Hearty Meal

Here I go neglecting my blog again...I am horrible, but it's only because I need to get done chemistry. Since starting it, I've been challenging myself to finish sooner and sooner. So, all in all, I've been doing at least 4 hours a day and almost 2/5th's through the course. Hey! Better than nothing!

So, I was meaning to post this a few days ago when I actually ate it, but of course I wasn't on time. But here it is.

Hubby and I had a delicious dinner of baked chicken with roasted veggies and garlic mashed potatoes. I had been meaning to make this chicken for a while, and finally did it!

It was a perfect night for this hearty meal, since it was on the cool side and we had done a nice run earlier that afternoon!

First, I started by putting the chicken in brine for an hour:

Mmm, raw chicken!

So, while the chicken was 'brining' in the fridge, I proceeded to cut up the veggies. I would make this whole meal again just to have a veggies taste as good as they did...makes my mouth water thinking about it!

I cut up butternut squash, sweet onion, carrots and brussel sprouts in there!

Next step was to grind up some spices to rub on the chicken - coriander seeds, fennel seeds and bay leaves.

After the grind, I took the chicken out of the brine and dried it off. It should be completely dry! And place it on top of the veggies!

Next, rub that chicken with those spices!

I put the chicken and veggies in the oven for an hour and 40 mins at 375. 

Alongside, were some garlic mashed potatoes; I steamed the potater's, roasted the garlic in the oven, then mashed them together with a little butter, buttermilk and fresh organic chives!

Since we were so excited to eat dinner, all I remembered to take a pic of was the potatoes pre-steamed!

But, trust me, they were really good post-steaming!

And finally the chicken is ready! I only managed to take one quick pic while the hubby was cutting it up. My mind really wasn't there thinking about the delicious meal that was only minutes away!

Just look at how good the veggies look! I would make this exact same thing again, just to have the veggies nice and roasted under the chicken!

Following that night, my life has been chemistry (woot, woot!) and going crazy!! I think I'll work out now for a bit so I don't go entirely crazy!

In good news: tomorrow is my very first wedding anniversary. I can't believe that this time last year, was my actual wedding day. It feels like yesterday.

It truly is amazing when you get to marry the most perfect person for you. How we came into each other's lives just amazes me. I don't know where I'd be without him. He really is my everything.

I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend. I know I will =)

Sitting, Thanking, Wishing

Soooo, it's Canadian Thanksgiving (I'm sure everyone knows this by now - even Kelly acknowledged it on Regis and Kelly this morning) and I'm so excited for turkey. I think this is one of the reasons why I wouldn't/couldn't fully give up meat. I think I'm more excited for turkey than I've ever been because we missed Thanksgiving last year...all in good reason, though. At this time last year, we were just arriving in Florida to get ready for my wedding! So I was ok will missing it!

Even though last year's Thanksgiving was different, this one is mighty different. See, most of my family lives in Ontario *tear*, but my husband and I now live in B.C...so even though we're technically home this year...we're really not. I have my dad here, so we're going to his house for dinner tonight, at least.

I decided that I was going to bake a pumpkin cheesecake. I made it two Thanksgiving's ago and it was delish!

Here's how it went!

Please be advised that by no means is this a healthy version of cheesecake. It's go big or go home for this special dinner/feast (and dessert)!

I started by making the Oreo crumb bottom layer:

Now, if you're anything like me...you don't exactly open the bag carefully to make it easy to pour and end up having your kitchen look like this:

Notice the little dirt-like mounds...woops!

Next, mix all the mostly wet ingredients togethaaaaa:
(Some brown sugar, eggs, cinnamon, ground ginger, nutmeg and of course, pumpkin!)

In another bowl, goes the cream cheese, cornstarch and sugar. Now I haven't had cream cheese in SO long and it smelt so good! So glad I decided to make cheesecake.

Nothing beats Philly cream cheese! Now for a little creaming.

Add, the pumpkin mixture to the cream cheese mixture and mix to your heart's content!

Here's what mixing does to it!

Which only makes sense that it would be lighter in colour...orange + white = lighter orange!


Add to your pan! Unfortunately, I don't have a springform pan (yet), so I had to make do with another baking pan.

Then it was time to place this bad boy in a 350 degree oven for 55 mins!

While it was baking, I did some packing...for mid-day, I think I did pretty good!

Fast forward 55 minutes and cheesecake is done...and looks mighty tasty (this is all without even seeing the oreo cookie bottom)

Thank-you Philly for the awesome recipe and I can't wait to eat you after dinner tonight!

Onto more packing, but first I needed the necessary things to get more packing done (thick tape, plastic bags for clothes and bins), so it was off to the store I went. But not without this delicious honeycrisp apple first!

So, I was a little bad after getting everything I need to pack...I stopped at Tim Hortons and got a latte. I've been on a latte kick lately and I'm not really helping the situation by getting another one today. For all of you Americans that don't know what Tim Hortons is...it's only the best coffee/donut place in Canada. It's super cheap and always busy...and I'm not kidding about the busy part. Be warned! It's a must go-to when you come to Canada! I definitely missed it when I was in Australia, and funny enough, my Aussie friend here can't get enough of it here!

Multi-tasking was definitely used today! Along with packing, I decided to get some much needed laundry done. Sometimes I'll send away for samples and never end up using them. So with this new Purex 3-in-1 laundry sheet, I thought I must you use it today...or else, I probably never will (with moving and all...)

Let's hope it does a good job!

You know when you have one of those productive days and things go good (ie: today), well when the washing machine was washing a load (a previous one), I saw a toonie (aka: $2) getting all cleaned up in there, too! I decided I would leave it until the wash was done, but at the end of the wash...I couldn't find it anymore (which made me sad). Until, I discovered a lining that you could stick your fingers down into and voila! not only did I find the toonie, but a loonie (aka: $1 coin) as well.

Finding money is fun, even if it's only three odd dollars!!

So I'm up $3, picking the hubby up from work soon and off to eat turkey. I. Am. Excited!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Terrible

I have been a terrible blogger lately. I'd like to pretend like I had some excuses, but I really don't. I have been trying to get some more chemistry out of the way (my goal is to have it done by February, but in all honesty, at the rate I'm going, the new date has moved up to next month)!! Also, we're moving next month, so I'm constantly thinking about what absolutely needs to go and what to pack (I managed to accomplish all this while not packing - it's bittersweet).

I haven't had much luck with finding a job I really liked this past summer (yes, I realize it's fall now), so instead of settling, luckily my husband was making good enough money that he let me stay home (yay!) opposed to going to a job that made me cry everyday. On that note, I at the very least signed up with a temp agency, so for every odd job (which happen to not be a lot) they'll call me to work. My next odd job (which is actually only my second lol) is tomorrow; I'm helping out with a jewelry auction at a hotel downtown...whatever...it's work! And since we're moving, it's too late now to find something stable.

This brings me back to getting my butt moving on finishing my chemistry course. When I think chemistry, I think getting accepted into the Applied Human Nutrition program, then I think becoming a Registered Dietitian and finally having a job that I'm passionate about!

I have a few recipes to post, but I'm just too tired to do that right now. I at least wanted to post something on here...and maybe not be so terrible.

How about tomorrow I make it up to you, blog? I hope you can forgive me!

Pumpkin Loaf With A Chocolate Twist

It's that season...

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For changing leaves and hearty things...

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At the top of the season,

Pumpkin! (Without doubt or reason)...

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So creating a pumpkin loaf was only natural...

Pumpkin Loaf With a Chocolate Twist

Prep time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 50-55 minutes









Ingredients:
For the bread:

• 1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• Pinch of salt
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1/2 cup buttermilk

For the chocolate:

• 2 1/2 tbsp cocoa powder
• 2 tbsp almond milk
• 2 tbsp + 1 tsp sugar

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350!

(Sorry for the dirty display!)

And, lightly grease a loaf pan (or use parchment paper)

Next, combine dry ingredients (flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, sugar, salt, baking powder and soda) in a medium sized bowl.

In a large bowl, combine all the wet ingredients (eggs, pumpkin, vanilla, applesauce and buttermilk).

Once all combined, add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients.

In a small bowl, combine ingredients for the chocolate (watch for flying cocoa powder)!

Next, add half the pumpkin mixture to the loaf pan.

Now, add some chocolate =)

Repeat the steps (one more layer of pumpkin and top with chocolate).

Place in oven, and bake for 50+ minutes. The best part about baking, is once it's in the oven you have the time to transform your kitchen from this...

To this!

The bread is done once a toothpick comes out clean from the centre...inserted by you, hehe.

Let it cool, then cut right into it!

Top with butter, and if you're lucky...you might catch a smile.

ENJOY!

Things to change for next time: Add a bit more chocolate (who doesn't need more chocolate!) by doubling the chocolate mixture ingredients and increase the oven temp to cook quicker!!!

Other than that...pure blissful pumpkin-y goodness!

Bake Me A Cake!

So, I've become obsessed with baking lately...cake, muffins, bread and cookies! Let's look closely at the cake part...I really just wanted to bake a good vanilla cake with buttercream frosting (in my head, I put it close to being like a good wedding cake). I tried on Wednesday and...failed =(

So, yesterday I knew that was the day to try again! This time I would follow standard procedure, aka: a recipe that sounded perfect-o!

I knew I needed a few more ingredients for the cake, so I thought I would pick them up after dinner with the hubby...only problem was the waiting part. And by that I mean, waiting for the hubby to get back from the golf course so we could go for dinner...so I did what a girl does best...take pictures when bored!

He gets home. We go for dinner. I pick up my ingredients...oh yaaa!

Fast forward through me measuring and mixing and now we have cake in the oven.

Look at that heat! So as they're baking, I'm now creaming butter.

Insert a few more ingredients, and voila, buttercream icing!

I was on a roll, so I kept it going by preparing my overnight oats!

And then...THE CAKE WAS DONE!! Waiting for it to cool was like watching ice melt. When it was finally cool, I put the icing on quicker than I could say, "I wanna eat you!" and then we were eating it!

 Very pleased with the end result!! The hubby approved of it too, and that's all a gal really needs!

Then, it was time for bed...

And I'm awake again, it's morning! 

The hubby goes to work and I just so happened to notice how neat the sky looked.

So pretty for 8am! Then my belly growls and I realize it's time for those overnight oats!

And who can resist some green tea?! (In a large Disney mug...the only mugs I ever use).

I don't know if it was the oatmeal, the tea, the season OR what everyone else is blogging about...but it was time to make a pumpkin loaf. Stay tuned!

October's Goals

So after watching Oprah (taped from yesterday), where she interviewed J.K. Rowling (amazing episode), I decided it was definitely time to write out my goals. J.K. Rowling spoke in 2008 at Harvard's graduation and she talked about failure...everyone experiences it, yet no one talks about it! How true is that statement. The most successful people have all experienced failure before they experienced success...it's whether you give up or keep going that makes all the difference.

So back to setting goals, here are mine for October:

• Have majority of stuff packed before the last week in October, leaving only the essential everyday items out until move day!
• Move boxes to dad's house; a few at Thanksgiving (fill the jeep!) and the week after that
• Keep experimenting in the kitchen, food is fun!
• Change address for bills before end of October
• Workout 3-4x a week (as long as weather permits), run every other day
• Have an amazing first wedding anniversary!!

That's it for now!

What are your goals?

Make sure to record yours down and look at them daily so you know what you're working towards!!

Remember: Failure happens, but keep striving! Look at J.K. Rowling, she hit 'rockbottom' and knew it couldn't get any worse...the only way was up and look at her now. 

Happy October!!

I know I'm a day late with the, 'it's October!' post, but I still can't believe how quickly the months are flying by. October used to be an ok month, but now, it's better than ok! This month I will celebrate my first wedding anniversary and at the end of the month, my husband and I was will leave BC for a while (it's been fun!), go back to Ontario and see our family for a bit!! This is all something I'm reeeeeally looking forward to!

Yesterday did not feel like it was the 1st of October because the temperatures here have suddenly been pleasant, so the high got to about 23 degrees! But, since the colours on the trees are slowly changing (as everyone can appreciate, because they are gorgeous), you still know that fall is here.

I've recently been sick (we're going on day 6 now - come onnnnn immune system!), but did not let that stop me from getting a little exercise...just a little. With the beautiful weather I went for a lovely run on this trail pretty close to my house, that I absolutely love. As a runner, I must say that when your nose is either a) stuffed up; b) running like crazy; or c) a bit of both (sadly enough) it does not make it easy to run!! Mine happened to be a bit of both on Wednesday (hence, only running 5k) and more on the runny side yesterday (hence, only running 6k). Not having a clear nose greatly decreased my focus, energy and endurance!! I was like a 5 year old! I swear for every 6 steps I ran, I sniffled (almost down to a T). On that note, hopefully by tomorrow (when I plan to run next), I'll almost be cleared up and ready to run!

So, my baking adventure from Wednesday seriously bombed...so sadly, I do not want to talk about it, nor post pictures about it *sigh*. But, I was experimenting yesterday and...success!!

I managed to make some delicious muffins that I must share!!

White Chocolate & Mixed Berry Muffins

Adapted from Zoom Yummy

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 30 minutues

Makes 12 large muffins, 16-17 medium muffins

Ingredients:

• 2 tsp lemon juice
• 3/4 - 1 cup of almond milk
• 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 4 tbsp agave syrup
• 1 egg
• 2 cups wholewheat flour
• 2-3 tsp baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 6 tbsp sugar
• 1 cup white chocolate chunks or chips
• 2 cups fresh or frozen mixed berries (I used frozen)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325
2. In a bowl, add all wet ingredients - lemon juice, milk, applesauce, agave and egg
3. In a second larger bowl, combine all dry ingredients - flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, white chocolate
4. Pour the wet mixture into the dry one and mix just until it combines (do not over mix)
5. Finally, add the berries
6. Pour into greased muffin tray or line with muffin tins 
7. Fill each cup, almost to the top and for additional yummyness add a few chocolate chunks to the tops
8. Bake for 30 minutes

I was very impressed!! I love berries and white chocolate, so how would I not be impressed!

There are a few things I would change for next time though:
Add more baking soda (a tsp), and;
Grease the muffin tray vs. lining it (the muffin liners stuck to the muffins too much!)

And then, onto dinner. Complete with garlic broccoli.

Which I simmered in a pot, until tasty! Then, made some homemade cream corn (hubby loves cream corn!)

I tell ya...homemade cream cream corn beats canned cream corn's butt any day!! I would never eat the stuff from a can, but this, I would eat! Then topped dinner off with some delicious balsamic bbq sauced chicken drumsticks. After careful placement on the plate (well, on mine at least), this was our finished product:

Delicious!!!

I definitely need to post my goal's for the month (which I will do later tonight), along with the adventures I make for myself today!!

What's your favourite month?
Any delicious muffin recipes that you enjoy??