Chocolate Éclairs

Happy 2016 Everyone!

This éclair recipe from Flour cookbook by Joanne Chang is a delicious go to recipe for me. It makes 12 éclairs or 24 cream puffs. This cookbook has lots of delicious recipes we can make at home. I like the details the author provides to make delicious baked goods. 

Savoir Faire Collection Would Make Entertaining Festive

Danesco Inc. a Montreal based company has been distributing and marketing high end kitchenware accessories for more than 50 years. Savoir Faire collection of serving accessories that juxtaposes slate, wood, porcelain, and glass is exclusive to Danesco. Each piece is adorned with an eclectic vintage look to create inspiring at-home entertaining experiences.

How to Setup a DIY Pasta Bar and Barilla Pasta Giveaway

With the holiday season and festive entertaining coming up, I am sure like me, many of you might be wondering what flavourful delicious meals we can make for family and friends when they come over. I love this idea of setting up a DIY pasta bar from Barilla that will be easy to prep and it also gives our guests the freedom to customize their own dish and make it the way they prefer. 

Making Meals in the Clipso T-Fal Pressure Cooker

A pressure cooker is very handy tool to have at home for me because it allows me to cook healthy meals quickly. I think every cook needs a tool like a pressure cooker that will help them cook meals fast. I have been using the T-Fal Clipso Pressure Cooker for a while now to make a variety of meat dishes, lentil, and soup.

ActiFry an Appliance to Make Oil Free Fries

We love fries, but I don’t enjoy frying them with lots of oil because it is unhealthy. The thought of all that oil being absorbed in our body is the reason why I don’t make fries often, as we would like eating fries. I love that by using the T-Fal ActiFry we don’t have to use anymore than a tablespoon of oil to fry 1 kilogram of potatoes or other vegetables. I found that the fries come out crispy just like it would if it was deep fried, but this is better without the oil. This way we can enjoy fries more often than we usually would without the excess fat and calories. The ActiFry Express, made in France is the second generation ActiFry that is faster, more powerful, and efficient.

Pinkberry Frozen Yogurt Has Arrived in Ontario

Pinkberry, the world famous frozen yogurt brand that originated in Los Angeles, California is now open at Square One Shopping Centre in Mississauga, in partnership with the Maida family of Northern Cultures Inc. We enjoyed tasting the different flavours of Frozen Yogurt at Pinkberry, which is known for its fresh, pure, tasty frozen yogurt served with variety of toppings, and freshly cut fruits.

Make Your Own Unique Cereal with Mixit #Giveaway

I can never find a cereal that has all the ingredients I want in one package that suits my preference and taste. Usually, I mix different types of cereals together and add in ingredients to make it my own, which is not ideal when mornings get busy. When I first heard of Mixit, I thought it is a fabulous idea because you get to make your cereal just the way you want it online! and not in the kitchen :)

Breville's IQ Kettle Pure Helps Make the Perfect Cup of Tea

I believe the correct temperature of the water makes a big difference in making the perfect tea. Recently, I have been using the Breville the IQ Kettle Pure (BKE830XL), which has 5 temperature settings that allows us to make the perfect green tea, oolong tea, French press, black tea, or boil water.

Simply7® Better for You Chips

Everyone in my family enjoyed tasting ten different flavours of Simply7® chips. These "better for you" chips are are gluten free, kosher, non-GMO, vegetarian and have up to 50 per cent less fat than potato chips.  We are glad that they are now available in Canada. To ensure that everybody enjoys a healthy snacking experience and can identify the raw vegetable, grain or legume the ingredients in their products come from, Simply7® stands behind seven core standards:

Sponge Pineapple Upside Down Cake made in a Deep Cast Iron Pan

Have a blessed Ramadan everyone.

I love making my favourite, delicious pineapple upside down cake on this Deep Cast Iron Pan from Mr. Bar-B-Q. It has deep sides, which is useful for pan roasting, braising, grilled cheese, cobblers and much more. We can use it on grills, stovetops, and in ovens or take it for camping. I love that it is pre-seasoned and ready to use. The heat distributes evenly to the cooking surface. This pan has to be washed by hand without using harsh detergents and dried thoroughly right away to prevent rusting. We should apply a thin coat of oil before storing in a dry place.

Grilled Pineapple with Coconut Milk: Ricardo Cuisine

I browsed through the Ricardo Cuisine BBQ recipes and was immediately attracted to many of the dishes that were made using a BBQ and grill. I wanted to make a dessert on the barbecue, and chose to try the Grilled Pineapple with Coconut Milk recipe. It turned out fabulous and was enjoyed by everyone at home. Check the original recipe for variations. I look forward to make this delicious dessert often, as it can be made in less than 15 minutes from preparing to serving.

Trudeau Kitchen Tools

Trudeau, a leading Canadian supplier of quality kitchenware and tabletop accessories in North America is putting a fresh spin on salads and stir fries with their introduction of a few new kitchen tools. The multipurpose heat resistant 3 in 1 foldable silicone splatter screen is handy in the kitchen because we can place over a frying pan to take a quick peak, or release excess steam while the food is cooking, or use it as a strainer, or trivet. It fits over 11" diameter pots and pans, allowing us to use it as a pot drainer. I like that after our different uses of this splatter screen we can easily clean the surface.

Flavours of the Caribbean for the BBQ from Grace

I tried a variety of flavourful Grace barbecue seasoning and sauces. By using the Jerk Seasoning, I was able create a Caribbean flavoured meal easily. My family loved the flavours. Grace foods wasn't kidding when they said spicy, because their Hot Jerk Seasoning is very spicy. If you are not into really spicy meals get the Mild Jerk Seasoning. We can rub this paste to meat and marinate for an hour before grilling or barbecuing to get a delicious flavour.

Potato Dishes using Potatoes from The Little Potato Company

I loved using the colourful little potatoes from the Little Potato Company in a variety of dishes. Everyone in my family enjoyed the bite sized, delicious buttery taste. I like the convenience of using these pre-washed potatoes that can be used without peeling. I found it easy to prepare because all I had to do is boil it for 15 minutes, or add it into my Tagine, and meat dishes.

A Visual Guide to Sushi-Making at Home

I really enjoyed learning from the Visual Guide to Sushi-Making at Home book that teaches how to make sashimi and sushi style dishes in our own kitchen using a non-traditional approach. There are over 50 recipes from sushi chef Hiro Sone with step-by-step photography and dozens of ingredients and equipment identifications. The books explains everything we need to know from choosing the right fish, the type of rice and how we can prep different types of seafood, and other sushi related ingredients such as dashi, wasabi and more. It also has a section on sushi etiquette.

Sprouted Grain Wraps from Angelic Bakehouse

Sprouted Grain foods are quickly transforming from the health food offerings into mainstream consumer products. To keep up with this growing demand, Angelic Bakehouse is adding a premium, sprouted seven-grain wrap to its line of flatbreads. We love the versatility of these artisan wrap that has fewer calories, more fiber and protein. The sprouted grain wrap is made from pure, all natural non-GMO ingredients such as red wheat berries, oat grouts, rye berries, barley, millet, quinoa, and amaranth. The company uses the mash method to lessen the processing of the ingredients and preserve the taste and texture of the real fermented grains.

Gluten Free Rotini and Nutrition Tips

I haven't had Gluten free pasta before, and for the first time enjoyed making and tasting the Barilla Gluten free Rotini pasta. This pasta is made with corn and rice without any wheat ingredients in a dedicated Gluten Free facility. I made spiced and flavoured the Barilla's Rotini pasta with minced meat and spicy sauce. 

Apple Tart with Sweet Pie Dough

This sweet pie dough and the adapted apple filling recipe is from the Pies sweet and savory DK book. The crust with the filling is delicious, we enjoyed this apple tart with ice cream.

For the Sweet Pie Dough

1 cup flour

5 tbsp chilled unsalted butter

Substitute 1 tbsp flour with 1 tbsp granulated sugar

1 lightly beaten egg yolk optional to make a richer dough

flour for dusting

Fresh Attitude Asian Style Stir Fries

My family and I enjoyed the delicious, healthy, ready-to-heat stir-fries from Fresh Attitude. These single-size servings can easily be cooked in a microwave oven without the mess or in a wok for a quick nutritious meal or to serve as a side dish to share. Canada's Food Guide recommendations have encouraged us to add more fruits and vegetables to our diet, and I am glad that Veg Pro International, the vegetable producer behind the popular Fresh Attitude salads and baby lettuce blends has this new line of fresh vegetable Stir Fries.

Afternoon Tea Delight with Denby

I made these delicious Indian Tea Cookies following the recipe from the Indian Vegetarian Feast book by Anjum Anand. This book has lots of simple and healthy vegetarian dishes that we can easily make for our family and friends. I like that all the dishes and sweets have an array of flavour in them. The beautiful pictures on this book will entice the readers to make the dishes, and try them. Th book is separated by breakfast and brunch, drinks, appetizers and snacks, salads, broils and grills, vegetables, cheese, beans, and eggs, grains, and desserts.