Trouble Makers.

November 26, 2010 at 6:04 pm | Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

My kids are great. I love them. That being said, they are also little monsters (my three-year-old even insisted on being a monster for Hallowe’en and her favourite movie is Monsters Inc). I think my kids are such trouble-makers so that I can experience what my parents went through.

When I was only a toddler, my brother and I would hatch plans and get into a terrible amount of trouble. Soon after I learned how to walk, I used the drawers in the kitchen to create steps up to counter. There I was able to get the bottle of Flintstones vitamins and hand them to my brother who proceeded to open said bottle–we ate them all.

Another time, we decided that we wanted all the Fudgesicles and Popsicles for ourselves. So, when my mom and dad went to bed we snuck downstairs to the big chest freezer in the basement. My brother lifted me up while I opened the freezer and took the icy treats. We thought we would be smart and save them so we hid them under our pillow. We awoke to my mother’s screams as she saw a melted brown mess spreading from underneath my pillow.

Now, it is my turn.

It seems like every day my daughters stir up trouble. One incident happened just yesterday. I went to the bathroom and I was gone for under 2 minutes only to return to a gigantic mess of cracked eggs and butter smeared over the kitchen floor and on my little angels. Mind you, this was just after then had been given a bath.

Today, they decided to top themselves. My daughter asked me to peel her an orange. My first mistake was turning my back to them. They grabbed one of their chairs from the craft table and placed it near the cabinets. My eldest daughter climbed up and removed the vaseline from the a basket. All the time I was doing this I was thinking “wow, my children are so great. They can play so nicely and quietly together.” That was my second mistake–my girls never play quietly.

Let’s just say that vaseline is a lot harder to clean up than butter and eggs.

Despite the lack of butter and eggs, I knew I had to make some cupcakes today. It was someone’s birthday weekend and I had to deliver some birthday spirit in the form of baked goodies. It was a bit hard to figure out what to make because this person doesn’t really like sweet stuff. So I racked my brain and decided on Gourmet’s dessert of the month, Spiced Applesauce Cake with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting.

Again, this recipe is perfect to satisfy a desire for autumn flavours (and a cinnamon fanatic like myself). Instead of a cake I made cupcakes so that it would be easier to serve and eat.

Photobucket

SPICED APPLESAUCE CAKE WITH CINNAMON CREAM CHEESE FROSTING
From Gourmet Magazine
Makes 14 cupcakes

FOR CAKE

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
  • 1 stick unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 cup packed light brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 1/2 cups unsweetened applesauce

FOR FROSTING

  • 5 oz cream cheese, softened
  • 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
  • 1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1 cup confectioners sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Method

For the Cake:
Preheat oven to 350°F with rack in middle. Line muffin tin with paper cups or grease.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices.

Beat butter, brown sugar, and vanilla with an electric mixer at high speed until pale and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes.

Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition, then beat in applesauce. At low speed, mix in flour mixture until just combined.

Scoop batter out into muffin tin filling it 3/4 full.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until toothpick inserted into centre comes out clean.

Cool in muffin tins for 10 minutes then transfer to cooling rack to cool completely.

For the Frosting:

Beat cream cheese, butter, and vanilla with an electric mixer at high speed until fluffy.

Sift confectioners sugar and cinnamon over cream cheese mixture, then beat at medium speed until incorporated.

Spread frosting over top of cooled cupcakes.

Always room for comfort

November 21, 2010 at 8:41 pm | Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

It seems like November has only just arrived but it is already mid-month. Where has the time gone? This month has been extremely busy–the majority of which I spent lying in bed in at my parents’ house in mild pain and sleeping. When I finally returned home, I was struck with the bite of frosty weather.

The weather in Whistler is getting chilly and my house lacks proper insulation. So, I decided I would be efficient and heat the house with my oven while baking something homey for my husband since apparently the bachelorhood he endured while the girls and I were gone made him feel quite lonely.

Apple crisp was the perfect treat for these cool fall days especially for my family because we always equate the dessert with feelings of comfort. This is a straight forward recipe that has always been a hit with our family. Sometimes comfort comes in the simplest of ways. It may not be the prettiest dessert, but it’s sure to warm you up on a cold, wet day.

Mom’s Apple Crisp

10 medium sized apples (macintosh, golden delicious or granny smith) peeled and sliced

2 tbsp granulated sugar

1 tbsp cinnamon

Juice from 1 lemon

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup light brown sugar

1 cup butter, cut into cubes

Method:

Preheat oven to 370 degrees.

In a medium sized bowl toss the apples with granulated sugar, cinnamon and lemon juice. Pour apples into a 9×13 pan and set aside.

In another medium sized bowl, mix flours and sugar together. Then, with a pastry blender (you can also use your hands) cut in the butter until it the butter is coarsely mixed in and is about the size of peas.

Spread the flour mixture on top of the apples evenly and place in preheated oven.

Bake for 45-50 minutes or until the topping is golden brown and you can see the apples mixture at the corners bubbling.

Remove from oven and cool.

Serve with ice cream or on it’s own for breakfast, lunch, dinner or all of the above.

Challah back.

March 5, 2010 at 5:54 am | Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments
Tags: , , , , , , , ,

As I have mentioned before living North of  60 was an amazing experience.  I can’t believe that I got to spend 6 year of my life exposed to the arctic.  I got to go ice fishing, make igloos, learn all about the Inuit and much more.  Everything in Yellowknife wasn’t the greatest though.

When I moved there I went from being surround by people like me–by that I mean half-asian or asian people–to being probably one out of four asians in my school.  It was weird to live in a place with little ethnic diversity.  Toronto was very multicultural and Yellowknife was a bit of a culture shock for me.

We couldn’t always get the ingredients to make certain Chinese dishes there and some of my favourite food was not available.

Before I say anything else I should probably admit something.  I love bread.  Bread and I have a great relationship and I will not be sorry for that.  Like everything, I think that if you eat carbs in moderation it is okay.  My family eats mostly complex carbs so that there are nutritional benefits to the heavenly consumption of bread. Now that I have made my bread peace I shall continue.

Well, when I moved to Yellowknife imagine my shock when they didn’t have my favourite type of bread–a bread that was the staple of my young little life.  What would I do without challah?

Challah, for those of you who haven’t heard of it, is a mildly sweet egg bread that is best served with butter or makes a great sandwich bread for chicken clubs!

I guess looking back on things my mother could have made me challah but with her busy schedule this probably would have been deemed impossible.  Since I am a stay-at-home parent I have the time and thought that it was about time to sure my love of challah with my daughter.  However, I might be at home all times of the day but I still have a limited amount of time which is why this recipe is for the bread maker.

Challah is usually made with white flour but I decided to do half white and half multi-grain for the added fibre.  I was sad when I took my loaves out because they didn’t rise as high as I hoped but I believe that to be the Whistler altitude as this recipe worked better when I was living in Victoria.

Photobucket

Tori’s Easy Bread Maker Challah Recipe
Ingredients:
1 cup warm water
4 tbsp granulated sugar
1/2 cup canola oil
1-1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs, room temperature
2 cups multigrain bread flour
2-1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tbsp bread machine yeast

1 egg
1 tbsp water

Method:
Place all the ingredients excluding the one egg and one tablespoon of water into the pan of the bread machine according to the order recommended by the manufacturer. Select dough cycle and press start.

Once dough is ready, turn over on a lightly floured surface and punch down. Let rest for five minutes.

Divide the dough in half. Take on half of the dough and divide it into three equal parts and roll out each part into a rope that is about 12 inches long.

Pinch the end of the three ropes together and fold under. Then start to braid the dough: take the left rope and bring it over the centre rope, then take the right rope and bring that over the centre rope and repeat until the entire bread is braided. Pinch the ends and fold under.

Repeat following instructions with the remaining half of the dough.

Gently move the loaves on to a greased or parchment lined baking sheet and let rest in a warm and draft free place for about 1 to 1-1/2 hours or until doubled in size.

Once bread has doubled in size preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Beat together egg and water and a brush a few coats over the loaves. Place bread in a preheated oven for 25 minutes (if it begins to brown too quickly cover with foil).

My two loaves wouldn’t fit beside each other so I baked one on the top rack and one on the bottom rack for ten minutes. Then, I switched the bottom loaf with the top and rotated the bread around and baked for an additional ten minutes and then I switched the loaves back into their original positions for the last five minutes.

Photobucket

Prime Rib, mmm, mmm, mmm!

November 29, 2009 at 6:49 am | Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments
Tags: , , , , ,

My husband has been working for what will be 6 days straight and to top it off he works 10 hour days.  So, I decided that I had to do something special for him and cook him a good ol’ Prime rib.  A hardy dish for a hardy man, haha.

I like making any type of roast because the leftovers are so versatile; you could make a sandwich, casserole or just eat it as is.

Now, I used baby carrots in this dish because when I told my husband to get carrots he got baby carrots.  He is not a very good at grocery shopping and I think it is pretty darn hilarious!  Once I told him to pick me up some bouillon and he got so confused with the options (cubes, envelope, containers) that he got me a product called “Better than bouillon.”  There are many times when he doesn’t come home with all the items because they were too frustrating to find.

Oh how I love him!  That’s why he gets a big plate of some prime, prime rib.

Photobucket

Hardy Prime Rib

Prep time: 30 minutes;  Cook time: 1:00 – 1:30 hours

Ingredients

  • 5 lb Prime Rib
  • Montreal Steak Spice
  • 3 stalks of celery, chopped
  • 2 carrots, chopped (I used baby carrots because it’s all I had)
  • 3 medium sized russet potatoes or yukon gold, chopped
  • 1 medium sized yellow onion, chopped
  • 3 cloves of garlic or 1/2 tablespoon garlic powder
  • One package of onion soup mix
  • 1 tablespoon parsley, dried
  • 1 1/2 teaspoon thyme, dried
  • 1 tablespoon of ketchup
  • 1 cup water
  • Salt & Pepper
  • Oil, canola or vegetable

Method

Take roast out of the fridge and let rest for an hour.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a bowl mix together water, onion soup mix, garlic, thyme, parsley, ketchup, salt and pepper.  Pour mixture into a roasting pan.  Add celery, carrots, potatoes and onions.

Put vegetables in the oven for an hour.

While vegetables are roasting prepare roast.  Sprinkle Montreal Steak Spice on roast and create a crust on it.  Put oil in a medium sized skillet and place on burner over high heat.  When it is hot sear the roast on all sides.  This creates a seal to make sure all the juices stay in.

Once the vegetables have been in the oven for an hour take them out.  Place roast in the pan and make sure the vegetables surround it.

Cook for one to one and a half hours or until internal temperature is 145 degrees.

Remove from oven and let rest 10 minutes before carving.

I like to use the drippings for gravy.

Blog at WordPress.com.
Entries and comments feeds.