Raspberry Sorbet

I wanted to do make something special for my blog and my family for New Year's Eve and the actual day. So I decided to make some sorbet with my new ice cream maker!


Supplies:

Ice cream maker

A hand blender or a regular blender

Measuring cups and spoons

A small pan


Ingredients:

2 cups of defrosted frozen or fresh raspberries (I suppose you could use any soft berry)

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 cup water

1 1/2 tbsp corn syrup


Method:

1. Heat your small pan on a high heat.
2. Pour water into the pan, then sugar and corn syrup.
3. Stir  until it's all mixed together. Wait until it boils.
4. Boil for around 1 min.
5. Take it off the stove and cool completely (I suggest to scrape it into another bowl and put it into the freezer for an hour.)
6. While you wait, IF you have a handheld blender, measure 2 cups and put them into a bowl. Blend until smooth. IF you have a regular countertop mixer, measure 2 cups of rasberries and blend unil smooth.
7. Once the corn syrup mixture is cooled, mix the raspberries in and pour into your ice cream maker.
8. Turn the ice cream maker on for 30 minutes.
9. Freeze the sorbet in a bowl if you want it to be firmer.

Chocolate Chunk Cookies

I made them a bit big, so that's why they're square... They squished eachother in the pan.

And now, a close up!

On Christmas Eve, I was especially bored. I know what you're thinking, that I should be super excited and doing Christmasey things. But, I was bored. So I got the idea to bake cookies. Since my mom had already baked Christmas cookies, why not make chocolate chunk? I hope you guys enjoy the pictures and the cookies if you decide to make them. They are a variation from my mom's 1987 Canadian Living cookbook.

Oven Temperature: 375 C

Supplies:

1 or 2 baking sheets

Measuring cups and spoons

Ingredients:

1 cup margarine

1 cup white sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

2 cups flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

4 squares / 1/4 pound chocolate (I cut up some unsweetened baking chocolate

Method:

1. Cream margarine in a bowl. Add both sugars. Mix until blended.
2. Add eggs one at a time to the bowl and mix. Add vanilla.
3. Next, put the flour into the bowl and mix until all is mixed in. Use you hands if necessary.
4. Add in salt and baking soda.
5. Next, if you need to, cut up the chocolate and mix it into the batter! Mmm...
6. Place flattened round cookies the size of one spoonful onto the cookie sheets.
7. Bake for 9-12 minutes!

Christmas Apple Pie

You know the saying, "As easy as pie!", or "As easy as cake!". Well, I'm all for cake. It is so much easier than pie. For cake, mix and pour into the pan. For pie, roll out dough, put in pan, make filling, then into the oven. But, I think pie tastes better.

 Oven Tempurature: 425 C

Supplies:

A pie pan
An apple peeler
2 bowls
Spoons
Knives
Measuring cups and spoons

Ingredients:

Crust:

1 cup + 2 tsp cake and pastry flour

1/2 cup margarine (although I added about another 1/4 cup extra, which made it so much easier)

salt

Filling:

1 3/4 apples

1-2 tsp cinnamon (I used a big tablespoon full of cinnamon and it was way too strong)

1/4 cup white sugar

Method:

1. Combine flour and salt in a bowl. Mix.
2. Add margarine to the flour and salt and mix until blended. It should resemble large peas.
3. If you used the extra margarine like suggested, pick out the dough and place it in the pan. Press the dough all over the pan and prick with a fork.
4. Put the crust into the oven for 12 minutes.
5. While the crust is baking, you shall make the filling.
6. Peel the apples.
7. Cut the apples into smallish pieces.
8. Put the apples into a bowl and add cinnamon and sugar.
9. Once the crust is done baking, add the apples ontop and bake for another 6 minutes.
10. Take out the pie and eat!

Remember: Don't be shy to comment!

Rana-Style Shrimp

Still frozen...    

Halfway there...

 Ready to eat.  

Pasta and shrimp are two of my favourite things to make. Why? First of all, because they're pretty easy and simple to make, and second, because they taste great.

Supplies:

1 large pan
1 wooden spoon

Ingredients:

1 package of frozen cooked shrimp (around 24 pieces of shrimp)
Extra-virgin olive oil
3 large pinches of paprika
1 large pinch of garlic powder
1 large pinch of ginger powder
Pepper flakes
Dried oregano

Method:

1. Heat pan on high heat and add olive oil. Once hot enough, turn heat down to medium heat.
2. Pour in shrimp. Stir and let them defrost. When there is too much water from the ice, pour it out, but not all of it!
3. Once completely defrosted, add paprika, garlic powder and ginger powder to the shrimp. Let it sit, stirring often. Let the water that is left in the pan boil off and soak into the shrimp to give it extra flavour.
4. Add the pepper flakes and oregano. Stir it around and you're done!
5. OPTIONAL: serve with rice or salad. Enjoy!

Lime Mediterranean Linguine

The completed sauce still in the pan.

The completed Lime Mediterranean Linguine in a bowl.

Serves 3

Supplies:

a pot

a pan

2 wooden spoons

knives
a large cutting board
a cheese grater + bowl


Ingredients:

1/3 of a box of Catelli linguine (I used 1/2 the box and it was too many noodles and not enough sauce)

3 pieces garlic

3 large sweet pepers

1 cut up green onion (the whole one plant of one green onion cut up)

A full handful of feta cheese
25 cherry tomatoes

Balsamic vinegar

2 limes

Extra-virgin olive oil

Method:

1. Prepare the linguine according to the box instructions. Pour out the water from to pot, and add some olive oil and mix so that it doesn't stick together. Make sure you put enough on.
2. Heat the stove up to a medium heat and put the pan on.
3. Cup up the garlic and onions with a knife. Also cut up the pepers until the size of an approx. 2x2 cm square. Grate the feta cheese into a bowl.
4. Once the pan is heated up on the stove, add some olive oil and put in the garlic. It should be hot enough that the garlic sizzles and browns a bit. Quickly add the chopped up onion so as not to let the garlic burn, and stir.
5. After a bit, add the pepers. Wait a while and stir it often.
6. Cut the cherry tomatoes in half.
7. Wait a minute or so after cutting the tomatoes in half and add the feta to the pan. Stir and then add the tomatoes.
8. Wait for the juice of the tomatoes to come out and boil in the pan. Once this happens, you can scrape the sauce onto the linguine.
9. Cut the limes in half and squeeze them into the pot of linguine and mix well. The lime adds a nice tang of flavor.