Food Porn

Enjoy!

Fun with cupcakes

Need sugar?

Try this.

It's a Toblerone-Topped Caramel Cheesecake, recipe from Kraft Canada.

I'd link the recipe, but I can't seem to navigate the Kraft website. It has changed a fair bit since I last browsed it and I'm not impressed. (Can someone please explain to me why you HAVE to have a Facebook account to do anything anymore?)

**Note** I finally found the recipe link on the website, but following it led to an error page, so still no recipe.

Birthday Cake for my "little guy"

Been quite awhile since I've blogged - no particular reason, no enthusiasm or desire to blog.

Still cooking and baking, though, and occasionally remembering to take pictures.

Last month my oldest child turned 12 and requested a 4 tiered cake of any flavor for his birthday. I was disinclined to make 4 tiers for a 12 year old, so he got 4 layers instead, alternating vanilla and chocolate with a white chocolate buttercream. His birthday gift from us had been a fish tank and some fish, so it seemed only appropriate to give him a fish themed cake (when his request for a fondant cake was "surprise me".)

One of my boys only likes to eat the fondant and icing, the other likes to eat the cake, but not the fondant, so between the two of them, they can eat a piece of cake. Fortunately we had family and friends to share this with.

Cooking out of town

I learned something last week: My grandparents oven is broken.

They didn't know it.

And I wish I'd known it before I started dinner, since they have a perfectly good convection oven on the counter beside the oven.

It was really a shame, because the dinner I was making included this lovely chicken, glazed with a peach-bourbon glaze, would have been so tasty otherwise.

The big tip off for me should have been when the pie crusts for the banana cream pie I was going to make did not seem to get golden and beautiful. Guess I didn't notice.

What really clued us in, however, was the little sparks popping out of the oven, and when you looked inside and saw tiny little flames on the little orange spots on the burner, while the rest of the burner stayed a dull grey. That and raw chicken after 1 1/2 hours of baking.

Over at my mother's house, the oven worked just fine. I had left over pie dough, and managed to throw together a blueberry pie for my "little" brother.

Do you think he liked it (aside from his offer to pay me to make him a bunch of blueberry pies he could freeze for later?)

Blueberry Pie

1 recipe for double crusted pie dough

1 bag of frozen blueberries, not defrosted (about 4 cups)

2 tbsp corn starch

1/4 cup sugar

1 tsp lemon juice

Mix the blueberries with the cornstarch, sugar and lemon juice. Pour into bottom pie shell, cover and crimp as you like, being sure to cut a hole for venting steam.

Bake at 400F, on a tray, for 20 minutes, then reduce the heat to 350F and continue to bake for 45-55 minutes, until golden on top, and bubbling a bit. Keep an eye out that you do not burn the crust.

Serve with vanilla ice cream, warm or at room temperature.

Happy Halloween!

A few images from what I've been doing for the past month. Sadly, today was the last day the Farm was open until next year, and I will miss it and the people I've been working with.

Cortland apples, ready to be candied and carameled. Sorry, no pictures of caramel - they would disappear off the trays almost as fast as we could make them.

I love how the red candy apple drips and the blue candy apple drips co-mingled together. Such pretty colors.

Gourmet chocolate apples. These ones still needed a drizzle of white and dark chocolate before they were done.

Best seller this year, a combination I made up, Skor toffee bits with cinnamon chips, on milk chocolate, drizzled with white and dark.

Ever seen a blue candy apple before. Pretty.

Kettle corn, fresh from the kettle. Highly addictive stuff.

Chocolate dipped marshmallows. Very popular and alot of fun to make.

Pretty gourds. So many beautiful pumpkins and gourds at the farm. Now all covered in snow.

Ghosty sugar cookies, with royal icing. Probably could have done these for the September Daring Baker's Challenge, but waited until October instead.

More pretty pumpkins. Would they look so happy if they knew they were about to be devoured?

Pulled pork. Smoked with applewood chips on the bbq, long and low, pulled by hand and then tossed in a smokey bbq sauce before being served on a soft kaiser roll. Too bad you can't get them again until next October!

I made many more things over the last month: cinnamon buns, pumpkin cinnamon buns, maple pumpkin pies and tarts, pumpkin chocolate chip scones, pumpkin streusel muffins (notice a theme here?), but did not take as many pictures as I normally do. So fun to "work" at what I love doing, being in a kitchen and covered in flour.

PS Have you seen the newest Pamela Von Twilight video, Saunders Farm Monsters? Based on some of these pictures, can figure out where I am in it?

I Heart Cooking Clubs - Mark Bittman Edition: Can I have a sip?

Is that a face only a mother could love?

One sporting a "mustache."

This week's theme for I Hearts Cooking Clubs, Mark Bittman style, was "Can I have a sip?" A theme my son took literally, when he took my frozen hot chocolate from me and had a sip. Then a second, third, and finally he just walked off with my glass.

Similar to a Starbuck's Double Chocolatey Chip Frapaccino (a favorite among most of this household,) this has all of 3 ingredients in it, whips up in seconds, and is a special treat on a hot day.

Even without the whipped cream and chocolate sauce on top, which would make it over the top special.

You can find the recipe for this in Mark Bittman's Kitchen Express, a book I am taking out of the library for the second time, and maybe this time will get to make more than one recipe out of.

Daring Baker Challenge: I'm Baaaaaaaaack!

The July 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Sunita of Sunita’s world – life and food. Sunita challenged everyone to make an ice-cream filled Swiss roll that’s then used to make a bombe with hot fudge. Her recipe is based on an ice cream cake recipe from Taste of Home.-

It has been awhile since I've done one of these - Daring Baker Challenges, not a Swiss Roll Cake.

Before this, I'd never made a Swiss Roll Cake. I'd made each part of the cake: the cake, filling, two ice creams and a fudge sauce, but I'd never put them together this way.

I made half of each of the required parts. Sunita had given us lots of room to play around with flavors and such, but had required that we make from scratch each of the components. Rather than play around with it, I stuck with her recipes, only cut in half.

(Btw, making the full amount of each of the components would have required 6 1/2 cups of whipping cream! That's alot of cream!!!)

Most of it went fine - the cake came together, smelled good, and rolled well. The vanilla ice cream worked fine. Assembly went alright. But my fudge sauce never thickened properly, and my chocolate ice cream, having spent 14+ hours in the freezer, after some time in my ice cream machine, never solidified either. So the first cut of my cake resulted in a puddle of chocolate.

I shared this with some neighbours, as well as my own family, an 3 of the 6 people who ate it had seconds. While I wasn't personally impressed with it (I'm sorry, but chocolate ice cream and fudge sauce should have actual chocolate in them, not just cocoa powder), I received many compliments on it. Even with the big puddle of sauce/ice cream.

It was nice having the time to be able to participate in the Challenge again. Big thanks for Sunita for her great directional pictures and for providing a recipe I would never have made on my own.

Happy Birthday to meeeeeee!

It's my birthday today!

Yes, I made my own cake. I like to make my own cake - then I get exactly what I want, and this year, this is what I decided to make: White Chocolate Strawberry Meringue Cake, from Tish Boyle's Cake Book.

This cake is fun to make, and can be made in stages (I made the meringue last night and let it sit in the oven all night long.)

It was grown-up elegant, but still childishly yummy, with the soft, sweet meringue, and the subtle white chocolate cream. Fresh, local strawberries give it a bit of healthfulness, but there is no denying that this is a sweet "cake."

I found a few recipes for other types of cakes I'd have liked today, so maybe I will have to turn this into a birthday week? Cake and presents every day for a week - what fun that would be!

If you were to make your own birthday cake, what type would it be?

I Heart Cooking Clubs: Mark Bittman Edition - Happy Father's Day

It is Father's Day today, and I've already missed my chance to wish my Dad a Happy Father's Day (even though I called shortly after 8 am on a Sunday, I was still too late, he was gone!)


My boys greeted their father with breakfast, which they made with only supervision from me. My oldest has gotten more comfortable in the kitchen and made some lovely, crisp bacon, as well as scrambling eggs all on his own.

Think I will put him in charge of making breakfast for dinner next week.

Which has nothing, whatsoever, to do with I Heart Cooking Clubs and making something for Father's Day from one of Mark Bittman's recipes. I went simple, picked a recipe I know all my dad's would like (my own father, my grandfather and my father-in-law), and my husband would like as well: Peanut Brittle.


We haven't broken into this brittle yet, it was still warm when I took the picture, but I'm sure it will be great. Afterall, peanuts and sugar, with a touch of salt, how can you go wrong?

I will say, though, that this was the oddest instructions for candy I've ever made. I've made candy before, and it always involved a candy thermometer and not stirring the sugar (so as not to cause crystalization.) This recipe calls for stirring the sugar until it is melted and adding the peanuts in when you achieved the color you were looking for. Simple, yes, but if you aren't comfortable with sugar, or don't realize how quickly it can go from amber to burnt, a bit too simple.

I'll be bringing this with me this afternoon, when I see my father-in-law, to share it between him and my husband. My own father won't get any, this time, and neither with my grandfather. But we will be thinking of all the dad's out there and wishing all of them a Happy Father's Day.

You can find the recipe for Peanut Brittle on page 679 of How to Cook Everything. Other Mark Bittman recipes can be found at I Heart Cooking Clubs.

I Hearts Cooking Club: Mark Bittman Edition, Movie Night

A quickie for me today, running late for what I'd like to do this morning but did not want to miss this week's posting for I Hearts Cooking Club, where we are cooking up Mark Bittman. Theme for this week is Movie Night, which leaves a very broad interpretation.

Sure popcorn or candy is traditional (and if I'd had time, I would have made some homemade peanut brittle from HTCE, but I didn't), but who says you have to be stuck with traditional snacks for movie night?


Lately our little family has been gathering around and watching Doctor Who together, fresh from the pvr, which is as close to movie night as we can manage.

For a fun "snack" or fancy dessert, try a chocolate souffle, with creme anglaise (vanilla custard sauce.) A little prep work in advance, pop it in the oven while eating dinner, and it is good to go when you want to snuggle down on the couch for a good night of traveling through space in a tiny blue box.

Leftovers, while not as fluffy, work well in a lunch box the next day.

Or skip the souffle and just drink the custard with a straw, right out of the pot.

Both these recipes can be found in How to Cook Everything, on pages 673 for the custard, and 674 for the souffle.

Now to find my shoes and head out to the farmer's market! Ack! Where did I put my camera!?!

Foodie Fans of the Pioneer Woman: Have a 3 pack

It wasn't hard to pick a selection for this version of Foodie Fans of the Pioneer Woman. What was hard was finding one with a picture I was willing to show anyone!

First up we had the Rib Eye Steak with Whiskey Cream Sauce, on pages 166 and 167. Scrumptious, and tasty it was. Wish I'd made more. Will definitely make it again. But if you want to see a good picture of it, open the book up and look at that one. Mine was awful (and I was too hungry at the time to try for better ones.)

Next we have PW's Potato Skins on pages 22 to 24. Much tastier than they sound (cause skins does not sound appetizing), we ate these so fast that no pictures were taken at all! Even my potato disliking children, who only willingly eat mashed potatoes and french fries, had seconds.

But at last we come to a recipe that I got a picture of!


Here you go, PW's Perfect Pie Crust, used to make my apple-caramel crumble pie, and found on pages 128-129.

I admit I wasn't as happy with the end results of this, though I suspect it was because I made this in my mother's kitchen, without my pastry cutter, my rolling pin, or my measuring cups. That and I had the very firm belief that the pie could have used another 10 minutes in the oven, something everyone else told me I was crazy about.

Ree's pie crust was fine, but I suspect it would have been better had I made it in my own kitchen. Oh well, maybe next time.

I think with these three, I've run out of back up recipes for my Pioneer Woman folder and I had best get into the kitchen and do some cooking!

Menu Plan Monday: April 25, not yet finished

It was such a lovely weekend that I'm dreading it being over. The sun was out, the weather was lovely, and we spent time together as a family, went exploring, found a new park for the kids to play at and just had some laughs.

We live on the outside of Ottawa, and this area has lots of little villages around it, each with a church or two. At this time of the year, most of those churches are holding a church supper of some kind, a fundraising event for the church, but a tasty dinner option for us. We had several choices for Saturday night, both roast beef dinners, learned of a roast beef dinner we'd missed, and of an upcoming ham and turkey dinner. So many options!

If you've never been to a church supper, they can be a hit or miss type of experience. Everything is homemade, but nothing is made by the same person. The dishes are a collection of items that are volunteered by the congregation, as is the meal, including dessert. A family can go and depending on where you are in line, you can end up with two completely different meals.

Then there is the pie. The ladies of these churches turn out pie after pie after pie for dessert. The church we chose for our dinner had a take out booth set up, and when you went in to place your order, the counter was covered in different pies. There was coconut cream, apple, cherry cranberry, butterscotch, chocolate, lemon meringue, cherry, raisin, and my favorite, the strawberry rhubarb custard pie. Oh was it good!

Memories of a good weekend.... Back to Monday and my menu plan for Menu Plan Monday.

My week is going to be off slightly, so I haven't finished my menu plan, but here is what I have so far...

Sunday: Honey garlic chicken wings with potato skins and veggies and dip.

Monday: Turkey kabobs with corn on the cobb.

Tuesday: Beef noodle soup.

Wednesday: Undecided at this point.

Thursday: Pasta of some kind.

Friday: No idea.

I Hearts Cooking Clubs, Mark Bittman Edition: Pantry Raid

It's the second week of Mark Bittman and I'm still here and still cooking from How to Cook Everything.

On the advice of several other bloggers, I did look into borrowing the libraries copy of Kitchen Express. It is now sitting on my living room couch, waiting for me to read it.


This week's them was Pantry Staples, and what pantry does not have banana's waiting to be used?

One of the things I like to do when trying a new "chef" is to try a few basic recipes, things that we like alot and that are made regularly in my house, such as banana bread. I even made banana bread for one of my choices for Tyler Florence Fridays, the predecessor of this little group.

So this week I made Mark Bittman's banana bread, a suitable choice for the pantry staples theme as I did not need to pick up a single item to make it.


However if you look closely at my pictures, you will see this bread looks more like coconut bread than banana bread. That's because the recipe calls for coconut in the batter (and nuts, which I omitted.)

And it tastes more like coconut bread than banana bread.

Not a bad thing, if you like coconut (hubby and I do), but not a good thing if what you wanted was banana bread. And I wanted banana bread. The kids wanted banana bread. The hubby wanted to know where the butter was so he could butter his slices before adding them into his lunch box.

Not a bad recipe, not a bad result, just not what I wanted. Though it did help me use up several over ripe bananas and for that I'm happy.

Foodie Fans of the Pioneer Woman: Make this cake

Ree's Chocolate Sheet Cake, found on pages 218, 19 and 20. A lovely chocolate cake with chocolate icing, plenty for a crowd.


I must have made this cake a good half dozen times before I ever got a picture of it. It isn't a picturesque cake, nothing fancy, but people dive into it and it's hard to take a pretty picture of something that people are inhaling.


The only reason I didn't have to fight off my kids to get this picture is because I hid my slice and then I waited until they were busy with their own pieces. My kids are pretty good about letting me get pictures of food items, either mine or their own, but when there is chocolate cake, with a decadent, gooey icing, why tempt them?


I like it when the theme for Food Fans of the Pioneer Woman is any recipe. Makes it easier for me to justify making yet another dessert as my submission.

Thanks Deb and Muneba for this selection.

And thank you Ree, Pioneer Woman, for a great cake recipe that will be make many, many more times for my family and friends.