Gimme A Break!

Ok – so I might be dating myself but who remembers this commercial?

While I was cleaning out/re-organizing our treat stash/stockpile cupboard, I stumbled upon these lil babies and immediately started singing the song from the commercial.  (Yes, I said ‘treat stockpile’ people. Judge me if it makes you feel better lol  I like to buy and keep a few treats/snacks etc on hand for when the mood strikes or last minute guests drop by but don’t always want to eat them ASAP.  Plus if the hubster see’s them, he’ll go for them ASAP.  This method totally works for us. And yes, I know that he knows where the stash is. However, out of sight, out of mind right? 😉 )

I must say that I do enjoy these individually wrapped (aka portion controlled) treats. I find them to be just the right size/portion to go with a cup of tea or coffee.

So tell me, when was the last time you took a broke off a piece of that Kit Kat bar? 😉

Dad’s Homemade Beef Pot Pie

 

Once in a while my dad gets into the mood and cooks things he ‘used to’ make when he had his restaurant. We had beef pot roast the previous night and I guess there was that much leftover that he got creative and whipped up his beef pot pies vs having pot roast dinner another night. Very rare.  Total surprise. He even made the dough from scratch and used shortening!  HOLY. YUMMERS!  Super flaky. Super delish. Devoured by all and there was definitely no leftovers that night.  Now if only I could get his recipe….think he’d share? 😉

Do you enjoy beef pot pie? Got a recipe to share?

After Eight Anyone?

The other night I was craving something sweet but not overly indulgent. As I rifled through the cupboards, I stumbled upon a box of After Eight hot chocolate mix and decided to give it a whirl. I added whipped cream to make it that much more indulgent (and to prevent me from wanting a ‘do-over’ the following day shelling out $5)

Totally did the trick. :). What’s your fave way to enjoy hot chocolate?

St. Patrick’s Day 2014

As you know, we’re not ones to celebrate/observe all the holidays however we do enjoy corned beef with cabbage.   And to be honest, we did have our ‘festive meal’ (though sometimes routine in our menu rotation) on Friday. We were ahead of the game 😉

Wishing those that celebrate a Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Cake Mix Cookie Bars

I made these super easy and simply delicious Cake Mix Cookie Bars for dessert on Valentine’s Day 2014 using and substituting what I had on hand in the pantry. Talk about being frugal 😉 It barely took me 10 minutes from gathering the ingredients to getting them into the oven.

Ingredients

• 1 boxed cake mix – I used double chocolate mix
• 1/2c vegetable oil  – I used canola
• 1/2c sugar – I used coconut sugar
• 2 Eggs
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1c chocolate chips, M&M’s or other candy toppings – I used a mix of pumpkin spice & coconut M&M’s

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Mix ingredients together and spread into a 9×13″ pre-greased pan. (note: this will make a stiff dough)
3. Bake for 25-30 Minutes. (I baked for 20 mins and yielded perfectly soft centred cookie bars)
4. Cut into bars. (I let cool for 10 mins in pan before flipping onto a cooling rack and allowed to cool another 10 mins before cutting)
5. Store in an airtight container. Should last a week stored on the counter but I wouldn’t know. Ours were devoured within 3 days and that was torture trying to make them last that long 😀

You can find the original recipe here.

Valentine’s Day 2014

The hubster and I aren’t the type that believe in Hallmark holidays (well, putting money into someone else’s pockets for no good reason). Don’t get us wrong but why would we choose to celebrate our love for one another on one specific day, as dictated by someone else?  What about the other 364 days of the year? Since we aren’t celebrating on those days, does that mean we don’t love one another?  Its a bizarre concept to me. Maybe I am (we are) the only odd ball(s) that thinks that way. But at least we’re on the same page about it 🙂  Not trying to belittle this holiday either as it may move mountains for some while others want to bury their heads in the sand or jump off a bridge – its all about marketing IMO.

So to observe this holiday (rather then celebrate) – we do it in our own lil way. (I guess we do that with all the holidays)
I decided to make a nice dinner for us to enjoy. (dad too!)   It’s something I don’t make often so it truly is a treat for us.

Pulled pork. 🙂

Served up traditional style – on buns (hubby’s fave way to eat it)

Served on a bed of rice (dad’s fave way to eat this) with garden salad

Dessert: cake mix cookie bars – HOLY. YUMMERS!
(this was like crack to the hubster and I, we couldn’t stop after eating just one.)

Le moo.

Suffice to say, I showed love to everyone’s stomach this year. Mission accomplished!

How did you celebrate/observe Valentine’s Day?

Chinese New Year’s Eve Feast 2014

At dad’s request – we made an effort to gather the entire family for Chinese New Year’s Eve Dinner.  Dad’s request was made very last minute despite all his children checking in earlier within the month to see if we were going to gather for the annual tradition.

This year that happened to take place on the eve of Thursday January 30th, 2014.

Below are pics from our feast 🙂

Fish Maw & Seafood Thick Soup

BBQ Combination Platter (with Cold Jellyfish Salad)

Fried Pork loin with Chef’s Sauce

Double Lobsters With Ginger & Green Onion Sauce

Shrimp, Octopus, Candied Walnuts On Broccoli

Dried Oysters (reconstituted) With Mushrooms On Bed Of Lettuce

Fried Pickerel In Soya Sauce

Fried Pickerel In Soya Sauce

House Fried Rice
(source)

E-Fu Noodles w/Mushrooms
(source)

Sweet Red Bean Soup
(source)

Dessert
(Almond Cookies & Red Bean Cookies)

Everyone left with full bellies, QT with dad and the rest of the family and leftovers (*lol*) to ring in the new year.

2014 – The Year Of The Horse!
(source)

Halloween 2013

Just wanted to pop in and let y’all know that I really am alive still despite my lack of posts lately – explanation to come later.  I also wanted to wish y’all a Happy Halloween and to share a ‘find’ from Target this week 😀

   

Oh and my dad felt compelled to carve our one and only pumpkin from our garden.  I left him to do his thing  as I ran errands this morning and came home to find this – he used his power tools and all. I wasn’t sure what to expect.

Not bad for an 82 yr old right? 😉

Blair’s Death Rain Habanero Pepper Potato Chips

While the hubster and I were in the Bulk Barn (bulk food store) picking up a few ingredients (plus treats – ha!) he stopped to check out the bags of chips they were selling. These aren’t your run of the mill chips like Lays or Tostito’s.  We’d never even heard of this brand before: Blair’s Death Rain.  Then we saw that they were habanero pepper flavoured chips.  Hubster was completely sold on trying these as every chip that has claimed to be ‘hot’ or ‘spicy’ was in fact not. He figured these would be the same. Erm. No. Let’s just say that I had 1/2 of a small chip and immediately gave the other half to the hubster to finish. It started off as a slow salty/vinegary heat then kept growing from there. From that one bite, I felt ‘warm’ for at least 45 minutes.   Now don’t get me wrong, I like food with flavour and somewhat spicy food.  This type of insane spicy – not so much.  And apparently not for the hubster either as he admitted to only having 4 more chips after the 1/2 chip I gave him.  He can usually take anything super spicy.  Poor guy!

If you love to get your pain on via endorphin rush after eating hot/spicy food – then these may be for you.

They do offer other flavours of chips. For more info, visit their website:
http://extremefood.com/explore/mid/chips

Disclaimer: I have not been paid/compensated for this post – just sharing a hot chip find 😉

Coconut Lime Basil Popsicles

I feel our summer was a bit ‘off’ this year with a few stretches of hot, hazy and humid days and hot sunny days.  One day it was hot and the next you needed fall clothes. What gives Mother Nature?  Feeling nostalgic for a good old traditional summer, I decided to make these popsicles.   They sounded non typical, refreshing and summery tasty 😀

What I threw into the blender:
* 1 can coconut milk (not coconut water)
* 1/2c – 1c water
* juice of one lime
* 4 large’ish basil leaves
* healthy squirt of agave syrup

Blend until everything is well incorporated and smooth. Adjust ingredients to suit your taste preferences. I opted for less water so it’d be richer and creamier and put in as much lime zest I could grate off and added a bit more basil because I like bold flavours. I opted for a tiny squirt of agave b/c I didn’t want it to be too sickly sweet.  Pour into popsicle makers and let set/freeze overnight.

And there you have it, the beautifully tasty outcome.  These were very quick and easy to make with ingredients I already had on hand. Yum!