Hello kids,

So after a mini-hiatus, I am ready to start making some crazy food. And, I need your help.

I have decided, for the sake of this blog, I need to start making different food. These past few weeks, I have honestly been making the same sorts of food you have already seen. Therefore I haven’t been writing much.

I think with a creative jumpstart (with your suggestions) is really what I need. Spring is in the air, which means more delicious produce will be available and well… I want to get started! J

I will be posting this on facebook and twitter, as well as tumblr so that you can suggest things to me in all different ways.

I can’t wait to see what you come up with!

Xo

Madison

Therefore I am cooking a huge dinner AND cake. Pictures and descriptions to come.

I just wanted you to know that I’m still at it. :)

xx

hello kidlets! not much to say for this post.. plan on doing a lot of cooking this long weekend.

I have been keeping busy with a lot of baking. I am still sitting on the idea of going to NAIT and if i’m sittin’ on it… I might as well make some bread.

mmmm! I also tried for the first time… making red velvet cake and focaccia. I found the cake tasted really strange warm.. But after I added cream cheese icing, and let it sit in the fridge overnight.. It was definately better!

here are some pictures for you!

(looks like nosebleed :/)

and for the focaccia:

They were mighty tasty. The focaccia was perfect with some oil and  vinegar!

I have to go make dinner. Love you all.

xo

hello kids.

A lot to update on! I have done so much baking in the past few days…  I don’t even know what to do with myself.

As I said on twitter, I went to the NAIT (northern Alberta institute of technology) info session about their baking program. This is a program that my DAD took when he was young. Which I find super cool. I really wanted to look into it, and going to the session was he first step.

After we got a tour of the facilities and a talk about the program, the leader of the session uttered these terrifying words:

“Out of around 200 students that apply a year, we accept 28.”

(enter a crumbling hopes and dreams noise here)

Here’s the thing, that wouldn’t usually bother me. I have the requirements for the program, I have the drive… But, why am I still shaking in my booties? Because I’m not smart enough to get into the damn program. The requirements are grade 10 english and math… but the leader of the session said they expect grade 12 english and math. WHAT? Then why don’t you put that on your damn website, NAIT? I’m just super bummed because 199 students are going to apply who have the classes I don’t, and I’ll be forced out of the running.

That was the first thing that made me sad about it. Until I had a good talk with my Dad about it. I’m still considering it, I have until march 31st to apply.

Now on to the important thing: the food.

With this frenzy of thinking about my future and wanting to bake more.. I made 2 key recipes.

Buttermilk Biscuits and Cinnamon Buns.

The recipes, again, are long and if you want them… Let me know and I will send them to you somehow. I think I may or may not have just caught diabetes from the cinnamon buns. I know you can’t catch it, before you all start trollin’. It’s just how delicious they were. Mmmmm.

Anyway, I have to clean my kitchen now, and try to figure my life out. I also need to record a video for wheezy waiter.

I love him.

Later, kids.

yes, I made MORE cupcakes. Why? Because they are small morsels of perfection. And also because I really wanted to make these chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter icing. I won’t post the recipe unless you kids ask me reaaaaaal nice like. Also because I’m writing this entry at work and don’t have the book in front of me.

The cake is perfectly light and moist. It’s a balanced sweetness. It would be really good with vanilla ice cream.

The icing, however, is quite sweet. But, it pairs well to make this an all together great package.

I also need to stop watching the food network all the time. I ended up making this strange tomatoey, coconut milky, tofu curry stew. It was really good, but my sinuses are going crazy. I am all sneezy and stuff. Who knows what that could be from. I’m also having a lot of issues with my mouth. Everytime I eat tomatoes or too much sugar or something, I get the worst canker sores. and they take dayyys to go away. Perhaps I should consult dr. google. That’s gross. I shouldn’t have done that.

Anyway, that’s enough insight into my body. I am curious as to what to do next. Monday I am going to an info session because I am looking into going to school. Yes, as in post-secondary. But don’t be alarmed, it’s for none of that fancy book stuff. It’s for baking. Because I would like to be paid to eat cake and bread all day. I mean make it. /cough

I will let you know how that goes. I’m pretty excited. Although radio and photography are what I seriously want to do, I need something else. Something to pay the billz. That, or I am going to camp outside the CBC Radio 3 HQ and beg for a job. Maybe I should bake them cookies.

Thanks for reading, friends. I will see you soon.

PS: What are you doing for Valentine’s Day? I need to do something and reading your plans may inspire me to do something other than sit on my ass and eat cupcakes. Just saying.

xx

hello kids.

So I have had a very excited past few days. Especially food-wise. my dear friend Elliott’s birthday was on Friday so Marilyn and I went all out and made her mother’s amazing top secret chocolate cupcakes and I made my first attempt at yummy chili.

I want to tell you kids how I prepared the chili so that you can make it for yourselves. It was sweet, and not too spicy, and just warm and such a delight!

I started with a big deep sauce pan, adding a few glugs of oil, 3 cloves of minced garlic, and 2 medium chopped onions. after the onions sweat a bit, add about 3 tablespoons of Mexican chili spice, 2 teaspoons of crushed chili flakes, a tablespoon of brown sugar, and about 2 tablespoons of cumin. these of course are all to taste.

after that gets all nice and merry, add in a 14 oz can of chopped tomatoes and all the juice (to deglaze the bottom of the pan), a jar of mild enchilada sauce, 3-4 tablespoons of bbq sauce, and 2 cans of drained sliced mushrooms. mix all together. mmmmm.

next to add some beans. I used a can of drained red kidney beans and a can of brown beans in tomato sauce. Here you can use any beans you want~ black beans would work too. also add some frozen corn, if you so desire. Here I also added 2 pack of ground round. this is veggie chili, you know~

I found that the liquid/solid ratio was perfect when made this way, but if you so desire… add water/stock or anything if you want to water it down more. After adding everything and letting it simmer for 10-15 minutes, you should be good to go.

don’t forget that you can add more spices to it too (such as salt and pepper) and you could also use spicy enchilada sauce. It’s up to your taste buds.

I hope you try this chili out, It received rave reviews from the party goers and I wish now that I would’ve stolen the left overs when I went home.

As for the cupcakes, I have been sworn to secrecy. I cannot share the recipe with you. But what I can tell you is that they were so good and Marilyn and I really out did ourselves. If you’re reading this Marilyn, you can work at my bakery.

Tonight, I am making a modified version of Shepard’s Pie and Bread Pudding for dessert. I cannot wait. I will make sure to update you later as to how it went.

To all of you: Thank you for reading. I’m overwhelemed by the praise that I have been getting both online and offline. I will be sure to keep doing this, for all of you!

<3

I have decided that the Ina Garten cookbook I bought has got to be one of the greatest investments I have ever made. I know I’m honestly only 4 recipes deep, but gosh! Everything I have made from there has been so lovingly decadent and delicious. Including these little diddies. Unfortunately I made them on a whim, therefore no pictures. But I can describe their beauty in immense detail!

In Ina’s original recipe, she uses whole grain mustard. Honestly, honey mustard is the greatest condiment ever created. Therefore, I used honey mustard. THEY TASTED LIKE HONEY MUSTARD PRETZEL BITES!! …

I took 2 and 1/2 pounds of wittle bebe (little baby…) potatoes, diced and put in a mixing bowl. Then I added 2 sliced yellow onions, tossed with a healthy dose of olive oil and honey mustard (at least 3 tablespoons oil/4 tablespoons mustard). Place on a lined sheet pan at 425 degrees cels. Bake for 50-60 minutes, make sure every 10 minutes to toss them around so they brown evenly. Serve hot and as-is. The mustard flavor is just, I am still dreaming about these potatoes. I hope to make them again soon.

Not much planned for dinners this week. Aside from making chili and cupcakes with Marilyn. We’ll see. Maybe I’ll make more indian food. Mmmmm.

xx

Behold, my oh-so-tasty Coconut Cake. Of course, the cakes were a little dense and heavy (probably from not using cake flour) which I will know for next time. Here are some more pictures!

That right there was definitely the epic cake fail of 2010. I had done everything so right, and then I didn’t grease the pan enough. Talk about a huge fail!

Besides all of that, it was quite lovely! This week was quite strange. I cooked mostly uneventful food to be honest. I’m actually not sure where this week went. Next week definitely has more structure, at least work wise, which helps a lot in figuring out dinner and everything. I just wish I had more of a set schedule. And I also should stop spending all of my tip money on groceries. Or.. maybe not. It’s nice being able to buy all sorts of food that I would love to eat and make others eat. Whether they like it or not.

My leg is twitching and it’s rather annoying. I’m also, literally, writing 3 other things while doing this. I am unfortunately going to have to end this here.

Well, not quite.

Here are some fun facts about coconuts!

• Coconuts are largest seeds.
• Falling coconuts kill 150 people every year which is 10 times the number of people killed by sharks.
• Coconut oil was the world’s leading vegetable oil until soybean oil took over in the 1960s.
• There are more than 20 billion coconuts harvested each year.

xoxo