"You don't have to cook fancy or complicated masterpieces - just good food from fresh ingredients" Julia Child

 VS

Fresh ingredients make all of the difference in the world! When cooking homemade teriyaki chicken with rice and vegetables with my husband on the weekend, we decided to use (gasp!) frozen peas. If in a place where fresh vegetables are imported overseas or are not readily available, then the obvious choice is frozen veggies but when vegetables are in season it's hard to choose the frozen ones. As I was eating the now de-thawded cooked peas, I couldn't help but think of how the dish would have been with the fresh, melt in your mouth peas. Fresh ingredients truly make a dish come true!

Practically Perfect Pancakes

Practically Perfect Pancakes

Dry Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1 c. flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• pinch of salt

Wet Ingredients:

• 1 c. milk
• 1 egg
• 2 tbsp melted butter

1. Whisk dry ingredients together
2. In a seperate bowl, whisk dry ingredients together
3. Slowly add the dry ingredients bowl into the wet ingredients bowl, and just mix until combined (if you over-mix the pancakes will not become fluffy)
4. Add butter to a pan and get cooking!
5. Add toppings and enjoy!!

Chocolate Chip Anything Cookies

Chocolate Chip Anything Cookies

I found this recipe in a magazine last year, though I can't for the life of me, remember which magazine. I've changed this recipe to find the best sweet balance of the ingredients. After making these cookies over a hundred times, it has easily become my go-to recipe for cookies as it is versatile in what you can add.

The basics of this recipe are:

• 1 c. butter
• 2/3 c. brown sugar
• 2/3 c. sugar
• 1 egg (or 1 tbsp of whole flax seeds, ground with 3 tbsp of water)
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract (roughly) or about 1/4 vanilla bean
• 2 c. flour
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/3 tsp salt (optional- I usually leave this out or add a pinch)
• any mix ins!

1. In mixer, cream butter and sugars
2. Add egg, mix
3. Add vanilla, mix
4. In a separate bowl, using a sifter, sift the flour, baking soda and salt together. If you don't have a sifter, use a whisk to add air to the mixture.
5. add the dry mixture to the wet mixture, slowly. Ahh, slowly is the key word. The first time I did this, I accidentally turned my mixer up too high, and lets just say that my black kitchen looked like it had snowed indoors!!
6. Now is the fun part. Add whatever mix-ins you'd like. Here are some of the combinations that i've tried:
• honey (approx. 1 tsp.) & chocolate chips
• dried cranberries & almond slivers
• almonds diced & walnuts crushed
• white chocolate chips & toffee (my favourite!!)
• chocolate chips & honey & flax seeds (to add more fibre- these are the cookies in the pictures)
• coconut and dark chocolate shavings
• m&ms

** Now something to note with these cookies, is that they are VERY sweet. I love sweet things, but dear hubby says that sometimes I can make these too sweet that his teeth cringe. An easy fix to tone down the sweetness- is to cut the sugars in half and add more flour- This will make the mixture a little dryer though. Your choice!

Chocolate.Smores.Pie

Chocolate Smores Pie

Yes, you did hear that right. A pie version of smores. A tribute to my sister who will eat smores that have been 'cooked' in the microwave. Graham crumbs, chocolate, marshmallows in a pie!

This is FAR from healthy, so if you are looking for something healthier, I would suggest to skip this.

For the crust I used a general cheesecake crust:

• 1 1/2 c. graham crumbs
• 2 tbsp granulated sugar
• 5 tbsp melted butter
• (next time I would totally add coconut to the crust to add a bit of a crunch)

Firstly, don't forget to butter or grease the pan, otherwise its a nightmare to get out! Cook the crust at 350 degrees until it is just about firm, usually about 10 minutes. Then let it cool to room temperature

The chocolate part. I created a ganache filling.

• 1c. heavy cream
• 1 egg- room temperature
• 1 1/2 c. semi-sweet chocolate

In a pot, bring the cream to a boil, while it is heating to a boil, place the chocolate chips in another bowl. Once the cream has boiled, pour the cream directly on-top of the chocolate chips. Think of it as if your freezing cold and you climb under the covers, you just melt into the warm environment of the comfort of the warm covers. This is what the cream does to the chocolate chips, when you start to see the chocolate chips melting, using a whisk, whisk the cream and the chocolate together until silky smooth. Whisk in the egg, then pour into the crust.

Place tinfoil around the edges of the pie (or otherwise the edges may get too done). Bake ganache at 350 degrees for approx. 30 mins, depending on your oven or until the ganache will jiggle in the middle, but is otherwise fairly firm.

Marshmallow topping:

• 1/2 c. cold water
• 1/4 oz package of gelatine
• 3/4 c. sugar
• 1/4 c. light corn syrup
• 1/2 tsp vanilla or 1/5 to 1/4 of a vanilla bean

Bring to a boil the sugar, corn syrup, and 1/4 c. of water. Using a candy thermometer, allow for the temperature to reach 260oF.

In a seperate bowl, sprinkle the geletain over 1/4c. of water and let set for about 2 minutes. 

Using the handy dandy Kitchenaid mixer, or really any mixer, start whisking the water/ geletain mixture, and gradually pour in the sugar mixture at medium speed, once all of the sugar is combined, mix on high until it is very thick, and has quadrupled in size (approx. 8 mins), this is the point where I always say, test taste!! Typically you can taste when it is done, since it will.. surprise.. surprise.. taste like marshmallow, yum! Add vanilla until just combined.

Spoon over the room temperature ganache, then refrigerate for about an hour or so.

Now here is the fun part: using the broiler of an oven, or a kitchen blow torch, brown the marshmallow.

*Now here is a little warning. This pie does take a long time since there are quite a few of steps, but truly the longest part is just waiting for each step to cool. Even though it takes a while, it is very worth it in the end, since this pie, will definitely not last long. I think my hubbs ate half the pie in one night!

Enjoy!!!

Let food be thy medicine, thy medicine shall be thy food- Hippocrates

Reclean, Revamp, Refresh

Kitchen cleanse, bring it on!

Once in a while it is so nice to 'clean' your kitchen. I like to call it my monthly kitchen cleanse. It always makes me in such a better mood when I can get rid of all of the unhealthy foods within the kitchen. Also notice though, that I definitely didn't show you a picture of my freezer, because I cannot for the life of me, part with the deliciousness of my favourite ice-cream. Not yet, not ready for that breakup yet. 

Your probably thinking, your cabinet has processed foods! Well, I believe in moderation, and honestly with a 5 month old baby, sometimes it is nice to just throw it in the pot or grab it from the cabinet. 

So why not, next time before you go grocery shopping, chuck the unhealthy food, or donate it. If anything approach your mother-in-law or mom or whomever that always has a kitchen stocked with healthy food and do a food swap. They may just surprise you and need a box of kraft dinner for the off day or a half eaten bag of chips for her party that night.

When we have a healthy kitchen, and ingredients to work with, the better the food turns out and the more creative we can be.

I'm cheering you on!

Comfort Stir Fry

Comfort Stir Fry

This is the PERFECT dish on a snowy night in. A staple comfort dish in my opinion... mmhmm goodness!

1. Start the rice cooker! This is the step that I always forget about until my stir fry is almost done. If you don't have a rice cooker, don't panic, any rice works, but I find the sticky Japanese rice is the best.
2. Sautee whatever veggies you have around. First add olive oil to the pan, then I used:
1. onions
2. cauliflower
3. green peppers
4. snap peas
5. kale
3. When the stir fry is about 3/4 done, I usually add a little drizzle of 100% pure sesame oil, black pepper, parsley.
4. Add veggies to rice and enjoy!
5. What's also good in this is if you find the rice to be a bit dry, you can add a some vegetable stock, or any stock really.