Category Archives: Recipes

Carolyn’s Mars Bar Fudge

Ingredients:

  • 6 MARS bars (or snickers bars)(or whatever you like)
  • 3 cups sugar
  • 3/4 cup butter
  • 2/3 cup evaporated milk
  • 2 cups (12-oz) semisweet chips (I use milk chocolate)
  • 1 jar (7-oz) marshmallow creme
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla

Preparation:

Line a 9-inch square pan with foil. Butter foil, set aside. Cut candy in 1/2-inch slices; set aside. In saucepan, bring sugar, butter & milk to boil over medium heat. Cook & stir until thermometer reads 234 degrees, about 3 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in last 3 ingredients until smooth. Pour half of fudge into the pan. Sprinkle with chocolate bar pieces. Finish with fudge on top. Cool, then lift out of pan & remove foil. Makes 4 pounds.

(Note: if you refrigerate, it gets too hard to cut. Cool completely, then cut, then refrigerate.)

(I’ve also made it before using the big, huge toblerone bars!)

Carolyn’s Homemade Yogurt

The less fat milk you start with, the more tart the yogurt is.

Ingredients:

  • Milk
  • Yogurt
  • Sweeteners, if desired (see last preparation direction)

Preparation:

Pour half gallon of whole milk (8 cups) into crock pot. Cover and turn crock pot on low. Cook for 2.5 hours. Turn the crock pot on high for 1/2 hour.

Turn crock pot off and let set, covered, for 3 hours.

Remove 2 cups of milk from the crock pot. Pour into bowl and mix in 1/2 cup of yogurt. This is a “starter” and contains the cultures that will allow the milk to develop into yogurt. Pour milk and yogurt mixture back into crock pot and stir.

Cover crock pot and wrap with a heavy towel.  Let set 8 hours or overnight.

Refrigerate.

If flavored yogurt is desired, you may stir in fruit, honey, jam, or other sweeteners.  Experiment to find the flavorings you enjoy.  You can also mix equal parts fruit juice and yogurt to make a drinkable yogurt.

Carolyn’s Baked Brie

Courtesy of Carolyn 🙂

Ingredients:

  • Brie cheese (a 300 gram one – or if you want a big one 500 gram one)
  • A sheet of puff pastry (I used the President’s Choice all butter one)
  • Half a ripe mango, peeled & chopped
  • 1/2 tsp Thai green Chili paste
  • 2 tbsp red pepper jelly (sweet, not spicy.. but spicy if you want I guess)
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1/3 cup unsweetened baking coconut
  • 1 egg
  • About a cup of President’s Choice Memories of Bengal Mango Curry Sauce

Preparation:

Roll out the pastry in a baking dish (pref. only about a 2″ gap between the edge and the size of brie) and put the brie in the middle. In a bowl, stir together the chopped mango, the curry paste, the red pepper jelly and the garlic. Pour it over the brie.

In a dry frying pan, toast most of the coconut over med/high heat, stirring constantly, until browned. Sprinkle over the mango &brie. Fold the pastry up and over the brie, making sure there are no gaps. Beat the egg in a bowl and brush over the pastry. Sprinkle the rest of the untoasted coconut on top.

Bake at 375 for about 25 minutes. Then pour the cup (to taste) of Mango Curry sauce around the baked brie in the dish. Serve with slices of French bread and/or apple slices to spread the baked brie on.

Elaine’s Pumpkin Pie Mousse

I’m calling this mousse because it has a mousse-like texture to it. There is no cream used in it and it’s weight-loss friendly.
I got some nutritional info from caloriecount.

Pumpkin’s good points:

* Low in saturated fat
* No cholesterol
* Very low in sodium
* Very high in dietary fiber, iron,  vitamin A, vitamin C
* High in manganese, magnesium, pantothenic acid, phosphorus, potassium

Bad points

* Very high in sugar

If you don’t have a problem with natural sugar and like pumpkin, I’m sure you’ll find this recipe amazing. I just threw things together that I thought would be good. This is about 175 calories for the whole thing.

Ingredients:

  • 1/3 c pure pumpkin purée (I used E.D. Smith)
  • 1/2 c 1% cottage cheese
  • A splash of skim milk (about 1/3 c.)
  • 3/4 tsp. cinnamon (you could use some nutmeg in it too)
  • 3/4 Tbsp. brown sugar (I use Splenda)

Preparation:

In a food processor or Magic Bullet, combine all ingredients and mix well until light and creamy. Serve cold. It’s as easy as that!

Tomato and Quinoa Soup

I got this recipe from a YouTube video Allison Pacino made. I never thought to use spaghetti sauce as a base for tomato soup and thanks to her, it’s now a favourite of mine. I modified hers a bit. Feel free to add whatever veggies you like to it, I think almost anything would work.

Ingredients:

  • 500 g jar of tomato-based spaghetti sauce (I used spinach and cheese but I think any kind would work well
  • 3 c. water
  • 1/2 c. frozen corn (it’s just easier and it’s better for you than canned)
  • 1/4 c. quinoa (you could use rice if you want but there are more benefits with quinoa)
  • a handful of sliced mushroom (how’s that for a measurement???)

Preparation:

Rinse quinoa in a sieve until the water runs clear. Mix all ingredients in a microwave-safe dish and microwave for 5 minutes. Stir. Microwave for an additional 5 minutes or until quinoa is cooked (times depend per microwave).

You can cook all ingredients in a medium pot on the stove for about the same amount of time. If you want a thinner soup, add more water until the desired consistency is reached (about 1/2 c. at a time).

Elaine’s Horseradish Sauce

This is a tasty sauce that goes well with beef.

Ingredients:

  • 1 c sour cream (I used regular sour cream with a normal fat content, not fat-free since it’s too watery)
  • 1 pearl onion
  • 4 tsp prepared horseradish
  • 1 baby dill pickle

Preparation:

Blend all ingredients well in a food processor (a Magic Bullet works well) until it reaches a smooth, creamy consistency. Ensure the pickle is not in chunks and has blended in with the other ingredients completely. Serve cold, room temperature or heated with beef.

Elaine’s Meatloaf Revisited

So I made another meatloaf and tried changing the ingredients. It wasn’t from a recipe, just things I thought would be good… It makes a large meatloaf (or a couple of loaf panfuls) so if you just want one loaf pan, cut the recipe in half.  After trying it, it turned out well but next time I will add a cup of red wine to give it a bit of zing.

Ingredients:

  • 1 lb lean ground beef
  • 2 eggs
  • 3 roasted bell pepper halves (I used 2 red and 1 yellow but you can use what you like)
  • 4 c bread crumbs (I made mine from rye bread)
  • 6 pearl onions
  • 4 garlic cloves

Preparation:

Purée eggs, bell pepper halves, onions, and garlic cloves in a food processor (I used my Magic Bullet). In a large corningware dish (if you’re making the full recipe), mix the meat, puree, and bread crumbs thoroughly. Pat it down to make the top even and bake for 1 hour at 380 degrees F. Remove from heat. Serve hot with your favourite side or use for sandwiches when it has cooled. A creamy horseradish sauce also goes well with it.  Meatloaf can keep in the  fridge for about a week or frozen in the freezer for up to 1 month.

Olive and Bell Pepper Tapenade

It’s Sunday and I like cooking on Sundays. One of the things I’ve made today is an olive and bell pepper tapenade. It is absolutely delicious. I had roasted some bell peppers early last week and put them in the fridge. Throughout the week I used them all up but one orange one. I put it to good use today! I used my Magic Bullet for it, but I’m sure a regular food processor would do the job.

Ingredients:

  • 1 roasted bell pepper (red, green, yellow, or orange)
  • 40 pitted green olives (I used the olives stuffed with pimentos)
  • 2 baby dill pickles or 1 regular dill pickle
  • 2 tbsp. olive oil

Preparation:

Combine all ingredients and chop them in a food processor to a chunky consistency. Can be used as a bread dip or on a sandwiches. Refrigerate. Will keep for at least one week in the fridge.

Elaine’s Meatloaf

After making meatloaf from a recipe last week, I decided to put my own twist on meatloaf. It turned out pretty good if I do say so myself.

Ingredients:

  • About 1 kg. of extra lean ground beef
  • 2 eggs
  • 4 tbsp ketchup
  • 1/8 of a red onion (finely chopped)
  • 1 tbsp freshly grated ginger
  • 1 c. bread crumbs
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp pepper

Preparation:

Mix all ingredients thoroughly in a mixing bowl (using your hands is best for mixing). When all ingredients have very well mixed, place in a loaf pan (I didn’t grease mine and it didn’t stick to it when it was done). Bake for 45 minutes at 350 degrees F., then increase temperature to 375 F. for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and serve hot with a side. I also make meat loaf sandwiches with it which are very good with a little olive and pepper tapenade or your favourite condiment.

Micheline’s Best Granola

I had an appointment with someone at my house on Friday and we talked about a bunch of things but food came up. She gave me a recipe for granola that sounds delicious. I haven’t made it yet but when I do groceries this week, I’ll be picking up the ingredients and making it. Granola is delicious with yogurt and fresh fruit and has become one of my favourite breakfasts. By making my own granola, it will be more natural, no preservatives, etc.

Ingredients:

  • 1/3 c. canola oil
  • 2/3 c. maple syrup (Agave syrup might work well)
  • 4 c. large oat flakes (not instant or quick oats)
  • 1 c. sliced almonds (or whatever nuts you like)
  • 1/2 c. dried fruit (optional, your choice of fruit)

Preparation:

Mix oil and syrup well in a bowl. In a separate bowl, mix almonds and oats. Pour syrup and oil mixture over oats and almonds. Mix well making sure to coat all the oats and almonds with the syrup mix. Spread a layer onto a pyrex dish or baking sheet sprayed with cooking spray and bake for 20 min. at 350 degrees F and stir at 10 minute intervals then reduce heat to 300 degrees for 10 minutes and stir at 5 minute intervals. Remove from oven. Once it has cooled, add the dried fruit. Place in a container (glass jar is decorative). Store at room temperature and will keep for about a week.