Chocolate Covered Matzo

Happy Passover! So I got invited to a potluck for Friday, and I decided to make matzo balls (the recipe will be up later) because many of my friends had never had matzo before. I had to buy a whole box of matzo, but the recipe only requires half a box so I had half left. Naturally, I thought of making chocolate covered matzo, it's just so tasty and super easy! I ended up running out of chocolate chips, so some pieces are just toffee covered, but still delicious!

preparing the toffee

spreading the toffee on the matzo

putting the chocolate on the matzo

ready to eat!!

Recipe:

Line baking sheets with tin foil and preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place 1/2 pound (7 pieces) of matzo on the sheets. Melt 1/2 a cup of butter with 1 cup brown sugar until it begins to boil. Spread the toffee mixture evenly over the matzo and place in the oven for 3-4 minutes. Take out and spread 8oz of chocolate chips across the matzo. Put in oven again form 1-2 mins, until the chocolate chips melt. Take out and spread the chocolate chips out with a knife. Put in the fridge to cool, and enjoy!

Summer = Potato Salad

Summer (well really spring, but felt like summer) hit Halifax this weekend! The weather was UNBELIEVABLE! So for me, that meant one thing: Potato Salad. It just signifies summer to me, I love when my dad makes it, his recipe is sooo good, but requires a lot of ingredients that I just can't afford to buy for a one time use. So I made up my own dressing with 4 simple ingredients: lemon, olive oil, dijon mustard and balsamic vinegar. Its pretty tasty, and something nice to mix up my daily turkey sandwich lunch. Alas, the weather has gotten bad again, no big surprise here, so I will have to enjoy my my potato salad as a momentum to a great weather filled weekend.

clean cutup potatoes

making the dressing

ready to be demolished

Recipe:

Clean and cut 1lb mini potatoes and boil until tender in salted water. For the dressing, whisk 1tbsp dijon mustard, juice of 1 lemon, 1 tsp balsamic vinegar and 4-6tbsp of olive oil, until emulsified. When the potatoes are done, strain and immediately stir in dressing so the potatoes can soak it all in while they cool. Enjoy!

Potato Mushroom Tart

Wow, its been a while! Sorry for the long delay, school and the Trumped competition sort of took over my life! I made sooo many cupcakes/muffins/cookies/bars for the competition I was all baked out for a while. Today I decided to make something savory, with help from my friend Alex. We made potato mushroom tart, a recipe found on the food network and modified it to fit a students life. It ended up being pretty good, but I think it is a more suitable side dish, didn't quite fully satisfy for a dinner by itself.

cooking the mushrooms, started with
a lot, but they shrunk quite a bit!

all cooked and ready to be cooledlayering the tartmmm all ready to dig in!

Recipe:
Sautee 2 cups wild mushrooms with 1 cup sliced button mushrooms, 1 red onion (medium dice), and 2 cloves garlic finely minced, in some oil until nicely caramelized (about 10mins). Season with salt and pepper and let cool. Cut 6 medium sized russet potatoes very thinly and place in a large ziploc bag. Add salt, pepper, rosemary (could use other seasonings, i suggest fresh basil or thyme, we just didnt have any) and 1/4 cup melted butter. Shake bag well to coat all potato slices. Once mushrooms are cooled you can begin layering. Butter an 8 inch round, and start layering with potatoes. Then put a layer of mushrooms, then some sliced mozzerella (i would use a more flavorful cheese next time, maybe swiss or brie if you're being extravagent). Then repeat layering until the pan is filled, make sure to end with cheese. Bake at 300 degrees for 30mins, covered with tin foil. The crank the heat to 375 and remove foil, cook for another 15-20 mins. Enjoy!

Cupcakes for Cancer

On Wednesday I entered into a competition with a few friends called Trumped (www.trumped.ca). It is very similar to the show The Apprentice. We have three tasks, with half the teams being kicked out after task 1 and 2. The first task is to raise as much money as we can for the Canadian Cancer Society. Yesterday we baked over 100 cupcakes and hit the streets of Halifax in -14 weather to sell them. It was FREEEEEZZZING! Heres a look at some of our beautiful creations!PLEASE help support the Canadian Cancer Society by donating here:
http://convio.cancer.ca/site/TR?team_id=191590&fr_id=4331&pg=team

THANKS!!

Mac & Cheese

So we had a rugby potluck last night and I decided to make mac & cheese, its super easy to make and very delicious! Usually we have so many cheesy pasta dishes, but last night there was quite a good spread! I didn't get a picture of the mac&cheese all baked and gooey on top, but I got one just before I put it in the oven.

making the rouxready for the oven

Recipe:
Start off by making the roux, which is a butter and flour mixture that thickens sauces. Melt 6 tbsp butter in a saucepan then add 6 tbsp flour and whisk for about a minute. Then slowly add 3 cups of milk. Let the white sauce simmer for 5 minutes until it gets nice and thick. Add your favourite cheese, 2-3 cups worth. Then add sauce to cooked pasta and mix in a casserole dish. Top with a layer of cheese and bread crumbs and cook at 400 degrees for 15-20 mins. Enjoy!

Chocolate Chip Walnut Bran Muffins

I'm Back! Sorry for the huge hiatus, exams, going home and california kind of got in the way of baking and posting. Lucky me came back from holiday to a B-E-A-UTIFUL red kitchenaid stand mixer (thanks Uncle Peter)!! So I christened it yesterday by making some delicious muffins, that were healthy too!

isn't it gorgeous!

the dry ingredientsready for the oven
yummy!

Recipe:

Whisk together 1 cup wheat bran, 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour, 1 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp baking soda, 3/4 cup chocolate chips and 1/4 cup roughly chopped walnuts. In a separate bowl blend 3/4 cup milk (I used soy milk), 1 egg lightly beaten, 2 tbsp oil, 1/2 cup honey (or molasses) and 1/2 cup applesauce. Then slowly add the dry mixture to the wet, be careful not to over overmix! Bake at 400 degrees for 15-20 mins. Enjoy!!

Challah

So as the exam period has officially started, so has procrastination baking. It is the perfect way to forget about exams for a little bit and relax. I have made Challah bread before when I was younger, but this was my first time trying it alone. It turned out really well and perfectly tasty. The great part about it is I don't have to fight with my siblings for the delicious crustless pieces!
Well I guess I should get back to studying.. good luck on exams everyone!!

activating the yeastletting the dough restready for the oven!ready to be eaten!