carrot spice loaf

Yesterday I felt myself slowly coming back to normal from after a month of hectic work. There was no turkey for our Thanksgiving, but we were with good friends, there was good food on the table and glasses of wine and cocktails were poured freely. It was a holiday and it was good to finally relax and sink into happiness. This week I'll be posting the 2 wonderful recipes I made for our meager dinner, but first, I'll point you in the direction of Poppytalk where I posted a recipe pretty great carrot spice cake.
It was this carrot cake that helped to sustain me during the craziness of the One of a Kind show that I was preparing for. Need some quick energy? Grab a slice of cake. Quick breakfast before I ran out the door? Yup, eat that cake. Really, this was a muffin recipe that I turned into loaf pan (who wants to fiddle with greasing up muffin cups? Not me!) and I loved it. I have a lot of carrots in my fridge and to my shame, I have never made carrot cake (though I love it something fierce), so when I found a recipe that I liked, I adapted it to suit my needs & my cupboard.

OOPS! Forgot to add the temperature in the recipe, so preheat your oven to 375F and you'll be good to go.

And while you are checking out Poppytalk, you can even see some photos that Jan snapped of us in front of our booth – while I do look like a giant in those photos, it should be mentioned that the other 2 Hob Snobs are quite short, so I'm not a total freak of nature. As for the show, not only did we sell lots of our crafty stuff, we also won first prize for best booth display! Considering that there were well over 200 other vendors, we were elated that all of our hard work was recognized.

healthy & wise: ginger-studded molasses bread

By Sunday evening, I felt my mojo returning. I was feeling healthy again, but I didn't want to bust up the joint by letting all hell break loose, so I started off with some wholesome baking. And I mean wholesome. Don't fool yourself that you are making gingerbread. This isn't very sweet and the ginger and molasses pack a powerful one-two punch. But it's also delicious and makes a very nice breakfast with strong coffee and a slice eaten late at night with a pot of tea still seems a little sinful.

When I first tasted this bread, I though that maybe I should have increased the candied ginger instead of adding in raisins. The ginger flavour was there but not as gingery as I was hoping. The next day however, the flavours had really intensified and I'm glad I didn't up the ginger ante. I decided to divide the batter into 2 loaf pans rather than make just one loaf. So I tightly wrapped the one destined for the freezer in plastic wrap to be enjoyed at a later date.


ginger-studded molasses bread
1 c whole wheat flour
1 c all-purpose flour
1 t baking powder
1 t ground ginger
1 t cinnamon
1/4 t ground cloves
1/2 t salt
1 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
2 eggs
1/3 c packed brown sugar
1 c buttermilk
1/2 c blackstrap molasses
1/4 c canola oil
1/4 c candied ginger, diced
1/4 c raisins (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350F. In a mixing bowl, combine the flours, spices, salt, baking powder and baking soda together. Set aside.

2. In another large bowl, mix the brown sugar, eggs, buttermilk, molasses and oil together. Beat in the flour mixture and then fold in the ginger and raisins.

3. Pour batter into a greased and floured bread tin and bake for 50 minutes, or until tester comes out clean.

best oatmeal ever: baked oatmeal with apples

Saturday morning I awoke later than usual. The skies were dark and grey and rain was pouring out of the sky. I could have easily pulled the covers up over my head and tried to forget that this was supposed to be the very last weekend of summer. But I overcame. After drinking my first cup of coffee, I set to work getting breakfast ready.

I've made baked oatmeal before a few times so I didn't expect anything so revolutionary this time around. I was wrong. I made a few tweaks to my usual recipe, deciding that this would be a vegan breakfast by adding in almond milk and apple cider and again using those delicious MacIntosh apples that lately have invaded my cooking. If you don't have vegan ingredients on hand, just use regular milk and butter. Halfway through the baking, there were some seriously delicious smells coming from my oven. Oh man, if I could bottle that scent I would be rich! So so so good. As for taste? Oh yeah, mark this one as a definite favorite. Best oatmeal ever ever.

baked oatmeal with apples
1 c large flake organic oatmeal
1 t cinnamon
pinch each of ground cloves, nutmeg, cardamom
1/4 t salt
2 T maple syrup
1 T dessicated unsweetened coconut
1 large apple, diced
1 c unsweetened almond or soy milk
2/3 c apple cider or juice
2 T chopped toasted pecans

Preheat oven to 350. In a large bowl, combine everything but the pecans. Using oil or a vegan margarine, grease up a casserole dish and then dump in oatmeal mixture. Sprinkle pecans over top. Bake for 30 minutes or until all liquid is absorbed. Serve with additional milk or topped with yogurt.

Looking for more oatmeal recipes? Take a look at these from my archives:
Chai-Spiced Apple Oatmeal Bread
Cranberry Walnut Oatmeal
Pan Fried Oatmeal
Coconut Oatmeal Cookies
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies
Walnut Oatmeal Burgers

the big bad banana: jacked-up banana bread

You should know by now that I do not like bananas. However, my one banana exception is for banana bread and it's funny that my most popular recipe is for banana bread. But I think I've found a match for the ever-delicious chocolate-chip laden and cinnamon-sugared crunch of the UBC cake. This one doesn't have chocolate or a heavy hand when it comes to spices, but that's not to say it is without kick. A nice glug of rum makes this bread even tempered but with a little bit of the crazy-eye. And every good cake needs a bit of crazy.


I found this recipe on Smitten Kitchen particularly appealing since I had 3 very brown bananas tucked into the freezer. She adapted her recipe from another food blogger and I have adapted hers based on what I had around the kitchen. I didn't have a bottle of Wild Turkey laying about, so I subbed in some Jamaican amber rum and pecans for crunch. It's easy, delicious and I can't wait until I have a few more big bad bananas around so that I can mash them into submission for this cake. Scrumptious with fresh berries sprinkled about, or as my husband prefers, smeared with unsalted butter. It's good for an evening snack and even better for breakfast.

You better believe me that I was very sad to see this last slice go. One more thing...head over to the Food Network Canada blog to read my post on the Alibi Room. Finally, beer lovers in Vancouver have a place to revel that is not my living room. Hooray!


jacked-up banana bread
adapted from Smitten Kitchen
3 ripe bananas, mashed
1/3 c melted Earth Balance margarine (but any light flavored oil or butter should do)
3/4 c lightly packed brown sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 t vanilla
1 T rum
1 t cinnamon
1/2 t nutmeg
pinch of ground cloves
1 t baking soda
pinch of salt
1 1/2 c of flour
1/2 c chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350. Mash up your bananas and then add in the melted margarine and brown sugar. Mix about with a wooden spoon until well combined and then toss in the egg, rum and the rest of the spices. Add the baking powder and a pinch of salt and combine. Add the flour and then finally the pecans and pour batter into a lightly oiled loaf pan. Bake for 1 hour or until cake tester comes out clean. Remove from oven. When cooled slightly, remove from pan and put on rack to cool completely. Or just dive in when ready.

midnight at the oasis: apple crumb coffee cake

It's great to wake up and have breakfast ready and waiting. Last night I made this coffee cake that I saw on La Vie Cerise and decided that it would be perfect for a Saturday morning with a whole lot of coffee. And it was. The topping was plentiful and sweet and the apples scattered throughout the cake added just the right amount of tartness to balance everything out.


But the thing about baking this cake was that I started it quite late in the evening....after 1 am to be exact. And because it was so late, I wasn't in best form and I missed an ingredient—baking powder. I didn't realize it until I started typing out the recipe this morning. Doh! And since I'm in confession mode, I also over-baked this cake. I guess that's what happens when it's late and I'm not so focused. Oops! Not that you'd ever know it cuz this cake is good, miscalculations and all. So maybe my cake didn't rise very much and was a bit too golden, it was still a fantastic way to start the day along with a whole lot of strong coffee.


Want more? Why not head over to my latest post over at the Food Network Canada and say hi! Vancouver is quickly losing it's history in the rush to build up a condo or two (thousand) and this weekend marks the end of Wally's Burgers, a local burger joint. Read my write up on the Food Network Canada blog, Bazaar.

apple crumb coffee cake
1 1/2 c flour
2 1/4 t baking powder
1/2 c brown sugar
1/2 t salt
1/2 t cinnamon
1 egg
1/2 c milk
1/2 c canola oil
1 Granny Smith apple, chopped

crumb topping:
1/2 c brown sugar
1/4 c flour
2 T butter
1/2 t cinnamon
1/4 c walnuts

Preheat oven to 400. Butter and flour an 8" round cake pan, shaking off any excess flour. Prepare crumb topping in a medium-sized bowl, crumbling mixtures with your fingers until it looks like crumbs. Set aside.

In a large bowl, mix together dry ingredients. In a smaller bowl, combine egg, milk and oil. Add the wet to the dry and mix. Add in apples and stir until combined. Pour batter into prepared pan and top with crumb mixture. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a knife inserted in the centre comes out clean. Let cool. Prepare a pot of your favorite coffee and go to town.