Today, I’m doing a guest post for Kimberly over at Badger Girl Learns To Cook! Kimberly has a weekly feature called Healthy Blogger Thursdays and I was fortunate enough to be invited! I’m really happy to be a part of such a wonderful network of food bloggers. We truly support each other and get introduced to new bloggers regularly. Check out Kimberly’s blog and follow her culinary journey focusing on clean eating and using whole foods in her diet. You’ll also be introduced to such amazing health conscious bloggers that inspire with wonderful recipes, health tips, and other health related topics.
Todays recipe is just so simple. I’m going to call it healthy because my favourite superfood is included and you probably wouldn’t even know. I rave about Quinoa all the time because of its wonderful benefits and versatility. I adapted this recipe from Donna Hay’s cookbook “Fast, Fresh, Simple”. The original title is “Standby Brownies” since cocoa powder is used instead of melting chocolate. Please visit Kimberly’s blog for the full recipe and my very first guest post 🙂
Quinoa Brownies
Sometimes you just really need a chocolate fix. I do, all the time! Quinoa Brownies certainly hit the spot ~ especially with a glass of really cold Almond Milk.
Quinoa Brownies
I just love Kimberly’s “can-do” attitude towards eliminating processed foods and learning how to cook! It’s both refreshing and inspiring! Thank you Kimberly for including me as part of your Healthy Blogger Series!
Good Monday morning to you all! Ready for another #MuffinMonday? I hope so – because today’s recipe is nothing short of tasty simplicity!
Our recipe is by Down Home With The Neelys from Food Network. I’m always looking at ways to bake with cornmeal. Yes, I’m quite fond of it. I was more than happy when I saw the ingredients. I was wondering what I could do to make this one different. I was tempted to leave it just as it is, actually. I’ll probably follow the original recipe at some point. But I decided to use up some Gruyère cheese that I had to see how well it would incorporate into the recipe. As fate would have it….it turned out FABULOUS! I liked the sweet and salty combination.I think next time, I’ll take hubby’s advice and cut the cheese into cubes instead of shredding. Perhaps it will be interesting to bite into chunks of melted cheese. We’ll see!!! Something tells me he enjoys #MuffinMonday just as much as I do.
For now, I just want to let you all know, that this muffin is perfect with a cup of coffee….especially on a Monday morning after a super busy weekend.
Cornmeal Muffins sweetened with honey, extra flavour with Gruyère cheese
Author: Lyn, adapted from Down Home With The Neelys
Recipe type: Muffins
Ingredients
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ cup dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup 2% milk
2 large eggs
½ stick butter, melted
¼ cup honey
1 Cup Shredded Gruyère cheese
Instructions
Preheat oven to 400F
Into a large bowl, mix the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt.
In a medium-sized bowl, combine milk, eggs, butter, and honey
Add the wet to the dry ingredients and stir until just mixed
Place muffin paper liners in a 12-cup muffin tin.
Evenly divide mixture into the muffin cups
Bake for 15 minutes until golden.
3.1.09
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Yes, this is exactly how I had it. The kids were waiting patiently for me to finish taking pictures. They even offered to help because I was “taking sooooo long.” They were very kind this time. Probably due to the absence of chocolate chips.
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Honey Cornbread Gruyère Muffins
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And there you have it! A perfectly moist and cheesy muffin to start your week! A little bit of sweet, and a little bit of savoury all bundled up in a muffin.
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Honey Cornbread Gruyère Muffins
Happy Monday and have a spectacular week!!
Muffin Monday is an initiative by Baker Street. A culinary journey of sharing a wickedly delicious muffin recipe every week. Drop in a quick line to join her on her journey to make the world smile and beat glum Monday mornings week after week. Check out Muffin 101 here.
Its Thanksgiving weekend here in Canada and my family and I are having a great time celebrating family, birthdays and friendships. We have so much to be thankful for!
Earlier this week while I was preparing for the weekend meals, I picked up some pumpkin…without knowing what I was going to make with it. I came across this recipe and I was sold! I don’t make soup very often but I surprised myself with this one. It was simple, awesome and perfect for #SundaySupper. This weeks #SundaySupper theme is All Things Orange, showcasing some wonderful Autumn recipes from some of our fabulous food bloggers. Look out for a wonderful selection of recipes using ingredients like pumpkin, sweet potatoes and butternut squash, to name a few. I’m so excited to see all the wonderful creations! This is my first season actually cooking with pumpkin so I know I’m going to be inspired. This is truly my favourite season!
This weeks host is Pam from The Meltaways! As always, please be sure you join us on Twitter throughout the day for #SundaySupper. We’ll be meeting up at 7:00 pm EST for our weekly #SundaySupper live chat where we’ll talk about our favourite recipes featuring our favourite fall colour. All you have to do is follow the #SundaySupper hashtag, or you can follow us through TweetChat. We’d also love to feature your recipes on our #SundaySupper Pinterest board and share them with all of our followers, too.
I hope my Mother is reading this post. She will be pleasantly surprised to know that I actually cut up and roasted pumpkin. *gasp* Ok so I didn’t do all the work. I bought a piece of pumpkin weighing about a kilogram. I removed the skin, chopped it into cubes, then roasted it. Originally, I was going to use the canned pumpkin puree but I really wanted to cook with the real thing. It may have taken me a few minutes longer to prepare, but I believe it was worth it. The flavour says it all!
3 Cups Pumpkin Puree (I chose to roast 1Kg/2LB of pumpkin)
1 Cup coconut milk
Salt & Pepper to taste
Instructions
In a rimmed baking sheet, add diced pumpkin and sprinkle with olive oil
Roast for 40 minutes in a 375F oven
In a medium saucepan, heat oil on medium high heat
Add onions and cook until translucent, about 5 minutes
Add spices and cook for about a minute, stirring until combined
Add broth and pumpkin, combine using an immersion blender until a smooth consistency is achieved (about a minute)
Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer for about 10-15 minutes
Stir in coconut milk and season with salt and pepper
Remove from heat. Serve with warm, buttered crusty bread
Notes
Recipe adapted from The Best Of Clean Eating 2, Page 93
3.1.08
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I picked up this piece of pumpkin at the Asian supermarket. It happened to be labelled “Jamaican Pumpkin” so that I would pick it up. I prefer buying pumpkin pre-cut anyway. Less chance of me wasting it. This portion was just right for what I needed it for.
Jamaican Pumpkin
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I liked the simplicity of this recipe. I loved the use of coconut oil as well as coconut milk. This soup is just bursting with goodness. I really missed the presence of chicken or even yellow yams and dumplings in my soup. Perhaps that addition will be made after my next visit to the Asian supermarket.
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Roasted Pumpkin & Coconut Soup
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This could be the perfect appetizer for an Autumn dinner, and a great choice for entertaining.
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Roasted Pumpkin & Coconut Soup
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A warm crusty bread, like Ciabatta is a lovely compliment to this soup.
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Roasted Pumpkin & Coconut Soup with Ciabatta Bread
Sunday Supper!!! I’m so glad to be participating again! Sunday Supper has got to be one of my most favourite communities. There’s a lot of fun and support amongst the members behind the scenes. Each Sunday has a unique theme and sometimes, a member gets to host! Don’t miss out on the Twitter chat at 7PM EST. Recipes and ideas are shared all day long, so feel free to jump in at any time using the hashtag #SundaySupper.
Today’s theme is “Autumn Apple Party” where we use wonderful crispy apples as an ingredient in our meal creations. My choice is Bavarian Apple Torte! I made this lovely dessert last year and I was very happy to re-visit the recipe as it was greatly enjoyed. I came across this recipe via Laura Calder’s whose version was titled Easy Pastry Shop Apple Tart. It was super easy and super tasty so here I go again! We have such a talented bunch of contributors this week (and every week)! So many awesome apple recipes to drool over!
Let’s start with mine! Oh so good…such sticky caramelization of the apples on top… I used Gala apples. They are my absolute favourite to bake with.
A simple tart made with royal gala apples and cream cheese
Author: Lyn via Laura Calder
Recipe type: Dessert
Cuisine: German, French, European
Serves: 6-8
Ingredients
Tart Shell:
½ Cup Butter
⅓ Cup Sugar
1 Tsp Vanilla
1 Cup Unbleached Flour
Cream Filling:
1 Egg
1 Tsp Vanilla
8oz Cream Cheese, Softened
¼ Cup Granulated Sugar
Topping
3 Royal Gala Apples, peeled and thinly sliced
¼ Cup Granulated Sugar
½ Tsp Cinnamon
¼ Cup Slivered Almonds
Instructions
Preheat oven to 400F
Tart Shell:
Cream the butter and sugar. Add vanilla and combine. Add flour and mix until a smooth dough is achieved. Press into the bottom of a pie-dish or an 8-inch spring form pan lined with parchment paper. Give the edges about an inch in height. Bake for 15 minutes and remove from oven.
Cream Filing:
Beat egg, vanilla, cream cheese and filling until smooth. Pour on top of the tart shell.
Topping: In a small bowl, add cinnamon, sugar and almonds. Add apple slices and toss so that the apples are nicely coated. Arrange the slices in top of the cream cheese filling in a circular fashion. Spread any remaining almond/cinnamon/sugar mixture over the apples slices.
Bake until the apples are tender and golden for about 40 minutes
3.1.07
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Royal Gala Apples
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I tossed the apple slices in batches and it just so happened that I had a few slices left over to munch on while waiting for this little tart to bake. The almonds are totally optional. I didn’t mind the extra crunch to this very special dessert.
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Apple slices tossed in sugar, cinnamon and almond slices
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As with all baked apple dishes, your kitchen will smell wonderful. I couldn’t wait to dive into this apple torte. My husband loved it! I think he exhibited great self-control when I asked him to wait a few minutes while I took some photographs. Bless his patient little heart!!! 🙂
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Bavarian Apple Torte
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The perfect dessert for Sunday Supper!
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A delicate, creamy, crunchy bite!
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Check out the apple dishes prepared by my fellow food bloggers! Apple lovers will have a GRAND time going through this amazing lineup!
Greetings friends of The Lovely Pantry! I have certainly been missing in action for the past few months. Mainly because I went to Jamaican for most of the summer. I usually take the time to spend with my family and my friends during the summer months. The connection is very important to me. Sometimes, you need to reconnect and rejuvenate, and that’s exactly what I did. I’ve been trying to get back into blogging but obstacles just keep popping up. Since I’m no quitter – I’m going to press on and continue what I really enjoy doing with the friends that inspire and encourage me every day. I should also try to make nice with my scale. I did not hold back when it came to food while I was in Jamaica! LOL!
A big hearty THANK YOU to my fabulous Food Blogger friends who did not hesitate to guest post for me while I was away! Sofie, Chung-Ah, Renee, Anuradha, and Sandra ~ You guys are so AWESOME!
Today’s post is a wonderful refreshing drink that is quite lovely with a Sunday dinner, or a special drink for entertaining. I got the recipe from a book given to me by the BESTIE a few months ago. I’ve added it to my growing collection of Jamaican Treasures and I’m so happy to be sharing the recipe with you here. The book is called The Real Taste of Jamaica by Enid Donaldson. I had it on my wish list for so long! I believe I had the book years go but gave it away because I wasn’t really into cooking at that time. I’m glad I have it once again! I’m keeping this copy! It has sentimental value 🙂
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Jamaican Carrot Drink – Perfect for a Sunday afternoon beverage
A refreshing drink made from carrots, water and evaporated milk
Ingredients
2 Cups Diced Carrots
2 Cups Water
1 Cup Evaporated Milk (Reduced Fat)
1/2 Cup Granulated Sugar
1 Tsp Vanilla
1/2 Tsp Grated Nutmeg
1/2 Cup Ice Cubes
Instructions
In a blender, add carrots and water
Pulse until blended, in intervals for about a minute
Strain the carrot mixture into a jug
Rinse the blender jug
Pour the strained juice back into the blender and add the milk, sugar, vanilla, nutmeg and ice cubes
Blend again in intervals for no more than a minute
Strain a second time into the serving jug and refrigerate
Serve cold and enjoy
Notes
Original recipe from A Real Taste of Jamaica by Enid Donaldson
I found that it was best to strain the liquid twice in order to yield a much smoother and more refined drink. I used 2 different sized strainers. The second time I used a much finer sieve.
I’m just too excited. I love books – of course photography books and the like, but I have a soft spot for Cook Books. I just can’t have enough. Here are a few books that I got on my recent trip to Jamaica (except the one by Enid Donaldson). I absolutely adore the book called Jamaican Food, that documents the origin of certain foods that are a big part of the culture and some foods/dishes that are unique to Jamaica. I’ve never had a book like this before. Clearly, I have some reading and cooking to do!
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Lyn’s Jamaican Treasures
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I’m happy to be back! I feel like giving my kitchen a big hug!
Take good care everyone! *Virtual Hugs for you all*
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