Granola

Photo inspiration from www.kitchensimplicity.com

No attempt at a PUN, clever introduction or back story for this recipe. Its just a great, simple recipe.
Enjoy!

Homemade Granola
1/2 Cup Peanut Butter
1/4  Cup Maple Syrup
1/4 Cup Honey
1 Tbsp Vanilla
4 Cups Oats
1/2 Cup Almonds
1/4 Cup Walnuts
1/2 Cup Coconut
1 tsp Salt
2 tsp Cinnamon
1 tsp Cloves
1 Cup Craisins

• Combine the peanut butter, maple syrup, honey and vanilla in a pot and bring to a simmer on the stove.

• In a separate bowl add the rest of the ingredients EXCEPT the craisins (the craisins get added after it comes out of the oven).

• Once the pot on the stove has come to a simmer, stir it, and add the bowl of dry ingredients and stir well.

• Spread the mixture out over 2 lined cookies sheets and bake at 325 for about 25 minutes or until the oats are browned. You have to take the cookie sheets out and stir them 2-3 times while they are baking.

• Once they are done, put the mixture back in the bowl and add the craisins. Stir it well and allow it to cool completely before storing.

• The granola will keep up to a month in an air tight container.

Another great idea for this is to give it away as a gift. People love getting homemade gifts and this is a great one, because you can mail it across the world. Put the granola in a mason jar and cover it with some cloth and you have a great, inexpensive homemade gift that people will love.

Hot Chocolate

Nothing can warm a person up in the middle of winter like a good cup of hot chocolate. I'm all about simplicity and making hot chocolate at home is about as simple as it gets. All you need is milk and chocolate chips. Any kind of chocolate chips will work. I used semi sweet, but feel free to use milk chocolate, or white chocolate. Use a mix of all three if you like.

Hot Chocolate
3 Cups Milk
1/2 Cup Chocolate Chips
1 Tsp Vanilla

In a pot, heat the milk and vanilla until its just about ready to boil, stirring regularly. Add the chocolate chips and whisk until they are melted. If you whisk it fairly hard, the milk will get foamy, which is a good thing.

A little presentation goes a long way. People eat/drink with their eyes. This drink already tastes delicious, but you can make it look really nice, very easily. Pour the mixture into a mug and top it off with some whipped cream (if you don't have whipped cream, marshmallows are always great on hot chocolate). Grate some chocolate on the whipped cream. If you don't have any chocolate to grate, you can use caramel sauce, or even just put some extra chocolate chips on top. Serve it to your guests and they'll think they are at Starbucks. 

Butterscotch Marshmallow Squares

Every now and again, a person just has to indulge. These little guilty pleasures will have you saying, "It was worth it."

Are they good for you? Nope. Healthy? Not even a little bit. Are they delicious? You can bet your bottom dollar on that one.

They are really quite simple to make and only have 4 ingredients. I have to give a shout out to my friend and fellow blogger Michelle from Baking in the Burg. I got the recipe from her blog and tweaked it a little bit.

Butterscotch Marshmallow Squares

(adapted from Baking in the Burg recipe)

1 Cup Peanut Butter

1/2 Cup Butter

1 Bag Butterscotch Chips

1 Bag of Multi-Coloured Marshmallows

• Put the bag of marshmallows in the freezer about an hour before you start to make this. You can just store them in the freezer so they will be ready to go.

• In a pot on medium heat, melt the peanut butter, butter and butterscotch chips on medium/low heat. Stir it fairly constantly to remove lumps and keep it from burning.

• VERY IMPORTANT - You have to let the mixture cool down before you can add the marshmallows. I let it cool for about 20 minutes, but you could even let go for 30 minutes. You must be patient here. If you add the marshmallows too early, they will melt. The other thing that will happen is the butterscotch sauce will sink to the bottom and the marshmallows will rise to the top. It looks weird.

• While you are waiting for the mixture to cool, line a 9 x 9 pan with parchment paper, or wax paper. Lining the pan will make your life much easier when it comes time to remove the squares.

• Once the mixture has cooled enough, add the bag of marshmallows to the pot and stir them into the mixture until they are evenly dispersed.

• Pour the mixture in the parchment lined pan and spread them out evenly. Immediately put the pan in the freezer. After about an hour or two, remove the pan from the freezer and take the squares out. Cut them into 2 inch squares.

• Put the squares in a tupperware container and keep them in the freezer. It is best to store these in the freezer for several reasons. The taste delicious when eating them cold and it keeps them fresh for a longer period of time.

Seared Scallop Arancini Cake with Pesto Aioli and Truffle Oil

I'm not a big left over guy. It's bad. I'm terrible at packing a lunch and taking it to work with me. Sometimes I'll make extra of certain foods to have left overs, but more often than not, I'll make just enough for what I am going to eat at that time. It's a bad habit that I'd like to break.

The idea for this dish came to me while discussing how to use some leftover risotto with my girlfriend. While talking on the phone, I said to her, "I'm getting sick of always making arancini (cheese stuffed deep fried risotto balls). Then while thinking out loud I said to her, "You know what would be great? An arancini cake instead of balls, and serve it with a scallop on top." I know I'm on to something good when she agrees with me right away.

This is a very tasty dish that has many different flavours but also many different textures. You'd be proud to serve it your guests, or to just eat a bunch of it yourself. Either way you'll feel like a chef at a fine dining restaurant.

Seared Scallop on a Arancini Cake with Pesto Aioli and Truffle Oil

ARANCINI CAKE
2 cups of left over risotto, chilled in the fridge overnight
1 cup of panko bread crumbs
2 eggs
Splash of milk
Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper

Make the arancini cake first. With the left over risotto, form some small patties about 3 inches in diameter and about 1/4 inch thick. When making risotto the for this dish the day before, it's best to make it a little extra creamy. If it is too dry, the patties won't hold together very well and they will be difficult to work with.

In a bowl, lightly beat the 2 eggs with the splash of milk. Dip the pattie in the egg and make sure it is fully coated with the egg mixture.

In a separate bowl, place the panko bread crumbs (feel free to add some flavour here with parmesan cheese, parsley, salt and pepper. You can also some heat with cayenne pepper or smoked paprika). Coat the pattie entirely with the bread crumbs. 

Repeat this process until you have as many cakes as you need. If you are serving it as an appetizer, 1 cake per person is suffice.

In a pan, pour in a generous amount of olive oil and fry the cakes until they are golden brown, Carefully flip them over and fry them on the other side. Store them on a cookie sheet in a 200 degree oven to keep them warm.

PESTO AIOLI
Aioli is a fancy word for mayo. Don't let it scare you. You can easily add some flavour to the mayo that is in your fridge. If you happen to have a jar of pesto, just add a tablespoon of pesto per tablespoon of mayo. If you don't have it you can add pretty much anything you want to it to change the flavour profile that it brings. Lemon aioli is always delicious and goes great with this dish. All you have to do is grate in some lemon zest to the mayo and mix it together. If you have some salsa you can use that. Other things that work well include dijon mustard, relish, and even plain old ketchup. The sky is the limit. Use your imagination. Just make sure to have this done in advance so it'll be ready to go when it is time to plate the dish.

You can however make your own aioli at home. It is surprisingly easy and it tastes way better than any mayo you will ever buy in a store. Here is how you do it.

AIOLI
2 Egg Yolks
1/4 cup Dijon Mustard
Juice of 1/2 Lemon
1 Garlic Clove (chopped)
3/4 to 1 cup Vegetable or Canola Oil

In a food processor or blender, add the eggs, dijon mustard, chopped garlic and lemon juice. Turn on the processor or blender and in a slow and steady stream add the oil until the aioli becomes the desired thickness. You will probably add about 3/4 to 1 cup of oil. It is crucial that you add the oil very slowly so that it emulsifies. If you add it all at once or too quick, it will not work. You can also do this by hand with a whisk in a bowl if you don't have a food processor or a blender.
SEARED SCALLOPS
1 big scallop per person (biggest count size you can find 10/40 is ideal. I used 17/20 this time)
Olive oil
Salt and pepper

In a nice hot pan, add enough olive oil to just coat the bottom. Season your scallops with salt and pepper on both sides before putting them in the pan. Add your scallops and cook for about 1 minute per side. Becareful not to overcook the scallops. There is nothing worse that a rubbery scallop. The scallop should have a nice brownish crust on both sides. When you see that, you know it is done.

ASSEMBLY
- Take the arancini cakes out of the oven where they have been keeping warm and plate them.
- Spread a heaping tablespoon of the aioli on top of the arancini cake.
- Place the scallop on top of the aioli
- Drizzle a little bit of truffle oil on top of the scallop. A little bit of this goes a long way. If you don't have truffle oil use olive oil. (You should add some truffle oil to your pantry if you don't have it. It is expensive, but worth it. It can really add a nice dynamic to certain dishes.)
- Garnish the dish with some fresh parsley, cilantro or pea shoots on top of the scallop and serve

Restaurants To Try in 2013

Here is my list of restaurants that I would like to try in 2013. Some of these places are new places that I've heard good things about, and some of them are places that have been on my list for years and I still haven't made it there.

Have you been to any of them? Leave a comment with your thoughts. I'd love to hear what's good on the menus.

• Model Milk
• Clive Burger
• River Cafe
• Rouge
• The Ranch
• Mercato
• Blue Star Diner
• Avec Bistro
• L'Epicerie
• Candela Lounge
• The Highwood

Italian Sushi

It doesn't happen very often, but every now and again I'll catch lightening in a bottle. This time my brilliant idea was Italian Sushi. I swear on my guitar collection that I came up with this idea all on my own. Having done some research on it since, I can assure you that I definitely wasn't the first to do it, but I'm sticking to my guns that I came up with the idea.

This is a great appetizer/hors d'oeuvres/amuse bouche etc...Your guests will be blown away when you make it for them.

On some parchment or waxed paper, spread out some Prosciutto so that it over laps each other by about 1/2 inch.

Liberally spread some leftover risotto on the prosciutto so that it covers evenly.

Add a good amount of fresh basil on top of the risotto

Add any kind of cheese you like (a soft, cheese works best, but any cheese cut into strips will work) and some tomatoes cut into strips as well. 

At this point, season with salt and pepper. You can also add a dash of olive oil or even truffle oil.

 

Tightly roll the prosciutto into a log and cut into even pieces using a very sharp knife. Serve it with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

My Favourite Photos of 2012

"Pictures are better than words, because some words are big and hard to understand." - Peter Griffin

This year was a great year for the wannabe photographer in me. I am strictly a hobbyist, but I really feel like I learned a lot in 2012. I was lucky enough to travel to many places: Las Vegas, London, Seattle, Paris, Vancouver, Victoria and more. It provided me with the chance to shoot everything from the Olympics, to weddings to the Eiffle Tower. After sifting through thousands and thousands of photos, here are my favourite shots from the past year, with the stories behind them.

"Full On Double Rainbow"

This picture was taken at the Hoover Dam during a trip to Las Vegas. It was a classic case of being in the right place at the right time. Just as we were about to leave, it started to rain. We drove on the Arizona side of the Dam to get a different vantage point and saw this double rainbow.

"Oceans 1"

A silhouette of my father watching the water fountains at the Bellagio in Las Vegas shortly after we robbed it with George Clooney and Brad Pitt.

"Apple From The Tree"

My friend Heather brought her little girl with her to a party I had. Heather plays the fiddle and her daughter is learning too.

"Patriotic Paul"

I am a huge Beatles fan. When Paul McCartney played in Edmonton this past November, it was a no brainer that I was going to drive to the 3 hours to see the concert. I was lucky enough to score a great seat and brought my camera along with me.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

"Picture in Picture"

This picture was taken at the beautiful Butchart Gardens in Victoria, BC. If you ever have the chance to go there, jump at it. It was stunning. I was playing around with depth of field as my girlfriend took some pictures on her iPhone.

"Garth"

2012 was a great year for concerts. I've been a huge Garth Brooks fan since I was a teenager. I was lucky enough to see him in his prime in 1996. He rarely does concerts these days, but he came out of retirement for a night to honour the 100 anniversary of the Calgary Stampede. What a night it was. The Saddledome wouldn't be that loud if the Flames won the cup.

"Tower Bridge"

This is a panoramic shot of the Olympic rings on the Tower Bridge in London.

"Monsieur Accordion"

I spent a night in Paris this summer running around the city with my camera trying to cover as much ground as I could. This man was busking very close to the Notre Dame Basilica under a beautiful full moon.

"Eiffle Tower"

This structure is easily the most photographed building in the world. I got 3 or 4 nice shots of it, but this one is my favourite.

"Maria"

This photo is of Maria Kirilenko warming up on the practice courts at Wimbledon. She might be better known to Canadians as the girlfriend of Alex Ovechkin. I like this photo because it shows how relaxed she was prior to a huge match. You could tell she was having a lot of fun. She caught me taking pictures of her and she even smiled and posed for me. She ended up winning a bronze medal.

"Novak"

Novak Djokovic after just winning a huge rally against Andy Roddick. I had my camera on my lap, ready to go and caught his celebration.

"Shrek's Swamp"

This was taken in Campbell River, BC during a little hike through the woods. 

"May Flowers"

Another shot from the Butchart Gardens. I like the colours in this photo. The Butchart Gardens are a great place to take photos, but also just to walk around. The grounds there are world class.

My top 3 Favourite Photos

"Seattle Sunset"

This portrait was taken on the ferry from Victoria to Washington State, enroute to Seattle. We were a little tried from a week of long days of travelling. It was another case of good timing. We were watching a movie on my laptop and decided to go the cafeteria to get a cup of coffee. When we got out of my truck we saw this beautiful sunset on the Pacific Ocean. I ran and grabbed my camera and got her to pose for me.

"Pigeon Man"

I took well over a thousand photos in Paris in just over 24 hours. This picture was literally the last one. I made my way to the train station to head back to London. For the first time in my life I was early for something so I went for a little walk. I left the station and walked a block away and saw this homeless man feeding some pigeons. The sun was setting right in my face which setup a great silhouette. I was happy with all the shots from Paris, but this was definitely my favourite.

"The Great One"

This is the only picture that I didn't take, and ironically it's my favourite picture from this year. I got to live a dream this year when I played hockey with Wayne Gretzky in February. It's my favourite picture for many reasons. Mostly because it is an action shot of me with the greatest hockey player of all time, but also because it was taken by Bruce Bennett. I call him the "Gretzky" of hockey photography. He is a legend in the business. He shot some of the most important hockey games ever played from Canada Cups, to the Olympics, to Stanley Cups, etc... You name it, and he shot it. On top of that, he is a really nice guy who was more than happy to answer questions, and offer advice. It was a true honour to meet him. Visit his website to see his portfolio. The hockey history that he documented is amazing .