Sunday, 15 May 2011

Raining Days = Movies & Baking

It seems very wet this Spring.  One could always head out and do something practical such as run errands, finding locations indoors, or go walk around a mall (I enjoy doing this but sometimes am too tempted to spend money I don’t have).  Today I am staying in.  Today is a movie day and a baking/cooking day (well, after I tidy the house in the morning).  Hubby is working overtime so I am pulling out my favourite old movies and maybe baking something depending on what ingredients I have.  (For movie days/night you could head to the library and borrow some movies for free if you are tired with your collection!)

Recent Baking:  I found this blog amybites.com a few weeks back and as I am a HUGE Harry Potter fan, as is my lil’sister, I had to try the Butterbeer Cupcakes.  I tried making them the other day and shared some with lil’sister, they turned out really good if I do say so myself. 

The recipe said it makes 18; I made mine smaller and got 21 out of them.  I didn’t want to buy buttermilk as I didn’t want a carton of it laying around, I am not a big fan of it, so I substituted with 1/2cup of milk and ½ tsp of lemon juice.  (You could use ½ tsp of white vinegar if you don’t have lemon juice.)  I had to plan a head for this recipe as I don’t usually keep some of the ingredients.  On grocery day I bought a small carton of whipping cream, I didn’t have any butter flavouring and ended up buying some at Bulk Barn for $2.79, and a small bottle of cream soda.  I couldn’t find Vanilla Cream Soda, maybe that is an American thing (it sounds lovely).  I added a tsp of vanilla to the Cream Soda.  I bought a squeeze bottle at Dollarama.  So it took some planning but the result was super yummy and butterscotch-y.  I think Harry Potter would be proud.  These are best eaten during a Harry Potter marathon!

My Butterbeer Cupcakes:


I am interested in trying some of the other recipes from Amy’s blog, her food looks amazing!

For dinner I am doing a roast.  I have made three other roast beefs in my life and I have successfully over cooked each one of them.  One was so badly overcooked I couldn’t even cut it with a knife, oh and that was the same day I almost set the house on fire with my Yorkshire puddings.  Eghad.  I don’t want to toot my own horn, but I am usually pretty good at cooking so the fact I can’t seem to cook a roast beef is incredibly frustrating.  But I shall try it again as it’s rainy and damp and roast just seems to work well with these kind of days.  (The roast was on sale, I hate wasting ingredients so fingers crossed this one turns out!)  On rainy days, usually I play it safe and make chilli.  Chilli is next to impossible to mess up.  Google Chilli recipes and see what you come up with.  I love to freeze my chilli in individual portions for future meals.  It’s hearty and wholesome.  (We like to use some on top of frozen French fries, cook the fries as normal and then warm up some chilli and serve on top with some shredded cheddar cheese.  Yummy.)  Anyways, in case you don’t feel like roast, Chilli is one of my favourite rainy day foods.  Another added bonus for chilli is once the prep work is done, you don’t have to baby sit it, just turn it to low to simmer and stir occasionally.  (On bathroom breaks and snacks breaks during the movie!)

Don’t feel like a movie day, grab your book!  Or create a blog!  (This is quite fun actually!) 

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