

The video is actually very good at describing what to do, so I suggest you watch that, but here is a quick summary of everything:

The Ingredients:
Large Spaghetti Squash 
2 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts /cut into stripsAn EggFlourItalian Style Breadcrumbs Marinara SauceShredded Mozzarella CheeseGrated Parmesan CheeseItalian SeasoningSaltPepperOil for frying

The How To (stolen from Tasty.com) - I really couldn't describe it better myself.

With a sharp knife, slice the squash in half. (If the squash is too tough - puncture in several places forming a dotted line around the squash. Microwave for 3-5 minutes to soften. Allow to cool before cutting in half - following the dotted line). Scoop out the seeds - brush with oil, salt, and pepper, - and roast face down in a preheated oven at 375˚F (190˚C) for 35-40 minutes (until a fork can easily pierce the skin). 

Meanwhile, slice the chicken breasts into strips. Place flour, beaten egg, and breadcrumbs into three separate bowls. Coat each strip with flour, then egg, and then roll in bread crumbs. 
Heat a well-oiled skillet over medium/high heat. Fry the chicken strips (in batches if necessary) until golden brown on all sides and cooked through. Set aside on paper towels. 

Once the squash has finished roasting - remove from the oven and let it set for a few minutes before turing over and pulling at it with a fork. Shred the inside of each squash, being careful not to poke through the skin. Pour marinara sauce over shredded squash. Top with chicken strips, then more marinara, and finish with mozzarella and parmesan cheese, and a pinch of Italian seasoning. Return to the oven to bake for 10-15 minutes until the cheese has melted. 

Enjoy!

Slow Cooker Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal

Sometimes breakfast food gets boring, and as I had a bunch of apples that I wanted to use before they went bad, I decided to do an overnight crock pot oatmeal.

It's super easy to do as well.

2 sliced apples. 1/3 c brown sugar. 1 tsp cinnamon. 2 c oatmeal. 4 c water.

put the sliced apples, 1/3 cup brown sugar, and 1 tsp cinnamon in the bottom of the crock pot. Pour 2 cups of oatmeal and 4 cups of water on top. do not stir. cook overnight for 8-9 hours on low.

Enjoy.

Plus the smell you wake up to is delicious!

Chocolate Chip Snowball Cookies

Come winter time comes an immense desire for me to bake.  And with having an unpredicatble schedule thanks to the lil' man, I wanted to try something easy.

Enter the chocolate chip snowball cookie.

The recipe comes from the Crazy For Crust blog.

The Goods:

• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 1/4 cups flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup mini chocolate chips
• Additional powdered sugar, for rolling

The How To:

1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
2. Mix butter, 1/2 cup powdered sugar, and vanilla with an electric mixer until fluffy. Add flour and salt and mix until the dough comes together. Stir in the chocolate chips. If dough is too soft, chill it until you can work it easily with your hands.
3. Scoop 1 tablespoon balls of dough and place on prepared cookie sheet.
4. Bake cookies for 7-10 minutes until bottoms are just slightly brown. Remove from oven and cool for just a minute, until you can handle them. Fill a small bowl with powdered sugar and roll each cookie in the sugar until coated. Place on a rack to cool.  (Once cookies are cooled, you may want to re-roll them in more powdered sugar.)

The Result:

Very tasty. Super easy. And the chocolate chips could be taken out and replaced with other things if one desires (maybe caramel chips...)

RECIPE: Blueberry Muffins.

Well remember when I said I had a shit ton of blueberries. Well I still do. And with the upcoming long weekend,  I figured making some blueberry muffins would just be smart. 

So I headed to Pinterest, where  I found this Classic Blueberry Muffin recipe, courtesy of Five Heart Home.  I of course changed it a bit.

And let me tell you. Delicious. You are welcome fellow campers.

First gather your supplies.

And crack open a beer, as I find this helps my baking...(non-alcoholic for me....2 more months....)

Mix those ingredients together

Fill the muffin tins up and bake them.  And when you pull them out of the oven they will look like this...

Yup. They do look scrumptious. Eat away. 

The Goods:

• 3 cups flour (all-purpose white flour OR whole wheat pastry flour) 
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened  (I used Coconut Oil, as that is what I had on hand - same amount)
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon of cinnamon (this is my addition)
• 2 cups blueberries, fresh OR frozen
• Coarse sugar, for sprinkling on top (optional) - I used Vanilla Sugar.

The How To: (Straight from the aforementioned blog)

1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Line 18 muffin cups with paper liners.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Work in the softened butter with an electric mixer or fork. Blend in the eggs, milk, and vanilla until all ingredients are incorporated, but do not overbeat. Gently fold in the blueberries.
3. Scoop batter into prepared muffin tins, filling each cup about 3/4 full. You should get 16 to 18 muffins out of this batter. If desired, sprinkle the top of each muffin with coarse sugar.
4. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until muffins just test done with a toothpick, taking care not to overbake. Remove muffins from pans and cool on a wire rack, or eat warm out of the oven with a pat of salted butter.

The last 5 pins I've Pinned

Decided to share some on my recent pins again.

1) The beautiful island of Koh Phi Phi. G and I went to Thailand about 7 years ago (I can't believe its been that long) and I always love seeing photos of the beautiful country as it brings back so many memories. And a want to go back. Or at least somewhere.

2)  Beef Chimichangas. Don't they just look delicious?

3)  And speaking of delicious... Reese's Peanut Cup with cheesecake. Umm yum. 

4) These pillows look like they would be super comfortable. For kids. Or me.  I will quite honestly never make these or even attempt to. But hey, if someone wants to make them for me or the future child, please be my guest. 

5) One of my goals pre-baby is to make a lot of freezer meals. Maybe this link will be the one I follow.... 

Baked Blueberry Oatmeal. Recipe throwback

I saw this recipe on pinterest and always looking for quick and new breakfast ideas,  especially with my loads of blueberries. I actually decided to make it. And it was fantastic.

(not my picture, courtesy of www.epicurious.com - I forgot to take one of mine)

The goods:

2 cups of oatmeal

1/2 cup walnut pieces ( I just threw in a handful because G doesn't like nuts, but I do)

1/3 cup of syrup ( I had sugar free stuff, so it was "healthy")

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon ( I used about 2 tsp. because I like cinnamon {could this be why my baking usually fails})

Pinch of salt

2 cups of milk

1 egg

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly ( I only used maybe 1 1/2 tbsp)

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract (wasn't pure thats for sure)

2 ripe bananas, cut into slices

1 1/2 cups of whatever berries you choose

I also added a scoop of vanilla protein powder. Because, well I got a shit ton of it and it has to be used up.

How to:

I didn't follow the instructions on this. I just put everything in the bowl and mixed. Apparently you were suppose to layer the banana's and oatmeal crumble stuff. Who has time for that really? So, just mix it all together in one little bowl. Then transfer to a pretty casserole pan, I lightly sprayed it with PAM, then pop it in the oven at 375°F for 35ish minutes.

It smells absolutely delicious while baking, that if you are starving while making it.... it makes it really hard!

Tastes good and its a great breakfast that kept me full all morning!

One Bowl Brownie Goodness

I was craving some chocolately goodness today so as always I turned to pinterest to solve my dilema.

And I came across this wonderful recipe; One Bowl Brownies from Show Me The Yummy blog.

pic from Show Me The Yummy

The recipe is very simple. I mean, its in the title alone. 

The Goods:

 - 2 cups sugar

- 1 and 3/4 cups of flour

- 5 eggs

- 1 tsp salt

- 1 cup vegetable oil (I used coconut oil)

- 1 tsp vanilla

- 1/2 cup cocoa powder

- 1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips (I used my discretion with this one, and I used fudge chips as that's all I had)

The How To:

1.  Preheat the oven to 350F

2. Mix all the ingredients together minus the chocolate chips.

3. Spread in a greased 9x13 pan

4. Sprinkle the chocolate chips

5. Bake for 30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. 

6. Let cool.

7. Eat and enjoy!

8. Re-make the whole thing as you probably just devoured the pan



NOTE: I strongly recommend vegetable oil, the coconut oil made it pretty runny. 

The last 5 pins I pinned on Pinterest...

Remember when I said my goal was to try and make/do something pinteresty once a week. Well I think the only way I will be able to do that is to make myself accountable.. IE, put them on some other kind of medium.

So without further ado...my last 5 pins;

1)Pool noodle on the RV thing... this may save many sore heads...

2)  A very simple outfit that I am sure I can recreate...

3) I do need to up my hair styles...

4) With our house having no linen closet ( I know... it sucks) I am always looking for ideas to store sheets and such... this may just be a winner...

5) And definitely going to be baking this...

Recipe: Pulled Elk Sandwiches

I have a confession to make. I don't really like the taste of wild game. But, as my lovely hubby is an avid hunter, and our freezer is full of elk. I kind of have no choice. So thanks to pinterest I have found a few good recipes for us non-wild game lovers that are actually pretty tasty.

I bring to you Shredded Elk Sandwiches.

(I failed as  a blogger and forgot to take a picture...this is from the original site)

Oh, plus its made in the crock pot! So its a win-win type of meal

The goods:

1 1/2 cups ketchup 
3 tablespoons brown sugar 
1 tablespoon dry mustard powder 
1 tablespoon lemon juice 
1 tablespoon liquid smoke flavoring 
1 teaspoon onion powder 
1 teaspoon garlic powder 
2 teaspoons celery salt 
2 teaspoons ground black pepper 
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce 
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg 
3 drops hot pepper sauce 
1 (4 pound) elk roast, cut in half 
10 hamburger buns, split 

The side note: I didn't have dry mustard power, I used regular yellow French's mustard. Didn't have celery salt..jsut dried up celery. I also didn't have Worcestershire sauce, so I used soy sauce instead. 

( and I wonder why my recipes don't always turn out...)
But this one did!

The how to:

Put all those lovely ingredients in the crock pot (obviously not the hamburger buns.
Turn it on high for 5 hours or so.
Then shred it up.
Then put it on the buns
and 
Finally ENJOY! 

Turmeric Milk

As I am still getting over a cold, I like to try other things than the traditional nyquil. (Although nyquil works wonders).

I always do my detox bath, which I shared yesterday.

And today after going on pinterest searching for natural remedies and I found a pretty delicious drink.

Turmeric Milk, also called "Golden Milk"

The Ingredients:

- 1 cup of milk
- 1/2 teaspoon of dried turmeric
- 1/2 teaspoon of dried ginger


How To:

Warm-up the milk on the saucepan. Add the turmeric and ginger. Keep stirring until its all warm and bubbly.  Once it starts to bubble, take it off the burner and cover it. Let it steep for 10 minutes.

Pour in cup.

I added two sticks of honey and sprinkled some cinnamon.  As the initial taste was a little hard to swallow.  But, after adding those it turned out to be pretty tasty. And probably something I will make again.

Apparently turmeric is super good for you too.  So win/win.

Pumpkin Pound Cake

Officially.... Happy Thanksgiving!

Today, the #Blogtober14 prompt is my favourite recipe for  the fall, and with fall comes me wanting to try anything with pumpkin.

So I decided that I was finally going to try out something I pinned.  ( I know...weird)

Pumpkin Pound Cake

This is the picture I took:

This is the picture the recipe gal took, it makes it look much more inviting. Obviously she is a food blogger, and I am definitely not. Oh, I suppose I should mention this recipe is from Sing For Your Supper.

So how to make this delicious and not diet worthy treat:

The goods:

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup canola oil

3 eggs

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1 package instant vanilla pudding mix

1 can (15 ounces) pumpkin puree

The how to:

In a large bowl, combine sugar and oil until blended. 

Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. 

In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, cloves and pudding mix; add to egg mixture alternately with pumpkin, beating well after each addition.

Transfer to a greased bundt pan. 

Bake at 350 degrees for 60-65 minutes or until toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. 

Cool for 10 minutes before inverting onto a wire rack.

 Remove from pan and cool completely.

 Dust with icing sugar to make it look pretty.

Enjoy and don't feel guilty. Pumpkin is healthy right!

Delicious looking Salads

Some days I crave salads. Today is that day. So, I started browsing on the good ol' interweb for some delicious looking ones, and well felt compelled to share. Time to recreate!

(click on the picture for the recipe...in most cases)

 

 

 

Being healthy never tasted so good.

 

West Jet makes passenger dreams come true and cookies!

I don't know if you've been living under a rock or not, but I feel like I should share this for those that are.... West Jet does it again!

Just take a look. Shed a tear..

So great!

This made me get in the spirit to bake some more cookies. More SHORTBREAD!

This recipie isn't for the the calorie counters out there. But seriously, you should just give them a try because they are the best melt in your mouth cookies you will have this season. That is why there are no pictures because I ate them all....I packaged them to give as gifts

Whipped Shortbread:

The goods:
- 1 cup of butter (DO NOT USE MARGARINE!!!!!!)
- 1/2 cup icing sugar
- 1 1/2 cups flour

The how to:
Cream butter and sugar.
Add flour
Beat for 10 minutes
Drop from small spoon on a baking sheet.
Bake at 350F for 10-12 minutes

Enjoy!

 

 

RECIPE: Cinnamon Swirl Bread

I love cinnamon. Love, love, love it. I also triple love baked goods. So this was a win win when I found it on pinterest!

The Ingredients:
1/3 cup sugar (I only used 1/4 cup)
1/2 cup finely chopped pecans, toasted (I didn't use- somebody *G* doesn't like them)
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 cup sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 cup milk
1/3 cup cooking oil (I used olive oil, as i didn't have any other type- I also only used 1/4 cup too)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease/flour/spray the bottom and sides of a 9″x5″x3″ loaf pan.Combine 1/3 cup of sugar, pecans (if using), and cinnamon. Set aside.

Combine 1 cup of sugar, flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl or mixer bowl. In a separate bowl, beat egg. Stir in milk and oil , and add the egg mixture. Stir just until mixed. Do not overmix.

Pour half of the batter into loaf pan. Sprinkle with half of the cinnamon mixture. Repeat. With a wide rubber scraper or spatula, swirl mixtures together with a down and up circular motion (I tried ot make a shape, but swirlies is all it turned out to be)

Bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until done. (on the original blog it said it should be a little gooey in the middle, I don't like things that gooey so I kept mine in closer to the 50 minute side, plus our overn is a piece of shit)

Cool in pan for about 10 minutes. ( we cooled it for about 30 seconds, G is very impatient!)

Then, cool completely on a wire rack. (who does this?!)

Glaze - I didn't make this, figured didn't need the extra calories.

1 cup powdered sugar
1 1/2 Tbsp milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract (optional)


All in all, very tasty,. A great breakfast. MMM