Rocky Road Wedges

I was craving something chocolately this week and decided to make these rocky road wedges. They were simple to make, delicious, and combined three of my favourite things: chocolate, almonds, and marshmallows. I didn't have any white marshmallows on hand and didn't feel like running to the store in -45 degree weather for one ingredient, so I decided just to make due with the coloured marshmallows I had at home. I definitely recommend making these, especially if you are looking for a dessert you can whip up in a jiffy with minimal cleanup. I think these would be delicious served with ice cream- I might have to give it a try tonight!

Classic Chocolate Fudge

One of my favourite holiday treats has always been fudge. I know it's not the healthiest choice, but I love to indulge in fudge over the holiday season. In the past, my own attempts at making fudge have largely been unsuccessful; it just never seems to turn out for some unknown reason. This year I was determined to be successful so I tried a new recipe in my Bon Appetit cookbook. The recipe can be found online here. I made a few modifications including using marshmallows instead of marshmallow creme (I've never seen it in stores here in Canada), using semisweet chocolate, and omitting the walnuts. This time my fudge turned out, and it was deliciously rich and sweet.

Yaki Soba with Shrimp

My favourite foods have always been noodle dishes. From pastas to soups to stirfry dishes, spicy to sweet, I love anything that contains noodles. One of my favourite dishes to make at home is yaki soba. I used to work at a Japanese restaurant during university and after salivating over their yaki soba shift after shift, I decided to find a recipe online and try it myself. I have used this recipe many times; and I add extra vegetables and whatever type of meat or seafood that I have on hand. The result is a delicious and nutritious meal that satisfies my craving everytime!

Butter Tart Bars

When I was younger, I had an aversion to butter tarts. I think I used to assume they were plain, boring, and reserved for my grandma at tea time. Or maybe I just didn't like raisins. But my tastes have evolved and butter tarts are now one of favourite treats. I came across this recipe that puts a spin on the classic Canadian butter tart. The bars tasted just as good as the traditional tarts that are baked in muffin tins but took me a fraction of the time to make!

Chicken Pasta Salad

Yesterday I was in the market for a quick and easy dinner that made of use of items that i already had in my fridge and my garden. I decided to make a pasta salad with chicken and after browsing many recipes I settled upon this one. I added cucumber, green peppers, chives and herbs from my garden in addition to the ingredients the recipe called for. The pasta salad was really delicious, light and fresh tasting and was enough to be a complete meal with the amount of chicken and veggies that I added. One thing I might try next time is to add a bit less mayo and dressing because I would prefer it a bit less creamy.

Taco Time

The other day I had a craving for fish tacos, and wanted to make a relatively healthy version that didn't feature battered and fried fish. I had a hard time finding a recipe that would work for me; none of the 5 stores I visited had tomatillos for salsa verde, I wanted to grill the fish, and I wanted a tasty marinade for the fish. After spending too much time looking for a recipe that fit all of these requirements, I decided to use bits and pieces of a few recipes and add my own spin on the ingredients.

I used this salsa fresca recipe; but used two red tomatoes, one unriped green tomato and added a can of green chillies that I had kicking around. I used this marinade; but substituted olive oil for canola oil and added a bit of chopped garlic. I used cod but you could substitute it for tilapia, halibut, haddock or any other white fish you have at home. I baked the fish in the oven instead of grilling it because it happened to be raining that day and I'm a wimp, and garnished the tacos with avocado and green cabbage in addition to the salsa fresca.

Making these tacos was a fun experience for me because I learned that I don't need to follow a recipe 'to a tee' for it to work out. I have decided that I want to take more chances and experiment with cooking and baking in order to make the recipes I use 'my own'.

Baklava

One of my favourite sweet treats has always been Baklava. I haven't found too many places in my area that have homemade Baklava, so every once in a while I make a trip to my local Greek Market to pick up a couple of pieces of this delicious pastry. Recently, I got it in my head that I would try to make some Baklava myself, so I started looking up recipes online and realized it really isn't as difficult as I thought it may have been. I wanted to use a recipe that (hopefully) was authentic, and I settled on this one. Below are the photos I took of this adventure.


Chopped almonds (instead of walnuts), sugar, cloves and cinnamon.


First layer of almond mix on top of buttered phyllo sheets.


It has been baked and is cooling off before I add the honey syrup.


It's cooling off after I added the honey syrup. I put it in the fridge for 1/2 hour and then it was ready to eat!