strawberry lemonade slushie

On a hot summer day, when I was a kid, I'd line up at the local variety store with throngs of others and wait for a Slush Puppy. The counter person would turn back the handle and out would pour a sticky, icy, day-glo concoction. It was happiness in a cup and I'd always get blue (what flavour was blue??) and it would stain my tongue and give me a brain freeze. It was perfect.

Summer has come to Vancouver with a vengance and all I've been wanting is a bit of cooling off. A slushie would hit the spot, so I looked into my freezer to see what kind of makings I had. A can of frozen lemonade leftover from a party? Check? Frozen strawberries? Ice? Check and check. The result? Holy brain freeze territory! It was sweet, it was icy and it was the easiest and tastiest way to beat the heat of summer. Want a more grown-up drink? Add in 6 oz of white rum and you've got yourself a pretty simple & tasty daqueri.

strawberry lemonade slushie
1/2 a container of frozen lemonade concentrate
juice of 1 lemon or lime
1 1/2 c frozen strawberries
ice water
ice cubes

Spoon out half the lemonade into a tall pitcher. Add in the strawberries and lemon juice. Top with water. Use an immersion blender to blend it all into slush, adding more water if necessary. Add in a few ice cubes and crush those up too (and rum, if that's the way you roll). Pour into 4 glasses. Let the brain freeze begin!

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.

100 breakfast proof: pina colada fruit salad

Pineapples are one of my favorite fruits. I love them plain, grilled or shoved into a burger. It doesn't take much to transform the pineapple into something special. When we were couch-surfing in Utrecht last September, our hosts had served pineapple tossed with fresh mint. That's it. It was a very memorable end to a great evening.

This morning I had a small pineapple that I had found on special for 99 cents in Chinatown. I also had some strawberries that were a little past their prime. So I cut them up and created a boozy syrup out of rum and honey and vanilla. A little shredded coconut sprinkled about and it was perfect! It lifted what could have been a ho-hum fruit salad into the realm of fancy pants-ness. The heady scent of rum, vanilla and coconut is seriously intoxicating without being down-right boozy. It definitely made my Monday morning, but it's more suited for a light summer dessert or weekend brunch item. This would be great with waffles, scones or pancakes or tossed with a bit of fresh mint or, oooh, even pistachios! Imagine the pineapple possibilities.

pina colada fruit salad
1 small pineapple, diced
1 basket of strawberries, sliced
3 T unsweetened angel flaked coconut
3 T honey
4 T amber rum (I used my favorite Appleton Estate from Jamaica)
1 t vanilla extract

In a large bowl, whisk together honey, rum and vanilla. Add fruit and coconut and toss. Serve in small bowls.

Want more pineapple recipes? Dig into my archives:
African yam & peanut soup
Ginger pineapple chicken
Jerk chicken pineapple skewers
Pineapple baked beans
Pineapple-coconut vegetable curry
Strawberry-pineapple popsicles

have a boozy christmas

All of my Christmas shopping has been done and I just finished my last holiday sweet this evening. Phew! I love giving away pretty containers filled with homemade treats during the holidays and this year's bounty is pretty impressive. I've made a batch of pretty iced Ginger Gems, some white chocolate candy cane bark, plenty of dark chocolate salted mixed nut bark, Orangette's building blocks (with salted mixed nuts, raisins, candied ginger & dried cranberries) and my yummy fleur de sel caramels. But I felt something was missing so I dug into my bag of tricks and came up with rum balls!

I'm totally new to the world of rum balls...a recent convert so to speak. One afternoon during a long walk on Commercial Drive (a street known for it's hippies, Italian community and local food spots), Cornelius put me up to a rum ball challenge. We stopped off at 3 different bakeries and tried rum balls at all 3 just so that we could figure out which bakery made the best one. So you better trust that even though I'm new to the rum ball existance, I'm certainly no slacker when it comes to determining what makes a great rum ball. And these, my friends, are great rum balls! A great holiday cookie indeed. Since these are no-bake cookies, the rum flavour doesn't burn off and they've got enough of a kick to keep a smile on your face during whatever holiday stress you encounter.

I don't have a food processor, so I chopped all the pecans by hand. This works really well for this recipe because a nice nutty texture is best here and you don't want to end up with a messy paste of finely ground nuts. If you don't have chocolate cookies, give gingersnaps or vanilla cookies a try!

rum balls
1 1/2 c pecans
1 1/4 c chocolate wafer cookies (or gingersnaps or vanilla cookies)
1/2 c powdered sugar
1/4 t cinnamon
2 T cocoa powder
2 T corn syrup
1/4 c amber rum

+ powdered sugar, grated coconut and sweetened cocoa powder

1. Toast the pecans in a 350 degree oven until fragrant (about 10 minutes). Let cool and then chop finely. While pecans are toasting, crush the cookies until fine.

2. In a large bowl, combine crushed pecans, crushed cookies, powdered sugar, cinnamon, and cocoa and stir until well mixed. Add in the rum and corn syrup and mix well. Chill for at least 1 hour.

3. Roll 1 teaspoon of the mixture into balls and roll in your choice of powdered sugar, grated coconut or cocoa powder.

Makes 28 balls...so go ahead and double the recipe!