Current mood: I want to tell all these people around me who say they are excited for cooler autumn temperatures to get lost. (more…)
Pumpkin Pie Protein Smoothie
The past few weeks have been super busy over here. As previously mentioned on the blog, I decided after a 10+ year hiatus to go back to playing hockey. It’s been a lot of fun and I’m slowly getting my hockey legs back (i.e. not looking like Bambi on the ice). We play mostly in the early evenings one to two times a week. It’s great exercise, even though I don’t consider sports exercise. It’s way too fun and enjoyable to be exercise in my opinion.
Since my games are in the early evening, I tend to eat my dinner a couple hours prior to my games and often come home not feeling like eating another full meal, especially at 8:30pm. That’s where this beauty of a smoothie comes in! Protein is very good to consume after exercise to repair muscle, so I figured this smoothie is not only delicious but healthy and full of protein and vitamin A. I also enjoy it as my dessert as well. It is also super simple to make. I made it with chocolate protein powder because that is all I had, but you can make it with vanilla, or none at all if you just want to enjoy it as a delicious treat on its own. I also love the richness of almond milk, but you can use any dairy or non-dairy milk you so desire. The possibilities are endless with this treat. I hope you try it soon!
Danish Apple Bake
Time sure flies when you are busy. My personal goal with this blog is to connect and share a recipe once a week. When I realized it had been over 3 weeks since my last post, I realized priorities needed to be shifted and plans to bake needed to be made.
I have been meaning to share this recipe for a while now. I received it a few years ago from a former boss of mine. She brought this delectable treat into the office one afternoon and I immediately fell in love with it. I had to have the recipe. She was gracious enough to type it out and email it to me that day. The crust is buttery and flakey and the filling is sweet with hints of cinnamon and baked apples. Perfect for autumn.
Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream
A couple weeks ago I had my first taste of Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream. I was hooked. I needed to find a recipe that I could make at home so I could enjoy it at my leisure. Probably not the best move if you’re watching your waistline, but everything is okay in moderation, right?
As I’ve mentioned before, pumpkin pie is best served with vanilla ice cream. Well, in my humble opinion anyway. So this dessert was clearly a no-brainer for me to feature. This ice cream is creamy, rich and decadent! It literally tastes like pumpkin pie. Absolutely delicious and perfect for holding onto the last bits of summer but embracing autumn flavours.
Wookiee Cookies
I love Star Wars. Some people may say it borders on infatuation. Therefore, when I learned that this past weekend was the 35th anniversary of the first Star Wars movie (Episode IV), I thought what better recipe to feature than Wookiee Cookies.
I grew up on Star Wars. Some of my fondest childhood memories revolve around me and my brother spending our summer vacations watching our VHS tapes of the 3 movies which my parents taped off of TV. One of my earliest memories is actually of when my parents took me to the theatre see Return of the Jedi – where I was too embarrassed to tell Claudia that I was scared of the lightsaber battle happening between Luke and Darth Vadar (see, I’m quite the Star Wars nerd), that I instead insisted she take me to the bathroom. I didn’t have to go. I was like 4 years old, don’t hold it against me!
Even today, when I see Star Wars playing on television, I have to watch. I have all the movies on DVD, but I still have this need to stop what I’m doing and watch. It was this action that made my boyfriend purchase the Star Wars cookbook for me for my birthday a few years ago. It was then where I discovered these delicious treats. Wookiee Cookies encompass all the comfort and deliciousness of chocolate chip cookies but with a hint of cinnamon. The cinnamon really does make these cookies amazing.
As previously mentioned, this recipe is adapted from The Star Wars Cookbook: Wookiee Cookies and Other Galactic Recipes by Robin Davis.
Apple Crumble
After a few weeks of dabbling in chocolate candy treats, I decided to go back and feature something more traditional on the blog this week. With Claudia’s busy work schedule, we have been unable to get together to create some of her favourites. Therefore, I have been forced to rely on inspiration elsewhere. I wanted to make something classic and simple. Something that was warm and reminded me of the comforts of home. After a few days of searching, it finally hit me. Apples and cinnamon. I had it!
The sweet, warm aroma that filled my house while this delicious Apple Crumble baked what exactly I was craving. This is probably the best Apple Crumble I have ever had. The recipe was adapted from the wonderful blog the parsley thief. Sweet, rich, warm cinnamon apples topped with a buttery, crunchy top. Not to mention the delicious vanilla ice cream and caramel you can pair with it! This dessert is exactly what you need on a cold winter afternoon or a hot summer day.
Peanut BETTER Gingersnap Cookies
This recipe is not a Claudia original. But these cookies are so delicious we had to share them immediately. One of my coworkers made these a few weeks ago and was nice enough to share one with me. After one bite I knew I had found cookie love. This recipe is from the Food Network Canada show Eat, Shrink and Be Merry. Not only are these cookies absolutely delicious with it’s creamy, gooey peanut butter texture and sweet gingersnap flavour, they’re also not that bad for you! In moderation of course. If you ate all 20 of these babies, you would probably need to do a little run on the treadmill…for 3 hours. Still…totally worth the 3 hour sweat.
Bavarian Cheesecake
My Baba is well known for 3 of her culinary endeavours in our household. #1 – Perogies. #2 – Spaghetti and meatballs. I have no idea where a Ukrainian woman learned how to cook Italian food, but it was amazing. #3 – This Bavarian Cheesecake recipe. It is to die for. I remember every summer when Claudia, my Dad, my brother and I came back from our 3-week stints in Saskatchewan, Baba would have a big batch of spaghetti and meatballs and this dessert to welcome us home. It was so comforting and definitely worth sharing. Apples, cinnamon, cream cheese, crunchy walnuts and my own optional addition – caramel sauce. How can you possibly go wrong with this rich delight? You will win friends, boyfriends, girlfriends, and probably even world wars with this dessert. Trust me, it’s a winner.
Pumpkin Scones
I realize that the spicy and savory taste of pumpkin is typically reserved for autumn when the weather becomes slightly cooler and you need something warm to pick you up – not when it’s +40 celsius with the humidity in August. As I mentioned in my last post, this is week two of Claudia being on vacation. This recipe is her most favourite that I bake and she requests it often. These scones are dense and almost exactly like the pumpkin scones you will find at your neighbourhood Starbucks. I was given this recipe from a friend of mine a few years ago. I’m actually not entirely sure where she found it, so I apologize if I’m not giving the proper recipe credits. In other words, please don’t sue me if this is your recipe. I’m just trying to be a good daughter, after all.