Oreo stuffed chocolate chip cookies!

OREO STUFFED CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES. Need I say more? 

Seriously.

I have been following http://chef-n-training.blogspot.com and she never fails!

Lets just say that I made 2 batches of these bad boys ( 48 cookies) and by the end of the night, the 3 grown men that were at my house devoured the cookies and left me with 4 cookies~! 

Now THAT'S how good they are!!!!! 

 

 

 

So wait no more, GO MAKE THEM COOKIES!

 

Oreo Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies

• 1 cup shortening

• 1 cup packed light brown sugar

• 1/2 cup granulated sugar

• 2 large eggs

• 2 tablespoon vanilla extract

• 3 cups flour

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

• 1 package Double Stuff Oreo cookies

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, cream butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar together with a mixer until well combined.

Beat in eggs and vanilla.

In medium bowl mix the flour, salt, and baking soda.  Slowly add to wet ingredients along with chocolate chips until just combined.

With a cookie scoop, form balls with the dough.

Place one ball on top of an Oreo cookie, and another ball on the bottom. Seal edges together by pressing and cupping in hand until Oreo cookie is fully enclosed with dough.

Place onto parchment or silpat lined baking sheets and bake cookies for approximately 13 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool for 5 minutes before transferring to cooling rack.

 

 

Ok now, either, be certain to have company over to help you devour these delicious puppies OR stack 'em away from ones eyesight!!!! Really, no joke!

Peace <3

Cupcakes!

In the last month I have gone on a little cupcake frenzy.
I had a little Miche Bag demo at my house. We had a pyjama party theme to our evening. So I started thinking of all the things my friends and I used to do during sleep overs and the first thing that came to mind: SWEETS! So, I made a bunch of different deserts for my lady friends!

Amongst the desert I made, there are two of my favorite cupcake recipes I've tried so far.
I find them to be so good that I just HAD to share the gold with you so you can impress your guests during one of your parties.

Red Velvet with cream cheese frosting

Ingredients
1 ¼ cup of all Purpose Flour
2 Tbsp of Cocoa Powder
½ tsp of Baking Powder
½ tsp of Baking Soda
¼ tsp of Salt
¼ cup of Unsalted Butter, softened at room temperature
¾ cup of Granulated sugar
¾ cup of Buttermilk
1 Egg
1 tsp of Vanilla Extract
Red food Coloring

Preparation,
1) Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Line a muffin pan with cup cake liners and set aside.
2) In a small bowl mix together the first 5 ingredients and set aside.In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together the sugar and butter, add the egg and vanilla and mix until well combined and creamy.
3) With the mixer running on low, add half of the dry ingredients and half of the buttermilk, make sure its combined and add the remaining dry ingredients and buttermilk making sure to combine everything together but not over mixing.Using a spatula mix the batter from the bottom to make sure nothing is left stuck to the side of the bowl, add enough food coloring to get the desired red color for your cupcakes.
4) Using a large ice cream scoop, scoop the batter evenly in your prepared pan and bake for 18 to 22 minutes or until when you insert a toothpick in the center it comes out clean.Let the cupcakes cool completely.
 
For the frosting,
2 Cups of Powdered Sugar
4 oz of Cream Cheese, softened at room temperature
2 Tbsp of Unsalted Butter, softened at room temperature
1 tsp of Vanilla Extract
1 Tbsp of Milk


 To make the frosting simply put the first 4 ingredients + 1/2 tbsp pf the milk into the bowl of an electric mixer and mix until well combined and it has the consistency of a thick frosting. Add the other 1/2 tbsp of milk if you find the frosting to think. Frost the cupcakes either with a little spatula or using a disposable piping bag fitted with a plain large tip.
Let cool in the fridge for about 10 to 15 minutes to set a little before serving (if you can resist them anyway)

- I don't add the other 1/2 tbsp of milk in the frosting because I find the frosting to be to soft, not to say liquid-y, when i add the other half of milk. I think it's because my butter and cream cheese are very soft to start with?

ANYWAYS!!! TRY THIS RECIPE!!!

These cupcakes are a little mouth orgasm!

Oops! I ran out of Red food coloring so I added Blue....turned out black-ish but gosh darn DELISH!

The other recipe I tried and LOVED and thought was super easy and quick to make are :

Vanilla Cupcakes - with Raspberry Butter Cream Frosting 

Ingredients
1 Cup Granulated Sugar
1 Stick Unsalted Butter, softened
2 Eggs
2 tsp Vanilla Extract
2 tsp Baking Powder
1/8 tsp Salt
1 1/3 Cups All Purpose Flour
1/3 Cup Whole Milk

Preparation
1) Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Line your cupcake tin with liners and set aside.
2) In a mixing bowl fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together the sugar and butter. Add the eggs and vanilla and  cream together until you get a smooth mixture. Add the dry ingredients and with the speed on low mix together and slowly add the milk and just mix everything to combine. DO NOT OVER MIX! Make sure you give everything a good stir with a spatula from the bottom to incorporate any bit that wasn’t mixed.
3) Scoop the batter into your lined cupcake tin, make sure its only filled ¾ of the way up because they will rise. Bake for 20 minutes and let cool for about 45 minutes before frosting.

For the Frosting:
1 Stick of Unsalted Butter, softened
½ cup Raspberry Preserves
½ tsp Vanilla Extract
1 16oz Box of Powdered Sugar
Fresh Raspberries, for garnishing
Pinch of salt

Preparation
 To make the frosting combine together all the frosting ingredients except the fresh raspberries and mix together to combine. Add the frosting in a piping bag fitted with a large star tip and pipe the frosting onto the cupcakes. Top with a few fresh raspberries and dive in!

These little beauties are so delicious and beautiful that I promise you everybody is going to think that you went to a fancy shmancy bakery and bought them.
Ever time I have to make some fast easy delicious deserts, these guys are my go to!!

Enjoy making cupcakes! I'll keep you updated on other favorites of mine! :o)

Peace <3

Pumpkin cookies with a cream cheese icing

SO, a month has gone by since my last post.
It's harder than it looks to keep up this blog, I guess I haven't found my inner writer yet.

Oh Inner Writer, where are thou inner writer!

In the last month I have made a bunch of delicious yummies!
Cookies, breads, cupcakes,......................

Every year, during fall, I ALWAYS go pumpkin crazy.
I make lattes, savory's and sweets, ALLLLL Things pumpkin.
Here's one of the yummies pumpkin recipes I've EVER tried!! 
I found it on www.sweetpeaskitchen.com :

                    

Pumpkin cookies with cream cheese icing

(Click on the link for the printer friendly version)

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, softened
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 1/4 cup canned pumpkin puree
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4 oz. cream cheese
• 3/4 cup powdered sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ground cloves, and salt; set aside.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugars. Add pumpkin, egg, and vanilla to butter mixture, and beat until creamy. Stir in the dry ingredients into the pumpkin mixture by hand until just combined. Drop on prepared baking sheets by heaping tablespoonfuls; Butter the bottom of a drinking glass and then dip the bottom of the glass in a bowl of sugar. Flatten the dough balls with the bottom of the glass until they are about ¾ inch thick, dipping the glass in sugar as necessary to prevent sticking.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 13 to 15 minutes. Cool cookies on wire rack. Once cookies have cooled completely, frost or drizzle with cream cheese frosting.
4. While the cookies are cooling make frosting: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine cream cheese, confectioners’ sugar and pumpkin pie spice and beat until smooth and creamy.

This recipe is seriously yummy. The icing is super tasty and the cookies are slightly crunchy on the outside and super soft on the inside. Once i took 'em out of the oven, I waited 5 minutes before removing them from the cookie sheet. I then transfered them to a cooling rack where I left them for 5 hours. I'm glad I did that because it gave them the chance to harden just a little more and made the cookie just a little crunchier!!

Give these a shot and lemme know how It went!

Peace <3

Pies, blogs and teething!

It's been a few hard days.

My daughter is teething ....yet again! Least to say that I have not been sleeping much.
And when I finally do get some sleep time, I dream of baking.....so I wake up in the middle of the night all excited for morning to try out a new recipe....When morning comes, having not slept much, I'm all too tired to do anything for at least 3 hours! hehehe!

Clara and I went for a loooong walk the yesterday with Marie-Claude. She's on mat leave with her, almost, 4 months old boy, Loic. How I love Autumn air. It feels so fresh and cool, compared to the hot, thick and humid summer air.

All this fresh fall air, makes me so happy and when I'm happy, I bake! So I have been baking quite a lot. Cooking too. Didn't have Take Out all last week.....now THAT'S something!!!!

Today, I made a spaghetti sauce. We had that for supper on fusilli's and some naan bread! YUM!

I also made a Caramel Apple pie for my friend Tamara <3

I love baking for her. She always appreciates it so much!! I love the feeling I get when someone is genuinely happy to receive some home baked goodies!!

Lately I've been reading a lot of blogs, blogs about food and motherhood. These women have inspired me a whole lot to just try. I lack the confidence to try out new things, especially with new ingredients I haven't worked with before. So a big thank you to all of you wonderful ladies who take the time to write It down! <3

Peace <3

Lacking in picture taking!!

Hey!

It's been a month! <3

A few weeks ago I picked up this Broccoli Cream recipe from I don't know where ?( O_o )? But it looked so good.
I LOVE broccoli. I could eat it everyday for the rest of my life, along with shrimp and toast.

So I tried the recipe and BOY I wasn't disappointed! It tasted great!

Here's the recipe:

1 head of Broccoli, cut into bite size
2 1/2 tbsp Butter
2 tbsp Olive Oil
1 large shallot (or 1 small onion) Chopped
2 large garlic cloves, minced
3/4  cup cream
salt and pepper
2 cups vegetable stock
2 chicken breasts, cut
Pasta of your choice, about 2 cups, uncooked

Prepare the chosen pasta. Drain but keep a tbsp of cooking water in the pasta. Set aside.
Boil vegetable stock in a large pan.
Add chicken and cook all the way through. Set aside.
Steam your broccoli about 5 minutes and set aside, preferably in iced water.
Melt the butter and Olive Oil in a large pan.
Cook shallot and garlic on medium heat until softened, about 4 minutes.
Add your creamand cook a few minutes.
Be sure to stir semi constantly to prevent burning.
Add Broccoli, chicken, pasta, salt and pepper to taste and stir to combine.


ENJOY!

Dreamy Chocolate mud cake

Ok all you chocolate lovers, check this out.

I had a buddy of mine ask me to make his moms birthday cake. He asked that it be all chocolate, no fondant.
I loved the idea!

I had been wanting to try out a chocolate mud cake and this was the perfect occasion!
I made a trial cake a few days before, just to be certain that, you know, it was a good recipe....and boy was it ever GREAT!!!!!

For my buddy's cake, I added some crushed some Skor bars as a filling AND as the outer layer of the cake. I made some Chocolate roses to decorate.
I made the (Delicioussssssssssss) Ganache for the cake.......chocolate heaven!

Everything went great...all the way to the end.

The only counter space available in my kitchen was right there, in front of my AC....and being like 10000degres plus humidity outside, I didn't turn said AC off. And to be truthful, I didn't think it would matter..... it did matter.
The outside of the cake formed a reaaaaaaaally hard crust....so hard it was hard to cut it...

.... Darn it!

BUT,  the inside of the cake was still super moist and it tasted great.

Check out this sweeeeeeeeet godly nectar!!!

 The roses turned out great! I didn't use real leafs though. I just used a leaf cutter for fondant.

 The yummy looking cake!! hehehe!

Thanks Leigh for the challenge!

teething sucks...

Last night was difficult. 
Baby woke up at 9:30 pm only to fall asleep at 1:30 am!

were my exact thoughts...

Until I figured:

Poor little one...4 teeth all at once..... my heart is breaking </3

She's at 18.5 months......

Damn you teeth! GET OUT already!

First words out of her this morning: BOBO!

I've been watching lots and lots of baking/decorating tutorials lately, and my daughter loves it! 
Whenever a video finishes, she asks for more...I love herrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!

Oh and she looooooovesssssssssss Primus....hehehehehhe



On a brighter note, I have a full physical appointment....Janurary 4th! Hey, it's better than none!
Also got blood work done.....after 14 months..LOL

I've been listening to Silverchair again...looooooooooooooooove that band!
Also, been reconnecting with my PoP roots..!

Had peeps over for supper tonight! MC P, Julien and Loic. I love them!
I made Kathy's Kitchen 's AWESOME AWESOME butter chicken with naan bread and greens from the garden.....all around great!!!!!

Yesterday I made a practice chocolate mud cake with chocolate ganache.....Yuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuum.... ridiculous!!! it was so yummy I'm really happy I found Nicko 's recipe......TRY IT! NOW! IT'S AN ORDER! No but really........delicious!

For Leigh's mom's cake, I'll make Nicko 's cake and ganache but I'll decorate it with This flower . I'll even try to make it with red and green chocolate, we'll see how that turns out! :o)

Tomorrow I'll also make Nigella 's Old-Fashioned Chocolate cake with ganache to bring at Jeremi and Gen's saturday night.

I'd like to make another chocolate cake for my dad....maybe for monday....we'll see how that turns out.
Maybe make some chocolate cupcakes for desjardins/mereweather family day on sunday.....If I have the time, for sure!

WOAAAAAAAAH I'm chocolate CrAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAzyyy !!! I'd Bathe in it right now! hahahaha~

Heidi's got the right idea!

I SO wish to have a little bakery, and SO wish it could be with MC P! She's my main food gal! <3

I'll take picture this weekend and post them.

Peace <3

Ok I`m back!

neglecting, I have been. yes yes yes!

Not anymore!

Peace <3

Total Take-out TGIF

Day 17 with a headache now....let's just say that my plans for this week were pretty much crushed.
I didn't feel like cooking tonight (nor doing the dishes! hehehe) so I ordered a poutine and an awesome chef's salad!
OH but guess what......

I'M GOING TO SAO MIGUEL!!!!!!!! 

 (Azores Island!)

My family (dad's side) is from that island. We still have the house there. 

The house is the one with the Palm tree in the front. 

On the first picture it's second house on the left 

and on the second picture it's on the bottom right.

I'm going with Erik, my uncle and aunt, Avo (grandmother), cousin and her boyfriend and my dad....and possibly my other uncle and aunt.
I was gonna bring my daughter but so many people told me i shouldn't cause she so young and Id appreciate the trip a lot more if she wouldn't be there...not cause she wouldn't be there, but i'd be more free to do whatever we wanna do...besides, we'll go back when she's older and can appreciate the trip back to her roots!! hehehe!

Peace!! <3

"What's with Today, today?" Spinach dish

What a day!

This is how my morning started!

- My daughter woke up at 5:15 am (I had finally fallen asleep at midnight!)  and would NOT go back to bed, so I brought her in our bed.

- Where she proceeded to whack her head exactly where it's been A Hurting Real Bad ! (Russell Peters!)

 Russell Peters

- Erik, then burnt himself on the coffee machine

- Then, as soon as he was gone, Clara whipped herself on the eye lid with Erik's Work pass ID thingny

- Who then I wanted to inform immediately that his pass was here and not lost....Knocked my toe on the side of the wall

- Then I realize I need to do my morning business, While washing my hands, All I hear is PONKCH-PONKCH! WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH

- Turn around....Clara boinked the back of her head on the tub and ricocheted on the toilet bowl...POOR BABY!!!!!

- Picked her up and proceeded out the door and right before I got out, knocked Clara glass bottle of the bathroom counter onto my other food (then the walls victim from above)

- Sat down at the table, gave her a cheerio (I've been doing that for 2 MONTHS NOW!!) SHE CHOKES...

 Why?!

I then called Erik, told him about my morning, hung up, called my MKL (mommykins-in-law), told her the swimming was off due to this bad Mojo following my little family today and just held on to my daughter until lunch.

From that moment, my day was Fantabulous!! 

I got a surprise, my boyfriend was in a good mood, 

I took a walk with MKL and Clara, went to the Health store,

got some great info on different supplements, Clara was an ANGELLLL ****,

walked by home in the great weather, played in the snow with Baby for the first time,

she ate snow for the first time, made some realll healthy supper, 

worked on my Zumba Choreography I'll be teaching next week and simply hang out at the end of the day!!!!!

For supper I made

Tilapia

spinach

canned diced tomatoes

balsamic vinegar

zucchini

onion

garlic

hot pepper paste

 Photo taken form Foodie Hunter

Cooked together and served on cheese Tortelinis!!

Peace <3

Cream of leek soup and Cheddar cheese pretzel

 For a while now, I`ve been wanting to to make Cheese pretzel sticks and cream of leek soup.

I FINALLY did it tonight.

Picture take from this Blog

Olive Oil

3 leeks, white parts only (Tonight I used 5)

2 potatoes (I add 1 for every extra leek)(Tonight I used 4)

Vegetable or chicken broth Or simply water

a pinch of salt

Cut Leeks and potatoes in chunks.

Heat Olive Oil.

Add leeks and potatoes.
Stir until all veggies are covered in oil.
Add salt.
Add enough broth or water to level with the veggies.
Cook until potatoes are tender.
Blend the soup to make a unctuous cream. (Blend parts at a time because the contents are realllly hot)

To accompany this soup, I made these Yummy yummies.

 Picture taken from Annie's Blog



These are not the ones I made... hehehe ...I couldn't take a picture cause the battery for my camera was charging and We couldn't wait to eat 'em!!!

2 things I`ll do differently next time: 

#1 - I will not use whole wheat flour. It tasted great but I wanted the "pretzel" look.
#2 - I will not make these when my daughter is clingny...

This is a repeat recipe for sure!
It was easy to make, it didn't take more than 1/2 hour.
It was MM mm good!!! :o)

Peace <3

Bean Salad for lunch

 I made this Bean Salad for lunch today: 

1 can of mixed beans
vinegar + Olive Oil
celery salt + garlic powder
1/4 red onion + Mixed Italian herbs
a handful each of fresh coriander & crushed mixed nuts
1 squeezed Lemon wedge

I topped a handful of greens and drizzled some Balsamic vinegar on top..

Quick and easy lunch!!

Pizza Bites and soup night

So yesterday, my friend Marie-Claude and I decided to try these Pizza Bites from Annie's Eats .
We used her pizza crust recipe (we used active dry yeast instead of instant yeast and it worked great) and made the pizza sauce she suggested.

In general, I thought it was an awesome recipe. But there were mistakes made and changes I'll make next time I try this recipe...cause OH YES! It will be made again!!

Here aresome of the changes I'll make and some mistakes:

Mistake #1 : The Pizza Bites recipe requires only half a dough batch to make 20 to 24 bites...well...we forgot that detail and made 24 bites with the whole batch...when we could of made 48 bites!! Needless to say, Mistake #2 followed.

Mistake #2: The Filling to dough ratio was way off! hahaha !!!

Mistake #3: The green olives we added to the stuffing were really bland. (we stuffed them with cheese and green olives)

Change #1: I will be adding GARLIC to these glorious bites! And maybe Chorizo, or shrimp, or Brie, or...aaaaaah the ideas!!!! :o)

Change #2: The Pizza sauce. I did not like it at all. It was lacking in flavors and it tasted only of tomatoes. So next time I'll probably just use some garlic sauce or some pesto sauce or pizza sauce.........

As for the soup, well we had:

Chicken broth
Chicken Left over
Carrots
Frozen Yellow beans
Frozen Edamame
Zucchini
Mushrooms
Red onions
Celery
1 can Tomato soup
Potatoes
a VARIETY a herbs and spices I had at home
and lots of love :o)

Have a Good sunday every body

Peace <3

YUMMY Maple Pork

This is a family favorite!

I try to make AT LEAST once a month.

It's SO easy to make!!

Simply put all ingredients in the slow cooker, leave it for 4hrs /high temperature or 8hr /low temp.
Then, ENJOY!

You will need:

1/3 cup of Grainy Dijon

2/3 cup of maple syrup

about 1 cup of water

good size pork roast.

Mix the Dijon and the maple syrup. 

Put Pork roast in the cooker.

Pour the water over the roast.

Cover the pork with the Dijon/syrup mix.

Place cover on top of cooker and leave for 4hrs (High) to 8 hrs (Low).

Serve with Little potatoes cut in half and steamed vegetables.

#6 (new recipe) Butter Chicken

Ok so I discovered this recipe through Kathy's Kitchen (AWESOME BLOG!!!!) http://kitchenkathy.blogspot.com
I highly recommend you check it out.
She has inspired me to start cooking/baking again!!!!!

So a big THANK YOU to her!!! :o)

Here is the recipe I tried and LOVED!
http://kitchenkathy.blogspot.com/2010/04/butter-chicken.html

The only thing I did differently is:

The onions and ginger. I put 1/2 the ginger recommended in with the sauce and the other half I cooked with the onions. It's taste is more distinct, that's all! :o)

Oh and I served it with some broccoli.

My 11 1/2 month old daughter LOVED IT!

Even as left overs this meal is fantabulous!

ENJOY!!!!!!!!!!!!

#88 Zumba instructor training DONE!!!

I DID IT!!!!


 I NEVER, EVER would of thought that me, Gen, the girl who was told in 6th grade she was too fat to be in the dance show, would be a ZUMBA FITNESS INSTRUCTOR!!!

On January 15th, 2011, I completed the challenge with Sophie. We started the day at 8am and danced our way to 6pm!!

I am extremely happy and proud of myself for accomplishing this. I was SO scared to be judged, ridiculed, laughed at...you name it, it frightened me. I didn't have the confidence to accomplish such a physical task.

I didn't want to do it, but Sophie REALLY wanted to go and didn't want to go alone so she "convinced" me to go with her and as a Christmas gift, my in-laws got me registered!!!

Now, I know I can do it. I may not be a little girl, but I have the stamina, the heart and the passion to do what ever I want in life.

 This is Sophie, Jaime :Hi-Me" Farfan our Instructor and me!

Thanks Tiana for introducing me to such a fun life.
Thank you Sophie for "forcing" me to go along with you at the training.
Thank you In-laws for the Christmas gift.
Thank you Erik for loving me.
Thank you Clara for giving the will to take care of myself and to be happy.
and
Thank you me for not backing out!!! :o)

I love life

Peace <3