Ava

If you have read any of my posts in the past, you have probably seen a picture of my puppy... Today is her birthday, and I wanted to share the last year of her life with you. Because she is pretty awesome, and a constant part of my life... The longest I have been away from her is 8 hours when I left her home one day instead of bringing her to the barn with me...  Plus I'm a pretty lucky puppy owner because I have been able to know her for her entire life... ANYWAY... this is my puppy:

 

Day 1 - Guinea Pig stage... Still wet... not all the puppies are born yet. Ava is the brown one drinking... infront of the brown one with white on her. There were 9 all together... NINE!!!... Poor Cori (the mom)

Look at that big butt.. No wonder she ended up being the biggest puppy in the the litter!

This picture makes me smile EVERY SINGLE TIME... and it melts my heart and brings a little tear to my eye...

"seriously... stop taking my picture"

Ava makes a good pillow

Puppy nap time!

She was the first one to be able to get out of the puppy stall... climbed her way over 2 bales of hay. Sometimes she just chilled out on top of them.  Fun fact- she used to ride on the bale of hay that I was lifting into the wheelbarrow when she was this size... She STILL tries to go for hay bale rides some days. Except that now she is almost bigger than the bale of hay.

ABOVE: back view

BELOW: front view

<3 Long day of work <3

Tippy Supervising Puppy-Play-Time

Icicles don't make very good bones

First collar... and she was not very stoked about it!

It's pretty awesome when you get to cuddle with your brother...

... and your friend Scarlet

...Or both of them...

First hike

Trying to master getting out of the car by herself (its a long way down)

Helping in the kitchen

Playing in the mud  (that face is priceless)

stealing Fire-wood from the stack when you have perfectly good bones and dog toys to chew on... not cool

...helping at work...

"Hiking" at Barrier Lake (and by hiking, I mean, we intended to hike, but instead sat on the beach and let the dogs run around in the sand)

 Sourdough Bread AND Croisont assistant(s)

Sibling love (notice Ava's paw on Wilson's back)

Meeting her real Bio-daddy

CUDDLES.

"Helping" move hay during a wind storm

"Hey Carl, 'sup?"

"Helping" my mom make Lefse

Tasting the Lefse... It was Ava approved

Bath time... SO not impressed... EVERY time she has a bath... She tolerates it, but that is all.

WINTER... (was) here...

The best decision I have made in a while was taking Ava home with me... She is my best friend, and constant companion... We go everywhere together (to home, to work, to sleep... not shopping though , the store people would frown upon that).  There will be a ton more pictures of her on here... AND on intsagram... my new favourite iPhone addiction... FOLLOW ME THERE:

wlizardbreath

Smell ya' Later 2011...

Okay... I am on my laptop, which we really only use to watch Netflix in bed... so no pictures, and just a quick post. I wanted to share my blog-resolutions quickly.
1)post once a week
2)get inspired by Tracy Shutterbean and her High Straightness Blog at Homefries, and get my kitchen in order... And write about it on here. (I organized the bathroom last night, and it is so much nicer in there now!)
3)Try something new once a month... Like make Curry and make the boyfriend actually eat it
4)eventually try a new look here... Not just the plain old Blogger template look.
5)Share more of life... not just food... I've been doing some crafts lately... and my super-secret project that I really want to share here, but not until I am finished the first part of it.

Five resolutions is a good place to start right? I promise I will be back. I am tryin to get myself out of the funk of the last few months... And I will...

Happy New Year everyone!!!!!!!!!!!

OOOO.. I have a #6 - check off more things on my Baking/Cooking Bucket List

WHAT!?! It's Almost Christmas?!?!

Christmas is in 4 days... FOUR DAYS!!!

One part of me is totally ready... I have gifts bought and 4 whole days off of work (SWEET!). I did the work Christmas party thing (got to ride up to the house in a 2-horse open sleigh with Jingle Bells... except it is really called a cutter and not a sleigh, but I'm okay with calling it a sleigh... well, part of my brain is), I gave my bosses and friends at work presents, I wrote all the clients Christmas cards, I baked cookies for the farrier... and the land lord, and people at work, and some just for us... and I'll bake more tonight as soon as I'm done typing this out.

So, while part of me is completely ready for Christmas... the blogger in me is hiding in the corner in shame, because, it is only 4 days until Christmas, and I haven't written anything in December. I'm going to have to stick to some kind of schedule for this, because I have been pretty lazy about this poor blog lately, and I am not proud of that, because I like baking and cooking and taking pictures and just getting better and trying new things and new skills, and This blog is what pushes me to really do that... So 2012, I will be better about this... I pinkie swear...

I think I might share some of the crafty-ness that I have been partaking in lately also... and the giant nerd in me... I had a project that I was trying to get done before Christmas, but It has become much more involved than I first imagined back in August, so when I finish the main part of that, I will share it here too... because I'm pretty proud of it.

If I don't get back here in the next four days... Have a Very Merry Christmas!!!

Apple Pockets

So a while back, I got this Apple Pocket Pie thing from Superstore, and a bunch of apples, and puff pastry. But I ate the apples, and made some other stuff with the puff pastry, and stuck the apple-pocket-pie-maker-thing in a drawer... with the obvious intention of making apple-pocket-pies in the very near future. I'm pretty sure that was in September (maybe even in August).

I FINALLY made the Apple Pocket Pies... It only took me a quarter of the year... BUT gee-golly they were so worth it. I do want to try them with some homemade pastry... but baby steps... Its been hard enough to get into the kitchen and make anything other than pasta lately... let alone take pictures of it and then edit them and write about it... But I'm on my way back... with Apple Pocket Pies...

This is pretty much the recipe that came with the pocket-pie-maker-thingy, but I havn't had a chance to tweek it yet... give me some time. BUT If you see this thing for sale... Buy it...it's pretty fun... Like a giant apple cookie cutter that presses things together too!

I lost the recipe card that came with the pie-maker, but It is pretty self explanatory.  I made too many cooked apples, and so had to eat them all on their own (it was a tough job, but someone had to do it!). It uses Store bought puff pastry, and then apples with cinnamon and sugar.. then you bake them... See, easy. I let my mom take some of the pictures, and they are a little out of focus, but I'm going to be okay with that... Because these were AMAZING! I will be making them again soon!

Vinatarta

 ORIGINALLY POSTED NOVEMBER 26, 2011! (Re-posting for Christmas 2012, Because I don't want to re-write the whole thing, since I already did it last year... AND because it is the most popular post on my blog! So Here it is: Completely as it was last year when I wrote it:)

You are probably thinking "OH MY GAWD!, she is actually writing a new blog post!"

Or, if you read the title of this, you might be thinking: "Vina-whata?"

I don't really know what you are thinking, because this is the kind of thing that you either like, or don't... Unless you are like me, and at 6 years old, thought it was the most disgusting thing disguising as a Christmas cookie, Then waited until you got older to try it again and loved it... I have come to the personal conclusion that Vinatarta is not a kid's ideal Christmas food. It has prunes in it... According to my 6 year old brain... prunes make you poop... Who wants a Christmas cake that makes you poop, I mean really... well, unless you can't, and you really need to, then maybe you want to just eat prunes

Ok, so far, my first post back is not going so well, I am talking about poop and Christmas cake together... way to sell it....

Winter's Here...    (face palm)

Vinatarta is an Icelandic Canadian thing...  Back in the late 1800's when a vast majority of Icelanders came to Canada, This was their dessert (Obviously, they had other ones, but this one is distinctly Icelandic... well, Icelandic-Canadian if we want to get specific). My great grandparents (I'm going to write a post about them on my other blog, if you are interested), were in this group, and my grandpa, and then my mom, grew up with this. It is a tradition of sorts to make Vinatarta at Christmas. Because I haven't really liked it until now, my mom never really made it, and my great grandma's recipe was lost to us. So I had to scour the internet, and I came across a few recipes that were all very very similar. I printed off a few and then last weekend, when I went home to visit, we made Vinatarta from our own recipe adapted from the few I found on line.
Want to know what makes our Vinatarta the best? Rum... Because rum is good, but you could easily just use water too.

There was a recipe on Swerve Calgary... But the one we used was closer to the one that is posted in the comments section of that same article.  Only with rum.... and probably a little more cardamom because my Mom likes it.

Too make the cookie/cake layers:

1 cup butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp. baking powder
4 cups of flour
3 TBSP heavy cream
1 tsp Almond Extract
1 1/2 tsp. Cardamom

Cream butter. Add sugar, and beat well. Add eggs, one at a time. Beat Well. Add Almond Extract here also.
Sift the dry ingredients together. Add to the wet, alternating with the Heavy Cream (starting and ending with the dry). Knead well. Divide the dough into 5 or 6 even balls (depending on how many layers you want... we do 6). Spread each ball onto the back of a round cake pan. Unless you have 6 round cake pans all the same size, you will have to work in batches... We did 2 at a time. Let the cake pan cool down a little before you spread the next layer on.
Preheat the oven to 375 F. Bake about 10 minutes. Keep a close eye, and remove from the oven when the edges are starting to brown.

To make the Prune filling:

Place, approx. 1 pound of dried, pitted prunes in a large saucepan. Just barely cover with water (this is where we used rum... mixed with water, we would've had to use the whole bottle... just use to taste if you choose). Simmer until the prunes are soft.
Purée in a food processor (use water/rum) if you need more liquid to get the processor to actually process- like we did)
Once puréed, return to the saucepan with 3/4 cup sugar, 1/2 cup rum (or prune juice). Cook until thick (you are making a prune jam/butter deal here... kind of like making Apple Butter).  Add spices to taste... One recipe called for 2 tsp. of Cinnamon, another for cloves, and yet another for cardamom. We used all 3, until it tasted perfect for us. Just keep tasting until you like what you have. Cool Completely.

To Assemble:
Pick out your ugliest cake layer and put it on the bottom. Spread an even layer of filling over top (using enough to all your layers are even). Put another cake on top, and spread with filling again. Save the best cake layer for the top
Once all assembled, Cover well with plastic wrap and let sit for AT LEAST 24 hours. Older recipes say 2 weeks.  Vinatarta freezes well also.

 You can cut slabs of cake if you choose, or cut into nice little rectangles instead.  Another option is to frost the top with Almond butter cream, but my mom didn't want anything to do with that. And I don't think it needs it.

Have a Very Merry Holiday Season, and I hope you try this wonderful Christmas cake. Unless you are a kid, then you might not like it... I sure didn't... But I do now, and that is what I was trying to say... very ineloquently. 

I'm sorry

I'm going to let you into a piece of my "crazy brain" (inspired by Joy)... at the start of every month, I make a mental resolution... something to do better... like a new years resolution, only more like a "new month resolution".   To be honest, I'm not so good at keeping these, but I like that feeling of accomplishment and grown-up-ness that I get when im doing good with my new-month resolution... However, case in point of how good I am at these: October's was "buy less coffee from Tim Hortons and make my own in the morning"... which was fine for October, but then I had a really bad stressful crap-tacular day, and left my coffee mugs in my car, and then continued to leave them in my car, and not wash them... I got a new car, and those damn coffee mugs are still in my old car... still un-washed.  But I don't think about it, until I can't do anything about it, and then I forget again. However, i think with the colder weather making it's way here, I might remember to make my own coffee again soon... and spend an extra 5 minutes in my nice warm cozy bed cuddling with my puppies (...and boyfriend).
Anyway, so I bet you are wondering why I just told you all that... all rambly and non-sensical (is that how you spell it?).... I wanted to let you know that My mini resolution for December is to be a better blogger... After I've finally got most of my real-world life situations sorted out (for now at least).  I have tons of pictures and notes of things I've made, I just havn't gotten to the point of writing that down into my blog and hitting "publish"... But I will.

Also, I sat out of the Daring Baker challenge this month, so I can finish getting my life some-what back into order... And we finally have some more staff at work, so I can stop being so exhausted from working my ass off every day.

Also... I downloaded a ton of christmas Music, and I am totally going to go bake some christmas cookies right now... EVEN if it is still only November

I will be back to post a recipe (or eight) as soon as I get my ass in gear and put hte pictures from my phone into my computer.

Happy American-Thanksgiving this week too... maybe I will start by posting my Canadian Thanksgiving pictures... From way back at the beginning of October.... oops

I will be back, I promise!!

Daring Baker October 2011 - POVITICA

Holy crap, It's the end of October already... How did that happen?? This year seems like it has gone by really fast... This is already my 10th challenge in the group... Wow, I'm giving myself a pat on the back... (Now if only I could be a much more diligent blogger...)

This month, our host was Jenni of The Gingered Whisk. She introduced us to Povitica (pronounced like Po-va-teet-sa) Which I am very happy to have learned. I have never heard about it before, But I think I will be making this again at Christmas... Jenni gave us recipes for 4, 2, or 1 loaf/loaves and I chose to just make the 1 loaf... although I do want to try this with cheese, to make a Cheese-Swirl bread.
I didn't take step by step pictures this time.. All i ended up with were 3 kind of OK photos...

If you type "Povitica" into Wikipedia, "nut roll" comes up, but it gives you some history on the bread-style. 


I'm going to send you over to the Daring Kitchen website to the link on the Povitica Challenge, rather than copy Jenni's recipe word for word... I didn't change a thing on this challenge, and didn't have time to play around with different fillings like I wanted to, But I am really really happy to have learned this bread. Thanks Jenni... And to all my fellow Daring Bakers for their advice, and inspirational posts of their challenges in the forums. I REALLY love this group!

 

Blog-checking lines: The Daring Baker’s October 2011 challenge was Povitica, hosted by Jenni of The Gingered Whisk. Povitica is a traditional Eastern European Dessert Bread that is as lovely to look at as it is to eat!

Butternut Squash Soup

Okay, I didn't use a "recipe" for this soup. So You'll just have to go from your gut on amounts of stuff.

But the Boyfriend told me that this is the best soup he has ever tasted, and since it is one of the best soups I have ever tasted, I don't think he was just being nice...

You are going to need butternut squash... how much depends on how much soup you want to end up with. I used one pretty large sized squash. Peel and cube the squash, and spread out on a lightly oiled baking sheet. Roast the squash at about 350 F until soft.
While the squash is roasting, peel potatoes (i used 4-5 potatoes) and cut into even cubes, peel carrots and cut into even pieces (about 5-6 carrots)
In a large pan, heat some oil (2-3 Tablespoons), saute some onion (I used one med.large onion), until translucent. You can also add in some garlic if you choose. Add in the carrot and potato and cook until soft
Add in some Chicken broth and continue to cook the vegetables. Once the Squash is soft, add into the pan and cook with the potato/carrot/onions. Add more broth as needed.

When everything is soft, and seasoned to taste, let everything cool down. Blend in small batches and put into a large saucepan. Make sure there is enough liquid in the blender so all the veggies get blended. Once everything is blended and in the saucepan, add in some cream or more chicken broth, and you can season to taste. I like cream. Heat to whatever temperature you like, and serve.  The cream and/or broth you add is to taste, depending on how liquid-y you want your soup.

This soup will most likely be seen a lot in our kitchen now. We loved it!

Also, you can carve Butternut Squash for Halloween too... You just need a melon baller to get the squash meat(?) out... and carve carefully.  They do turn into old wrinkly men pretty fast, so don't do this too soon before Halloween... or do... They look pretty cool all wrinkly.

...

So it seems like it has only been a few days since I wrote that last post, and It has been over 2 weeks....
It is now official, I am a horrible blogger... I am working on my Daring Baker Challenge right now, so I promise to have a food-post on the 27th...

Just a taste of what I have been up to instead of blogging:

We went on a road trip to Drumheller to go to the Dinosaur musem (Royal Tyrell Museum) there.

I've been working like crazy... so has the boyfriend

 

I got this fortune in a fortune Cookie:

 

I even had a barn flodding incident... oopsie

But I promise I will be back to blogging more regularly soon... Take Care!!