Tuesday, August 23, 2022

Thai Peanut Noodles

What better way to purge the crisper drawer than this simple, flavour packed Thai Peanut Noodle dish? Tons of veggies form the backbone of this hearty meal, accented with vegan ground meat and noodles that cook in the sauce - no extra pot needed!

Jump to Recipe 


The only downside about a looming vacation is trying to shop and cook enough so you don't starve, but not so much you have a billion things in your crisper and fridge that will go bad. Being that it's summer, the quantity of vegetables in our house is large, and with my mom away I wanted to be able to make meals for her to come back to that used up all (or at least some) of the produce, were simple, and could be frozen for even she's running around with my nephew. Luckily we also have a well stocked pantry, and I was inspired by a tub of peanut butter I picked up from Bulk Barn to make cookies and never finished. 

An hour later, I had a huge pot of a Thai-inspired vegan peanut curry, filled with tons of veggies and noodles for even more texture and nutrition. The noodles cooked in the curry sauce, which not only infused them with the spicy peanutty flavour but thickened the sauce just enough where it moved from "soup" to "sauce" consistency - perfect!

As I said, this makes a lot of curry, but it keeps well and can be frozen. If you don't have or like the vegetables I used, swap in your favourites! I basically just kept going until the pot was full. Any thin noodle will work as well, so if you only have spaghetti, or rice noodles, or bean thread noodles, throw them in! The versatility here means you never have to make it the same way twice.

Saturday, August 13, 2022

Pink Frosted Chocolate Doughnuts

When you have your 2 four-year-old nieces over and a free afternoon, it's time to make the doughnuts! These are eggless chocolate cake doughnuts moistened with yogurt and given a classic flavour with a bit of Selefina Spices nutmeg. 

 

First off, I'll admit I'm working a bit backwards with these "baking with my niece" posts - for the last month of Summer break, I've made one day a week baking day with her both to keep her busy and to teach her a few life skills (and to give my mom a bit of reprieve!). If you follow me on IG (and if not, you should!), you'll have seen some of our past projects, and I will be sure to share those too! But upon her request, the doughnuts are going first.

These are a pretty straightforward baked cake doughnut, with a touch of yogurt to keep it moist and just a hint of nutmeg for that doughnut flavour - that addition amazed the littles, and they had a blast looking at the whole nutmeg Selefina Spices had sent me. Being so simple, the recipe allows lots of opportunity for learning - aside from melting the butter and measuring the yogurt and milk, everything else was measured and mixed by my team of two sous chefs. The girls were also the lead decorators, picking the colour of the icing and deciding on the sprinkle selection, dipping the doughnuts and finally, showing them off to the other adults. I dare say they were on par with some of my old grade 7 and 8 kids!

Friday, August 12, 2022

Blueberry Pecan Bread

You can never have too many pecans (well, if you're a pecan lover like my mom!), and combined with this multigrain dough made with blueberry jam and a hint of orange blossom water every slice feels luxurious.

Jump to Recipe


With a week to go until she left on vacation, my mom and I decided to do a complete clean out of our fridge and freezers - yes, we have three freezers, which sounds great until the documentation of where things are starts to falter and more and more items get shoved to the back! In my rummaging, I came across a bag full of different nuts and seeds that I had put there for safekeeping and forgot about! 

Since I knew I had the end of a Costco-sized jar of blueberry jam to use up, I decided to try and combine the two into a slightly sweet whole grain loaf - just one, mind you, since otherwise we wind up with storage issues of the bread persuasion, and mom could bring the remainder of the single loaf on her road trip. Buffed by Naked Shake for protein and a hint of sweetness, and packed with whole grains for even more texture and fibre, the resulting loaf is perfect for when you need to keep full for a while and much better tasting than the average gas station fare!

This loaf inspired a few others in it's wake, so stay tuned to see the twists I put on this one and let me know what you would add to your perfect loaf: cherry jam and almonds? Grape jam and peanuts? Or maybe skip the nuts altogether and add your favourite fruit!