PW/MM Sandwich

I had tried this recipe from thepioneerwoman.com about a month ago, and we loved it! 


When I saw it in my iPhoto and realized that I hadn't posted this insanely delicious sandwich, I new I had to get it on here right away.

This is so easy to make! I just used a steak that we had in the fridge and some bell peppers that were on their last days.  All I had to do was half the original recipe, and we had a delicious supper ready in no time!

I made this based on what I had in the house but kept really close to the recipe: regular steak instead of cube steak, and I used smaller whole wheat buns. I definitely recommend following the recipe as closely as possible, it is perfect!


Definitely make this next time you need a quick and tasty supper :) You can find the recipe both on her own site, and on tastykitchen.com!

Raspberry Citrus Whole Wheat Muffins

I received this recipe from one of my aunt's a few months ago.  One bonus of this blog is that my family now sends me all sorts of fun recipes when they come across them if they think I would be interested, it's awesome!

These looked not only delicious, but are healthy too. They were really quick to make, and made for some wonderful and quick breakfasts on the way to work in the morning. The original recipe is from smuckers.ca, but I have listed the recipe with my modifications.

This recipe makes 12 muffins, but they will disappear in no time!


Raspberry Citrus Whole Wheat Muffins

• 2/3 cup raspberry orange juice
• 2 tsp lemon zest
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
• 2 tbsp ground flax seeds
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup raspberry jam
• 1 cup raspberries (fresh or frozen)

1. Preheat the oven to 400F and line a muffin tin with cupcake liners (or spray with baking spray)
2. Mix the juice, zest, eggs, applesauce, sugar, and vanilla in a large bowl
3. In a second bowl, whisk together the whole wheat flour, ground flax seeds, baking powder, and salt.
4. Add the dry ingredients to the wet, and mix until just combined
5. Fold in the raspberry jam and fresh (or frozen) raspberries
6. Fill the muffin cups, and bake for 15 - 20 minutes (or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted)
7. Enjoy!

Strawberry Dessert for Two (AKA What to do with a remaining layer of cake!)

Last week I made a delicious Strawberry Lemon Cake in an attempt to create a feeling of 'spring' in my house. 


After the cake was assembled, (by splitting 3 layers of cake lengthwise, and then alternating the different layers) I had one layer of strawberry cake leftover.  

This 6" round strawberry cake couldn't go do waste! Instead, I created a quick dessert for John and I to enjoy together after our dinner.


I used a rose tip to create some quick flowers in lemon buttercream, and then added some slices of fresh strawberries.

This was the perfect quick and fresh-tasting dessert. It wasn't overly sweet, or too heavy.


No cake should ever be left behind :)

Strawberry Lemon Cake

If there is one thing that everyone here seems to be in agreement with, it is the fact that we are done with winter!  We are all ready for spring and sunshine and green grass and BBQ's in the backyard, but our backyards are still full of snow!


In an attempt to bring some 'spring' into the house, I decided to try out my new 6" cake pans and make a spring-inspired cake!

I used my favourite recipe for strawberry cupcakes as the base of this recipe.  This recipe is so wonderfully moist and flavourful!  Right before I added the strawberries to the batter, I removed 1/3 of the batter and added lemon juice and lemon zest. The smell of lemon reminds me of warm sunny days!

For the strawberry buttercream I used my new favourite buttercream recipe.  I love how the strawberry buttercream looks, it is such a pretty colour and I really like how you can see all of the strawberry bits in it.


Since I didn't need very much lemon buttercream because I was only using it to fill two layers of the cake, I just grabbed some leftover vanilla buttercream from my fridge, and whipped in some fresh lemon zest and lemon juice! I then amped up the colour by adding a bit of yellow gel food colouring.  This was actually the only part of the cake that I added food colouring too; all of the pink in the strawberry buttercream and the strawberry cake layers came from the fresh strawberries!

I baked two pans of strawberry cake, and one pan of lemon cake.  I then cut each cake in half in order to alternate the layers and obtain a tall 5-layer Strawberry Lemon Cake!  


Yes, I did have one layer of strawberry cake left over in the end. I used it to make a cute and tasty dessert for John and I to enjoy after dinner that night! (post to come)

This cake was so delicious! I loved how tall it was, without being a massive cake. The fresh lemon and strawberry flavours were the perfect 'pick-me-up' we needed while we wait for spring.


I hope everyone else is getting much nicer weather than we are! I'm still rocking the scarf and mittens every time I step outside!

Fish Tacos with Lime Coleslaw

Here is a quick and easy dinner that can convince you that it is finally spring outside!  This was so easy to throw together, and it made for an awesome lunch the next day too.


These remind me of the delicious meals we had in Mexico, oh how I miss the sun and sand!


I found this recipe on eatingwell.com, and it will definitely be made again in this house!

You can use any type of mild fish in this recipe.  They recommend mahi-mahi or halibut, but all I usually have available in the grocery store at this time of year is tilapia or cod and those work great.

After you rub the fish with the spices, you can whip up the coleslaw, set the table, and the fish is already ready to cook!


This coleslaw is delicious on it's own too.  The tangy flavour would go over really well at any summer BBQ

Fish Tacos with Lime Coleslaw

• 2 pieces of mild fish
• Spice rub for the fish:
• 4 tsp chili powder
• Juice of 1 lime (or 2 tbsp lime juice)
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• Lime Coleslaw
• 3 cups shredded cabbage (I used a bag of prepared coleslaw mix)
• 1/4 cup mayonnaise
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• zest and juice of 1 lime
• 1 tsp sugar
• dash of salt
• pepper to taste
• Corn tortillas

1. Combine all of the spices, lime juice, and olive oil in a small bowl. 
2. Generously rub the fish with the spice mixture and then let the fish sit for about 20 minutes
3. Combine the mayo, sour cream, lime zest and juice, sugar, salt, and pepper in a bowl.  
4. Mix the dressing with the cabbage and place in the refrigerator until the fish is ready
5. When ready to cook, head up a frying pan over medium-high heat, and when hot add the fish
6. Cook for about 4-5 minutes per side, or until cooked through
7. When cooked, remove fish from the frying pan and chop it into large pieces
8. To serve, place some lime coleslaw in a corn tortilla and top with the tasty fish
9. If you like, you can also top these with salsa, avocados, cilantro, etc
10. Enjoy!

Chocolates, Bread, Cheese, and Wine of course!

Bonjour from Paris! 

The Eiffel Tower (or Tour Eiffel)

I hope everyone has had a wonderful week! I am sorry for the lack of activity here, but there has been so much going on lately.  It has been busy with good things though; so far March has been a wonderful month! To be honest, 2011 has been an absolutely amazing year. To say I have been blessed with amazing luck is a severe understatement!


Everyone here has made such an effort to make my stay in Paris one to remember. I cannot thank the people from our Paris office enough!

Yes, this is The Ritz!

I left chilly Edmonton last Friday for warm and sunny Paris! I know that normally this time of year Parisians are used to experiencing a lot of rain, but I have been lucky enough to have seen almost nothing but warm sunny days! OK, I will admit that it did sprinkle on me as I walked back to my hotel from the office this Friday evening, but it was still well above zero degrees so I was quite content in the little bit of rain.

The Arc de Triomphe

One thing that is for sure, the food in Paris is amazing.  Whenever I have taken supper alone at my hotel, I have picked up a variety of breads, cheese and wine from the neighborhood.  These have been some of the best meals I have ever had! The quality of these items are simply unmatched at home.

The Pyramid at The Louvre

Since I leave on Sunday, I decided it was time to get myself some delicious French macarons as well as some French chocolates!

Flowers! I missed flowers!

There is a place quite close to my hotel that is famous not only for it's delicious catering, but for it's delicious sweets.  As soon as I finished up my dinner, I checked online to see what time it would open on Saturday.  I then noticed that it was closed Saturdays, and actually closed in less than an hour! So I raced on over there!

Venus de Milo at The Louvre

Lenotre is absolutely amazing! The sweets and treats that they have are breathtaking. (And another bonus? The girl behind the counter spoke English, so she was able to give me a great review of the desserts!).  Both the chocolates and macarons looked so good, I had trouble picking!

Here is the bag holding some of the most amazing desserts...

And here is what was inside! Clearly I couldn't choose, so I got a little bit of everything to take home. :)

I also got myself a dessert for the evening! Yum, the quality of chocolate here is outstanding!

This box of macarons seems too good to be true doesn't it?

And the box of milk chocolate desserts...

Oh, and the box of chocolate ganache-based desserts too!

I still can't get over how perfect these macarons are! That's it, I am officially going to attempt to make French macarons when I get home. (OK, let's be realistic, multiple attempts will be needed. But they will be totally worth it.)

I decided to try each of the macarons, along with my dessert. You know, just a light snack for the evening :)

The macaron flavours from left-to-right (below) are: Coffee, Pistachio, Chocolate, Strawberry, and Vanilla Bean.

The chocolate dessert is a wonderful mix of dark chocolate and ganache. Amazing!! And yes, that is 24-carat gold leaf glinting on the chocolate dessert. On the dessert!

You can kind of see the amazing fillings in each of the macarons in this picture (below). I do apologize for the lighting, but there was no way I was going to be able to wait until the morning for these pictures!

These were even better than expected! Paired with some amazing French wine, and it was the perfect end to a wonderful week!

If you are ever in Paris, I definitely recommend stopping by Lenotre! It is delicious!

I hope everyone has an absolutely wonderful weekend! 

Big News and A Trip!

You may have noticed a little time has passed since my last post :) Things have been busy and exciting at our house!

The Big News is an amazing addition to our home! We adopted an amazing puppy, Chloe, and she moved right on into our house (and hearts) this past Monday!




How can you not love that face?!?

We adopted Chloe from an amazing animal rescue site, hart. If you are looking to add a puppy or adult dog to your home please consider this wonderful organization! http://www.humaneanimalrescueteam.ca/

So instead of coming home from work and baking, cooking, or blogging until my heart is content I have been spending my time with this sweetheart!




Until we establish a new routine at our house, the food production and resulting blogs might be a bit sporadic :)

Also, today I am leaving today to head out to Paris for work! How lucky am I? I will be training during the week, and fitting as much touring in during this Sunday and next Saturday as I possibly can.

I am ridiculously excited to visit Paris! I have travelled through the UK when I finished university, but I haven't seen any of Europe yet.

If I can get a decent Internet connection at the hotel, I will definitely try to share everything that I get to see (and eat!).

I am actually posting this from the airport, it is the most downtime I have had all week :) I am trying a new app for this, so I hope this post works!

I hope everyone has had an amazing week!

Hopefully I will be able to post some updates from Paris!

Have a fabulous weekend.

-Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Chocolate Silk Cream Pie

About a week ago I had a serious chocolate craving, and an abundance of whipped cream in my fridge.  I had seen this recipe on laurenslatest.com and it looked amazing!  Trust me, you want to check out her site!  It has such amazing ideas and recipes, and her pictures of her creations make my mouth water every time!

This pie did not disappoint, it was absolutely perfect! It was chocolaty, creamy, and it melted in your mouth on every bite.

I was a little bit worried that my pie wouldn't set because I don't have much experience with thickening egg yolks, but with a little bit of patience everything worked out great!

I topped my chocolate silk cream pie with some fresh sweetened whipped cream and it was the perfect addition.

I cannot rave enough about this pie! Next time you need a delicious dessert, or a serious chocolate fix, this is the perfect thing to whip up.

Chocolate Silk Cream Pie

• about 20 oreos
• 6 tbsp butter, melted
• 5 egg yolks
• 1 1/2 cups whipping cream
• 3 tbsp sugar
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 10 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup whipping cream (for top layer)
• 2 tbsp icing sugar (for top layer)

1. To make the pie crust, pulse the oreos in a food processor (or smash in a plastic bag) until you have fine crumbs
2. Add the melted butter to the oreo crumbs and pulse a couple more times (or mix by hand)
3. Press the oreo crust into a pie plate and set aside in the refrigerator
4. Place the cream in a double broiler (over simmering water) and heat until scalded (when there are bubbles along the edge of the cream)
5. Whisk in the sugar and the salt and mix until dissolved
6. Give the egg yolks a quick stir, and then pour about a 1 tablespoon of the hot cream into the yolks (to temper) and then pour the egg yolks into the heavy cream on the double broiler
7. Whisk the egg yolk/cream mixture occasionally until it starts to thicken
8. The mixture is thick enough when it coats the back of a spoon (this took me about 10 - 12 minutes)
9. When the mixture is nice and thick, remove from heat and pour in the vanilla and chocolate chips
10. Stir until smooth and then pour into the pie plate
11. Let the pie cool to room temperature, and then cover with plastic wrap (press it right onto the surface of the pie filling) and then place the whole thing in the fridge for at least 4 hours to set
12. When the pie has set and you are ready to serve, beat the whipping cream and icing sugar together until stiff peaks form. 
13. Spread the whipping cream on top of the chocolate filling, or serve dollops of whipping cream on top of each piece of pie
14. Enjoy!

Giant Cupcake Cake

As a wedding gift, we received a silicone bakeware set that produces a giant cupcake! These pans are so much fun.

I used the chocolate cake recipe from the Black Forest Cake because I knew it would hold up well to being stacked, and it is a really good chocolate cake recipe.

I made a well in the middle of the bottom layer and filled it up with vanilla pudding by special request.  And then I added purple sprinkles, simply because I could.


After I crumb coated the two pieces and let them chill in the fridge for about 30 minutes, I couldn't wait to start decorating it!

The bottom layer is a ruffle-technique that I originally saw on marthastewart.com. It is actually pretty easy, and I think it looks quite cute on this giant cupcake.  I put both lilac and white buttercream in the piping bag to get a two-toned effect. These ruffles were made with a Wilton 104 tip.

For the top of the giant cupcake, I decided to cover it with roses. We learned how to make these simple roses in my Wilton decorating class to cover cupcakes, but I never thought of covering a whole cake with them until I saw a cake made by Amanda of IAmBaker.  It is such a simple technique, but it looks awesome! 

I made these roses with a Wilton 1M tip, and then sprinkled on some pink sanding sugar for fun.


I am really happy with how this turned out! It is intensely girly and cute, which was perfect because I was making it for our girl's movie night last week.

I hope everyone has a great weekend!