Santa Brownie Bites

These little Santa Brownie Bites were a huge hit with both grown-ups and kids of all ages!

I used store-bought brownie bites and whipped up a quick cream cheese icing recipe which I also used to ice a dozen cupcakes!  I don't recommend making these too early in advance because of the fresh fruit. 

BTW - my cupcakes were so [enter big YAWN here] boring next to these little cuties!

Original idea found on Pinterest.

Homemade Apple Pie

Apple Pie doesn't last long in my house.  I baked this pie using the apples we picked in our yard last weekend.  I added a bit more brown sugar than I usually use as the apples were so tart.  My family unanimously said it was the best tasting pie I ever baked, and I bake them often!  I also agree, it really tasted amazing, with a perfect balance of sweet/tart!

 My apple pie recipe

- a few apples, thinly sliced
- 1/2 to 3/4 cup brown sugar
- drizzle of maple syrup
- juice of half lemon
- about 1 tbsp or so of flour, depending on how many apples I use
- about 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- a few dollops of butter (the secret ingredient!!!)

I bake my pies at 350 for about 45 minutes.

Apologies for the ugly picture... I'm no photographer!!!

Happy New Year!

My sister-in-law once told me September 1st is her new year!  She's right... this is the biggest page turner on the calendar, especially for parents. All summer fun is put behind us like letting the kids go to bed late, eating tons of ice cream and popsicles, playing on the street till after dark, summer camp, and more ice cream... 

Then we shop for all the essential back to school gear like new shoes (both boys HAD to have the famous Reebok Zigs, like every other kid in town so I went from store to store to find in their sizes!!!) and new unstained clothing.  Then we ship them off, back to school!  This year the boys asked me NOT to take them on their first day.  Ouch!  But I guess that's how we've been trying to raise them... teaching them to be independent and embrace new challenges and change.  As sad as I was to see them ride their bikes awkwardly with all their new supplies and gear in bags hanging off their handle bars (and the neighbors once again rolling their eyes at us... that's an entire other post!), I was also so proud of them.  They are growing up so way too fast, but I think we're doing something right!

My baby girl also started daycare on the first!  It was easy and seamless without issues or tears (and I know that may change as she gets older!), but I still had a knot in my chest... she looked so small, but she was happy!  Our New Year has been great so far!

Today I ventured out into my garden jungle and found these beautiful apples.  This is my 9th summer in this house, and my apple trees have NEVER borne such beautiful fruit!   Looks like apple pies are on the way...

Ugly Duckling Cupcakes

I made the mistake of setting my oven on convection when I baked a batch of vanilla cupcakes last weekend.  Poor little guys were the ugliest things I have ever baked!  Even my Easy-Oven baked goods when I was 8 turned out better than these...

But I managed to turn them around, and served a very presentable rustic looking cupcake!  I removed the pretty petal cupcake liners, spread on some thick icing and sprinkled them some crushed Oreos!  They were surprisingly a big hit!

I also hit the Jean-Talon Market this week.  Nothing beats fresh produce!  Fresh berries for the baby, some super tasty and fresh organic eggs for the boys, and a beautiful mushroom for my soups!

Date Night with Sir Paul

It was date night yesterday and I was spoiled!  We shared a variety of oysters and other scrumptious sea foods, and savored a beautiful bottle of Portuguese white wine at Maestro S.V.P. on St-Laurent.

After dinner, we headed to the Bell Centre with 17,000 of our closest friends for the sold-out Paul McCartney concert.  Sir Paul ROCKS... from the Beatles to Wings, it was a 3 hour show of hit after hit after hit!  My fave was Paul, alone on a dark stage with his acoustic guitar singing Blackbird.  I'm pretty sure he was singing to me!  Then he totally rocked with Live and Let Die, complete with pyrotechnics!  It was a phenomenal show by a legendary songwriter... by far THE BEST show I've ever seen!

Thanks Sir Paul for the unforgettable night!

Delicious dessert

Another easy delicious last-minute dessert:

Fresh mixed berries, flan sponge cake and honey-sweetened whipped cream!  Yummmmmmm

Québec Delicacies

If there's one thing I really look forward to everyday, it's finding mail and packages!  Yesterday I received this box of yummy goodies!  They are food delicacies from Quebec that I ordered for our upcoming family boat trip.  The Naked Lunch cans are precooked gourmet meals that you simply place in boiling water to warm!  How perfect for a boat trip! 

Here we have smoked meat, Thai soup, French choucroute and some clam chowder from les Îles de la Madeleine (this is the one I look forward to tasting the most!).  I also ordered some organic dried pure garlic flower that I plan on sprinkling on just about anything from pasta, to veggies and rice...  The company I ordered from is Terroirs Quebec, and I received my order within 5 days!

Les Îles de la Madeleine is on my absolutely want to visit list.  I like to believe it will be right up there on my best culinary trips.  So far, nothing has beaten Morocco.  The night food stalls at Jamaa el Fna square in Marrakesh's old city are AMAZING.  Here's a photo from one of the food stalls, summer 2001.  We found out we had our first bun in the oven on this trip!

Happy Canada Day

Every July 1st, my family celebrates Canada Day and my brother-in-law's birthday, along with a reunion with family members arriving from Vancouver.  We have a great big BBQ at my brother-in-law's, who lives in a beautiful waterfront house with the biggest private pool I have ever seen!

We eat like kings, drink like fish, swim, sail, catch up with aunts, uncles, cousins, friends... and at the end of the evening, we sit on the dock to watch about a dozen fireworks going off from here down the road in Beaconsfield, to Pointe-Claire, Lachine, Montreal, and those going off in many municipalities across the lake.  Then the neighbors along the waterfront try to outdo themselves with their very own pyrotechnics shows!  We have the best seats in town!

I finally got around to preparing some cake pops, with a red-white-Canada theme!  I've been wanting to make cake pops for a while now, just never found the time with all these babies and kids running around!  It was my first go at it, and had issues with the candy melts.  Both flavors taste amazing, but will hopefully look better on my second try!

I followed the Oreo Truffles recipe from Bakerella, and the Cake Pop Tutorial posted on BlogHer using a white cake mix.

I also prepared a great salad recipe from The America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook - the Three Bean Salad.  So easy to make, and always a hit!  Note the red bowl!

 

Happy Canada Day!

Dessert, desserts and more desserts

On Friday evening, after a very long week with work, my hubby and I shared a beautiful dinner of steak and shrimp on the BBQ, and lots of wine!  I was a bit tipsy lazy when it came time for dessert, so I prepared a quick, easy and cool treat:

Store bought mini angel cakes, creamy vanilla ice cream and some chopped ripe strawberries... all drowning in maple syrup!

Saturday we had dinner with some very dear and generous friends.  Since I wasn't feeling tipsy lazy at one o'clock in the afternoon, I baked squares - my lemon squares + homemade brownies.  For years now, they ALWAYS ask for my lemon squares!  I usually bake up a batch along with something new, but they always come back to those lemony bite-size treats.  So here's the recipe for my lemon squares:

LEMON SQUARES
Crust
  1 cup flour (I use pastry flour)
  1/2 cup soft butter
  1/4 cup sugar
  pinch of salt
Mix well and press into a 9x9 inch baking pan.  I line it with parchment paper.  Bake at 350°F for 20 minutes.
Custard
  1 cup sugar
  2 tbsp flour
  1/4 tsp baking powder
  Finely grated rind AND juice of 1 lemon
  2 eggs
Mix well and pour over baked bottom crust.  Bake at 350°F for 25 minutes.  Let cool before cutting into squares and dusting with icing sugar.

For the brownies, I followed the Baker's One Bowl Brownies recipe with butter (and LOTS of it!) and pecans, but also added about a cup of butterscotch chips, just because I felt like it!!!

 

Les Fraises du Québec

I finally made my way to the market (Marché 440 in Laval) and picked up some gorgeous Québec strawberries!

After eating about half the crate during my drive, I arrived home with stained fingers and decided to whip up some strawberry-banana muffins before the boys arrived from school.  I don't know where this recipe is from as I found it in my handwritten notes, but it's quick and easy, so here's the recipe:

1/2 cup melted butter
3/4 cup brown sugar (but I may add a bit more next time!)
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 mashed ripe bananas
1 cup of chopped strawberries
2 1/4 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt

Mix sugar, eggs, vanilla and bananas, then add butter.
In another bowl, mix flour, baking soda & powder, cinnamon and salt.  Then fold in and coat the strawberries.  Add the wet ingredients.  Bake 25 minutes at 350°F.

Beginning of the End

Is it Monday again?  Boys are on a school field trip today, it's the beginning of the end.  They finish next week, but from now until then, it's all fun and games!  I need to get cracking on their teachers' gifts!

Yesterday was one of those lazy Sundays, my favorite kind of Sunday!  After a busy and late Saturday with diving lessons and the boys' big year-end piano recital downtown (they made their mama so proud!), I prepared some baby food (which leads to today's fave!) and a beautiful rhubarb and strawberry crisp!  My husband took care of dinner (what a treat!), we ate delicious pasta and shared a beautiful bottle of red.  A beautiful end to the week!

I followed a recipe from allrecipes.com, but added extra rhubarb (from my garden), strawberries and sugar.  Yum!  After baking this crisp, I'm really looking forward to our sweet, delicious and juicy Québec strawberries.  La Saison des Fraises du Québec is right up there in my favorite seasons, next to Le Temps des Sucres!  I think I'll hit the market later to see if I can find some early yummy berries!

Today's fave:  my new Breville hand blender, the Control Grip.  With all the baby purees I've been preparing the last couple of months, I must say that this little machine ROCKS!  The best features are the adjustable speed control and all the accessories it comes with.  My old food processor and blender are now collecting dust... I keep singing 'Baby Come Back' from the Swiffer mop commercials!