All posts by Sonte

Apple Nachos with Peanut Butter & Chocolate Dipping Sauce

January 21, 2013 Sonte Leave a comment

A life-long friend of my daughter’s recently posted a pic of Apple Nachos on her FB page; I thought it looked interesting and that I might give it a try sometime. Today was “Sometime” so I went back to the pic posted, had a good look at the ingredients and gave it a go. I happened to have a bit of whipped cream sitting in the fridge (from the Coconut Cream Pie that my daughter Krick made yesterday) so I incorporated that with the left over Nutella and Peanut Butter to create sinfully delicious dipping sauces to adorn any fruit slices that may have missed out on being drizzled with decadent chocolate or peanut butter.
I am going to try this again using hot sauce and shredded cheddar! My husband says that sounds weird but I used to love having an apple with a hunk of cheddar cheese for a snack after school! And an old family friend introduced me to the idea of having hot sauce on slices of apple and I loved that too!
I know this is a Snack food but it is what I had for Lunch on a day that I was not feeling particularly cheerful. The preparation of this dish took my mind off things for a bit, I got to enjoy Peanut Butter, my all time fave comfort food, and all of a sudden things were not so gloomy anymore. Sometimes you just have to indulge, right?
I am sure there is an original recipe for Apple Nachos out there somewhere but I have no idea who to give credit to for such a simple, tasty treat. Kudos to you, whomever you are!

Apple Nachos with Nutella and Peanut Butter Dipping Sauce

*3 Apples
2 teaspoons Lemon Juice
1/4 cup Chopped Pecans
1/4 cup Almonds
1/4 cup Dried Cranberries
1/4 cup Coconut
1/4 cup smooth Peanut Butter
1/4 Nutella
A large pinch of Cinnamon

1 cup Whipped Cream, optional

Wash, core and slice fruit.
Place sliced fruit into a bowl/container with a fitted lid; add lemon juice. Put lid on and toss to coat fruit with lemon juice.
Dump fruit slices out onto a large plate.
Sprinkle with dried cranberries, almonds and pecans.
In a small heatproof bowl, microwave peanut butter for about 30 seconds, or until slightly melted and of drizzling consistency; using a spoon, drizzle over fruit and nuts.
In another small bowl microwave Nutella for about 20 seconds, stir, heat for another 5 seconds if needed, using a spoon, drizzle over fruit and nuts.
Sprinkle coconut over all.
Serve with Dipping Sauce, if desired.

Dipping Sauce:
Divide whipping cream between the remaining peanut butter and nutella bowls, stirring each just until blended.

* I used 1 Golden Delicious Apple, 1 Fuji Apple and 1 Bartlett Pear

About, Breakfast

Mini Pancake Bites

January 15, 2013 Sonte Leave a comment

A little while back my younger daughter sent me a text asking me how to make pancake bites; I guess she had seen the idea somewhere in cyberspace! I googled it myself and sent her a link but didn’t bookmark it, thinking I would never make them. As it turns out, I now regularly cook for a grade school class and am always looking for quick, easy breakfast or healthy snack ideas! Now I wish I HAD bookmarked it. S’all good, I just googled “pancake bites” again and followed the basic directions at Bakerella to create my own version of YUMMY! Oh my! When I was turning them out to cool I could not help but eat at least half a dozen of them!

I really like Pancake Bites because they are easier to eat out of hand over regular mini pancakes. Go ahead, make these, and I dare you to eat just one!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Pancake Bites - Make Pancake Bites using your favourite Pancake Recipe. — Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Pancake Bites – Make Pancake Bites using your favourite Pancake Recipe.

Use your favourite Pancake Recipe. I used Mini Pumpkin Pancakes or:

2 cups Flour
2 teaspoons Baking Powder
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
1/2 teaspoon Salt
4 Tablespoons Sugar
1 1/3 cup Milk (or Almond Milk)
4 Tablespoons Maple Syrup
2 large Eggs
4 Tablespoons Vegetable Oil
1 1/2 teaspoons Vanilla

Preheat oven to 350F.
Lightly spray 4 mini muffin tins; set aside.

In a large mixing bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar, if using.

In a small mixing bowl whisk together milk, eggs, vegetable oil, vanilla and maple syrup, if using.

Add liquid ingredients, all at once, to dry ingredients and stir just until combined; a few lumps may remain.

Evenly scoop batter into prepared muffin tins up to 2/3 full.
Bake in 350F oven for 10 – 15 minutes or until golden brown.
Remove from oven and let rest in pans on wire racks for a few minutes.
Remove from muffin tins to cool completely or serve immediately with maple syrup, berry sauce or simply as is.

Desserts

Chocolate Chia Pudding

January 15, 2013 Sonte Leave a comment

I got lost in Food Heaven late last week! I clicked on a few pics on Pinterest, followed them to their pages and poked around at other pics that interested me. During my little adventure I came across a recipe for Chocolate Chia Pudding which I was pretty keen to try out since I currently only use Chia Seeds in my daily morning Green Smoothies.

You know how it is when you start out following a recipe and soon have come up with your own unique creation? First of all, I had half a cup of left over coffee sitting in a thermos…I know, I know! How is that even possible? I subbed the coffee in for a portion of the milk and then I was thinking, Caramel Macchiato so I added some Caramel Sauce. I had some leftover whipped cream handy so I folded that in after the Chia Seeds had “set”. I don’t think it needed the whipped cream, again, I just happened to have it on hand; I certainly would not have whipped up some cream just for this recipe.

The recipe I started following said it was a single serve so I doubled it…wrong…my husband and I both had a generous serving and there are probably still four servings left! Which is all good because I am really liking this pudding! Reminds me of Tapioca, which I LOVE but hate to make.

1 cup unsweetened Almond, Soy or Coconut Milk (I used Almond Milk)
1/2 cup Cold Coffee
2 Tablespoons Caramel Topping
3 Tablespoons Chia Seeds
1 teaspoon Cocoa Powder
1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon
1/2 Tablespoon Maple Syrup

In a small measuring cup whisk together cocoa with about 1 Tablespoon of milk.
Combine milk, coffee, caramel topping, cinnamon, chia seeds, and maple syrup in a glass container with a fitted lid.
Add cocoa mixture and whisk everything together until well incorporated.
Refrigerate for at least four hours, stirring once an hour to keep the seeds from clumping.

Enjoy!

Notes:
– I made mine in a small pyrex dish with a lid.
– I did not stir it every hour, quite frankly I just left it for two days!
– I folded whipped cream the pudding before serving it; it didn’t need it.
– I will add another Tablespoon of Chia seeds next time.

Baking for Dogs

Dog’s Breath Biscuits

January 8, 2013 Sonte Leave a comment

When we first got our Lab/Shep cross we often gave him treats when we were training him. Buying wholesome treats became pretty expensive! Then I remembered seeing a recipe for Dog Biscuits in a Canadian Living magazine, not that I could remember which issue; so I googled it and was pleased to find what would become a regular for Bear.
One time I went to make the biscuits, clicked on the saved bookmark and ACK! The recipe was missing! I quickly sent off an email to Canadian Living begging them to look into it; at first I thought maybe they had found the recipe was not suitable for dogs or something but they were quick to send back a response and the recipe was back online. Now I know it would be easy to just always google Doggy Treats but sometimes when I find a recipe that I really like, I prefer to stick to the tried and true. I swore I was going to get the Canadian Living recipe up on my page ASAP so I would never have to worry about finding it missing again….a year later and well, here it is, finally on my site. The biscuits do keep well in an airtight container so I always double the original recipe and here on my site I give you the doubled amounts.
Oh, tried and true or not, I do like to experiment a little so I have also added some add ins that Bear has liked.

Thanks Canadian Living for a great recipe for an important member of our family!

Dog Biscuits, made with Love for our Bear

1 cup Flour
1 cup Whole Wheat Flour
2 cups Rolled Oats
1 1/2 cups Cornmeal
1/2 cup Packed Brown Sugar
4 teaspoons Baking Powder
1 teaspoon Salt
1/2 cup Butter, softened (I sometimes sub in a bit of Bacon Fat)
1/2 cup Peanut Butter
4 Eggs
1 Tablespoon dried Mint
2 Tablespoons dried Parsley
1 cup shredded Cheese (optional)
4 strips cooked Bacon (optional)
1 Apple, shredded (optional)

Preheat oven to 325F.
Line 4 baking sheets with parchment paper.

In medium mixing bowl combine flours, oats, cornmeal, brown sugar, baking powder and salt; set aside.
In mixing bowl beat together butter, peanut butter; add eggs, one a time then cream until smooth.
On low speed, stir in dry ingredients, mint, parsley and any optional ingredients to make a soft dough.
Turn out onto floured surface and knead until it all comes together; divide into two portions.
Roll out one portion of dough to 1/2″ thickness and cut with bone shaped cookie cutter.
Arrange on prepared baking sheets; you can put them pretty close together.
With second portion, again roll out, but directly onto a piece of parchment paper, into an 8″x11″ rectangle.
Trim rough edges; using a sharp knife, cut into small rectangles but do not separate.
Roll scraps and cut more bone shaped biscuits.
Bake in 325F oven for 35 – 40 minutes, until golden and firm; I start checking on them at 25 minutes, removing those that look like they are cooked through.
Transfer to wire rack to cool completely.
With the 8″x11″ sheet, break along cuts to make treats to stuff into Kong toys or to have on hand when you go out for a walk.

Aysontespli's Kitchen

All posts by Sonte

Apple Nachos with Peanut Butter & Chocolate Dipping Sauce

Mini Pancake Bites

Chocolate Chia Pudding

Dog’s Breath Biscuits

Welcome to my Kitchen where the most important ingredient is Love.