Thai Coconut Chicken

I'm a huge fan of chicken and curry dishes and we've had this little packet of Club House Thai Coconut Chicken seasoning in the pantry for a long time. I've always wanted to try it, but never had the right ingredients. Finally, I decided to just go for it and get the ingredients and make a delicious meal out of this little pack of powder!

Ingredients:
1tbsp vegetable oil
1 lb chicken, cut into strips/cubes
2 1/2 thinly sliced vegetables (I used 3 small heads of broccoli and half a red bell pepper)
3/4 cup coconut milk
3/4 cup milk

1. In wok or large skillet heat vegetable oil over medium-high heat.
2. Add chicken and stir-fry 4 minutes.

3. Add vegetables. Stir-fry 5-7 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink.

4. Reduce heat to medium. Add coconut milk, milk, and seasoning mix, stirring constantly until sauce is thickened. Simmer 1 minute.

5. Serve over rice or noodles.

It was delicious! Much better than I thought it would have been for a packet of powder.

Strawberry Truffle Cake

After a weekend full of candy and chocolate, I thought I would keep it going with one of my all-time favourite cake recipes: the Strawberry Truffle Cake. It's so delicious and chocolatey, and honestly so easy to make! I found the recipe a few years ago when a friend of mine tried it as a birthday cake to herself, and I had wanted to try it too. It almost has more of a fudge texture, so a thin slice is dense enough to satisfy even the most intense chocolate craving.

Ingredients:
-1 box chocolate cake mix (plus ingredients called for on the box)
-1/4 cup butter
-1 1/3 cups whipping cream
-2 1/4 cups bittersweet chocolate chips
-3-4 cups fresh strawberries, diced
-6-8 fresh strawberries, cut in half

1. Mix and bake the cake according to the package instructions. Bake in a 9x13 inch pan. Let the cake cool for one hour.

2. Meanwhile, make the ganache: Add butter and cream to a small saucepan and set over medium heat. When the mixture comes to a boil, add the chocolate chips and turn off the heat. Let it sit for a minute of two, then stir until smooth.

3. Cut the cake in 1-inch cubes, and add half the cubes to a mixing bowl. Beat on low until cake is completely crumbly.

4. Add 1 3/4 of the ganache to the mixing bowl. Add the remaining cake cubes, and beat until throughly combined.
5. Use a wooden spoon to fold in the diced strawberries.
**6. Grab a 6-inch springform pan and line the bottom with a circle of wax paper. Spoon the mix into the pan and smooth the top until it's flat.
7. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze for 45 minutes. (You don't actually want to freeze it, just firm it up).
8. Run a plastic knife around the edges of the pan and gently release the edges of the pan. Invert the cake onto a plate or cake stand and gently remove the wax paper from the now-top.
9. Frost the top and sides of the cake with the rest of the ganache. It's easier if the cake is very very cold.
10. Decorate with the strawberry halves.

**It's very important to use the wax paper! Otherwise your cake will not come out of the pan and it will fall apart when you try to take it out. Also, I don't have a springform pan, so a regular round pan is fine too.

There you go! The cake barely lasted 3 days in the fridge, and I'm sure once you make your own, you'll wanna make it a million more times.

Homemade Skor Bars

I don't know about you, but I love chocolate! A few years ago, my aunt brought all these homemade desserts to our Christmas family dinner and among these goodies were what she called Skor Bars. They were amazing. I got completely addicted! She even made me a batch as a birthday present one year! Eventually, I decided that I couldn't just wait to have these once a year, so I went online and found the recipe.... Trust me, you'll thank you for this later!
It's such a simple recipe, with only 4 ingredients. Yes, FOUR ingredients! It's just so sugary and fat, but so totally worth it. Seriously.

You'll need:
-24 regular salted crackers
-1 cup butter
-1 cup brown sugar
-1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F, line a pan (usually about 13x9) with parchment paper and arrange crackers evenly in the pan.
2. In a saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Stir in brown sugar until melted and smooth. Bring mixture to a boil while stirring constantly until it's smooth and bubbly. Boil for 2 minutes, then pour evenly over crackers.
3. Bake in oven for 5 minutes.
4. Sprinkle chocolate chips evenly over the caramel mixture and return to oven just long enough for the chocolate to melt, then spread chocolate with a spatula.
5. Put the pan in the refrigerator or freezer until the chocolate is firm (usually about 15 minutes), then cut or break into pieces.
And voila! Now you have these amazing, delicious treats that will get devoured in record time!

Root Beer Cookies

I know this may sound strange, but these are by far the best cookies I've ever made. A friend of mine gave me the recipe and I decided to try it out!

Ingredients:
-3/4 cup butter
-3/4 brown sugar
-1/4 cup sugar
-1 small box instant vanilla pudding mix (dry, do not prepare)
-2 eggs
-1 tsp root beer extract
-2 1/4 cup flour
-1 tsp baking soda
-1 cup white chocolate chips

Instructions:
1. Cream butter and sugars together.
2. Beat in instant vanilla pudding mix well.
3. Add eggs and root beer extract and beat until well incorporated.
4. Add flour and baking soda and beat until well incorporated.
5. Sit in white chocolate chips
6. Roll into 1" balls and place on greased cookie sheet
7. Bake at 350 degrees F. for 8-10 minutes. **
** I modified this a little: I found that they weren't thoroughly cooked after 10 minutes, so I would flatten them with a fork and put them in for another 5 minutes **

Root beer extract: I've been told you can find some at Walmart, in the same section as the vanilla extract, but I went to Bulk Barn and found tiny bottles that were 1 tsp each, so it worked out perfectly! (Also, extract and concentrate are the same thing, so don't get discouraged if it says concentrate instead.)

These cookies are absolutely delicious and they aren't overly sweet, so you can just keep on eating! I was also really surprised that the taste of root beer isn't as dominant as you'd think. They mostly taste like vanilla with a slight root beer after taste. Yummy! :)

Me? A Vegetarian? No Way!

Source

It's been 10 days and I'm still alive! So I guess you could say it's going well!
Since I'm starting my half-marathon training today, I thought I would go vegetarian for this month's 30 Day Challenge (well... 28 days), rather than do a fitness challenge.

I LOVE meat... I miss it! But hey, I tried peach-mango flavoured tofu, and man, is it ever good! It's definitely been making me think twice about what I eat.

Have YOU ever tried to go vegetarian?

Christmas 2013

Christmas this year was really great! I spent Christmas eve at Alex's house with his family, then we drove to my house for Christmas with the whole extended family! It was a great supper, we all ate way too much, and the desserts were amazing! (Obviously, I got made fun of by my uncles for taking pictures of food, but you know, that's what uncles do.)

Sugar cookies, Toblerones and homemade Skors

Sugared oranges wrapped in chocolate

My sister made these amazing Eggnog spiced cupcakes!

Of course, I dressed up for the occasion. I wore my new necklace and ring that I got for Christmas and tried something different with my hair.

Isn't it adorable?! It's like it's giving my finger a hug!

Harry Potter fans, you'll know what this is.

I had a wonderful Christmas and I hope you did too! Merry Christmas everyone!

Tapas Galore

Sunday, my sister decided to cook dinner for the family and boyfriends. She had a couple of recipes she wanted to try and so that's what she did and it was incredible! We all ate like kings!

We had Ikea-style swedish meatballs, tomato-sauce meatballs, cucumber-salmon finger food, cheese-wrapped salami, mini tacos, bruschetta, and zucchini with tomatoes and melted cheese on top.

Tapas are, for those who don't know, a spanish invention. The word "tapas" literally means "covers," or "lids," because they used to be served on top of a drink to keep flies from getting in. They are finger foods or appetizers, usually like bar food, or just a great way to try a bunch of tasty treats!

Man, can that girl cook!

Gluten-Free: Recap

This past month, I decided to go on a gluten-free diet, just for kicks. I'm a bread and pasta addict, and so I thought I would change it up and little and see what all the fuss is about! Yesterday was my last day of this 30 day challenge and today I'm doing a recap of this month.

At first, I honestly thought I wouldn't survive. How can I live in a world without bread or pasta? Let me let you, it's possible! Over the past 30 days, I've eaten gluten-free bread, noodles, pizza, lasagna, brownies, and I don't know how many other things that were gluten-free!

Despite my big failure at the beginning, I managed to stay gluten-free for 30 days. I stayed gluten-free throughout thanksgiving (a bite or two doesn't count, right?), though I did cheat one day and went out for pizza with my sister for her birthday.
I was really interesting the way my body reacted to this change. I feel lighter, I've lost a few pounds, i digest much better and I don't feel so comatose after eating. I just feel satisfied. Even after I ate half of a large pizza, I didn't feel like my stomach was about to burst!
I'm going out for burgers tonight, but other than that, I think I may try to choose the gluten-free option when I can.

Yay for food!

Sushi Story

I'm really hungry right now, and I found these pictures from about two weeks ago when I went for sushi with Jessica and I thought I would share my love of sushi.

My mom has always had this obsession with foreign cultures, specifically Japanese and Indian. She then started making sushis at home; she bought the sushi plates and everything, and all the rolling tools. I would watch her and eat the sticky rice, but make a face at the idea of eating seaweed and raw fish. Gross right? Right! Not only that, but vegetables?! Yuck.

She "forced" me to try one, with just salmon and I was surprised at how good it was! It had a strange texture that I wasn't used to, but it really wasn't too bad! So for years, she made these special salmon-only sushi for me, while the rest of my family ate the veggie-filled ones, with tuna, or california rolls. I was perfectly content with my little salmon rolls. Eventually, my taste started changing and I became adventurous. (Whaaaaa!) I tried a salmon roll with veggies, then a california roll, and omg, I was hooked.

I've tried a lot of different things, from chicken to octopus and let me tell you, there's nothing better.

Hawaiian BBQ Kielbasa

I was reading Kym's blog when I found this interesting recipe and I thought I would try it! So friday night, I made dinner for the family and It worked out great! It was super simple and surprisingly good! My mother was worried it would be to sweet, but she really liked it!
You can find the recipe here!

Yum! The colours look so great and appetizing!!

Gluten-Free Brownies!

My mother has been making brownies lately that are so moist, crumbly and chocolatey that you don't even realize they are gluten-free! Alex loves them, and within a few days, they are gone! Being on my gluten-free diet, I thought these would be the perfect example that gluten-free doesn't mean yummy-free! Almost anything can be made gluten-free (even bread!!)
This weekend I decided to try and make some myself and they turned out great!

Here's the recipe:
-1 can (19 oz/540 ml) black beans, drained and rinsed
-3 eggs
-1/3 cup canola oil
-2 tbsp vanilla extract
-1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
-1/2 unsweetened cocoa powder
-1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1. Preheat oven to 350 F
2. In food processor, purée beans, eggs, oil and vanilla for 1 to 2 minutes or until smooth.
3. In a large bowl, combine sugar, cocoa and baking powder. Pour in bean mixture and stir until smooth.
4. Pour batter into prepared baking pan (9-inch square metal baking pan, greased). Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes or until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool completely in pan on a wire rack.
Voila!

What a Fail

Photo credit: med-health.net

Friday, I was eating my gluten-free toast, like every morning since I started this gluten-free diet, when I thought: "Hmm... I wonder what's in this stuff!" So I looked at the ingredients and I realized, this bread was NOT gluten-free!!!

My mother had told me the gluten free bread was in the freezer in the basement, so when I went to find it, I found this bag of bread with a barely readable label. I thought it was bread my mom had made, but when I actually did read the label, it wasn't. It was homemade bread she'd bought at the farmer's market.... The gluten-free bread was at the bottom of the freezer!

OOPS..... Turns out I've been gluten THIS WHOLE TIME! At least it's not an irreparable mistake... I'll just finish on November 5 instead!

Goodbye Gluten!

To spice things up a little, I decide to force myself onto a gluten-free diet for the next 31 days. Everyone's been talking about how horrible it is for us and though I'm not entirely convinced, I thought I would give it a try and see what the hype is about.

*I did try this for 2 weeks before I left for Germany, knowing I would be eating mostly bread and cheese (which I did, by the way). I thought I might as well lose the few pounds I would gain from eating all that bready-goodness. The result were impressive: in two weeks, I lost over 12 pounds! I wasn't working out, or trying to eat healthy. I just ditched the gluten and bam!

**The ONLY exception to this gluten-free diet will be my granola bars. It's honestly the only thing keeping me alive at work. I am trying to only get healthier ones though, which are basically almost gluten-free anyway.

Goodbye pasta, bread, beer and all you other gluteny amazing foods! I will miss you! ...or will I?

Cookies and Cupcakes!

I'm not a very good cook. In fact, I'm terrible! But I do love baking. Yesterday, I decided to procrastinate and avoid homework by making some delicious coconut cupcakes and chocolate chip cookies.

 Wait a minute, these aren't chocolate chip cookies! Yeah.... about that. I sort of forgot to put one of two cups of flour when I put the in the oven so when I pulled then out a minute later, the chocolate chips had already started melting, but I had to mix in the extra cup! So thus becoming chocolate cookies.
But boy are they nice and chewy!

Happy weekend :)

Banana Split!

The weather here has been getting me down; it's cold and cloudy and it's been making me sleepy and craving sugar and greasy foods. Last night, I decided to make myself the best dessert ever! It was so yummy!

You'll need:

-1 banana

-Ice cream

-Fruit (strawberries, pineapples, whatever you like!)

-Chocolate sauce*

-Whipped cream

Start with slicing the banana in half, and putting two (or three!) ice cream scoops on a plate or bowl.

Then add the fruit (as much as you like) on top, add the chocolate sauce and whipped cream and there you go! You've got yourself a yummy, guilt-inducing banana split!

*If you don't have any chocolate sauce on hand, here's how you make your own!
In a microwaveable bowl, mix one tablespoon of cocoa powder, one tablespoon of sugar and about one tablespoon of water. Mix it all together and warm it up 10 seconds at a time!

Happy Friday!

Happy Sushi!

Today is a good friend of mine's birthday (Happy birthday Jess!) and we went out for sushi during lunch, which so happened to be literally across the street from the university!

Sushi: Salmon rolls and California rolls // Shirt: (Germany) // Cardigan: Warehouse One

I'm sure I'm not the only one when I say this: I LOVE sushi! My mom has always loved japanese culture, and so she started making sushis at home and I can never get enough! At first, I only ate it with cooked fish. Eventually, I started experimenting and discovers that seaweed and raw fish really isn't as terrible as it sounds!
And the rest, as they say, is history.