Browsing the archives for the friends tag.

A Smell You Later Supper

Domestic

In this post, I’m participating in Tempt My Tummy Tuesday, and Tuesdays at the Table

I made this supper for my friend Jade and her boyfriend (now fiancee) in July, before we even found this house, but I’m calling it a Smell You Later Supper, because although I didn’t know I was leaving, we all knew he was leaving for Vancouver for school in the fall.

When a good friend meets a nice guy and things work out, the Greek girl in me takes over and I absolutely must make them supper and break bread with them. It’s clear to see that this guy is a wonderful match for her and I can’t wait to see what the future holds for them. He likes my cooking, so I’m down with him!

I went fairly down home with this supper and started with onion buns. I like to make dough in my bread machine and then add in the details and let it rise myself before putting it in the oven. Plain bread I’ll just let the bread machine take over and do the whole nine, but it’s also great for the prepping of dough – this way I can be doing other stuff at the same time.

The recipe I used for these came from the Robin Hood website, and I’ve been using it for a few years now.

Onion Rolls – from Robin Hood

Dough:
1-1/4 cups water
1 egg, beaten
2 tbsp butter
4 cups flour
2 tbsp sugar
1-1/4 tsp salt
1-1/4 tsp bread machine yeast
Filling:
1 cup onion, chopped
1 tbsp vegetable oil

For the dough, just pop all the dough ingredients into your bread machine and select the dough cycle. Mine is about an hour.

Meanwhile, saute onions in the oil till they’re that delicious golden brown, then set aside and let them cool off. When your dough cycle is finished, roll it out onto your floured counter, cover it with a tea towel and let it sit for 5 minutes.

Set aside 2 tbsp or so of your onions to sprinkle on top of the buns later. Knead the rest of them into the dough. You’ll probably need to add more flour.

Once the onions are mixed into the dough, divide the ball into 12 small ones, put them on your cookie sheet, sprinkle with onions you set aside earlier and cover them up with a tea towel again.

If you’re already baking, your kitchen is likely warm enough to for the buns to double in size after about 45 minutes. Then pop them in the oven at 375 for 15-20 minutes! Careful not to burn them, I came dangerously close!!

Cheesy Tuna Casserole with Rice

2 cans tuna
2 cups cooked rice
1 cup shredded cheese
1 can cream soup (you pick the flavour)

This is one of those non-recipe recipes, where you really can just eyeball. I know there are a lot of recipes out there for this type of meal that call for raw minute rice, but cooked parboiled is just so much yummier, especially alongside the tuna and cheese!

Use your favourite rice, tuna and cheese in this, just steer clear of really overwhelming cheeses. Cheddar, mozzarella and marble are obvious choices for their melty factor. You’ll need about two cups of cooked rice, a cup (or more if you really love it) of shredded cheese and a can or two of tuna. I’m wild for tuna, so I used two cans, and just like the cheese, you choose the soup. I used cream of celery, it’s a good clean base and will work with pretty much any other flavour.

 

Mix the canned soup with a cup of milk (unless you’re using ready tio serve, of course). Drain your tuna and mix that with the soup and cooked rice in a casserole dish. Add 3/4 cup of shredded cheese to the mixture and sprinkle the rest over the top. Bake for about 20 minutes or until the cheese on top has baked into a nice crusty top layer. Mmmm.

This apple crisp recipe is from one of my Granny’s cookbooks – one she gave me before she passed. 😀

May’s Granny’s Apple Crisp

Topping:
1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
6 tbsp cold, unsalted butter
1/3 cup old fashioned rolled oats
Filling:
6 cups peeled and cubed apples
juice of 1/2 lemon
1 tsp lemon zest
3 tbsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Prep the topping first. Either put all the topping ingredients in a food processor and pulse till crumbly (but not dusty) or cut it all together with two knives the way you would a pie crust dough. Even though I’ve got the giant blender, I like to use knives for this topping and others like it because it’s so easy to go too far and have a dusty topping accidentally. If you use the knives, just make sure there are no chunks of butter and if you use your food processor or blender, make small pulses so you can keep an eye on the consistency.

 

Put the apple cubes and lemon zest in a mixing bowl and toss with the lemon juice, sugar and cinnamon. Pour into a greased casserole dish or pie pan and cover with the topping. Bake for about half an hour – till the filling is bubbling around the edges and the topping is crispy.

Serve with ice cream or fresh whipped cream. Do not ruin this with cool whip!

We had a lovely little supper and then had coffee on the front porch for a couple of hours chatting about nothing specific. I love those chats the best. 🙂 I wish them well, he’s got the May stamp of approval and just a few months after this supper they’re engaged. How exciting!! <3 I am so excited for next Tuesday's post, I'll have my daring chef food up and all the treats the kids and I are creating for Thanksgiving!

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LOST Birthday Fete

Crafty, Domestic

If you’re not obsessed with Lost, this post can still be useful – I made the Classic Snowball Cake, which is something I think all domestic goddesses should know how to make. 😉 I have been hooked on Lost for a couple of years, I started watching all the episodes in order after the show had already been on the air for 3 or 4 seasons. Being able to watch so much of the show at once, it was pretty easy to develop an unhealthy obsession. I owed my friend Romi a birthday fete and she’s just as crazy for Lost as I am (and arguably more die hard, as she’s been loyal since ep 1, season 1), so I ran with it and her 2*th birthday was all about Lost. 😀

Dharma Chocolate Bars

The Dharma labels are all courtesy of Max Pictures, who clearly also has a serious love for the show. Dharma chocolate bars were necessary, as Miss Romi loves chocolate. She’s also fond of red wine, so we needed to Dharamize that as well. We all had personalized boarding passes from Oceanic flight 815, except ours were all leaving Sydney and arriving in Toronto – don’t worry, we know the level of geeky we’ve risen to. What’s with the Dharma evaporated milk? Well, I am a baker you know, I always have to have this sort of thing on hand…

Dharma Evaporated Milk  Dharma Red Wine

Instead of talking about the cake first, I’m going to go on about the icing, because the construction of the cake itself will likely steal the show. It’s one of those very simple, but very good (good in this instance refers to deliciousness, not good as in ‘good for you’, just to be clear) quick recipe from Kraft. It is just five horribly indulgent ingredients and takes maybe five minutes to pull together.

Snowball Frosting (I omitted the coconut)
1 pkg. (4-serving size) Jell-O Vanilla Instant Pudding
1/4 cup icing sugar
1 cup cold milk
2 cups thawed Cool Whip Whipped Topping
1 cup flaked coconut

Snowball Frosting

The cake itself is actually a plain chocolate cake, the recipe used a devil’s food cake mix but you can use your favourite chocolate cake recipe of course! For the snowball effect, the cake is made in an oven safe glass bowl.

Snowball Chocolate Cake (I omitted the coconut)
1 chocolate cake, uncooked
1 pkg. (250 g) Philadelphia Brick Cream Cheese, softened
1 egg
2 Tbsp. granulated sugar

Essentially, you whip up a chocolate cake and pour the batter into an oven safe bowl. Mix the cream cheese, egg and sugar, and put that on top of the cake batter. It’ll sink a bit as it bakes. Mine was still visible after it baked, so next time I will knock it down a bit. My concern was that knocking the bowl would make it sink too far but that doesn’t seem likely now.

Snowball Batter  Snowball Cake

The video was helpful when putting this cake together, the only thing I didn’t do the same was sprinkle coconut on top because my sister hates coconut with the burning passion of 1000 suns, and naturally she was on the guest list. The candles are sparkly and have wee stars on them, because grown ups or not, birthdays are for being a little silly. Which is also why there are mini M&Ms on top!

The texture of this cake was amazing, I used my usual chocolate cake which is already pretty fantastic, but made so much better with this cream cheesy center! It’s not overpowering and just sweet enough. It’s two years in a row that I’ve made a cake with both vanilla and chocolate in it. We call it our ‘racial harmony’ cakes. 😉

Snowball Birthday Cake

I also made Salsa Roll Ups, another quickie from Kraft. I end up with a very long ‘must try’ list after trolling that site for too long. I also made turkey-chicken meat balls, but I’ll save that recipe (courtesy of my Dad) for another post.

Salsa Roll Ups
(1/2 of 250-g pkg.) cream cheese spread, softened
3 Tbsp. salsa
2 spinach-flavoured tortillas or wraps (10 inch)
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
chili powder

Mix the cream cheese with the salsa and spread onto the tortillas, then sprinkle on shredded cheese. Roll up the tortilla tightly.

Cut the logs into whatever length works for you, you may have to use toothpicks to keep the rolls secure.

Snowball Batter  Salsa Roll Ups

So happy 2*th birthday, Romi!! I’m already plotting next year’s cake (and theme, hmmm). <3

Snowball Batter  Dharam

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50 Things!

Crafty, Domestic, Healthy, Naughty, Nerdy, Pretty, Toronto

In the spirit of new blog friends, and good friends starting new blogs, I’m posting a rando ’50 Things’ list of stuff about me that isn’t too obvious. Consider it the intro I never wrote. I’d love to read your 50 things!

1. I got married when I was 19 and my husband was 21, and we just celebrated 10 years of marriage!

2. Our first child took us by surprise, it took four years of trying to have our second, and we patiently waited for our third (who arrived 3 years later).

3. I am a very good long distance friend. So many dear friends have left our amazing city for adventures in other countries and then settled there. I’ve also made some wonderful friends online over the years that are scattered all over the place.

4. My husband is a hard core computer geek and he works from home 100% of the time. I shudder to admit how many computers we have in the house – all actually doing something I swear.

5. I go to a big Sunday dinner at my 87 year old Grandmother’s house every Sunday where I get to see my parents, my sister, my aunt and my uncle.

6. Every weekend I host a knitting/board game night with my girlfriends and my sister, there are 5 ‘regulars’ and another 10 or so that are in and out from one week to the next.

7. I was born on University Avenue and am an unapologetic Toronto snob.

8. I am still very close with the two first friends I ever made in kindergarten.

9. I am firmly planted in 1996. Soundgarden is still my favourite band, Party of Five never gets old and I still say ‘duh’ and ‘rad’ like they never went out. However, I do not wear plaid flannel shirts or babydoll dresses with no stockings and mary janes like I did in 1996 – there are limits.

10. When I was 24, I was freaked out about turning 30. Now, I’m 29 and totally fine with it.

11. I am way more religious than I ever let on. Partly because it’s really none of your business and partly because I can’t help but feel people will look at me differently, even though I’m still just me.

12. I am still totally head over heels for my husband, and we are so into each other life is still spicy! Yes really.

13. I got hooked on fitness and nutrition after my third wee one was born. I work out 6 days a week and allow myself one cheater meal a week (but not on my off day lol).

14. I am the opposite of a helicopter parent. I really think it’s important for kids to do kid things like playing in the dirt and sneezing on each other and making messes and splashing in the tub (with the curtain or shower doors closed!)

15. I have 9 tattoos (both shoulders, back of my neck, side of my neck, right breast (scandal), right leg, left big toe and both wrists). Somehow, I don’t look like a biker. 😉

16. I am a 50s housewife to the bone. I own a closet full of cute dresses and only 2 pairs of pants. I cook almost all meals from scratch, handle the kids on my own, keep the house impossibly tidy and fetch my husband coffee. Sometimes with pearls on!

17. Ever since I got pregnant with my first wee one, I’ve been reading books on parenting and I have learned so much. I also read heaps of classic fiction and my friend Romi has got me into new fiction – which I also love.

18. I learned to knit 6 years ago and I loooove it. I feel like I hardly knit anymore, but I still do. My preferred thing to knit is socks and small creatures. I taught a bunch of my girlfriends how to knit a few years ago and now one of them knits way more than I do.

19. I’ve been off and on with blogging a lot, but lately I’m so in love with it I can’t picture stepping away again. I think I just needed to find my groove.

20. I got hit with awful postpartum anxiety and it lasted a year. I am terrified of it happening again, so no more wee ones. Otherwise? I’d have two (hundred) more. I recently feel like I’m coming to be ok with this and really, if I had a fourth would I have a fifth? Where is the line? I live in a major city!

21. I call my Dad at least once a day, sometimes more. He gives good advice, has great recipe ideas and is really good at listening. I refuse to believe that one day he wont be there, I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it.

22. I am more addicted to my BlackBerry than I care to admit. But it tends to keep me off my actual computer during the day.

23. I aspire to be an amazing gardener, but I’m not very good and mostly just resent my flower beds for allowing weeds to sprout. I’ve also been known to say ‘I wish my lawn was emo so it would cut itself’ (yes, I stole that from a tshirt).

24. I won a beauty pageant when I was 8. My mother was terrified of pageant moms and didn’t encourage me to go to to the next level – which I am so thankful for!

25. I quit smoking over 2 years ago!

26. I have dyed my hair every colour possible in the last 14 years. Currently, it is black with blonde chunks. Yes, I am ‘that’ girl. I even sometimes rock the guido poof!

27. When people say ‘and Becky was all like, OMG, I know!’, they’re talking about me.

28. I have broken my right ankle 5 times, all my fingers and toes at least once, and my left arm once.

29. I took pre-law in university and honestly thought I’d be able to put my kids in child care and go off to law school and be a lawyer. Maybe when they’re all grown.

30. I’ve given birth three times. First and third were natural, second time I had an epi and later wished I hadn’t.

31. My husband and I have a monthly date night, even though we hang out every night.

32. My three favourite magazines are Martha Stewart Living, Cosmo and Today’s Parent. Which is actually a pretty good layout of my life. 😉

33. I caught chicken pox from my sister when I was 14. It sucked.

34. I love really, really bad television. Like Bromance and Paris Hilton’s new BFF. I know it’s awful but I can’t help it.

35. I could play Mario Kart everyday and I played an 8 hour game of Mario Party last year.

36. My husband and I are huge on movies and watch at least a few every week.

37. I have a serious crush on Anderson Cooper.

38. I once dropped a butcher knife in the top of my right foot and I had to *pull it out*. Yuck.

39. I used to hate cars and never wanted to learn to drive or buy one. Then my husband got his license and a car last year and now we go on road trips all the time and I loooove having a car.

40. It is eerie how quickly and easily I adapt to new situations and circumstances.

41. Our favourite date night activity is going to the drive in <3 42. I wear makeup every day, even if I stay home all day. 43. I used to drink 3 + cans of pop a day. This year, I quit! 44. I have alarmingly ugly 70s tile in my kitchen and I embrace it. My dear friend Brigitte made me an apron from matching fabric. Bless! 45. I keep a 'quote book' file on my BlackBerry to record all the hilarity that goes on with my girlfriends, my husband and our kids. The funniest quote is too graphic to even put here! 46. My bestie, aka my girl soul mate, aka Talea moved 5 hours away almost 5 months ago and we both feel like we lost a limb. We text and Facebook message each other like we’re 17.

47. I really love red wine. I didn’t at all until a few years ago when the above-mentioned Talea got me hooked. Now, it’s all I drink, aside from theme drinks for parties, of course. Thanks for turning me into a wino!

48. I’m awesome at Monopoly and suck serious ass at charades.

49. I have drank my coffee black since I was 14.

50. Technically, I was a teen mom. My oldest was 3 months old when I turned 20.

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