Black & White

On Saturday night some dear friends of mine, Laura and Hugh, hosted their first party in their new townhouse.  Being the quirky and fun folks they are, their party came complete with a theme…Black & White.  Bow ties, polka dots, dice and dominos were the focus of the evening. 

Of course, I was more concerned about what kind of food I could bring than what outfit I would wear.  I mean…have you ever really thought about black and white food?  It’s a toughie!! 

Laura put together lots of white cheeses, crackers, dark chocolate cupcakes, popcorn and dips.  She really pulled out the black and whites of the food world. 

What I came up with was Oreos.  But I can’t just show up with a bag of cookies now can I?  So I took those cookies to the next level.

Bark is one of the easiest, but prettiest treats to put together.  You melt some chocolate and you top it with your favourite yummy bits.  This version is simply white chocolate and smashed Oreos cookies. 

White Chocolate Oreo Cookie Bark

Ingredients:

• 3 cups white chocolate discs or chips
• 15 smashed Double Stuf Oreo Cookies, chilled

Directions:

1. Line a baking sheet with wax or parchment paper.
2. Place the cookies in a zipper bag and smash with a rolling pin.  If the icing sticks a lot, stir with a fork to break up.
3. Divide the chocolate into three batches.  Melt the first batch either over a double boiler, or in the microwave stirring to ensure smoothness.  Spread the melted chocolate on the papered baking sheet and sprinkle liberally with about half of the smashed cookies.
4. Melt the second batch of chocolate and pour over the first layer of bark.  Spread with the back of a spoon to incorporate cookie crumbs and even out the layer.  Sprinkle with about a third of the remaining cookies and press with the spoon.
5. Melt the third batch of chocolate and use the spoon to drizzle all over the second layer.  Press the remaining cookie chunks into the drizzled chocolate.
6. Refrigerate at least one hour or until needed.  When ready to package or serve, lift the whole sheet of paper off the tray to a cutting board and use a large knife to cut into large pieces.  Then break by hand into smaller pieces.

I stacked the black and white bark into a couple of sturdy white bowls, wrapped the whole works in white tissue paper and packed it up in a cute black and white damask bag.  Success.

Cute theme, cute eats, good times.  Black and white and fun all over!

What’s your favourite theme for a house party?

S’mmer Lovin’

No campfire required.

One of my most favouritest blogger buddies posted this crazy-fun, super-easy, totally deeeelish recipe for S’mores on a Stick the other day.  As soon as I saw this on Elizabeth’s blog I knew exactly what to make for the campout this weekend.

S’mores without the sticky mess?  Word. 

Three ingredients and four minutes prep time.  Word.

Two kinds of chocolate and 20 minutes alone in the kitchen.  Word.

A couple of dozen happy campers.  Word.

Every campout, BBQ, picnic, and backyard boozefest should expect to see these from here on out.  Promise.

Creamy Citrus Tart

The day after I received the invitation to Justin and Jessica’s Shrimp Boil I was sitting at my physiotherapist’s office reading Canadian Living when I came across this recipe for a Creamy Citrus Tart and knew I needed to make it for their party.

Um, Dr. Physio Guy…I owe you a magazine.  Sorry bout that.

What screams Springtime more than fresh lemons and limes?  Not much!

Squeezing lemons at midnight is fun and stress relieving.

Lime zest is under rated.  Just a pinch does wonders.

Coconut Graham Crust?  Oh yes.

Three layers of smooth, creamy, sweet, citrus deliciousness.  It’s like cheesecake and lemon pie got together with some friends to make a dessert baby.  Make this for your next dinner party. 

Skip the plates.  Just bring friends….with forks.

Maple Roasted Monday

Here I thought today was going to be boring on the food frontier.

But apparently it turned out better than it looked on my meal plan. :)

Of course, that same smoothie and tortilla with almond butter is on the menu for tomorrow so maybe that’s when things get boring. ha.

This same bigass salad will likely make an appearance too.

In the big silver bowl:  red leaf lettuce, radishes, carrots, red pepper, cucumber and cheddar cheese, dressed with olive oil and s&p.  Topped with an over-medium egg.

Snack of the week:  Multigrain Tostitos and Sabra crack hummus.

An afternoon trek yielded an hour of sweating it up at the gym…as well as a walk with the doggie, and a trip to my local polling station.  I’m not much for politics but I always inform myself of what’s going on and take the time to vote.  You can’t bitch if you didn’t vote! 

Dinner was all about simplicity and deeeeliciousness.  Maple Glaze all around!  Roasted Ocean Wise salmon, broccoli and yams.

Super simple Maple Dijon Glaze (for one): 

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp real Maple syrup
• 1/2 tsp Dijon mustard
• salt, pepper, and dill to taste

Brushed liberally on the salmon, then split the rest for tossing with the yams and broccoli.  Everything baked in the oven.  Deeeelish.

Desserts this week are all going to be fruit and yogurt.  I was overzealous with the fruit purchases last week!! 

Instead of a cold apple I decided to bake it up.  Chopped a small apple, tossed with cinnamon and a pinch of nutmeg then baked in my brie baker for 20 minutes.  The apple creates it’s own sauce!

With yogurt.  Get in my belly!

All in all not too shabby at all.  Maybe tomorrow will be surprisingly interesting too! :)

Kookie Dough

Happy Friday y’all!!  I don’t know about you guys but I was actually pretty happy when I woke up and it was Friday. 

I was immediately saddened by the fact that there was no coffee waiting for me when I got up.  That’s what happens when you forget to pre-set it!  A lazy gal’s trip to Starbucks fixed things up.

Triple grande non-fat vanilla latte.  And for some reason a Blueberry Buttermilk Muffin, which I immediately regretted…it hurt my tummy. :(

Water and I haven’t been getting along lately so today I opted for hot water with lemon.  Totally worked!  Warms me and hydrates me!

For lunch I had to make up for that stupid muffin-breakfast so salad time it was.  Simply mixed arugula with a segmented navel orange, olive oil and lemon juice…

…and topped with leftover salmon from last night. Simple & delish.

Before heading to the gym after work I added a little protein and natural sugar to the mix.  Organic non-fat lemon yogurt and blueberries.

Last night’s manicure is holding up!

Oh right…before heading to the gym I prepped dessert.

I know.  You are looking at those chick peas and thinking…dessert?

Well, who knew that you can mix those chick peas with maple syrup and peanut butter and end up with dessert hummus?  Apparently Evan – The Wannabe Chef - did!

Yup, this here is Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Hummus.

Shut the front door.

It took like 5 minutes to prepare (I abandoned peeling the chick peas…forget that shiz!) and I stashed it in the fridge for later tonight.

Off to the gym I went for a Friday night workout.  Holy moly, can I say that cardio routine #4 is definitely a “cardio sizzler”!  They wanted me to do three minute sets of jump rope, butt kicks, jumping jacks, jogging, and mountain climbers….TWICE!  I did one minute sets… x 3.  And then just about died.  Thankfully I’d done a few sets of the toning moves before trying to burn out my lungs.

Having nothing thawed out for dinner I decided to grab some take-out sushi on my way home.  Fresh rolled spicy tuna roll and real crab roll.

It looks like a lot but I dominated the whole works in about 10 minutes.

Now it’s time for curling up with the “cookie dough”, a sliced pear and a good movie.

Randomly I’ve chosen to watch The Way We Were. 

Have a great weekend everyone!

Friiiidaaaay

After my melatonin induced slumber, waking up was a chore and a half.

What’s worse is when I got up I realized I hadn’t pre-set the coffee maker on Thursday night.

It’s faster to pull my hair up and run over to Starbucks than it is to wait for coffee to brew, so a big fat latte it was. Triple grande extra hot hazelnut latte to be exact.  Did you know Starbucks doesn’t have almond syrup?

Since it’s Friday…which around blogland we often refer to as Cookie Friday…I grabbed this chocolate croissant for breakfast too. Any excuse will do!

Don’t worry, that treat was made up for by putting together a bigass salad for lunch.  Mixed greens with fresh herbs, tomatoes, broccoli, cukes, and carrots.

Dressed with EVOO, balsamic vinegar, coarse salt, and freshly grated parmesan.

For substance and protein I quickly scrambled an egg and rolled it up in an ancient grains tortilla with salsa and light sour cream.

All day I felt “off” from the shitty sleep the night before.  Mildly headachy, tired and not really overly interested in food (you know I’m not feeling well when!).  For dinner I didn’t feel like eating but knew I should put some protein in me so made a quick smoothie.

Chocolate Amazing Meal, UVAB, + half banana.  Blended up.

All of my Christmas decorations made their way back into boxes until next year, my kitchen found it’s way back to clean again, and a handful of True Blood Season One was thoroughly enjoyed.

After an episode I did finally feel hungry.  I bought this bag of Anjou pears the other day so decided to bake one up (they’re a little under ripe so I figured cooking it would help…it did).

Cinnamon, nutmeg, brown sugar. A splash of water then covered with foil and baked at 350 for about 15 minutes.  Served over organic vanilla yogurt with some pomegranate arils for crunch and tang.

Deeelish.

I forgot how good Season One of TB really was.  After the following two seasons of insanity it was so nice to go back to the beginning and see how much less crazy it was.  And I really noticed so much foreshadowing…it’s truly incredible how obvious some of the future storylines are!