suzette roberts

// Chocolate Fudge Cake for A Good Cause

Kids helping kids... and a great way to have our cake and eat it too with school fundraisers such as Terra Cotta Cookie Co. Many of our schools are already actively involved in this very edible and fun hands-on fundraiser. For a small donation, you receive a cookie or brownie mix of dry ingredients to which you simply add water and two eggs for an easy anytime chocolate treat. Last year, my sister Gi, participated in this fundraiser and promptly handed me the box of dry ingredients to practice my cake-making skills. I added milk (instead of water), and some dark chocolate chips for added moisture and fudgyness, followed the simple directions, making another beloved slim cake. We thoroughly enjoyed it... More after the jump, and have a restful weekend. ~xx

 

Using half of the ingredients to make my loved slim cake...

// Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

Hello April! For our first full and welcoming month of spring, I decided to take a detour, making a sharp right (wildchild feels) with a quiet and simple everyday flavour that's soothing and easy-going with its own secret complexities in the mix: Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla Bean. How contradicting... It has an earthy, back-to-the-good-old-basics feel of fresh beginnings with the generous invite to add little touches of colour (aka wonderment) as we desire, which too is completely optional. Have a safe and healthy April. More behind-the-scenes photos of its early beginning days after the jump...

// Conte's Gluten-Free Spinach and Cheese Ravioli

Every now and again, we look forward to adding a little more variety to our menu while also eliminating (or at least majorly minimizing on most days) the grains that have no mercy in taking us under the table,-- and without even blinking an eye. Ravioli in all its cheesy and stuffed saucy glories was a loved staple back in those cheap and easy eats school years. After laying off the gluten-ful ravioli for almost two decades, in favour of simple gluten-free pasta on occasion, I was excited to try this new-to-me find: Conte's Gluten Free Spinach and Cheese Ravioli in the veggie freezer section at our local Whole Foods..., while looking for something entirely different a few weeks ago (funny how these meets happen?). We've enjoyed its wholesome all-natural deliciousness twice since, with and without a light sauce, and it's a definite must-try and keeper... Happy early weekend and have a fun and relaxing Mid-Winter Break(!) next week. Music and more after the jump...  ~xx

// Cookies and Cream Ice Cream

Hello March! Somewhere in the very early 80's while at my high school graduation, totally clueless as to what the larger than life world had in store for a simple island girl who only wanted to swim in the warm salty sea, fly wide-bodied jets, eat fish and ice cream, and have a really good time, this, always a hit flavour with so many of our young kids, was born... becoming the best-selling flavour in 1983. Years later, deeply buried in classroom teaching, wings clipped and mostly grounded, this indulgent flavour continued to live on, as proof with the gazillion Favourite Ice Cream Flavours pictographs created by my kids at varying grade levels, and many times by-passing any reference to the usual chocolate and strawberry. What happened? It's simple... Cookies and Cream Ice Cream has a no-explanation-needed feel of extra-fun with all the sweet and sandwiched crunchies in the mix for both our younger and older kids. And it's still happening...

Have a refreshing weekend, and thanks so much for all my treats this week. I needed every. single. one. of them. :) Music and more after the jump... ~xx

// Honey Soy Salmon

We continue to believe in and support short work weeks and longer weekends. :) And adding this quick and easy and delicious Sundays-made-simple Honey Soy Salmon makes it that more luxurious for two, or our larger crew... Happy early weekend and have a restful one. Music and more after the jump...  ~xx  

// CXBO Chocolates

I'm always amazed with how easy it is to find colourful unexpected inspiration with just a few early a.m. flips of our local morning paper... This new-to-me Chocolate Shop: CXBO Chocolates, nestled in the heart of our Toronto city, offers an award winning collection of handcrafted jewel-like signature chocolates, and other confections created by Chef Brandon Olsen, a self-taught chocolatier, and Sarah Keenlyside, an artist and filmmaker. The magic that happens when creative minds collide... 'Totally smitten and will definitely be indulging in a few must-try flavours later in the week. Click within the images (after the jump) to learn more...