The Proof Is In The Pudding

Hello Sweets,

I hope y'all had a wonderful day. Mine was a little hectic, but since I got everything out of the way, I can spend the night relaxing and brainstorming :)  I wasn't having such a good day yesterday, feeling extremely awful and sore which makes sleep a trying task.  I was finally able to fall asleep (early this morning) but I made sure to set my alarm, well guess what I slept through?  You guessed it, my alarm :/  You know the feeling when you sleep through an alarm, rushing around and forgetting things.  That's how my day started, not a good way to start lol, but once I got the mundane stuff out of the way I decided to do something for me :)

When y'all think about your childhood what do you remember?  I think of baking with my grandma, cooking with my mom, building things with my grandpa, and all sorts of other fun memories.  Then my thoughts go immediately to all my favorite childhood foods like ice cream and freshly baked cookies, and then random things that not all kids may like such as shrimp.  I've loved seafood since I was a little kid, especially shrimp and in any form too!  I am leading you down the wrong path right now lol, because today's post is not about shrimp at all :p  We are not even going to be in the savory ballpark today, instead we are going back to the sweet memories of childhood.

Grandma's Chocolate Pudding (via Grandma's Kitchen)

Ingredients

2/3C sugar

1/4C unsweetened cocoa powder

3Tbs cornstarch

2C milk

1 large egg

1/2tsp vanilla extract

1Tbs butter

 

Directions:

1)  Combine sugar, cocoa, and cornstarch in a medium saucepan, whisk in milk.

 

2)  Cook over medium-high heat, stirring frequently until mixture boils.  Boil for one minute, stirring constantly.

 

3)  Beat egg in a small bowl.  Whisk about 1/2C of hot chocolate mixture into egg.

 

4)  Whisk egg mixture back in to the milk mixture in the saucepan.  Cook over medium heat for two minutes, stirring mixture constantly.

 

5)  Remove pudding from heat; stir in vanilla and butter.  Pour into 4 individual serving dishes.  Serve warm or cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

 

 

 I will never eat pre made pudding again!!  This is so good it's unreal :D  It's deep, rich, chocolatey flavor is perfectly sinful.  It's so good that I want to make vanilla pudding tomorrow and make a layered delight.  I don't think there is one thing in this world that wouldn't taste better made from scratch, and I am going to try everything in my path!  I even managed to set aside a little container for my little monkey to enjoy too!  If I manage to make a vanilla pudding before they pick up the chocolate he'll have two more reasons why his auntie Jemmy is the best ;)

This was yet another first for little ol' me, and again I went at it with gusto and succeeded!  If there is ever something you want to try and make don't let the unknown stop you, whether it works out or not it's the road there that teaches us the lesson :)   Now I am going to see what is needed for vanilla pudding and do some more sketching for the upcoming job ;)  Sketching is not my forte by any means, but since the subject is Star Wars, I have Nathan to tell me where to make adjustments.  Until next time....


Stay sweet,



Jennifer xoxoxoxo

A Little Chicken

Hello Sweets,

Well it's official, Canuckette's Creations has booked it's first order!  I would be lying if I said that I wasn't nervous lol, but it's a big step which mean I can only go up :)  For the last 36 hours I have been creating a website (still in progress), and working on a price list so I can price jobs appropriately.  I know this all seems daunting right now, but it once I get this stuff done I'll be sitting pretty ;)

Today I thought I would do a post regarding how I'm seeing myself, like a scared little chicken lol!  I love roasted chicken, and I will be the first to admit that I've bought the pre made kind at the deli counter *slinks away*.  Last week I was craving chicken, a lot, and as I walked by the deli counter I thought to myself "I can do that myself, and better!".  It is more expensive to buy a whole chicken and make it myself compared to the pre made, but you don't know what goes into it (sodium mainly) and you'll never know how to make one on your own.  So I bought a whole chicken, did a little research and
gave it the good ol' college try.  I went into this feeling pretty confident, and kept a positive attitude.  I set out to make a flavorful and moist chicken, something that is harder to achieve than you'd think.  Thankfully I have nothing but positive news to report, and if you follow these simple steps your kitchen will smell just as divine as mine did!

Canuckette's Roasted Chicken

Ingredients

1 whole chicken

carrots, chopped (not pictured)

potatoes, chopped (not pictured)

2tbs butter

garlic

red pepper flakes

chili powder

coriander

rosemary

olive oil

salt

pepper

 

Directions:
1)  Preheat oven to 425F.  Wash chicken, then dry it very well with paper towels both inside and out.

 

2)  Salt and pepper the cavity of the chicken, then truss (tie the legs/wings together) the chicken.  This is to prevent your chicken from drying out, however I did not do this and mine turned out fine :)  Season the chicken with salt and pepper, then rub all over with the butter.

 

3)  Then season the chicken as you would like.  Place the seasoned chicken in a roasting pan and surround with the carrots and potatoes.  I drizzled a very small amount of olive oil onto the veggies but not too much as the chicken fat will do most of the work.

 

4)  Place the chicken in the preheated oven and bake for 60mins.  Check after one hour, if the legs and wings move easily it is complete.  If it's not done check every ten minutes so you don't over cook and dry it out.

 

5)  Remove the chicken from the oven and set on a cutting board (with grooved edges so the juices don't spill), allowing to sit for 10 minutes before cutting.

 

I don't think I'll ever buy a pre made chicken again, this was so moist and juicy and it still was when I had leftovers.  I made my chicken a little spicy because that is my preference, but you can use any spices that you like and make it your own :)  Since I seasoned the chicken so well I didn't need to season the veggies, they absorb the flavors of the chicken and taste AMAZING!

Well this post was a lovely little break for me, I was getting ridiculously stressed about the website and needed a much needed break.  Now that I feel recharged I'm going dive right back into my new little world.  If you're on Facebook feel free to stop by my business page to say hello, follow, or peruse the pictures and maybe even place an order ;)  I also just wanted to take a moment to say a big "THANK YOU" to all of y'all.  Without my faithful readers I don't know if I would have put myself out there, or ever!  Until next time......

Stay sweet,



Jennifer xoxoxo

Forgetful Frank

Hello Sweets,

Happy Friday!!  The weekend is finally here, I don't have anything special planned besides spending time with the fam :)  I'm hoping to cook my grandparents a wonderful dinner this weekend, not sure what's on the menu yet, but in any case it will be delicious!  Do y'all have anything fun or delicious planned for the weekend?  I always look forward to hearing from you and love to chat, don't forget to drop me a line. 

So I was updating my recipe tabs last night, while I was transferring recipes over I realized I forgot a pretty important recipe.  When I gave y'all the recipe for my scrumptious Patriotic Pie I said I would give you the recipe for the pastry the next day, and I didn't lol.  I feel awful :( so instead of the tiny and sweet recipe today I'm giving y'all the most perfect pastry recipe.  My very good friend Miranda makes amazing apple pie, and since she has pastry experience I asked her for her recipe.  Thankfully she loves me and shared the secret with me :D    Tonight's post will be on the shorter side, but that's because I am in the kitchen making some sweet treats to share with y'all tomorrow ;)

Miranda's Perfect Pie Crust

Ingredients

2C all-purpose flour

1C butter, cold and cubed

1/4C cold water

1Tbs sugar

 

Directions:

1)  Mix all ingredients together, cutting in the butter with a pastry cutter or fork.

2)  Split in half when rolling out, put a little flour down so it won't stick.

 

3)  If making a creamy or custard like fillings (meringue pies too!), you can pre-bake at 200F for 30 minutes.  If making a fruit based pie, leave the dough raw.

Well there now I feel a whole lot better :)  I'm so sorry that it took me this long to see my error, but now you guys have a complete picture to making pies!  And as you can see this is a short little recipe and post, but that's only because I am busy in the kitchen as I write this.  Lol I've taken a few breaks so I could complete the post, see how much I love y'all ;)  Until next time................................................

 Stay sweet,

Jennifer xoxoxoxo

Sweet Red, White, and Blue

Hello Sweets,

Can you believe that we're already half way through our week?  I don't know why it feels like time is just flying by me, probably because I am counting down the days until I return to Texas and am reunited with my love :)  Has it been flying by for all of y'all too?  I am very thankful to feel more like myself today, not in as much pain as yesterday and actually got out of the house for a change too.  My version of "getting out of the house" is pretty minuscule compared to most people, but I picked up my prescriptions and some groceries so it's a win in my books :)

I am super excited about today's post, as I explained yesterday this specific recipe was completely out of my comfort zone and I was successful so I just couldn't wait to share it with all of y'all.  I don't know about y'all but I love me some pie, specifically cherry pie so I was super pumped when I came across this recipe.  It's not an apple pie, which is uber American, but it's pretty comparable in my books and very patriotic ;)  But enough talk, let's get to this delicious treat already!

Old Glory Cherry-Blueberry Pie (from My Recipes)

Ingredients

5C fresh sweet dark cherries, rinsed and pitted

3Tbs lemon juice

1 1/2C fresh blueberries, rinsed and drained

1C sugar

1/4C cornstarch

2Tsp butter, cut into small pieces

9" pie pastry (see tomorrows blog for recipe)

 

 

I wanted to show the monotonous process of pitting cherries lol

Directions:
1)  Preheat oven to 400F.  In a large bowl, mix cherries with 2 tablespoons of lemon juice.  In a small bowl, mix blueberries with remaining 1 tablespoon of lemon juice. (yes I squeezed a fresh lemon lol)

 

   

 

 2)  Combine the sugar and cornstarch, gently stir 1 cup of the mixture with the cherries and the remaining 1/4 cup with the blueberries (I tossed it with my hands to be more careful).

 

 

 

 3)  Spoon cherry mixture over 3/4 of the pastry in the pan, leaving 1quadron free.  Spoon blueberries into the empty space.  Sprinkle the butter evenly over the fruit.

4)  Top with the stars and strips (I made an extra batch of pastry and cut it by hand).

 

tah dah! My stars are a little crazy looking lol

5)   Set pie in a foil lined 13"x17" baking pan.  Bake on the bottom rack until the fruit in the middle bubbles and the pastry is well browned (checking at the 1 hour mark).  If the edges brown too quickly (check after 40 minutes), cover loosely with tin foil.  Let pie cool on a wire rack for 3 hours, and can be left on the counter for 8 hours (max).  Cut into wedges and serve with ice cream or whip cream.

 

so proud :)

So not only does it look like a mini flag, it also embodies the red (cherries) white (pastry) and blue (blueberries) aspect.  This was a very time consuming process, but that's not going to stop me from doing it over again and again.  This is going to sound a little crazy but an hour before this I made another pie, lol yes another one.  Nathan's coconut meringue, see :)

 

I know what you're thinking; 1) I'm crazy for doing two pies in one day and 2) I spoil him rotten.  Well I would have to say yes to both lol, since I made the pastry from scratch I had to make his with it as well (plus I love seeing him smile).  The cherry-blueberry pie isn't overly sweet at all, I was actually worried it was going to be tart because of the cherries (they can be sort of tart) but I had nothing to worry about all along :)  This is officially the "Canuckette Forth of July dessert", and I am going to make it every year from now on :)

During the middle of me writing this post my roommate came home and handed me a package that was sent to me by Nathan's aunt Cindy.  She told me she was sending me something to remind me of home while I'm here in Canada, yes I know I live in Canada but Texas is my real home.  Anyways back to presents :D, so I had no idea what to expect but I knew it would be great.  Considering the type of gift it would only be fair to share with all my lovely readers, yup it's a kitchen goodie.

 

Aren't they amazing!?!  I am so in love with them :)  Every since I met Cindy we've been pretty close and we have very similar taste.  Apparently when she and her husband (Nathan's uncle Michael) saw them they immediately thought of me and picked them up.  I am so very blessed with amazing people in my life, and could never thank them enough for the thoughtful gift.  Well I'm going to try and say thanks by baking something chocolate for her :)  Tomorrow I will share the pastry recipe with y'all along with a recap of our celebrations, it's a very good recipe that my bestie shared with me and now I'll share with you too!  Until next time......................................................

Stay sweet,

Jennifer xoxoxoxo