Nanny Carla's Fudge Pudding Cake

Now this cake is awesome!! soo easy and perfect for that savory dessert lover.
Preheat the oven to 350 C, you want to sift 3 times into a large bowl 1C of flour, 2 t of baking powder, 1 t of salt, and 2/3 C of sugar, put aside, combine 1/2 C milk 1t Vanilla, 2T melted butter, you want to add the wet to the dry.

Place in a well greased 6 quart  casserole dish. Then sprinkle with 1 C brown sugar and 1/4 C cocoa pour 1 and 1/2 C boiling water over the entire dish cook for about 45 to 50 minutes, or until white cake has come to top and fudge is on the bottom and enjoy. Also great with big scoop of ice cream.

This is an easy dessert for those who want something sweet but do not have too much time!

Mom's Potato Salad

Potato Salad is a staple during the summer at picnics and potlucks, my mom has perfected this delishious salad.

You will need 8 potatoes boiled until soft and 3 large eggs boiled hard.

While these are boiling you will want to finely chop 3 stalks of celery, 1 red bell pepper, 1 onion, 10 cornichons, and 3 scallions.

One the potatoes and eggs have cooled toss together, then add 3T cider vinegar, 1C Mayo, 1T dry mustard, 1/2 t celery seed, and 2T hot water. Mix with the salad.

Garnish with 2 T of Parsley and 1t of paprika. you will want to spinkle this on top just to give the salad some clour.

and Enjoy!!

Lets Talk Pasta Sauces - First Marinara and Alfredo

So one of the easiest meals you can make is pasta. Anyone can do it its cheap, fast and delish! So many people now a days feel that the best thing to do is just get the pasta sauce out of the bottle. This is a big no no. Not only are these full of bad preservatives but also full of sugar and salt. So to make it fresh takes no time and is much healthier for you

First we are going to discuss the simple Marinara. This sauce is basically just garlic, olive oil, fresh basil a can of crushes tomatoes a can of diced tomatoes, and salt and pepper for taste. It takes about 10 minutes to make and is delish.

Now on to my very favorite sauce of all time. Alfredo. Alfredo is very simple you just need to make sure to watch it or it will burn. It is also very fatty so not something you would want to make a staple in the household. Also i find this sauce best served with spinach fettuccine. You want to take 1 TBSP of butter and melt it in the bottom of a pot then you add on e garlic clove chopped let sizzle a bit, you then add 1 cup of Whipping cream. you will need to reduce this to have. So have on a medium heat and whisk constantly once the cream has come to a boil it is ready. So you then add 1/2 cup of Parm cheese, and let it come to a soft boil to thicken. Serve over your pasta and delish. you can also add chicken, shrimp or mushrooms.. yummy!!

There are so many more sauces to come but this is it for now.

Ciao

Fluffy Pancakes

Pancakes, are the most homey breakfast I can think of and there are a million recipes for the best pancakes. There are the simplest recipes of a cup of milk and a cup of flour and there you go to the most advanced made with ricotta and other more exotic flavours. My families recipe is more on the simple side, but in my opinion the best recipe if what you want is homey fluffy pancakes.

So you need to add 1 1/2Cup of flour, 3 teaspoons of baking powder, 1/2 teaspoons of salt and 2 tablespoons of sugar. Give that a quick stir, then add the wet ingredients which are 1 egg, 1 3/4Cup of milk and 2T of oil. Whisk only until all the dry is wet and then let it stand for a few minutes. If you would like to add fruit, raspberries, and blueberries are a few of my favourite, add then to the pancake after you put it in the pan, this way they will not all just clump together and you can get as many any you want per pancake.

Cook on a medium low heat until golden brown on both sides. Also just a rule of thumb don't worry if the first one does not work out, usually you can count on the first one not turning out so pretty but hey it will still taste great.

Enjoy!!!

The Perfect Turkey

So cooking a turkey perfectly is an easy thing to do once you have the right steps. You want to pre-heat your oven to 350 C then take your stuffed turkey and put it in your roaster with the breast facing down. You then pop the turkey in the oven without the cover for 20 minutes once it has been nicely seared you want to take the roaster out and loosen the Turkey from the bottom of the roaster. You can use a flipper to do this. Then you want to put the turkey back in for a couple of hours. This you may want to look online how long to cook it but a good way to judge is if you pierce it in one of the meaty parts you should only see clear liquid coming out. After the bird is almost ready you want to remove the lid again and let it get nice and crispy.

You should lightly baste the turkey every 30 minutes or so

Enjoy and Happy Holidays!!!

Chicken Parmensan

Chicken Parmesan

Nothing says Sunday night dinner like Chicken Parmesan. This is an easy meal that is sooo yummy! First you want to boil some water for your spaghetti. Then make your marina Sauce this should not take much time at all (Check previous posting)! Once your pasta has been cooked mix it into the sauce and leave on a low heat to simmer. Next prepare 3 bowls one with flour in it one with 2 eggs beaten in it and one with Italian bread crumbs in it. Heat a good glug of olive oil in a pan. Next take your skinless boneless chicken breast and fillet, then wrap in plastic wrap and hit it with a meat hammer, the fun part!!! Once your chicken is about ¼ inch thick, they are ready to dip into flour then eggs then bread crumbs and next put them in a pan. Allow to cook on both sides for about 4-7 minutes. After you are sure the chicken is cooked all the way through put a slice of Mozza on top and let melt, next put pasta on your plate and then the chicken on top and drown them in your parmesan cheese! Goes great with a nice glass of red wine! Enjoy!

Mexican night

Unfortunately for me, Meaghan is on a Mexican adventure whilst I am here in the cold...working away...Trying to make myself feel better I though why not whip up some Guacamole...it is easy and quick and Delicious!

The first thing you need to make sure you have a ripe avocado. You want the outside to be black and you want them to be soft. If they are green on the outside STAY AWAY. They will be hard and make lumpy guacamole.

I usually use the rule, one avocado for every 2 people. This recipe is easily doubled and tripled.


1 ripe avocado
1 lime
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons of cilantro (fresh, dry will not work)
Optional
1 chili pepper diced up for those who like it hot!!!

Now for the fun part...

Scoop out the avocado with a metal spoon into a medium bowl. They have special avocado cutters which makes things easy, but a spoon works great! Take a potato masher and mash up all the avocado so it is nice and smooth, it is ok if it is a bit lumpy, it just depends what kind of texture you are craving. Squeeze the juice from the lime into the bowl, add the salt and cilantro. If you are using chili this is also the time to add it. Mix it up with a fork, you can also use this opportunity to get our any lumps if you are craving a silky smooth guacamole.

Sure with corn chips, I prefer the blue kind (adds great colour). Try not to get the kinds that have too much salt it takes away from the yummy guacamole. I like to serve this along side some sour cream, I think it really compliments it, but it is delish by itself too!

Enjoy!