Berry Tiramisu

I saw this on "The Kitchen" and thought it would be great to make with all the local fresh berries in abundance right now minus strawberries, they're done locally now.  The liqueur in it cost me $53 here in Canada 🙄.  I would use it for some "French martinis" though another time 😋.  

Cinnamon Spiced Apple Pecan Bread

I was making three loaves today, two for friends and one for home.  I expected it but just regular "Granny Smith" and "Honeycrisp" apples were $9 for 6 apples at the grocery store and they weren't even organic!  OUCH.  I looked at slew of different recipes and liked this one so chose it.  I just tripled the recipe below:

Raisin Scones

I saw this recipe and used it as a guideline.  I thought I'd make my son some scones as he really likes them.  I was going to add cinnamon and vanilla but I forgot until after they were in the oven...

Blueberry Banana Hemp Muffins

This wasn't my recipe.  I have never used spelt flour before and once I made almond flour muffins for a gluten free friend and I couldn't get them out of the pan!  So I needed some help and I found inspiration here.  What I used:

Banana Tarte Tatin with Malai Ice Cream

I saw this chef's show on Netflix and knew I had to make it.  I've never made homemade ice cream before either though I have made tarte tatins a few times.  I found her recipe here.  I made the ice cream the night before and here's what I used:    

Honeycrisp Apple and Feta Salad

I saw this salad on social media and I could not stop thinking about it.  I tried a Honeycrisp apple first, to see if I liked it enough to make the salad and I did.  Wow, extremely yummy apple!  Haven't tasted an apple as good in quite some time which is why I'm guessing they're twice the price of all the other apples...  What I used is what I had on hand to construct this today:

Lemon Brownies/Blondies

I had company coming and I was making 3 courses.  I almost bought dessert but it got tough as I wanted to make sure I served something they'd like.  I know lemon is okay with them so came up with this, as it's easy.  I decided I could make it the night before as well and if it sucked, I could pick something up the day of...

Spaghettini allo Scarpariello

Tomato season!!!!  Yay!!!  Yay!!!  I've been eating them every which way this month!  I didn't go to farmer's market today as I still had lots to use from last week's over buying.  I didn't have any more cherry or "sun golds" which is what you're supposed to use for this.  I just used all the super ripe tomatoes I had left.

Gluten Free Peach Cobbler

I had company coming who eats gluten free, so I made this dessert for us.  I was dismayed to find that arrowroot starch was $10 at the grocery store, seemed like a huge rip off!!!  My friend grew the peaches in her yard which was amazing and said these were the last of them for this season.  They smelled so good sitting on my counter it was hard to resist eating them.  I followed this recipe:  The bold italic text below is for the peach mixture, the rest for the topping.

Lemon Curd

I recently re-discovered this delicious treat and love it.  One of the few sweets I cannot say no to.  I had to try making it myself.  The one I bought was not only expensive but also hurt-your-teeth sweet!  I found a few supposed "easy peasy" recipes and made 3 cups as I wanted to gift some as well.  I even bought mason jars for it.  When I want to gift food, it often doesn't turn out the way I imagine, so fingers crossed!  🤞  What I used:

Oven Beef Pot Roast with Prunes

I remember this was one of my favorite recipes in the early 90's?  I had the recipe on a newspaper clipping but alas could not find it in my overflowing binder of random food delights to conquer.  I remembered it was with whole pitted prunes, so I made this one up...

Orange Banana Pecan Bread

I never leave my banana bread recipe that I've been making for over 25 years now, but I do sub in items from time to time, just for a change.  Today was orange.  We got some beautiful organic ones that tasted fabulous so I decided to incorporate this into my usual loaf.  

Sweet & Sour Boneless Pork

I had a pineapple that I needed to find a use for.  I debated over Pina Coladas, ham & pineapple pizza and this.  In the end, this won.  I did a combination of marinade, broiling and then baking.  I served this with fried quinoa in the style of fried rice.

Thanksgiving: Spiced Rum Bananas Foster

Instead of pumpkin pie this Thanksgiving, I decided to do Bananas Foster.  This is a favorite of my sons.  I followed this recipe though it's pretty straight forward to guess on your own if you've had it before.  I bought Duncan Hines yellow cake mix and made a pound cake with their recipe for it.  I made the cake the day before and froze half of it for another time, the rest was wrapped in Saran and put in the fridge. 

Pork Loin Roast with Sierra Honey Plums

I bought a 3.5 lb box of plums at Costco and was wondering what to do with them besides eating one here and there as I knew they'd go bad before we finished them.  I decided to roast them with pork tonight.  The idea came to me as I used to make a roast with prunes years ago.  What I used:

Roasted and Fresh Tomato Pie

I have made this before, but with store bought pie dough and tomatoes not in season.  So, today would be the "real" thing.  Homemade pie dough and "in season" tomatoes which cost me a fortune this year!  Below is what it cost me for the jewels in this pie.  

Blueberry Scones

I follow Skinnytaste and these scones popped up as being "lightened up and low-fat" on social media.  I decided to make them for my son as he loves scones for breakfast.  What I used:

Elvis Sandwich

Happy Canada Day!  🍁 It's raining, it's pouring here...  I thought I'd make my son an Elvis Sandwich.  When I asked my son who Elvis was, he said he was a famous singer.  I asked him to name a song he sang and got an "Ummm..." So I had to sit him down and showed him a few song clips on youtube which got some eye rolls.  Ah, my millennial, which made me roll my own eyes.. 🙄 The recipe calls for white bread but we didn't have any so used what we had today which was:

French Toast Roll Ups

I saw this on pandemic food t.v.  I liked the idea so decided to make these for my son who I knew would really enjoy them.  I make him French toast often so this was a nice spin on that.  I bought this buttermilk honey bread from a local bakery and it was really soft, so I thought it would be perfect.  I also bought some Canadian spreadable cream cheese that is a specialty for Montreal bagels.

Cinnamon Raisin Bread

I was looking at Costco blog and they were reviewing cinnamon raisin bread.  After looking at the ingredients (I buy it for my son), I was dismayed.  I thought about making it from scratch.  I found a recipe and gave it a try.  I didn't tweak any ingredients as it's baking and thought I should try it as is.  I did add more raisins though.  I was happy for my stand mixer today.  I used: