Your Salad is a Jar

What is with all these jars??

 I have another confession. I have become addicted to Pinterest. It is such a quick way to share and browse ideas and let me tell you, I have found some very neat things on Pinterest and these include ideas for the garden, the kitchen, and even ideas for work. One of these neat ideas, Hubby and I put together tonight for lunches this week! There have been some pins about using mason jars to layers salad ingredients for a quick and tasty lunch. Once assembled, the jars of salads are supposed to keep all week so you can make one for each day on Sunday, then all you have to do is grab a jar, some fruit and yogurt to go with it and you are set! We are trying this out for the week, even though I am going to camp with the grade 8s, Hubby will test the jar theory out for the week.

Wash out your jars so they are ready to go!

We splurged and bought new jars for this one!

 Once you get everything organized, washed, and chopped assembly goes fairly quickly.

We made both a lemon vinaigrette and a balsamic vinaigrette so we didn't have the same dressing the entire week.

Hubby seems to be having fun making his salads!

 After putting a couple tablespoons of vinaigrette in the bottom of the jar it is time to let the layering begin!!

 It is important to put the heavier/more sturdy items in the bottom of the jar so the dressing won't wilt the more fragile items.

 Keep the layers coming!

  Wrap an elastic band around the jar and tuck a fork underneath it (even a napkin!).

Store in the fridge for your grab 'n go lunches!! Remember to leave room so you can shake your salad up at lunch time.

Other things I've been up to (and may or may not have been found on Pinterest):

Growing celery from the end of the stalks.

Once the leaves are up, plant the entire bottom into the soil!

Freezing chicken with marinade in the sealer bag so it can flavour up while it thaws! (I also did this with a large pork loin which I was able to cut into 12 generous chops and 2 fair sizes loin roasts!) We are getting the freezer filled!

This is a ginger honey lime mixture....kind of looking forward to it!

I will get back to you and let you know how the mason jar salad experiment turned out.

Until next time, stay warm and eat well!

Batter Up! Colourful Cupcakes!

It feels as though is has been raining non stop. Baseball games have been cancelled, shoes have gotten muddy...you know the drill.  Tonight the Boy and Hubby went to a concert and I got the evening to myself.  What did I do with my time to myself you ask? I baked cupcakes.  A friend's daughter is having her birthday party this weekend and they have asked me to bake the cupcakes so I wanted to play around with some colours in the batter.  I keep seeing these lovely multi-coloured and swirled cupcakes everywhere and it is high time I gave them a go.

Tonight I played with the colours of our favourite Major League Baseball team: The New York Mets! Orange and Blue were the colours of choice!!

So simple.

So easy.

So much fun.

Make your favourite white or vanilla cake batter. (Boxed cake mix is just fine)
Divide the batter into different bowls, one bowl per colour. Add a healthy dab of gel colouring (I used Wilton) and mix until the colour is well distributed.

Alternate colours into your cake pan or cupcake tins.

Swirl with a toothpick.

Bake as normal and allow to cool.

Mix up or favourite icing (or use a container of white icing)
Prepare an icing bag with a swirly type tip and paint the inside seams with gel colouring. I used a wooden skewer and that worked perfectly. Make sure to get more colouring than you think you will need into the seams.

Decorate!

The boys just came home from their concert and were giddy with joy about the Mets colours....

Until next time, stay warm and eat well.  (Stay dry)

Pancakes, Pajamas, and The Empire Strikes Back

In the wee hours of the morning (5:30am) Boy and Hubby left for an early morning baseball practice.  Shocking! The Boy and baseball? A while after the two early birds left, I was joined in bed....get yours heads out of the gutter!! My adorable 5 year old nephew crawled in to cuddle.  We were joined shortly after by the two cats who always seem to want some sort of attention. 

We decided it was time to get up when we both had to pee. I know, that was too much information. With the big boys gone, the Lego came back out, we watched "The Fox and the Hound".  Of course while the movie was playing I was able to sneak into the Little Kitchen to mix up some pancakes.  Nephew wanted to help with the flipping but I was worried about the hot griddle and such...he did have fun watching though.  Using my intergalactic pancake moulds can be tricky though.

Top to bottom: Tie fighter, Millennium Falcon, and an X-wing

The Millennium Falcon gets a dab of butter and a dose of maple!

Not only did I get to use my moulds this morning, I also got to give my pancake pen a try as well as my new griddle! (Nothing but fun times in the Little Kitchen!)

Put together your favourite pancake recipe. I used this one today. 

Pre heat the griddle and oil up the moulds and place them on the griddle to heat up.

If you have a pancake pen, load it up with batter. If not use about 1/4 cup of batter per mould and a knife to help spread the batter into all the nooks and crannies.

Cook the pancakes until all bubbly and dry on the edges.  You will have to cook the pancakes longer on the first the side than you normally would. 

If the pancakes happen to stick to the edges of the mould, use a knife to scrape and push the pancake out.

Flip and finish cooking.

Transfer to a baking sheet in a warm oven to keep until all the batter is cooked and made into pancakey goodness.

Half the galaxy could have come over for breakfast!

Serve with maple syrup and butter!!

What did we do while eating our pancakes this morning?  We stayed in our pajamas and watched the Empire Strikes Back of course!!

Until next time, stay warm and eat well!

Gadgets I Love - The Butter Bell

I decided I wanted to highlight some of my favourite kitchen gadgets and utensils.  Well, not all at once but every now and then I will write about something I really like in my Little Kitchen space.  Today's gadget of choice is the butter bell. When I first got this a couple of years ago, I had to wait until I was in the USA to find one!  I just couldn't find one anywhere North of the 49th parallel.  Luckily we made the drive to Minneappolis one February long weekend and I found one at the Outlet Mall! So many people go to the outlet malls for clothes...I go for the kitchen stores (and the Rockport store).

For those who may not know (I mean I only found out these things existed a couple of years ago),  a butter bell allows you to store butter at a nice spreadable room temperature without spoiling.  You fill the bottom crock with cool water so that it will seal out the air when you tip in the bell portion filled with room temperature butter.

Just remember to change the water every 4 or 5 days to help keep things fresh! (And keep the crumbs out of the butter as well)

I know margarine is better for you, blah, blah, blah...but we don't use too much butter in the first place, aside from baking and butter just plain tastes better.  All of you nutritionists out there just back off...we don`t use butter everyday so I don`t feel bad using it at all...a little pat is all you need!!
In case you were wanting to read some more info on the great butter vs margarine debate, here are a couple of links:

http://www.homemakers.com/health-and-nutrition/nutrition-and-diet/margarine-vs-butter-the-debate-continues/a/27133/1

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/butter-vs-margarine/AN00835

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/002114.htm

The bottom line is neither margarine or butter is really all that good for you.  Which ever one you choose, use it in moderation.

Until next time, keep warm and eat well!

I Learned Something New Today!

Today while giving my stove a thorough wipe down after cooking, I decided it was time to pull all of the knobs off to help get everthing spic and span.  While I have done this before, I have never really looked at the back of the oven temperature knob before.  I discovered that should the temperature in my oven ever go wonky, I can adjust it myself using the screws on the back of the dial!!  Wow!  I have the power to adjust the overall temp if it ever runs too hot or too cold!  Another reason why one of those oven thermometers you can put inside the oven is useful!

Pretty darn cool if you ask me!

I Can Taste a Difference, Can You Taste a Difference? There is a Difference

Drippy, runny, goey sweetness

 There is an old saying I learned from Saturday morning cartoons, "Now you know. And knowing is half the battle".  I never realized just how true that is.  When it comes to baking there will always be things I need to know or look up.  Always wanting to improve or try something new requires new knowledge and the ability to find the answers.  Another Saturday morning slogan I remember is the "More you know" slogan.  Again, this is so true.  I feel that the more I learn and know about the things I enjoy to do, such as baking, the more I will enjoy to do them.  I like to learn new things all the time.  Tonight was a learning night and I thought I should share my new knowledge because "Knowing is half the battle"!

Tonight while shopping and allowing Superstore to suck all the life out of my evening (save for a batch of ginger cookies) dear Hubby asked a question to which I did not know the answer.  I had to look it up when I got home!!  Sure, I could have posted a question of Chef Dennis in his Ask Chef Dennis section but then I would still be waiting until the answer was posted.  I was really curious and wanted to look this up tonight!
You see, I needed more molasses to finish some baking for the holiday season. As we lollygagged down the baking aisle looking for molasses, (I swear they move it everytime I need to buy it!) dear Hubby finally popped the question:

"What's the difference between cooking molasses, fancy molasses, and blackstrap molasses?  What kind do you need?"

All shopping stopped dead in its tracks!  Umm... Well.....  I, oh,  "Don't ask me questions to which I do not know the answer" came my reply.

Tonight then became a quasi trial night.  I made the ginger cookies with cooking molasses instead of fancy molasses tonight.  There was definitely a different taste to the cookies.  They weren't quite as sweet as the ones I made originally and they were a bit darker in colour as well.  Also there was a slightly bitter molasses after taste that wasn't by any means a bad taste but it would go well with a glass of milk, a cup of tea or coffee, or great with vanilla ice cream.

This week's cookie with cooking molasses:

Darker, slightly bitter, but still tasty

Last week's cookies with fancy molasses:

Lighter, more sweet, and still tasty

Here is some of the info I found thanks to the Crosby Molasses Company:

Fancy Molasses is what is left over after sugar cane has been pressed.  Fancy molasses offers more sweetness and a lighter colour to your baked goods than Blackstrap or Cooking molasses does.

Blackstrap Molasses is what is pressed from the sugar cane after all of the good stuff is gone.  It is darker and has a less sweet taste to it.

Cooking Molasses appears to be a mixture of Fancy and Blackstrap molasses.  It will give your baked goods a darker, slightly bitter taste.  Just as it did with my ginger cookies tonight. (according to what's cooking america)


Wow!  I am glad I looked that up!