Aprium-Pluot, Exotic Fruit & Berry with Grand Marnier Pavlovas

Aug 29, 2014

Aprium-Pluot, Exotic Fruit & Berry with Grand Marnier Pavlovas – Candy Coated Culinista

I just can’t resist a pavlova and therefore I couldn’t resist this cooking club challenge. Just give me an excuse to make pavlova. I can’t believe I never heard of these things till my Irish co-work told me this was his favourite food and I made Pavlova for the first time. When this was the cooking club challenge I was not going to partake in the fun, but how can I resist my fav dessert. If this is an option when I go out for dinner it’s either this or brulee.

Slightly Altered from Chatelaine

Yield/Serving: 6
Prep Time: 20 min.
Cook Time: 1hr & 15 min.
In-Active Time: 1 hr
Difficulty level is: Easy

Ingredients
Meringue
• 4 egg whites
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tbsp cornstarch
• 1 tsp white vinegar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
Toppings
• 1 ½ cups 35% cream
• 2 tbsp confectioner’s sugar
• 3 tbsp Grand Marnier (orange liqueur)
• 1 pluots, cut into thin wedges
• 1 aprium, cut into thin wedges
• 1 kiwi, cut into chunks
• ½ mango, cut into chunks
• ½ dragonfruit, cut into chunks
• Handful of blueberries
• Handful of blackberries
• A few strawberries, thinly sliced
• Mint leaves (optional)

Assembly
1. Pre-heat over to 250°F.
2. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
3. Using an electric mixer with the whisk attachment, beat eggs on high until soft peaks are formed about 2 minutes.
4. Slowly add in sugar 1 tablespoon at a time until stiff glossy peak have formed. About 2 more minutes.
5. Beat in the cornstarch, vinegar and vanilla until combined.
6. Spoon the meringue into six portions onto the parchment paper, and form into circles using the back of a spoon and make an indent in the middle of the meringue.
7. Bake for about 1 hour and 15 minutes to let the top become crisp and dry.
8. Turn off the oven and let them dry in the oven for one more hour and leave on the parchment paper to completely cool.
9. Using an electric mixer with the whisk attachment, beat the cream and confectioner’s sugar until soft peaks form, about 1 to 2 min and set aside.
10. Prepare all the fruit.
11. Spoon whipped cream onto the meringues and then top with fruits and drizzle with liqueur.
12. Sprinkle with mint leaves if desired and serve.

Tips
• The original recipe called for 3 tablespoons of brown sugar but I decided to forgo that and I’m happy I did as I found the meringue sweet enough already.
• Use any flavoured liqueur you have on hand that works with the pavlova and fruits. I used Gran Marnier (orange liqueur) instead of the Amaretto recommended.

Please Enjoy

My thoughts
I am a sucker for pavlova! I can’t believe I only came across this dessert a couple years ago. I love the sound it makes when my fork break through the crisp exterior and into the fluffy gooey insides. Looking at the original recipe I found there to be too much sugar and I questioned it, and I omitted the sugar topping on the fruit and I am glad I did. The meringue was pretty sweet. A great desert I would make for a dinner party.

Aprium-Pluot, Exotic Fruit & Berry with Grand Marnier Pavlovas – Candy Coated Culinista

Aprium-Pluot, Exotic Fruit & Berry with Grand Marnier Pavlovas – Candy Coated Culinista

Aprium-Pluot, Exotic Fruit & Berry with Grand Marnier Pavlovas – Candy Coated Culinista

Soap-Making Party

Aug 25, 2014

Soap Making Party – Candy Coated Culinista

What’s a soap-making party you ask? Students get to make soap and use all the teachers’ products and pay for the soap you carry home by the pound. As soon as I got the invite I was all in; as I had too much fun at the soap-making workshop to pass it up. There were a must for the soap making party: anything culinary related and of course skulls. So I sat down and got to work and made my soaps and to us girls there it was fun play time.

This day I made three soap skulls, a strawberry chocolate doughnut, Margarita Chapman’s Rocket (Chapman’s Rockets are my favourite Popsicle from my childhood), strawberry smoothie Jello pie with hidden fruit inside and lastly a peach mango mini cupcake with soap buttercream and pearls.

My thoughts
I feel quite Zen-like with I am creating soaps. This seems to be my happy place, where I can be creative and have fun. There’s no rushing soap-making, things need time to set and I like that, and I am therefore forced to slow down and relax, as this isn’t my way normally. Today was my second attempt using a proper piping bag and this time it was piping buttercream soap onto a soap cupcake, and it turned out quite well. A fun time was had by all, and I left a couple of ladies still creating more soaps and mixing colours.

Garden Frittata

Aug 18, 2014

Garden Frittata – Camdy Coated Culinista

Mr. C. wanted an omelette for dinner and I immediately said “I’m going to make a frittata”. Then I said to myself a frittata is basically a thicker baked omelette or an egg cake right? I love how I just jump both feet into things sometimes.

Yield/Serving: 8 servings
Prep Time: 10 min.
Cook Time: 25 min.
Difficulty level is: Easy

Ingredients
• 2 tbsp unsalted butter
• Kernels from 1 corn, trimmed
• 4 cloves garlic
• 8 eggs
• ¼ cup 2% milk
• 1 cup parmesan cheese
• Black pepper, to taste
• Cayenne pepper, generous pinch
• 3 sprigs, green onion, thinly chopped
• 10 asparagus, trimmed & cut into pieces
• ¾ cup grape tomatoes, halved
• ½ green pepper, diced

Assembly
1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. On medium heat using a 12” cast-iron skillet, melt the two tablespoons butter.
3. Pour in the corn and garlic into the skillet and cook for a few minutes.
4. In a large bowl combine eggs, milk and whisk.
5. Add in the parmesan cheese, black pepper and cayenne pepper and whisk again.
6. Pour the remaining veggies into the bowl and mix.
7. Pour into cast-iron skillet and bake for 25 minutes, or until lightly browned and puffed.
8. Cut frittata and serve warm.

Tips
• Can be eaten warm or cold.
• Serve with a side salad or crusty baguette or even bacon.

Please Enjoy

Reviews
I gave my dad a portion and he loved it and asked for the recipe.

My thoughts
Absolutely delish and for my first time this came together quite easy. I had a lot of eggs in the fridge (thanks Costco) and I wanted to use some up and thought this was the way to go. I loved the freshness of all the vegetables and the saltiness of the parmesan cheese. This is a great dish to have as leftovers for lunch or breakfast and I did both I must say. I could taste the sweetness of the corn and burst of tomatoes with every bite and I didn’t add any salt believing that the parmesan cheese would be salty enough and it was. When the frittata came out of the oven one side looked like a mountain and I was wondering how in the world did I mess this up. Five minutes later when the frittata deflated I felt a lot better and happier. It was golden brown and smelt delightful. I served ours with bacon as I love my bacon & eggs and our light dinner was quite filling but still light.

T.O. Food Fest 2014

Aug 13, 2014

T.O. Food Fest – Babi & Co. – Candy Coated Culinista

Date: Sunday August 11th 2014
Place: Chinese Cultural Center, Scarborough, Ontario
Website: http://www.tofoodfest.com

For a third year I was invited as media to attend the T.O. Food Fest. This year there was a nominal fee to attend of two dollars or bring a non-perishable food item, as they were teaming up with Second Harvest. I loved this idea so much. So many people are attending this event to eat and gorge themselves, why can’t we then in turn bring some canned goods in for the less fortunate. I happily brought mine and picked up my media pass.

The Food

When I was checking out the vendors I noticed many repeat vendors; which is always a good sign like: Babi and Co., Bricks & Mortar, Buster’s Sea Cove Food Truck, Dutch Frites, Gala’s Peppersauce, Ice volcano Ice Cream, Liko’s Hawaiian BBQ and Lemonade.

Liko’s Hawaiian BBQ
Website: http://www.hawaiianbarbeque.ca
Served here today was pork skewers, pineapple soda and pulled pork on a bun. They were grilling on a large BBQ and it smelt and looked delicious. A secret BBQ recipe that has been passed down from generation to generation is used on the meat. No shortcuts are made as they want a quality dish sent out every time.

For the first time I tried the pork skewers and yum. There really isn’t a part of the pig I don’t like and this was perfectly barbequed with a cube of pineapple on top of the skewers. The stand is hard to miss as it looks like a tiki hut with lei’s and Hawaiian hibiscus shirts/dresses and bright yellow tee shirts are all around.

New Vendors for 2014

Blue Donkey
Greek – Canadian street food like calamari, souvlaki, gyro sliders, feta fries. I enjoyed their feta fries last year at the CNE Food Truck Frenzy.

Hot Bunzz
Website: http://www.hotbunzz.com
Oven baked brioche-style buns stuffed with international flavours, catering is available for any event. On the menu today was: Surf & Turf, St. Lucia Jerk Wild Boar, Buddah’s Bacon Butter Chicken, Ontario 5-Cheese, Mushroom & Spinach

Island Oysters Shuck Bar
Island Oysters started 2 years ago and can be typically found at farmers markets in the G.T.A.
Kusshi – British Columbia, Il de Magdalen – Ontario & Little Neck Clams – PEI. Two types of hot sauce were for sale – Habanero Xtra hot sauce and Jalapeno Xtra hot sauce.

Kanto by Tita fl!ps
Website: http://www.kanto.ca
A soon as I saw Tita I knew I was in for some Filipino food. Today they were serving
Palabok – Cornstarch noodles in shrimp gravy topped with hard-boiled eggs, shrimp, crushed pork rinds, tofu and green onions; SigSig – Fries Pork jowl and ear with french fries and Halo Halo – a dessert with an assortment of fruits, sweet vegetables, ice cream etc. These dishes looked so delicious, but I couldn’t eat everything I will be visiting storefront as I have to try the sigsig fries and hopefully find some tocino or lumpia there.

Korribbean
Two cultures wrapped into one delicious jumbo dumpling. The husband is from Trinidad and the wife is Korean. The jumbo dumplings served are made from 100% local organic beef, pork & chicken
The menu included -Classic (beef & pork), Jerk (beef & pork) Curry Chicken (Chicken) , Curry Potato (Vegetarian) which is served with a side of pineapple coleslaw and soy sauce or mango chutney dipping sauce. I tried the Koribbean iced tea (Sorrel) as I couldn’t resist this as Sorrel always reminds me of Christmas. It wasn’t too sweet and quite refreshing.

Meatwagon
Website: http://www.meaventures.com
Meat, meat and more meat, a carnivore’s paradise: Flavours from around the world are found here. There was bacon brulee & tocino sliders & Korean pork belly, which had me looking for the Filipino running the show and I was correct the owner is Canadian with Filipino and Iranian parents.

Mon K Patisserie
Baked treats that are not commonly found in Toronto are served here. Its French treats with an Asian twist. I of course bought Macarons and had the Cassis, Earl Grey, Banana Chocolate, Green Tea, Raspberry and Salt Caramel. Not too sweet and quite yummy and I even shared with the hubby.

Moo Milk Bar
Website: http://www.moomilkbar.ca
A milk & cookies bakery. Today there was a selection of their yummy cookies and cookie mix in a jar. I haven’t had a flavour I disliked yet from Moo Milk to date.

Penny Lou Lou Sweets & Treats
Website: http://www.pennyloulou.com
A cute and exciting, yet simple twist to the dessert scene and items on the menu all contain the word “Penny” in it. The food is Hong Kong style bubble cake – that has a crispy, golden-brown outer shell, and a soft and chewy center. The bubble cake is used to create, sammies, cake with fruit or nutella, cake wraps with a filling inside, and even filled with chicken and vegetable for a more savoury treat.

Pimenton
Website – http://www.pimenton.ca
Spanish & Mediterranean Fine Food like chicken paella with saffron, chicken & seafood.

Pure Leaf Tea
Website – http://www.pureleaftea.ca
Simple pure & uncomplicated iced tea with no preservatives, no added color and no artificial flavouring. It’s just real-brewed tea made from tea leaves picked fresh from the best plantations around the world.

The Saucy Pierogi
Website: http://www.saucypierogi.com
A pop up vendor serving pan fried Pierogi’s with a twist. I have only had pierogi’s two times before, one frozen from the grocers and another at a wedding as Hors d’oeuvres. These were how I think they should taste, fresh, not to doughy and with great toppings. On the menu was Jerk Chicken Pierogi’s with Jerk sauce & slaw, Cheddar & Potato Pierogie’s, Kimchi Sauerkrat Pierogie’s topped with Kimchi, Pork Schnitzel Plate with garlic mash & sauerkraut slow.

Stuffed & Co.
Stuffed chicken wings… yes please. How can a person resist with such an interesting idea. I have only heard of stuff wings one other place and that’s out of North Carolina with the 2 fat 2 fly stuffed chicken wings. Today there was Cheesy Mac, Wonton Bomb & Yaya Wing which I tasted it had jambalaya filling with sriracha aioli & creole seasoning. I choose the Yaya Wing as it was a limited flavour and it wasn’t spicy and it was well balanced.

Sweet Pop – Gourmet Dessert Popcorn
Website: http://www.sweetpopgourmet.com
A two month old business that came upon by just saying: “let’s just do this and see what happens.”
With a long time baker at the helm cookies & cream, s’mores and birthday cake gourmet popcorn is being sold. The popcorn was sweet and not soggy and was the perfect sweet pop in my mouth. (I also tasted leaps and bounds better then the chocolate coated popcorn I attempted to make for Valentine’s Day. It is definitely harder than it looks)

Vegiterra – Worldy Vegan Flavours
Website: http://www.vegiterra.com
Upon reading the name I think vegan, vegetarian and of the earth. This is a pop up vegan restaurant that began as a food, travel & culture blog. They offer flavours inspired by their travels, lifestyles and things of interest. Peanut Stew Empanada, Crispy Sweet Potato Gnocchi, Yam Burger, Jhal Muri, Lemongrass Basil Juice & Jasmine Coconut Iced Tea was served today.

Other vendor today were: Twisted, Toben – food by design, Best Gushi Chicken, BBQ Squid, Hakka Bao, Asian Sliders, Grilled Mini Eggs and Snow Ice.

I had another great year at the T.O. Food Fest and spoke to some great vendors with some very tasty and interesting foods. Every year this event is running more and more smoothly and it’s great to see that the organizers are learning ever year and making the T.O. Food Fest a better experience fro all. I can’t what to taste some more foods next year.

Pimeton – Candy Coated Culinista

Liko’s Hawaiian BBQ – Candy Coated Culinista

The Saucy Pierogi – Candy Coated Culinista

Mon K Patisserie – Candy Coated Culinista

Mon K Patisserie – Candy Coated Culinista

Stuffed & Co. – Candy Coated Culinista

Stuffed & Co. – Candy Coated Culinista

Koribbean Dumplings – Candy Coated Culinista

Kanto – Candy Coated Culinista

Kanto – Candy Coated Culinista

Mon K Patisserie – Candy Coated Culinista

Mon K Patisserie – Candy Coated Culinista

Twisted – Candy Coated Culinista

Twisted – Candy Coated Culinista

Island Oysters Shuck Bar – Candy Coated Culinista

Gala’s Peppersauce – Candy Coated Culinista

Little Tomato Catering – Candy Coated Culinista

Pure Leaf Iced Tea – Candy Coated Culinista

Bricks & Mortar – Candy Coated Culinista

Mama K Satay – Candy Coated Culinista

Okinomiyaki – Candy Coated Culinista

Okinomiyaki – Candy Coated Culinista

Meatwagon – Candy Coated Culinista

Hot Bunzz – Candy Coated Culinista

Babi & Co. – Candy Coated Culinista

Babi & Co. – Candy Coated Culinista

Babi & Co. – Candy Coated Culinista

Babi & Co. – Candy Coated Culinista

Dutch Frites – Candy Coated Culinista

Dutch Frites – Candy Coated Culinista

Dutch Frites – Candy Coated Culinista

Sweet Pop – Candy Coated Culinista

Mom K Patisserie – Candy Coated Culinista

Mom K Patisserie – Candy Coated Culinista

Island Oyster Shuck Bar – Candy Coated Culinista

Vegiterra – Candy Coated Culinista

Vegiterra – Candy Coated Culinista

Vegiterra – Candy Coated Culinista

Vegiterra – Candy Coated Culinista

Date Night Cookies – My Signature Cookie

Aug 8, 2014

Date Night Cookies – Candy Coated Culinista

I have a signature cookie! My signature cookie came about because I had a lot of ingredients I wanted to use up and a failed caramel recipe to re-purpose. It was my first attempt making caramel and the outer edges became caramel but the interior was too hard. I renamed my caramel to toffee and chopped up some pieces for my new cookie, along with some pretzels hanging around and taking up my precious cupboard space. Today I decided to get creative and here is my signature cookie.

Yield/Serving: approx. 18 cookies
Prep Time: 10 min.
Cook Time: 10 min.
Difficulty level is: Easy

Ingredients
• 225g (8 oz) dark chocolate 70% cocoa
• 4 tbsp unsalted butter
• 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tbsp cocoa powder
• ½ tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp kosher salt
• 2 eggs
• ¾ cups turbinado sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla extract try another one (pear??)
• ¼ cups semisweet chocolate chips
• ½ cup creamy peanut butter
• ¼ cups powdered sugar
• 1¼ cup pretzel pieces
• ½ cup toffee bits

Assembly
1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
3. Melt chocolate and butter in the microwave using a microwave-safe bowl and let cool.
4. In a separate large bowl whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
5. In a medium sized bowl beat the eggs, sugars and vanilla until fluffy, by hand.
6. Slowly add in the melted chocolate mix and then slowly add the flour mixture until just combined.
7. Fold in the chocolate chips, peanut butter, powdered sugar, pretzels and toffee.
8. Scoop into balls and place on the parchment paper,
9. Bake for 8-9 minutes on the center of the rack in two batches.
10. Let cool on a wire rack.

Tips
• Place pretzels in a baggie and crush with a rolling pin.

Please Enjoy

My thoughts
These were great and looked like an actual cookie without me following someone else’s recipe. I also like that I didn’t have to bring out the mixer, sometimes I really just don’t want to get that thing out. I was hoping my first cookie creation would have been a non –chocolate cookie, as I am not fond of chocolate, but I am now realizing I make a great chocolate cookie. It was rich, flavourful and I could detect all the ingredients I put in.

Slow Cooker Chilli

Aug 5, 2014

Slow Cooker Chilli – Candy Coated Culinista

I am the proud owner of a new slow cooker and I just had to christen it with chilli per Mr. C. When I mentioned to him I could get a great deal on a slow cooker he immediately chimed in chilli please.

Yield/Serving: approx. 7 quarts
Prep Time: 35 min.
Cook Time: 6 hours
Difficulty level is: Medium

Ingredients
• 1lb ground beef
• 1lb ground veal
• 1lb ground pork
• Spices: cumin, chilli powder, mango chipotle, tamarind, salt, pepper, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 2 onions, minced, diced
• 1 bulb of garlic
• 3 stalks of celery, diced
• 2 can tomatoes (796 ml) 28 oz, each
• Tomato paste (369 ml) 13 fl oz
• 1 can red kidney beans, rinsed and drained (540 ml) 19 fl oz
• 1 can white kidney beans, rinsed and drained (540 ml) 19 fl oz
• 1 large yellow pepper, diced
• 1 large green pepper, diced
• Cremini mushrooms diced, 272 g
• Green onions
• Cilantro
• Basil
• 12 dashes of worcestershire sauce
• 3 tbsp of franks red hot sauce

Assembly
1. In a large frying pan season and brown ground beef, veal and pork and pour into crock pot.
2. In the same frying pan add vegetable oil to frying pan and sauté onions, garlic and celery.
3. Pour sautéed veggies along with the tomatoes and tomato paste into slow cooker and stir.
4. Add and the kidney beans, peppers, mushrooms, green onions, cilantro and basil and incorporate.
5. Add the worcestershire and hot sauce and give the mixture one last good stir.
6. Cook for 6 hours on low.

Tips
• This is also great to use as a pasta meat sauce.
• Use on chilli cheese fries.
• This could even work as a nacho dip base

Please Enjoy

Reviews
“The chilli was amazing – that slow cooker is staying down – we’ll find space for it” (I really just wanted to test the slow cooker and put it into storage until we have more cupboard space; but with this review I will have to make room.)

My thoughts
This made an insane amount of chilli and I ran out of room using my 6.5 quart slow cooker. I gave some to my dad and to my in-laws and still had some to freeze. I had to leave my diced peppers and mushrooms until the end to stir in. I can now see why people like the slow cooker; it’s pretty much set it and forget it. I did however not trust the whole leave the house and come back to your home not being burnt down; but we left to go to the movies and have a late patio lunch and when we return the smell of chilli greeted us at the door and it was not over cooked. So far I’m really impressed and wonder what took me so long to get one. I have purchased a book to give me some great recipes and inspiration to use my new friend.

Vanilla Almond Milk

Aug 1, 2014

Vanilla Almond Milk – Candy Coated Culinista

I have a theory that I can make Mr. C. a vegetarian, vegan, pescatarian or a flexitarian and he wouldn’t even notice. When I met Mr. C. vegetables barely touched his lips and I slowly started adding vegetables to his diet and even hid them in sauces; like my homemade tomato sauce. Now here we are 4 years later and we both are many pounds lighter and have alot more muscle on us, because we both are eating so much healthier and it make me so proud of us. This is a great feeling because when we do choose to eat something a little unhealthier we aren’t breaking the bank, and there is no guilt. I have never been a dieter as I am a firm believer in moderation since I was a child and I have never had any issues with my weight. Since I’m a huge foodie I am always reading, researching, purchasing new cookbooks and looking into new things to try and eat. I have been trying to add almond milk to my diet, which wasn’t the problem. The problem was sneaking it into Mr. C.’s food unbeknownst to him. For about a week I put vanilla almond milk into our smoothies (I hid the almond milk carton behind the Orange Juice in the very back of the fridge) and I finally asked him “how do you like the smoothies with almond milk” He proceeded to say “I knew some different was going on with the smoothies.” I realized he was a fan and he even emailed me a homemade recipe for almond milk. This made me proud and he even found a recipe from one of my favourite food sites I research from; the kitchen – http://www.thekitchn.com. With this new knowledge I went on my merry way to retrieve the components to make fresh almond milk at home, and purchased my first weck jar I have been pining to buy but had no real use for until today.

Yield/Serving: almost 1 litre
Prep Time: 24 soaking over night
Cook Time: 5 min.
Difficulty level is: Easy

Ingredients
• 1 cup raw almonds
• 2 cups water, for soaking
• 4 cups filtered water
• 1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
• 2 tbsp agave nectar

Assembly
1. Soak almond in 1 cup of water covered for 24 hours.
2. After 24 hours, drain the water through a strainer from the almonds and pour almonds into a blender.
3. Add 4 cups of filtered water and blend for 2 minutes.
4. Line a strainer with a cheesecloth and pour the almond meal through and allow almond milk to pass through strainer.
5. Twist and squeeze the cheesecloth to extract the remaining amounts of almond milk.
6. Add the sweetener and extract if so desired.
7. Pour in a container with a cap and use within 3 days.

Tips
• Sweeteners used can be: sugar, honey, agave nectar, maple syrup all to taste or optional.
• There is only a 3 days shelf life on homemade almond milk so be aware of that.
• Leftover meal, can be used in smoothies, oatmeal, baked goods like cookies or muffins, hummus, granola, crackers, butter and you can freeze it.

Please Enjoy

My thoughts
The almond milk was very good. I didn’t taste like the vanilla almond milk from the carton though. That may be attributed to their process and whatever else goes into to it to extend the shelf life. I added too much vanilla, because I never thought to let the vanilla sit overnight and taste it in the morning. I adjusted the recipe above as I added way too much and didn’t give the vanilla a chance to marry with the almond milk. Next time I think I will soak the almonds longer to get a creamier consistency and filter it more as I still got some almond chunks. I think I need to invest in a proper nut milk bag since I plan on making more almond milk at home.