Upside-Down Pineapple Cake

Yesterday was my youngest brother-in-law's last day in Nova Scotia before he headed back to school in Florida. I can't believe how fast the last five weeks have flown by! It was great getting to spend some time with Joseph, he's grown up so much since he left for Pensacola a year and half ago. Joseph is the baby of the family and his older siblings (J included) have always treated him that way. These past five weeks I think they all saw their brother as more than the baby and I think their relationship with him changed and grew. It was great to see. He and J spent some one-on-one time skiing and I have to admit it made me really happy. (I'm a dork, and I accept that.)

 

The entire family went over to my mother- and father-in-law's place for lasagna last night. My mother-in-law doesn't make lasagna very often but we all get pretty excited when she does. I will always pick my mom's chilli, my mom's turkey dinner, and my mom's cookies but when it comes to lasagna my mother-in-law definitely wins. (Just don't tell my mom!)

 

I was off yesterday so I volunteered to make dessert. I've always wanted to try a pineapple upside down cake and this seemed like the perfect opportunity. I was really happy with how well this cake turned out, and how simple it was to make. It was a huge hit with the whole family. If you're looking for something new to try, I definitely recommend giving this cake a try!

 

 

Upside-Down Pineapple Cake
Makes: 9 Pieces
Prep Time: 20 min. Total Time: 60 min.
Source: compliments.ca

[ Ingredients ]

1/2 cup packed brown sugar
3 tbsp butter
9 slices pineapple (drained)
9 maraschino cherries
3 tbsp water

3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup of butter
1 large egg
2/3 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

[ Directions ]

1. Pre-heat oven to 325° F.
2. In a small saucepan heat brown sugar, butter and water. Stir mixture until it boils.
3. Grease the side of an 8x8 baking pan and pour the mixture in. Arrange your pineapple slices and cherries. (I had to cut a couple of the slices to get them to fit properly.)
4. Using an electric mixer cream the sugar and butter. Add egg, milk and vanilla and mix well.
5. Combine all the dry ingredients and then use a spatular to fold them into the wet ingredients.
6. Pour the batter into your greased pan and put it in the oven for 40 minutes. Check to make sure the cake is done by inserting a toothpick in the centre. If the toothpick comes out clean it's done.
7. Once cake has completely cooled invert it on to a plate and serve.

Enjoy!

Lemon Cake with Blueberry Frosting

For my mother-in-law's birthday every year we go out for Chinese food and then come back to my place for cake and ice cream. (And by every year I mean for the last two years.) This year I decided I wanted to do something a little fancier so I spent some time scouring Pinterest for something that didn't sound too difficult, but looked pretty.

I eventually stumbled on this Betty Crocker recipe for Lemon Cake with Raspberry Mousse that I thought I could handle. Layer cakes make me nervous - when J and I were first married I attempted to make a layer cake for his birthday and it ended up being the ugliest cake ever - but I decided it was time to face my fears.

And I'm glad I did! I went with blueberry instead of raspberry which worked really well with the lemon cake. The cake ended up looking good (okay, good is a stretch, but it didn't look too bad!) and it was tasty.

In case you want to try it yourself, here's the recipe:

Lemon Cake with Blueberry Mousse
Adapted from this Betty Crocker recipe.

Ingredients:

• 1 box of lemon cake mix (I used Betty Crocker)
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
• 3 eggs
• 2 cups blueberry pie filling (I used Compliments by Sobeys)
• 1 1/2 cups whipping cream

Directions:

1. Pre-heat your oven to 350°F (Or 325° for dark or non-stick pans)
2. Spray (or grease) two 8-inch round cake pans
3. In large bowl beat cake mix, buttermilk, oil, lemon peel and eggs with electric mixer. Beat on low for about 30 seconds then on medium for 1-2 minutes. Make sure to scrape the sides of the bowl occasionally.
4. Pour cake evenly into pans and bake as directed on the box.
5. Cool cakes in pans for 10 to 15 minutes then remove from pans to cooling racks. Cool cakes completely before frosting. (This is super important.)
6. Place one cake layer (rounded side down) on a serving plate then spread 3/4 cup of the pie filling over cake layer to within 1/4 inch of edge. Top with the second layer, rounded side up this time.
7. In chilled medium bowl, beat whipping cream with electric mixer on high speed until soft peaks form. (I worried I wouldn't be able to tell when it was the right consistency, but it was pretty obvious.) Beat in the remaining 1 1/4 cups pie filling on low speed just until blended. (I actually used a bit more of the pie filling since there was some left in the can, just to give it more of a blueberry flavour.)
8. Frost side and top of cake with blueberry mousse.

If you're not sure how to frost the cake (and I wasn't) check out this Youtube video:
 

 

 

Let me know if you try it out!

Breakfast Poutine

I love breakfast. Like a lot. But not healthy breakfast. Oh no, I like fried eggs and bacon and hashbrowns and white toast covered in butter or waffles covered in fruit and whipped cream and icing sugar or delicious eggs benedict with rich hollandaise sauce. So when my second, Melissa, submitted a breakfast poutine recipe for our staff cookbook I knew it was something I would have to try. And soon!

I made some tweaks and was really happy with the final product. J approved too, though he admitted he would prefer traditional eggs benedict. The only thing I didn't really like about this dish was that is used a lot of dishes.

Breakfast Poutine

 

Ingredients:

• 4 eggs, scrambled
• 1 pound ground sausage
• 1 bag home fries/hash browns (I used a 750g bag of McCain's Home Fries)
• Swiss cheese, shredded (the amount depends on how much cheese you want)
• Prepared Hollandaise sauce (I used a Knorr packet, but you could make it from scratch if you're really talented!)

Directions:



1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. In a large pan fry up the hashbrowns. (I seasoned mine with a bit of garlic powder, salt and pepper)
3. Meanwhile begin cooking ground sausage.
4. Once it's cooked remove the sausage from the pan and cook your scrambled eggs.
5. Spray a 9x13 pan with cooking spray.
6. Place hashbrowns in your prepared pan and top with sausage, eggs, and cheese. Pour Hollandaise on top.
7. Bake for approximately 10 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Enjoy!

I've never written out a recipe like this before, so please let me know if you have any questions or need any clarification. And huge thanks to Melissa and her family for introducing me to breakfast poutine!

Sausages with Potato, Kale & Apples

I've recently decided that I need to start branching out a little bit in my cooking. I tend to make the same boring meals over and over. I work for Sobeys (a Canadian grocery store chain) so I thought I'd try out some of the recipes from our website. One of the first recipes I tried was sausages with potato, kale and apples.

This was my first time cooking with (and eating for that matter...) kale. I ring an awful lot of it through at work, and have had numerous customers recommend it to me, but I had never tried it. I can't say I loved it, but I didn't hate it either.

I liked this recipe because it all cooked in one pan. I love that. I just find it easier for both the actual cooking and for cleaning up. I cooked this on my day off, but it was quick enough that it's something that I'd consider cooking it on a work day as well.

The recipe calls for apple cider but I didn't have any and didn't want to shell out the money for a whole bottle when I wasn't sure we'd even like the dish so I just used Graves apple juice. It worked, but I think if I was making it again I'd splurge and use cider. I also opted not to use fresh sage and thyme and just used the dried stuff I had in the cupboard already. Maybe it's because I don't have a lot of experience with fresh herbs, but I don't think it made a huge difference.

Do you cook with fresh herbs? Does it make a difference in a dish? Let me know if you try this recipe!

xo,
Sara