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 Mini Sugar Donut Muffins I was completely intrigued when I stumbled on this recipe, through foodgawker.com, thinking it would be a fantastic alternative to the deep fried delicacy you’d usually pick up at the corner coffee shop.
If you’ve ever had sugar or cinnamon-sugar donuts fresh from a truck at the local fair or at an amusement park, then you understand the appeal of the sugar donut. Heck, even the worst grocery store mini donut coated in powdered sugar can hit the spot sometimes.
But these ones are way better.
I followed the recipe exactly, except that I used mini muffin trays and ended up with 50 fantastic Timbit-like sugar-coated delights. Originally from the blog Baking Bites, you could easily add cinnamon to the sugar coating for the other variety.
Ingredients:
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking power
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg (optional)
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease two minis muffin tins with cooking spray.
In a large bowl, beat together sugar and egg until light in color.
Meanwhile, in a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg. Pour the dry ingredients into the egg mixture and stir to combine.
Add vegetable oil, milk and vanilla extract.
Fill each muffin cup 3/4 full, dividing batter evenly. Fill any empty tins 1/2 full with water.
Bake for 11-15 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
For the sugar frosting: While muffins are baking, melt 2 tbsp butter and pour remaining sugar into a small bowl. When muffins are done, lightly brush the top of each with some melted butter, remove from the pan and roll in sugar.
Cool on a wire rack.
If you haven’t already, check out my friend Ashlie’s blog. For the past week she’s been trying out a meal planner from Rachael Ray’s magazine, which promises 7 dinners for about $100 worth of groceries.
She has documented the whole thing on her blog, with mouthwatering pictures to go along with it.
I have to say I am impressed, and it is giving me new motivation to tackle some of the recipes in the Rachael Ray cookbook I got as a gift a little while back.
Unfortunately, it will have to wait until Olympic madness is all over, and I go back to working normal hours, five days a week.
On the plus side, I’ll be so tired of cafeteria food by then that a decent homecooked meal will feel like a wonderful luxury.
 Sinful delights courtesy Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory To everybody out there today, I encourage you to go out and buy yourself, or someone else, something delicious.
I was happily surprised after a long day at work to come home and find some sinfully delicious treats waiting; chocolate covered strawberries (which are my absolute favourite), chocolate and nut clusters and a German chocolate cake caramel apple. The last one consists of a caramel apple covered in chocolate, pecans and other nuts, chocolate and coconut.
So a big thanks to my folks, who are also celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary.
I guess what I’m trying to say is buy something sweet for a friend, for your big sister, or your uncle. Or buy something savoury if that’s what they prefer.
Just show someone out there you’re thinking about them, and not just today, but every day.
 Tres leches cake Recently we celebrated my sister’s birthday and as a surprise we picked up a ‘cake of three milks’ from her favourite Mexican restaurant, La Taquizza. It is truly heaven on a plate.
Made with condensed milk, evaporated milk and whipping cream, hence the name, it is a moist wonder. It is unlike any other cake. The closest thing I could compare it to is a fantastic Jamaican rum cake, only it’s completely different. It’s on my list of things to bake when I’m much braver, but in the meantime I recommend you try it if you ever get the opportunity.
Is there anything you would travel miles for? Or something you could eat all of to the point where you feel you’ll never eat it again?
 Celeriac aka Celery Root Celery root or celeriac is a really strange looking root vegetable at the grocery store that’s all gnarled and brown and ugly. But if you’ve never picked one up, don’t be afraid! I hadn’t tried one until this past Thanksgiving. It has a wonderful, mild celery flavour that makes a mean soup or puree, among other things.
To start, use a sharp knife to trim all the tough, dirty rind from the root. Make sure you get all the gnarled parts or it will be tough. You’ll end up with something that looks kind of like an extra large potato. Cut it into about 1 inch cubes.
Combine the celery root with about 2 2/3 cup of chicken broth in a saucepot. Bring it to a boil and then reduce it to a simmer for 15 to 20 minutes or until the root is tender. Next, blend the soup and add 1/2 cup cream (or milk for a lighter soup) and salt and pepper to taste. Ensure the soup is heated through after you add the milk.
Serve with a sprinkle of nutmeg.
 Celery Root Soup
 Pasta Salad Pasta salad is the kind of dish where you can throw in everything but the kitchen sink. We did end up with a delicious salad, but made one mistake, too much pasta! We were trying to empty the cupboard of half-used bags of pasta, but we went a little overboard. We figure we needed half the pasta and twice the dressing. Overall though the flavours were a great combination and I will definitely try the recipe a second time.
Ingredients:
1 package (500g) small bowtie pasta (not the three half-packages we used!)
2 green onions, both light and dark sections, sliced
1 large tomato, diced
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
3 hard boiled eggs (8 minutes in boiling water will do it), diced
1/2 cup sliced green olives, roughly chopped
2 tbsp capers, roughly chopped
1/4 cup olive oil
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Salt and pepper to taste
Boil the pasta in salted water as per package instructions. Meanwhile, chop or dice all ingredients and toss in a big bowl with olive oil and lemon juice. Add drained pasta and toss to coat. Add salt and pepper to taste and additional olive oil if pasta is too sticky. Keep covered (that keeps it moist) and let cool to room temperature before serving.
Feel free to add any ingredients you love. I think sundried tomato, a crumbly cheese or other fresh herbs would all be delicious additions. I’m having it for lunch the day after with some tuna added to make it a full meal. The key here is to experiment until you find a recipe you love, and I promise it will become a signature dish.
So owing to the fact that we were running a little late Saturday afternoon, we opted for frozen pizzas that night. We baked three pizzas (though I bought extra to stock up, so thanks for the suggestions!) with toppings that I tried to match to requests.
We made a Dr. Oetker Ristorante Thin Crust Vegetable (Peppers, onion, tomato and cheese), McCain International Thin Crust Parisian (Bechamel sauce, seasoned chicken, mushrooms, spinach and bacon) and a McCain Premiere Traditional Crust Deli Lovers (Pepperoni, seasoned beef, Italian sausage and bacon).
My personal favourite was probably the Dr. Oetker, the variety of peppers give it a really nice kick, while the McCain Parisian was also delicious. My top two choices may have been because I love thin crust pizza.
It may have also helped that it was the least number of calories per serving. Per 1/4 pizza, the Dr. Oetker was 190 calories, the Parisian was about 260 calories and the Deli Lovers was 320 calories. The Dr. Oetker also had the smallest serving size, but a slice is a slice.
Any way you slice it (ha, ha) our pizza dinner was a success, paired with some chips, pretzels, crudites and Caesar and ranch dippings sauces for the pizza crust.
I’m having a couple over for dinner on Saturday night and I can’t decide what kind of pizza to serve. I don’t mean what toppings to order, I mean whether to order at all.
I’m leaning towards either picking up a variety of frozen pizzas, or picking up store bought crusts and toppings and letting each person create their own pizza.
The last option seems like the most fun to me, but is obviously the most work. So I’m wondering if the improved taste and options is worth all the trouble, especially since frozen pizzas have really come a long way.
In my neck of the woods delivery isn’t an option, so if we went with restaurant pizza we’d have to pick it up, but to be honest I’ve been quite disappointed with my last few take-out experiences.
If you’re getting pizza at home do you have a preferred source? My mom and mother-in-law both make awesome homemade pizza, with dough made from scratch, but I’m not quite ready for that.
Do I sense a taste test coming on? Maybe frozen vs. fresh? Hmm, definitely something to think about.
I’m currently in love with foodgawker.com, a site that takes beautiful food photo submissions from food bloggers around the world. I’ve found some delicious recipes and the photos are all spectacular. Plus I get to discover fellow food blogs I might not otherwise have ever found.
I have to say it’s a little addictive, one minute I’m checking out the proper way to melt butter, then I’m reading about how to make Jacques’ Chocolate Mudslide Cookies. All I know is it’s both inspiring and intimidating.
I like to think my photography and digital editing skills are coming along, but my photos don’t even compare to the artistry of these images. They’re the kind of food photos you’d expect on a chef, cookbook or restaurant website, but they’re just from everyday people with a passion for food.
But who knows, with some time, practice and maybe tips from a professional, I might be ready to submit one of my own somewhere down the line.
Saturday night was a trip to London’s Wine and Food Show to sample some delicious treats with friends. We started with some Ontario pear cider from Twin Pines Orchard and Cider House, yum. Then we managed to taste a whole bunch of local delicacies, from sausage and ham on sweet potato scones by Farmgate Markets, to three kinds of cheese from the Thornloe Cheese Factory, to lemon squares from Killer Desserts. Finally we tried philly cheese steak pizza, mini burgers, nachos and brownies from local restaurants. Of course there was also wine, wine and more wine.
I have to admit my first visit was a little overwhelming. The room was packed, and some people were even dressed to the nines. Then there were more choices than you could shake a stick at. But I did make a very encouraging discovery.
I’m so impressed by the delicious, local products that are available within Ontario. I’m already looking forward to a spring visit to McSmith’s Organic Farm for some organic chicken and pasture-fed beef and ordering herbs and jellies from Heritage Line Herbs and Country Store.
We’ll definitely head back to the show next year, and I’m looking forward to summer road trips and new restaurant adventures. If you go, you should definitely go early, and try the cider.
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