Yesterday was Shoes' birthday! We had our families over for a little party. It was actually our first event in our home that we hosted. We made a few dips (including the Feta Sriracha Dip). I also made these peanut butter cupcakes!

I had asked Shoes the day before what he wanted for a cake. Instead of answering, he gave me a list of things he likes (in no particular order):

1. Skor

2. Ice Cream

3. Coffee

4. Peanut butter

5. Oreos

So helpful.

So I made these guys. Apparently they tasted like a peanut butter and jam on toast which is a good thing? Anyways. Here's the recipe.

Peanut Butter & Jam Cupcakes

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp baking soda

6 ounces unsalted butter, softened

1 cup sugar

2/3 cup natural, creamy peanut butter

3 large eggs

1/2 cup sour cream

1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Jam of your choice for topping!

Peanut Butter Frosting

6 ounces cream cheese

1/3 cup confectioners' sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup creamy peanut butter (not natural)

1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Whisk dry ingredients in a large bowl. Mix sour cream and vanilla together (these are your wet ingredients). Cream butter and sugar with a mixer until light and fluffy. Add the peanut butter and combine. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating after each addition.

2. Reduce speed to low. Mix remaining wet ingredients in a bowl. Add dry ingredients to butter mixture in 3 additions, alternating with wet ingredients and ending with dry. Scrape sides of bowl. Divide batter among muffin cups, filling each full.

3. Bake cupcakes until testers inserted into centres come out clean, about 20 minutes. Let cool in tins on wire racks.

4. Meanwhile, make the frosting. Beat cream cheese and confectioners' sugar with a mixer on medium speed. Add salt, then peanut butter, then vanilla. Beat until the consistency matches what you want!

5. Once the cupcakes are cooled, frost tops with peanut butter frosting. Place a dollop of jam in centre of frosting.

From marthastewart.com

So I made these guys on Monday. They were fun and fairly easy to make and extremely pretty. The absolute perfect shower cupcakes! I can't wait until I get to make them for a party or something...

Here's the recipe!

Cherry-Almond Vanilla Cupcakes

1/2 cup butter

4 egg whites

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/3 tsp baking soda

3/4 cup buttermilk

1/3 cup maraschino cherry juice

3/4 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp almond extract

12 maraschino cherries, chopped

1. Allow butter and egg whites to stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, line twenty-four 2-1/2 inch muffin cups with paper bake cups (or coat with cooking spray). In a medium bowl stir together flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda. In a 2-cup glass measuring cup combine buttermilk and cherry juice; set aside.

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large mixing bowl beat butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 secons. Add sugar, vanilla, and almond extract; beat until combined. Add egg whites, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Alternately add flour mixture and buttermilk mixture to beaten mixture, beating on low speed after each addition just until combined. Mix in chopped maraschino cherries.

3. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups, filling each about two-thirds full. Use the back of a spoon to smooth out batter in cups. Press a cherry half into batter in each cup.

4. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes or until tops spring back when lightly touched. Cool cupcakes completely.

5. Using a pastry bag fitted with a large star tip, pipe frosting (recipe below) over tops of cupcakes. Top with cherries.

Frosting

1/2 cup butter, softened

4 cups powdered sugar

3 tbsp maraschino cherry juice

1/2 tsp almond extract

In a large mixing bowl beat butter with an electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Gradually add 1 cup of the powdered sugar, beating well. Beat in maraschino cherry juice and almond extract. Grade beat in addition powdered sugar. If necessary, beat in additional juice or milk, 1 tsp at a time, until frosting reaches spreading consistency.

Adapted from bhg.com

Sometimes I wonder if I think at all.

It's almost ultimate frisbee time. That means I'm SUPER busy. Ultimate three times a week... school ultimate two times a week... meetings... family... friends...

Oh right. And moving.

So that's my excuse for not posting anything for the past week. I decided I would post this. This is a Feta dip that I technically got from How Sweet It Is. I just changed it up a bit. It's one of Shoes' favourite things to eat right now. It has some kick, it has smokiness, and, of course, the salty-briny goodness that is feta. Here's the (adapted) recipe.

Feta & Sriracha Dip
8 ounces feta, chopped into small pieces
1/2 cup Greek Yogurt (I use non-fat)
Sriracha
Smoked Paprika

Chop up the feta. Combine both the feta and yogurt in a food processor. Add as much sriracha and smoked paprika as you would like - I usually stick to about 1/2 a tsp of paprika and a glob of sriracha. Of course, if you want more kick, add more sriracha. If you would like more smokiness, more smoked paprika. Combine until relatively smooth.

Serve with pita chips.

Adapted from Jessica @ How Sweet It Is.

For the next few weeks, I'm going to be counting down to moving day! We didn't get a lot of pictures of our last moving day because, well, it just wasn't the right thing to do at the time. But now I'm going to make sure I have pictures so that I can remember this very historic point in our life.

During spring break I also made these cupcakes. I found the recipe at A Beautiful Mess. They looked like so much fun and so cute that I had to make them. Shoes was very skeptical about the recipe - "Are you sure that root beer would be a good flavour for a cupcake?"

The answer was yes.

I could not find root beer extract but I did find this tiny little vial of flavouring. I didn't fully pre-read the recipe so of course I didn't realize that I needed way more than what came in the hilariously tiny bottle. I prayed that it would be way stronger...? More concentrated...? Science...?

Anyways, my cupcakes came out quite nicely. I don't know what it was, but they were nice and moist. I did not have enough root beer flavouring so they didn't come out as root beer-y as hoped. I also didn't have enough for the icing. Instead I made a basic vanilla icing which I thought went just as well if not better considering that root beer floats include vanilla ice cream.

In conclusion: delicious.

Last week was a Tex-Mex kind of week. I made black-bean tortilla pie, chilli, and my new favourite salad: mango avocado salad. It's delicious and creamy and goes well as a dip with chips, or with grilled chicken and rice, or even with tacos!

Mango Avocado Salad

1 mango, cut into small pieces

1 avocado, cut into small pieces

1/2 a small red onion, finely chopped

1 cucumber, finely cut (I cut mine using a box grater)

1 key lime

olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

1. Prepare the mango, avocado, red onion, and cucumber and combine in a bowl.

2. Drizzle with olive oil, lime, and salt and pepper and mix. The avocado should become almost like a dressing

3. Enjoy!

Man, I sure sound like I know what I'm doing when I only present salads.

So, food.

During spring break I decided to make the lazy man's version of How Sweet It Is' 15 Minute Mushroom Melts with Mustard Aioli (i.e. no aioli). I have included the link; she does a way better job! I also decided to make a salad with it. It's one of my favourite, a definite crowd pleaser (there's a similar one offered at The Keg). It's nice and sweet with crunch and creaminess. Everything that's terrific. Here we go!

Spinach Goat Cheese Salad
For this salad, use as much or as little as you want of the ingredients!

1 package of baby spinach
Walnut pieces
Crumbled goat cheese
Dried cranberries
Red onions, diced to very small pieces
A sweeter, berry-based dressing (I've used the Fieldberry Poppy Seed and Ravin' Raspberry from Renee's, both very good but I think I preferred the Fieldberry one)

1. Wash the spinach and cut off the stems if you want

2. Mix all ingredients in a bowl

Enjoy!

I am the best chef ever.

I found these tasty treats in a Weight Watchers 360 Magazine. They are supposed to be a fun substitution for peanut butter cups. They are just delicious.

Chocolate Jam Cups

6 tbsp of semi-sweet chocolate chips (I personally would go for something a little less sweet)

Jam of your choice

12 foil cups

1. Melt the chocolate chips in a double boiler. Spread about half a teaspoon inside each cup so that it is covered. Try not to make this layer to thin - it's your base! Place on a tray when you are done; repeat. You should have some chocolate left over; set aside.

2. Put tray in fridge so that the chocolate can set, about 15 minutes to be safe. Right before you take out the cups, reheat the chocolate.

3. Take the chocolate cups out of the fridge. Scoop in about half a teaspoon of jam. I used both raspberry in one set and then passion fruit in another. The passion fruit was a little running but still good. Choose the chunkier jams, though!  Tap the cup gently so that the jam is level.

4. Take another half teaspoon of chocolate and spread over the jam and up to the sides so that you can seal in the jammy goodness. Put back into the fridge to set, another 15 minutes.

Enjoy!

From the Weight Watchers January 360 Degree Magazine.

For the past 3 years Kate and I have gone to the craft show in November. We don't ever buy a lot, we just enjoy going for the delicious food stuffs and the homemade soap. She also has an obsession with these glass snowmen earrings that she desperately wants to buy but never does.

This past year we wandered over to this one booth that was selling a variety of roasted nuts. We bought a small container of the roasted pecans and we almost ate all of them right away. They were warm and delicious and we almost ate our entire containers at the show (because we are classy ladies). I figured that the recipe had to be super simple... and it is! These taste just as good as the ones I bought at the show. They are the best when they are warm (as with most things!). Here's the recipe! (PS - I realize that the picture doesn't look as appetizing... but trust me, they are good).

Old Fashioned Roasted Pecans
Ingredients

1 egg white
1 tbsp water
2 1/4 cups pecan halves
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 225 degrees F. Lightly grease a rimmed baking pan.

2. Combine the egg white and water in a mixing bowl; beat until fluffy. Fold in the pecans to coat evenly. Combine the sugar, salt, and ground cinnamon in a shaker or cup with a lid. Dust the pecans evenly with the sugar mixture. Spread the nuts over the prepared pan.

3. Bake in preheated oven until toasted and fragrant, stirring every 15 minutes, about 1 hour. Cool on pan, and store in an airtight container.

From allrecipes.ca

See? What did I tell you. More time for baking, cooking, and cleaning. It sounds lame that those are the things that I'm really excited to do over my break, but it's not. I love a clean home and making yummy food. I'm lazy. I work a lot. Therefore, when do I have the time and energy to do this stuff? That's right, during my vacations (#AdultLife).

Yesterday was an ultimate frisbee day (as a note: we killed the opposition to the point where it wasn't even fair anymore) and I tend to enjoy eating a little lighter on those day; a salad, sandwiches, soup, stuff like that. Unless Matt is in the "let's order a pizza and die" mood; then I eat fruit all day, go to ultimate, and then gorge.

But I digree. Yesterday was an ultimate frisbee day and I didn't feel like dying from food. So instead I made some biscuits and one of my favourite salads: cucumbers in sour cream. This is a salad that I enjoyed all my childhood. It's an Eastern European dish, so therefore, Shoes' family also eats it (for which I am eternally grateful). I finally dug up the recipe in an old Slovak cookbook (though I added the note about the dill myself). Enjoy this taste of the old country!

Cucumbers in Sour Cream

Ingredients

1 medium cucumber, sliced thin

1 small onion, sliced very thin

1/2 tsp salt

Pinch of pepper

2 dashes of paprika

1-1/2 tsp sugar

1 tbsp vinegar

1/2 cup or more of sour cream

1 tbsp green onion tops, cut in 1/2 inch pieces

fresh dill, to taste

Slice cucumber and onion. Combine all other ingredients and pour over cucumber and onion. Cover and chill about 15 minutes before serving.

Another Christmas recipe! These ones are pine nut thumbprint cookies with jam and I think they were Shoes' favourites. They were nice and sweet and they go well with a nice cup of tea (why do I keep saying this? Everything goes with a nice cup of tea!). Quite frankly, the cookie was so good, I almost didn't need the jam! But then the jam was like BOOM, delicious.

Pine Nut Thumbprint Cookies with Fig Jam

Ingredients

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/2 cup sugar

1/3 cup honey

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/4 cups finely chopped pine nuts, walnuts, or pistachios

About 1/2 cup fig jam or jam of choice (I used raspberry!)

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease or spray cookie sheets.

2. In a large bowl, with an electric mixer, beat together the butter, sugar, honey, and vanilla on medium speed until light, about 2 minutes. On low speed, gradually beat in the flour just until mixed. Stir in 1 cup of the nuts. The dough will be stiff.

3. Pinch off pieces of the dough and roll between your palms into walnut-sized balls. Place on the prepared cooke sheets, spacing them about 1 1/2 inches apart.

4. Bake in the centre of the oven until firm to the touch and just golden on the bottom, about 10 minutes. Let cool slightly, then make an indentation in the centre of each cookie using your thumb, the handle of a large wooden spoon, or a clothespin. I personally used a measuring spoon - I think a teaspoon? No, maybe a 1/4 of a teaspoon? One of those. It made the best round indentation. Transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

5. Fill the indentation in each cookie with about 1/2 teaspoon of the jam. Then sprinkle the jam-filled centres evenly with the remaining nuts.

Tomorrow - off to Baked Expectations!!

So while I'm still blushing over the glowing remarks made by my dear friend and cousin, Courtney, here we go with some more Christmas baking! These are lime zingers, one of my favourite cookies to make. They are nice and citrusy but the flavour isn't overpowering. Make sure you're generous with the lime juice and lime peel. I prefer using key limes, but maybe that's because that was always the only limes my family ever used. They're also cute and adorable!

Ingredients
1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp finely shredded lime peel
1/4 cup lime juice (about two limes)
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup finely chopped Brazil nuts or hazelnuts (filberts)
1/2 of an 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
1 cup sifted powdered sugar
1 tbsp lemon juice or lime juice
1 tsp vanilla
Green food colouring

Method
1. Preheat oven to 350 degree F. Beat butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add granulated sugar; beat until combined. Beat in lim peel, the 1/4 cup lime juice, and 1 tsp vanilla until combined. Beat or stir in flour. Stir in nuts.

2. On a lightly floured surface, roll each half of dough to a 1/4 inch thickness. Using 1 or 2 inch cookie cutters, cut into desired shapes. Place cutouts on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake in preheated oven for 8 to 10 minutes or until edges are light brown. transfer to wire racks; cool.

3. For frosting, beat together cream cheese, powdered sugar, the 1 tbsp lemon or lime juice, and 1 tsp vanilla; tint with green food colouring to the desired colour. Pipe frosting designs on cookies. Allow frosting to dry. Makes 72.

Source: Unknown

That's right! I did a guest post for Courtney on The Fig Tree for my Christmas baking. She wrote the sweetest and most amazing intro ever. What a lovely cousin, thank you so much!! So yeah, go check out her blog for the guest post!

While you're there, flip through and be amazed by the lovely photos and the awesome recipes. I have so many recipes on queue from this blog, it's not even funny. And just as a note, Courtney is the amazing photographer behind all of my beautiful wedding photos. She is an accomplished photographer (so much so that I was so nervous giving her my  picture to post... I didn't want it to be sub par!), a wonderful cook/baker, and just a thoughtful, lovely person. Enjoy reading her blog!

I am back at work tomorrow so I'm not going to post any more today (I still have to make sure I know what I'm doing tomorrow... oops! Responsible teaching ahoy!) but I will post another Christmas baking recipe tomorrow. Until then!

Today I made one of my absolute favourite dishes, tomato pie. It takes a little while to make everything but it's well worth it in the end, since I have a delicious lunch and dinner for pretty much another day. Shoes says this was the best one to date, so I thought for the first time ever, I'd share a recipe on this blog.

Obviously the next step is making it look good! Still don't have the pie crust thing down but whatever; it tastes delicious!

Pie Crust

Admittedly, the pie crust is not my recipe; I use the one from Courtney at The Fig Tree, the one she uses for her Vegetable Pot Pie (which is, by the way, absolutely delicious). I use the Lactantia garlic butter instead of unsalted butter but follow everything else.

Filling & Top

1 eggplant, thinly sliced

2-3 tomatoes, sliced

1 onion, diced

1 small package goat cheese

1/2 package fresh Mozzarella

1. Put the oven on broil.

2. Lay the tomato slices in a colander with salt and let sit for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, lay the eggplant slices down flat on a baking sheet, salt, and bake for about 15-20 minutes.

3. Roast the tomatoes and onion for about 15-20.

4. Meanwhile, prepare your pie crust and press it into your pie pan.

5. Remove your vegetables and let cool for a few minutes. Turn your oven down to 375°F. Line the bottom of the pie with the eggplant then add the tomato and onion mixture evenly.

6. Slice up your mozzarella and place on top of the tomato mixture. Add your goat cheese around the slices until the tomato mixture is covered. Place into your oven or until the crust is golden brown and the cheese is melted and golden.