My blog has moved!!

I have moved to www.coastalstorm.ca please follow me there!!

Award giving time!! And the award goes to...

Thank you to Alison @ Hospitality Haven for giving me the "Happy 101" blog award!

Here are the rules:

1. Copy the award image into a post.
2. List 10 things that make you happy.
3. Tag 10 bloggers who brighten your day.
4. Put in a link to their blogs.
5. Notify the award receivers.
6. Recipients should link back to the sender’s blog.

10 Things that make me happy! (No specific order):

1. Evan
2. Family
3. Friends
4. Babies
5. My sweet nephews 
6. Teaching
7. Chocolate
8. Succeeding at something
9. Renewed hope for something you thought couldn't happen
10. When people enjoy my cooking/baking and tell me!

 10 Bloggers who brighten my day (No specific order):

1. Alison - Alison blogs very unique and yummy looking recipes with a few very funny blog posts also!
2. Merissa - Merissa blogs about ways to save money and frugal ways to cook great food! She was my inspiration for blogging, thanks Merissa! :)
3. Kristin - Kristin blogs all about dinners that her and her husband cook coupled with fabulous pictures to show the results!
4. Brandy - Brandy has some very yummy recipes on her blog, be sure to check them out!
5. Carla - Great recipes for various baking on Carla's blog! I love looking at the pictures!
6. Beth - What can I say but WOW! I love looking at Beth's recipes!!
7. Name unknown - This mother-daughter duo has great creative ideas and recipes to enjoy!
8. Dani - Dani has some yummy looking desserts and other sweets on her blog!
9. Katie - Oh my goodness, Katie has delicious looking treats on her blog!  I love that Katie features various blogs on her blog.
10. Sally - This blogs features various savings, freebies and coupons for Canada! I check this blog several times a day! ;)

Pesto Pasta and Salmon

This is a recipe is a new one in our household! We wanted something different and my fiance found this recipe and decided to make it for us. I couldn't decide between wanting pasta or salmon so he combined the two! I turned my nose up when he said it was pesto because I knew that was green! However, I like most of the ingredients so it had to be good and it WAS! Here is the source. I'm not sure where he got the salmon recipe, he basically fried in in butter with pepper and white wine. It was then added to the pasta and was amazing! Also we halved this recipe for just enough for the two of us.

Ingredients

3 cloves garlic, crushed

2 cups fresh basil leaves

3 tablespoons pine nuts (pignolia)

1 dash salt and pepper

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese grated

Directions

The recipe calls for using a food processor but we used our blender. Add the basil leaves, pine nuts, and a dash of salt and pepper to the blender, crush the garlic using a garlic press and add to blender. Slowly drizzle in olive oil into the blender until all the ingredients are pureed.

Now add Parmesan cheese and mix it into the rest of the mixture. If the pesto is too thick, add a tablespoon of water.

Cover and refrigerate until you are ready to use it. This should keep for 2 - 3 days in the fridge but freezes well if you want to keep it longer. 

Here was our dessert, homemade apple pie!!

Homemade Playdough

I made this for the kids at Sunday school. I thought the kids would love this! I plan to make this for future gifts as it is super easy and not expensive.

4 cups of flour
1 cup of salt
2 heaping tbsps of Cream of Tarter
2 tbsp - 1/4 cup of oil
2-4 drops of food coloring
4 cups of boiling water

Add oil and food coloring to boiling water, then add to dry mix. Knead as soon as you can stand it, I used rubber gloves which helped! Keep kneading until it cools enough to solidify. Keep in an air tight container or plastic bag for up to 2 weeks, I think.

Ginger Beef Stir-Fry

My first time making this and it was a hit!! Yay! I enjoyed it too! Normally I pick my cooking apart and think it's awful! I did follow a recipe but I am still taking some credit! I didn't have some of their ingredients so I used some different things such as zucchini. Note to self, do not put in until the very end which I didn't do. Here is the source.

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1 1/2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 2 teaspoons chopped fresh ginger root, divided
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil, divided
• 1 small head broccoli, cut into florets
• 1/2 cup snow peas (didn't use)
• 3/4 cup julienned carrots
• 1/2 cup halved green beans
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 1/2 tablespoons water
• 1/4 cup chopped onion
• 1/2 tablespoon salt

Directions

1. In a large bowl, blend cornstarch, garlic, 1 teaspoon ginger, and 2 tablespoons vegetable oil until cornstarch is dissolved. Mix in broccoli, snow peas, carrots, and green beans, tossing to lightly coat.
2. Heat remaining 2 tablespoons oil in a large skillet or wok over medium heat. Cook vegetables in oil for 2 minutes, stirring constantly to prevent burning. Stir in soy sauce and water. Mix in onion, salt, and remaining 1 teaspoon ginger. Cook until vegetables are tender but still crisp.

Cheese, Bacon and Bread -What could go wrong?

This is a recipe I asked a friend's friend for after having it at her bachelorette party. It was AMAZING!! I do not like most of the ingredients separately but LOVE them together.

Cheesy Sourdough Bread Dip

1 pkg. light sour cream
1 pkg. light cream cheese
1/2 bunch of green onions
1/2 small pkg of bacon bits
2 cups grated cheddar cheese
1 sourdough loaf

Cut the top out of the bread and pull out all the insides without damaging the crust. After mixing all ingredients together, put inside the bread (like below) and place the top back on. Cover in two layers of tin foil and bake in the oven at 350 for about an hour. Break apart the pieces of bread from the inside and set aside covered.

Stuffed Zucchini and Parmesan Tomatoes

So this is a recipe that my fiance created! It's stuffed zucchini and I'll try my best to tell you what he did! There is no recipe exactly just putting a bunch of things in zucchini.

He cut a zucchini into four spears and scooped out the insides and cooked for about 10 minutes on 350. He chopped the filling up sauteed with minced garlic. Then add finely chopped tomatoes (he wanted red peppers but we had none so he tried tomatoes instead) He mixed all of this with a very small amount of cooked rice and stuffed the zucchini pieces. Garnish with pepper, oregano and mozzarella cheese. Bake on broil for about 5 minutes or until the cheese is melted.

We haven't eaten these yet so they may taste like garbage but I will update!

UPDATE: These were ok tasting, we'd make some adjustments next time.

Parmesan Tomatoes

Super easy and yummy!! Cut a tomato in half, my fiance made them fancy last night, bake for about 15 minutes at 350 or until nearly cooked. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and oregano and bake until cheese is melted! YUMMY!

 

Freebies!!

Everybody likes free stuff, right? Well I sure do! Since we moved here in January I have accumulated a lot of free things! Some things I received when I signed up for our wedding registry, some through promotions, and others were in store freebies! I decided to take a photo of all of my goodies to show everyone just how great it is getting free things! Some things like cereal have not been included because I already ate them! I am getting a free box of Chocolate Cheerios on June 21st though, it's a one day only coupon!

Strawberry Lemonade

I got the idea from my friend Alison @ Hospitality Haven to make a lemonade with berries! She uses blackberries but I really love strawberry lemonade! I had a struggle at the beginning to get the tart taste to go away but I eventually got it! :D

1 cup frozen strawberries, blended (ice crush)
1 cup lemon juice
1.5 L water (approximate)
1/2 cup sugar

Mix altogether and enjoy in the sun! I will have to tweak this recipe next time but this is close enough to what I did.

Recipe Exchange

Check out Merissa's recipe exchange at Little House Living