I have missed you. However here is a great banana muffin recipe I adapted from the Joy of Cooking.
Ingredients:
-1 1/2 cup flour
-1/4 cup wheat germ
-1/2 cup rolled oats (not instant!)
-2 tsp baking soda
-1 tsp baking powder
-1 tsp cinnamon
-1/2 cup skor bits (the recipe called for walnuts, but I thought skor bits would be better and I had them in my pantry)
-1 large egg
-3/4 cup brown sugar
-2 mashed bananas
-1/3 cup coconut oil (I've been reading alot of other blogs that have been using coconut oil and I've been dying to try it, so I did instead of vegetable oil)
-1 tsp vanilla
-1 tbsp greek yogurt
1. Preheat oven to 375 F. Put 12 liners into a pan.
2. Whisk together, flour, wheat germ, rolled oats, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon in a medium bowl.
3. Stir in skor bits.
4. Whisk together egg, brown sugar, bananas, oil, vanilla and yogurt in a large bowl.
5. Fold in flour mixture into wet mixture. Divide the batter and add a spoonful of skor bits on top.
6. Bake for 15-18 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
I have a problem, I am obsessed with cauliflower. I've used it as a replacement for spaghetti noodles and cannot get enough of it mashed, I swear you will not notice a difference between that and potatoes as long as you puree it to death.
I read about cauliflower 'rice' a few months ago and have been making it pretty religiously since. I live in Chinatown and wanted to have a 'healthier' version of the cheap take out I crave as soon as I step outside.
Cauliflower Rice Ingredients:
-1 head cauliflower
-1 tbsp of olive oil
1. Wash Cauliflower.
2. Using kitchen scissors cut into small florets, add into a food processor and pulse into fine grains.
3. Heat oil in pan, add cauliflower and sautee until softened.
4. Serve as you would rice.
*While this was sauteing, I made the rest of the stir fry.
Black Bean Stir Fry:
Ingredients:
-1 red pepper, finely chopped
-1 onion, finely chopped
-3 stems of celery, finely chopped
-2 green onions, finely chopped
-1/4 cup cucumber, finely chopped
-1 pkg of ground turkey
-3 tbsp of black bean sauce (I cheated here by using Lee Kum Kee's Black Bean Garlic Sauce)
1. Add ground turkey in a pan, once cooked remove and leave in a bowl.
2. Add vegetables to the pan and once cooked add ground turkey back in.
3. Add sauce and simmer until cauliflower rice is cooked.
4. Once plated, add cucumbers and green onions.
Almost every year for my birthday I come up with a crazy theme that my friends indulge me in by participating. Past themes have included; Andy Warhol's Factory, Alice in Wonderland and Night of the Living Dead Party. This year was no different. My theme for my 29th birthday was the Circus. How did I get to that theme you ask? I blame it all on the store Michaels and their circus themed masks they had for sale.
A few of the masks
Michaels sold a few more circus themed items including invites and popcorn bags. Thus my theme was born and I spent the next few months planning and gathering for the event. I decided I would be the ringmaster and my friends came up with some great costumes which included; the bearded lady, a snake charmer, tattooed lady, tightrope walker, gypsy, knife thrower, circus goers, etc.
With every party I throw I do it on the cheap, so I hunted for items at dollar stores, value villages (I got my ringmasters red jacket there dirt cheap) and in clearance bins in various big box stores. One of my favourite pieces I made were gold spray painted circus animals. I bought the animals from the dollar store and gold spray paint from Walmart. In fact I'm a little obsessed with spray painting everything gold at the moment.
The Elephant - My Favourite
When it came to food, I wanted to keep it basic and fun. I wanted snacks you would find at the circus and/or carnival. I had peanuts in shells, mini donuts, cotton candy, popcorn in bags, chips, caramel apple lollypops, big whirly lollypops, chubby sodas (which included the flavour cotton candy), mini pogos with an assortment of condiments, veggies and dip and cotton candy flavoured cupcakes as my birthday cake.
Somehow all of this became
This!
More Details
I even included face paint!
TIP #1: Look through what you already own, I re-used the green plastic bowls from a bridal shower I threw earlier in the summer and the elephant tray is from my bar.
The hardest detail to achieve this party, I would say was the Big Top. I knew I wanted to create one and with a bunch of ideas on how to do that, we settled on sheets and crepe paper.
Big Top and yes that is a Keith Haring sheet
Another look at the Big Top and me looking silly
Another great dollar store find!
All the animals in their glory and a felted circus scene
The party would not be complete without a circus-themed playlist. The songs below were mostly inspired by the circus but a few were songs I was in love with.
One of my yearly festive traditions is to make the deviled eggs for my aunts' Christmas party. To me this is Christmas. I have been attending the party my entire life and cannot imagine my life without it. In fact I believe this is where I get my party-planning gene. I now give you my 'famous deviled eggs recipe' that I have been making since I was 10.
Ingredients:
-2 dozen eggs (I usually vary how many cartons I use but for the sake of this entry, I'll go with what I used this time)
-1/4 cup mayo (I usually eyeball this, but I started with this amount and added as needed)
-1 pinch of salt
-1 pinch of pepper
-Paprika dusted on top
1. Get the largest pot you own, add water and a splash of vinegar. Add eggs and bring to a boil.
2. Boil for 10 minutes, immediately remove from heat and run under cold water until eggs are no longer hot. (I usually do this in a two-day process, this is where I would stop and put the eggs in the refrigerator)
3. Peel eggs, cut in half, place egg whites on a plate and add yokes into another bowl.
4. Once completed, add mayo into the yoke bowl and mix together until smooth. Add pinches of salt and pepper to taste. Spoon into egg whites.
5. Dust with paprika to finish (for a real treat get some smoked paprika).
Deviled Eggs
To prove my party craziness, I took a few shots of some of the food at my aunts.
Pink Unicorns my favourite!
She made gluten free for my cousins girlfriend - She also told me she ends Saturday night prep by painting the hippos!
We *kids* love to drink the sparkling stuff
Bacon-wrapped dates pre-cooked
Its all in the details, I make post-it notes for parties too (despite being blurry it needed to be included)
I admit I am a horrible blogger, it is something I plan on fixing in the new year. While I have plenty of recipes and party ideas sitting on my camera that I will be blogging about in the future. I am going to do this list of 10 funny habits and guilty pleasures I have seen on some of my favourite blogs in lieu of all of that.
Here we go:
1. I love changing my hair, I have had every colour in the rainbow and every length. This year it all changed, I decided to grow out my own natural hair colour (I am still not convinced I actually like it) as long as it can go. I haven't had this much hair since I was four.
2. I am a granny trapped in a younger lady's body. I enjoy knitting, collecting salt and pepper shakers and prefer most things vintage to new.
3. I am a trained photographer and work in digitization for a great institution (trying to keep it anonymous on the internet) however I hate talking about cameras. I have never liked talking about cameras, their functions, their features, etc. I love photography and even photography isn't something I always want to talk about but I don't want to talk camera specifics with anyone.
4. If I have toast with peanut butter and jam on it, it needs to also have a thin slice of cheese preferably old cheddar on top. I picked this up from my aunt.
5. I didn't see a lot of 'classic movies' that most of my friends did growing up and since I don't have that connection to them, I don't 'loooooooovvvveee' them like you are supposed to. In fact some of them I don't even like. They are in no order, The Princess Bride, The Goonies and Labyrinth. Feels good to get that off my chest.
6. I am a horrible plant owner. I have killed everything I've ever been given. I also think I would be a horrible gardener because of this.
7. I love mtv reality shows. I get obsessed with the real world and all the challenge shows with older cast members.
8. I like my kraft dinner slightly congealed. I will let it sit for a few minutes and then go to town. I even find it better the next day. On the same note I like my scrambled eggs slightly runny and my poached eggs soft so I can dip my toast in it.
9. I have a bad habit of walking around like a T-rex at times. I don't do it as often now as I did as a teen, but I did catch myself doing it last week at work.
10. I am a secret gamer. I am really good at the games I played in my youth - Super Mario Brothers, Donkey Kong 1 & 2, Mario 3, etc.
Now you know some of my silly secrets. Confess yours. xox
p.s This is one of my favourite songs of the year. It reminds me alot of my 2011.
It's officially soup season! I cannot believe I haven't posted my most basic soup recipe. This is a take off on Canadian Living's Quick Vegan Potato Lentil Soup. I made that soup or variations on it last winter at least ten times.
Ingredients
-1 tbsp sunflower oil
-1 tsp thyme
-1/4 tsp cumin
-1 or 2 pinches of cayenne pepper (I usually do 2, I like spicy)
-1 pinch of red pepper flakes
-1 onion; chopped
-4 gloves garlic; sliced into thinly (I really like garlic)
-1 zucchini; chopped finely
-2 mushrooms; chopped
-2 roasted red peppers (I cheated, I used bottled)
-1 cup of red lentils
-1 box of stock (I generally use vegetable)
1. Add sunflower oil to large pot, saute onions, zucchini, mushrooms, red peppers and red lentils.
2. Stir frequently for five minutes, add in garlic, spices, beans and stock.
3. Bring to a boil and than turn down stove and simmer for 20 minutes or so.
Living in Chinatown has definitely made me a) a better cook and b) a lazier cook who sometimes just wants to order cheap take out in.
This recipe is both quick and fulfilling for that Chinese food take out craving. It is loosely adapted from here.
Ingredients:
1 block of tofu
1/4 cup sesame seeds
2 tbsp sesame oil
3 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp sriracha (i only eyeballed this as i did it, so it may have been more, depends on how spicy you like it)
1 head broccoli cut into small pieces (i included the stems as well)
Most of my ingredients - i had already chopped up the broccoli
1. Chop up broccoli, add to pot and steam it
2. Put tofu between 2 sets of paper towel to get all the water out - this took about five minutes
3. Mix all the sauces together while the tofu is drying
4. Once tofu is dry cut up in small pieces and cover with sesame seeds.
5. Add half the sauce and tofu in a hot pan. Cook each side between 4-6 minutes.
6. Once cooked place tofu on top of broccoli and pour the remaining sauce on top.
Dinner!
*I cheated a bit with some ramen noodles, however i did split them between dinner and lunch for the next day*
