Happy Holidays

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and Healthy New Year! Here's to good food, good friends and family, and good life.

Cate

Oatmeal

I remember the first time I had oatmeal. It was over 10 years ago when I had hired a trainer and he gave me a meal plan to go with my training and oatmeal was the first thing I had to eat in the morning. My first attempt was anything but delicious. One-minute oats mixed with hot water with a pinch of salt. Well, I was a good sport and I stuck with it for a while and you know what? I eventually got used to the texture and the taste but I still wouldn’t say that I liked it one bit. After 2 months though I’d had enough of the bland stuff and went back to eating the way I did before the meal plan. I wanted flavour. I wanted texture. I wanted variety. I wanted yummy stuff.

A few years later I started eating oatmeal again. Once again, one-minute oats mixed with hot water (no salt). I just ate it out of the comfort of not having to think about what to have for breakfast. What could be easier? All I had to do was scoop 1/3 C of oats with hot water from the water cooler and let it sit until the water was absorbed. I enjoyed them much more than I did way back then. But then I stopped eating it when I got married and had kids. With the lack of sleep and time, eating breakfast was the last thing on my mind and I would eat mindlessly all day long.

Last year I ventured into blog reading and I came across Kath Eats. She loves oats so much so that she even did a tribute. I never knew that oatmeal could be jazzed up except for when you purchase them in boxes of instant packets of flavoured oatmeal which I never liked. So I’ve tried her banana oatmeal and I use it as a basis for oatmeal. Here’s my favourite combo:

1/3 C large flake oats
1/3 C water
1/3 C milk
1/2 ripe banana

topped with:
1 Tbsp dried cranberries
1 Tbsp semi-sweet chocolate chips (blooming from being in the pantry too long)
1 spoonful natural almond butter

This bowl is so satiating. I find that if I have a bowl of oats for breakfast my sugar cravings are controllable for the rest of the day, which is a good thing, especially when there are still Halloween candies laying around.

The Beater Blade +

Now here’s a brilliant gadget:  the Beater Blade + (KA-TH) shown here is a paddle attachment made for tilt-head Kitchenaid stand mixers. If you don’t have this mixer, don’t despair as they carry different paddle models for different stand mixers. What is so special about this plastic paddle as opposed to the Kitchenaid solid-built paddle? Well the external sides of the paddle are actually flexible and are meant to act as a spatula so that there is no need to scrape the sides of the bowl when mixing. It also has an extra center prong that ensures that the mixture will have an even consistency. It’s great for making buttercream, icing, cake batters, and best of all, my favorite cheesecake! Here is the Mascarpone Cheesecake being made with the new beater.

    

I just can’t believe that something so delicious and smooth was so easy and quick with this gadget. So if you use your stand mixer frequently, I definitely recommend the BeaterBlade+.

Wolverine Birthday Cupcakes

My eldest son is in Senior Kindergarten and had requested Wolverine cupcakes to take to school for his birthday. I could not imagine how I was going to make them. I spent a couple of weeks pondering how I would decorate them and each time I wanted an easy way out. The easiest thing to do was to purchase toppers for the cupcakes but I couldn’t find any at Michael’s, Party Packagers, Bulk Barn, or even Wal-Mart. They had Spiderman, Diego, Dora, Superman, Thomas the Tank Engine…Oh why?!? I even tried to convince my soon-to-be 5 year old to choose Spiderman (he loves him a whole lot!), but nope! He was set on Wolverine. Anyhow, here are his Wolverine cupcakes (don’t laugh). I know that I made some mistakes (nose should have been done in yellow) and it doesn’t resemble Wolverine much but remember 5-year olds have great imaginations and if you tell them it’s Wolverine then it’s Wolverine they see. I made 21 of them, well the birthday boy put the grin on the Wolverines. So, here they are!

Ha-ha! I just noticed I missed piping the nose on one of them. I don’t think any of the children noticed.

By the way, the teacher gave me great feedback. They were a hit!

The recipes I used are:

Golden Vanilla Cupcakes (from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World)
Vanilla Frosting (from Martha Stewart’s Cupcakes)
I used Sour Big Foots to make Wolverine’s eye mask

Homemade Mascarpone Cheese

Mascarpone cheese is hard to come by and even when it is available, it is very pricey. I found on the web that it was possible to make my own. I Googled “make mascarpone cheese” and found many sites for the recipe, unfortunately I don’t remember what site I got the recipe from. The recipe seems very simple (but simple does not mean easy – more on that in a moment).

Homemade Mascarpone Cheese

1 pint (500 mL) whipping cream (35% m.f.)
1 Tbsp lime or lemon juice (I used lime)

First things first, I doubled this recipe which I do not recommend.

Set a double boiler up so that the bottom of a medium metal bowl sits slightly in the simmering water. Pour the whipping cream in. Whisk or stir occasionally until the cream reaches 180 degrees F. This took forever (45 minutes to be exact). Actually, my cream never reached 180. The closest I got was 165 degrees. I figured this isn’t right (it shouldn’t take this long) so I just whisked in the lime juice and hoped that it would work. I whisked lightly and frequently for another 10 minutes over the water bath and it didn’t look like it had thickened the cream, although the cream had reduced a little from the 50 minutes it’d been heating up. I thought that it was a failure. I took the bowl off the double boiler and let it cool to room temperature (though I think the site I went to said to cool slightly) before covering it with plastic wrap and putting it into the refrigerator overnight. Because I was certain that it wasn’t going to work I left it in the fridge for two nights before taking a look at it. To my surprise it had set!!!! I proceeded to take the bowl out of the fridge and scooped the “cheese” into a fine sieve lined with a coffee filter set over a bowl to allow any excess liquid to be removed from the cheese. I covered it with plastic wrap again and placed it back in the refrigerator overnight yet again. The next day I took a look and it really did look like Mascarpone cheese. I took a taste and mmm…it was very good. I was so happy because I had made 20 ounces of Mascarpone cheese and it had only cost me $2.75 in ingredients.

Next time when I make Mascarpone cheese, and I will make it again, I will stick to the original recipe of 500 mL whipping cream and 1 Tbsp lime/lemon juice because I think this is the reason I wasn’t able heat the cream to 180 degrees F. Or I might follow another recipe that uses tartaric acid in place of the lime/lemon juice. I wonder if tartaric acid is easy to find…

Super Hearty Oat Cookies

These cookies are so delicious and hearty. And they make a lot. This is a great recipe if you’re serving a large number of people.

Super Hearty Oat Cookies (makes 50 cookies)
~ adapted from The Eat-Clean Diet

1 – lb tub + 2/3 C margarine, non-hydrogenated
2 C brown sugar, packed
3 eggs
3 Tbsp honey
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
1 – 1/2 tsp salt
5 C large flake oats *
3 C quick oats *
4 C all-purpose flour, unbleached
1 C semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 C dried cranberries

* if only using one type of oats, just measure out 8 C oats in total.

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets.

2. Cream margarine and brown sugar.

3. Add eggs and beat.

4. Beat in honey, vanilla and salt.

5. Using a strong wooden spoon or spatula, stir in oats and flour.

6. When almost fully combined, add chocolate chips and cranberries and combine well (may need to use hands but work quickly so that the chocolate doesn’t melt onto hands).

7. Roll cookie dough into balls (around 40-50 balls). If baking them right away, place on prepared baking sheets and press down to flatten. Bake each sheet for 15 minutes or until desired brownness. If freezing, flatten balls  and freeze separated for an hour, then throw into a plastic baggie. When baking frozen cookies, just put onto a prepared baking sheet and put into preheated 350 degree F oven for 15 minutes, but will most likely need a longer baking time. Check for desired doneness.

Cross-Border Shopping

PPGs!!!! Re-unite.

My girlfriends and I went cross-border shopping yesterday. What an adventure! We had lots of fun and shopped ‘til we dropped. Oh! I can’t leave out that we also went to The Cheesecake Factory for a late lunch. Wow! That was amazing. It was my first time and totally not what I was expecting. A wonderful atmosphere and a grandiose feel. The menu was amazing too.

Some places we hit:

• The Fashion Outlet near Niagara Falls border. The stores of main interest: Coach, Lindt, Corningware, Under Armour, Nine West, Solstice, Nike, The Bath and Body Works
• Walden Galleria: The Cheesecake Factory, Solstice, Sephora, Victoria’s Secret, The Bath & Body Works, Loft by Ann Taylor, Teavana, Geox
• Sam’s Club.

Now, I know that sounds like a lot of places, but I didn’t spend that much. I think I got off easy – total bill was $250. Half of it was actually groceries from Sam’s Club and $35 was for lunch at The Cheesecake Factory and for gas. I also got 2 t-shirts (bogo 50%), hand-sanitizers ($5 for 5), swimsuit and a pair of sunglasses.

Thanks, hubby, for watching the children! I know it wasn’t easy with a 4, 2, and 1 – year old, especially when #2 had a bad cold.

Just Shake and Bake It Drumsticks

Literally!!! Dinner is served in 45 minutes with only 5 minutes of which  you are actually doing the work. And the best part is that everyone loves them. Now that’s my kind of dinner!

Just Shake and Bake It Drumsticks ~ serves 5

10 chicken drumsticks
1 C corn flake crumbs
2 - 3 Tbsp seasoning **(your choice)

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with foil and set aside.

2. Put corn flake crumbs and seasoning in plastic baggie and toss contents lightly.

3. Rinse chicken drumsticks.

4. Place one drumstick into crumb mixture and shake until coated. Place on baking sheet. Repeat with remaining drumsticks.

5. Place baking sheet into oven and bake until juices run clear at thickest part of drumstick, about 40 minutes. In the meantime, you can prepare your side dishes.

** My favorite seasoning is lemon pepper. Some other seasoning suggestions are Italian seasoning, Montreal Chicken Spice, Garlic Plus, dried herbs (stick to 1 - 2 Tbsp). Just use any seasoning that you have on hand or that you think would go well with chicken. The picture below was really cheating:  because I had some Shake and Bake mix sitting in the cupboard for over 6 months I decided to mix in 1 pouch Shake and Bake seasoning with 1/2 C corn flake crumbs.

Ji Mai Lo ~ Sai Mai Lo with Purple Rice

As you know I love Sai Mai Lo. I also like to experiment by adding different ingredients to make variations on this favorite. A popular addition is purple rice, which really is black glutinous rice.

Ji Mai Lo

1 C black glutinous rice
18 C (4.5 liters) of water
3/4 to 1 C rock sugar (I use about 3/4 of a box)
1 C tapioca pearls
2-3 C water
1 can coconut milk (approx 400 mL)
1 can evaporated milk (approx 370 mL)
mango pulp (optional)

1. In a large pot, bring 4.5 L of water to a boil.

2. While waiting for water to boil, rinse rice and drain. Once water boils, add rice to pot. Turn heat to medium-low and cover. Occasionally check to make sure pot does not boil over and give a stir.

3. After 30 – 40 minutes add rock sugar. Stir occasionally.

4. Meanwhile, bring the 2-3 C of water to a boil (I do this in a kettle). Place tapioca pearls in a medium-sized heat-proof bowl. Pour the 2-3 C of boiling water over the tapioca and stir lightly. Let soak for approximately 5 minutes. This starts the cooking process for the pearls and may help in preventing clumps (I still get a lot of clumps though). Though I've never tried, this step may be skipped. If you do opt out of this step omit the 2-3 C of water.

5. Test the sugar mixture to see if it is sweet enough. You will still be adding 4 more cups of liquid to this so if it is a little more on the sweet side, it is okay. Also, if you are serving this chilled, I would recommend that you make it on the sweeter side. Add tapioca to the pot and cook on medium-low heat. Cook and stir until tapioca becomes clear. If the tapioca is clumpy, use a wooden spoon or potato masher to break them up. DO NOT cover the pot as it will boil over (I learned that the hard way and that was with the stove turned off!).

6. Remove from heat and if you want, you can put the pot in an ice bath (I'm usually in a rush to eat it and I like this dessert chilled). Stir in the coconut milk and evaporated milk to the pot. It is ready to eat. Serve hot, warm, or chilled.

Simple Potato Skins – My Interpretation

 

Ever since my first tasting of potato skins at the neighborhood family restaurant (Bo Peep), I’ve been in love with them. My family, especially my grandfather, loves them too. In the past 2 years I’ve made them a few times. Although they’re delicious they should be made every once in a while as these are not nice on the hips.

Simple Potato Skins

3 large Russet potatoes or 6 small Russets   
1 C double cheddar
1/2 – 3/4 C crumbled bacon
1 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 C sour cream (optional)
3 green onions, chopped (optional)

1. Scrub potatoes with a brush under water. Rinse and pat dry. Pierce potatoes with a fork. Microwave potatoes one at a time  for 5-8 minutes until a fork can go through it easily. Another way you can cook the potatoes is by baking for 40-50 minutes in a 350 degree oven or even try boiling them for 30 minutes until a fork can go to the center of the potato easily.

2. Once all potatoes have been cooked through, cut them in half lengthwise. Take care if potatoes are hot. Scoop out the flesh leaving about  5 mm of flesh on the skin. You can use the flesh to make mashed potato or perhaps a Shepherd's Pie (that’s what I usually do).

3. Set oven rack to level below broiler conductors. Set oven to broil on 400 – 450 degrees F (I set mine to 400 as my smoke alarm is very sensitive – that and I’m in denial that the oven could use a cleaning).

4. Melt butter. Stir in oil. On a broil pan or lined cookie sheet, lay the potato skins skin-side up. Using a brush, lightly brush butter mixture over the skin. Place in oven for 5 minutes or until skins are lightly crisped.5. Remove potato skins from oven and turn over so that the flesh side is facing up. Brush lightly with butter mixture and return to the oven and broil for 5 minutes. This will lightly crisp up the skin . 

6. Remove from oven. Top each skin with bacon crumbles and shredded cheese.7. Return to oven and broil until cheese is melted or slightly bubbly.   8. Remove from oven and let sit for a couple of minutes to allow the cheese to set before serving. 9. To me this is delicious as is but sour cream and green onions is a popular topping for this beloved pub fare appetizer. Just stir the chopped green onions into the sour cream and put a dollop on top! Enjoy.

Shepherd's Pie

I had half a bag of baking potatoes sitting around and I needed to use it up.  I was craving some beef too and I knew that Shepherd’s Pie is a great way to sneak veggies in for the boys (I really mean the hubby). I’d say that this dish is well-rounded for those meat and potato lovers in your life.

Shepherd’s Pie ~ adapted from Spoon It On

2 lbs. ground beef
1 medium cooking onion, chopped
3 cups of frozen vegetables
1 Tbsp. Tuscan seasoning (I made it from the The Eat-Clean Diet Cookbook , you can use Italian seasoning)
1/2 tsp. ground pepper
1 beef bouillon pack
3 heaping Tbsp Trio brown gravy mix
1/4 cup flour (or more for gravy/sauce)
1 cup water
10 small baking potatoes, peeled, cooked and mashed (see directions below)
1 egg
3 tbsp. butter
1 cup milk

Heat large non-stick skillet on medium heat. Cook ground beef and onion until beef is cooked through. Add Tuscan seasoning, pepper, and beef bouillon. Stir until combined. Mix gravy mix with cold water to make a slurry and stir into meat mixture. Sprinkle flour over meat and stir. Bring to a slight boil. Add more water or flour to make the gravy to desired consistency. Add vegetables and cook on low heat for about 10 minutes.
In a separate pot, boil potatoes until a fork can go through it easily. Drain and add milk and butter to potato and mash until smooth. In a small bowl, beat the egg and pour half of the egg into the mash potato. You do not need to add salt to the potatoes. Turn beef mixture into a 9 x 13 inch roasting pan and top with mash potatoes, spreading evenly over meat mixture. Pour the remaining egg on potatoes and spread evenly again. Use a fork to score a pattern over the potatoes. Bake at 375 for approximately 30 - 40 minutes, or until browned.

Before going into the oven

Ta da! It was really delicious!

Whole Wheat Pizza

I decided to make Hawaiian pizza from scratch. That’s right, pizza dough from scratch. It sounds like a lot of work, but I tell you, it was so easy! I had this book on hand for reference:

I altered the pizza dough recipe to incorporate some whole wheat goodness and the crust turned out yummy.

Hawaiian Olive Oil Whole Wheat Pizza ~ adapted from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day

2-3/4 C water, lukewarm                                         
1-1/2 Tbsp granulated yeast (1-1/2 packets)
1-1/2 Tbsp salt
1 Tbsp sugar
1/4 C extra virgin oil
5-1/2 C unbleached all-purpose flour
1 C whole wheat flour

1/2 C tomato sauce (I used Ragu)
20 – 30 slices pepperoni
1/2 C fresh pineapple, sliced and diced
1-1/2 C mozzarella cheese, shredded
1/2 C cornmeal

1. Mix yeast, salt, sugar and olive oil with water in a large bowl.

2. Mix in both flours and stir with a large spoon (or mixer fitted with a dough hook). If using spoon, you may need to use your hands to mix in the last bit of flour (make sure your hands are wet to reduce the dough from sticking to your hands).

3. Cover bowl with a dry tea towel and let the dough rest for approximately 2 hours.

4. If not using now, refrigerate in a lidded container (not airtight) and this can be stored this way for up to 12 days.

5. Twenty minutes before baking time, preheat oven with a pizza stone at 500 degrees. Prepare pizza topping ingredients.

6. Dust the surface of the dough with flour and cut off desired amount of dough (I used half of the dough). Dust the piece with more flour and shape into a ball by wrapping the dough around itself.

7. Flatten the dough with your hands and a rolling pin (dusted with flour) to desired thickness. Place the rolled out dough onto a pizza peel (I used a flexible cutting board) covered with cornmeal.

8. Spread tomato sauce thinly over the pizza leaving a 1/2 inch border around the crust.

9. Distribute pepperoni and pineapple pieces over pizza dough. Scatter cheese over pizza.

10. Slide pizza off of the pizza peel onto the stone.

11. Check for doneness in 8 – 10 minutes. Depending on thickness of the crust you may need to add an extra 5 – 8 minutes.

12. Allow to cool slightly before serving (cheese needs to set).

Brownies, 2 Ways

Have you ever been invited to someone’s place and have no idea what to bring? Last week I was invited to my cousin’s for a pool and lunch party. The night before I still didn’t know what I was going to bring. Sure, I could always stop by the coffee shop and pick up a box of donut holes (aka Timbits), but that would be the usual. I also didn’t want to trek 3 kids with me to the bakery to pick up anything. What did I have in my pantry that I wouldn’t have to make from scratch? Think, think, think…Yes! My no-fail brownie mix:

It only takes 45 minutes in the oven and all I needed to add was egg, water and oil. I wouldn’t be leaving for another 2 hours so this was perfect.

Well, I’ve been meaning to do something different to them, you know, dress them up a bit. I wanted to do something with peanut butter. With school out for the summer I knew there were going to be quite a few kiddies at the get-together and one of them has severe nut allergies. Hmmm,  I remember the mom saying that they still have peanut butter in the house so I knew that as long as the child didn’t ingest it, he was okay. So I decided on making 2 batches of brownies taking precautions that there would be no cross-contamination at all. I decided on a batch of marshmallow brownies and a batch of peanut butter banana brownies.

For the marshmallow brownies, in a medium mixing bowl, combine 1 egg, 1/3 C water and 1/3 C oil with 1 pouch of mix. Stir in 1.5 C miniature marshmallows and pour into 9 x 9 inch square pan.  Bake in 325 degree oven for 45 minutes.

For the peanut butter banana brownies: I had an unopened jar of natural peanut butter that had separated. I put the oil and the settled peanut butter (reserving 1/2 C of the peanut butter) into a food processor and whirred it until smooth. Because it needs to be refrigerated to prevent separation again, the peanut butter was somewhat runny so this was great for making these brownies. In a medium mixing bowl (I used the same bowl from the marshmallow batch so that I wouldn’t need to wash it twice), combine 1 egg, 1/3 C water and 1/3 C oil with 1 pouch of mix. Measure 1 C runny peanut butter from the food processor, 1 diced banana and the reserved peanut butter from the jar, in chunks, and stir. Pour into 9 x 9 inch square pan.  Bake in 325 degree oven for 45 minutes. Just in case of any cross-contamination issues and for peace of mind, I made sure that the peanut butter banana brownie was baked after the marshmallow batch was out of the oven and cooling.

Note: when making brownies, do NOT over mix. It will make for some very tough brownies. Definitely not a good thing.

The finished products:

Marshmallow Brownies

Peanut Butter Banana Brownies

I packed both pans of brownies and the kids into the minivan. Oh My Goodness! The smell of the peanut butter brownies was amazing and I almost pulled over to try it. When it came time to cutting into them all I could say was “Yummy!” as I tried to get the peanut buttery goodness off the roof of my mouth.  As for the marshmallow one, it was all right. Too sweet and ooey, gooey for my liking but the children were all for it.

Blog Award

Thank you to the ever-so-talented Spoon It On for sending this award to me. If you haven’t gone to visit her blog, you’ve got to check it out. It’s very well-written. Her cooking motto is Quick, Easy, and Delicious - my kinda style.

Proud To Be

I've done it! I've joined the Green Monster Movement and I'm proud of it. I've even added it to my blog roll. Go check it out.

For over 7 months, I've been following Angela of Oh She Glows make her famous Green Monster smoothies. Two months ago, I decided to try making one for myself. I now make them almost daily and miss them when I don't drink them. I've got my 4.5 year old and 1 year old drinking them too (not much success with my second born though). They like them. The 4.5 year old drinks them because of the name (think The Hulk). I've even got my mother drinking them and she likes them a whole lot. I use whatever fruits/vegetables I've got in the fridge but the main ingredient is always baby spinach (organic, of course) hence the "green" part of Green Monster. Here's yesterday's combination:

2 large handfuls organic baby spinach
1 frozen banana
1/2 C fresh blueberries
1 small apple, cored and diced
1/3 C vanilla yogurt
1/3 C POM juice

Blend until smooth. I don't mind my smoothies being on the thick side, but if it is too thick, I would add milk (soy, almond or 2%) but I don't think it would go with this combo so I would add water or juice.

Just go crazy with your Green Monster. You can't really go wrong with just the basic: spinach, banana, milk (my mom's favorite). You can even throw in supplements, protein powders, nut butters, flax seeds, veggies. I say, trial and error to find what you like. CHEERS!

Angela of Oh She Glows is having a contest open to Canadians only until Thursday, July 9 at noon. You could win an amazing Neal Brothers prize pack. Go to Oh She Glows to see the prize pack and find out how you can enter the contest. Good luck.

Sponge Cake Roll with Berries

I know I’ve been doing a lot of posts mentioning Spoon It On lately, but I just can’t help it. She has such great recipes that I often refer to her blog for ideas in the kitchen. So when I made my Chinese Sponge Cake recipe, I altered it into a cake roll.

Chinese Sponge Cake Roll with Berries
(makes 2 rolls)

Ingredients

Chinese Sponge Cake recipe
1.5 tsp pure vanilla extract
1.5 tsp pure orange extract
2 C strawberries, diced
2 C blueberries
3 C whipping cream
7-8 tsp icing sugar
1 Tbsp icing sugar, optional

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F

1. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper and spray with Pam.

2. In a medium mixing bowl, beat egg whites with 1/2 C of sugar until soft peaks form.

3. In another mixing bowl, combine egg yolks, 1/2 C sugar, flour, water, oil, vanilla extract and pure orange extract . Beat until smooth but do not overbeat.

4. Fold egg white mixture into egg yolk mixture.

5. Pour the batter into the lined cookie sheets. Bake for 15 minutes and check for doneness with a toothpick. If it comes out clean, it’s done. I had to add an extra 5 minutes because I put both sheets into the oven at the same time (and I don’t have those fancy convection ovens).

6. Cool on a cooling rack. After 30 minutes, carefully lift the cake off the parchment paper.

Assemble roll just before serving. For each cake roll:

Wash 1 C strawberries (diced) and 1 C blueberries and allow them to air dry for 30 minutes. Whip 1.5 C whipping cream with 3-4 tsp sifted icing sugar (check for sweetness) until peaks are stiff. Spread whipping cream over entire surface leaving 1-inch border and reserving 1/2 C whipped cream. Spread strawberries and blueberries over the whipped cream. Roll the cake, careful not to “crack” the cake as well as not rolling it too tight or too loose. For a more professional look, cut off one inch from each end of the roll. Make sure to use a serrated knife for a clean cut. Place on serving dish and decorate with reserved whipped cream and berries. Sprinkle roll with icing sugar using a small sieve.

Enjoy. Here I served it with an extra dollop of whipped cream.

My son’s finished plate ~ he ate all the whipped cream and berries!

I don’t know if any of you have notice but I have switched to Windows Live Writer to write my posts. This is my second post using it and I find that it is very user-friendly and prefer it over Blogger. Let me know what you think.