Beer-Pretzel Chocolate Cheescake

I came across this recipe a few months ago and didn't have a reason to make it until this week. My dear friend Jacinda had a birthday and I thought I would try it. I was intrigued by the ingredients. IT WAS DELISH! And very easy to make too. We all decided it was one of the best cheesecakes we had ever had.

You couldn't taste the beer in it, but it added a little richness to the chocolate and the pretzel crust added that nice bit of salty that often goes well with chocolate.

If you have a birthday to bake for, try this! The recipe can be found HERE.

Roasted Garlic

This stuff is really. No, like really good. Trust me. Make roasted garlic. You will not be disappointed and you can use it for so many things! I bought a big bag of garlic to use when I was making pesto and other things on the weekend. There was a lot leftover, so I decided to whip up some garlicky deliciousness to have on hand when I wanted to ward off some vampires in the near future!

Buy a big bag of garlic. Or just do it with a few heads. Whatever strikes your fancy! 

The top of the garlic is the side with the little pointy part sticking up. 

Cut that part off, also chopping off the tops of the cloves inside. 

Arrange as many heads of garlic as you'd like in a baking dish. 

Drizzle a little olive oil over each clove and make sure it goes into the center of the head. 

Pop them in the oven for about an hour at 375. You might die waiting because it smells so good in your house! 

Let them cool to room temperature or until they are ok to handle. Using your fingers, peel off the papery skins on each head and pop the cloves out. They should be very soft and mushy and slide easily out of the skins.

Eat a few straight up while you're at it. They taste like candy!

Put them in your fridge and they will keep for a couple of weeks. 

Things I have done with roasted garlic:
- Spread the cloves on crackers and eat as a little snack
- Add them into salad vinaigrettes
- Stir them into mashed potatoes
- Use them as a spread on sandwiches
- Stir them into roast drippings to flavour gravy
- Add them to store bought hummus to give it an extra kick

Do you have any tips to share about ways you've used roasted garlic?

Tweedlebud Lainey's Orange and Brown Fall Wedding

Hi everyone! I'm back!

I'm really excited to share my blog post with you for Wedding Wednesday and it was kind of Miss Tweedle to extend the invite. Thanks to Miss Tweedle, I'm now an avid blog reader; who knew following could be so much fun!

My husband and I were married in the fall of 2008. The Columbia Valley is GORGEOUS in the fall and we really relied on Mother Nature to help guide us in the right direction with regards to colors and theme for our wedding; we ended up choosing hues of brown and orange for just about everything. We were married outdoors but our reception was in a tent and I really wanted to make it feel like the inside of the tent was just an extension of the outdoors. 

 

To decorate the tables we used off white table cloths, brown runners, brown and orange napkins, brown and orange placecards, candle holders and center pieces.

Like Miss Tweedle, I enjoy a good thrift store purchase and a great Saturday morning cruising garage sales. I created the candle holders by hunting down old mason jars of all shapes and sizes. I was really, really particular about what kind of jars... I didn't want just any old canning jar, I wanted the clear jars with only a brand written on the side. It was a lot of fun to dig for (and find) the "perfect jar" and it was a very inexpensive way to decorate the tables. To help spruce up the jars, I bought various shades of brown, off white, and orange ribbon and tied them around the mouth of each jar. I mixed the ribbon patterns and combinations to help give each table and each jar a little bit of character. I purchased bulk off white candles from Ikea that fit nicely into the jars and lasted throughout the evening. I ended up giving most the jars away, some family members kept one or two, and I still have a few that I use as drinking glasses and they're a nice reminder of a great day.

To help with bringing the outdoors in, I asked our florist to make each centerpiece look like it had been picked in the meadow just outside the tent. And, like the mason jars, I wanted each center piece to be just a little different than the others. She did a great job and also helped me stick with the mason jar idea by supplying her own jars and ribbon for each centerpiece and the bridal bouquets. A lot of our guests ended up taking the centerpieces home to enjoy on their own kitchen tables!

In the picture above, you can also see one of our take away gifts; pickled asparagus. Even though it wasn't planned, the gifts looked like they were also part of the decor.

I was very pleased with the way that our reception ended up looking. But, what was even more amazing than the way it looked was the way it felt during dinner once the sun had set and we could really enjoy the warm ambiance that the candles, flowers, dinner, and company had created.

TweedleBud Tip: The simple task of gluing the two different colors of paper together for the placecards helped save money in the budget. Whenever you can, if you have the time, put your own energy into some of the 'kitchy' tasks, it'll save you money in the long run rather than paying someone else to do it!

Basil Pesto

If you have never made your own pesto, you should! It's really easy and it tastes way better than the store bought stuff. It is a great condiment, or sauce to have on hand as you can mix it and add it into so many things to add flavour. Our favourite way to eat it is by using it as a pasta sauce. We usually add chicken, pasta and whatever veggies we have on hand for a yummy, easy weeknight supper. 

Begin with a lot of basil. This is about 5-6 cups of packed fresh basil. This stuff is quite easy to grow in a pot on your deck or in your garden, which makes it cheaper to make. I harvested our whole basil plant and this is what I got out of it this year. 

Before adding anything, whiz the basil up in the food processor just to pack it down a bit. 

Add in 1.5 cups of chopped parmesan cheese, 1 cup of pine nuts, 6 garlic cloves, roughly chopped and 1 tsp of salt. 

Whirr it all together until everything is blended and there are no chunks left. 

With the food processor running, drizzle in 1 cup of olive oil, slowly, to bring everything all together and turn it into a paste. 

Pretend you are Kate Middleton while using your LONDON spatula to wipe down the edges of the bowl. 

Each of my little containers holds 1/2 cup of pesto. I just pop these in the freezer and we have basil pesto year round to add to things!

Removing Sticker Glue

It is always annoying when you buy something new, get it home and hastily rip the price tag sticker off, only to discover that the tag leaves that sticky residue. I HATE that stuff. This weekend I picked up some plastic drinking glasses on an end of the season sale and found myself battling with that very stuff. I soaked the glasses in hot water over night, tried nail polish remover... and then decided on a google search to solve this once and for all!

And you will never guess what took that blasted residue off... PAM. Pam! Pam?! Like, the spray can of cooking oil!

I sprayed it on, left it for about 5 minutes and wiped it clean with a dry cloth. It was magic!

The Finished Quilt!

I finally finished it! Remember the quilt I started back in January!??!? I didn't end up hand quilting it, however. I broke down and machine quilted it and then put the binding on. It looks so good in our living room- what a pop of colour! And it's cozy too! I'm so happy it's all done and not sitting there staring me whenever I go to the sewing table!