Dinner 5

Power outage. aka "load-shedding" if you're FOB. Chocolate chip pancakes. It's a breakfast for dinner kind of day :)

Dinner 4

First day back at school. Hungry. Dinnertime. Made something up with whatever was in the fridge. Here's what I got:

First. Sweet Chilli Mushrooms With Roasted Red Peppers
And second. Something so bold. Something so unusual. Something no kid has ever dared to eat...I can't even believe it as I type these words...*drumroll* BRUSSEL SPROUTS.

Dare I say it...they were actually GOOD.

Truffles

For all you chocolate-lovers (I'm a huge fan), truffles taste heavenly and are so simple to make!
Here is an excellent step-by-step tutorial for the truffles.

Red sugar coated: Red velvet truffles
Blue and green sugar coated: Marble truffles

Red Velvet Cupcakes

Another day, bored in the kitchen, so I made red velvet cupcakes :]

Dinner 1

Tonight I made Grilled Balsamic Chicken and Okra (Bhindi) with steamed white rice. I don't Indian cooking much so this is a big step for me :)

Thumbprint Cookies

I got a little bored today so I decided to make something from my cute lil' baking book... and what spoke to me today was a recipe on Thumbprint Clues, which are tiny buttery cookies with a jam center. They make great tea cookies too!

You'll need:
1/2 c. butter
1/4 c. sugar (I used half splenda sweetner and half sugar)
1 egg yolk
1/3 c. Blackberry and Apricot preserves (or any of your favorite jams!)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/2 c. sifted all purpose flour

Instructions:
Cream together butter and sugar until fluffy. Add egg yolk and vanilla then beat well. Gradually add flour mixture, mixing well. Shape into 3/4" balls. Place 1" apart on greased cookie sheet. Press down center of each with thumb and fill each with your favorite jam. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 to 17 minutes. Cool slightly; remove from pan and cook on rack. And last but not least... enjoy! These cookies are soo delish! They had me licking my fingers :)

Let It Snow!

You may know that typically, you should have at least 2 and 1/2 feet of snow already on the ground with more coming around the corner to know for a fact that the snow is clean. Well, since we don't have blizzards like this one often, I say take advantage of it while you can ;) So after a long day of shoveling snow, here's another snowy day treat you'll enjoy!

Vanilla Snow Ice Cream

Ingredients

1 (12 fluid ounce) can evaporated milk
2 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3/4 cup white sugar
1 gallon snow

Directions

In a large bowl, combine evaporated milk, eggs, vanilla and sugar until smooth. Gradually stir in snow until mixture reaches desired consistency. Eat at once.

(from: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/snow-ice-cream-i/detail.aspx)

Make sure to eat it right away. But, not to worry! If you wait around a few minutes longer, this yummy vanilla snow ice cream turns into a delicious Vanilla Bean frappuccino! I promise you won't be disappointed :)