In the Kitchen ~ Wrapup

I am pleased to say that although it took me more than 

28 days to complete my cooking challenge

I finally completed it last weekend

my total list includes:

Vegetable & Pasta soup

Slow cooker rolls

Basil Pesto crescents

Dump cake

Chicken enchilada pasta

Cherry morning rolls

Breakfast casserole

Buffalo mac & cheese

Rolo cookies

Chicken pesto flatbread

Bacon double cheeseburger dip

Blueberry oatmeal muffins

Pesto alfredo shrimp pasta

Creole tuna

Italian meatballs

Monkey bread

Chicken tortilla soup

Snickerdoodles

Lemon blueberry lemon bread

Peach & cherry crumble

Some of our favourites included:

Peanut Butter Munchies

these became a new favourite cookie

although they take a bit more prep than your normal everyday cookie

they are worth the extra time and effort 

Banana chocolate chip cake w/ peanut butter frosting

this cake was so so good ~ I really cannot tell you how much we enjoyed it

even after it ran over in the oven 

set off the smoke detector and forced me to open the windows

on a sub zero degree with the wind chill day

I made it as a layer cake but it would be great in a 9x13 slab

or a bundt pan

Pineapple upside down cakes (minis)

these were good and I would make them again

they would be great for a dinner party ~ they were just enough

Gram's butter tarts

I was so proud of myself as I made my own pastry as well as the tarts

and these will be made again as I cannot believe it took me this long

to make them the first time around

Tortierre

I have had this many times but never made it myself

as it is a classic Acadian meat pie

Italian wedding soup

although I liked this soup

Trevor was not a fan so this will not be made again

unless I am taking it out of the house!

Blueberry lemon scones

I have had this recipe pinned for over a year

and I finally made them and loved them

Cheddar dill biscuits

these are a new favourite

and will accompany my next pot of soup, stew or chilli

who am I kidding ~ I will make them to go with just about anything!

Looking back over my list I did more baking than meal items

even though I said that I was not a baker!

All the recipes can be found on my Pinterest feed

and I want to give a shout out to Simone for starting this

and being the best cheerleader a girl could ask for

I had so much fun doing this 

and plan to do again

Hope you had a great weekend!

In The Kitchen

I had the day off today

from work that is...

and spent the day doing equal parts of cooking

and sitting on my butt

I love taking a random Monday or Friday off

this time of year and having a me day

today was that day

and although I did a little more than I intended

I feel good with what I got accomplished

an extra day to recharge the batteries

is always welcome as it is a long long time

between New Years and Easter!

I cooked my Tourtiere on Wednesday

and it turned out really good

love that I took the leftovers to my Mama

and she enjoyed it too

muffins were on the menu yesterday

these were Cranberry Oatmeal Muffins

it called for dried cranberries but I had dried blueberries for another recipe

so I threw those in instead and they turned out great

I can't find the link to the recipe but once I find it I will add it

now for the recipe I have been wanting to try and actually excited about making them

Cherry Morning Rolls

not sure what happened but they are doughy ~ they did not rise

and they are now in the garbage

big tears!

not really but it was a disappointment

my Italian Wedding Soup however did turn out

and after scooping some out to take to Mom

I put the rest in the fridge as

this will be an easy meal this week

now I have been hanging on to this recipe for months

Strawberry Lemonade Scones

called for strawberries but I bought blueberries

and let me tell you ~ I could eat this for dinner

yup ~ dinner ~ they are that good!

but instead we had this...

Chicken Enchilada Pasta

picture and recipe found here

although I cannot find enchilada sauce here

I found a recipe on line and made my own

it was good and made enough to have tonight 

and then freeze for another meal

and that was cutting the recipe in half!

this little one was happy when I would sit for a bit

she loves having someone home.

Hope you had a great weekend!!

In The Kitchen

It is a stormy Sunday night here on the east coast

and I have already lost power once

so I thought I would dash off a quick post in case it goes again....

yes ~ this was this afternoon

and they said that it is going to get worse

Trev is doing a little happy dance as it more than likely means

no school tomorrow

gotta love a good snow day

me on the other hand have to go in regardless

I don't get snow days

I know ~ boohoo ~ woe is me

so what does one do when the snow is blowing

well beside stay in my pj's all day long

I knock a few more recipes off my

28 recipes in 28 days list

I started off with miniature pineapple upside down cakes

I love the look of them and they are perfect

with a cuppa tea

  

then I made some cookies for my boy

he loves anything chocolate

so these Rolo cookies fit the bill

they were easy peasy and really rich

next up was a traditional Acadian meat pie

called a Tourtiere

this can be frozen and popped into the oven the night 

we want it for supper

last thing off the list this weekend 

was mini Italian meatballs

I made for another planned recipe

they are teeny tiny and I just mixed up some ground beef

with an egg, some Italian seasoning, parmesan cheese

and breadcrumbs

then boiled them in beef broth to cook

I can't wait to throw them into this soup,

So after all the cooking and baking was done

I put supper in the oven

and settled into the tub with a book

it was the perfect way to finish off the afternoon.

I wanted to share with you a couple of things I ordered

after Christmas that came in last week

I ordered this from The Rusted Chain

love her stuff and wanted to get a necklace with my word on it

I also came across this one which I fell in love with

as soon as I saw it

found on Etsy at Branded Heart Jewely

I would order from her again

on my last trip to Costco I picked up a couple of books

from two of my favourite authors

can't wait to read these ones.

Hope you all had a good weekend!

In The Kitchen

I am having so much fun with this cooking challenge

and although I have not been too adventurous

it has given me the excuse to sit down and

research some of those "pins" that have been

keeping me on the computer for hours at a time!

one of the recipes I had first on my list

was my Grammy Brown's butter tarts

I have had the recipe for years and truth be told I was 

afraid of the pie crust because I have not made it from scratch

since grade 9 home economics class

and that my friends was more than a couple of years ago

I pulled the pie crust recipe from the Crisco site

and it turned out perfectly!

Mom said that Gram would be proud

and that made me smile

when I found this recipe I knew that it had to go on my list

I am a lover of anything dill and that there was cheese in them

well that is just a bonus!

I did not have fresh dill so I used dry ~ I added by the teaspoon until
it looked about right... about 3-4 tsp.

I also made dump cake as I have been wanting to try it for awhile now

it was fun and easy and good

I also whipped up a little breakfast casserole this morning

taking ideas from a couple of different things I have seen

and made it my own

see ~ that's what I love about cooking

taking a recipe and making it your own

all in all I checked off 5 more recipes this weekend

so that's 11 out of 28

I can do this!!

Saturday was s now day here ~ it was snowing when I got up

and still snowing and blowing when we went to bed

43 cm in total which is about a foot

blowing and drifting created a 5 foot drift in the back yard

so today was spent shovelling walks and decks

and snow blowers could be heard for miles and miles!

Hope you had a fabulous weekend!

In the Kitchen

If I came to one conclusion this weekend

it is that I enjoy cooking more than baking

with cooking you have variables

you can omit this and add this

it's all about your taste

with baking I have to follow the recipe step by step

I guess I am more of a free spirit than I thought I was!

As you know I started my cooking challenge on the 1st

and I ate take out on the 1st

yeah ~ I know!

the thing is to cook 28 recipes that are new to you

ones that you have never cooked before

expanding your horizons ~ and your taste buds too

you can do one recipe a day or mash 5 into a weekend

like I did.

Saturday morning I hit the ground running

I will tell you that this cake is in my top 10 now of favourite cakes ever

even after all the grief it gave me

after I mixed it up and plopped it in the oven

my cake runneth over

oh yes it did

so picture this ~ the cake is still not cooked

but every time I open the oven to check on it

smoke pours out ~ the smoke detector went off

the dog is howling from the pain in her ears

and we have the windows open on this balmy -20 C

that's -4 F to my friends south of me

Trevor says to me ~ so we are not going to make this one ever again.....right?

yeah right ~ after we tasted it ~ it was worth the cold

and the smoke

the recipe can be found here

and the cooking time is not correct ~ it took about another 20 minutes or so.

Next up was a recipe I had pinned but never tried

slow cooker rolls ~ recipe here

2 thumbs up!

which went great with this soup

the best part I likes about this recipe is that I used it as a base

and made it my own by adding a few of my own things to it.

It was game night on Saturday

and this dip was a big hit

picture and recipe found here

since it is a bacon double cheeseburger dip

I added a couple of tablespoons of relish

which added a little something extra

and we all loved it.

After all the cooking on Saturday ~ I was ready to just relax today

but before I did that I made these

it's chocolate and peanut butter so basically it is a no brainer

a little more work than your normal everyday cookie

as you make the chocolate balls

then the peanut butter balls

flatten the choc into a disc and mold around the pb

well hello there ~ they are worth the extra time 

all in all my weekend was a success

every recipe that I tried ~ I would make again

so that's the glory about trying something new

this little man celebrated 6 candles yesterday

my Cooper cat

in his Playcat pose ~ just for you

he is going for a haircut tomorrow morning

shhh ~ don't tell him ~ it's a surprise!

Hope you had a fabulous weekend

I am now headed around to catch up on some blog reading

see you soon!

Friday Potpourri

Hello February
so nice to see you

via

after the mild weather we have had

the last couple of days

our snow is gone

I am talking green grass people

of course I know it will not last long

but we sure enjoyed the warmth after the frigid days

we experienced last week!

busy week ~ getting back into the routine

vacation is definitely over!

via

I am excited to be starting this today

follow along on Instagram

you can find me at @nbwildflowers

via

via

I am also starting the recipe challenge

28 recipes in 28 days

also happy that Simone & Mikal

are joining in on the fun

along with a couple of more lovely ladies via Facebook

via

this yummy dessert is on the menu this weekend

as thebestneighborsever are coming over for game night

not sure whether I am going with a layer cake

or cupcakes ~ time will tell

via

this is also on the list ~ yummy

it is going to be a full week-end
with lots of fun and things to do

what is on your agenda
something fun?  I hope so!