Rainbow Cupcakes!

St. Patrick's Day is one of my favorite holidays!!  So when I was looking for something fun to bake for our St. Paddy's Day party, I thought that I would try to make rainbow cupcakes.

(Okay, so I know you're thinking "St. Patrick's Day and rainbows?"  Here was my logic: St. Patrick's Day = Ireland = Leprachauns = Pot o' Gold = RAINBOWS!   See? It kinda makes sense...)

So using a box of white cake mix, here's how you do it:

1) Split the batter into 6 equal parts, one part per bowl.

2) Starting with the purple color, pour a SMALL amount of batter into each liner.  Then layer the colors: Purple, Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange, Red. (As a side note, here's the rhyme my Dad taught me to remember the colors of the rainbow: "Run Oh Ye Great Big Irish Villan".  I thought it was appropriate since it was St. Patrick's Day!)

 And here's what it will start to look like in the liners.  You actually have to use a fork to spread each color in order to achieve that layered look.  Although, if you want them to look more like tie-dye, feel free to just drop the colors in randomly and swirl them around - just not too much or all the colors will blend together and look not-so-nice.

When the cupcakes come out of the oven, they will look like this:

 And here's the finished product:

To make the cupcakes a bit more festive, I decided to make some filagree chocolate shamrocks to put on top.

1) Trace some shamrocks onto wax paper.  After tracing the shamrocks, turn the wax paper over and placed onto a large cutting board or baking sheet.

2) For this part, you'll need some green melting chocolates.  Using a glass bowl and a pot of water, make a double-boiler to melt the chocolate in.  Make sure that the water in the pot does not touch the bottom of the bowl.  Put the melting chocolates into the bowl and place on the stove at low heat.  Keep an eye on the chocolate and stir occasionally. (You can melt the chocolate in a microwave, but I find that you run a greater risk of burning the chocolate than using the double-boiler method.)

 

3) Once melted, allow the chocolate to cool for 1 minute.  Then spoon into a plastic ziploc bag.  Make a small cut in one corner to make a piping bag.  Then carefully outline the shamrocks with the chocolate.  Then fill in the middle with little squiggles (so that the shamrocks won't break when you lift them from the wax paper).

4) Once finished, place into the freezer for 15 minutes.  Then gently "pop" the shamrocks off of the wax paper, being careful not to snap the stems!

And here's the final product:

Just a word of advice - these cupcakes took over 2 hours to make. Layering all the colors and spreading them out was very time-consuming.  I'll leave it to you to decide if the end product is worth it. :o)

Red (and Blue!) Hot Potato?

While looking through the many different flyers that I received at my home this week, something caught my eye in the Superstore flyer...this:

It's exactly what it looks like - red (and I mean, red!) and blue potatoes!! 

According to Wikipedia, these blue Adirondack potatoes and their companion red Adirondack potatoes, are hybrid potatoes that were bred at Cornell University in 2004.  They claim to have high levels of anti-oxidants and to have a light and fluffy texture when cooked.  The blue and red colors, respectively, come from polyphenols, which can also be found in berries and other brightly, colored plants. (Translation: genetically modified potatoes).

Now I don't know about you, but I'm a little torn on this.  On the one hand, I suppose blueish-purple potatoes are kinda cool; however, I hardly think that they will be replacing your traditional white mashed potatoes at the dinner table anytime soon. (Can you imagine what they would look like covered in brown gravy? Ew!)  On the other hand, I think that the blue potatoes in particular just look...well, rotten, somehow.  Although, I did buy those Blue Corn Tostitos when they came out...

And does anyone remember that colored ketchup craze?

Perhaps this is a new food fad.  Or perhaps it's another marketing ploy to get unhealthy children to eat healthier.  Who knows? All I know is that I'm sure that some "posh" restaurant near you will start offering blue french fries alongside their regular and sweet potato ones.  And when that time comes, let me know how it tastes.  Because frankly, I think eating a blue french fry would shatter my perfect, potassium-filled world!

Homemade Coconut Ice Cream

My husband and I love coconut ice cream.  But it's hard to find in Canada and if you do find it, it's expensive and usually has a very sweet, artificial taste.

So we decided to buy an ice cream maker in the hopes of being able to make our own.  We surfed the web for some recipes and in the end we pieced together our own recipe.

If you love coconut, you have to give this a try! It is, by far, the best coconut ice cream I've ever had.  And now we can make it anytime we want!


Homemade Coconut Ice Cream

Ingredients:
1 cup milk
1 - 14 oz can Cream of Coconut**
1 1/2 cup heavy cream
1 1/2 cup sweetened flaked coconut

** NOTE: Cream of Coconut is NOT the same as coconut milk and you should not substitute one for the other.  We went on a wild goose chase to find this stuff in Edmonton, but we finally tracked some down at Save-on-Foods.  Look for it with the non-alcoholic drink mixes.

 

1) Place flaked coconut in a frying pan and lightly toast on low heat until golden.  Set aside.

 

2) In a blender, blend the milk and the cream of coconut.  Make sure the mixture is smooth and free of lumps.  Stir in the cream.

3) Pour mixture into an ice cream maker and freeze for 20 minutes.

4) After 20 minutes, add in the flaked coconut and freeze in ice cream maker for another 5 minutes.

5) Transfer to an air-tight container and place in freezer for an additional 2 hours.

6) Serve with any remaining toasted coconut as a topping.

And there you have it - homemade coconut ice cream!

For a bit of a different flavour, add grilled pineapple (a la pina coladas) or throw in some chocolate chips or almonds for a more "chocolate bar" flavour. Enjoy!!!

Tea Time!

While shopping with a friend of mine today in West Edmonton Mall, we stumbled upon an adorable little shop that we had never seen before.  I was immediately drawn in by the teal signage and the rows upon rows of stainless steel cylinders which lined the shelves.  I had to go in and see what this store had to offer.

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photo courtesy of www.davidstea.com

Inside each of those silver canisters was a unique and intoxicating blend of tea that I had never before encountered. With names like "Gunpowder Taffy", "Jumpy Monkey", "Opposites Attract" and "Pink", it became obvious that this wasn't your Grandma's tea shop!

After smelling about 30 different blends of tea, I had to narrow my selections down. I ended up taking home the "Cherry Blossom", "Pina Colada" and "Jessie's Tea" - which is a blend of lavender, rooibos, coconut and corn flower. 

Here's a small sampling of some of their tea blends:

Read my Lips - Black tea with vanilla, mint, chocolate, peppercorns and little red candy lips.

Cherry Blossom - White tea, green tea, cherries, coconut and pink rose petals.

Bear Trap - Blackcurrents, blackberries, strawberries, raspberries and lemon verbena.

Chocolate Mint Maté - Chocolate, mint, rooibos and yerba maté.

If you love tea, or know someone who does, I HIGHLY recommend that you check this place out! Not only do they carry a wide variety of aromatic teas, but each one in itself is a work of herbal art! Plus they are a Canadian company.

You can find their Edmonton location in the upper level of West Edmonton Mall near the Waterpark. Or, you can check out their website at www.davidstea.com and order online or find a location nearest you.

A Small Glimpse

For the past 26 years, I have been a picky eater. This is something that I only allow certain people to know about me due to the social stigma attached to it.

According to my mother, when I turned 2 I just stopped eating certain foods. Clearly I wasn’t able to explain my new change in behaviour to anyone, and to be honest, I still can’t. My parents tried everything – no dessert, sitting at the dinner table until I at least tried a bite, bribing me to try new foods, etc. Nothing worked. There was many a night when I fell asleep at the kitchen table and would have to be carried to bed. It got to the point where my mom would give me something I would eat, just so that I wouldn’t starve.

As a child, it’s easier to get away with telling someone that you are a “picky eater”. What child isn’t, to some degree? However, when you’re in your twenties you get weird looks from people and even weirder responses: “Are you serious?”, “Well that’s just because you haven’t tried MY cooking!”, “So you don’t eat blank? At all? Well, have you ever tried it before?”

And 9 times out of 10 the answer is “no”. I haven’t tried the food that you are trying to feed me. And to be honest, I don’t know if I physically could. Trying to psych myself up to try a new food is like trying to psych up a “normal” person to jump out of an airplane without skydiving lessons! I cannot offer any explanation as to why this is, but all I know is that it’s not as simple as picking up the fork and putting that food into my mouth. This is something that most people do not understand.

What I would like people to understand is this:

1) I did not CHOOSE to be a picky eater, I just am. Sorry.

2) It has nothing to do with your cooking. I still wouldn’t eat it even if it was covered in all the chocolate in the world. Please don’t be offended when I won’t even give it a try.

3) I don’t expect people to work around my “problem”. I have lived with this all my life and I manage it. I don’t want to be singled out any more than I already am when I have to come up with an excuse as to why I’m only eating a dinner bun at the table.

I would love nothing more than to be a “normal” eater. I would love to go out to lunch with my girlfriends and order “The Salad”, or to take a bite out of a red, juicy apple. But these are simply things that I cannot bring myself to do.

In my research into trying to find out why I am the way that I am, I have come across some possible explanations; one of which involves disorders or issues pertaining to the senses. Some researches have made the link between picky eating and Sensory Processing Disorder. This deals with an oral aversion to certain textures, flavours and even temperatures. While I didn’t completely relate to everything on the metaphorical checklist, some things did strike a chord with me – aversion to certain textures, attention to temperature of the food, etc. It does offer some sort of explanation, but I don’t think that they’ve hit it on the head just yet. At least not for me.

Until then, all I can ask is that people be open-minded and understanding. Please realize that we (and I say “we” as there are many of us…check out http://www.pickyeatingadults.com/ ) are not choosing to be difficult. It’s just how we’re made and most, if not all of us, would change if we could.

And if you are a parent to a picky child, I would like to plead on your child’s behalf: please do not punish your child for not trying new foods. I know that it’s frustrating and that it turns mealtime into a battle-ground, but just try to be open to the possibility that there could be some underlying factors at play. Be attune to what foods they do like and indentify some common characteristics – Are they similar in texture? Does your child prefer raw veggies to cooked ones? Do they prefer sour to sweet? Bitter to salty? Once you notice a pattern, try them with similar foods.

In the cases with children, most of them do grow out of their “picky eating”. All I am saying is that there are some of us who don’t. And we are normal functioning, healthy people.

I ♥ Starbucks!

If you're one of my Facebook friends, then this post actually isn't news to you.

Since last week, I have been floating around on Cloud 9 because I saw this at my local Starbucks:

These beautiful little desserts are available at all Starbucks locations and they come in Chocolate, Vanilla Bean and (my personal favourite) Red Velvet.

Unfortunately they only sell them until Valentine's Day, so get your hands on some while you still can. Although I will warn you: they're highly addictive! And then Starbucks goes and stops selling them, thus putting you through withdrawl. You spend the entire year trying to find a comporable Red Velvet cupcake, only none of them seem to compare to the foodgasm that you got when you first tried the Starbucks ones...or maybe it's just me. :o)

Holiday Treats

It's that time of year again!!

Personally, I don't get the Christmas Spirit until I start my yearly baking while singing along to Christmas Carols in my kitchen.

So I thought that I would share one of my favourite (and easiest) holiday recipes. (Although it's so good, I guarantee you'll make it all year round!)

Homemade Caramel Popcorn

What you'll need:

• 12 cups air-popped popcorn
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white corn syrup
• 1 cup unsalted butter
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 2-3 cups mixed nuts
• a can of butter-flavoured PAM non-stick cooking spray
• wax paper
  

1) Pop the popcorn. (duh...)
2) Cover 2 baking sheets with wax paper.
3) Lightly coat the wax paper with the butter-flavoured PAM spray, to prevent sticking.
4) In a medium saucepan, combine: butter, brown sugar, corn syrup and salt. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly.  Once mixture begins to boil, stop stirring and let boil for 4 minutes.
5) Remove from heat.
6) Stir in baking soda and vanilla. Mixture will become frothy (it's pretty cool actually!)
7) Stir in mixed nuts.
8) Pour caramel over popcorn and stir thoroughly to complete coat popcorn.
9) Pour caramel popcorn onto the baking sheets.
10) Allow popcorn to cool completely before breaking and packaging.

I tend to make a large quantity of this recipe. To store the popcorn once it's made, I keep it in the fridge in a Freezer-safe Ziploc bag.


Enjoy and Happy Holidays!

Red Velvet Bliss

This February, Starbucks came out with a selection of cupcakes that were to die for! However, my elation was short-lived as I was told that their cupcakes were a "seasonal" offering meant for Valentine's Day only. I was so upset that I was going through Red Velvet withdrawl.

So I desperately searched the internet to find a Red Velvet cupcake recipe that was both easy to make and amazingly tasty. I tried a few that weren't that great, and then I found it! The One. 

Now whenever the mood (or the cravings) hit me, I have it within my own domestic powers to silence the beast within.

 

  

And since I love to share my sinful indulgences with others, here's the recipe:

~ 1 box white cake mix (I prefer Duncan Heinz)

~ 1 box of instant vanilla pudding mix (102g or 4 serving size)

~ 4 large eggs

~ 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder

~ 1 tablespoon white vinegar

~ 1 cup milk

~ 1/2 cup vegetable oil (or you can substitute apple sauce - less calories and it won't affect the flavour)

~ TASTELESS red food coloring (this is very important. If you use regular red food coloring, you will get a horrible taste and your cupcakes will not be dark enough. Specialty food stores should carry this. In Edmonton, Pretty Party Place in West Edmonton Mall stocks it.)

~ Betty Crocker Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting

~ Decorative Red Sugar

- Combine cake mix, pudding mix, oil, eggs, cocoa, vinegar, milk and food coloring. Beat for 4 minutes on medium speed.

- Fill each cupcake liner 3/4 full.

- Bake at 350 F for 20-25 minutes.

- Frost once cool, topping with red sugar.

Makes about 2 dozen cupcakes. If you like, you can freeze the unfrosted cupcakes and thaw and frost them at a later date.

Enjoy! :o)