Simplicity at it's finest.

I can always tell when Spring has sprung, and summer is just a smell away when you are no longer craving those heavy, starchy, carbohydrate filled meals, and instead are replacing those cravings with big, filling, comfort-feeling filled salads. This is exactly what I've been doing for the past week or so, eating huge, delicious salads. I start off the day with fruity-vegetable filled smoothies have a mid-morning snack of fresh fruit then begin lunch with nice salads or wild rice with plenty of vegetables.

Strawberry Banana Smoothie

Recipe by me

Today the day began with one of the best smoothies I've ever tasted. It's so good I've had it three times this week. It is comforting, and is completely reminiscent of one of my favourite summer fruit combination's: strawberry banana. I honestly don't think you could go wrong with those two, and with the addition of coconut, it's even more sinful. I love this smoothie, it becomes nice and thick, almost as if you've incorporated yoghurt into the mixture but you have not. This is definitely going to be a go-to smoothie for me this summer, it is simple, I almost always have this fruit combination on hand, so how can I go wrong. So here we are:

In your blender mix together: 1 frozen banana + 1/2 cup strawberries, hulled and washed + 1/2 cup coconut water + 1/2 cup milk (I've been using strawberry soy milk to enhance the flavour even more) + 1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder + 1/2 tbsp chia seeds - until nice and smoothe, let sit for a couple of minutes to fully thicken, then take a straw and slurp it on back!

Creamy Smoked Kale Salad

Recipe taken from here

For lunch I had one of the most flavourful yet simple salads I've had in ages. When it comes to salads, I like to stick to a simple balsamic vinegar + EVOO + red wine vinegar dressing, this however, sent my tastebuds to feel as though they were on hard drugs. This was so so so flavourful. I loved every second of this salad. I kept it simple with just the kale, dressing, plus one medium sweet potato roasted for 35 minutes on 425 tossed with a bit of EVOO + sea salt + pepper. It was complete bliss. It was something that would be perfect served with a side of wild rice and grilled tofu, oh... boy, I loved it. I definitely plan on making this again, very, very soon.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 head dinosaur/lacinato kale ~4c chopped
• 1/2 tbsp EVOO oil
• 1 tsp homemade peanut butter
• 1 tbsp water
• 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 rounded tsp smoked paprika
• 1 large garlic clove, minced ~2-3t
• 1/8 tsp sea salt
• Ground black pepper
• 2 tbsp sunflower seeds

Directions:

Wash kale thoroughly and pat dry. Tear from stems and chop or rip into small pieces and put in a large bowl.

In a small bowl add EVOO, peanut butter, water, apple cider vinegar , smoked paprika, garlic, salt, and pepper. Whisk until well combined and pour onto kale. Mix with a fork or your hands until very well coated.

How did the evening end? Well, over the weekend I made homemade hazelnut spread i.e. Nutella. Yes, it certainly was sinful, do I have a photograph of the homemade spread? No, no I do not, because instead of simply using it as a spread over toasts, or in an incing on top of some decadent vanilla cupcakes, or smothered on homemade graham crackers, I decided to knock it up a bit, and put them into ice cream. And no, it was not just banana soft serve, this was actually ice cream and you do not need an ice cream maker for this, just how perfect is that for all of us who do not own one? Weeeeee.

Hazelnut Spread - Vegan

Recipe taken from here

What I loved about this recipe is the fact that it didn't have confectioner's sugar in it, nor did it have honey, it has barely any sugar (just what is in the cocoa powder and that's it), the list is short, and every ingredient is one that you can pronounce. Did this spread pass the test? It literally tasted like the real thing and it was vegan! Perfect.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups hazelnuts without skin (I used skin)
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 2 tbsp vanilla protein powder (recipe suggest 5-6... but since I knew it would be in a recipe for ice cream with additional sweetness I decided not to add too much)
• 2 tbsp coconut oil, softened

Directions:

Lightly toast hazelnuts in the oven (8-10 mins at 180C/350F) and let cool a little. Throw in food processor and process until a smooth butter. Now, add in cacao powder and vanilla protein powder, use 5 or 6 T according to preferred sweetness. At last, drizzle in 2 T coconut oil with the motor running for a super smooth consistency. I let my processor run quite long for a super smooth result.

And now for the winner of the lead of this show:

Hazelnut Ice Cream

Recipe adapted from here

This is such a simple recipe to make, it took barely any time at all, thankfully to my wonderful food processor, and the result is one creamy, smooth, light tasting hazelnut ice cream that you don't have to feel guilty about.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup homemade or store bought homemade hazelnut spread aka Nutella (see recipe above)
  
• 1 cup light coconut milk
  
• 3 tbsp chocolate soy milk
• 2 tbsp hazelnut agave nectar

Directions:

Line a 9 x 9 inch (22.5 cm) square pan with plastic wrap or waxed paper, or line 6 regular muffin cups with silicone liners (paper liners won’t do for this purpose).

Place all ingredients in the bowl of a food processor and process until perfectly smooth and blended (or place in a bowl and whisk really well to combine). Pour the mixture into the pan or divide evenly among the muffin liners.

If using a pan, freeze until firm, 2-3 hours, then remove from pan and cut into 9-12 squares. Place the squares in a clean (food grade) plastic bag or sealed plastic container, or pop the frozen mixture out of the liners and place in a bag or container and store in the freezer until ready to use.

To make the ice cream: Use 1-2 frozen disks (from the muffin liners) or 3-4 squares for each serving. If you used the muffin liners, chop each frozen disk into 2-3 pieces (if your processor isn’t very powerful, you may wish to chop the pieces even smaller). Place the cubes or pieces in a food processor and process until smooth (the mixture will first crumble and appear like bread crumbs; press it down with a rubber spatula, then keep processing and eventually it will form a ball that rolls around the processor bowl; at this point, it’s ready to scoop).

Scoop and serve. Makes 3-4 servings.

Have a good day :)

Seared Salmon with Shallot and Green Onion Relish + Nutty Goji Berry Power Balls + Strawberry Kiwi Banana Popsicles

Seared Salmon with Shallot and Green Onion Relish

Seriously, this past week and the meals that I have planned have been so delicious. I feel like patting myself on the back every time I heat the oven and start cooking. Tonight for dinner was like no other. The meal I chose tonight was chosen because over the sauce we were buying incredibly large hunks of salmon and freezing them so that I would have meals easily at hand. Unfortunately however, I was getting sort of sick of making salmon since I had eaten many, many packets of the salmon fillets. Part of my new years resolution (which I didn't write on here is to use up food, personal products, etc... trying to use up these products before buying new ones).

With that being said, I've saved two recipes that I wanted to try out with the remaining fillets. One of them being this recipe that I found today for Seared Salmon with Shallot and Green Onion Relish. When I first saw this, the thing that drew me most to the plate wasn't the name (because I hadn't looked at that for a few seconds), it was the picture. I was so enamored by the beauty of the photograph. I'm not sure why, it might of been the contrast of the beautiful salmon colour with the green and the white of the plate. Next I looked at the title, and although the flavour pairings aren't flavours that I usually treat my palette with I was interested in trying it nonetheless.

This morning I set up to go upstairs and took out the salmon. I let it sit out all day so that it would certainly be thawed by the time I wanted to cook dinner. So tonight when it was around dinner time i.e. the time my stomach started rumbling I headed upstairs.

I quickly started preparing the relish for this meal and was a tad bit scared because first off I don't usually eat mustard. I like mustard seeds but Dijon and all those sorts eh not so much. Also, there is just something about capers. Today was my first time having them. I've had smoked salmon numerous times which I down like a maniac however I always flick off the capers and allow the others to eat them. I really was not expecting them to be that salty, I was in for a shock I tell ya. When I had finished the relish and mixed everything in I literally out a little "woah!", but it was good.

Next just as he recipe called for I set out to make the fish. I hate cooking with oil. Everything about it freaks me out, especially when I'm in a t-shirt. Needless to say, this time was just like no other and I seemed to somehow get hit with more flaming hot oil, not so fun. However, I sprinkled it with salt (even though the relish was incredibly salty, and I'm not a salt fan) and let the fish do it's magic. I took the fish out, took a bite of a little piece that had fallen off and let out a "woooooow". It was... I know I've used this term about twice already this week "like candy". It was delicious! I've never been much of a fan of cooked salmon, always found it to be really fishy, this however was marvelous, divine, excellent, perfect, it was just so delicious. The fish almost tasted buttery, I never thought I'd say that about salmon that's for sure but it was, it was buttery, flaky, juicy, salty (but not overpowering salty), crispy, just amazing.

The combination with the relish and the fish also was pure divination. I even sat down to eat. Now... unless you see me in the kitchen, know me in real life you won't know this. But... I barely ever sit down to eat, unless I'm at someone else's house or at a restaurant. I barely ever eat meals with those I live with because well there palettes suck. Okay okay, that was mean, but they're palettes are just simpler than mine and not as... well-rounded. That has nothing really to do with why I don't sit when I eat other than I don't make large sums of food so when I'm done making my meal I immediately start to clean up. I guess that's a flaw of mine, I should add to my new years resolution: slowing down, relaxing, and enjoying meals, enjoying my company by sitting, eating and reflecting on my day, the flavours etc... So that is why I don't sit. However, this meal was so good that I sat. I sat by myself, I took in the flavours, I reflected on my day, and I sincerely enjoyed my company and sitting in the dining room by myself, it almost felt like a spiritual experience and it was all thanks to this one very special dish that I found.

Ingredients:

• 4 wild salmon fillet or steak
• 2/3 cup diced shallots - about 3 small-medium shallots
• 1 cup chopped green onions (about 6)
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• 1 tbsp chopped, drained capers
• 1/4 cup olive oil, plus 2 tsp for cooking
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• Sea salt + pepper

Directions:

In a pan over medium-low heat, saute the shallots and green onions for about 7 minutes, stirring enough to prevent burning. Spoon into a glass bowl and set aside for about 10 minutes, to cool. At this time, add the mustard, capers and lemon juice. Finally, blend in the olive oil. Taste, and if you find that the salt from the capers and mustard is not sufficient (as I, an avid salt lover, did), add more to taste, along with a few grinds of the pepper mill. Set aside.

Meanwhile, pat salmon fillets dry and salt lightly. Heat a clean pan to medium-high. When hot, coat with a thin film of oil. When oil is hot, place salmon in pan and cook, undisturbed, for 3 minutes. (Reduce to 2 minutes if fillet is thin.) Flip once, and cook for another 2-3 minutes, depending on desired degree of doneness and the density of fillet.

Spoon relish over salmon, garnish with green onion and lemon zest, and serve.

Serves 4

Nutty Goji Berry Power Balls

As I mentioned a few posts back I want to start baking and cooking more healthily. As I said part of this was trying to incorporate more environmentally friendly recipes which certainly includes more vegan recipes or at least more vegetarian recipes... despite the fact that I'm posting this underneath a recipe for fish. I made two desserts/snacks today that are not out of my range of baking but just not what I had been making for a couple months now.

The first recipe comes from one of my favourite "healthy" blogs Anja's Food 4 Thought. The recipe I made was inspired from her Goji Power Balls post. These were so incredibly delicious. My mom's boyfriend enjoyed the flavour but not the texture. My mom and I however absolutely loved the flavour and the texture didn't seem to bother either of us. I'm not even really sure what about the texture bothered him, but to each their own. What I like about this is how interchangeable this recipe can be, you could seriously add in whatever you'd like according to your taste buds and I'm sure it would taste blissful. This is a perfect pick-me up snack that would be great to have lying around in the fridge especially when you're craving something sweet but still want to remain along the lines of health.

Ingredients:

• 3 tbsp dried Goji berries
• 1 tbsp sesame seeds
• 1 tbsp poppy seeds
• 1 tbsp dried cranberries
• 1 tbsp dried raisins
• 3 pitted dried dates, roughly chopped
• 3 tbsp almonds mixed with chow mien noodles
• 1 tsp honey/agave nectar
• 3 squares of chocolate covered pistachios

Optional

• Dried coconut flakes
• Rolo hot chocolate mix

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in a food processor and process until combined and sticky. Form balls of the size of a walnut out of the batter. Roll in cocoa powder or coconut flakes.

Strawberry Kiwi Banana Popsicles

The next dessert I had made earlier in the day was because I didn't want to wake up tomorrow morning and have yoghurt for breakfast, I really am over yoghurt for the next little while. However, I had a green tea Popsicle for lunch and knew that I wanted to use the remaining yoghurt for popsicles. So, I looked up a few different recipes and this is what I came up with. They were sooooo good! They were creamy, sweet, tart, crunchy, perfect! I loved them! I will be buying some low-fat Greek yoghurt and certainly mixing up the flavour combination's, mmmm this reminded me of the summer which was perfect especially on a cold snowy winters day.

Ingredients:

• 6 tbsp strawberry kiwi yoghurt
• 6 tbsp vanilla fortified soy milk
• 2 frozen bananas
• 1/4 juice of a lemon
• 1 1/2 tbsp honey

Directions:

Combine bananas, yoghurt, and milk in a blender and blend until smooth. Add lemon juice and honey and pulse blender to combine. Pour liquid into Popsicle molds. Close up with the Popsicle stick. Freeze until Popsicle are set.

Have a great day :)

Best of 2010, Hello 2011!

Happy New Year again!

I know I blogged yesterday, but I didn't really talk about New Years, instead I talked about my anniversary with Jordan. New Years Eve was incredibly exciting, probably the best one I have celebrated up to date. I was intending on staying home, because a couple of weeks before New Years Jordan's parents had decided that they were going to take the family to Nathan Phillip's Square in Toronto, however, they had asked if my mom and her boyfriend would want to join and get a hotel so that I could go to. Unfortunately that wasn't the case since they had decided to go to Montreal. I wasn't really interested in partying because it would more than likely be with people that I'm not really interested in hanging out with since my good friends had decided to go out of town.

Well, it was two days after our anniversary, Jordan's parents came in the afternoon to pick him up and head downtown for the night. After about ten or so minutes I had gotten a call from Jordan's dad asking if I wanted them to turn back and come pick me up, I said no since it was a family thing and was more than happy spending it at home with my cats. However, he asked a few more times and I said sure. I really was appreciative that they did this because it was a lot of fun.

We headed downtown, brought all of our stuff into the hotel. After taking a couple shots we walked down a few blocks and found a Thai restaurant. It was really good, I had bean curd and veggies, incredibly delicious. We then headed back to the hotel and hung out for a couple of hours. We decided to make our way down to Nathan Phillips (which we could see from our hotel room which was completely amazing) at about 9 o'clock. It was so warm out it was wonderful. It was supposed to pour and that didn't happen so it was awesome!

We stayed out until 11:30 pm. We saw Divine Brown, Shawn Desman (his brother), Kids Wearing Crowns, The Stereo's and I believe that was it. The performers weren't amaziiiing but it was lots of fun. Jordan's sister and I brought lots of energy which seemed to pump those around us. Unfortunately at around 11:00 pm lots of creepy Torontonians were coming out (I am NOT a Toronto person at all, they give me the heebs to be completely honest), there was one in particular who just freaked us all out. Needless to say at this point we were all getting very freaked, annoyed and anxious so we made our way back to the hotel. We sat at the windowsill, talked, reminisced about the year and at 11:58 pm I realized it was almost 2011. It was fun, we were watching it live, and had it turned on on the tv too (which we realized had a ten second delay), so I had first started the countdown (looking at the tv) at 25 seconds, then looked "live" and realized it was 15 seconds until 2011. 10, 9, 8, 7.... 3, 2, 1 HAPPY NEW YEAR!

We clinked our glasses, about a minute or so later got a kiss from Jor and we watched the fireworks, it was beautiful. After talking for about an hour or so more we decided to go to sleep. The next day we stayed in the hotel until about 2 in the afternoon, packed our stuff, got out of the hotel, made way to a sushi restaurant then went to Jordan's grandfathers. We had dinner there, spent a couple of hours, then made Jordan and I got dropped off at my place. We then finished the evening off by watching a couple episodes of Fringe.

So that is how I spent my New Years Eve + day, hope yours was as much as mine was.

At the beginning of each year, most people set out resolutions for what they want to modify to their "life" for the next year. Now, most people make resolutions and end up breaking them about a week or two into the new year. Myself however, I am not like that... I am one of those people that if I write something down, or I tell myself something I make it the holy word. Last year I stuck with my resolution all through out and I'm hoping the same thing happens this year.

This year my resolutions are as so:

• To put some weight on, so far I am up a few already (I actually started my resolution early and started on the 28th)
• To not worry about my weight so much (I'm hoping that with time I will talk more about ... some of these issues)
• To weigh myself once a week
• To start eating healthier again, and not just binging on ice cream, cookies and cake
• To make a weekly meal plan and sticking with it
• To feel happier about myself/life
• To continue blogging, and learning about nutrition
• Start working out regularly again
  

I know that the majority of these have to do with weight, but over the past couple of months I have struggled with that. As above, I am hoping that with time I will have more confidence and will be able to talk about it, until then, I want to focus on my resolutions and get healthier physically and psychologically. These aren't the easiest of goals, but they also aren't the hardest. These are all goals that are incredibly important to me and I know I need to work on them so I will do so.

I would love if some of you would share your resolutions with me, so that we could encourage each other because sometimes just getting a little encouragement from others can really make a difference.

On this post, I am not going to be posting any new recipes as I am going to post my twelve favourite desserts of the year. I mean, I have made way too many desserts that this was incredibly difficult, but these were ones that came to mind when I thought of the best! I didn't want to do meals because well I just felt like doing desserts :P.

Chocolate Cherry Kisses Almond Walnut Cookies + Chocolate Chip Cookies (I cheated since there were two on the same page ;) )
Amazing Hard Boiled Egg Oatmeal Cookies

Green Tea Almond Thumbprints
Anise Drop Cookies x2 ;)
Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies with/without Banana
Red Velvet Caramel Chip Cookies
Cranberry Apple Streusel Pie
Anise Ice cream

White Chocolate Blueberry Oatmeal Cookies
Strawberry Goji Yoghurt Peach Muffins
Almond Lemon Cake
Vanilla and Nutmeg Risotto with Fresh Berries

Hope you will check them out! Have yourself a great day!

Saffron Ice Cream + Anise Ice Cream + Plum Frozen Yoghurt + Fig Frozen Yoghurt

For my birthday I received an ice cream maker from my dad. I was so so excited about getting one of these because, between cake and ice cream, definitely my two weaknesses. This machine was sort of a let down though. In having it for such a short amount of time it definitely did quite some damage in my pockets in wasting my ingredients. I'm not sure how many recipes I made that I had to turn into "smoothies". Sort of a let down to be honest considering I want YOGHURT or ICE CREAM NOT SMOOTHIE. Grr... oh well, I brought it back, and got the money for it, but I still really miss it, especially after two recipes I will be posting here that actually worked and cost me a few pounds ;)

Saffron Ice Cream

This recipe here was the last one I attempted to make with the maker. It was insanely delicious. This had such a great flavour it was fluffy, creamy, hit the spot with the right amount of fat, and lastly it was sweet with a subtle taste of bitterness from the saffron, (I used Turkish saffron that my mom brought back from Turkey, helllloooo). This, is one ice cream I will certainly miss. The last night I had half the tub left... started with one small bowl, went back for another tiny bowl then ended up just grabbing the tub I had put it in and sat on the couch enjoying, oh it was totally worth it! I didn't really follow a recipe, I read a few different one's for a simple vanilla ice cream then adapted it myself but don't have a real source per se, sorry.

Ingredients:

• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 cups heavy or whipping cream
• 1 cup milk
• 1/4 tsp saffron

Directions:

Whisk the eggs in a mixing bowl until light and fluff, 1 to 2 minutes. Whisk in the sugar, a little at a time, then continue whisking until completely blended, about 1 minute more. Pour in the cream, milk, and vanilla and whisk to blend.

Transfer the mixture to an ice cream maker and freeze following the manufacturer's instructions

Anise Ice Cream

Recipe adapted from here

I have told you time and time again how much I looooove the taste of anise. It reminds me of my childhood, the pizelle's my neighbour used to bring over to us, the sweet anise cookies I made last winter, the black liccorice I have now started to feast on, and so on. When I found this recipe I knew it was meant to be. Let me tell you though, I did NOT have a fun time with this. No... my ice cream maker decided it DIDN'T want to make me a happy happer and make my life easy. Nope, all I had was liquid. LIQUID of pure bliss, seriously it did taste wonderful, but I wasn't going to give up so easily, I needed this ice cream like I need oxygen in my lungs, yes, I am being that dramatic! I froze the counterpart that needed to be frozen and tried again the next day. HALLELUJAH it worked! It worked, it worked, it worked! I seriously was overcome with joy. This was so insanely indulgent, I'm ALMOST thankful they don't sell these commercially because I'd be a whale, I'm not even joking. This tub, I ate the WHOLE thing in one sitting. I couldn't stop, it was really bad. As much as I tried to stop myself it just kept taunting me with it's beautiful speckly anise morsels and the creamy goodness it had to offer me. I told you I'm a complete mess when it comes to ice cream, but ughhhh I did not regret this what so ever, except... for the fact that I ate it all in one night and didn't have any for another day, but my memory of this ice cream will forever live on, oh it certainly will! This has got to be bookmarked as one of your top priorties to complete in the kitchen, ahhhh so great!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup soy milk
• 2 cups cream
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3 tbsp ground anise seed
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

Place anise seed in a coffee grinder and grind to the consistency of sand. Set aside.

Heat milk and cream in a pot. Add sugar, vanilla extract and ground anise. Continue cooking on medium heat and stirring for about 10 minutes. Do not let milk boil.

Remove pot from heat. Allow contents to reach room temperature before transferring to another container and placing in fridge until cold. Once cold, transfer to ice cream maker and follow directions per your machine.

Plum Frozen Yoghurt

Recipe adapted from here

* I never got a photo of the frozen yoghurt, however, I did take a picture of it in a smoothie I made!

This recipe here, I wanted it to be on the healthier side (which is why I even reduced the amount of sugar and changed it to honey), but I wanted this more so to be something that I would throw into my smoothies in the morning. I liked this, it wasn't very sweet, it still had a pretty tart taste but it had what I was going after. It really was perfect for my smoothies since when I mixed it with the other fruit it definitely gave it a punch. I enjoyed this even by itself surprisingly, when I first made it it was because I had plums that were going bad but in the end I was really happy with the outcome. I wouldn't make this often (if I still had my ice cream maker), but it definitely was a nice treat.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 lbs ripe plums
• 1/2 cup water
• 3/4 cup plain whole milk yogurt
• Freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1/2 cup of honey

Directions:

Peel plums, slice them in half, and remove the pits. Cut the plums into chunks and cook them with the water in a medium saucepan over medium heat, covered, stirring occasionally, until soft and cooked through, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat, stir in the sugar, then chill in the refrigerator.

When the peach mixture is cool, puree in a food processor with the yogurt until almost smooth but slightly chunky. Mix in a few drops of lemon juice.

Freeze in ice cream maker according to manufacture’s instruction. Eat immediately or chill for a few hours if you want it to be harder.

Blueberry Fig Frozen Yoghurt

Recipe adapted from here

This was probably the biggest failure my ice cream maker witnessed which really annoyed me since at the time the figs I had bought were $7.00 a case and had used up quite a hefty amount. What ended up happening AGAIN is that the ice cream maker decided it didn't want to churn properly and wanted to give me normal yoghurt over frozen yoghurt. In the end, I am a little grateful since it tasted like heaven, it was just disappointing at the time since I did want frozen yoghurt. The mix of blueberries and figs though, what a beautiful combination. My love of figs grows more and more every time I have them, everyone in my house seems to despise their taste because of the seeds, but me, the more seeds I get the happier I am, I dare them to bring me more because I love the extra crunch it brings to its soft self. Oh... sorry for this tangent I started to day dream I suppose, but really, if you have a trustworthy maker try this recipe, definitely, definitely worth a try!

*This is just a picture of the yoghurt, absolutely positively delicious, ahhhh!

Ingredients:

• 1 pint blueberries
• 5 fresh figs, stems removed
• 2 6-ounce containers of vanilla yogurt
• 1/2 cup sugar

Directions:

Place the blueberries, figs and sugar in a food processor and puree until smooth. Add yoghurt and pulse until mixed evenly.

Churn in an ice cream maker for about 40 minutes, then freeze for 2-3 hours for the best consistency. Scoop, and serve.

Makes about 1.5 or 2 pints of frozen yogurt.

Root Beer Float Popsicles

When making the Root Beer cookies I still had some Root Beer left that wasn't used for the extract. I had decided to make some Root Beer float popsicles since it was an easy way to use some of the pop as well as some of my ice cream. These went like hot cakes and were definitely a huge hit. They were so simple to make, were cute, and tasted great what more can you ask for? You don't even need to use a bowl!

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup Root Beer
• 1/2 cup vanilla ice cream (I used sprinkle cake ice cream)

Directions:

Allow your ice cream to melt a little, once melted pour your ice cream into the bottom of your popsicle containers and mix the pop in. This will allow it to mix together.

Let sit for 4-6 hours or until frozen.

Serve cold.

I know the summer is over, but it's still nice to have some cold treats while sitting in the warmth of your house on a cold winters night right...? ;)

Enjoy :)

Lemon Ginger Sorbet + Lemon Poppy Seed Sugar Cookies

Recipe taken from here

I had an abundance of lemon's leftover since I had made lemonade and didn't need as many lemons as I thought I would. So being the type of person who doesn't like food going to waste I quickly did some research on what I could make. I found this recipe and didn't look any further. Sorbet with lemon AND ginger? Yummy. And that's what it was - delicious. It was tart, spicey and sweet all at once. Definitely a nice mid-summers afternoon snack.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups lemon juice (about 5 lemons)
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• Zest of 2 lemons
• 2 tsp grated ginger
• 2 cups water

Directions:

In a medium saucepan, combine the sugar, water, and lemon zest. Cook until sugar has dissolved. Remove from heat and stir in the grated ginger and water. Allow the mixture to cool in the refrigerator or ice bath. Add the 2 cups of lemon juice and freeze in an ice cream maker.

Lemon Poppy Seed Sugar Cookies

Recipe taken from here

What makes a sugar cookie even more sinful than they already are? Throwing in some lemon juice, zest, and poppy seeds. I love love love sugar cookies. They are very highly ranked in my books, however, the flavour that lemon and poppy seeds create together is amazing. When put together with sin, it creates lust. These cookies are fantastic. These have to be tried!

Makes about 2 1/2 - 3 dozen cookies

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1 tbsp poppy seeds
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1/4 cup buttermilk
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• Zest of one lemon

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt, baking soda and poppy seeds. Set aside.

In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugars together until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the egg, vanilla and lemon zest and mix well. Add the dry ingredients and buttermilk. Mix well.

Drop the dough by tablespoonfuls onto a greased or lined baking sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes, until the edges are set. The cookies should be puffy and fairly light in color when they are finished baking. Remove from the oven and let cool for 1-2 minutes on the baking sheet. Move the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

Enjoy!

Strawberry Frozen Yoghurt + Healthy Breakfast Yoghurt Parfaits

Strawberry Frozen Yoghurt

For my birthday I was given an ice cream maker. I was so extremely excited about it, I mean, how couldn't I be, ever since the summer has began I have read countless blog entries about various ice cream flavours. There are so many possibilities, and I was so giddy I couldn't wait to make my first batch. Since I was house sitting at my dad's girlfriends and she has three sons, I thought it would be a great opportunity to try out my new device. Being the type of person who thinks I can accomplish new tools, electronics, and toys without reading the manual I hopped right into it. Well, to be quite frank, it was rather dumb. I didn't even think I would have to actually FREEZE anything BEFOREHAND, no that would just make too much sense... I realized during me putting my ice cream machine together however, that this wasn't the case. So, I stuck the part of the machine I had to freeze in the freezer for approximately four and a half hours.

In the mean time, I was determined to get everything for my ice cream ready, so that when the time came to put it all together it would be really quick. Well, again, that should be something that is really easy, but you see when my friend Jenna comes over I seem to get rather distracted. I needed to make a simple syrup for something else I was making which required a larger amount compared to the small amount that was necessary for this recipe. Instead I mixed them up, and when the time came to put it all in the ice cream machine I knew my ice cream was doooomed. It rised, then it sunk, then it churned, and churned, churned, and churned some more. I think I let it churn for almost two and a half hours before I decided to turn my machine off. I was really uspet, however, I served it as a smoothie and that was apparently a huge hit. When in doubt, you have ice cream fails, serve it as smoothies? Great tip, glad I learnt that on my first experience at making ice cream with a new machine, hahaha!

I decided to freeze the compartment again and try batch number two in one night. Let me tell you, this was beautiful. The colour was gorgeous and the taste was great! (It wasn't even real ice cream and no one could tell the difference, yes, it was frozen yoghurt, and it was amazing). Needless to say I learnt my lesson, if you want to make ice cream don't have your friend who are a complete nut in front of be in the same room as you! Kidding, I love you miss... but seriously.

Microwave Fail

On this note, I'd like to share with you another story involving my friend Jenna. I had invited her over, and time and time again I cook or bake for her. It's just inevitable, she brings movies for us to watch and I supply the grub. Over the past few years, my culinary skills have improved dramatically. However... I can apparently make a full-course Thanksgiving dinner and not screw that up after not having any experience with it prior but I CANNOT pop a bag of popcorn! What is this? Oh, yes, I can cook a full turkey but cannot pop popcorn. I was so insanely embarrassed, Jenna seemed to find it hilarious, then, I literally fell to my knees and started cackling like a witch, it was ridiculous. I didn't take the plastic cover out of the microwave and decided to plop my steaming bag of kernels right on top of it! Duhhhh... lesson learnt again, KICK FUNNY/DISTRACTING FRIENDS OUT OF THE KITCHEN! Hehe, don't worry, it's been much better in the kitchen with her, sometimes I try to involve her and I get an almost whispered-shout of random curse words even though she doesn't swear... hmmmmmmm... onto the recipe at last.

Microwave Fail

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of vanilla yoghurt
  
• 11 regular sized strawberries (after pureeing and straining, it’ll be 2/3 cups)
• 1 cup sugar
• 5/8 cup (same as 1/2 cup + 1/8 cup) water
• 1/2 cup whole milk (cold)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp lemon juice

Preparation:

In a saucepan, pour water and sugar, and put on medium heat until it boils. Don’t stir. Lower heat and simmer until all the sugar granules are dissolved. Take out of the heat and cool to room temperature before putting in the refrigerator.

Wash strawberries and slice off the leafy tops. Put in a blender or a food processor and puree with lemon juice. Strain out the seeds. Put in the fridge to cool.

Once the puree and the sugar syrup have cooled in the fridge, stir in the strawberry puree and vanilla extract into the syrup.

In a big bowl, mix the yoghurt on low speed for 30 seconds. Carefully add the strawberry syrup and mix for a minute. Pour in the cold milk and mix for another minute.

Set up your ice cream maker and turn it on. Pour the mixture into the spout and churn for 30 minutes.

Enjoy immediately or for better taste, allow to “rest” in the freezer for a couple of hours or overnight. It tastes better after the resting period.

I also wanted to share this amazingly simple breakfast, not only is it incredibly tasty but looks absolutely beautiful at the same time and is good for you! What more can you want?

Ingredients:

• Desired yoghurt - vanilla was used
  
• Desired fruit - strawberries and blueberries were used
  
• Bran bar - original flavour was used

Strawberry Blueberry Yoghurt Parfait

Ingredients:

• Desired yoghurt - vanilla was used
• Desired fruit - blueberries and bananas were used
• Bran bar - original flavour was used

Blueberry Banana Yoghurt Parfait

Directions:

Place yoghurt at the bottom of your bowl. Place desired fruit on top of yoghurt and slightly crush your bran bar and sprinkle it on top of your fruit and yoghurt.

Sit down and eat!

Enjoy :)