What Ever Shall I Do??

I had quite the dilemma in the Little Kitchen tonight.  You really wouldn't believe it, it was just that shocking!!! While icing some lovely cupcakes and baking cookies for Friday, I found myself with extra cookies AND extra icing!!! After about 2 seconds of hard thinking (I didn't want to hurt myself you know) I decided to put the two together.....Ricotta cookies and Swiss meringue butter cream, together at last!  I won't need to eat for the rest of the week....

Ricotta cookie recipe here

Swiss Meringue Butter cream recipe here

Delectable things I tell you!  Here's to a terrific weekend to everyone.....despite the whole 'spring ahead' thing.  I think I really do need that hour....

You know, the Boy has a 6am practice Sunday morning....up at 5 am.....with the whole 'spring ahead' thing happening....that is just mean, even if it is all for the love of baseball!

Until next time, stay warm and eat well!

Bake 'em Away Boys

 Please indulge me and allow me to brag for a moment....

This evening the Boy's school held its open house to show case their programs and to give incoming students an idea of school life.  The Boy and one of his buddies volunteered in the foods and nutrition room to bake while guests toured the school.  (He claims he volunteered because he was told he would get to eat the leftovers but I think he just has a knack for cooking and baking!!) Oh and by the way of the 4 students who came in to bake for the open house, 3 of them were boys...these boys must all be aware of the rule....the ladies love a man who can cook and bake!!  Well done gentlemen!

To make a long story short, the Boy came home with an ice cream pail of cinnamon bun goodness that he made at school!!  They are a biscuit type of cinnamon bun with raisins and I must say, they were delish!  Still warm even when he got home!! Woot woot!!  (He must bring home this recipe for us!!)

I am so proud of him! 

Until next time, eat well and stay warm!

Ricotta Vanilla Pancakes

Let me just start off by telling you how difficult it is to concentrate when there are Nerf guns shoot darts all over the living room....it is even more difficult to stay out of it when you have your own Nerf gun!! 

OK, with that out of the way, I can now talk about food. Pancakes.  Ricotta pancakes to be precise. I found a lovely looking ricotta pancake recipe here at Liv Life for blueberry ricotta pancakes...they really look fabulous, as does her other blog entries.  I didn't have any lemons or blueberries on hand, or the spelt flour so I needed to adapt and experiment a little.  When making pancakes of any sort in this house, I also must double the recipe....hungry  teen....

Since I did not have any blueberries on hand to make the scrumptious sauce, I served the pancakes with some fresh fruit, bacon and maple syrup!!

Ricotta Pancakes

 Adapted from Liv Life

Print recipe

1 cup flour

½ cup whole wheat flour

2 tbsp ground flax seed

2 tsp baking powder

½ tsp baking soda

Healthy grating of nutmeg

1 vanilla bean, split and scraped

1 tbsp vanilla extract

1 ½ cups low fat ricotta

4 eggs

1 cup buttermilk (or 1 tbsp lemon juice with enough milk to make 1 cup)

In a large bowl, mix together the dry ingredients, set aside.

This photo is missing the flax, it was a last minute addition that worked beautifully!

 In another bowl, thoroughly mix together the wet ingredients.  This is your chance to mix the wet ingredients all together and make sure the vanilla bean seeds are well mixed in.

Split and scrape the vanilla bean, make sure all of those little beadlettes of vanilla goodness go into the we mixture.

Combine the wet and dry ingredients and mix until just combined...the fewer turns of the spoon, the better.

 Heat a skillet or non stick pan, grease lightly with a brush of oil or melted butter.

Scoop ¼ cup of batter onto the skillet.  Let the pancakes cook until bubbles form on the tops and they appear dry on the edges.

Flip the pancakes and cook a few minutes more until browned.

Move cooked pancakes to a foil lined dish to keep warm until you have finished cooking all the pancakes.

Serve with fresh fruit and maple syrup.

 Until next time, stay warm and eat well!

Summer Dreaming of Quinoa Salad

Well, my posting has slowed down a little lately. Life just gets busy sometimes!  I have had some photos tucked away on the hard drive for a while, but just haven't had a chance to write or post anything.  Lately I have been day dreaming of summer...warmer weather, sandals, sunshine, BBQs, fresh summer fruit & veggies...the list goes on.  This has been quite a cold winter, even in prairie terms. The other evening I found some Quinoa in the cupboard and I just knew it was time to make a quinoa salad, the perfect summer salad!!

Quinoa Salad
Print recipe

1 cup quinoa
1 1/2 cups water
1/2 green pepper
1/2 yellow pepper
1/3 to 1/2 long English cucumber
1/2 medium white onion (or whichever colour you have on hand)
handful grape or cherry tomatoes, halved or quartered depending on size
big handful cilantro
1/2 cup feta cheese
1 lemon
salt and pepper to taste

Rinse and drain the quinoa.  Place the quinoa in a a pot with 1 1/2 cups cold water.  Bring to a boil, put a lid on the pot, reduce heat and simmer for 15 to 20  minutes, until water is absorbed (just like cooking rice).

Once the quinoa is done cooking, fluff it with a fork and let it cool.

While the quinoa is cooking, cut up the veggies into smallish bite size pieces, place in a bowl and set aside.

Rinse, dry and chop the cilantro.

Mix together the veggies, the cooled quinoa, the feta, and the cilantro.

Squeeze on the lemon juice, salt, and pepper....mix it again!

Enjoy!!

The real beauty of this salad is that you can used what ever veggies you have on hand...My favourite version of this salad includes the above veggies, but fresh from the garden or farmers' market!

Until next time, stay warm and eat well!!

Swinging Side Dishes- Creamed Spinach

Due to the fact that snow sticks around the prairies so long we have been lucky enough to have some interesting travel opportunities.  Thanks to the Boy's baseball program, during spring break from school, the boys jump on a bus and travel South to greener pastures, quite literally!!  *Play ball!!*

This pic was taken in Muskogee, Oklahoma

In the past two years we have been to Jackson, Tennessee and Tulsa Oklahoma.  Of course the week or so that we spend South is generally filled with baseball practices, games, and tournaments.  The team gets tired but they get to play on grass and outdoors well before everyone else at home.  They also get to play teams that pitch faster and hit harder.  It is a great opportunity!!  The boys work their buts off all winter in order to go on this trip and they are getting excited for this year!

On first base in Owasso, Oklahoma

One of the yummy things about these trips South is getting to try all of the wonderful new foods.  If it weren't for these trips I never would have tried tasty yummy things such as okra (fried and pickled), properly fried catfish, properly fried chicken, grits, real biscuits, Frito pie, deep fried pickles, and of course the Boy's favourite: creamed spinach! 

Tonight the Boy confessed to a hankering for some creamed spinach...this is one of my favourites too...
I do have a quick and easy recipe for creamed spinach that is perfect for this type of craving.  I originally used the recipe from Martha Stewart but over time I have changed it somewhat.  This is what I made tonight:

Easy Peasy Creamed Spinach
Printable recipe

• 2 10oz pkg frozen chopped spinach, thawed (hey, it is winter here, cut me some slack)
• 1 small onion, diced small
• 2 cloves garlic, minced or crushed (or grated)
• 6 0z block cream cheese
• pinch (or grating) nutmeg
• 1 tbsp oil, butter, or coconut oil

Heat a pan over medium heat and add the oil.

I like to use a small grater to get the garlic into the party!

Saute the onions and garlic until soft.

Squeeze the excess liquid from the thawed spinach and add it to the pan.

Grate or add a pinch of nutmeg to the pan and stir.

When the spinach is heated through, add the cream cheese.

Let the cream cheese get all melty and mix it in with the spinach.

Eat!

Until next time, stay warm and eat well!!

(And play ball!!)