Christmas Eggnog

Each Christmas my mum and I have a tradition. We pull out all the decorations and prepare for an evening of filling the house with Christmas cheer. Then on a night when we can devote full attention to the task with put on some of our most favourite Christmas songs and whip up a batch of eggnog before going at the tree with lights and tinsel.

My mum doesn't like the store bought variety because she finds it too rich and that's exactly why I love it and can drink the whole carton myself in an evening. Making it ourselves means we can control the amounts and how rich it will be. We've found a good compromise. Plus we add copious a dash of rum to make this drink more adult and everyone is happy.

Could serve 4 (but we usually go back for seconds, so I wouldn't really know)
Ingredients:
4-6 eggs
2 cups milk
1 Tbs sugar
1 cap full vanilla extract
dash of nutmeg
rum (optional, but really)

Instructions:
Throw all the ingredients into a blender, save the nutmeg, and blend til frothy.
Taste and adjust as needed. More egg will make it richer, more milk will make it less rich and add volume, more sugar will make it sweeter etc.
Serve in a fun glass (we often use a crystal tumbler cause we fancy like that) and top with a dash of nutmeg.

YUM!

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Easy 3 Ingredient Cranberry Sauce

Last thanksgiving we discovered a most terrible thing. The canned cranberry sauce was some how missed on the last grocery shop before the holiday and if your anything like my family, thanksgiving dinner is ruined without the cranberries. 

Discovering half a bag of frozen whole cranberries, leftover from these amazing scones I had made, sent me to the Pinterest to figure out a way to make our own sauce.

Being a family of 3 and just having half the called for cranberries on the outset, I have only ever made half the recipe. And trust me, it's a good one.

Ingredients:
2 cups fresh cranberries
1/2 cup orange juice (you can use water, but I love me some OJ)
1/2 white sugar

Directions:
Put everything into a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until the cranberries start splitting open and the liquid thickens. 

Cool completely before serving--meaning you can make it the day before and store in the fridge. 

Next time you are in need of cranberry sauce, I highly recommend making your own. It's super simple, super delicious, and you can even get that fun out of the can shape if you store it in an old tin can.

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The Time of Year to Make Things

This is the time of year that I just love to try out new recipes or crack on with an old favourite. It's an excuse to bake and cook to my hearts content and give it all away to friends as gifts, at holiday parties, or just feed to my dad, cause he'll eat anything. Here are a few recipes I've tried in the past.

Last year I tried my hand at pâté and it turned out pretty darned good. There was some finessing with the recipe at the end, but it was relatively easy to do. It helped that my mum was a willing guinea pig at every stage of the game.

I also attempted making baklava. I might have to do this one again soon. The gooey-ness and the loveliness and the flakiness of it all was the best. 
Seriously. The. Best.

I would never forget about my furry friend, Betty and made her some Peanut Butter Dog Treats.  She was a fan.

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Leftover Turkey Soup

The first time I ever tried to make Turkey Soup following my first-ever-all-made-by-me Thanksgiving dinner I realized too late that I needed the carcass as the key ingredient for it. Big oops. Won't make that mistake again.

With some trial and error (and tips from my wise mother) here is a very simple recipe I use for making Leftover Turkey Soup.

Needed:

Turkey carcass

celery

carrots (optional)

onion

salt and pepper

celery seed (optional)

chicken broth (to taste)

soy sauce (optional)

1. Combine first 6 ingredients into a large pot and boil on medium heat for a few hours or until the meat starts falling off the bone. 
2. remove bones and manually remove remaining meat from bone and add back into the stock. 

3. Taste and stock and add bouillon and or soy sauce if more flavour is needed. 
4. Continue simmering for a couple of hours. (Add more water if too much has evaporated. If you do, definitely use a bouillon cube)


(These are old pictures from an earlier blog I once had. But it doesn't make this soup any less delicious)


If you do try making Leftover Turkey Soup yourself  do leave me a comment below and tell me how it went! I'd love to hear.

The Turkey Comedown: Turkey Pot Pie

I like recipes, and cooking, and eating, don't you? Since I've been back in Canada, I've had more opportunities to bake. Although I'm not the greatest baker, I have been deprived of doing anything of the sort for 2 years,  which means now I just can't stop myself. I haven't heard any complaints though. 

All that to say, I want to start posting recipes of things I make (on a semi regular basis) onto my blog. Since it is MY blog, I can do what ever I like, but I do hope you'll like this addition.

I love sharing, so if you are ever in the sharing mood do drop me a line with a recipe of yours, I'd love to try it out.

Turkey Pot Pie

When I get tired of turkey leftovers this is my favourite thing to have after Thanksgiving dinner. Turkey Pot Pie. Nom nom.

Needed:

Pie crust (I used a deep dish kind and it was a 2 pack so the other bottom became a top).
4 tbs butter divided
1 small onion, minced
2 stalks celery, chopped
2 carrots, diced
3 tbs dried parsley
1 tsp oregano
salt and pepper to taste
2 cubes chicken bouillon
2 cups water
3 small potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 1/2 cups cubed turkey
3 tbs all purpose flour
1/2 cup milk

1. Preheat oven to 425 F and melt the crust (easier to mold together)

2. Melt 2 tbs butter in a large skillet over medium heat, add the onion, celery, carrots, parsley, oregano, and salt and pepper. Cook and stir until the veggies are soft. Stir in the bouillon and water. Bring mixture to a boil. Stir in potatoes and cook until they are tender but still firm.

3. In a medium sauce pan melt remaining 2 tbs butter. Stir in the turkey and flour. Add the milk, and heat through. Stir the turkey mixture into the veggie mixture and cook until thickened. Cool slightly and pour into the shell. Put top crust on. Make 4 slits in top to allow steam to escape.

4. Bake in preheated oven for 15 min Reduce oven to 350F and continue baking for 20 min or until golden brown.

5. Let cool a bit before serving

I forgot to take a picture of the finished product. Just too darned excited to eat it up.

(these are old pictures as this is a post from another blog I used to do. No need to worry about that, just stick some of this in your pie hole and enjoy it).

If you do try making turkey potpie yourself  do leave me a comment below and tell me how it went! I'd love to hear.

Holiday Treats: 2013

I enjoy cooking and creating treats in the kitchen and I just don't feel like I have the same creativity and freedom to do so while living in London, for one reason or another. So while I'm home for the holidays and as my annual Christmas presents to friends and family I am baking up a storm in my parents kitchen. There are challenges with this as they are in the midts of kitchen renos and still it's only a half functional room on it's way to fabulous.

Last Christmas I baked some great treats, most of which I tried to recreate this year with a few new things I came across over the year.

I started with Peanut Butter Fudge, last year I had my Grandma's recipe which worked out perfectly, however, that recipe card is safely tucked away in my room in England so to the Google machine I went and found something that sounded similar. Two attempts were made at this. Last years was better.

I felt like I might have been off my game a bit. I shook it off and attempted treat #2.

I was looking forward to making again the salted toffee. My first try this year was a failure as i second guessed the timing and burnt the first batch along with my finger. It eventually turned out great despite what my mother says about chocolate ruining everything.

It would seem that the secret to my cooking was that if I had never made the recipe before, it would turn out perfectly as it should, however, 2nd time around everything has been going pear-shaped.  With this in mind, I pulled the ingredients together for a new treat for #3.

Chocolate Caramel Brownies. I had similar ones at the Bloggers Afternoon Tea and when I found this recipe I had to try it. The caramel has saved this one. It tastes very chocolaty but don't expect it to melt in your mouth like a good brownie should. Next time I think I'll just try using a brownie mix for the base to make things easier.

Crestfallen but with the encouragement of my mother, I attempted my last treat the Cranberry Shortbread. Thankfully this worked. Perfectly.  And on the first try...for the 2nd time.

All in all, my Christmas baking was a struggle this year. Good thing there is enough holiday treats floating about at this time of year that I can console my misery with sugar.

Need any ideas for holiday cooking? Here are 27 cookies to bake.

Did you try any holiday baking this year? 

Fun travels!

The Food, The Drink, The Gelato

**Warning, if you are hungry, look away now.**

The Food

As you can imagine the food in Italy was great. Real authentic, delicious food everywhere we went. Some restaurants were better than others and some cities better than others. The group I was with had done a bit of research into the specialties of each city and were determined to try them out. 

Smoked salmon

Fish soup

In Venice we hit the fish market the first night and ordered seafood everywhere we went. It was fresh and è delizioso.

tuna salad

Florence was all about the Ribollita and Pappa al Pomodoro (Tuscan bread soup) and the Florentine steak (Bistecca alla fiorentina).

Ribollita

Ravioli 

Our new friends that recommended the Torre Guelfa also recommended a great sandwich shop called 'Ino which just happened to be near our apartment. The sandwiches are made to order on artisan bread with fresh ingredients. Although we didn't have time on our visit the shop offers a tasting of wines and cheeses, which we would have liked to have done.

Every where we went, I couldn't get enough of the caprese insalata. The best one I had was in Florence, but no matter where I was, it was refreshing to have in the 30 degree heat.

Caprese Salad

Gnocchi 

I know the guide books say it all the time, but it's true. Going off the beaten track to find a restaurant is your best bet. Doing this, we found some charming restaurants frequented by locals and that weren't as pricey. 

The Drink

 Although we drank Prosecco in Venice and made our way through several wine and cheese plates in Florence, we noticed a lot of people before dinner were drinking these reddish coloured drinks that came with snacks! We asked the waiter what it was and figured, 'when in Rome...'

Cheersing our Prosecco

The Spritz is an aperitif which originated in Venice but found all over Northern Italy. I just liked that it came with snacks to tide you over before your 3 course supper at 9pm.

wine for the train journey to Florence

Having wine and cheese has always been my idea of what adults did when I was a kid. But now I get it. It's delicious! There were 2 very charming wine bars on our street that we were so excited to try out, although both were fully booked for dinner, we were able to perch ourselves at small tables and enjoy some tasty wine and beautiful cheeses of the region.

One day we stopped in our local grocer and discovered he had REALLY cheap wine in vats. For 2 euro we got half a liter of red wine and half a liter of white. Since we were nearing the end of our journey some of the wine made it back to England with us and we reminisced 
about our trip while enjoying one last glass.

If I've said it once, I've said it two times now, I enjoy my cocktails to come with food and these fresh fruit cocktails were right up my strasse. I have yet to actually eat any watermelon this summer, but I've drunk it's scrumptious juices a lot.

The Gelato 

You can't go to Italy and not have a gelato. Every day. It's a fact. Go ahead, try not to.

We started off with one in Venice (which I forgot to take photographic evidence of...did it really happen?) and it was good, but not great. Then we went to Florence were it got better and I tried a new flavour; coconut, so good! The best Gelateria is at the foot of the Ponte Vecchio across the river, you can't miss it!

Then we visited the Gelateria Giolitti in Rome, recommended to me by an Italian co-worker and it was a game changer. 

BEST. EVER.

I'd go back to Rome, just for this. No lie.





Fun travels!

All opinions are my own and I was not compensated in anyway at the various restaurants we visited in Italy.

Orphans Gatherings

This past weekend was Easter and like many people travelling or living abroad, I'm away from my friends and family who were getting together and celebrating this holiday/long weekend.  Instead I was invited to a new friend's orphan's Easter lunch and a chance to head to the Thames to watch 'the boat race'. (*spoiler alert* Oxford won!)

An orphan's dinner is usually put on and attended by a group of expats who can't make it home for a particular holiday and are missing out on the traditions from back home. This particular dinner was not quite traditional to anyone's Easter dinner as we had a mishmash of barbecued meat, potato salad, avocado and spinach salad. But tasty nonetheless.

After lunch we headed down to central London to catch a brief glimpse of the Oxford and Cambridge University rowing teams and they raced in their 159th competition. I did literally see each boat for 2 seconds between people shoulders, as they glided through the water. Being so vertically challenged in large groups is such a bummer.

purse wine

Despite that and despite the cold, cold, COLD day, it was a great time. Some appeared to be having a better time than others, but no judgement here :)

Happening at the same time as the boat race is the Spitalfields City Farm Goat Race between a goat named Cambridge and another named Oxford. Maybe next year...

Fun travels!

Christmas Treats: 2012

Today I'm talking about food. Since I've been travelling aka living out of a suitcase, I've mentioned before that I miss cooking. As I'm home for the Christmas holidays (yay! 3 weeks home with my puppy) I decided that I wanted to make a special Christmas treat a day until Christmas day.
(click through some to see the original recipe).

1. I started off simply and I made holiday Rice Krispy Treats. Seeing the red and green made me nostalgic and craving these tasty treats.

2. Oyster Crackers, my grandma used to make these for me when I visited and I could never get enough! I attempted these in the summer, but got distracted and burned them all. similar recipe

3. Peanut Butter Fudge. Again a recipe from my grandmother. She passed away late last month and it's nice to still have her part of this Christmas.

4. Cranberry Shortbread my mum insisted they should be in squares, but I like to go outside the box...or rather follow the recipe exactly.

5. Chewy Molasses Cookies this was a big hit with my family. They were sorry to have to share them.

6. Homemade Toffee, like a Skor bar. Can't stop eating this.

7. Homemade Oatmeal Cream Pies to be completed....

8. ??? Any holiday treat suggestions?




If you do try making any of these holiday treats yourself  do leave me a comment below and tell me how it went! I'd love to hear.