Dessert of the Day: Peanut Butter Fudge

If you're looking for a fast, delicious and impressive dessert - choose this one!
If you time it right you could make this during your regular dinner prep and have them ready to eat by the time you're done eating your (hopefully healthful and nutritious) dinner.

 I ate a few, then quickly threw the rest in the freezer - mostly to save myself from the deliciousness that is the homemade peanut butter cup. 
I haven't tried them from the freezer yet so hopefully I didn't destroy their goodness by doing so. 

Recipe here.

Weekend Wrap-up: Good Eats?

My weekend seems to have been largely based around the topic of food.  On Friday evening I met K for a RawBC Tour Presentation at Roots Natural Organic Health Food.  Roughly forty people turned up for the talk which was pretty impressive and says a lot for how society is opening up to new eating habits as well as taking their health into their own hands for a change.  The talk was informative and touched on many aspects of raw food, food quality and health.  K and I didn't stick around to sample all the food items that were available but the Avocado Chocolate Pudding was delicious!     

Clive Langton, Director of RawBC

Food!

More Food!

Avocado Chocolate Pudding - Yum!

Thanks to Roots for the Take-Home Bag of Veggies!

 On Saturday morning K and I trekked out to the Fraser Valley Food Show.  Unfortunately I don't remember the tasting area being so sparse last time.  There wasn't a whole lot of dishes to choose from - especially for someone who chooses a vegetarian diet.  Also, the 15 refined pasta penne noodles in tomato sauce costing me $3 or (6 tickets) kind of ticked me off as well.  So much for lunch . . .  What's maddening is that I feel that it would have been a great opportunity for new or smaller businesses to show off their cuisine to potential customers.  Since I haven't been an exhibitor to a show such as this I'm not entirely sure of the cost or time that goes into one of these events. I do know as a consumer and an event-goer, that the vendors I do see and the people I interact with at these events influences me as to where I spend my money.  Maybe my time is better spent at the local farmer's market these days . . .

 I needed some rest so I stayed in for the evening and baked myself a chocolate cake (I've baked this one many times before. Here and here).  Other than checking out 'Seeds of Deception', talking about food and health with a few friends and family and fighting off a Cheese Bread craving - that's about it.  Hope you all had a delicious weekend!

A couple random iphone photos:

Light Reading

Found these Cookies Hiding Between the Fridge and the Counter

Weekend Wrap-up: A Doodle and Dessert

Wow, it's been some time since my last post.  I never know where the time goes and always have the greatest intentions but somehow they get lost in the grand scheme of things . . .  I am however only to blame due to the large amount of procrastinating I've done lately.  I don't believe there's a reason for it but it has happened nonetheless.  Aside from spending a large portion of my weekend thinking about what I need to get done I actually did accomplish a small part of my extensive 'to-do' list.

 My friend K and I have a project idea on the go and this painting has a part in it.  I started it some time ago and finally finished this weekend  (I took the photos late at night and the only place I could get the lighting to work was on the stairs).  I'll hopefully get some better photos and repost them at a later date.  The original photograph (not shown) was taken by my 'sister-in-law' J.  I kept it pretty similar to the photo aside from the bottom half of the background, which I overemphasized the blue to create more depth and visual appeal rather than having a random tomato floating in the dark.   Overall I'm quite pleased how this one turned out and hope the others in the series work just as well.

I did a lot of baking to prepare for this week - I made four recipes (well I consider that a lot. . .). The Jam and Coconut Thumbprint Cookies and 'Larabars' aren't pictured 'cause there really wasn't anything fantastic about their appearance so instead I'll just share the Blueberry-Bran Muffins and Chocolate Cookies.  All the recipes I used are very basic and extremely tasty.  Aside from the muffins I've made all the others before and will again and again and again. . .  You can make them all in one evening with little clean-up (that is if you don't use a zillion spoons like I tend to. . .).

Fresh Out of the Oven!

Close-up of the HUGE Blueberries

Chocolate-iest Cookies EVAR!

Ta-Da!

I hope you all had a fantastic weekend!

Dessert of the Day: Chocolate Raspberry Parfait

I didn't bake any desserts this week but thought I'd share this one because it tasted so fantastic and it's nice to have some quick dessert recipes in the back of your mind in case of any impromptu dinner guests or if you're like me - a sudden chocolate craving that a square of bittersweet baking chocolate just won't curb (c'mon I know you've done it. . .).  Anyway, this dessert is similar to this one I made almost a year ago. 

On the bottom I poured in a small amount of granola - my favorite is this one by Nature's Path.  Next some fresh raspberries and then chocolate pudding - I use the one from Epicure with Almond Milk.  And to finish it off - a few more raspberries.  Ta-da!

Another super easy, super delicious and pretty darn attractive looking dessert if I do say so myself.  It's also nice and light in case you've made a heavier dinner.

Dessert of the Day: Welcome Home Cake

 In celebration of Phil's arrival home I decided to make him a special cake.  He decided to come home a day early so this cake was assembled in a hurry - I had only two agh moments and they (of course) were entirely my own stupidity.  Either the house was too warm or the cake wasn't cold enough but the icing started to melt and some mixed in with the filling.  With a little time in the fridge and some clever chocolate sprinkles to hide woopsie spots I think it turned out okay.   The inspiration came from J's birthday cake her mom made for her a couple weeks ago and had to try it out for myself.  I love the simplicity of the overall cake.  The dark chocolate and red against the white icing really pops.

I used this recipe for the cake and just a simple butter icing recipe from my mom.  Since Phil isn't a big fan of sweet desserts I eliminated the vanilla extract from the icing recipe and added half the amount of almond extract.  For the filling I mashed up some fresh raspberries and added a very small amount of agave syrup.  For a fairly simple cake it looked rather fancy and tasted amazing - definitely one to do make again.  Yum!

Dessert of the Day: Resort Desserts

I mentioned here and here that Phil and I recently spent a week in Mexico.  Since we've been home I've been busy with other commitments and running errands so I haven't really baked any desserts aside from adding chocolate chips to leftover batter from these and tossing them in the oven. 
I thought I would share photos of some of the desserts I had at the Gran Bahia Principe Tulum.  Each night a different variety of desserts were on display for the taking.  Some were repeated throughout the week but for the most part there was something different to taste each night.  I knew I would miss the dessert bar and the luxury of having a large spread of goodies to choose from at each meal. 
But it's probably best I don't eat that much dessert twice a day. 
Once is okay thought right? ;)

This was one of my first dessert plates at the resort.
A few different chocolate cakes and a Blackberry Tart which was really light and delicious, a perfect combo.

This plate was from the Mexican Restaurant 'Tequila' that was located at the resort. 
The dessert in the back was a little on the strange side, it tasted almost wet in some spots which I didn't overly enjoy. 
The chocolate cake and the other cake which tasted like a spice-type cake were quite yummy.

Phil rarely had any dessert but at the Mexican Restaurant he did and wanted a photo taken of his plate. 
His 'desserts' usually consisted of fruit, and here he had a heap of watermelon. 
He also tried a Churro and was sad there wasn't any chocolate in it. ha-ha.

One night there were two watermelons carved and on display at the buffet. 
This one is my favorite.

Display of Desserts!

Mmmm . . .The chocolate cake on the left was light and fluffy while the one on the right was on the dry side but the richnes of the icing balanced it out.
The one at the back I believe was a white cake with strawberry and whipped cream in the center although I can't remember exactly now.
  I loved the details on the chocolate decorations - there were different ones each night and different shapes for various desserts.

This was one of the last (sad) dessert plates I made for myself and I decided to make it fancy by drizzling chocolate syrup around the plate.

Dessert of the Day: Chocolate Chocolate Cupcakes

We had an impromptu dinner party last weekend and I had only a couple hours to get dinner ready and throw a dessert together - including clean up time!
This recipe is pretty simple (as per the recipe's title) to make and tasted rich with a smooth texture to them. 
The perfect end to a fun dinner.

Dessert of the Day: Peanut Butter Cup Brownies

Sometimes I like to bake.
Sometimes I don't read the directions entirely.
Sometimes I don't check to see if I have all the ingredients before I start making something.
Sometimes I decide to wing it and change ingredients and measurements without knowing if it'll work out.
Sometimes my desserts look awful and parts are burnt or undercooked.

Upside Down

And sometimes it doesn't matter. 
They still taste delicious.
If you'd like to try and actually follow the recipe, I sort of followed this one. . .

Dessert of the Day: Chocolate Cake (again)

Around Christmas time there is always an excess of sweets leftover in our pantry which is always bad news for me.  Because of this, I haven't done a lot of baking - just a lot of munching on leftover goodies.  Phil and I did however get invited to a friend's house for dinner on New Year's day so I made this cake again to bring over.  This time I made the Peanut Butter glaze, which was delicious and the perfect pairing to this type of cake (regular icing was WAY too much).  The feedback I got the next day was that the teenagers of the group didn't think the cake was sweet enough.  So I suppose if you don't have an overactive sweet tooth (or teeth) this recipe is perfect.  I must say that I still think it's very chocolatey and yummerific.  The fact it's not overly sweet was actually part of my decision for making it at this time of year.  A must try for sure.

The cake, made in a loaf pan, before slicing.

Dessert of the Day: Chocolate Names

 This may very well have been the most fun I've ever had in my kitchen.  Art and Chocolate = the best combo ever!  I wanted to do something for the people around me without necessarily going out and buying a zillion extra gifts.  One of the gals at work suggested doing this for Phil's present after complaining to her that the price of Dutch Chocolate Letters were way too expensive when needing to buy nine of them (especially for someone not entirely fond of chocolate in the first place. . .).  I decided to do something different for his gift but wanted to use her idea in a different way.  So I created the name of each person I was giving them to out of Chocolate.

 I was pleasantly surprised how simple (and amazingly fun) this was to do.  The biggest problem was finding a proper squeeze bottle to use. 

I made a few neutral ones to bring with me to Christmas dinner in case a few guests I wasn't prepared for showed up.  

. . . and of course I had to create one for the blog!

To make these it's pretty straight forward but if you'd like to know how I made mine, here's how I created my Chocolate Names:

You'll need:

a double boiler or another way to heat up chocolate

melting wafers (I used dark chocolate)

a clean squeeze bottle with a small-ish sized tip

wax paper

baggies or container to deliver them in, I used a heavy piece of cardstock to place each name on

stickers or twist sticks to seal the baggies (if using)

To create the names, and to keep them uniform.  I printed each name off from the computer using a cursive font and then stuck the paper underneath a sheet of wax paper to use as a reference guide.  This is especially important if wanting them to fit in a specific bag or container without having them break apart.

Melt your wafers, spoon into your container and squeeze!!

Let set and then place on cardstock and transfer to your baggie or container and seal with a festive sticker.

Complicated right?  NOT!  Go do! 

I should note that I had some problems with thin weak spots in some of the names which caused them to break.  If the majority of the name wasn't compromised I simply heated up a knife and carefully melted the two pieces back together.  No need to keep remaking more - also keep in mind that a little chocolate goes a long way - you don't necessarily need $10 in melting wafers.  Woops. . .

Dessert of the Day-Chocolate Chip Cupcakes

I watched the movie 'It's Complicated' (for the third-ish time) last weekend and was desperately craving Chocolate Croissants.  Influenced (more than I like sometimes) by this wonder-woman I resisted the urge to buy this patooey to make them, and made a dessert myself instead of caving into the quick and dirty.  I do realize that it's possible to make your own croissants from scratch but using yeast doesn't intrigue me quite yet.  I decided to make cupcakes-half because I wanted to try using this again . . .and half 'cause I NEEDED CHOCOLATE (well not need more like 'wanted badly'. ha-ha).  I used this recipe-and halved it 'cause who needs to eat 30 cupcakes themselves?  No one that's who.  They were fairly easy to make, however I did have more trouble than I should have using the dessert decorator.  The icing was too hard then too soft . . .but finally got it to the right temperature.  Oy. 
PS-I used an icing recipe from my mom, not the icing recommended with the cupcake recipe.  I'm such a baking rebel. Ha.

Dessert of the Day: Brownies

I needed some brownies.
I just did.

 I used this recipe but halved the amount of sugar and added chocolate chips.  They definitely tasted good but I don't recommend the changes I made.  Stick to the recipe.  I just had to try though...