Friday 14 November 2014

Warm Pumpkin doughnut holes aka mini muffins!


What a crazy few weeks. Just thoroughly enjoying life; busyness and all. The crisp air is my kind of weather; layered clothing and taking in the prairie sunshine.
We got home yesterday from running around and my mother in law had graciously dropped off homemade pumpkin purée. Within seconds it was being transformed into a homemade spiced version of the "mini doughnut"....yum! 
Liam was sleeping in his car seat so Aubrey and I quickly got to work.
The recipe was so straight forward so we just followed it.


Instead of the pumpkin pie spice we just added some allspice and Chinese five spice.





Warm from the oven are the best way to enjoy these....So delicious; I think I ate 10!

Had to add a picture of our very happy boy! Smiles!

Monday 3 November 2014

Happy birthday Cher appetizers (Apetizzerzz)


If there is one thing in life that my sister Cher loves; it's appetizers. This is more pronounced like Apetizzerzz in our family. So when my sister janny and I we're thinking of what we could make Cher for her birthday dinner it was a no brainer! Now for the menu? 
The first item was an oldie but a goodie; crab rangoons. In recent years a few people in our family have had a reaction to seafood so we decided to make farmers sausage rangoons. In roaming superstore and remembering a recent trip to the states deep fried pickles were added to the list and lastly "pigs in a blanket"; Aubrey's vote!
We arrived at chers with groceries in tow!
We had these at the Texas Roadhouse on a whim and surprisingly they were awesome. They were a sinch to make. 
This the recipe I found and used it as a guideline. I used ginger ale and cornstarch because I didn't have beer or flour but next time I will follow the recipe. I am usually not a fan of the process of frying but we picked up peanut oil and oh wow what a difference. It has such a high smoking point. It didn't make the house smell like burning oil and the pickles were crispy not greasy.
Now for the rangoons! These are made up of a filling of creamcheese mixed with crab  or in our case farmers sausage. You can season it to your preference. Fill the wonton with a spoonful of the filling, seal with egg yolk and deep fry them until golden. Simple as that! 
We served these with sweet chili sauce; that adds a sweet-heat element. So tasty! Rangoons have been a Christmas family favourite for years introduced by my aunt. 

Now for the pigs in a blanket. We used trusty pillsbury crescent roll dough and wrap it around the extra farmers sausage. We knew this would be a hit with the kids!
Well the whole night was a hit! We ended the evening with an icecream cake courtesy of great-grandma! 
An evening full of fun, family, lots of laughter and yummy food; 
Happy birthday Cher!!!