past adventure #1:

so it's saturday afternoon and it's mighty hot out so i don't feel like making anything. so instead i have decided to share some past items off my menu!

so late last year one of my best friends had her engagement party. she asked me to take care of a dessert buffet and i was sooo excited to do it. it was the first time i had to make a large amount of food for a specific occasion.

on the menu was...

VANILLA FUDGE! my mom makes this fudge every year for christmas and she got it from my dad's sister (aka my aunt!) this fudge is the most delicious thing in the world. it's very rich and sweet so i can't take big bites of it.. but that's probably for the best.



TRUFFLES! i just found a random truffle recipe online and coated them in chopped almonds, walnuts, icing sugar and coconut. not all together of course! gotta give the people some selection!



CAKE POPS! another Bakerella classic! these things are the cutest thing i've made. what's better than cake on a stick? that's right, nothing.



CUSTARD TARTS! cute little tart filled with homemade custard topped with a few fresh blueberries. tasty tasty!



PIE POPS! these are a little time consuming and i was on a tight schedule, but i really wanted to make these for them. they call eachother "pie" as a pet name so there was nothing more fitting. so i threw together a bunch just for them.



overall i think the dessert table was a hit! i sort of lurked around the table to hear what people were saying and everything i heard was positive, especially the aesthetics of it all. there isn't one thing that i made for that night that i wouldn't be excited to make again.



ta da!!!

so everytime i don't feel like making food but i feel like making a post, i'll just reminisce!!!

escargot - "slippery little suckers":

snails! yes indeed. escargot=snails. but they are delicious snails.
once you get past the thought that they are snails they are soooo tasty! also it doesn't hurt to throw some mushrooms on top to hide them!

you don't need much stuff and all the things you DO need are very inexpensive at the grocery store. it's definitely simple enough and looks and tastes super special for a dinner party or just for a nice snack!

here's a list of what you need:

-butter
-escargot (canned)
-escargot seasoning
-garlic
-mushrooms
-lemon
-cheese (optional)
-provolone (yes this is cheese too)
-salt and pepper
-don't forget escargot dishes (you can get nicer ones but mine appear courtesy of Dollarama!)



start by pulling off your mushroom stems. i used to cut them off until i realized that if you give them a good tug or kind of push them to the side with your thumb they come right out with a nice 'POP!' this also gives you a nice space to let the escargot sit. in regards to the stems you can chop chop chop them and throw them in the cook with the tops.





preheat your oven to broil and get out 2 pans. i just throw a big chunk of butter in each pan (one for the escargot and one for the mushrooms) and start with adding some garlic.



then add in your mushrooms and escargot. when you open the escargot can don't be phased by the smell or look. they smell not so hot and they look like you shouldn't eat them... but you should... you really should.





once you have them cooking (medium high heat) you can sprinkle a good amount of escargot seasoning (can be found in the grocery store right next to the cans of escargot (which is usually right by the tuna)).



now, my dad taught me how to make this and it was kind of a 'watch him make it once and remember as much as i can' kind of thing, but the one thing i know i made up and added was the use of lemon. it gives the escargot a nice little kick and tastes great. i just cut a lemon in half and squeeze the juice right into the pan. careful of the seeds though!



also the more liquid (butter, lemon etc) you add, the more goodness you get to mop up with bread at the end! mushrooms release a lot of moisture when they cook and so does cheese so don't over flow your escargot dishes too too much with juice to leave a little room for the cheese juice. mmmm cheese juice.

now this next step is optional but my dad told me to shred a little cheese (he used mozzarella but i use marble cheddar because that's usually what we have in the fridge) in the bottoms of the craters of the dish. this just helps them to slide out easily... plus more cheese=always good.



now you can spoon your escargot onto your cheese and drizzle your melty lemon garlic butter over them...



then place your mushroom tops on them and scatter your chopped up mushroom stems with the rest of the juices...





now it's time to put that preheated oven to use. take a nice round slice of provolone and lay it on top of the whole dish...



putting the dishes on a baking sheet makes handling them A LOT easier so once you've done that toss them in the oven. really it will only take 5ish minutes. you just want to get a nice melt going on. some light browning never hurt anyone but if you're impatient, and want to get your eat on, as long as it's nicely melted you're all good. don't forget your oven mitts when you transfer from baking sheet to plate!

i like to serve my escargot with a nice baguette because there is so much delicious juice to soak up!



now here are my 3 attempts at exemplifying the super cheesiness...





i think this calls for a dinner party... anyone? bueller? anyone?

NOT banana bread:

ok i lied. it is banana bread. sort of. ok not sort of. it is, just in muffin tins.

i love bananas. i love bread. i LOVE banana bread. you can make this recipe in just about anything. before i got my bread pan i used a 9x13 pyrex dish. then i used my bread pan. and if you don't want to pull a knife out every time you want to eat some, or if you want a quick snack to eat on your way to work (which i always need because i NEVER leave myself enough time to eat) then make them in muffin tins and they are ready to go!

so here's the official recipe... but as always i'll walk you through it... not because i think you need it... but because i like to show off my pictures.

1 cup sugar

1/3 cup butter, soft

3 bananas (ripe)

2 eggs

1 tsp soda, dissolved in 1 Tbsp cold water

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg

as many chocolate chips as you want!!!

Heat oven to 350
Combine and mix all ingredients together in a large mixing bowl.
Place batter in a greased bread pan (bottom only) or in muffin tins.
Bake 40 to 50 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.
Cool for 10 minutes then remove from pan. Complete cooling on a wire rack

so first i start out by taking out all of my lovely ingredients (because you never want to start making something then realize that you're missing one crucial ingredient!)

clearly i used frozen bananas. whenever it starts looking like no one is going to eat the bananas, before they go bad, i pop them in the freezer for making banana bread. if you just leave them out for a bit they will turn super soft and when you pop the top off you can pretty much squeeze them out. it's pretty gross.

i have a few tips before you mash everything together. some of them i learned the hard way. the one i find most important is in regards to your eggs. unless you choose to put them into the bowl first, i suggest cracking them into a separate container and then pouring them into the mixture from there. there are 2 reasons behind this; of course so you can catch any stray shell pieces, but the more important is that if you get one of those bloody gross overdeveloped eggs and crack it right on top of all your other ingredients you basically ruined it and have to start all over again. better safe than sorry.

it's ok guys... this one's safe.

next thing is about nutmeg. i always go for whole nutmeg. it just has a fuller, richer flavour and i also like the way it looks when you grate it.

now the recipe is very simple in the fact that you just put everything into a big bowl and mix it all together. so this is all i really have to show you...
this is only one banana, so yours will be more banana-filled... but i wanted you to get the full effect of all the ingredients. then Mixy McMix it.

then i scooped the mixture into some muffin tins... greased of course. about 2/3 full. i sometimes fill them a bit more than that because i like big muffin tops. as in food... not over my jeans.

as they bake in my shoe box oven i mixed some chocolate chips in with the rest of the batter. the boyfriend always talks about how much more awesome the previous banana breads would have been if they had chocolate chips.

so there we go...

then spoon those puppies into more tins and get them in the oven too.

when the time is up or when they are golden and done take them out. you can be sure they're done if when you stick a toothpick in them it comes out clean.

DONEZO!

oops... i scraped the top of one on the top rack!

oh well... i ate it to dispose of all evidence... except this picture.

now listen very carefully because this is the most important tip i can give you... eat at least a few while they are warm.

goodness gracious melt in your mouth goodness. i followed this one up with a plain one with melty butter (my favourite) on it with a big glass of milk.

well... now that i've done the banana bread i will have to think of something else to make... any suggestions? (that's with the glimmer of hope that someone is paying enough attention!)

shrimpy fettuccine alfredo:

so i keep telling myself and my friends that i am going to make banana bread... so here it is... fettuccine alfredo with shrimp!!! ...?

soooo... an alfredo sauce is super easy to whip up and you only need a few ingredients. you can really pick any pasta to go with this simple sauce and you can toss in anything you like to make it your own. a good combination is chicken and snow peas, but today it's shrimp (because it was on sale) and fresh parsley (because i just got a plant and wanted to use it).

so even though i got cooked shrimp, i decided to use it last minute so it was frozen. i put a bit of oil into a pan and tossed in a couple minced cloves of garlic. over medium/high heat, cook the garlic until it's lightly browned. then i toss in how much shrimp you wanted and put a lid on the pan to steam the shrimpies.

then strain it all out and put the shrimp to the side. then, in a wok, melt about a 1/2 cup-1 cup of butter and, hey, what the heck, toss a few more cloves of garlic in there.

mmm melty butter. then after you let the garlic simmer a bit, add some heavy cream (i use one of those small cartons of whipping cream).

as bob marley would say, stir it up. then let it come to a simmer and throw in a few heaping spoonfuls of parmesan cheese. this will thicken it up nicely. stir more.

in the meantime... if you're doing shrimp... and if you hate running into tails when you eat shrimp in pasta... take the tails off your shrimp.

my little rule of thumb is that your sauce is creamy enough if when you swish it around your wok it lightly coats the sides. voila.

then you can throw in anything you want in there and season with salt and pepper.

also by now your pasta should be cooking. i forgot to mention that part. i usually start boiling the water when i start melting the butter but it depends on how fast your stove boils water.

now comes my parsley. fresh from my balcony's planter.

until recently, everytime it came to adding fresh herbs to anything, i went nuts. i don't have rock star knives (but oh boy do i want them) so i never seemed to be able to chop my parsley into a good size. then i was watching a cooking show and when i saw how the dude (anthony sedlak from the main) chopped his parsley i went "oohhhhhhhh". he kind of bunched his bunch together and made it into a ball, then chop chopped. this works much better.

ta da!

if at this step you're done your sauce pretty much and not your pasta, just keep in on low heat and keep stirring it. sometimes when i have things in front of me for too long i start adding other ingredients. i added lemon juice. just a couple squeezes because i'm a firm believer that lemon goes well with anything that lives in the water. just a tad extra flavour. ANYWAYS. when you've strained your pasta (don't run water over your pasta. sometimes it sticks together a bit but there are starches on the pasta that help your sauce stick to it and water will wash them away. once you get it into the sauce the pasta will separate), toss it into your sauce.

when it's all nice and mixed together...

plate it and sprinkle with parmesan... if you want... which i do.

i thought it was pretty good, and the lucky boyfriend (lucky that he walked in the door JUST as i was plating it) said he thought it was DELICIOUS. whether he was telling the truth or not is irrelevant. he needs to say it every time... but he seemed to mean it.

next time... BANANA BREAD!

cheesy burgers and chocolate chippy cookies

anyone who knows me well, knows these cheese burgers. they are the ultimate comfort food to me. my dad would always make them for me as a kid and when i'd visit him on weekends it would be my only request (well not my only request, but it would be first). even when we were allowed to pick any restaurant we wanted to go out for birthday dinner i would choose to stay home and ask my mom to make them for me.

so last night it was awful weather and the boyfriend had hockey and boy was i hungry. solution: throw on my pjs, make these super cheesy delights, chocolate cookies and watch harry potter. perfection.

first thing's first. get yourself organized. at the bare minimum you will need ground beef (i always go for lean) hamburger buns (plain=better. the seedy fancy ones just don't work as well) then the toppings you want. i usually go for mayo, tomato and green olives.

then you would start by getting your beef into a medium sized pan (don't be confused by the picture above. one package of ground beef is enough but the store only had the tiniest amounts of meat in them... so i got 2! and also this way i was able to leave leftovers for when the boyfriend got home) and cook at medium/high heat.

break up the beef with a spatula and cook until it's all nice and brown. it will produce some liquidy grease so i just put the lid on the pan and dump most of it out. the cheese will melt funny if it's too soupy in there.

then lower the heat right down and put your cheese over the meat to melt it. i usually take the pan off the heat to do this to give it some time to get to the lower heat since i am very exact with my cheese placement. cover the pan to get the cheese to really melt into the meat. mmm... cheesssyy beeeefffnow for the buns. my clearly french canadian dad does it the best. he steams them. he has a metal colander and boils water and puts the buns in the colander. i have a plastic colander from the dollar store. so i wrap the buns in paper towel and microwave them for about 30 seconds. it's the closest thing i can get. then, scoop your beef onto your buns and top them as you please.

sooo gooood.

yummy yum yum. looking at these pictures is making me want to eat them all over again.

NOW! on to dessert!!!

there is something super rewarding about making things from scratch. cookie mix still makes delicious cookies but it's more impressive to be able to say you made it all yourself.

i swiped this recipe from my super fave food blogger, bakerella. (http://www.bakerella.com/)

2 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup butter, room temperature

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

2 cups chocolate chips

-preheat oven to 350 degrees.
-in a medium bowl, mix flour, baking soda and salt with a wire whisk and set aside.
-with a mixer, beat butter and both sugars until well blended.
-beat in eggs and vanilla.
-add flour mixture in two additions until combined.
-stir in 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips.
-drop cookie dough on a parchment covered cookie sheet about 2 inches apart.
-bake for 8-10 minutes. (mine took a while longer cuz my oven SUCKS. just keep an eye on them)

dry mix.

mmm sugary butter...

beat in the egg and vanilla. then mix in the dry with the wet in 2 parts.

when it's all nicely mixed together, stir in 1 1/2 cups of chocolate chips.

scoop onto either a greased baking sheet or a sheet lined with parchment paper.

bake for 8-10 minutes (maybe in a new oven but mine took about 15-20.) about halfway through, take the cookies out and with the last 1/2 cup of chocolate chips sprinkle a couple on top so they look pretty. back in the oven they go until they are golden.

perfection.

thanks for the stacking rack mom!

what a perfect looking cookie, if i do say so myself!