herb & garlic flatbread

Okay, so I'm wicked upset that I made this, it turned out GREAT, and then I cut it up and ate all the pretty, crunchy edge pieces before it dawned on me that I DIDN'T TAKE ANY PICTURES OF IT YET. Ugh. But, since it did turn out so good, I'm going to give you the recipe anyway. Why? Because I just love you that much. And because who knows how long it'll be before I make this again since it's the start of exams, and I'll be going home to the land of barbeque and chinese food after that. This is super easy to make since it requires no yeast and the ingredients are ones you should have in your cupboard to begin with. Pile it on with some easy bruschetta or maybe some spinach dip, or if you like it, hummus. Any kind of dip would be awesome with this since you can easily change the texture and thickness of the flatbread you want. So let's get started!

Herb & Garlic Flatbread

3 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp salt

2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp black pepper
1 cup warm water
¾ cups oil
Parchment paper, for baking
Extra oil, for brushing
Coarse or Table salt, for sprinkling

Place a large rimless baking sheet or an upside down rimmed baking sheet in the oven and preheat to 450F.
In a bowl, mix flour, salt, baking powder, garlic powder, basil and black pepper. With a spoon, stir in the water and olive oil until a medium stiff dough forms. Knead gently to combine into a ball. Let rest in the bowl covered with a tea towel for about half an hour to let it (and you!) rest.

Divide dough into 6 to 8 portions, depending on the size of your cookie sheet. One at a time, roll dough out with a sprinkling of flour until very thin; the thinner you roll it, the thinner and crispier the flatbread will be. If you want it to be more breadlike, don't roll it so much. More cracker-like, roll it paper thin. 
Place on the parchment paper and brush excess flour off the dough, then brush with oil and sprinkle with a little sea salt. Place on top of the baking sheet in the oven and bake for 8 to 12 minutes until lightly browned on the edges with specks of brown throughout. It should have some nice golden bubbles on top. Remove from the oven, cool and break or cut into pieces. Repeat with the remaining dough. Keeps well in a ziploc bag or sealed container. Eat up!

apple crisp

I've been dying, and I mean dying, to bake something for the past few days. This recovery is driving me nuts, and I can't wait until I can bang out the Christmas cookies I've been dying to make. Have I mentioned I've been dying? to bake? So instead, while on the couch, my boyfriend brought me the bag of apples that has been sitting in our crisper since his mom brought them for us, and I elected to make some apple crisp! While lying on the couch! Problem solved. But I still want to make cookies. And I won't even go into detail about how I managed to maneuver a knife and peeler while lying down.


This is a basic apple crisp recipe I make anytime we have leftover apples lying around. It's pretty simple, and can be really versatile, so you can dress it up however you want. Pears, raspberries, strawberries, peaches, anything you have handy. A fruit medley. I added chopped pecans to the crumble this time around, which we both really liked. And oatmeal too. It's like my lazy, recovering man's apple pie.


Apple Crisp

5 or 6 apples, any kind
peeled, and sliced or chopped
2/3 cup sugar
1 tbsp cinnamon


Topping:
1 cup flour
1/2 cup quick oats
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup chopped pecans, optional
1/2 cup melted butter or margarine


In a bowl, combine flour, oats, sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon and pecans. Mix together with a fork until well combined. Pour in the melted butter and continue to mix with a fork until large, coarse crumbs form. Set aside.


Peel apples, and slice or chop them, depending on the size you prefer your fruit to be. Throw these into a very lightly greased 8x8 baking dish. Add 2/3 cups sugar and 1 tbsp cinnamon. Mix gently until coated. Spread apples into an even layer, and add topping, loosely crumbling into an even layer as well. Bake at 350F for 30-40 minutes, until bubbly and golden. Remove and let cool slightly. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream. Best when served with Tim Hortons coffee :) (see pic above!)

frozen mocha almond mousse

If you're like me, and could sit and eat a whole tub of Cool Whip if you didn't start to feel guilty halfway through, then this dessert is for you. And you really gotta love coffee. This recipe has made such an impact on me and the boyfriend's life recently, that it's become a regular side to our after-dinner coffee. It's the simplest thing ever to make, and pretty darn cheap too, but the impact is huge. A simple mixture of Cool Whip, coffee and a melted Hershey's Almond bar are all you need. This is meant to be eaten as a mousse, which is light and whipped and airy, but we love it best if you re-freeze it and eat it like ice cream. Mmmmm is it ever good. If I wasn't a gastrological mess right now, I'd go out and make some. But it'll just have to wait about a week.

Frozen Mocha Almond Mousse

1 large tub Cool Whip

1 or 2 Hershey's Almond chocolate bars, large or small

2 tbsp strongly brewed coffee, cooled

 

First, you have to make sure your tub of Cool Whip is thawed. While the thawing is taking place, melt the chocolate bars on a microwavable plate, for about 45 seconds. Stir to make sure its melted completely. Let this sit and cool while your waiting for the Cool Whip to thaw. It can't be hot when you add it, or the magic won't happen. Once you're ready, stir in the 2 tablespoons of cooled coffee into the Cool Whip. Then, all at once, add all of the chocolate to the tub, and quickly stir. The chocolate will start to solidify into little hunks and chunks of chocolate and almond goodness. Mix completely, and serve as a mousse if you'd like. Or, you can pop the lid back on the tub and freeze the mix until its solid. The result of this is that you get a light, airy, cool ice cream-like consistency. Keeps for up to 2 weeks.

any-way-you-want-em muffins

The original title of this post was supposed to be Blueberry Coffee Cake Muffins, but since I used the recipe for that and then ended up making three different kinds of muffins, I decided that they should be given a more appropriate name. So that's where this Glee/Journey inspired name came from. And yes, I love Glee. Don't judge me. Anyway, I switched it up a little, since in this house a whole batch of one type of anything seems to get boring fast having only two of us to eat them. So instead of making twelve of one kind, I made four blueberry, four cinnamon, and 4 chocolate chip coffee cake muffins using a simple plain muffin recipe as my base, and the same coffee cake crumble on top. So let's get started!


Any-way-you-want-em (Insert Name Here) Muffins

2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 tsp salt
4 egg whites
1 1/4 cup milk, skim
1 cup blueberries, chocolate chips, or whatever
(chopped pecans, raisins, all of the above, etc.)
1 tbsp cinnamon, if that's the way you're headed


Topping:
1/4 cup flour
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 tsp butter or margarine, softened
1/2 tsp cinnamon
Mix with a fork or pastry cutter until mixed and crumbly. Have this ready before you mix the muffin batter.


Prehead oven to 400 F. Spray, grease or line a 12 count muffin pan. In a large bowl, mix flour, baking soda, powder, sugar and salt. In another bowl, beat egg whites and milk until combined. Add egg mixture to dry mixture, and blend until thoroughly combined.


So this is where you can get creative. I spooned the batter into the cups now and then added a bit of cinnamon to some and swirled with a toothpick, then sprinkled chocolate chips onto some others and pushed them down into the cups, then did the same to some with the blueberries. Then, I added the crumble on top of each muffin. Easy! And adaptable, which I really love about this batch. If you just want one kind of muffin, you can simplify this by adding your preferred ingredients before you scoop the batter into the cups. Bake for about 15-18 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool and store in an airtight container.

soft molasses cookies

When it comes to Christmas, the thing I love most is the food. And more importantly, the baking. I could eat and eat and eat all Christmas long, then scarf all the leftovers once it's done. These cookies are my Grandma's recipe, who is absolutely the best cook I know. And how she does it, I have no idea. Seriously, I asked her for this recipe, and she practically rattled it off without looking at a recipe book. How do they do that?

These cookies taste like a gingerbread cookie, but with a special certain kick. They stay soft, flavourful and decadent for however long it takes you to eat them (which won't be long, by the way, especially if I'm around). These fall into my top two favourite cookie, tied with my Grandma's other recipe, Rolo cookies. Should I post those on here sometime too? Only if you're very, very lucky. You're lucky I'm sharing this family favourite with you right now. So let's get to it before I change my mind.

Soft Molasses Cookies

1 cup butter or margarine

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup classic molasses

1 whole egg
2 1/4 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp cardamom
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp white pepper
1/2 cup sugar or more, for rolling

Cream the butter in a large bowl. Add the 2 sugars and cream well. Add the molasses and egg; beat.

 In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, ginger, cardamom, cloves, salt and pepper.

*Now, I'm a poor student, and didn't shell out the cash for cardamom, which depending on where you can find it, can be rather expensive. So I subtituted nutmeg this time and they turned out really well. Aaaaand, slap me on the wrist, but I forgot the add the white pepper. It really punches up the flavour of the other spices, so don't you forget it!*

 Add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture in two parts, mixing with a spoon just until dry ingredients are incorporated. Cover dough and chill for 1 hour. Roll into 1 inch balls and roll in remaining sugar. Place on a parchment lined cooking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 9-11 minutes. The edges should be set, while the top of the cookie begins to have a crackled appearance and is still slightly puffy. Cool and store in an airtight container.

These cookies freeze well too! Double the recipe and eat 1 batch now, while you freeze the other half to break out during the holidays. Perrrrfect!

Burnt Sugar Almonds

I was searching for some Christmas candy recipes (preferably something chocolate, but I got sidetracked) when I stumbled upon this recipe for sugared almonds on thepioneerwoman.com. For those of you who haven't been to this website, go. It's amazing. Anyway, I had everything on the ingredients list, which is really short, so I figured I'd give it a shot. Turns out, when I told my boyfriend about this almond recipe I was going to try, he jumped and skipped and yippee'd because these were a treat that he would get at old hockey tournaments in Roseau. Ok, for his sake, he didn't jump, or skip, or yippee. He just said "Mmm." Then told me about getting them at old hockey tournaments in Roseau, and how good they were. So I was sold.

This recipe is pretty easy to do, although next time I think I'll mix my cinnamon into my sugar before I add it into the water, because the cinnamon clumped. Lesson learned. These are a sweet treat, with an aroma that'll make you drop dead. My house seriously smelled like a warm, sugary vanilla bean for two days straight after making these. And you can double or triple this recipe to give as Christmas gifts or if you think your eyes are bigger than your stomach. So pick up some almonds, and get crackin'.

Burnt Sugar Almonds:

2 cups raw, whole almonds 

1/3 cup water, plus 2 tbsp

2 ¼ cup sugar, divided

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp vanilla extract

Use a heavy saucepan (NOT the nonstick kind) and a wooden spoon.

First add the water, 1 cup of sugar and the cinnamon and stir. Bring it to a boil over medium heat. Add the almonds to the mix, raise the temperature to high heat and stir CONSTANTLY until the water is boiled away. After about 5-7 minutes of constant stirring, the water will have begun to noticeably evaporate. It’ll start to look like the almonds are swimming in syrup, and when you drag your spoon across the bottom, you’ll be able to see the bottom of your pot. The important thing is to not over-cook the syrup here; if you let it get too thick, the sugar you add in next will just granulate, and you won't get the nice, glossy slightly crunchy almonds you want. Lower the heat to medium-low and dump in the rest of your sugar and vanilla, and keep stirring. After a minute or so, the almonds will be coated in a sandy-looking sugar mixture and the pot will appear very dry.

Take them off the heat and transfer the almonds to a sheet of parchment paper. Spread them apart as much as you can, but don’t worry about some of them sticking together initially. BE CAREFUL, however. These are extremely hot, so only use a spoon.
 While they are cooling down, keep on breaking them apart with your spoon until they are all separated. Once they are cooled, store them in a dry, closed container. These can essentially keep for several weeks, but that's if you can keep yourself from eating them all in one sitting. Enjoy!

precious

Girls put the sugar in your plums, the candy in your cane.

up and coming

       Its been such a busy week that I haven't had much time to focus on this blog, let alone even think. I've had assignments up the you-know-what and meetings, appointments and thankfully some good news as well! I found out today that the gallbladder that has been ruining my life for the past year and a half is FINALLY getting removed in exactly two weeks today! Excited much? Anyway, back to the blog. I've been strapped for photography time, but gladly got away to take some pictures of my beautiful family, which once I get more, will hopefully make it here. There are also some baking recipes that I'm itching to make, once the low-fat no-bake cheesecake in the fridge goes away..
Until then, here's a preview:
Berry-licious Cream Cheese Cake - a low fat option I found to satisfy my gallbladder needs
Grandma's Soft Molasses Cookies - these just remind me of Christmas, and I'm in that mood
Burnt Sugar Almonds - they sound weird, but mmmm, look and taste soo good

Stay tuned!

Carly

easy bruschetta

Of all the fast and easy recipes I like to make, bruschetta is definitely my favourite. Tomato, onion, garlic, cilantro.. I think I've been making this once a week since moving back to school! I love to eat it on garlic bread, but you can have it on crusty french or baguette slices too. My mouth is watering just thinking about making this AGAIN tomorrow!
This usually makes about 4 slices, maybe a little more. Having leftovers is awesome, it gets better because the flavours all blend. Eat it as a side to whatever, pasta, a chicken salad, lasagna. Go crazy!

Easy Bruschetta:

1 large tomato or 3-4 roma, diced            
1/2 medium yellow or purple onion, finely chopped
2-3 spoonfuls of minced garlic
drizzle of oil, optional - any oil will do
salt and pepper, to taste
Parsley, dried or fresh

Dice the tomato up however big you'd like the pieces to be. I usually make them fairly small because I think it blends better with the rest of the ingredients. This goes for the onion too, the finer you chop it the better. Throw these two ingredients in a normal bowl, and spoon in the garlic. You can add more if you'd like, I usually do! Put a little drizzle of oil on top if you'd like. I usually don't because then it's fat free and its just fine. Sprinkle salt and pepper on top, just to taste, don't overdo the salt but add however much pepper you want for a little kick. Now load it up with parsley. The fresh stuff's better, but dried flakes work too.  Now just give it all a good stir, cover it in plastic and put it in the fridge, I'd say for at least an hour. I make it at lunch and then eat it at supper. Then the leftovers for the next day, which are faaabulous. Serve on your choice of bread. Enjoy!

pecan double chip cookies

There is almost always some kind of homemade cookies floating around in this house, usually because out of boredom I like to bake. You'd think I'd spend my free time more productively like studying or finishing up assignments early, but nooo.. I bake. It's okay by me as long as I don't binge and gain 80 pounds, but I think soon my boyfriend is going to turn into a cookie. Hopefully it's chocolate chip.


So here's a recipe I love which is pretty much just a chocolate chip cookie recipe kicked up a notch. Accented by pecans and adding white chocolate chips add a nice little change to such a basic cookie. We compare these to those soft, chewy cookies you get at Subway.. soo good! If you're not a fan of pecans, use walnuts, peanuts, any nuts. That goes for the white chips too.. use peanut butter, butterscotch, dark, whatever tickles your pickle! (Don't use pickles. Ew.) Ok, enough, let's get to the recipe already.


Pecan Double Chip Cookies


1 cup hard margarine (or butter), softened
1 1/2 cups brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup white sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup chocolate chips, any darkness
1 cup white chocolate chips (or any other different flavour)
1 cup chopped pecans


Cream first 3 ingredients in a large bowl. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add vanilla, and beat until smooth.
Combine the next 4 ingredients (all dry) in a separate bowl. Add to creamed mixture in 2 additions, mixing well after each addition. Add chips and pecans. Mix well.

Drop onto a greased baking sheet using about 1 tbsp for each. Bake at 350 F (175 C) for about 10 minutes or until edges are golden. Don't overbake them if you want a soft, chewy cookie. Let stand on cookie sheet for about 5 minutes. Place on wire racks to cool completely. Makes about 3-4 dozen cookies depending on size.

Now this would look much better with a Tim Horton's cup instead of that glass of milk, don't ya think? =)

my girls

These three girls are the cutest,

..most adorable,

..funniest,

..little neices with the best smiles around.

And I love them.

kalli&danny - my first wedding

I got the chance to tag along with a very talented photographer, Kim Chorney, who has her company Butterfly Photography, to this wedding this past August. I learned sooo much by getting the chance to work with her, and had a blast snapping this couple!

..like taking stills

..bringing out the eyes

..a few poses

..and getting the best out of a shy little guy.

This opened my eyes to what really goes on with a professional photographer! Not easy, but so, so fun. :)

engagement pictures

My sister and my cousin had asked to take just a couple of engagement shots of them while I was home from school this past winter. I just took some simple pictures, but they were my first in posed shots and rings, so these pictures have quite a bit of sentimental value to me even though they aren't of me or my beloved ring. They started my obsession with experimenting with sparkly, fabulous jewelry and snapping a memory that will last forever.

Spinach Dip

I loooove spinach dip. Love it. I made this bowl, then found out my boyfriend, nor my roommate, love it. Needless to say, it was awesome.. I ate it with a cut up mini baguette and almost died from the goodness of this appetizer. You can serve it hot, cold, in a bread bowl or on its own.


Spinach Dip
1 cup sour cream
1 cup mayonnaise
1 package Knorr vegetable soup mix
1 package frozen chopped spinach


Thaw the spinach completely. Remove from packaging and squeeeeeze out all the water. And I mean all of it. If you don't, it might make your dip runny and watery, and we want none of that. Keep that creamy goodness, and squeeze that spinach like your life depends on it. Then in a medium sized bowl, mix the sour cream, mayo, and vegetable soup mix until well blended. Add the spinach, and mix with a fork to separate all the little bits and pieces of spinach from each other. If you feel like you need more dippy substance, add some more mayo til its to your liking. Pop that baby in the fridge for a while (as long as you can handle it.. this stays for a few days in the fridge), to let the flavours blend. Serve however you like, with the bread/crackers/chips of your choice. Eat up! You can also put this in an oven-safe dish, sprinkle shredded cheese on top and bake in the oven at 350F until bubbly and delicious. You can even add a cup of chunky salsa before putting it in the oven if your into that! Hope you enjoy!

the very first

The very, berry, hairy (ok, not really hairy..) first photoshoot I ever did, If you can even call it a photoshoot, was with my adorable little nephew Karsyn. This was a few months ago, and he was such a good little sport. He's got this cute little serious face that is so my favourite, but so are his smiles and giggles. Auntie loves you Kars-man!