Cinnamon Rolls

lo and behold, Sandy has given me yet another recipe that is another go-to. She recently purchased a bread machine and tells me that it's on practically every single day in her house. One of the most requested items? Homemade cinnamon rolls!

before the rise

Now I'm sure if you were as daft as me, you're sitting there scratching your head wondering how a rectangular contraption like a bread machine, can produce cinnamon rolls. As in, how you toss in all the ingredients, walk away and POOF, voila, out come a dozen perfectly formed cinnamon rolls in a couple hours. Yeah, not one of my finer moments. Apparently you only do the dough until after the first rise (the dough needs to rise twice). After it rises the first time, you have to take it out, roll it, sprinkle the cinnamon and sugar, roll and then wait for it to rise again.

Well, I haven't convinced myself to buy a bread machine yet so I had to use my parents. Now, my parents own EVERYTHING under the sun. Unfortunately, that doesn't mean that what they own is new, or even usable. So when I attempted to make this for the first time at their house, I made a few key errors:
1. The order in which you add ingredients to a bread maker is CRITICAL. I did not realize this and apparently dumped everything in the wrong order.
2. Everything needs to be room temperature. I was trying to rush it and added the eggs in cold.
3. The yeast was kinda expired. Ok, it was expired but only by a month so I figured it would be ok.
4. They only had whole wheat bread flour.
5. My mom wasn't 100% sure if the bread maker worked.
6. It doesn't help if you fall asleep and then forget about the contents of the bread maker for a day. Ok, ok, I admit I didn't' *forget* about it, but when I took a peek inside and realized it was nothing like how it was suppose to look, I couldn't face it and escaped to work instead.

It was probably a combination of all the errors above that resulted in my failed first attempt. So gathering my wits about me (and after a few emails to Sandy), I summed up the courage to try this again at home. Without a breadmaker!

after the second rise, before the oven

And you know what? It worked! I took them to work and got thumbs up all around. I personally thought they were above average but not GREAT.

Then I made it again at my parents house. Then again at home, then again at my parents house, then again for a girls night. In a week. Yup, Nica overdosed on cinnamon rolls the last couple of weeks and now he's in recovery mode. lol.

After the oven

If I get it right, I'd give this a solid 9.5 out of 10. I did a couple of batches with whole wheat bread and it wasn't too bad. I have to research how to substitute whole wheat bread flour for regular because it seems like whenever I use it, it's always more moist and sticky before the rise. Also, for one of the batches I made (for girls night), I took some cream cheese out of the freezer and let it come to room temp naturally. Unfortunately, after whipping it in the kitchenaid for practically ten minutes, it still had lumps. When Ali put it in the toaster oven for a couple minutes, the lumps melted but still - lumps in cream cheese icing? Yuck. Next time I'll remember to nuke it right off the bat to melt.

All in all, it's actually a pretty straightforward recipe, it just takes a LONG time because of all the waiting you have to do because of the double rise.

So let me finally get to it. Here is the link on the allrecipes website:
 http://allrecipes.com/recipe/cinnamon-rolls-iii/detail.aspx

and as usual, here is the recipe for laziness sake:

Ingredients:

1/4 cup warm water 1/4 cup butter, melted 1/2 (3.4 ounce) package instant vanilla pudding mix 1 cup warm milk 1 egg, room temperature 1 tablespoon white sugar 1/2 teaspoon salt 4 cups bread flour 1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast

1/4 cup butter, softened 1 cup brown sugar 4 teaspoons ground cinnamon 3/4 cup chopped pecans 1/2 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened 1/4 cup butter, softened 1 cup confectioners' sugar 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 1/2 teaspoons milk

Directions:

1.	In the pan of your bread machine, combine water, melted butter, vanilla pudding, warm milk, egg, 1 tablespoon sugar, salt, bread flour and yeast. Set machine to Dough cycle; press Start.
2.	When Dough cycle has finished, turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and roll into a 17x10 inch rectangle. Spread with softened butter. In a small bowl, stir together brown sugar, cinnamon and pecans. Sprinkle brown sugar mixture over dough.
3.	Roll up dough, beginning with long side. Slice into 16 one inch slices and place in 9x13 buttered pan. Let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 45 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
4.	Bake in preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes. While rolls bake, stir together cream cheese, softened butter, confectioners' sugar, vanilla and milk. Remove rolls from oven and top with frosting.

This one reviewers comments was the most helpful for those who don't own a bread machine:

Reviewed: Sep. 25, 2006

Absolutely wonderful!!! I used the traditional method, without the bread maker. I dissolved the tbs. sugar (I used brown) in the water, along with the butter. If you use cold butter, just boil the water, and pour it over the butter while stirring. By that time the temp is quickly brought to the ideal temp for adding the yeast. Cover with plastic wrap, and fix the pudding while the yeast foams. I add the egg, pudding mix and milk together and stir. Then, I measure out the flour, adding 4 tsp of vital wheat gluten to all purpose flour, (I had no bread flour). By that time, the yeast is ready for mixing. I add the pudding mixture, mixing well, followed by the flour. I knead the dough until it forms a ball-all done in same bowl. After I remove the ball, I pour a bit of oil in, and replace the dough and roll it in the oil. The rest is pretty self-explanitory. After rising for about 1 hr. I roll out, spread filling, cut, and rise again. I cook for my boyfriend and the mechanics at his shop and they wont stop raving about them! My boyfriend says that it's the only time the ENTIRE SHOP just sits in silence, awing over how good they are!! A++++ recipe! Thanks Miss Alix!

815 users found this review helpful

Update Feb 2013:

The sad, never-rising defrosted bun.

I wanted to give these to a friend who likes hot cinnamon buns but how to get this to him right out of my oven?!. I thought I'd give him frozen ones instead that he could bake at home so he'd have warm cinnamon buns. I froze the dough after I had rolled it out with the cinnamon and sugar and before the second proofing. I had it in the fridge for a few days but when I took them out to try and bring them to room temp and have them rise again... it never happened. The rolls looked so pitiful I didn't even bother trying to bake them in the oven. I don't know when in the process you're suppose to freeze this, but I have decided I will never freeze baked goods ever again. Fresh is best! Frozen is gross.

Caramelized Onion Spread

With the festive season comes... dinners! Lots of them this year. It's the time of year when we get to catch up with friends and family and for me, sample new appetizers and food. There were a few key dishes this year that caught my interest of my tastebuds.

One of them, was a caramelized onion spread. My sister's hubby made it as a Christmas Eve appetizer. Nica and I attacked it - eating so much that by the time we were suppose to eat our entree, we were stuffed. We couldn't help ourselves - this spread has roasted garlic and the Nicas LOVE garlic!

I will be honest - visually, it didn't look that appetizing. It's a caramel coloured brown and creamy. Kind of like hummus. But the taste was out of this world. The caramelized onions gave it a sweetness. The roasted garlic added lots of flavour while the cream cheese and mayo contributed the smooth and creamy texture and harmonized the onion and garlic. Served on crispy slices of toasted baguettes, the texture was a nice complement of crunchy and smooth. Yum.

Here's the recipe:

Caramelized Onion Spread

1 Tbsp olive oil

3 cups chopped yellow onions (or thinly sliced)

4 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 cup (4 oz) block-style cream cheese

1/2 cup mayonnaise

2 Tbsp finely chopped fresh chives

1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper

1/4 tsp kosher salt

1. Heat large skillet to medium-high. Add oil, swirl to coat bottom. Add onion and garlic. Saute 5 minutes, stirring frequently.
2. Reduce heat to medium-low. Cook 35 minutes or until onions are very tender and caramelized, stirring occasionally.
3. Add cream cheese, stir to combine.
4. Removed from heat. Stir in mayonnaise, chives, pepper, salt.
5. Serve at room temperature or chilled.

Refrigerate up to 2 days.

- Cooking Light magazine, December 2011

Starbucks Cranberry Bliss Bars

Well Sandy has done it to me again. She has introduced me to a new food that I can't get enough of! We went for coffee the other day at Starbucks and she convinced me (didn't take very much, mind you) to buy a Cranberry Bliss bar.

OMG, it was DIVINE. I meant to share it but ended up eating the whole thing.

I found this website that has the "secret recipes" to everything. Here is the one for Starbucks' cranberry bliss bar:

Cake
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, softened
1 1/4 cups packed light brown sugar
3 eggs
2 tablespoons minced crystallized ginger
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 cup chopped sweetened dried cranberries
4 ounces white chocolate, cut into chunks

Frosting
4-ounces cream cheese, softened
3 cups powdered sugar
4 teaspoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup chopped sweetened dried cranberries

Drizzled Icing
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon milk
2 teaspoons vegetable shortening



1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Make cake by beating the butter and brown sugar together with an electric mixer until smooth. Add the eggs, ginger, vanilla, and salt and beat well. Gradually mix in the flour and baking powder until smooth. Mix the chopped dried cranberries and white chocolate chunks into the batter by hand. Pour the batter into a buttered 9 x 13-inch baking pan. Use a spatula to spread the batter evenly across the pan. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the cake is lightly browned on top. Allow the cake to cool.

3. Make the frosting by combining the softened cream cheese, powdered sugar, lemon juice, and vanilla in a medium bowl with an electric mixer until smooth. When the cake has cooled, use a spatula to spread the frosting over the top of the cake.

4. Sprinkle 1/4 cup of chopped dried cranberries over the frosting on the cake.

5. Make the drizzled icing by whisking together powdered sugar, milk, and shortening. Drizzle this icing over the cranberries in a sweeping motion with a squirt bottle or fill a small plastic storage bag with the icing and cut off the tip of one corner.

6. Cover the cake and let it chill out in the fridge for a couple hours, then slice the cake lengthwise (the long way) through the middle. Slice the cake across the width three times, making a total of eight rectangular slices. Slice each of those rectangles diagonally creating 16 triangular slices.

Makes 16 bars.

I have no idea where to buy crystallized ginger. I know Trader Joes sells it but the last couple of times I've gone down, they've been out of stock. One of the staff told me there was an issue with their packaging. d'oh!! I can't WAIT to try this recipe out.

Update December 20, 2011: 
I made this after finding crystallized ginger at my local Save-On-Foods. It wasn't bad but it was so SWEET! It seriously hurt my tooth when I ate it. Nica kept sneaking into the fridge to eat it. I meant to take some into work but by the time I went to plate it, it was half gone. *sigh* I did let a couple girls at work try some since I took one piece in as an after-lunch snack and they said it was really good. Not sure if they were just saying that though.

Things to remember for the next time I make this: 
* I cut a hole much too large when I was covering it with the drizzled icing. I think I could have skipped that part of the bar entirely and it would have been fine. 
* The entire bar was WAY too sweet. Next time, I will definitely cut back on the sugar. 
* Don't put crystallized ginger in the mini food processor. The ginger gets caught in the blades and just makes it a gooey mess. I'm guessing it would be ditto for the cranberries although I smartened up and chopped them with a french knife after the ginger fiasco.
* line the baking pan with parchment paper to prevent it from sticking to the sides.

Interestingly, it seemed to taste a lot better after a few days in the fridge and then eaten at room temp.

Warm Shrimp Salad

Went to Market at Shangri-La with Mela and enjoyed this amazing shrimp salad. She had mentioned she had it before and was totally hyping it up. Now normally, when something is hyped up I'm disappointed with it but this one was true. It was AMAZING. Now I just have to figure out how to make champagne vinaigrette!  Found this recipe... something to definitely try in the future.

http://how2heroes.com/videos/seafood/warm-shrimp-salad

Chocolate cupcakes

A friend recently gave me some cupcakes that were to die for. They were a day old by the time I consumed them but they were light, fluffy and amazingly moist. I asked her for the recipe and she said it was a good ol' Martha one!
http://www.marthastewart.com/282243/one-bowl-chocolate-cupcakes

One Bowl Chocolate cupcakes:

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 cup warm water
• 3/4 cup buttermilk
• 3 tablespoons safflower oil
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners; set aside. Sift together cocoa powder, flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into a large bowl. Add eggs, warm water, buttermilk, oil, and vanilla, and mix until smooth, about 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides and bottom of bowl to assure batter is well mixed.
   
2. Divide batter evenly among muffin cups, filling each 2/3 full. Bake until tops spring back when touched, about 20 minutes, rotating pan once if needed. Transfer to a wire rack; let cool completely.
   

Cupcakes will keep, covered, for up to three days.

Failed first attempt

I was so excited about making these. To my disappointment, they turned out heavy. So heavy that both my brother and husband commented they tasted like brownies. I refused to eat them after I tried my first one as they reminded me of hockey pucks.

I begged my friend to impart some baking wisdom since this is one of the hobbies I'd like to improve upon during my mat leave. Her hints?

1. Add 1/4 cup of mayonnaise to the mix.
2. Add a bit more buttermilk (~2 tablespoons)
3. Hand mix the batter initially and only use a mixer for a couple minutes (otherwise the batter will be too glutenous)
4. Let the cupcakes cool in the pan for a few minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack
5. Store the cupcakes overnight in an airtight container (otherwise they'll dry out)

My next attempt to make these were foiled as I failed to check my ingredients before I started to bake. (Fundamental Lesson Pen! Sheesh.). No Flour = No Baking.

Success!

So on Thursday I bought more flour and made sure I was ready to bake Friday night. Tried the recipe again and YUM. So much better. I will admit they aren't as moist as my friends, but at least I'll eat them now!

I'll eat the one on the right, thank you very much!

Failed Attempt on top. Note the size difference

Henry and Christine's most amazing stuffing recipe

Twice a year, for Easter and Christmas, our family has the honour of going over to a family friend's home for dinner. All of us always look forward to the free range turkey and the mouth watering stuffing. It oozes with fat and is oh-so-good. I wrangled the ingredients and recipe from them. Here it is:
Ingredients:
- Onion
- Garlic
- Ground sausage meat - coarse type ( we get the deli to make it leaner)
- Bread crumbs ( can be bought in Safeway or Save-On ) granular texture not cubes
- Bacon
- Fresh sage
- Giblets from the turkey
- Sherry / brandy

In a large frying pan:
Fry diced onions and chopped bacon
Add sausage meat and chopped giblets
Remove excess oil
Add sage and sherry/brandy
Add bread crumbs and water until desired consistency
Put in oven proof dish and bake for 1 hr

Lemon Chiffon Cake

Had a craving for a light cake the other day and decided I'd try my hand at a lemon chiffon cake. A quick search of the internet found me this recipe: http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/lemon-chiffon-cake/Detail.aspx

Ingredients
* 1 3/4 cups cake flour
* 1 tablespoon baking powder
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 cup white sugar
* 1/2 cup vegetable oil
* 6 egg yolks
* 3/4 cup water
* 1 tablespoon lemon zest
* 6 egg whites
* 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
* 3/4 cup white sugar
* 1 cup heavy whipping cream
* 2 1/2 cups lemon pie filling
* 8 slices lemon

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt, and 1/2 cup sugar. Add oil, egg yolks, water and lemon rind. Beat with an electric mixer until smooth.
3. In a small bowl, beat egg whites and cream of tartar until peaks form. Gradually add 3/4 cup sugar, and beat until very stiff and shiny peaks form. Fold 1/3 of the whites into the batter, then quickly fold in remaining whites until no streaks remain. Turn batter into ungreased 10 inch tube pan.
4. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Invert cake and cool completely in pan. When cool, loosen edges and shake pan to remove cake.
5. To Make Filling: Beat cream to stiff peaks. Fold in lemon filling. Chill until stiff.
6. To Assemble Cake: Slice cake horizontally into 3 equal layers. Fill layers with 1/3 cup of filling. Spread remaining filling on top layer. Decorate with lemon slices.


A few mishaps/adjustments during the baking of this...
1. A little bit of egg yolk got into the whites
2. I used Splenda instead of regular sugar
3. I used all purpose flour instead of cake flour
4. I baked it for the full 60 minutes
5. I sprayed the tube pan with Pam
6. The eggs weren't at room temperature so I had them in warm water to try and raise the temp
7. I had to add cornstarch to the lemon meringue mixture because it was too runny.

The final result was okay - it was edible and everyone enjoyed it but it wasn't perfect. It didn't rise as much as I had hoped. The lemon meringue powder may have been old or it could have been the Splenda substitution but the frosting should have been thicker. I was also in a bit of a rush because it was getting late into the evening and I wanted everyone to have cake after dinner.

I forgot to take a photo but I'm definitely going to try this again soon since I still have half a carton of whipping cream. Here are the adjustments I'm going to make next time:

1. Use real sugar instead of Splenda in the lemon meringue mixture
2. Naturally raise the eggs to room temperature before starting the recipe
3. Don't spray the sides of the tube pan before baking. Apparently leaving the pan non-greased helps the batter creep up the sides of the pan and helps the cake rise
4. Watch the bake time - some readers indicated they only needed 20-25 minutes and all agreed they didn't need the full 60 minutes. If left for too long, the cake starts to deflate.
5. Use a wire whisk to fold in the egg whites instead of a spatula.

Update February 15, 2011:
Tried this again. Did all the adjustments as I had outlined above and the cake STILL didn't rise high enough to my liking. The frosting didn't work either because Nica used all the whipping cream for his morning coffees, unbeknown to me. Not that it mattered much anyway because the lemon meringue mixture I made was still runny, even though I used real sugar. I'm convinced the powdered mix was just simply old. It looked old and you really can't count on anything in this house being recent. Oh well. Maybe I'll try a different recipe next time.

Update February 27, 2011:
After reading baking101 on the internet in the wee hours during an insomniac night, I decided to try this recipe again. And this time - perfection! Here is what I changed:
- Used real sugar, no splenda
- Used cake flour, not all purpose
- separated the eggs when they were cold, and then raised the temperature of the whites to room temperature naturally (i.e. left them for about an hour at room temp)
- when beating the whites, started to beat them at medium-low speed, and then added the cream of tartar. Then slowly raised the speed (to avoid large air bubbles)
- gently (VERY VERY gently) folded the whites with the lemon mixture and used a whisk.
- removed the cake at about 25 minutes.

The final result? Ohmigod, it actually came up ABOVE the tube pan! I was so excited and proud. I was able to slice the cake into three horizontal sections and layered it with mango and strawberry. Again, the meringue part was awful awful AWFUL. It was the last packet in that box so at least I'll never have to worry about something being out of date again. The mango was still quite firm (made slicing easy on the mandoline) but the strawberry was the real winner as a fresh filling. I took the cake to Julie and Francis' Oscars party and it was a huge hit.

I made it again the next day so my parents could taste what I had been aiming for, for so long and I went back to using Splenda in the lemon mixture although I used real sugar when making the egg white peaks shiny. It didn't raise as much, BUT, to be fair I don't think I beat the whites as well as I had the time before. The volume was less which resulted in the final cake being a little less high. However it was still light and moist.

So the secret? it's all in the whites!

Meatball Bonanza!

When Sacha and Kat had their baby Lukas, two years ago, I had the privilege of going to the baby shower at Diana's house. She had these AMAZING meatballs that I just couldn't get enough of. Here's her recipe share:

1 cube vegetable bouillon
1 cup boiling water
1 1/2 cups ketchup
2 tbsp worcestershire
1 tsp dried mustard
1 tsp dried onion flakes
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
2 tbsp brown sugar
1/2 tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 squeezed lemon
1/2 cup honey
4 cloves garlic
1 bag of italian meatballs from M&M meatshop

Mix the bouillon and water together. Then mix all ingredients and boil, then simmer for 10 minutes.

She served it in a slowcooker, which always makes me think that you have to slow cook this recipe, when in fact it's actually super simple and super fast. I have made it twice now (both times, served in a slow cooker for ease of transport) and have always received compliments! Thanks Di.

Broccoli Salad Recipe

For the Love of Bacon! My sister gave me this recipe today after dining at her house and enjoying her broccoli salad. It has bacon so of course it's yummy-licious. She says she's had lots of requests for the recipe and I can taste why!

Fresh Broccoli Salad
Ingredients

* 2 heads fresh broccoli
* 1 red onion
* 1/2 pound bacon
* 3/4 cup raisins
* 3/4 cup sliced almonds/cashews
* 1 cup mayonnaise
* 1/2 cup white sugar
* 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar

Directions

1. Place bacon in a deep skillet and cook over medium high heat until evenly brown. Cool and crumble.
2. Cut the broccoli into bite-size pieces and cut the onion into thin bite-size slices. Combine and mix with the bacon, raisins, almonds and cashews.
3. To prepare the dressing, mix the mayonnaise, sugar and vinegar together until smooth. Stir into the salad, let chill and serve.

Can't wait to try this out myself and will have 'Beano' on hand due to the raw broccoli. ha ha!

Update June 4, 2010:
Well, I tried making this and I followed it exactly as the recipe stated except I only used slivered almonds. The result? WAYYYY too sweet! I would totally cut back on the sugar next time. changing the rating from 9 out of 10 to 7 out of 10. Although when Jen makes it, it's definitely a 9.

Cooking website

After months and months of wanting a pasta maker, I finally bought one last week. I'll put a separate review of my experience with that.
In preparation for my first pasta-making experience the geek in me decided I would try and learn how to do it online first. I ended up stumbling upon this website:
http://rouxbe.com/?l=t

TOTALLY awesome instructional videos with lots of different 'how-to's'. I only browsed through it as a guest but they have everything!!! What's great is that they actually show you both what you should look for and what you shouldn't. Most places only show you what you should see, so you never know if you've done something wrong.

Maybe one day I'll buy the full subscription but for now I'm satisfied with all the free videos that they offer.

My Love of Joie

Joie wines
About a year ago, a good girlfriend of mine, Mela, and I went to this place called the Salt Tasting Room in Gastown. It's like this little slice of heaven in a not-so-fantastic neighbourhood. The entrance of the place is in this alley that you clutch your purse in, thinking that you'll see some guy shooting up behind a dumpster. Then you open the door to the restaurant and you're transported to some other dimension. Long wooden tables, brick walls and this huge chalkboard advertising all the types of food you can pair your wine with. What's super cool? No ovens!
Website: http://www.salttastingroom.com/

We decided to have a flight of wines with food (3 types of wines, paired with 3 types of food). One of the wines we tried was "Joie: A Noble Blend". Our feedback? Simply AMAZING. It's a sweeter wine with flavours of apple. The harmony of flavours blew our minds away and it instantly ranked as my favourite wine.

I had to taste for myself if this winery was a one-wine hit place, or if all their wines were like this. Unfortunately their wines aren't sold in the BC Liquor stores (only speciality wine stores) so buying this wine is serious business for me! Plus on average their wines are about $25 which totally breaks my $20 max rule. But you know what? I broke my rules and haven't regretted it one bit. Totally worth every single penny they sell the wine for.

I had a sample of "Joie Rose" at the downtown Joey's restaurant location (which has the most selection of wines by the glass in Vancouver, by the way). Again, a sweeter wine with some floral notes to it and again, 10 out of 10 from me on this wine. I think I've bought about 5 bottles since.

My older brother, Chris, bought me the Riseling that we enjoyed the other night at our family dinner. Again, thumbs up from everyone all around. I still rank it above some of the other wines I've tried but out of all the Joie wines I've tried, it probably places 3rd.

I can't wait to try all their other types since I still haven't tried their un-oaked chardonnay and their Muscat which is sold out for 2008.

They're clearly not a one-hit wine wonder. I have thoroughly enjoyed every single type of wine they've made and others don't disagree. Recently they won TWO Lieutenant Governor General’s Awards of Excellence for their wines. Not bad considering only 12 wines get this award every year!!!

Here's a link to their website: http://www.joie.ca/2008_joie_vintage_spec_sheet.htm

Easy Peasy Cheesecakes

Easy Peasy Cheesecakes

A good friend of mine, Julie, was recently married. In celebration of this marriage, her aunts threw her this insane bridal shower/stagette complete with feather boas, tiaras, champagne and of course: good food.

Now I just recently admitted to myself that I was lactose intolerant (after the last reaction caused me to almost crap my pants). So I've really tried to watch what I eat. However, that night one of her aunts made these super cute cheesecakes. They were individual sized in little cupcake holders and after popping a couple of lactaid, I have to admit: it was worth it! They were light, fluffy and perfectly portioned.

Here's the easy peasy recipe:
1 package Mr. Christy's Nilla wafers
2 packages Cream Cheese
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
3/4 cup sugar

Mix all ingredients with a beater and then bake in a 350 degree oven for 15 minutes. Top with whatever topping you want (e.g. blackberries with blueberry coulis, etc).

I tried this recipe at a work party last week and they were a total hit. I did modify the recipe a little bit by using 3 eggs (to try and achieve super fluffiness) and I measured out 1 cup of sugar instead. I wasn't able to eat them that night but feedback was very positive.

Notes about making this though (thanks to my colleagues for helping me out with this): While mixing the ingredients in the Kitchenaid mixer, there were lumps of cream cheese. Try to beat it as much as possible to get rid of the lumps. A few leftover lumps are ok since they'll melt when you bake them. Also, after mixing the resulting mixture will be very liquidy, but it solidifes after the baking process.

Winzertanz: Gustav Adolf Schmitt

Nica found this German white for me one day in the liquor store. I always lingered around the German whites because honestly, I think they make the best whites in the world. Cheap, cheerful and just the right amount of sweetness. This wine is also sold in the 2 litre format which is even better for under $15!!! (obviously you can see why I like this wine so much). The only place I've found it in the 2 litre format though, it the BC liquor store on 41st and Cambie. I pick up a couple bottles everytime I go visit my parents.

Anyway, solid 9 out of 10 from me on this one. Easy to drink is an understatement. I can finish off a whole 2 litre bottle in one night and I can't even drink that much water in one sitting. Sometimes if you're drunk enough, it only tastes like apple juice. Clean start, clean finish, sweeter wine and great chilled. The price is worth it as an everyday wine.

Calona Vineyards: Sovereign Opal 2007

My friend Julie did it again. She's found another great white! Wine, that is.

This is a VQA wine, and when you first smell it, you fall in love. It has hints of peach and apple and this... I don't know how to explain it, it just SMELLS good. It tastes like it smells too! (Unlike vanilla extract and durian). It's slightly sweet, but not TOO sweet. When it hits the back of your tongue before you swallow, it's pleasant and not cringingly tart.

The bottle is elegant (although honestly it should be what's inside that counts) but overall, nice packaging and a wine that deserves it. It's about $13 and can be found in any BC Liquor store. I've already bought 3 bottles and I'm not sure how long they're going to last. It's a perfect summer wine! 9.5 out of 10.

Sour Cream Banana Bread

I *LOVE* sour cream. And I love moist banana bread. So what better than to combine the two? I did some research on the net and it appears that sour cream is the secret to a good, moist banana bread. so here goes...


Sour Cream Banana Bread

SERVES 12 , 1 loaf (change servings and units)
Ingredients

* 1/2 cup margarine or butter
* 1 cup sugar
* 2 eggs
* 1 teaspoon vanilla
* 1 1/2 cups flour
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1 cup mashed banana
* 1/2 cup chopped nuts (omit if you don't like nuts)
* 1/2 cup sour cream

Directions

1. Grease 1 large loaf pan.
2. Cream margarine, sugar, eggs and vanilla.
3. Add dry ingredients, then bananas, nuts and sour cream.
4. Mix well.
5. Bake at 350 F for 1 hour.

Update May 2, 2009: Nica and the folks at work love this recipe (or at least I think they do since they eat it all up). However Flo and Jen have both tried the recipe with unfavourable results. Flo says her bread doesn't rise and Jen says it seemed undercooked. We think it might be due to the fact that I use my Kitchenaid mixer, whereas Jen is hand mixing. Will keep an eye on this... so far it's *my* favourite recipe!

Manny's Heavenly Hash

Manu, a colleague at work, is always bringing in delicious lunches. They're usually leftovers from his dinner the night before and amazingly (yes, I'm being sexist here), he makes them even though he's married. Yes, the husband cooks! In fact, he's usually the one to make dinners.

Here's a recipe he gave me for hashbrowns. His said his aunt gave him the recipe and whenever he takes it to potlucks, it's always the first to go:

1 kg bag of hashbrowns
2 cans of cream of mushroom soup
1/2 cup butter
2 cups cheddar cheese
1/2 grated onion
salt and pepper to taste
dash of hot sauce (optional)

Mix it all up in a casserole dish, cook for an hour and a half at 350 degrees. I think it's a heart attack waiting to happen but it's darn good.


Update December 22, 2012:
Woke up this morning and had a craving for something with potatoes and sour cream for breakfast. I thought of this recipe had sour cream in it too! Apparently not. So I bastardized the recipe. Instead of a bag of hashbrowns, I actually used real potatoes (whoaaaa, crazy eh?) and used my new food processor to grate them. BTW, I LOVE my food processor. How did I live without one? I only added one can of cream of mushroom soup, used a whole onion (because mmmm onions!) and tossed in about 1/2 cup of sour cream that was leftover from dinner. I also tossed in some garlic and herb seasoning because I love it and I was too lazy to peel and mince real garlic. No hot sauce since I wanted it to be toddler-friendly. Waiting for it to come out of the oven now...

Delicious Goodness: Choclate Chunk Fudgy Brownies

A colleague of mine at work - Janine - makes the BEST brownies. So good that you think she's bought them and just lied about baking them. However, I can attest that she does in fact make them from a recipe passed down from her grandma. Here it is:

CHOCOLATE CHUNK FUDGY BROWNIES

1 cup margarine 2 tsp. vanilla
3/4 cup baking cocoa 1 cup flour
2 cups sugar 1/2 tsp. salt
4 eggs 1 package chocolate chunks

1. Melt margarine. Remove from heat.
2. Add cocoa.
3. Add sugar.
4. Add eggs one at a time, beating very well after each egg.
5. Add vanilla, flour and salt. DO NOT OVER BEAT!
6. Stir in chocolate chunks.
7. Spread in greased 13" x 9" pan.
8. Bake in 350 degree over for 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Since we all know that the ingredients you buy mean everything, she said she uses the Hershey's chocolate baking kisses (smaller than real kisses) for her chocolate chunks.

Update August 30, 2009: I have made these brownies a few times since Janine gave me the recipe and had really great reviews! Plus they're super easy to make. Whenever Safeway has a sale on the Hershey's baking kisses I stock up because I know that I'll without a doubt, make this again.

BBQ garlic mayo

I remember the first time I ever had flavoured mayo. I was at this cafe downtown with Mela and we had ordered yam fries and the side dressing was this BBQ mayo. When I asked the waitress what was in it, she was a bit elusive. She never said "mayo" but told us eggs. I thought that was weird.

This is my take on their sauce:
* 1/2 cup mayonnaise
* 1/4 cup BBQ sauce
* few cloves of garlic (I use anywhere between 3-4 because I'm a garlic freak)
* seasoning blend



Toss it all into a blender. I use the "party mixer" I bought last year. I think I'll write a whole post on its own for that one because it really sucks and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.



I digress. The BBQ garlic mayo is simple, easy and we love using it on everything. Pizza's, pasta, fish, meat, fries... the list goes on!

Rating: 9 out of 10
Wouldn't change a thing.

Garlic dill dip

So, again I rave about the Cactus Club food. This time, it's about the sauce they serve with their yam fries. If you've never had this sauce, you have to have it at least once. It is soooo good.

We asked the waitress what they put in it and here's what we were able to gather: mayonnaise, garlic, fresh dill and lemon juice. That's it. I don't know what proportions of each but mmmm mmmm mmm! So yummy with the hot crispy yam fries.

Rating out of 10: 9
Try it again? ohhhh yeah.

Update Jan 26, 2008:
I tried making this at home. Didn't realize before I started that I didn't have enough mayonnaise. So 6 cloves of garlic later, have a super garlicky dressing/dip. Tastes awful. Will leave for husband to eat.

The Brazilian

Sometimes it seems like drinks never change. You have the mojito, the Cosmopolitan, the rum and coke, etc. It's rare that I find something I like because I really hate those drinks that scream "I'M BOOZY!" Plus due to liver memory, my body isn't letting vodka near it without reminding me of the times I prayed to the porcelain god, which really sucks because most of the tastiest martinis and cocktails are made with it.
Anyway, I'm always open to new things so when I tried the Cactus Club's Brazilian the other night, I was floored.

They've muddled fresh pieces of kiwi, lime and sugar cane with rum and soda and I could drink them forever. They are so good! I want to try and make it myself at home but where on earth do you buy sugar cane?! Maybe I'll have to take a trip to Chinatown.

More to come...
Rating: 9 out of 10! Yes, it was that amazing.
Try it again? Yup.

Update: Found some sugar cane drink at T&T and attempted to make this 3 times. Was an absolute disaster on all fronts. i think I'll leave this drink to the pro's at Cactus Club.