Spicy Cheesy Scalloped Potatoes PPCXL Style

Anyone whom knows me knows I love my kitchen gadgets!  My new favorite kitchen appliance is my 10qt Power Pressure Cooker XL electric pressure cooker.  I bought this baby at Bed Bath & Beyond for approximately $190CAD with the 20% off coupon.  I suggest everyone buy one even if you just start with the 6qt.  You will probably never use your crockpot slow cooker again after trying this machine out.  The way this cooks it forces pressurized steam through your food to cook it and in the process infuses it with flavour.  The cherry on top is that after the machine pressurizes it only takes a fraction of the regular time it would normally take to cook things!

Tonight I made my version of spicy cheesy scalloped potatoes in my PPCXL it took 7 minutes to cook.  

Here's the recipe.

First of all I sprayed my insert with olive oil to ensure easy clean up.

15 sm/med potatoes sliced with my mandolin they filled my pot about 2/3 to the fill line.

1lrg yellow onion diced

I use epicure spices but you can use any brand or combination you like here is mine

1tbsp chipotle bacon (epicure)

1tbsp herb & garlic (epicure)

1tbsp onion & bacon (epicure)

1/2 tsp black pepper

2 tbsps butter cut up in pieces

1 1/2 cups fat free cream (you could use milk if you like)

1 cup fat free sour cream (you can use full fat if you like)

1 cup water

Mix it all together put lid on and set on rice/risotto for 7 Minutes 

When it's done do a quick release

Add 1 1/2 cups of sharp cheese (or any combination of cheese you like)

It just amazes me how fast and good everything turns out in the PPCXL. I am going to be sharing all my recipes here as I try old recipes I've adapted and new one I will experiment with.  Please comment below if you have a recipe idea you would like me to try. 

I am Cheating on Starbucks!

It's true I admit it, I am a cheater! I have been seeing Starbucks for several years now, we see each other almost everyday.  We have laughed together, cried together and have shared some of my most memorable times together. Things have been great but I find myself waiting for that seasonal other shoe to drop. Do you know what I am talking about?  It's that time of year when Starbucks pulls your favorite summer drink off their menu to make way for pumpkin everything!  You see my love affair with Starbucks has a lot to do with the Peach Green Tea Lemonade it's my vice. I love the taste combination and the fact that it's not a million calories in each Venti I order. Each summer I cross my fingers hoping Starbucks will bring it back (not like the toasted coconut frappacino which was one summer romance I will never forget).  This year I've got myself prepared I am ready for the day the Starbucks barista tells me "sorry we don't have that anymore!".  I have come up with my own very tasty, very economical version of my beloved Peach Green Tea Lemonade.  

That's right these simple ingredients do the trick.  

I brew 3 Tbsp Epicure green tea (use whatever green tea you love) in my David's tea fancy ice tea maker which holds about 1.5L steep for 20 minutes and cool.

Next I add 1 cup Sparklng Lemonade into my jug I use the Walmart brand because it is delicious you could use more if you like but I am trying to keep the calories low.

Finally I fill my glass with ice add 1 Tbs of Peach Syrup (which you can buy at almost any groceries or coffee supply store) and top off with green tea/lemonade mixture.  It is so refreshing and good, plus this version is only 60 calories! 

You can add or subtract amounts of green tea, lemonade and peach syrup until you find the combination that you love.

So now when Starbucks pulls my beloved off the menu I will just cheat the rest of the year with my homemade new love. 

Prairie Girl Saskatoon Muffins with Struesel Topping

My husband is a doll and managed to bring me home several bags of Saskatoon berries from a friend so I thought I better make good use of them so here's the recipe I came up with.

Prairie Girl Saskatoon Muffins with Struesel Topping

1/2 cup Extra Virgin Coconut Oil

1/2 cup Brown or organic raw sugar cane

1/2 cup Honey

2 Eggs

1 cup Milk (your choice could use cows, almond or rice milk)

3 cups Whole wheat flour

4 tsp Baking powder

1/2 tsp Salt

2.5-3 cups Saskatoon berries fresh or frozen

*In a large bowl, cream together coconut oil and sugar.  Add the honey and eggs, stir in milk.

*Mix in the flour, baking powder and salt.

*Mix or fold in Saskatoons

*Line muffin tins or grease if preferred fill 2/3 full.

*Preheat oven to 375F

Struesel Topping

3/4 Cup Brown or Organic sugar cane

3/4 Cup White Flour

1/4 Cup Butter melted

1.5 tsp Cinnamon 

1/4 tsp Nutmeg

*Mix all ingredients together until crumbly.

*Top each muffin with Struesel topping (you will have leftover topping unless you double muffin recipe)

*Bake for 20 minutes or until insert comes out clean.

That's it ladies and gentlemen! These muffins are hearty and go great with milk, tea or great cup of coffee. ENJOY

Not Just Your Average Nut Bar

I love to come up with new recipes or add my own flair to someone else's recipe. I came up with this diverse recipe because I was sick of buying granola bars that are over processed and filled with crap!
The beauty of this recipe is that the combinations are endless! I am going to give you my basic recipe and some variations on what you can do with it.
First step you need to make a coarse nut flour, here is the first place you can use your imagination or what I do is use what I happen to have on hand. In this recipe I used sunflower seeds to make the flour. You can use almonds, pecans, hazelnuts, cashews, pumpkin seeds, hemp seeds, flax, peanuts and any combination of the above!
In a food processor coarsely chop 2 1/2 cups of sunflower seeds (or as I said any combination of what you have on hand) DO NOT OVER PROCESS OR YOU WILL MAKE NUT BUTTER!
Place the flour in a large bowl

Next add 2 cups of nuts, seeds & dried fruit.
I used tropical fruit & nut mix, sunflower seeds, flax, chia & hemp seeds.
Add 1tsp of Cinnamon
You could add 1/4tsp of salt but I didn't since the sunflower seeds were already salted.

Next step heat

1/2 cup of Honey 

1/4 cup Organic Coconut Oil

And a splash of Organic Maple Syrup 

When combined pour this mixture over the fruit & nuts and mix well.

Next you can press this into a 9" x 13" pan 

I however used this handy petites pan I purchases from my friend Rita. It is the absolute perfect pan for making these bars this recipe divides perfectly into. If you want to purchase one please comment or email me and I will get you in contact with her.

In your preheated 350 oven bake for 18-20 minutes

Let these cool completely before trying to remove them from the pan and cutting.

Remember I said the variations on this recipe are endless well here is the second kind I made last night. I started off with the same 2 1/2cups of sunflower seed flour but this time I added in a total of

2 cups of tropical fruit & nut mix and dark chocolate, milk chocolate & yogurt covered cranberries. 

For texture and binding coarsely chop the cranberry mix in a food processor. In this recipe I omitted the cinnamon and didn't add salt.

Next variation I heated 3/4 cup of peanut butter and a splash of Organic Maple Syrup. You could use almond butter, tahini, honey, Nutella whatever combination you like to create the flavour you love! And then combine with fruit & nuts and mix well. These bars are baked exactly the same as the others in a preheated 350 oven for 18-20 Minutes. Make sure to cool these completely and refrigerate them before trying to remove these from the pan or cutting them.

The pure joy of these recipes is that you control what's in them. They are a hardy snack of pure natural goodness with no fillers or chemicals. You can feel great eating them and feeding these to your family. 

Confessions of a Cheer Mum

It has only been just short of two years since my beautiful daughter Lexi decided competitive cheerleading was her passion. The only thing I new about competitive cheerleading was from what I had seem in the Bring It On movie. In high school I was a cheerleader and we stood proudly on the sidelines cheering on our football team. The only reason most of us were on the team was to miss school, hang out with cute boys and to attend the parties. I soon found out what my daughter had signed up for was the polar opposite of what my cheer experience was.

Lexi did her research and picked a club in Edmonton and prepared for tryouts. She made a junior level 2 team and started to train really hard. By Christmas she became a crossover on the senior 2 team which meant we would go to Disneyworld for a competition. Cheer for these girls and boys is a lifestyle and commitment, not just for them but for their entire family. I was nervous, I am a shy person whom suffers from anxiety, how was I going to adjust to this new lifestyle. I had seen those shows about pageant and cheer moms. Let's be honest they make the moms appear to be somewhere between the devil and complete mental cases! I am happy to report that those shows are totally WRONG! (Well for the most part)

With Lexi on two teams I started spending a lot of time at the gym. Before I knew it I was making a bunch of new and wonderful friends. Lexi was loving cheer and now I was too. Our trip to Disneyworld was wonderful my sister from Philadelphia came and Lexi and I made lifelong friends from the cheer club that week. The first season ended with her senior 2 team being undefeated in Canada.

As quick as the season ended tryouts for our current season came. Lexi wanted to make a senior 3 or senior 4.2 team this year. We figured that most of her previous senior team would end up back together again. When team lists were posted much to both of our surprise Lexi had made the senior level 4 team. I knew she had worked extremely hard and had progressed quite rapidly, this was a well deserved accomplishment. We were both excited and nervous it was a great opportunity for Lexi but since none of her friends made the same team it was bittersweet.


We arrived at cheer to start this season and as Lexi went off with her team I found myself  nervous and alone. I had been warned that this team's moms were a tight knit group and it was hard to get into it. After a few practices and exchanging some pleasant "hellos" I noticed that these ladies went for a walk during the practice so I mustard up my confidence and asked if I could join them. Guess what, they welcomed me with open arms and they were not like some snobby elite high school clique.  These ladies are some of the smartest, most generous, compassionate and funniest people I have ever had the pleasure to meet!

I have realized as Lexi was following her passion of cheer, it had forced me out of my shell. It brought me out of my house and it had breathed new life into me. As cheer taught my daughter teamwork, discipline, commitment and hard work; cheer had also helped me become the outgoing person I always knew was inside me but was to shy to share with others. I have to say I am one of those crazy, over excited Mums that goes totally wild when my daughters team steps on the mat to perform. There is something about the energy the team gives off as they have their 2:30 minutes on
the mat to impress and shine. I can honestly say I love cheer!  Cheer has become a huge part of our lives and sometimes the family has to make sacrifices because of it. (And not everyone is always happy about it.)  But I look forward to taking Lexi to practice it really is one of the most fun parts of my week. I love it because I get to go and spend time with these awesome ladies and it's nice just being myself.

http://www.customizedgirl.com/s/Cheerculturecouture

New Scent Contest

As most of you know I have Lit Eco Candle Company & I love making my 100% soy candles. Well I want to shake things up this fall & add a new scent or two. I thought we might have some fun with this & give you a chance to help me pick a scent & get yourself a sample in the process.

So if you haven't already liked Lit Eco Candle Company on facebook do so now & then find this post on the wall & give me your ideas for the new scent. It's just that easy! I look forward to all your creative ideas, hurry because time is running out.

I am Back & Inspired To Share

It has been a long time since I last blogged and boy I have missed it. I can't believe that my blogs actually show up in google now! I feels so re-inspired if that is a word.  I have so much to catch you up on. I look forward to sharing what I have learnt over the last few months of my hiatus and what I have planned for the future.

The first thing I learnt was, you can't make everyone happy no matter what you do! Secondly "friends" will turn on you in a heart beat in the name of self interest. It's all good though.

I will be posting new photos and moving full force with my blog NO MORE PROCRASTINATING! Cuz I once heard that procrastination is like masterbation you end up screwing yourself in the end! So hold on to your bra straps ladies it is going to be a funny but bumpy ride!