Desserts

Loaded Oatmeal Cookies


Today is National Cookie Day! Did you know that the English word “cookie” is derived from the Dutch word “koekje,” which means little cake? Neither did we. You can’t say you don’t learn something when you visit this blog!

Every year I sign up for Food Network’s 12 Days of Cookies, where I am emailed a new cookie recipe every day from December 1 – 12. Seeing a new cookie recipe in my inbox makes me extremely happy. Not only does it allow me to try new recipes by celebrity chefs, it also gives me new ideas for my holiday baking. The recipe I am featuring for National Cookie Day is Paula Deen’s Loaded Oatmeal Cookies. I received this recipe on Day 3 of the 12 Days of Cookies. These beauties are soft, chewy and have the perfect mix of spices that make your taste buds dance. The brown butter icing on top of each cookie is also to die for.

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Side Dish

Layered Taco Dip

For as long as I can remember, Claudia has been making Layered Taco Dip. Often when I was younger and my parents were entertaining friends at our house, she would making this snack. As a child, I encouraged my parents to have their friends over more often, as it meant I would be able to consume more of this amazing dip.

These days, this dip makes an appearance during football season. Tonight is the Grey Cup, and our Winnipeg Blue Bombers are playing in it. For those who don’t follow the CFL, it’s essentially the Canadian version of the Super Bowl. There are many different versions and customizations to this dip, so please feel free to use your favourite ingredients as layers. Claudia typically keeps it simple with a few main ingredient layers like ground beef, salsa and cheese. I’ve had other variations of this dip that include black olives, refried beans and guacamole. I have found Claudia’s simplicity to this dip to be the best.

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Dinner

Lazy Cabbage Roll Casserole (aka: Mush)

We had our first official sign of winter today – snow. The dip in temperatures and the cold, wet morning reminded me of my favourite things in life: family, warmth, and comfort foods! This recipe encompasses all three and is a childhood favourite of mine. I don’t know why my brother and I started calling this dish “Mush”, but we did. And it stuck. To this day, with both of us in our 30’s, we continue to call it “Mush”. Actually, so does everybody in my family! This dish is traditionally called Lazy Cabbage Roll Casserole by others because it incorporates pretty much everything in a traditional cabbage roll, without the pain of rolling it into a nice, neat package. This dish is hearty and warm – perfect for the season’s first snowfall. It’s also super easy to make.

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Desserts

Pumpkin Creme Pies

I love baking. As you can tell, I post more dessert recipes on this blog than mains, soups and side dishes. Part of it is that I’m a better baker than I am chef. The other part is that they are just so darn pretty.

I have been on a huge pumpkin kick this past month. Since Claudia’s famous pumpkin pie has already been featured, that leaves me to find other pumpkin-related desserts that can compete.  I think I found a serious contender. This recipe was adapted from a recipe posted by The Deutsch Girl on the Tasty Kitchen website. These sandwich cookies are super simple to make and absolutely delicious. The perfect mix of warm spices and sweet cream cheese. They also freeze extremely well, which is good if you can’t manage to finish all 24 cookies this recipe makes!

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Soups

Butternut Squash Apple Bacon Soup

I love soup. Especially in autumn. When I was given fresh garden butternut squash and leeks this Thanksgiving weekend, I knew exactly what I wanted to do with them. I searched for inspiration on the perfect butternut squash soup. I combined my favourite elements from three recipes online and ended up creating this recipe. It’s savoury with a little hint of sweet from the cinnamon and nutmeg. Perfect flavours of autumn.

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Desserts

Cheesecake-Filled Pumpkin Cupcakes

Ever since the I got back from vacation a week ago I can’t stop thinking about pumpkin. Maybe it’s the cooler weather or the leaves changing red, yellow and orange. It could also be the fact that Starbucks is now serving their delicious Pumpkin Spice Latte that has made me obsessed with making anything and everything pumpkin.

Since I have featured 2 of my absolute favourite pumpkin recipes with you already – Pumpkin Scones and Claudia’s Pumpkin Pie – I had to find a new recipe that me and Claudia enjoyed enough to share. Enter Silvana Nardone from Every Day with Rachel Ray and her Cheesecake-Filled Pumpkin Cupcakes. Because there is cream cheese baked inside, these are probably one of the richest cupcakes I’ve ever tasted. And they are absolutely, positively delicious! If you want a substitute for pumpkin pie or pumpkin cheesecake this Thanksgiving, these babies are by far your best bet. Your family and friends will love you for it.

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Desserts

The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies in the World

You may think the title of this post is a little, let’s say, aggressive. There are a million different chocolate chip recipes out there, and how could I possibly possess the one for the best chocolate chip cookies in the world? Well, I have proof…sort of. You see, ever since I was a little girl, Claudia made this particular cookie recipe. You can actually see me helping out in the picture to the right of this post! Every time I would bring these cookies to school for a snack, my friends would go insane. They LOVED Claudia’s chocolate chip cookies. Who could blame them? They are moist, chocolatey and absolutely delicious. Unfortunately, they are also adapted from the NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® cookie recipe and not a guarded family secret. I could have made millions! Regardless, these cookies and this recipe continue to be a fantastic childhood memory. Oh, and the cookie dough isn’t half bad tasting either. But you didn’t hear that from me.

A few weeks ago I babysat my best friend’s 4-year old daughter, Julia. I figured there was no better time to make my favourite childhood recipe than with one of my favourite kids. Julia is probably one of the smartest 4-year olds in the world. She also was nursing a broken elbow, so I figured she needed some fun (and sugar). Baking with kids takes a lot of patience…and clean up. I had a blast, but as you can tell, the photographs came second in this baking experience.

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Side Dish

Pickled Carrots

I can’t believe September is already here. The weather is getting a little cooler and our family garden in Saskatchewan is slowly winding down. While I was visiting Claudia on her holidays in August, we had the opportunity to do some canning. (more…)

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Side Dish

Dill Pickles

Last weekend, I had the opportunity to visit Claudia and her lovely garden in Saskatchewan. We have had an unusually hot and dry summer here on the Prairies. This has been a welcome change for our vegetables, as the past few summers have been wet and, quite frankly, miserable. The abundance of cucumbers, carrots, potatoes and onions made capturing some of Claudia’s recipes simple and fun. There is nothing like using fresh ingredients from your backyard.

When I walked into the house after the 5 hour drive from Winnipeg, I noticed something on the fridge. I took a picture of it (above). This simple piece of paper is the reason I started this food blog. This is Claudia’s recipe for Dill Pickles. Yes, just the ingredients for the brine. No instructions, no laminated paper, nothing. Just her coveted recipe scribbled on an old piece of worn paper. I knew I had to post this delicious recipe for the best dill pickles you will ever have immediately!

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Dinner, Healthy

Grilled Turkey Burgers

Claudia has been on holidays these past few weeks and getting some much needed rest and relaxation in our second family house in Saskatchewan. I will be taking the 5 hour drive out to meet her shortly to spend some time fishing, canning veggies from the garden (stay tuned for recipes!) and relaxing with the family. The house in Saskatchewan is probably one of my favourite places in the world. The house was my grandparents, and growing up I would spend every summer out there. The house is literally in the middle of nowhere. A very small community of 6 or 7 houses make up the town. Actually, the place is too small to be an official town. According to the 2006 Canadian Census,  it is a hamlet with grand total of 15 residents. It is so peaceful and quiet out there. Reminds me of a simpler time, really.

I haven’t been out to the house in Saskatchewan for almost 2 years. The last time I was out there Claudia made these Grilled Turkey Burgers. I believe the original recipe called for Stove Top Stuffing Mix, and since we were in the middle of nowhere, we had none. So she improvised. I personally like these a lot better than the original recipe. They are juicy, healthy, delicious and the simplest dinner you will make.
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