The 7 things I loved about the Maritimes

Thank you to Marysol of She Eats Bears for giving us a the Versatile Blogger Award. Marysol is a fellow Ottawan who has an amazing foodblog, that features homegrown/homemade dishes and beautiful photography. One of those blogs that gives me inspiration to grow a better garden, cook more and take better pictures.

We're supposed to say 7 things about ourselves and then nominate blogs that you have recently discovered and love.

Since we just got back from the Maritimes (more posts about the trip to come)...let me list the top 7 best things about our vacation (in no particular order):

1. Deep sea fishing in PEI

2. Whale watching on the Cabot Trail


3. The amazing views on the Cabot Trail

4. Watching sailboat races in Chester, NS
5. Swimming in a waterfall in Fundy National Park


6. Attending Cheticamp's 225 anniversary performance (love Le Vent du Nord)
7. Visiting Hopewell Rocks and seeing the largest tides in the world in the Bay of Fundy.

It's such a cool location, they're even in the running for becoming one of the new 7 natural wonders of the world. Go check out the international competition!

A close 8th place is: Driving 5100 kms (about 3150 miles) with R without fighting (outside of the Montreal area).


Knitting always makes for a great distraction for the nervous passenger.


Here are some blogs that I've discovered more recently and am really enjoying:

1. Grow Chew -- a great source for gardening and life in Ottawa.
2. Simply Fresh -- another great local blogger who shows how accessible good cooking can be.
3. City Home Country Home -- just found Bonnie's blog -- can't resist a blogger whose bio says: "With one foot in the city and one in the country, I quilt, sew, bake, cook, garden, and knit". Plus, her photography is great.
4. Twist Collective Blog -- I've been getting into more knitting blogs lately and this is a great collective knitting blog, with a tonne of great knitted designs

5. Last, but not least Girl about O-Town -- whom I haven't spoken to lately, but still follow while we're both on "summer hours". A local blogger, whose blog posts are always interesting. I'm long overdue on acknowledging an award she passed along to us (thanks for this!)

Oven Roast Chicken al la Country Bob

One of the donors to the View and Review program with Bloggeraid-Changing the Face of Famine is Country Bob's . Based in the U.S. and distributed only in the U.S. I was itching to try this product. I was so excited when I found Country Bob's sauce in a local grocery store while in California so I wrapped them very carefully (you know I bought more than 1) and flew them back to Toronto.



I wanted my chicken dish to have somewhat of a bbq flavour to it without it being too spicy. Also, living in a condo has its restrictions, like firing up a propane or gas bar b que in the livingroom (fussy people), so the oven was going to be my friend.




Ingredients:

1 roasting chicken cut in 8ths
1/4 cup Country Bob's All-Purpose Sauce
1/4 cup ketchup
1/4 cup ball park mustard (dijon would be good too)
1/4 cup olive oil
3-4 Tbsp Soy Sauce
3-4 Tbsp Honey (I used buckwheat)
3-4 cloves minced garlic (more if you really really like garlic)
1-2 Tbsp spice of choice (I used Mrs. Dash which is an herbal mix or you could use 21 Salute)

1. Wash and dry chicken.
2. Place chicken in ziplock bag (large freezer size) and coat with 2/3 of the marinade. Let sit for 8 hours or overnight.
3. Prepare 9x11 or 9x13 pan; place chicken in pan.
4. On 350 F oven, bake for approximately 1 hour, turning half way to brown on both sides.

Verdict: I've made a similar oven style chicken before but the addition of Country Bob's Sauce absolutely took it to the next level. I won't be very happy when my sauce is all used up.



Rose of All About Cakes has shared this lovely fellowship award called Happy 101. I have to apologize that it's taken so long to acknowledge this award. Life just does get in the way sometimes.

So along with the award there are some rules.
1. Link to the blogger who sent you the award
2. List 10 things that make you happy
3. Pay it forward

10 Things that make me happy

1. My children Psychgrad and Actor Boy and their significant others.
2. The family I grew up in - my mom, 2 brothers and a sister and now my nieces and nephew.
3. My 2 dogs - my constant companions who love me anyways.
4. Picking apples in an orchard
5. Anything to do with markets
6. Charity work
7. Good theatre/movies
8. A day at the spa
9. the great friendships we've created and continue to cultivate in the blogging community.
10. no stress holidays

Who to share it with. Let me see. I think the maximum is 10 - how do I do that?

Psychgrad here (I'm butting in....) - I wanna play too. Here's my list of 10 things that make me happy:

1. Family (until they start to push my buttons) Note from Giz - those buttons are heat sensitive.
2. Exploring the world with R
3. Making things from scratch
4. Finding significant (and interesting) results when analyzing data
5. Connecting with friends (new and old)
6. Taking pictures and looking at old pictures
7. Making interesting/fun plans for the future
8. Helping people
9. A good workout
10. Learning new things

Ok - back to Giz's post...

In no real order and certainly not an exhaustive list;

1. Val from More Than Burnt Toast
2. Jeanne from Cook Sister
3. Ruth from Once Upon a Feast
4. Kate from Paved with Good Intentions
5. Ed from Detroit Easts
6. Happily Losin It from Words & Weigh
7. Joan from Foodalogue
8. Peter from Souvlaki for the Soul
9. Hopie from Hopie's Kitchen
10. Julie from A Little Bit of Everything

There are 3 newer bloggers in this list worthy of note and would love to have you visit their blogs.

Detroit Eats authored by Chef Ed is our adoptive blogger - you'll be hearing more about him but do check out his blog - packed with information.

Words & Weigh journalises and shares Weight Watcher tips and recipes. She's equipped to handle any questions you may have about the WW point system.

Julie from A Little Bit of Everything is Hopie's adoptive blogger which makes her our adoptive grand daughter. I'm sure you'll hear more about her and very soon.

Nuria's Lamb Brochettes

Inspired by Nuria from Spanish Recipes I thought her lamb skewers for the BBQ looked just mouth watering. The next thing I knew I was at the meat counter buying lamb and the rest is history. In our family there's no such thing as moderation when it comes to backyard barbeque so in addition to the lamb we threw in some chicken just to make sure nobody went hungry and you just never really know when another 15 people might just happen upon your doorstep.



nope...not done yet



Pathetic, don't you think? There were only 6 of us for dinner. This obsession as Psychgrad once said is totally baba's doing. During WWII when they had next to nothing to eat she swore her family would never go hungry. She lived by her promise... and then some.

Lamb Brochettes



Ingredients for 4 servings: 600 grs of lamb cut in dices (ask your butcher for a tender piece), 2 garlic cloves, 1 cup of red wine, 1 cup of water, 1 cup of extra virgin olive oil, 1 tablespoon of sweet red ground paprika, 1 teaspoon of hot red ground paprika, 1 teaspoon of dry oregano, 1 bay leave, 1 tablespoon of cumin seeds, salt and black ground pepper. One red pepper and one green pepper.
• Peel the garlic cloves and chop thinly. Place in a big bowl together with the wine, water, olive oil, the paprika, oregano, chopped bay leave, cumin and pepper. Mix well.
• Clean the lamb meat and take the fat away, cut in dices and place inside the bowl. Let marinate for at least 4 hours. I had mine in the fridge overnight and cooked the next day. Meat will be more tender the longer it marinates.
• If you use wooden sticks, have them soaking in water so that they don't burn when you cook the skewers.
• Insert lamb dices and red/green peppers with the stick.
• Cook in your barbecue or in the griddle or grill in your oven until they get golden. While cooking, pour some of the marinating liquid on top and turn so that they get all done.

Verdict: Incredible flavour and the aroma from the marinating sauce is wonderful.

We have recently been the recipients of a couple of awards.


Hope from Hopie's Kitchen What a great award and many thanks for thinking of us.



The rules for this award say to
Include the award logo in your blog or post.
Nominate as many blogs which show adorability, cuteness and charm.
Be sure to link to your nominees within your post.
Let them know that they have received this award by commenting on their blog.
Share the love and link to this post and to the person from whom you received your award.The rules for this award say to:

We'd like to share this award with:

Maryann of Finding La Dolce Vita
Joan of Foodalogue
Steph at Obsessed with Baking
Cindy from Cindystar
Heather from Girli Chef



And a big thanks to Melissa from Alosha's Kitchen for this beautiful award.

The award is for our blogging sisters who show great attitude/gratitude. The Rules for the recipient: 1. Put the logo on your blog or post. 2. Nominate up to 10 blogs which show great attitude and/or gratitude 3. Be sure to link to your nominees within your post. 4. Let them know that they have received this award by commenting on their blog, or sending them an email. 5. Remember to link to the person from whom you received your award.

Val from More Than Burnt Toast
Jeanne from Cook Sister
Cynthiafrom Tastes Like Home
Nuria from Spanish Recipes
Grace from A Southern Grace

Sausage Tortellini and Awards

On Food Network Canada, we have a chef named Sandi Richard who talks about that one night of the week that's more hectic than others. She calls it "Fright Night". Everyone has one. It's the one night that you're least likely to even remotely think of cooking let alone make it happen. My "fright night" generally calls for a very quick throw together. Sausage tortellini is just a perfect fright night meal.



I'm sending this over to Ruth at Once Upon a Feast



Ingredients:

Packaged tortellini
2 links hot Italian sausage
1/2 large onion, diced (I used vidalia)
1 28 oz can whole tomatoes (diced is fine too)

Method:
1. put tortellini in boiling water and cook until nearly soft
2. cut and brown sausage
3. add onion and fry until beginning to change colour
4. add 28 oz can tomatoes

Instant dinner.

I must apologize to our blogging "buddies" who have so kindly bestowed us with awards. I've been away and am just getting to it now. Here's a very big thank you to each and every one of you who have regarded us highly enough to share an award with us.

Karen from Domestic Muse gave us the Lemonade Stand award:



Gloria from Cookbook Cuisine for the Blogging with a Purpose award:



Ivy from Kopiaste for the You Are a Sweet Heart award (garsh...kicking foot in sand)



and
Gloria from Foods and Flavors of San Antonio for the Foodie Friends award.



We really apologize for not being as consistent as usual - you know the drill - life just gets in the way.

Leftover Pasta Dish

I'm off for a vacation for a couple of weeks on Saturday. I took a look in my fridges (yes plural) and thought - what am I thinking? I actually took somewhat of an inventory and then decided that everything goes with pasta. Today's throw together which is really a clean out the fridge pasta goes to the Presto Pasta roundup. This week's roundup is a really special one. It's #100 - can you even believe it. Ruth from Once Upon a Feast and the brains behind this long running event has truly marked a right of passage with 100 weeks of Presto Pasta Nights. Ruth is also this week's event host. Wouldn't it be something to see 100 entries for this one.

Remember, get your entries in to Ruth(at4everykitchen(dot)com before next Friday.

Ingredients:

handfull of spaghetti or linguine
2 Tbsp butter
5 or 6 sliced cremini mushrooms
1/2 red pepper cut in strips
1/2 yellow pepper cut in strips
zest of 1/2 lemon
1/4 c lemon juice
1/2 lb small shrimp
3 Tbsp chopped parsley

Directions

1. Bring water to a boil and add pasta.
2. In a saucepan melt butter and add veggies until almost at the soft stage. Add shrimp and lemon juice and cook just until shrimp becomes pink (less than 5 minutes)
3. Add pasta to saucepan and mix with shrimp and veggies. Plate and sprinkle with chopped parsley.

We were so fortunate to receive the Sisterhood Award from Val of More Than Burnt Toast , from Ivy of Kopiaste and Barb of Winos and Foodies . They say three times is a charm and I'm feeling quite charmed. Since this is a Sisterhood award, I'm wondering if I should be sending some "travelling pants" anywhere? Or...does that mean that our male bloggers can't be in the sisterhood? Thank you Val, Ivy and Barb.


The rules for recipients are:
- Put the logo on your blog or post.
- Nominate at least 10 blogs which show great Attitude and/or Gratitude!
- Be sure to link to your nominees within your post.
- Let them know that they have received this award by commenting on their blog.
- Share the love and link to this post and to the person from whom you received your award.

Here are the 10 picks with no explanation necessary.

1. Kat from A Good Appetite
2. Julia from Grow Eat Cook
3. Ali from Alexandra's Kitchen
4. Anna from Cookie Madness
5. Elle from Elle's New England Kitchen
6. Krysta from Evil Chef Mom
7. Maryann from Finding la Dolce Vita
8. Cakelaw from Laws of the Kitchen
9. Biscuit Pusher from The Biscuit Pusher
10. Rania from Yumeezy

Tyropita - Greek Cheese Puffs avec Awards

I met Mercina on FoodBuzz where she featured Eva's Tasty Tyropita. Mercina has a beautiful blog called Thursday for Dinner and I have this feeling that I'll be checking back often for more of Eva's recipes. She videos the process and makes it look so simple. This recipe looked amazing and fun to make - my assumption was correct. These cheese puffs are super yummy and of course Eva is such a sweetie. She reminds me of my own mother who even shares her name.

As Mercina explains, Tyropita are delicious Greek pastries made with feta or ricotta cheese (or a combination of both) wrapped in layers of buttered phyllo. Tyropita are great as a snack or as a side dish for lunch or dinner, although in Greece they are usually eaten as a breakfast food. What I love about tyropita is that you can make a large batch and then freeze them. Take some out of the freezer about 40 minutes before dinner, pop them in the oven, and you’ll have a wonderful side dish for the family meal.


Ingredients:

Half a pound of feta cheese (about 2 cups)
500 grams of ricotta cheese
Half a pound of butter (or you can use margarine)
5 eggs
A quarter tsp of black pepper
Parsley (optional) (I didn't use it)
Preheat your oven to 325 degrees.

In a large bowl, mix the feta, ricotta, eggs, and black pepper with your hands.

Remove the phyllo from the package, carefully unwrap it, and lay it flat on your counter. Place a slightly damp cloth over the phyllo to prevent it from drying out.

Place your butter in a small bowl and it microwave until softened. Get out a brush and butter a large pan.

Cut the phyllo into 3 or 4 long strips. Take out one pile of strips and cover the rest of the phyllo with your cloth.

Note: I found that if I made the strips too wide, the tyropita started to get sloppy. Besides, you can eat more when they're small.

Take one strip of phyllo and lightly butter it. Add another layer of phyllo and butter that too. Now drop a spoonful of the cheese mixture at the bottom of the long strip. Fold the phyllo in triangles.

Once you have finished folding each piece, butter it and place it on the pan.

Repeat until you have finished with the cheese mixture and the phyllo.

Once you are finished place the pan in the oven for about an hour (at 325 degrees)

And viola! You have delicious tyropita for you and your family.

If that was in the least bit confusing, take the time to watch Eva's video. It'll inspire you to make them. It sure did me. Here's Eva's Tasty Tyropita


And now..... AWARD TIME



Ivy from Kopiaste generously gave us the Kreativ Blogger award. Thank you Ivy.



Now I'm really wondering how really creative she thinks we are after how we served the tyropita. Mind you, it is eaten for breakfast in Greece - why not with sour cream or jam? It was delicious with either one.

We'd like to share this award with:

1. Kellypea of Sass and Veracity. Not only are her recipes creative but her writing always leaves me howling. Although we've never met, my sense is she talks exactly the way she writes. She's a keeper.

2. Lisa from Jersey Girl Cooks Who knew I'd find out about Pillsbury products from a fellow blogger.

3. Bobby of Blog Chef . Until just recently Bobby was a mystery to me. Now that I've found his blog - well, what can I say - go look for yourself. I tried one of his recipes today and will be blogging about it very soon - simply delicious and entirely painless.

4. Anamika from Sugar Craft by Soni. Another blog that I've only recently discovered but by just having a peek, you'll see immediately why she deserves this award.

5. Caroline from A Consuming Passion I've been a bit of a lurker on her blog for a while and when I saw this month's Daring Baker's challenge, she won my vote for a Kreativ Blogger award.

Thank you to Bunny from Bunny's Warm Kitchenfor awarding us Inspiration award:



1. Gloria of Cookbook Cuisine who's sense of sprituality and selflessness is a true inspiration.

2. Anne from Rainforest Recipes . Anne is a fellow Canadian who packed up everything to live in Guatemala and dedicate her life to social development ...and cooking of course.

3. Nuria of Spanish Recipes for being one of the nicest bloggers on the planet. Ever exhuberant, always cheerful and has an uplifting comment for everyone.

4. Joan of Foodalogue who's been involved in so many things and continues to reach out to new adventures and does it all with style.

5. Cynthia of Tastes Like Home who so willingly shares information and guidance. Cynthia has just finished writing her cookbook. Please visit her website for details on how you can be comfortable in the kitchen with Caribbean cooking.

Hope everyone is having a stellar weekend. We in Canada (at least eastern Canada) are now enjoying (NOT) old man winter's kiss. It's f.f.f.f.f.freezing!!

Angels

Gloria Chadwick of Cookbook Cuisine actually made me speechless with this award.



Gloria awarded Ivy of Kopiaste Val of More Than Burnt Toast and Equal Opportunity Kitchen with this distinguished award that came with the following rules:

1. The rules of this award are not to be taken lightly--which means you can't give it to someone just because they did something really sweet for you.
2. This award is to be given to bloggers that have shown they are angels by doing something humanitarian and heavenly to help others.
3. You don't have to receive the award in order to give it. Feel free to copy it and bestow it on someone who is worthy of it. If you think they're an angel, they probably are.
4. The award must be linked to a post about an organization or good cause you would like more people to be aware of.
5. The rules for this award are to be shown when giving the award.

As Ivy, Val and I embark on this journey of encouraging other bloggers to help us as we do whatever we can to not only build awareness to world famine, affecting approximately 900M worldwide (shocking isn't it) but also to encourage you to purchase the products we currently have for sale and join in with several of the upcoming surprises we have in store. On behalf of BloggerAid and the coalition of international food bloggers, it is our mission to be able to hand over a substantial cheque to the World Food Programme and know that each of us is doing the very best we can to help others.

In accordance with the rules, I would like to share this award with someone who has put an incredible amount of effort online in gaining support for a charity that has and continues to touch her life. I would gladly share this award with Barbara Harris of Winos and Foodies for her work with LIVESTRONG: The Lance Armstrong Foundation .

Barbara has long been an inspiration for me. When I say long, I mean only as long as I've known her and that really isn't much longer than a few months. Even through her own challenges, Barb knew I'm planning a trip to Australia and offered me a room in her home. How many people would do that? Recently, on her blog, Barbara relayed a wish list through a friend. I never stopped thinking about Barbara's wish list and since it's already been on her blog, I think sharing it with you will help you see why she's absolutely so deserving of this Angel award.

"I wish I could tell you I'm free of cancer.
I wish I wasn't starting more chemo tomorrow.
I wish I wasn't afraid of the side effects.
I wish I didn't have to see the fear in my children's eyes.
I wish I didn't have to hear my son say 'I feel so helpless'.
I wish Bryan didn't have to cook dinner 'cos I know he doesn't enjoy cooking.
I wish I had an appetite.
I wish I didn't have to cancel lunch in Sydney with Fatemeh.
I wish I'd been able to swim in the ocean with my sister last week when she visited.
I wish I didn't know words like Folfox and Avastin.
I wish I didn't know my CEA.
I wish I didn't have blood tests every week.
I wish I didn't have to press the button in the elevator marked Oncology.
I wish I could beat the cancer.
I wish I didn't think about my children's future which may not include me.
I wish Bryan and I will grow very old together.
I wish the will to live was enough to overcome my genetics.
I wish I will have the energy to continue blogging.
I wish you will understand when I am too sick to reply to your comments and emails.
I wish you will understand when I visit your blog and don't leave a comment.
I wish one day I could tell you I'm free of cancer."



Thank you Gloria for your recognition of the work we're doing with BloggerAid. For those who have heard a bit of the buzz and those who are visiting for the first time, please join us at The BoggerAid Forum where we can exchange ideas and information about making our world a more humane place.

Our first event and fundraiser are now in full swing. Please check here for more information and how you can help.

For those ordering angel keychains, cell phone charms and bookmarks, the date for guaranteed arrival overseas from Canada to most countries is shipping before December 8th and to the U.S. before December 15th.

Brownies Galore!

I promised myself that I would take pictures of the brownies I baked last weekend before we enhaled them all. But after a few days of "oh yeah, I still have to take pictures of my brownies", all I've got to show for it this picture:

But, you can find beautiful pictures of the brownies cut up over at For the Love of Cooking, which is also the original source of this recipe.

Cocoa Brownies with Peanut Butter Chips
1 1/4 sticks of unsalted butter
1 1/3 cup of white sugar
3/4 cup PLUS 2 tbsp of cocoa powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 large eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup flour
1 cup of peanut butter chips

Preheat oven to 325 degrees and make sure rack is in the lower third of the oven. Coat an 8 inch baking pan with cooking spray or line it with parchment paper. I would recommend the parchment - it makes life easier.

In a large heat proof bowl, combine the butter, sugar, cocoa and salt. Set the bowl in a large skillet of water and simmer over medium low heat. Stir occasionally until the butter is melted and mixture is hot to the touch. The mixture will look slightly grainy. Remove from heat and cool until warm. Add vanilla and stir with a wooden spoon. Add the eggs one at a time mixing thoroughly after each one. When the batter looks well blended, smooth and shiny, slowly add the flour and stir until it's combined thoroughly, then stir vigorously for 30 strokes. Stir in the peanut butter chips. Pour into the baking pan and place a few more peanut butter chips on top.Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. I needed probably closer to 30 minutes.

Pam at For the Love of Cooking made this recipe for a friend who loves rich chocolate. Definitely a good recipe for rich chocolate lovers because this one is more on the rich side. I thought it was good but didn't find that the peanut butter chips held up much to the flavour of the chocolate. Not that I'm complaining about the chocolate flavour.

If you don't already visit For the Love of Cooking, I definitely recommend you check it out. Pam has a load of great recipes and beautifully crisp pictures. I'm mainly a lurker on her blog, but visit it regularly.

I'm submitting these brownies to Ben's I Love to Bake Event.



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Since we're on the topic of brownies...I figured I would share an older post that never made it to publication. These brownies were "guilt brownies" that I made a while back for my supervisor. I was very stressed at the time and probably a bit high maintenance. So, I decided to give him a reason to not hate me by bringing him some brownies (I think my plan worked).

This recipe comes from the same cookbook as the Double Chocolate Cake I made a while back.


Such an innocent-looking book, eh? You'd never know the sheer number of calories you may be tempted to eat by this book alone.

Hershey's White Chip Brownies

4 eggs
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, melted
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup Hershey's cocoa
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 2/3 cups white chips

1. Heat oven to 350 F. Grease 13X9X2 - inch baking pan.

2. Beat eggs in large bowl until foamy gradually beat in sugar. Add butter and vanilla; beat until blended. Stir together flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt; add to egg mixture, beating until blended. Stir in white chips. Spread batter into prepared pan.

3. Bake 25-30 minutes or until brownies begin to pull away from sides of pan. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Cut into squares.

Ok - not the most beautiful presentation for the blog.



But I did wrap some up nicely for my supervisor.

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I also wanted to share with you some picture of a knitting project I started. I figure if I post a picture of the project, I'll be less likely to not finish it. You'll hold me accountable, right?

This gives you an idea of the parts that I've completed.

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We also wanted to acknowledge and pass on some awards that we've recent received

Thank you to Val from More Than Burnt Toast for awarding us with "A Perfect Blend of Friendship" Award.


We'd like to pass this award on...

1. Ann and Jack from Redacted Recipes. They're on a (hopefully) temporary hiatus from blogging at the moment. But we're definitely still thinking about them and hope they're doing well. Not to worry, though, their archives will keep you busy.

2. Adam at Baking with Dynamite, who seems like an all around great guy. Adam posts some delicious recipes (thanks Adam, now I'm craving oatmeal cookies) and great advice. As a former bodybuilder and almost newly minted chiropractor, he's a great resource on healthy living.

3. Nikki at Canary Girl, who may be losing her mind, but had a great Thanksgiving dinner in the process.

4. Bunny from Bunny's Warm Oven. Bunny (and sometimes Carol) make delicious-looking homestyle food that have me wishing I could stop working and cook/bake all day.

Also, thank you to our adopted blogger, Hopie from Hopie's Kitchen for awarding us with an E for Excellent.


Turns out we're bad adoptive bloggers that totally dropped the ball on Hopie's event. The roundup for her Energy Food Challenge is posted today.


Hopie's mom (along with 10,000 other people) is biking 109 miles to raise money for blood cancers. Hopie's mom raised almost $10,000! Go Hopie's mom!!! Hopie posted a roundup of high-energy recipes for her mom's biking journey.

We'd like to pass the award on to...

1. Katie at Good Things Catered. Katie is one of the first food blogger I started reading almost a year ago and is still going strong today.

2. My French Kitchen, who has a beautiful blog. Her plating and the artistic flare on her blog are really inspiring.

3. Jonny and Amy at We Are Never Full who seem like a really fun couple. Their version of an average meal would be the equivalent of a full out event at my place. But, a person can always dream.

4. Kristen at Dine and Dish, a fun blog with really practical dishes. So practical, in fact, I'm making her tilapia for dinner tomorrow.

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Last but not least, we wanted to mention that things are progressing with BloggerAid.

We're still working on PayPal. We're having a problem setting up the account properly as a result of glitches on the Canadian version of the system. The goal is to get it resolved tomorrow.

Also, check out Val's blog for more details on our plans.

Hopie's Apple Walnut Muffins

File this one under...Better Late Than Never. Actually, this post has been in the works for a while, because I had a lot to say.

You've probably read us mention Hopie's Kitchen before, but I wanted to take some more time to tell you about our adopted blog. I first started reading Hopie's blog around the beginning of summer and as luck should have it, we ended up paired in the Adopt-a-Blogger program, the brainchild of Kristen from Dish and Dine.

Hopie originates from the USA, but currently lives and works in Paris, France. She blogs about her fantastic recipes in both English and French. I've seen other bilingual (French-English) blogs, but never ones written by an American in Paris.


The short story, according to Hopie (profile picture, above), is:

In 2006, I moved to Paris to become an actress, because I majored in French in college and, honestly, what else was I going to do with that degree? Now I spend my time going to auditions, discovering Paris, and learning all the traditional French cooking I can get my hands on!

She has a bunch of really great recipes, both baked and cooked goods.

During my recent visit with Giz (we have a post about that coming up), we decided to make some of Hopie's muffins together. Giz managed to stick me with peeling the apples while she took out ingredients. You can find the original inspiration at Hopie's blog. These are them:

Apple Walnut Muffins

Ingredients:

2 large eggs
¾ cup sugar
1½ cups coarsely grated or finely chopped, peeled apples

1½ cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1½ tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
scant ½ tsp salt

5 Tbsp melted unsalted butter
½ cup coarsely-chopped walnuts

Preheat the oven to 400oF.

In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs and sugar. Stir in the apples and set aside for 10 minutes. This allows the apples to render their juices with the sugar and eggs and makes for moist muffins.


In the meantime, in a separate bowl whisk together the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda and salt). Melt the butter on the stove and chop the walnuts.

Once the apple mixture is done sitting, stir in the melted butter and walnuts. Add the flour mixture and fold in until the dry ingredients are just moistened. Be careful not to overmix. Pour batter into greased (or lined) muffin cups.


Bake 14-16 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the muffins comes out clean. Let sit 3-5 minutes before removing the muffins from the pan and letting cool on a cooling rack, or eating immediately.




Both Giz and I were happy that we included larger chunks of apples. The flavour and texture is really nice with them. I also subsituted raisins for walnuts. Giz is convinced that I'm still a really fussy eater. The truth is that I like a range of foods. But am pretty particular about my combinations. Sweet desserts with nuts are not my thing. But raisins, well - you know I come from Raisin Planet.
Overall, the muffins were very nice. Apple, raisin and cinnamon is a flavour combo from heaven.


I'm sending this post over to Ruth's Bookmarked Recipes "where anyone from anywhere can blog about a recipe they had bookmarked from a cook book, food magazine, food blog, food website, from TV etc, make it and submit it to a weekly roundup"


Hopie also tagged us to answer the following:

You can take five items and are allowed one sentence in which to justify your decision. Tag whoever you like and link back! You are on a desert island so assume a plentiful supply of exotic fish, coconuts and sea salt. Ignore any issues regarding storage. There happens to be a very large solar powered refrigerator washed up on the shore as well. Now, on to the list...

Well - let me start off by saying that I am thrilled that a large solar powered refrigerator also washed up on the shore. I'd be screwed otherwise.

1. Does a farm of chickens count? Chicken is a staple for me. Probably my favourite meat. (I'm not good with one line explanations, so I'll break the rules)

2. If fresh water weren't available, I would take a water purification system. Kind of dull, but I become a pretty miserable person when I'm dehydrated.

3. I would take a fruit tree. Something that can withstand the environment. Probably apples because their production is pretty plentiful and enduring. Plus, I love apple juice.

4. I would take a lot of chocolate bars. My favourite is probably Coffee Crisps. Apparently, they're available in the states now too. They're regulars in the convenient stores in Canada.


5. Last. Argh. How can I pick just one? Ok - I'll go with flour. I think I'd rather make breads than eat rice. But, maybe rice flour would work too.

Now - I need to tag 5 people to complete this.

I'm curious what Grace, Evil Chef Mom, Kat, Jaden (check out yesterday's post about her Chino-Latino Wings) and Baking Blondie.

Thank you to Hopie for the recent award.


We'd like to pass it on to a few fellow bloggers:

1. That Girl, who posts loyally about the food that she and That Boy eat.
2. Noble Pig who makes really appealing recipes and can tell a story like nobody's business.
3. Julia at Cook, Eat, Grow - whose brain I would love to pick for a year. Her knowledge of growing and cooking food is great.
4. Ben from What's Cooking - I have to remember to submit to his monthly Baking Event. I have an upcoming meal that was inspired by Ben's post. I'll share it with you soon.

Also, here's Giz to pass on the award we received by Ivy.


To continue the love toward Hopie, we'd like to pass this award on to our adoptive blog, Hopie's Kitchen. If you haven't already checked out her blog, this post will hopefully change that.

Courtney at Coco Cooks , a diehard blogger and incredible cook wins and deserves the "Yum Yum"

Lis, the soon to be Mrs. (or still Ms., if you prefer) of Cream Puffs in Venice charms me with her continuous flow of yummy dishes.

Barb at Winos and Foodies for enriching our food and wine awareness.