Chewy Oatmeal Bars - Pinterest

I love trying new recipes. Ben loves granola so when I saw these bars on pinterest - I knew I was going to make them soon! These are healthy and not too sweet.


I used dried cranberries and dried blueberries for the dried fruits.  I also used slivered almonds.

Chewy Oatmeal Barsfrom marcigilbert 

Ingredients:

• 1 3/4 C rolled oats
• ¼ C chopped walnuts (used slivered almonds)
• 1/4 C sunflower seeds
• 1/2 C dried fruits (half dried cranberries/half dried blueberries)
• ¼ C brown sugar
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• ½ tsp. salt
• 1 ½ C milk
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp. vanilla

Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 350.
• In two separate bowls, mix dry ingredients, then wet ingredients. Pour wet into dry, mixing until combined.
• Pour batter into a square baking dish lined with parchment paper for easy transferring. My dish is 9 x 9.
• Bake 30 minutes. Once cool, cut into bars or squares.

Beautiful Fall Day in Lachine

Last Monday, I had a day off - so I went for a short walk in my neighbourhood. The colors are almost gone, but there was one colourful tree left!

Orange Cranberry Muffins

Weekend went by so fast!! In a month, it will be Christmas!!! I am so not ready!!
I had bought some fresh cranberries at the market a couple of weekends ago and had frozen some. Wanted to use some in a muffin recipe.

Went looking and found a light recipe (with yogurt!) that looked good.

I made it with some orange zest though as I didn't have fresh lemons at the time! Very yummy muffins!

Lemon Cranberry Muffins
from foodrepublik.com

½ cup plain yogurt
1 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs
pinch salt
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tbsp lemon zest (used orange zest)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
½ cup oil (used canola oil)
2 cups fresh cranberries (used frozen cranberries)

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Mix the yogurt, sugar, salt and eggs together in a large bowl. Add the lemon zest and vanilla extract.

2. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour and baking powder. Add dry ingredients to wet, and stir together until moistened.

3. Add oil and mix, mix, mix until batter is smooth and homogeneous. Fold in cranberries.

4. Bake for 20-25 minutes until a toothpick inserted into muffins comes out clean.

Special Cake for a Special Guy

Last Saturday we surprised my brother with a party for his 50th birthday. Well, we didn't really surprise him as he knew he was having a party, but the surprise was who would be there!


There was family and lots of friends. I am so jealous because he has kept most of his friends since childhood!!


Since he is my favorite brother (and my only one!!), I decided to make him a special cake!


I started with a basic chocolate cake with chocolate icing


Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Chocolate Cake

Hershey Website

2 cups sugar (used 1 1/2 cups)

1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup Cocoa

1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

1 cup milk (used lowfat)

1/2 cup vegetable oil (used Canola)

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup boiling water

"PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE" CHOCOLATE FROSTING (recipe follows)

Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round baking pans.   

Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pans.   

Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. Frost with "PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE" CHOCOLATE FROSTING. 10 to 12 servings. 

PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE" CHOCOLATE FROSTING
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine
2/3 cup cocoa
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Melt butter. Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency.
Add small amount additional milk, if needed. Stir in vanilla. About 2 cups frosting.

***********

I had seen on pinterest, this cake made with Kitkat (here's one and another and this is the one that inspired me!)

I had bought a few KitKats, but we saw these cookies (Pirouline) at Costco last Saturday morning and Ben suggested we try decorating with them instead!

They were a bit too long, so Ben cut them a bit and I decorated with some smarties.

Brought the cake to the restaurant and it was a big hit!! Only problem was there wasn't enough cake for everyone :( - I didn't get to taste it - so I guess I will have to make it again!

Big Party Tonight!

The photos have nothing to do about this. But tonight I have a big party for my big brother's birthday... He is going to be 50 in a couple of weeks!! Can't believe that! 

I have to go decorate his cake now which, I hope, will be delicious and amazing!!

Here are more shots from our last Fall walk!

Walking on a beautiful Fall Day

Went to one of my favorite parks for a nice long walk.

Found this artwork

this beautiful path

this amazing tree

this blue sky

this wooden path leading to the woods

how can we not enjoy this walk??!!

Just because...

I love Fall and blue skies!!

On a sunny day Fall Day

During the Fall, I could just spend hours and hours walking and admiring the beautiful colors!

Chocolate Chip Cranberry Muffins

I have baked these a couple of times. I just love the mix of fresh cranberries and chocolate!

I will add a little less sugar next time, maybe 3/4 cup and see if they are sweet enough!


Chocolate Chip Cranberry Muffins
Adapted from 125 Best Chocolate Chips Recipes
2 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups fresh cranberries
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
3/4 cup low-fat milk
1/2 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon grated orange zest
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt.

In a food processor fitted with a metal blade, coarsely chop cranberries.

In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar, eggs, milk, oil, orange zest and vanilla. Stir in flour mixture, just until combined. Fold in chopped cranberries and chocolate chips. Do not overmix.

Spoon batter into greased or lined (with paper liners) muffin cups.

Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes or until puffed, golden and a tester inserted into center comes out clean. Let cool in pan on rack for 5 minutes. Remove from pan and let cool completely on rack.

New friends

Went on a long walk in the woods. We were talking about this and that, when suddenly I saw these guys. The conversation was over! We just stood there and stared at each other!


until they ran back in the woods and we went back to our conversation!

Lunch on Times Square

Our favorite part of our New York trip was our lunch on Times Square! We had made sandwiches and some veggies and we ate them on a cute little table in the middle of Times Square. Talk about a noisy lunch!!

Brooklyn

Every time we go to New York, we want to spend more time in Brooklyn... but since there are so many things to do in New York, we never have enough time to walk around Brooklyn!! Hopefully next time!



How fun are these flower "pots"!! :)