Meatless Monday- Curried Eggplant

This week we made curry eggplant with tomatoes, chick peas and onions on coconut rice! 

It's 100% vegan!

We are starting to run out of ideas for recipes, so Ryan actually had to do research for this one! The recipe was found at http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/browse-all-recipes/curried-eggplant-tomatoes-basil 

Curried Eggplant with Tomatoes and Basil

1 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 Onion, chopped
2 Tomatoes, chopped
1 Eggplant, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 1/2 tsp curry powder (we found this amount a bit weak, you may want to add more)
1 (15oz) can rinsed chickpeas
1/2 cup fresh basil (cut in half if you use dry.. we forgot to do that part)
1/4 cup plain yogurt (optional) (we didn't use any yogurt)

1. Heat the oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, 4 to 6 minutes.

1. Stir in the tomatoes, eggplant, curry powder, 1 teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon black pepper. Cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 2 minutes.

1. Add 2 cups water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, partially covered, until eggplant is tender, 12 to 15 minutes.

1. Stir in the chickpeas and cook just until heated through, about 3 minutes.

1. Remove the vegetables from heat and stir in the basil. 

Coconut Rice
1 1/2 cups water 
1/2 cup coconut milk

1 cup long grain white rice 

We have a rice cooker! So Ryan just set the rice cooker with all the ingredients inside.. I don't really know how to use it (wow that sounds sad...) I really should learn! It makes amazing rice!

The Costumes of 2014

So I like dressing up... Quite a bit. I don't like spending buckets of money on my costumes however...

So here is a summary of my outfits/costumes of 2014!

December

4 bags of bows... $4 and a clearance skirt from Walmart!

$4.25 Frenchies... Yay!

Santa Shuffle prep... I had everything hiding in the house somewhere!

November

$5 Clearance sale!

$4 Clearance Sale!

October 

Wig.. $7.99
White Shirt.. $7
Dress.. $4 on clearance!

Halloween Win!

Zellers Out of Business Sale... $12 :)

September

Buy one get 2 dresses free deal? Done!

$7 dress

0.25 in felt and stuffing!

Summer!!

$9 clearance

$4 clearance dress

$0.50 in felt! Dundundun DUNdundun Dundundunnnn

$7 clearance!

$22... A little more then I like to spend...

 Remember this dress?

+ $0.50 in felt!

Value Village! $5.99!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from my family to yours!

Here are all my DIY Christmas creations this year!!

Frog Tape Snowflake

Leopard Print Ornaments!

Olaf Pullapart Cupcakes!!

 Button Wreath

Here's the tree again!

Ugly Sweater Party!... Went with a skirt!

Ferrero Rocher Cupcakes Again!

Merry Merry Christmas!!!

Meatless Monday- Grilled Asparagus

Monday night was my first attempt at grilling up asparagus! It was fairly simple all I used for a small bunch of asparagus was...

1 heaping tbsp Margarine

1 tbsp Lemon Juice

1/2 an Onion, chopped

Salt and Pepper to taste

Using a grill on medium heat, wrap the asparagus, margarine, lemon juice and salt and pepper into a piece of aluminum foil and grill for 2-3 minutes or until they are as tender as you would like them.

I also made some Dill Carrots and Roast Potatoes to accompany the asparagus!

Dill Carrots

4 large Carrots, sliced

Enough Water to cover Carrots

2 tbsp Margarine

2 tbsp Brown Sugar

1 tbsp Epicure Lemon Dilly Dip Mix

Salt and Pepper to taste

Place the carrots and lemon dilly spice either in a skillet or in a very shallow pot and pour just enough water to cover the carrots. Bring the carrots to a boil and let simmer over medium heat until the water is completely evaporated and the carrots are nice and tender!

Stir in the margarine, brown sugar and salt and pepper and enjoy!

Roasted Potatoes

Enough potatoes to feed your family, chopped into 2-bite pieces

Enough Olive Oil to coat the potatoes

1/2 an Onion

Salt and Pepper to taste

Wash the potato wedges and coat with oil. Pour into a large pan and add onions, salt and pepper.

Bake at 425 degrees for 45-50 minutes or until potatoes are crispy.

Enjoy!

Ferrero Rocher Chocolate Cupcakes

Christmas Baking anyone?
I love to make cupcakes or some sort of baking item for people who don't quite make the christmas present list!

This year I took my awesome chocolate cake recipe teamed up with the best Chocolates on the market! Ferrero Rocher!

Chocolate Cupcakes

1 3/4 cup All-purpose Flour

2 cups Sugar

3/4 cup Cocoa Powder

1 tsp Baking Powder

1 tsp Baking Soda

1 cup Milk

1/2 cup Vegetable Oil

2 Eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup Boiling Water

• Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, and baking soda in a large bowl.
• Combine the Milk, oil, eggs and vanilla. Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour the milk mixture into the bowl. Mix Well.
• Add the boiling water and gently fold into the batter.
• Bake cupcakes at 350 degrees for 22 minutes. 9" cake for 35-55 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
• Enjoy!

Now the fun part... Adding the goodies!!

Since these chocolates can be a little expensive I cut them in half. I baked half in the cupcake and places the other half on top.

The Finished Product!

Makingerby Blogging Challenge

This was fun getting used to posting on a regular basis!

Here is the Makingerby blogging challenge to get to know ourselves better!

An Animal

Day 14! At last! And this is an easy one! A picture of an animal!

No one should be surprised by my choice! I take any excuse to show off pictures of Princess Peach!! <3 I am very grateful that my little kitty has no interest in my christmas tree at all. She watches it from her perch but I have no fears of her climbing it or knocking it down while I'm at work.
She's gained a bit of weight this winter and I think that may be a contributing factor to her good behaviour, I'm sure that weight won't last when the weather starts to warm up!

December Ipsy Glam Bag Review

So this will be 4th Ipsy Bag and I must say I'm still really enjoying them!
Join me on ipsy and subscribe to the Glam Bag! You get 4-5 beauty products every month delivered to your door, for just $10 (Plus $4.95 shipping to Canada...) Michelle Phan curates the bags! Check it out Here !












First up in this month's bag is... Beauty Without Cruelty A.H.A 3% Facial Cleanser

This product is Vegan/ Vegetarian, and has never been tested on animals. It's a soap free cleanser great for daily use because it doesn't over-clean your skin.

The product was really thick, I had to squirt a whole bunch in my hand because it didn't really stretch my whole face! However I absolutely loved this product! I used it to wash my face before bed, and the ultimate test came when I woke up, since it stated it wouldn't over wash my face I didn't put any moisturizer on before bed to see if my face would have to over compensate, but when I woke up my face felt just as fresh as when I went to bed! I feel like it's going to be expensive but it's a quality cleanser so that makes it worth it!

Next is... Coolway Boost Repair Treatment

This stuff in intended to reverse the damage caused by harsh chemicals and heat. I personally don't use a heavy amount of product in my hair nor do I bother to straighten/ blow dry very often so my hair is in fairly good shape! I did still obviously run this stuff through my hair, it needs to stay in for 4 minutes to be effective. After I rinsed it out my hair definitely felt very soft!

NYX Cosmetics Butter Lip Balm was the next thing I pulled out of my bag..

I got the marshmallow flavour! Although it was more like a caramel taste to it... Maybe they intended it to be roasted marshmallow? I dunno...

It's definitely a nice soft balm... The nude colour is a little boring for me but it'll be nice in the winter months when I need a hint of moisturizer.

So this one I'm excited to talk about...

Fairy Dust by Pixi by Petra

So this is it's description... "Elevate & transform your eye in a few fairy seconds with this glimmering dust. Loose pigments add a lit-up high shine finish to lids, reminding you what wishes are truly made of!" 

This stuff... Is weird... Everything about it is weird. The applicator brush is like a stiff Q-tip that doesn't distribute the powder evenly. The "dust" I guess I should be calling it is a weird consistency and even when I tried to use a blending brush to even it out a bit it was still stubborn, and the colour ... Just confuses me.

I didn't enjoy this at all... My wish was not granted. I was very disappointed.

Now last but certainly not least... 

Tarte Deluxe Lights, Camera Lashes 4-in-1 Mascara

They call it a push-up bra for your lashes! It increases your lashes by 330%... And I have to say they got it bang on! My lashes have never looked so good! The only complaint I have over this product was the fact that the sample was literally one time use... It was so tiny!! However I do think for the first time since I got my subscription I will take advantage of the ipsy promotion and get myself a full version of the mascara!

Overall this bag was awesome! ... Except the pixie dust.. That was terrible, but I still plan to continue the subscription!

My Academics

Day 13- My academics

Well here it is! Nothing fancy but I like what I do. I attended Holland College in Prince Edward Island for pastry arts. Graduated in May of 2010. This was definitely a fun time in my life! Met so many people that I will stay friends with for many years still to come.
I met people from all over Canada and from all over the world! I can't imagine not taking this tiny adventure!
Although it drained my funds! With tuition and living in residence the cost spoke to the tune of $14,000.. (Paid it in cash..) So I never got that feel for university life and it can make it hard to find a job, unfortunately good paying pastry chef jobs are few and far between.. But at least when people hear what I do they get very excited! (They just think they're getting cookies...)

My Shoes

Day 12- My shoes!

 Here they are! One of my favourite pair of shoes. And also one of my most expensive! I bought them at D-Tox a couple of years ago and they only come out on special occasion.

Candy Land Christmas!

So I am not a traditional girl at all... So my tree doesn't have the classic red and green look to it. It's all about candy land!

It still needs a few more lights, I'll be swooping a few more sets up at Target after Christmas. Also need a few more inches of silver decorating ribbon!

Next years tree is going to be perfect!

A problem I've Had

Day 11- A problem I've Had

This one will be brief just due to embarrassment.. A problem that I've definitely battled with is money anxieties. I don't like spending money.. On anything. And it's even harder to use credit cards because I have to pay for the item.. Then 3 weeks later I have to see the expense again! Gah! Hate it!

On certain occasions (like my birthday) I can let loose a bit. My last birthday my mother and I went shopping for 7 hours! I was so proud of myself!... I spend $130 HAH. Mostly in cash so I didn't have to see the bill later...

But yeah... Hey if I was going to have an addiction I guess a financial one is not terrible, I joke that there's a little Scrooge McDuck dancing in my head. It certainly gets a laugh!

Meatless Monday- Cheese Stuffed Tortellini with an Alfredo Sauce

Meatless Monday has come again! This week we made Cheese Stuffed Tortellini with a homemade Alfredo Sauce.

Here is the recipe for the sauce!

Alfredo Sauce

1/4 cup butter

1 cup heavy cream

1 clove garlic, crushed

1 1/2 cups freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium low heat. 
Add cream and simmer for 5 minutes, then add garlic and cheese and whisk quickly, heating through. 
Stir in parsley.
Enjoy!

Definitely a bit different from my light Alfredo Sauce... But soo much creamier!!

Meatless Monday- Veggie Tortellini Soup

Took me until Thursday to post this!! Geeze I'm getting sloppy!

Veggie Tortellini Soup

3 tbsp vegetable oil
1 clove of garlic, minced (or 1/2 tsp epicure minced garlic)
3 stalks green onion
3 carrots, chopped
1 onion, diced
1 can cream of celery soup
2 cans water
900ml vegetable broth
A large package of fresh cheese tortellini

• Put oil, garlic, green onion, carrots and onions in the bottom of a large soup pot. Saute until tender.
• Add cream of celery soup and water to the cooked veggies
• Add vegetable broth and tortellini 
• Heat until tortellini is soft.
• Serve and enjoy!