Spicy Sausage BBQ Packets

Oh BBQ season. Probably the favorite season in our household. It might have to do with the fact that we have no air conditioner and hate heating up our house with the stove or maybe that I need quick meals to feed Chris before he heads to one of his ball games. Either way, this super quick meal does the trick!

This can basically be done with any protein or even just vegetables if that's your style! Digging around in my freezer after work I found a package of spicy Italian sausage. So that's what I used!

Start with laying out a peice of tin foil and giving it a little oil. Two feed the two of us (with leftovers for lunch) I grabbed 3 russet potatoes and sliced them into rounds. Make a layer of potatoes directly on the oiled foil and season with what you like best. In this case I gave them a bit of seasoning salt and fresh dill and Italian parsley. The sausage is quite salty, so season accordingly.

Fresh Dill and Parsley from the garden too!

On top of the seasoned potatoes I sliced up one small onion and added that to the mix. This onion made me cry like a heart broken school girl, mascara running and all. But I powered through!  Layer the onion on top.

Using the thawed, but raw, sausage, I cut it into nice bite sized pieces. Set those on top of the onions and that is it! Peppers or mushrooms would have been great to add, but I didn't have any so it was just meat and potatoes for us!

Mmm, raw meat!

Tear off another, smaller, piece of foil and place it directly on top of your layered mixture. Roll of the edges to give yourself a nice tight little BBQ packet.

Place these on your medium preheated BBQ (after the wedding I hope that our BBQ has actual temperature setting *hint hint*) and leave them for about 30 minutes. They should puff up pretty good and look like hot little tinfoil pillows! Remove from the heat and enjoy!

*Do not rest head on these pillows*

I topped mine with a nice dollop of sour cream (another favorite of ours). Delicious!

The Rules

Ingredients - 3 or 4 medium to large potatoes,  washed with the skin left on
- One medium onion
- 5 spicy Italian sausages
- Herbs and seasoning to your preference

Directions
- Oil a large piece of tinfoil.  Slice potatoes and make a thin layer on the foil. Season with seasoning salt and fresh herbs. Slice an onion and layer on top. Chop up the sausage in bite sized pieces and place on top. Add another piece of foil to the top and roll the edges inwards.

- Place BBQ packets on a medium temperature BBQ and coom for 30 minutes.

- Remove packets from the grill and enjoy!

Happy summer!

Love,  Jen

No Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies

Hello! I have missed you!  Sorry I haven't been around lately, I have been a really busy lady! I have been planning a wedding.  My wedding!  I have been DIYing, planning, and hopefully creating the perfect day.  Hand made invitations, centerpieces, decor, even a veil! It all has kept me very busy, and after the big day in July I will share some of what I did.  I can't wait!

In the interim, here is a favorite recipe for when you need to quickly whip up something for a when a sweet tooth hits!  If you are like me, you double the recipe and end up with 80 cookies.  My friends, family, and coworkers (and family's coworkers) were all very happy with me.

Most people are likely to have all the ingredients needed for this at home, so it doesn't really have to be a plan ahead cookie.  Plus, no bake = easy! Butter, cocoa, milk, peanut butter, vanilla, sugar, and oats.  That is all you need for these!

Start off by lining baking sheets with wax or parchment paper.  If you are doubling up, might just be easier to line an entire counter top with parchment since you will end up using every last cookie sheet, pizza pan, and eventually the counter anyway.

Melt your butter in a large pot and add the sugar, cocoa, and milk.

I didn't say these were good for you...

Bring this to a boil (but watch closely; this is very easy to burn).

Once you are at a boil, add the peanut butter, vanilla, and oats, remove it from the heat, and mix it up really well.  If you think that it looks a little too runny, add more oats.  When you spoon it out, it should flatten slightly, but you still want to be able to pick it up like a cookie.

Warning: Too hot to eat!

Make the cookies whatever size you feel like you want, but a regular batch should make about 40 decent sized cookies.  Grab a spoon, and spoon it out onto your covered counter/cookie sheets.  You will want to leave these to completely cool before moving as they will fall apart when warm (but feel free to taste test).  Once mine were completely cool, I transferred in to Tupperware and popped them in the freezer.  We ate them frozen more than taking them out to thaw.  They don't freeze completely solid, so the perfect little cool sweet treat!

Cookie sheet, pizza pan, silicone mat.. anything goes!

The Rules:

Ingredients:

1/2 Cup Butter

2 Cups Sugar

4 TBSP Unsweetened Cocoa Powder

1/2 Cup Milk

1 Cup Peanut Butter

1 TBSP Vanilla

2 Cups Oats

Directions:

Line cookie sheets with wax or parchment paper.

Melt butter in a large pot.  Add sugar, milk, and cocoa powder.  Bring to a boil.

Add peanut butter, vanilla, and oats and remove from heat.  Mix until completely combined.

Drop spoonfuls onto prepared cookie sheet and allow to cool completely.  Keeps great in the freezer!

Enjoy!

- Jen

Rustic String Art Deer

This fall when I was visiting my mom at her place in Nipawin I made a stop in at Twisted Tree.  It is one of my favorite places.  It is full of housewares, clothing, purses, and some pretty cool art.  While I was there I saw this tiny little 8x10 string art.  I thought, "man I could make that!"  Off I went back to my mom and Bernie's (who are currently building a beautiful house and happen to have their own lumber mill) and found some cedar planks to take home.  They are actually from an old cedar power pole!  A quick stop at Canadian Tire for some nails and jute and a little help from Chris and voila!

I had Chris's help with the base.  I measured the planks to the length I wanted and had him cut and then lined them up so they fit the best, I was going for rustic and imperfect which I think I achieved! We took a large piece of chip board left over from some other project and secured the cedar planks to it.  We went a little overboard which made things a little heavy, if I were to do it again I would maybe make three small strips of chipboard to attach the planks to.  We covered the whole thing and left about a 1 inch border.

These boards aren't going anywhere!

I have seen different techniques for laying out the nails and I probably used the most difficult way.  While some people are smart and print out some kind of stencil to use, or use some kind of projector to throw the image on to the boards, I pulled up a silhouette on my phone and free handed it with a giant pencil.  My boards totaled in at about 3 feet high by 2 feet wide (roughly) and I though it would be smart to just draw it.  My proportions were off three or four times before I finally got it.  Pencil and light marks are important here.  While most of it will get covered with string or nails, you dont want to be able to see your sketch.  Especially if this will be more of a desk or nightstand project.

Close enough.

None of this project is hard in a technical sense, everyone can stencil and hammer, but this step was the most tedious.  Get yourself a box of finishing type nails, they sell them in different finishes so pick whatever you like, and start nailing.  Pick any spot and hammer the nails about 1/3 of the way into the wood.  You will need enough out to wrap multiple strings around, but also enough in to hold everything in place with the tension from wrapping.  Place them evenly spaced apart, about an inch (depending on the size of project). Have fun around those tight places!  When you have a lot of detail in one section, place the nails a little bit closer.

More nails.

More nails.

Phew.  That should do.

The next part is pretty fun.  There are no rules to it.  Tie a little knot with the jute around a single nail and start criss-crossing and winding and wrapping.  Every nail should be wrapped more than once, and going in a row for a little bit around detailed sections helps create a shape.  Every now and then I would do a total loop around one single nail to lock everything in place.  I used just over one roll of jute (way cheaper at Canadian Tire than at a craft store! Plus same aisle as the nails. Win.) and when I ran out I tied the end of the new roll to it and kept winding.  I didn't take any photos while I was winding (hands were too busy with all the string) but here are some close ups of different sections so you get the idea.  When I thought it was full looking enough for me I just cut the jute from the roll and tied a tiny knot on one of the nails.  If you tuck the knot in beneath some other string you can't even see it.

Antler Madness!

Yeah, check out that neck curve.

Complete!

Have fun and be creative with this one! You can do almost anything and they look amazing once finished!

Supplies Needed:

- Wood for base and for securing together.

- One or two rolls of Jute (depending on the size of the project)

- Box of finishing nails

Love,

Jen

No Bake Oreo Truffles

Stop what you are doing! Go buy cream cheese, a box of Oreo cookies, and melting chocolates.  You need to make these.  Like right now.

These are one of the simplest recipes, yet they taste like you slaved away and became a master chocolatier.

Empty a whole box of Oreo cookies into a food processor.  Process the shit out of them.  You will end up with an almost powdery substance.  DO NOT USE DOUBLE STUFFED OREOS.  I thought this would be a good idea, more icing how could you go wrong? I was wrong.  They were much too soft and would not keep their shape. Just don't do it.

Oreo crumble!

Cube an 8 ounce block of cream cheese and mix it into the Oreo crumble (still in your food processor).  You want to make sure this gets blended up really well.  No big cream cheese chunks.  None.

Eat a little of this. It's Mandatory.

The next step is really messy.  Not a really fun messy.  Just messy.  Cover a cookie sheet with wax paper, or tin foil if that is all you have and set aside.  Take a spoon and scoop enough of the mixture for about a bite and a half and roll it into a ball.  These are fairly rich so you don't want them to be too big.  Roll them all out and put them on your cookie sheet.  When the mixture is all rolled out, pop it in to the fridge to cool for an hour or so.

These were too big.  I split each one in half after this. 

Once they are sufficiently chilled (in the sense that they are firm and holding their shape when you pick them up), you will need to melt your chocolate.  You can melt it in a couple different ways.  If you have a double boiler than you are doing better than me and should probably take over my blog.  I will assume you know how to use your double boiler to melt chocolate.  If you don't have a double boiler you can pop some melting chocolate or just milk chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl and warm up for 30 seconds at a time until smooth.  Another trick, if you don't have a double boiler, or if you have a weird microwave, is to bring a pot of water to a boil and put a heat safe bowl on top of the pot so just the bottom of the bowl is in the water, and stir you chocolate up.  This is the way I do it.  I hope to get a double boiler soon though! **hint hint**

You are going to need some patience, maybe wine as well, for the next step.  Your chocolate needs to stay nice and smooth for dipping, so if it starts to get too cool just warm it up again.  You may find a different way that works best for you, but I drop a ball in to the melted chocolate, scoop it up with a fork, shake off the excess, and then slide it off the fork on to the covered cookie sheet using a skewer.  You want the side that was on the fork to end up on the cookie sheet.  

Also a messy, messy step

Instead of just cooling my truffles, I froze mine.  Not an awesome idea when you are dipping them in warm chocolate.  They expanded a little and some of the chocolate shell cracked.  They also did this weird thing where the filling started to squeeze out of the bottom and it looked like they were moving on their own.  Just cool.  Don't freeze.  Lesson learned.

Perfect Enough right?

To make them Christmas-y and adorable, I also bought some red and green melting chocolate from Bulk Barn.  I got real crafty with this and just popped a few in a zip lock bag and then put that bag in a pot of hot water.  They melted up perfect and made no mess!  How did it take me this long to figure it out?  Not sure.  Now I know.  You can get as creative as you want here, but I will tell you... less ended up looking like more.  Don't go overboard if you are also going for looks.  It also turns out that taking a picture of yourself carefully decorating truffles while trying to carefully decorate truffles is pretty hard.  My apologies for the terrible picture.  

Nice nail polish, Jen.  Jeez.

But wait! Those ones are white?!  Yes.  Yes they are.  I also made a batch of Golden Oreo and white chocolate truffles!  Same recipe applies, just swap out the Oreos.  These would also be really great dipped in milk chocolate.  I find white chocolate pretty damn sweet. 

Cool and enjoy!  Make sure to keep these in the fridge before serving.  Cream cheese and all.

Ready for the rules?

Ingredients

- One box regular stuffed Oreo cookies

- 8 ounces cream cheese

- 2 cups of melting chocolate or chocolate chips

- 1/4 cup colored melting chocolate (optional)

Directions

In a food processor, completely process the entire box of Oreo cookies.  Add 8 ounces of cream cheese, cubed.  Mix until completely combined.  

Cover cookie sheet in wax paper or aluminum foil.  Roll the mixture in about bite and a half size balls and place on cookie sheet.  Cool completely.  

Melt chocolate until completely smooth.  Dip Oreo and cream cheese balls into melted chocolate and set on cookie sheet to cool.  

Optional: Once cool, melt colored chocolate and pipe onto truffles.

Store in airtight container in fridge or freezer until ready to serve.

Puppy Chow

No this is not dog food.  In fact, please do not feed it to your pets.  Puppy Chow, Muddy Buddies, Christmas Crack, this is a sweet treat that goes by many names.  To me, it has always been Puppy Chow.  Since the cookies were a difficult recipe, this one is super easy instead!  Easy to make, easy to eat, hard to share.  Let's get "cooking"!

Start with a large microwave safe bowl.  Yes, microwave.  This is that kind of recipe.  Toss your chocolate chips and peanut butter in the bowl and melt in 30 second increments until smooth.  I have always wanted to try this with Nutella.  I think it would be delicious.

Make sure to like the spatula when all is said and done.

Once your mixture is all melted, dump in 9 cups of original Chex!  One of the regular boxes, not the family size, will work just fine.  You have to be pretty gentle in your mixing.  No one wants crushed Puppy Chow.  No one.

Messy and absolutely delicious.

Once your cereal is coated fairly well you can do the next step in one of two ways.  Take your biggest baking sheet and sprinkle a coating of icing sugar down.  Pour the chocolate peanut butter coated Chex out on top.  Sprinkle more icing sugar on top and then gently toss and mix until fully coated.

The easier way involves having a large, sort of heavy, plastic bag.  Pour the mixture into the bag, add icing sugar, and shake that shit up!  Second way is much easier, quicker, and results in a more even coating.  The reason you need a thicker bag is because at this point the chocolate covered Chex is still warm and using a thin plastic bag has the potential of melting! No one wants that mess all over their kitchen, especially if you might have been doing a little dance while shaking.  No judgement here.

Not enough icing sugar.  

Once your Puppy Chow is all coated and no longer sticky, put it in an air tight container and store until it is all gone!  Oh wait, I forgot a step. Test. Test. Test.  And then maybe test one more time... to be safe.

*drool*

Easiest Christmas recipe for sure!  Here are the rules, just in case you need them.

Ingredients:

- 9 cups Chex cereal
- 1/2 cup peanut butter
- 1 cup chocolate chips, semi-sweet or milk chocolate
- 1 1/2 cups icing sugar

Directions:

In a large microwave safe bowl add your chocolate chips and peanut butter.  Melt in the microwave for 30 seconds at a time until it is a smooth consistency.  Add the Chex and gently mix until all pieces are coated.

Pour mixture in a large bag and add icing sugar.  Shake until fully coated.  If you do not have a bag, you can use a large baking sheet to gently coat with icing sugar.

Enjoy!

Love,

Jen

Soft and Chewy Sugar Cookies

A few Christmases ago me and my girlfriends decided that instead of giving each other gifts we would do a cookie exchange.  It was a great way to try new things, and to not have to do all the work yourself.  Well this recipe was NOT one of the ones I made.  My long time best friend Ellen brought these and they were divine.  Super soft but not too sweet.  She made them with a glaze as opposed to the regular hard icing that always makes its way on top of sugar cookies.  I immediately demanded the recipe and have made them every year since. I shall be forever in her debt.

Sugar cookies take some time, and actually allowing the dough to cool is pretty important.  Start by mixing your flour (by dumping cups of flour INTO your measuring cup and levelling, NEVER SCOOP), salt, and baking powder in a bowl and set aside.  Using room temperature butter is also important.  In an electric mixer, cream together your butter and sugar until fluffy, then add eggs and vanilla.

Doctors recommend you do not eat at this step...

Slowly add the dry mixture to the sugar and butter allowing it to combine with each addition.  Slow and steady will ensure complete mixture.

Just a little messy

This is why it is important to properly measure out your flour.  One time I scooped instead of filled and ended up with terrible doughy sugar cookies.  Just don't do it.  

When you are finished adding your dry, you may think that you don't need all of it and you may be right, you will have a malleable dough that sticks together and holds its shape.  Split it in two, wrap each half in plastic, and pop in the fridge for an hour or so.  

Once you are ready to roll out your dough preheat your oven and roll out one half at a time.  Mine crumbled a bit when I rolled it out, but if you go very slowly it sticks together better.  Roll out about a quarter of an inch thick and cut into all the little shapes you would like!  Since I like to go simple, I always just go round.  More sophisticated.  Or something.  If you are a first timer at cookies then you just keep cutting shapes and rolling up the extra pieces until you are all out! 

A quarter of an inch or so

Bake for 9 minutes on parchment paper at 325 and then take out of the oven and move immediately to a cooling rack.  They will look a little underdone in the centre, and that is the reason why they are so good.  They will puff up a little bit in the oven, but sink back nice and flat once they cool.  

See the derpy one in the corner? I call him "Leftovers"

For the glaze, you just use egg whites and icing sugar.  You can color it if you want, but I just used some pearl dust for mine.  Went for an icicle look.  No, I was not making Frozen themed cookies, though I admit they do look that way.  I also make a small batch of regular icing sugar, with corn syrup, icing sugar, and a little bit of milk to pipe on some snowflake designs.  Brush on a coat of two of the glaze and let dry.  Once the glaze is mostly dry then pipe on some designs and let completely set.  I like to store mine in the fridge and they also freeze very well!  

Pretty and delicious!

Ready for the rules?

Ingredients:

- 4 cups all purpose flour

- 1/2 tsp salt

- 1 tsp baking powder

- 1 cup unsalted butter (if salted then cut the salt in half)

- 2 cups sugar

- 2 large eggs

- 2 tsp vanilla

Directions:

Mix flour, salt, and baking powder in a bowl and set aside.

In an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar until fluffy.  Beat in eggs and vanilla. Slowly add flour mixture to butter mixture until fully combined.

Split mixture into two round, flat discs and wrap tightly in plastic wrap.  Place in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.  Chilling the dough will help your cookies keep their shape while baking! 

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Once chilled, roll dough out about 1/4 inch thick and cut your shapes out.  Place on parchment paper and bake for 9 minutes.  Do NOT over bake.  Cookies will be soft and appear uncooked in the centre. Carefully remove from oven and place on cooling rack until completely cool.

Icing:

For glaze, mix one or two egg whites with enough icing sugar to create a thin paste.  Brush glaze over cookies.  Allow to partially dry and brush with a second coat of glaze.  

For snowflake designs, mix 1/2 cup of icing sugar, 1 teaspoon milk, 1 teaspoon corn syrup, and a drop of lemon juice.  You want a fairly sturdy consistency so the designs hold their shape.  Mix different amounts of those ingredients until you get a texture that can be piped from an icing bag, while also hold its shape.

Allow cookies to completely set and then they can be stacked.

Done!

I hope these become your new favourites too!

Love,

Jen

Slow Cooker Chex Mix

Ahh Christmas season.  It is one of my favorite seasons.  I get to make so many of my favorite things in such a short time! Like this weekend, in which I made ALL of my Christmas goodies.  Nothing like getting it all done in one shot and then popping it into the freezer to store until it is needed!  Over the next few weeks I will be posting all my secrets.  Christmas is only in 32 days away you know!  I needed to get all of my baking done so I could focus on shopping... which I have not even thought about yet. Great.  Maybe I still have time to get everything online? Express shipping it is.

Since I don't want to stress anyone out with complicated recipes, I thought I would start out nice and easy with Chex Mix.  A salty little snack that keeps for weeks.  Chex cereal at Christmas is like a unicorn.  You will be lucky if you can find it at your first three grocery stores.  Luckily for me, I stopped at Superstore and got the last two boxes! Score!  Chex Mix is easy, and even easier with the slow cooker, it means you have the oven empty for other treats!

The first step is really hard.  Dump all your cereal in the slow cooker.  Recipes have measured out cups, but that is not the way I roll with this one.  The Chex and rice snacks are my favorite part so I add more of them, and then just whatever else fits!  Pour them in and then gently mix them all up.

Carby carb carbs!

The seasoning is also pretty easy, and does not have to follow a strict recipe.  Melt some butter or margarine, stir in the salt and seasonings, pour it over the top, and stir up well!

Butter and salt!

Pop the lid on, set it to low for 3 hours, and stir every hour and twice in the second hour to keep any from burning.  If your lid is not vented, place a tea towel on top to catch any condensation.  You don't want soggy Chex! 

Mmm, smells delicious!

Once your three hours is up you need to pour it all out in  a thin layer to cool completely.  Throw down some parchment paper and spread it thin!

Chex Mix as far as the eye can see!

Once it is completely cool, pop it in to bags and you are done! I promised it would be easy!

Now for the rules!

Ingredients

- 9 Cups of Chex cereal
- 2 Cups of rice snacks (Bulk Barn is where I get mine from)
- 1 Cups pretzels
- 1 Cups Cheerios
- 1 Cups Shreddies

Seasoning

- 1/3 Cup butter
- 1 Tbsp seasoning salt
- 2 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp cayenne (optional for some kick)
- 1/4 Cup Worcestershire sauce

Directions

Add all the cereals to your slow cooker (you can use a roaster in the oven if you don't have a slow cooker).

Melt butter in the microwave.  Add the salt and seasonings and mix until salt is dissolved.  Add the Worcestershire and mix again.  Pour mixture over the cereals and mix gently.  Mix until the pieces are well coated.  I usually mix up a little extra seasoning if it looks too dry still.

Cook on low for 3 hours.  Stir after the first and second hour and then twice in the third hour.  If your slow cooker lid is not vented, place a tea towel under the lid to catch extra condensation.

Once done cooking, spread thin on parchment paper to completely cool.  Seal and it should keep for 3-4 weeks.

Enjoy!

Love,

Jen