I hosted a dinner party on Saturday night and the menu looked liked this:

-Ginger Tomato Soup with Roasted Chickpea Croutons

-Zucchini Ribbon Salad with Feta Cheese and Nuts

-Roasted Za’atar Cauliflower with Dates, Pine Nuts and Thyme

-Sweet Potato Noodle Salad with Roasted Corn

-Winter Citrus Butter Salmon

All the recipes were found on Pinterest  (does that surprise you?) plus it was the first time I had attempted to make these recipe. Pretty brave move, non? I also brought out my china that was purchased in 1990 but in storage for the last 5 years. I’m determined to start using it again every Friday night.

Needless to say, I would make each and every recipe again!

This blog post is going to be dedicated to one of the recipes that I made for the dinner party. PS a trip to Bulk Barn with help with you with most of the ingredients. Hope you appreciate that tip!!

RECIPE; Roasted Za’atar Cauliflower with Dates, Pine Nuts and Thyme (original recipe courtesy of www.downshiftology.com)

1 head cauliflower, cut into florets
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp, za’atar spice *I used a few tablespoons.
salt and pepper, to taste
¼ cup pine nuts
1 tsp olive oil
6 Medjool dates, pitted and diced
1 tsp fresh thyme, plus extra sprigs for garnish

INSTRUCTIONS
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees fahrenheit.
2. Place the cauliflower florets on a baking sheet and drizzle with 3 tablespoons olive oil. Sprinkle with za’atar spice, salt and pepper and toss.

Cook in the oven for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown, and stirring halfway through.

3. While the cauliflower is cooking, heat a small pan on medium heat. Toast the pine nuts in a dry pan for 1-2 minutes, then add 1 tsp olive oil, the chopped dates and thyme. Cook for another minute or two.

 

3. Mix the date/pine nut mixture with the cauliflower florets in a serving bowl.

Trust me, this dish tastes delicious and wasn’t hard to prepare at all.

PS more recipes from this dinner party will be on its way!!

Happy Cooking.

 

I’m trying to get organized. Specifically it’s my spices that I’m trying to organize. Here’s what I posted on facebook last week.

There were quite a few comments with a variety of suggestions and I loved each and every comment. It seems as if I’m not the only one with this issue, which makes me feel a little better. (a little..LOL)

One comment that was left for me, included a link to this article from the Toronto Star. This idea really hit home and its’ inspired me to do the same.  Please click on the link here to read more details.

However I know that the first step to getting my spices organized involves actually LABELLING the containers.

Of course, my amazing brother P-touch Label Maker came in handy for this step!

Within a few minutes, I was able to label my spices with the help of the brother p-touch Label Maker .  I have no idea how I lived without a Label Maker before!

Final Result:

Here’s the steps that were involved to get to this point:

-took out all the spices that were hidden in my cupboard.

-dump out all the spices.

-wash the containers in the dishwasher

-run to Bulk Barn and bought a LITTLE bit of every type of spice imaginable.

-run home and take out my “brother P-touch Label Maker” and start the process of getting organized.

-repeat these steps in January 2018!!

Hope this blog post helped you as much as it helped me and my spices.

Disclosure; The label maker was provided to me, however all my opinions are my own.

I read a blog entry by a fellow foodie about Cake Pops and was inspired immediately to give it a try. Click on the link to see the blog entry by  boneats. (her post was on Dec 3rd..you will have to scroll down a bit)..then the rest of my blog entry will make sense to you.

Her blog entry made it sound so simple (please note: I’m not blaming her.  All I needed was:

1. Betty Crocker Cake Mix (any flavor)
2. Betty Crocker Frosting (any flavor)
3. popsicle sticks (well not really, they are more like lollipop sticks. Available at Bulk Barn
4. chocolate melts and sprinkles (also from Bulk Barn)

• So I made the cake. (easy).
• I put the cake after it had cooled into the Cuisinart to make cake crumbs. (easy)
• I added the frosting to the cake crumbs (easy).
• I made little balls. .not SO  easy…my hands were a gloppy mess. It was not a pretty site. However the tray looks lovely.

• I put the cake balls into the fridge to cool..(easy).

I melted the chocolate melts on a double broiler and this is where the disaster took place.

We took the cake balls, inserted the stick, and then dipped…but it did not come out  smooth. By the time we did a second coat, the chocolate had hardened and I was cursing. I was not happy. Then when I went to put on the sprinkles, they didnt adhere so easily either. I was not happy.

I managed to make a few successful cake pops and then gave up.

I emailed a young woman in our neighborhood who has taken some professional baking courses for some advice and she emailed me this website that has an instructional video by bakerella!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpIifr0VOxY

If any one else makes these cake balls (in your spare time of course), can you let me know how it turns out.

I will attempt to try this again..(Im determined). I will read more about tempering chocolate and try to get it right so that my cake pops look like those from the websites: boneats and bakerella

PS I was telling this story at an event today, only to find out that bakeralla was at Williams-Sonomo recently. GRRR. ..wish I would have known. I would love to meet her.

Happy Baking!!