Recipe Day!!! Skor Toffee Chocolate Bars

this recipe is something my cousin Paulette makes and it rocks! She brought it to Jenn's baby shower the other day and they disappeared fast!

• Step 1:Cream together until well blended:
• 3/4 cup margarine
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 1/2 cup flour
• Press into 9"x13" cake pan. Bake at 350 F for 15-20 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool on wire rack while preparing filling.

• Step 2:Put in microwave bowl and heat together on medium heat for 5 minutes, stirring after 2 minutes:
• 1 can (300ml) sweetened condensed milk
• 2 tbsp margarine
• Spread over base. Bake 10 minutes or until bubbly.

Step 3:Sprinkle:

1 (300g) pkg milk chocolate chips

Bake 2 minutes more or until chocolate is shiny and soft. Remove from oven. Spread chocolate evenly.

Step 4:Sprinkle with:

Skor Toffee Bits on top, pressing lightly into chocolate. Cool Completely.

Try: Semi sweet or white chocolate chips.

First of all Happy Birthday to my brother Shane!!!He turns 25 today. So today's recipe is my ultimate favourite thing in the world!!!!! Cheesecake! This recipe is a little complicated but it is so well worth it.(If you like a true baked cheesecake) My mom makes it all the time and I think she got the recipe from my cousin Lis.

• crust: 1 1/4 cups flour
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1 tsp grated lemon peel
• 1 egg yolk
• 1/4 tsp vanilla
• 3/4 cup margarine

In a small bowl mix all of the above at low speed. Put 1/3 of the mix on the bottom of a 10" spring form pan. Bake at 400 F for 8 min. Cool completely.

• filling: 5- 8oz pkgs cream cheese
• 1 3/4 cup white sugar
• 3 tbsp flour
• 3/4 tbsp grated lemon peel
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 5 eggs
• 2 egg yolks
• 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream

(if you want flavour don't use whipping cream instead use Kahlua, Bailey's etc...)

In a large bowl mix on medium speed cream cheese until creamy. (don't over whip!) Then beat in sugar, flour and the rest of the ingredients. Eggs 1 at a time. Beat. At the very end beat at high speed for 5 min.

Press the rest of the crust mixture around the sides. Pour cheese mixture into pan. Turn oven to 475 F. Bake for 10 min. only at that heat then turn oven down to 300F for 35 minutes. Turn oven off and leave for 1/2 hr in oven.

This is unbelievably rich, so make sure you have lot's of company to share with. I personally like it plain with a hint of fresh fruit on, but jazz it up however you like. One Christmas I drizzled chocolate and made a raspberry drizzle too and put my own homemade choclates on it. It was pretty scrumptious. Enjoy.

Recipe Day!!! Let's make some Tarts

Raspberry Coconut Tarts - my grandma Vera Elliott's recipe in my family these tarts are legendary. They are always at evey event, and they are very easy to make and interchange ingredients!

• either make your own tarts or use premade ones (then follow guidelines on kg because in case you have to precook)
• put 1 tsp of raspberry jam in every tart (substitute any jam you love if desired.)seperate 2 eggs, beat whites till frothy and set aside.

mix together:

• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 tsp corn starch
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup melted butter
• 3 tsps lemon juice
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups coconut

fold in egg whites, mix and then put 1 tsp to fill the tart, might need more depending on tart size. They will look really puffed up while baking but will fall.

****** edited**** I guess you need to know bake time is 30-40 min @ 350F.

Have fun. These are yummy!

Recipe Day!!! Let's make some BUNS!

Okay, so I am actually making this recipe as I speak.

BUNS -

this is actually a great recipe from my mother in law (Linda Forrest who is known for the best buns in town.)

• 3 cups warm water
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup oil
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp Fleishmann's quick rising yeast
• 2 eggs, beaten well!
• 7-9 cups flour
• Mix the first 4 ingredients. Then add one tbsp of flour to this mixture, stir. Now add the yeast and eggs. The flour will make sure if your water was too warm it won't spoil the yeast. A surefire trick! Add flour ONLY till the mixture is non sticky. I always add to much flour so now I keep mine a little tacky. Knead, put oil on top and let rise 15 min. Repeat this 3 times. Make them into balls. Let rise and bake at 350 for 20 min.

***** now, that was her recipe. Here are tricks I've learned. My entire house is covered in windows so it isn't generally on the warmer side. These buns turn out the best when your house is toasty!!!! So I do crank up my heat when I make buns. I also preheat my oven and let my buns rise on the stove above. I also found that your perfect bun size will take about 20-30 min to rise. Don't rush them or they are a little heavy. And don't forget gramma's trick. Always cover your dough & buns with a clean tea towel when rising. (keep all the warmth in) My last hint; my oven is a little too hot, so I lower by temp to 325 and I bake my buns for 30 min (or till a perfect golden brown) Get out the butter because they are sweet right out of the oven!! Bon appetit!

So I am a huge believer in kids helping out. Does it really matter if I know I could do it better without them? no. Do they get a huge amount of enjoyment???Yes. Do they become more familiar in the kitchen?yes. Do they learn new things?yes. The following are pics of the boys helping me this afternoon.Enjoy. By the way, they turned out GREAT!

it is so funny, they both put out their hands to get greased up to punch the bread.

see, turned out great!

Recipe Day!!!!

Today is RECIPE day! Welcome to the Martha Stewart segment of my blog. I just threw that in because those close to me always call me Martha because I tend to be like her. I do everything! but I am NOT a successful housekeeper!!! The only time my house looks great is when my hubbie is coming home, or when I'm hosting an event at my house. I should have more shame and keep it immaculate like my friends Natalie, Pam or Andrea, but hey I tend to scrapbook in my free time. But I'm so pumped to share recipes. In my family we all recipe swap. My cousin Bernice did a cool project with one of her daughters, create a family scrapbook and then market it. It has become my favourite book because I know everyone in it, I love to read the stories of how the recipe came to be, or where it came from. I love the sharing part. Slowly I am converting all my favourite recipes into scrapbooked recipe cards. Which gives me pleasure. So here's the deal. If you submit me a recipe in my comments or by email, I will scrapbook YOU a recipe card. make sure you state your desired card size. It could even be a 8 1/2 x 11 if you put them in a binder like my grandma. your choice, just let me know!!! I will make an effort to try each and every recipe people submit. So I am going to start with a very quick & easy cupcake recipe. (This recipe can also be made to be a cake if you don't want cupcakes) I have 2 awesome relatives that introduced me to this recipe; Nancy Elian & Cheryl Thompson. It is creamy & very delicious. A must for all chocolate & cream cheese fans. (just click on the photo and it will become big enough to read the recipe. )If anyone is having problems with this, then I can type it out. So leave me a comment if that would be better for you! (I pulled the photo off of this because it is not very good. Next time I make these I will try to get a better shot, Otherwise the r.h top would normally be a photo. )

Have Fun!!!

Oh, and you guys, the emails have been coming in regarding journaling from the heart. I think I have offically become emotional!!!! Some of you have made me laugh and others have made me cry, especially you T. W. I have definitely been inspired by you guys! Thanks! I have to be truthful. I haven't been successful this week at my own journaling. I've tried 3 times but after reading one friend's email, she kicked my butt into gear. I ended up pouring my heart out onto the paper till the wee hours and you know what. I feel better, like a weight has been lifted. It was something that I needed to do. Thanks!

RECIPES!!!!

Hi, I was recently told that people love to get recipes from me. I was really, really happy to hear that. So you want to know why they liked them??? because I gave them an original work of art "scrapbooked recipe card" that can fit into the "typical 5x7 recipe box. I find that this is a really personal touch. I love to get scrapbooked recipes. At Christmas time, I was given some girl guides cookies from a client that I scrapbooked for. On the wrapping was the cutest card that include different recipes on how to make pies and other stuff with the cookies. As far as I know this card was made by his co-worker, Melina (Mindy) Beaver. (a fun scrapbooker!) Well the recipe went immediately into my scrapbooked recipe box. I cherish it. So I decided that this is something really important to me. So once a week I will post a "scrapbooked recipe card." So stay tuned I'll start next week. Plus, I'll include the recipes. (because that is always the fun part.) I love to try new recipes, so if you have a great family favourite, post it in the comments! I promise I'll try it out AND I will make you a personalized recipe card as a thank you!!!