Pumpkin & Zucchini Muffin's

Pumpkin & Zucchini Muffin's

Oh you will love these muffin's! They are really easy to make and somewhat healthy ;)

Your home is going to smell fabulous and your family will love these!

You will need:

1 cup of freshly puree pumpkin *

1/2 cup of homemade applesauce** 

1/2 cup of shortening

1 teaspoon of maple extract or syrup

3 eggs

1 cup of sugar

1 cup of brown sugar

3 cups of all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon of baking soda

1/2 teaspoon of baking powder

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1/2 teaspoon of all spice

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 cup of raisins

1/3-1/2 of cup of pumpkin seeds

1 cup shredded zucchini (You could replace the zucchini by shredded carrots)

*( During the fall buy a couple pumpkins to turn them into purée and freeze them a head of time. If you don't have any pumpkin puree you can always buy some in a can at your local supermarket.)

**(If you don't have any homemade apple sauce, use a non-sweetened apple sauce from your supermarket)

How to:

Mix in sugar and shortening together and cream, add one egg at a time.  Incorperate pumpkin puree, applesauce, maple extract and mix well. In another bowl mix all dry ingredients together (flour, baking powder, baking soda cinnamon, nutmeg and all spices). Incorperate mixture into wet ingredients and mix. When batter is homogeneous, add raisins, pumpkin seeds and zucchinni and mix. Pour mixture into 12 cup muffin tin. All depending on the size you like your muffins, this recipe can make inbetween 18 to 24 muffins. I love big muffins, so I can make about 15-18 with this recipe. Cook at 350F for 25-30 minutes. 

Enjoy these sprumptuous muffins!  

Homemade Rosemary Artisan Bread

Homemade Rosemary Artisan Bread

Hey you guys!

Looking for something good to eat? You have to try this simple bread recipe. It's soooo GOOD! The best recipe ever :D

Here is what you need

3 cups of flour
1/2 tsp of active yeast
1 tsp of salt
11/2 tsp of rosemary
11/2 of warm water (around 95F)

How to:

Part 1

-Put all dry ingredients together and stir gently.
-Add water and stir all ingredients.
-Cover with saran wrap
- Let rest for 12 to 24 hours and let the magic happen
(I usually do mine in the afternoon or at supper time. I forget about it and come back to it in the morning).

Part 2

- Flour your board and let the mixture slowly fall onto your board. You can help it along gently.
-Pull the outter sides of your bread into the middle to make a ball. (No squishing the dough! There is no kneading needed ;) )
-Place back into your your bowl, cover and let rise a good 40-45 minutes.

-Heat oven at 450F
-Place a high edge casserole dish into the oven for a good 20-30 minutes.
-Once your casserole dish is hot, take out and brush olive oil onto your dish.
-Gently transfer your bread to the pot and cover with alluminum foil.
-Cook for 30 minutes covered
-Remove alluminum foil and cook for 15 minutes.

It's ready!! YUMMY!
Best wait 10-15 minutes before cutting into it

Enjoy! ;)

P.s. Can you see someone is peeping into the picture hihi
Jasper was hang out with me!

Honey Dijon Chicken Wrap

 

Honey Dijon Chicken Wrap

 

 I love wraps in the summer they are fun and easy way to eat healthy!

 You can add whatever is in season to them and they always taste great.

 

So here is my simple summer weekday meal.

Right now radishes are in as well as baby spinage are in.

Here is how to make to make tonight's dish...

 

 

You'll need to...

Marinated Honey Dijon Chicken
(prepare the night before with... 

- 2 heaping tbsp of Yellow mustard
- 1tbsp of Dijon
- 1 tbsp or so of Honey
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1/2 a small onion finely diced
- 1/4 tsp or so of dry savory
- 1/4 tsp or so mustard seeds
- Pepper to taste

Radishes
Cucumber
Baby Spinage
Old Cheddar Cheese

Homemade Tzatziki (Make the night before)
- 500ml Sour Cream
- 3 Garlic cloves (grated)
- 1 tablespoon of fresh Dill
- 1/2 of a English cucumber (seedless and finely diced)
- Salt & Pepper to taste

If your not into chicken you can always marinate firm tofu and cook it on the BBQ for extra flavor.





                  Enjoy with a warm cup of tea.

Berry Smoothy

Good Morning Folks,

So this morning I woke up and I honestly didn't feel like eating cereal or toast. I glaced into the fridge to find some fruit and some yogourt. Why not start off the day with a great healthy smoothy?

I know that there are several different ways to make smoothies, but here is mine;

All you need is 1 1/2 cups of fruit (I used berries and cherries)
1 Banana
1/2 a cup of yogurt
1/3 of a cup of healthy juice.

Wash fruit thoroughly, then place in blender with the yogurt. Give it a quick blend and add juice slowly. When the mixture is smooth pour into a glass and add fruit to the side.

So simple yet delicious :D

Sunday Morning French Toast

Sunday Morning  French Toaste

When I was little Sunday mornings were devoted to many things, but French toast was always the best part of the day.

My dad was the early bird in our home. I can remember hearing him around the kitchen whipping us up his delicious French toast. The whole house would smell like caramelized butter and cinnamon. He would roast each side of the bread  until it turned to a crispy and tender golden colour. Then my dad would serve me two generous helpings of french toast and I would pour Canada's famous maple sirup.

I have this image of myself; I am 8 or 10 years old, in my pyjamas, eating French toast on a stool at the counter. My parents are chattering away about the same old story,  how they were fortunate enough to own the recipe today. The story goes that they would have received the recipe from great chef  ;) Well until this day my dad has only given me the ingredients he has omitted the measurements. So here are the ingredients and well you will just have to eyeball the ingredients ... just kidding.

What you will need

3-4 Eggs

3/4 cups of Milk

1/2 teaspoon of Cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon of Nutmeg

12 grain bread (local is best)

Mix in the eggs, milk, cinnamon, nutmeg and whisk together untill homogeny. Then dip each side of bread into the mixture and place into warm pan. (Don't forget to add butter in your pan before you place the French toast onto the pan)

For toppings:

• One cup of Fresh blueberries  (I also added kiwis since I had some on hand. You can use any other fruit you have on hand).

• Maple sirup 

* The original recipe topping called for apricot Jelly with powder sugar. It different and pretty good too. I encourage you to try it !!!



Enjoy!

Homemade Guacamole

On a hot summer's day like this one, all you really want is something easy to prepare. Right? No big meals! Therefore, it's definitely BBQ for supper tonight, but in the meantime how about a cold beer and some homemade guacamole with crispy tortilla chips. Yum!

I'm back!

Hello Dear Readers,
 

Better late than never as they say!

So it's been a while, I realize; I thought of starting the New Year fresh! Last year was quite the year with all our infertility treatments; what a roll a coaster ride that was! To make that life experience sort and sweet, let’s just say that were not doing that again! We officially turned to a new chapter in our lives; we won't have any biological children of our own but...adoption is an option. We are simply not quite there yet. I feel as though I was trying to do too much all at once and that is why blogging was pushed aside. On the other hand I never stopped cooking! It seems to me that cooking is some form of therapy, lol. When I cook my mind shuts off and I simply enjoy what I am creating!
 

So enjoy the posts to come! I may give a new twist on things. ;)

Have a great day everyone!!

 

Julie