Welcome to my Nest!
Merry Christmas to all of you, from our crazy family. May your holidays be filled with love, laughter and your family surrounding you. Cherish the twinkle in your children’s eyes as they experience the wonder of giving and of course, the magic of too much chocolate combined with the glee of new toys and over [...]
I have never been a cobbler kinda gal. I like my fruits in crisps, the cakey topping that I usually associate with crumbles can’t hold a candle to the crunchy oatmeal topping that crisps are known for. The story that lead me to this recipe is a common one around this house. It started with [...]
Oh, yes I did! These lovelies were inspired by my first trip to the Bulk Barn, prompted by everyone on Twitter telling me how much I was missing in life by not frequenting said store. And I mean everyone. I think even Jessica Alba chimed in at one point and said “Are you crazy??” Ok, [...]
The devil made me do it. That’s the only thing that came to mind when I realized that on a day when it was about plus 28 Celsius, I was finally making the cookies that have been niggling in the back of my mind for a long, long time. I recently posted the base recipe [...]
Time crunch season, thou art upon me. From the start of school until my daughter's birthday in January, I am busy planning one event or another. We just had my son's eighth birthday party this weekend, leaving me an exhausted, emotionally fragile wreck of a woman this Monday morning. Alright, alright, some of that might have to do with the fact that I stayed out far too late Saturday night … [Read more...]
Let's state the obvious before we go any further into this post. I have been Instagraming pictures of my newest Christmas decorationwhile updating the static pictures on my site to pictures of chocolate turtle bark, how to make my grandma's Christmas pudding and those addicting-like-crack chocolate covered Ritz. I am giddy with excitement over the Lego advent calendars I found this year. I'm … [Read more...]
For some reason, I got the idea of making caramel corn all Halloweeny and gross stuck in my head. Where these thoughts come from I have no idea. It just started with the vague idea of black chocolate drizzled on it, moved on to green as well in my inner thoughts, then clinched it when I found candy bugs. This caramel corn is my mom's recipe, one that we have used for years and it's perfect. No … [Read more...]
These were a spur of the moment creation brought on by several things. I had this urge to make cute pops for my Halloween open house yesterday and had thought of doing eyeball ones, the round shape of cakepops naturally lends itself to eyeballs like white belongs to rice. But when faced with the reality of the short amount of time I had left, I realized cake pops were not going to be in my … [Read more...]
I have never been a cobbler kinda gal. I like my fruits in crisps, the cakey topping that I usually associate with crumbles can't hold a candle to the crunchy oatmeal topping that crisps are known for. The story that lead me to this recipe is a common one around this house. It started with shopping, which is usually how I get into trouble most days. It ended with me being suckered into buying a … [Read more...]
Eclairs. Profiteroles. Cream puffs. Those delicious bites of creamy heaven, whichever shape you prefer, are all made from a choux pastry base. Now stop right there and don't leave me. Don't let a French word combined with pastry make you turn tail and head for the hills. These are so easy to make it's not even funny. This is the one pastry that anyone can master, even those who claim they … [Read more...]
Saskatoon season is here, at least in my backyard! Those delicious prairie berries are ready to rock and this year I thought I would give them a try in a very kid friendly recipe. Actually, it's also very Mom friendly as well, no baking or cooking in the hot weather and three simple, healthy ingredients that are pureed. So that also makes it very diet friendly too, for those of you trying to avoid … [Read more...]
Luckily for me, rhubarb still abounds at the local farmers markets, allowing people who have decimated their home supply to get their fix. I scored 6 beautiful stalks for a mere $2 the other day and set to making up something that I have had stuck in my head since rhubarb season started. A strawberry rhubarb upside down cake, with a white cake bursting with rhubarb as the … [Read more...]
Well, why not I said? Why not mix strawberries and rhubarb to make a fruit leather for the kids? Usually that phrase "well, why not?" can get me into a lot of trouble, but this time it led to delicious fruit leather that is making me weep that I have already decimated my rhubarb with use. It's pretty much gone. Sigh. Lesson learned : plant at least three in the new house. Without a doubt. … [Read more...]
Rhubarb has a much loved place in our household, it's a childhood favorite of mine - raw dipped in sugar to take the edge off- and it is my husbands number one pie/crisp/dessert filling. My children really don't care what I bake, as long as it's sweet, comes covered in ice cream and they get to have it after supper. The kids did love finally getting to help me harvest the rhubarb this year, … [Read more...]
Lemon Strawberry Shortcake is perfect for your Easter brunch. I realized while making this recipe that it is a perfect "build it yourself" dessert, which means that you, the host, have only a few things to do to get this dessert ready. Bake up your Lemon Tea scones that day. Or the night before. These weren’t going to be a separate recipe, but they are in fact the shortcake component of my … [Read more...]
This is another one of my grandma's recipes, and one of my favorites. Oh, fine, they are all my favorites. It's a given. This is a light, airy, just sweet enough dessert that now has taken top place in my husbands heart over the old one, cherry cha-cha, another family classic. She used to put 2 raw eggs in the middle layer, not something I recommend for a family-with-young-kids … [Read more...]
Mint and chocolate go together like rama lama lama ke ding a de dinga a dong... Chang chang chang-it-ty chang shoo-bop That's the way it should be Wha oooh yeah! Forgive me. I'm tired. This is a simple variation of my brownie recipe, my chewy, amazing, perfect brownie recipe. Perhaps you can tell by the picture, these brownies are heavy chunks o' fudge. If you've heard me rant once, you've … [Read more...]
This is your basic crumble or oatmeal bar base, with cranberry sauce or jelly in the middle. I am rather proud of myself and used my own homemade highbush cranberry jelly from the fall and it was fantastic! That could be that I was just happy to use something I made myself, doesn't it almost always taste better? This would be amazing with more jelly in the middle and then served as a "crumble" … [Read more...]
Just a quickie recipe tonight, things have been crazy with the kids Christmas concert- two performances in one day- helping out with the fundraising for said concert and getting ready to have a few folks over at my nest tomorrow afternoon. Add in a bunch of snow making the streets cruddy, forgetting early dismissal at school yesterday and being 40 minutes late picking up my son and my daughter … [Read more...]
This biscotti was a hit last year, so I thought I would bring it back from the archives. I will be doing a few Recipe Rewinds before Christmas, since the Christmas recipes are so popular. The candied cherries and fruit in this are lovely and don't be scared if you don't like fruitcake. This reminds me of the fruited bread that one can find in Co-op stores, just a slight enough taste to enjoy, … [Read more...]
You guessed it right, blue stars for Star Wars. Part of the crazy week of making things for my son's birthday. Coming soon from the Kitchen Magpie near you: R2D2 birthday cake, complete with cursing and wondering why I don't just buy a cake. But for now, it's all about the chocolates in the goodie bags I am giving away to the kids. Let me start by explaining just how much I don't like the … [Read more...]
This was our favorite of the two fruit galettes that I made, my husband took a bite, rolled his eyes heavenward and said: "You must make this. Always." He's not known for his poetic words, but he got the point across. This is a good, good combination for a galette. Ingredients Needed: 1 cup of sliced peeled peaches 1/2 cup of blueberries 2 tbsp butter 1 tbsp cornstarch 1 tbsp white … [Read more...]
Ok ok, after dragging it out for a while, here is what I did with my Lemon Tea Scones and my Lemon Whipped Cream recipes. Lemon Strawberry Shortcake. Bake up your Lemon Tea scones that day.These weren’t going to be a separate recipe, but they are in fact the shortcake component of my lemon Strawberry Shortcake. Real shortcake is a scone or biscuit, not a cake. So of course, why would I … [Read more...]
This isn't an eye-opening, astounding cooking lesson here folks, but it happens to be what I made using the leftovers from my Southwest Chicken recipe the other night. Only your mind will limit the possibilities here, they are endless! So you need filling, wraps, cheese and a little olive oil. The filling can be anything you want from roasted peppers, to chicken breast seasoned with spices to … [Read more...]
I love my kids, my husband and chocolate.
The order depends on when you ask.
Welcome to my nest!
