Your Morning Oatmeal, Jacked Up

Hello Sweets,

Jeez I can't seem to catch a break lately lol.  I am clearly coming off of another sick day :/, just when you think I'm in the clear.  I really think this move stressed my system right out, and I am still adjusting.  Just to add a little salt to the wound that is my  pride, Nathan and I won't be spending valentines day together :(.  With all these doctor appointments and moving, it has made our normal travel plans come to a screeching halt.  No girl wants to spend valentines day apart from her man, especially this girl :'(  But it's not the date that matters, it's when we finally can recreate our day :)  However, that does not mean I don't have something sweet planned for my man.  Annnd I'm spending tonight piecing it all together, even if we won't get to see each other for another month (uggghhhh this is going to be the longest stretch we've done in quite some time).

Tonight I thought I would completely veer away from sweet desserts.  I'm not evening going to be sharing a dinner post, instead I am bringing you the greatest meal of the entire day.  Yea you know I'm talking about breakfast!!  I don't know anyone who doesn't like breakfast, and if there is someone out there who doesn't I am sure if you'd let me make you breakfast you'd love it :D  Yea I am a pretty confident breakfast maker lol, but when you know what you're doing it's pretty simple.  Normally I don't eat oatmeal for breakfast lol, yea normally it's a snack or lunch.  But this time I made it for breakfast, and it is unlike any oatmeal I've ever eaten before.

Baked Pumpkin Spice Oatmeal

Ingredients

2C rolled oats

1tsp vanilla

2tsp pumpkin spice (I made mine with cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and allspice)

6Tbs brown sugar

1C pumpkin puree

1C milk

1/2tsp salt

 

Directions:

1)  Preheat oven to 375F.  In a bowl combine oats, vanilla, pumpkin spice, brown sugar, pumpkin, and milk.

 

 

2)  Pour into a casserole dish.

 

 

3)  Bake for 40 minutes, or until oatmeal is set.

 

4)  Serve immediately.  I chose to add a little splash of milk, it was delicious!

 

 

Who would've thought, that pumpkin in oatmeal would be this dang good!!  The spiciness has this wonderful warmth to it, and it's very hearty so you won't be getting hungry anytime soon.  I don't think I'll ever make oatmeal on the stove top again, baking it clearly is the way to go.  Now to think about an apple, cinnamon, brown sugar medley mmmmm sounds yummy ;)

I know this was a short post y'all, but my little project is anything but little lol.  And we all know how much of a perfectionist I am, so I better get my butt in gear!  I'm also making a sweet treat for this sweet holiday, of course!  But y'all will have to come back tomorrow and see what that will be.  Until next time....

Stay sweet,

Jennifer xoxoxo  

A Rebel Alliance Birthday!

Hello Sweets,

Only a few more days until I get the keys to my new place, which means I am in full on packing mode.  I am excited to be back in my own place, but I will miss my fun little conversations with my roomie.  But it was time for me to get back into my own space again, I just wish someone could do my packing for me lol.  I don't have much left to pack, but the way I've been feeling I might as well be packing a 30 room mansion :p  Which in turn mean I am exhausted, so I thought I would do a quick little post about Nathan's birthday :) 

Nathan's birthday almost always falls on Thanksgiving, and anyone who has a birthday near a holiday knows that combining the two is never fun for the birthday celebrator.  Knowing this, I decided that I would separate the two and make sure Nathan felt very special.  Luckily for me Nathan loves shrimp almost as much as I do, and Nathan's parents hate any seafood so it's never made in the house.  I decided to make him my Spicy Shrimp Linguine, and when I showed him the pictures he was sold on the yummy dinner.  When it was just the two of us, I surprised Nathan with a sweet little card and some paintings that I did just for him :)

Texas flag for my Texan man

A memento of our love and anniversary

Then on the first day we had just the two of us, I decided to make him a delicious dinner complete with wine and garlic french bread.  Lets see handsome and his satisfied smile;

Happy birthday boy!

Look at that beautiful delicious dish

 Of course I also made Nathan a delicious cake, chocolate of course as that is his favorite, but we decided to keep that for the family celebration on Thanksgiving.  Since I had created Star Wars themed cupcakes for a birthday a couple months prior, it was quite obvious what the theme was going to be.  We decided to go with a "rebel alliance" theme, and he let me run with my imagination.  He told me (repeatedly) that I didn't need to make the symbols because he knows how temperamental marshmallow fondant can be, but I am both stubborn and determined lol!
 

chocolate cake with chocolate icing and marshmallow fondant

I used blue coarse sugar to emulate a starry background :)

 Needless to say he was extremely happy and grateful with the results, and nothing makes me happier than to see him smile.  I think now I have created a bar for myself when it comes to his birthday cakes, and knowing me I'll raise that bar every year from now on!

Well I really should get back to packing, but first I need to make some dinner.  Thankfully I made a couple of chicken breasts the other night, purposely, so I'd have a quick meal option :)  Yup, not just a pretty face over here lol ;)  Until next time....

Stay sweet,

Jennifer xoxoxo

Candy With Some Zing!

Hello Sweets,

Did you have a manic Monday?  I had a painful Monday :(, why you ask?  Well I get TPI's (trigger point injections) every month and where I get them there isn't a lot of muscle or even fat (ie my head).  It's weird though because they've always been painful, but the last few months it seems even worse, but I will keep going at it to try and get back to my regular old self :)

I want to give you all a heads up that today's post will be on the shorter side for a few reasons; 1) I'm not feeling so hot, 2) I'm tired and need to try and nap, and 3) because it will lead into a longer post tomorrow ;)
As most of my readers know I have some "go to" comforts that seem to be the only things that make me feel better or allow me to eat when I am having a bad day.  One that is definitely in my top five is ginger ale, you know the beverage that every grandmother would give you to settle your stomach (even though it should have been flat lol)?  Well still to this day I love it and with all of my not feeling well reminded me of a time when I worked for a retirement home.  Now we're going back a few years but I loved the people I was helping everyday, it honestly was like having one hundred grandparents :)  Of course each of the staff had our favorites, I know I did, and they all stood out for their own unique qualities or traits.  One specific gentlemen named Jack was funny, very friendly, and was always looking out for us girls.  I would volunteer every other weekend to have a billiards day (they had a very nice pool table), and sometimes it would just be Jack and I playing for hours.  One day while helping with cleaning his room, I had a terrible stomach ache and felt awful, he immediately picked up on it and said "I have just the thing for you".  When he came back he was holding open a small candy jar, only I had no idea what the pieces were inside.  Since I had this perplexed look on my face, he spoke up and explained that it was candied ginger and that it would help settle my stomach.  Knowing I still had a good four hours until the end of my shift I thought I'll give it a shot since I didn't have any ginger ale, and sure enough it did the trick.  Now I do keep some on hand that I picked up but it doesn't always help unfortunately, and then one day I ran out and while I was at the grocery store I saw they had fresh ginger on sale.  I took it as divine intervention, the baking Gods were putting a challenge right in front of me and telling me I could make this on my own.  So thanks to my funky little AllRecipe app for my iPhone, that is the recipe I'm bringing to you today!

Candied Ginger via (AllRecipes)

Ingredients

2C sugar

2C fresh ginger, cut into thin slices

2C water

  

I didn't use bottled water lol

Directions:

1)  In a medium sauce pan combine the sugar, ginger, and water bringing to a boil over high heat.  Reduce heat and let simmer until it becomes syrupy and the liquid has been reduced by half 40-45 minutes.  Strain the ginger out and reserve the syrup (if you'd like, I didn't).

2)  I was a little impatient in regards to letting them dry so I threw them in the oven on a low heat until they became tacky to the touch.  I then tossed them in sugar and stored in an air tight container until I needed them.

 from this

to this!

I apologize for the lack of "process" pictures, not sure what I was thinking.  It wasn't overly complicated and I did it without a candy thermometer :)  The smell of the fresh ginger was a lovely aroma that you don't smell very often, and not to mention the fruits of my labor are delish!

So tomorrow you will see what I did with a majority of these bad boys, until them I'll leave you with the many ideas that run through your brains and I'll go try and nap!  Until next time.............................

Stay sweet,

Jennifer xoxoxo

Canuckette's 5 Alarm Chili

Hello Sweets,

This had to be one of the worst weeks I've had in a while :(, my vertigo decided it would see how I liked going back to a childhood memory (spinning on teacups at Disney World, not fun!).  So of course I spent most of the week laying in the dark because my migraines we also especially painful, and then to top it off I felt so sick I couldn't even eat my comfort food O_O.  All in all it wasn't a good week to be in the kitchen creating, mostly because I couldn't even make it to the kitchen lol, but I still have a couple recipes hidden away, plus I think I am going to try something new in the next couple of days.  But for today I am going to pull one out of my stash, because the little I have done today has already proven to be too much :(

So the new recipe I'll be trying in a couple of days will compliment this dish perfectly, that should give y'all something to think about after reading today's post.  As you know my last post was about making my very own chili powder, which was inspired by this very dish that I came across on Hillbilly Housewife's website.  Clearly I am talking about chili lol, and I made my own personal tweaks to the recipe to make it more my own but my inspiration really came from Nathans dad, who made me chili a week or so before I left.  As you all know I am always homesick within days (if not the day) of coming home and to make matters worse I left a little dusting of snow for lots of snow and 18 degree (Fahrenheit), talk about a double downer.  The beauty of this recipe is that (besides the beans) everything is cooked in one pot, that equals less dishes and a happy girl lol.  I bet you're all wondering what makes me think I made a 5 alarm chili, well the original recipe only calls for a tablespoon of chili powder and mine has a whole heck of a lot more (to be accurate the entire amount I made lol oops).  So please heed caution and make it to the heat degree you're comfortable with, now let's get to the yummy goodness shall we?

Canuckette's 5 Alarm Chili (inspired by Hillbilly Housewife) 

Ingredients

1.5lbs ground beef (I use extra lean)

1 medium yellow onion, chopped

3 cloves fresh garlic, chopped

1 large can of tomatoes

1 (tiny) can of tomato paste

3 1/2C cooked beans, pinto or kidney (I used a combination of 3 and eyed the measurements, she also has great instructions to cook the beans if using fresh like me)

1Tbs chili powder (I use A LOT more, but I like spicy things)

 1/4Tsp black pepper, coarse

pinch of salt

1Tbs parsley (if desired)

 

Directions:

1)  In a large pot (at least 4qts), brown the ground beef and soften the chopped onions over medium.  Break the meat into smaller pieces as it cooks, once there is absolutely no pink left in the meat drain off the fat and return to burner.

 

2)  Add the canned tomatoes and tomato paste, add an additional 2-3 cups of water for simmering.

 

3)  Add the cooked beans, chili powder, salt, black pepper, and parsley.  Stir and bring to a boil.

 

4)  Reduce the heat to a simmer, and allow it to cook (covered or not) for about 1 hour and then enjoy!

 nom nom nom :)

I divided up the chili into multiple containers so I could freeze and pull out as needed (I'm only one little girl after all), but you can eat it straight away as a family meal or even bring it to a pot luck (I would turn the spiciness down considerably).  I have a couple of ways I love to eat chili, the traditional way with a little bit of cheese on top, with either cornbread or toast, and (this is going to sound weird) over top of french fries lol.  You can also enjoy it own its own, over rice, or with some crackers as well, but really the possibilities are endless.  Chili is the type of food to warm you from the inside and it's super healthy with all the fiber and protein.

I hope you all enjoy this recipe as much as I do (and still am), it is the perfect food for chilly Canadian winters (or any winter for that matter).   Now I am very confident that most of my readers (if not all) will know what I am making as the final recipe for the three part chili series, but on the off chance you don't, I'm keeping it as a surprise so you'll come back again tomorrow!  Until next time...................

Stay sweet,

Jennifer xoxoxo

  

Spice Spice Baby

Hello Sweets,

I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend. I have been laying pretty low since I have been feeling "off", but decided that I needed to try and take my mind off of that by getting back into the kitchen tonight!  We met up with our friend Dave tonight to exchange our Christmas gifts, and boy do people really know what I like!  Take a gander at my lovely gifts, can you tell I have a real passion now lol?

Thanks Dave!! Apparently this wine book will make me a bit of a wine snob lol

One other little gift Dave gave to me was my finalized logo cartoon!!  Check it out, then head over to his website.  He is in the middle of overhauling his blog so be prepared for the format to change in the coming months :)  It will soon be an art based blog, and trust me when I say he has the skills as you can see below.

Isn't she lovely :)

So as I had told you all in my last recipe post, while making the spicy green sauce for the enchilada's my kitchen creation wheels started turning with ideas for a new extra spicy salsa.  Being in Texas with Nathan and his family has shown me that if you say you're going to make something spicy you better be sure it delivers, so I didn't skimp on the heat but I am only posting this recipe as a guideline because not everyone likes it hot like we do lol!

Canuckette's Extra Spicy Salsa

Ingredients

(remember this is just a guideline, use your discretion)

20-30 tomatillos 

15-20 serrano peppers

5 habenaro peppers

1/2 white onion

1 lemon, zested and juiced

garlic, chopped

black pepper

garlic powder

sea salt

seasoning salt

 

 Directions:

1)  Remove the husks from the tomatillos and the stems from the peppers, and wash them.

 

2)  Place them all in a pot and boil until the tomatillos are lighter in color and soft.

3)  While that is boiling zest and juice your lemon, then mix with the chopped onion.  Plus check out a couple more of my fun kitchen gadget gifts :)

 

  

super easy with all the fun tools :) (not shown is my kitchen aid chopper)

4)  Drain the water from the pot and then transfer everything into a blender, adding seasoning to your preferences.  Blend until desired consistency is reached and enjoy!

 

There you have it a super easy and affordable homemade salsa, plus you'll have a good amount perfect for a party or get together!

Well folks I only have a couple more days left with Nathan before I go home so you can bet I'll be baking something new and delicious :)  Plus he made some amazing and yummy shrimp for dinner so I'll be blogging about that tomorrow.  Until next time.............

Stay sweet,

Jennifer xoxoxo

Spicing Things Up In Your Life

Hello Sweets,

So now that everything is getting back to normal, it's time my blog got back to normal too!  I feel like it has been forever since I have given you guys a recipe, so today I'm giving you a great recipe :)

As you may or may not know, most of my family lives in the USA.  They're scattered all over the country in different states.  My auntie Peggy lives in California with my uncle Moise and cousins Gwenda, Genna, and Gilbert.  My uncle comes from Mexico, so when we went to visit them when I was younger they made all sorts of yummy Mexican food.  Now everything they made was delicious but there was one dish that my mom wanted the recipe to make at home and that was the enchiladas.  When my mom went to buy the items needed for the recipe, we ran into a bit of a snag since we lived in Canada, some of the produce had to be bought from a small bodega that we found in our city.  Once we had gathered everything we needed we spent the entire day making the dish, and trust me it is worth all the work it takes.  Now when I told Nathan and his dad that I planned on making enchiladas they didn't think it would be very spicy, but I warned them it would be and they'd be pleasantly surprised.  Now again I am going to give all of my lovely readers the same warning I gave them; it is very spicy.  If you don't like heat you should probably use a lot less Serrano peppers.  Let's get to the spicy treat shall we?

Auntie Peggy's Enchiladas

Ingredients

1 whole chicken

1 bottle of Mexican cream or heavy cream (not sour cream)

10-15 serrano peppers

20-30 tomatillos

corn tortillas (20 small or 10 large)

1 bag of  Monterrey cheese, shredded

seasoning salt

garlic, chopped

pepper

(Christmas blend Starbucks coffee not needed lol)

Directions:

1)  Wash the chicken and remove the gizzards (if you have a dog bake them in the oven for them!), season with seasoning salt, pepper, and salt.  Place in a large stock pot and fill with water, bring to a boil then simmer on medium-high for about 2 hours until the meat falls off the bone (or until the wing moves freely and there is not pink in the meat).  Set aside and allow to cool.

 

2)  While the chicken is cooking you can prepare the salsa; peel the tomatillos (husks) and wash them as they will be sticky and dirty.  Snap the stems off the Serrano and wash them, then place both into a large pot, fill with water, and boil.  Cook until the tomatillos become a light green.

 

3)  Place the tomatillos and serranos into a blender with the garlic, seasoning salt, and pepper.  Blend until the mixture is smooth, taste and add more seasoning if needed (it will be hot so be careful).

4)   Once the chicken is cooled de-bone and shred, place shredded chicken into a large bowl and add 1/4 of the salsa to it.  Toss the chicken so that the chicken is coated in the salsa.

 

5)  Now you will need to prep the tortillas.  Place a small amount of oil into a frying pan over medium heat.  Put a tortilla into the pan until lightly golden, flip and do the same to that side (15-25 seconds per side).

 

6)  Take the tortillas and spread salsa on them, once that is done add the cream to the salsa.

 

 7)  Grab a tortilla and put some chicken onto it, then roll closed and place them in a line in a baking dish.

8)  Once all rolled, spread cheese over top of the enchiladas.  Then pour the salsa (now with cream) over them.

 

9)  Bake at 350F until golden brown in spots.  Depending on your liking you can bake until parts become crispier.

Again, this dish is very hot spice wise, and I would tread with caution even if you enjoy hot food.  I know I don't provide measurements either but it is based solely on taste testing, so I encourage you to trust your taste buds.  Actually this recipe has spawned an idea for a new Canuckette original creation, salsa!!  I'm going to add some more ingredients and spices but the base is already there so I can only build on an already great thing :) 

 Now I am completely out of finished recipes, which means back to the kitchen drawing board for this girl.  I am baking tonight but some that I have already done (I've been craving more pecan shortbread), but I do have a couple ideas that I've been thinking about plus more fun kitchen gadgets so I am sure I'll have another good read for you :)  Until next time.........

Stay sweet,

Jennifer xoxoxo