Watermelon

I came home after a great holiday in LA and San Diego feeling very full from great food and adventure and decided to make our somewhat cooler temperatures feel more like summer. I went to buy groceries and the first item to greet me were these cute little watermelons and I thought what a great dessert idea. I remember years ago when mom would cut a cantaloupe in half and fill it with a scoop of ice cream and that would be our dessert, I thought these little watermelons would work too and they did!!! 

Cut your melons in half, scoop out the centre then add a scoop of vanilla ice cream!! 

Enjoy!!!!! 

Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!!!! I've never been out for a romantic dinner for two on Valentine's Day (by choice) I've always had a dinner at home with baking by me, usually a heart shaped cake all icinged up pretty. A couple of years I was single and never found a reason to be sad because Valentine's' Day means something different to me.  I was talking about this with my son and realized that I always associated this day with red and pink things, not romance!!! This made me both realize that these special days are important to me by color and how they make me feel.  My blog is called Autumn and Orange because orange is my favorite color, fruit and smell. This year my sweetie gave me a bouquet of beautiful flowers in my favorite colours. So on that note I wish everyone a very happy Valentine's Day!!!!

Snowmobiling in the Purcells

Today we went up Horsethief to snowmobile knowing it was warm out, but did we get a shock. In past years the temperatures range from -5 C to -10 C but today we had +6 C and rain, lots of rain!!!  We couldn't wear our glasses or face shields because of the rain, so it was a bit tricky. By the time we stopped for lunch we were soaked, but like good sports we went right back out for one last run. The closer we got to Radium the worse the road became so we just hurried back home for the night. 

Adventure Time

I'm off for a couple of weeks, I'll try to post photos regularly of our fun!!!  In the mean time here is a photo of the Penguins at the Calgary Zoo when I went with my friend Margot for tea on Monday.

Vegetable Cups

Not sure about this, but I'm going to give it a try. We went to Ikea the other day and had this cute little vegetable thing, so I thought I would try and make something similar. I didn't have a recipe so I tried this.

1.5 cups of grated cauliflower

1.5 cups of chopped brocolli  

2 cups shredded hash browns

2 cups grated cheese

salt and pepper to taste

Mix this all together and add 2 whisked eggs and then put in sprayed muffin tins. After the muffin tins were full I added more cheese and some melted butter to each one. I put them in a 400 degree oven and baked for 45 minutes.  I think I should've put the bowl in the microwave for 1 minute before filling the muffin cups, maybe next time.

 They turned out really well I think, I would definitely make them again and maybe experiment with garlic or maybe some onion.  I would add sour cream on the side and some green onion. 

Hash Brown Casserole

Today our son and two friends are gone skiing to Lake Louise.  I thought a hash brown casserole and baked ham would be a great choice after a cold day on the hill.

This casserole is very easy and tasty with just simple ingredients. 

First preheat oven to 350 degrees, I'm using my new Crock Pot casserole I received as a gift  for Christmas from Lorne and it is wonderful to just set and leave!!

Recipe

combine in a large bowl: 

1 can cream of cream of chicken soup

1-1 1/2 cups of sour cream

2 cups grated marble cheese

1/2 cup melted butter

1/2 cup chopped onion

1 bag of frozen hash brown potatoes

1/4 tsp each of pepper and salt

Combine all of the ingredients together, I always add the potatoes last because since they are frozen the butter hardens up too quickly for me. If you are baking them in the oven put 2 cups of panko crumbs or 2 cups crushed Corn Flakes and 1/4 cup melted butter on the top for a little added crispiness, bake for 40 minutes. In the crock pot I added them last then put it in the oven to crisp up, I believe the the crumbs would become too soggy from the sealed in moisture.  

These make great left overs, or for two people it's two complete meals. 

EDIT: added cook time 

Brownie Pie

So tonight I decided that I would bake a brownie pie. I thought a piece of decadent pie with French vanilla ice cream and raspberry sauce would be great on a cold January night!!!!

New Years

Happy New Year!!!!! I wish a very happy, healthy and prosperous 2015 to my family and friends and may you do something fun at least once a day!!!! 

Quick and Easy

This dessert couldn't be more easy to make!! If you don't have time to make cream puffs you can buy ready made in the freezer section of most grocery stores.  Start with florist foam cut to the size of the container, wrap the foam in plastic wrap, then foil or whatever you'd like for appearance. Start with a fresh washed strawberry, then cream puff and alternate, ending with a strawberry.  Melt chocolate chips in a baggie, clip the corner and drizzle over the skewers. If the cream puffs are still partly frozen the chocolate will set faster. Leaving the stems on the strawberries looks nice but I prefer to remove them. If you have more time, the skewers can be used for alternating fresh fruit like strawberries, pineapple, melon, grapes, and watermelon and placed on a serving dish as well. 

Mars Bars Squares

I ran across this recipe a couple of months ago and thought it was worth a try, and boy was I right. These are very fast and easy to make, only 10 minutes at most and they never fail. 

Mars Bars Squares

4 Mars bars

1/2 cup of butter

3 cups rice crispies

Cut the bars into a few pieces (I do 4) place in a microwaveable bowl with the 1/2 cup of butter and melt for 2 minutes on high. Every microwave is different so you might want to check after one minute. Stir until the mixture is smooth, add the rice crispies and pour into a 9x9 baking dish. I use parchment paper in the pan because I take them out of the dish to cut them, but you could just grease the pan or use plastic wrap, then just chill until firm. If you want extra goodness you can melt 1 cup of chocolate chips with a 1/4 cup butter and spread on top before you chill. Cut into squares and enjoy, if you really like them you might want to hide some for yourself (I do) before they are all gone. Enjoy!!!!