Strawberry Almond Bread Pudding

What did we do with all that maple syrup we bought back with us from the festival?  Make french toast, pancakes, waffles... so many goodies, of course!

And bread pudding!!! I think bread pudding is probably one of my favourite things in the whole world... I know, it's not fancy but it has that yummy french toast taste and there is zero slaving involved to fry up each piece of toast.

There are endless possibilities when it comes to bread puddings, from the type of bread used to the custards that soak up all that yummy bread... variations of things to throw in from chocolate to dry fruit, and all kinds of compotes and fruit syrups to drizzle over top when serving

I love a good cinnamony bread pudding casserole with a sugary crunchy topping but today I kept it simple (sometimes simple is best)

I used about 6-8 slices of rye bread (ideally it should be more stale but I only had fresh)
Chop bread into large cubes and dump it into the pan (9x13 or smaller, lightly greased)

Now the second part, the custard:

- 1/2-3/4 cup Milk

- 2 or 3 eggs

- 1/4 cup heavy cream

-1/4 cup melted butter + 1 tsp oil

- 1 tsp vanilla

- 1 tbsp sugar (I used a product I recently discovered called coconut sugar to keep this healthy!)

Whisk it all up, pour over bread.

Toppings with:
-Tiny cubes of butter (about 1 tbsp worth)

-A handful of slivered almonds

-A handful of very coarse sugar

Each dotted or sprinkled evenly over the top.

Pop into a 350 F preheated over and it's ready in 20-25 minutes or when the liquid has dried up and the edges are a little brown,  to test you can remove a piece from the centre and it should be nice and custardy like and no more raw egg.

Serve with sugared slices of fresh strawberries and a drizzle of maple syrup!
Enjoy!

Whole Brined & BBQ chicken and Elmira Maple Syrup Festival 2013

Brined and BBQ Chicken

I love this chicken because it tastes very similar to those big smoked bbq turkey legs you get at the fairs and festivals! No smoking involved and it's super easy, just requires some prep the day or two ahead of time.

Start brine by mixing 2-3 tbsp salt in a large vessel, a steel pot is ideal, add hot boiling water to dissolve the salt.  Allow this to cool. The water should taste very salty to be able to flavour the chicken right down to the bone!

Add 1 tbsp sugar, or honey or maple syrup

1 large head of garlic, sliced horizontally, with peel and all

1 lemon, cut in half (wash skin and dunk right into the bath)
1 tbsp black whole peppercorns

1 tbsp vinegar (white wine, regular white is fine!)

(You could add herbs like dry thyme, rosemary...) 

Add enough cool water to be able to submerge the chicken in, and finally add the cold raw chicken from the fridge into the bath!  Put it straight back into the fridge for a day or two.

It must marinade at least 1 day in the fridge, when ready to cook remove the chicken from the brine and set it somewhere to drain well.  Let the skin dry up a bit so it's not "soaked" and rub the top with olive oil.

Heat the grill to medium low as this whole chicken will take about 20 + minutes to cook so you want a lower flame.  Allow it to cook flipping from time to time so both sides are roasted.  You can brush it with some maple syrup as a glaze if you like towards the end of cooking.
It's done when it registers to the proper chicken temperature on your thermometer OR you can slice the area where the leg is and the juices should run very clear, there should be no more redness near the bone either.

And here's a glimpse of our trip to Elmira for the Maple Syrup Festival earlier this month, it was fun!

Sweet Saffron Milk

Sweet Saffron Milk

- A pinch of authentic saffron strands (let stand on the counter soaking in about 2 tbsp water overnight)

- Milk

- Sweetener (honey/sugar/agave/ your choice!) 

Heat the milk in a small saucepan, or the microwave and sweeten to taste once it is warm. Add soaked saffron threads and water it was soaking in, at this point the water should be so intense in colour, stir it all into the milk.

If you want to make a milk tea (chai tea) then here is the alternative method:

Heat milk in a saucepan and add to it 1 or 2 teabags (good quality orange pekoe) as soon as it's just about to come to a boil and the milk begins to rise up remove from the stove and stir, steep just about 2 minutes, remove teabags and sweeten.

Now add your saffron threads soaking in water right in and serve!

Feel free to strain the saffron threads out but they're so healthy (and expensive!) I'd rather just consume them.

Serve and enjoy!

Sticky spiced carrot cake (vegan version too!)

Before everyone freaks out about the recipe below not being vegan, have a look at the yummy vegan recipe Lush Cosmetics posted HERE 

I was inspired to make my own since I had a couple of Medjool dates laying around from the holidays that were all nicely diced up and ready to dive into a recipe!  I did alter the recipe so it's no longer vegan, but it's still super delicious.   So if you want the vegan recipe click the link above and start baking and if you want to give this version a try then here you go... 

Carrot Cake

Mix together dry ingredients:

 1 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 tsp ground cardamom

Mix together:

1/2 cup of pitted, diced medjool dates

Fine lemon zest, from one fresh lemon

1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

1 tbsp yogurt

1 egg

3 tbsp oil

6 tablespoons real maple syrup

1/4 cup brown sugar

Add:

1 cup peeled, grated carrots

Topping:

1/2 cup of pecan pieces

Directions: 

Grease 1 8X8 square pan, add a strip of parchment for easy removal of cake. Preheat oven to 350 F

Mix dry ingredients together.  Mix wet ingredients together, add dry to wet and blend. 

Pour in prepared pan, sprinkle nuts over top and bake for 30 minutes.

Adding the cardamom was my touch, since it was in the same bag as my other baking spiced I figured why not throw some in there! I also forgot to incorporate the pecans so I just put them on top before baking. What makes this recipe super special is the GINGER so DO NOT LEAVE IT OUT, use FRESH ginger and lots of it.  I probably put in close to 1 1/2 tbsp!! Ohh it's just soooooooo good. 

Carrot Cupcake recipe is coming soon as soon they get frosted and a photoshoot :)

Some cats enjoy laying in the sun while I do the baking..

... and the other collects all here "babies" (stuffed animals) by carrying them downstairs one by one in her mouth and spread them across the kitchen floor to "sun" along side her..