As you may know, we bought a boat earlier this year, with the intent to go crabbing and fishing. We had several attempts at getting it in the water, which were frustrated by a lack of access (no parking, or the water too choppy for our inflatable boat). When we did FINALLY manage to get it in the water, I rowed about while my husband attempted to get the brand-new motor to work (it didn’t). We had to give up, and that very same day, we sold the boat.
My husband and I are going on vacation in a few days, so I am baking a few treats to have on the road. Last night, I made this delicious, moist chocolate zucchini cake. It was so rich, it was like eating brownies. I couldn’t taste the zucchini at all. I like caramel icing, so I frosted it with it, though the cake would have been fine as is.
I love high tea or afternoon tea.  My aunt usually takes my cousin and I for tea at The Empress every Christmas. I had some high tea ideas of my own, so when my cousin’s sister came out to visit this week, I invited them both, plus my aunt to high tea, hosted by myself and my mother in law. This is very much NOT a meal in a hurry…I prepared this well in advance, except for the crab and shrimp boats and the pork pasties…which were made by myself and my mother in law and cooked off just before serving. All the baking was spaced out over several evenings, and I made the sandwiches the night before.
Posted in baking and desserts, chicken, egg and/or cheese, ideas, vegetarian
Tagged High Tea Ideas
Chicken and mushroom pasta is one of my favourite meals. I haven’t had it for a while, due to my lactose intolerance. However, since I discovered Natrel lactose-free whipping cream, I have been lusting after it, and tonight I decided to go for it. I had intended to make chicken curry for supper, but my husband wasn’t in the mood for curry., so…
Blackberry and apple crumble (with ice cream, of course) Â seems so appropriate at this time of year. The blackberries are hanging over the fence and the apples are ripe on the tree. I went into the backyard and picked a couple cups of blackberries and 2 Bramley apples to make this dessert.
I wanted something different for supper tonight, but I also wanted it to have a sort of Asian flavour. I had a couple of chicken breasts, and I had decided to make fried rice and stir fried vegetables, so the only thing to decide was how to cook the chicken. In the end, I came up with this:
Last night, supper consisted of ham, corn on the cob, sweetened beets, roast broccoli and mashed potatoes.
I like to mash my potatoes with sour cream to cut calories, but when I opened the container, that was no longer an option. For some reason, my container of sour cream was completely frozen. Obviously I have some serious cold spots in the fridge, and I need to check it out, but for the moment all I could think was…what shall I do with this sour cream? There were about 2 cups that needed to be used up (once it was defrosted naturally). The first thing that came to mind was sour cream fudge, which I promptly made. The second thing came to me as an inspiration. I keep seeing “poke cakes” all over the internet, so I decided to make one using the sour cream and an equivalent amount of crushed pineapple I had in the fridge.
Peanut butter cornflake squares…the kind of thing you come up with when you have a lot of crushed cornflakes and you keep buying peanut butter. I have a problem…sometimes I will run out of something, and every time I go to the grocery store I remember that I “need” that item (and manage to forget that I have already fulfilled that need) and buy it again…and again…and again. Such is the case with peanut butter in my household at the moment. This little treat took about 5 minutes to make and is chewy and yummy.
Continuing our attempts to get our boat into the water and catch crabs, we arose early on Saturday morning, loaded the boat onto the truck and headed off for Island View beach. For once, everything came together for us. Â The water was slightly choppy, but not too bad, there was lots of space in the parking lot and the boat ramp was clear. Huzzah!
We backed down the ramp, hauled the boat off, loaded it up with the crab pots, bait, bucket, safety equipment, anchor, gas tank, and other sundry items and put on our life vests. We carried the motor over to the boat and attached it. Then we put on rubber boots, and Steve went and parked the truck while I babysat the boat.
Posted in crabbing adventures
This is a variation of my favourite go-to recipe when I need a dessert/treat in a hurry. I have made butterscotch brownies (I think some people call them blondies, but I have known them as brownies all my life) so many times that I no longer need to look at the recipe.
After talking to my daughter last night, I decided to try making them with apples. She had just made an apple cake, and since she is 500 miles away, I can’t pop over for a bite.
Posted in baking, baking and desserts, vegetarian
Tagged Apple Butterscotch Brownies