Pasta Day!!!

We spent a day last weekend making pasta from scratch.

Beastie LOVES making pasta almost as much as she loves eating it!!!

We used the recipe on the back of President's Choices Black Label 00 flour.

We filled it with spinach and ricotta cheese then she wanted to add sharp cheddar (orange cheese) so we added that too.

Beastie was in charge of stuffing and fork marks to crimp the edges closed.

We made heaps of little pillows.

The extra pasta was turned into plain old noodles by putting it through the pasta roller.

We served it with a simple tomato puree and some sausage.

Her noodles were served with ketchup. 

Keeping Busy

Life's been a whirlwind.

We've been enjoying new food. Loving the springtime fruit. Our blackberries have been HUGE!

The Lily's smitten with the dandelions. 

So many pretty at the local grocer's lately.

Even found time for some satin Lily knickers!

I think I'll join them.

Nap time anyone?

President's Choice Pasta Dinner

I guess it's not a secret that I'm a bit of a President's Choice product fan. Although we enjoy making our own fresh pasta from time to time, we also use many pre-made pasta and sauce combos for those days (or weeks!) when I have commissions due and little time to play in the kitchen. President's Choice is featuring their PC Fresh Pasta and jar PC Pasta Sauces right now and I wanted to see what all the hype was about.

Lemon Poppy Seed Glazed Cookies

We're almost done the Christmas baking for another year. Working retail, it's hard to find the time (or energy) to get things done this time of year. We are getting there though. I think these cookies are the top of the heap this year and I wanted to share them with you. We made ours star shaped and added some gold sugar balls to bling them out a bit.

I found this recipe from Freshjuice.ca through my PC Plus recipes. I think they're going to be a new holiday favorite. They are the most lemony cookies I've ever tasted and the poppy seeds give a pleasant texture to these delicate biscuits. 

Hope you try them to!

Christmas Concocting.

The Nuts and Bolts have a smokey twist thanks to President's Choice Black label Smoked Paprika. I'm going to put this stuff on everything! We used Martha Stewart's Nuts and Bolt recipe but we left out the traditional O shaped cereal. It gives James a stomach ache. Anyone else sensitive to O's?

The kids have been busy constructing a Gingerbread Bunker. Maggie's superior skills with filling gaps with mini marshmallows and royal icing and Austin's tree building prowess have made this year's gingerbread build a huge success! Love the melty snowman by the tree!

It's been a lazy sort of weekend around here.

Hope you're finding loads of family time too!

Stewed Cherries, Puff Pastry and Ice-Cream

We made this for desert tonight and I had to share the process with you. It took minutes to prepare and was one of the most delicious deserts ever!

Puff Pastry Cinnamon Sticks:

President's Choice frozen puff pastry sheets

butter

sugar

cinnamon

parchment paper

I rolled out the thawed puff pastry sheets and brushed them with butter. I sprinkled them liberally with a mix of one cup of sugar and 2 tsp of cinnamon. I flipped over the sheets and repeated the process. I used a pizza cutter to cut four inch by 3/4 inch strips and twisted them. I laid each strip in rows on a parchment paper lined baking sheet and baked them in a preheated 375 degree oven for 20 minutes. You can store any extras in an air tight container.

While the sticks were baking I made the cherries.

Spiced Rum Stewed Cherries:

3 cups of pitted fresh cherries

1/2 cup of spiced rum

1/2 cup of sugar

Put pitted cherries into a saucepan and add rum and sugar. Heat over medium heat until heated through and liquid thickens. Add more rum if needed.

Assembly:

Put four or five cinnamon sticks into a bowl and scoop one scoop of Neapolitan ice-cream in there. Scoop over the warm cherries and enjoy!

Almond Acorn Cookies

We made these delicious cookies a few days ago.

I used a President's Choice acorn cookie mold tray to make them. 

Aren't they pretty?

I found this recipe online.

I highly recommend it.

They were calling them Sandbakkels or Norwegian Sunbuckle cookies. I kept pretty true to the recipe but did manage to replace some of the ground almonds with a couple teaspoons of ground flax seed.

I put balls of the dough into the mold and laid a sheet of plastic wrap over top. Then I pressed each one into the mold. I removed the plastic wrap and baked it following the recipe instructions.

Next time we make these I'll coat the bottoms of each cookie in melted chocolate.

Hope you try them too!