Thai-ed Up

After I get home from work I have had days where I am completely exhausted. It's hot out, I've had a busy day, or I just don't feel like cooking. But I usually want to eat something healthy, so I'm not ordering a pizza.

Those are days I hope I remember this Peanut Butter Thai Noodle Salad recipe. This dish is no-cook, quick, healthy, and yummy. Plus it makes enough for leftovers for the next night and that's always a plus - if the dish is good!

Red Carpet Cookies and a Giveaway! #ChexRedCarpet

I love watching the Oscars and the count down to the show on March 2 is already on at my house. I know a few of you might think that it's a little early to be thinking about the Oscars, especially with the Olympics still being on, but I need time to plan.

Every year I love to create fun food to serve while we watch the Oscars that is themed around at least one of the movies up for an award. This year is no different and my movie of choice of Gravity. I loved Sandra Bullock's performance and I loved the adrenaline that came from watching the movie - there wasn't much about it I didn't like.

Well there was one part I wish had been different, but I won't spoil it for those of you who haven't seen it yet....

At first I thought I might just get a few astronaut ice cream sandwiches. That would be easy and fun. But after tasting one, I knew that could not be only themed treat I'd serve. They are fun to think about, but I wouldn't write home about how they taste.

So I racked my brain a little more and came up with a new approach. Instead of serving something that astronauts might eat in outer space, I'll serve something that resembles something in outer space - a moon to be exact.

I know you're going to try these easy Chex Moon Cookies so read on for my recipe. And also read on for an opportunity to win a great prize pack - perfect to use the next time you're serving a special dessert.

Go Team Canada! #CheerForGold

Canada always seems to be known for winter fun. I have even seen an American car topped with skis and toboggans driving through Canada in August. I hope they weren't looking for a ski hill to be open, but if they were, at least they knew where to come back to in the winter.

Because Canada is so known for winter, I am always especially excited for the Winter Olympics. Our athletes are talented and they are going to be so much fun to cheer on!

Since I am so excited for the games next month, I want to learn a little more about our athletes and General Mills, a great supporter of Team Canada, has made that easy and fun to do. For a limited time, you can bring specially-marked boxes of Cheerios* Cereals, Oatmeal Crisp* Cereals, Lucky Charms*, Cinnamon Toast Crunch*, Reese® Puffs, Nature Valley*, Gushers* and Fruit by the Foot* to life on your Apple or Android smart phone or tablet with the help of the Blippar app.

Old Favourites

Sometimes I feel really creative in my kitchen and come up with tons of new dishes. And other times I slightly less creative and merely take a past winning dish and work on it a little to make it even more winning. 

Tonight's dish is a reworked favourite and if you love Asian foods stuffed full of garlic, ginger, peanut butter, and lime - I know you'll love it. I amped up these flavours from the original dish and made it into a complete meal with a side of sautéed spinach and some crispy tofu. 

Read on for my reworked recipe!

Asian Spaghetti

This dish may not actually be spaghetti, but it is one of the best spaghetti squash recipes I've ever eaten. It's got sweetness, tang, spice, and somehow even a rich comfort all mixed up together in one delicious bite. 

Good Asian food often achieves that strange mix of perfection and I think that might be why I love it so much. Italian food does beat Asian on the comfort, Indian food beats it on the spice, and desserts of any origin always beat it on the sweetness, but no where else are you ever going to find a combination of tastes that so perfectly combine all those taste bud sensations. 

Read on for an amazing spaghetti squash recipe with a taste so good it's going to make you reach for seconds and maybe even thirds! 

A Peanut Butter Giveaway!

I have always loved peanut butter. I love peanut butter in a curry, peanut butter in a sandwich, peanut butter in a dipping sauce, and peanut butter in pretty much everything else too.

Peanut butter is one of the only things that can keep me full until lunch, but peanut butter on toast is only so satisfying every single morning. That's why I was super excited when I heard that General Mills was going to be making Peanut Butter Cheerios.

Starting today, on the Life Made Delicious Facebook page, there will be a free bogo coupon for the new Peanut Butter Cheerios. You buy Chocolate, Banana Nut, or Apple Cinnamon Cheerios and you'll get the new Peanut Butter Cheerios for free! The delicious new limited edition Cheerios will appear on shelves on March 4, 2013 and you can redeem your bogo coupon on March 16-17, 2013.

Since the new Cheerios haven't hit the shelves yet, here's a wonderfully easy peanut recipe to tickle your taste buds - Peanut Butter Ripple Brownies!

Smothered

Some sauces are meant to be messy and that's just because they taste so delicious that they make you want to dive into a big bowl. However, instead of diving into the sauce, it's a bit more normal to just smother everything in sight with it. 

That's this sauce. It has everything I crave in it - curry, coconut cream, citrus, and peanut butter. You might not think that all these would go together, but they do. You'll just have to try it to believe me. 

Cream of the Crop

On the eighth day of Christmas my true love gave to me... Eight maids a milking and a prize from Werther's Original! 

Werther's recently had a great contest where everyone was asked to come up with an original recipe for Werther's Caramel Season. I love snacking on Werther's caramels but I haven't baked with them a lot, so I racked my brain for something delicious to enter. 

I finally decided to revamp one of my favourite cookie recipes to use Werther's Soft Caramels and I won! I thought that since these cookies involve whipping cream, it would only be fitting to share on the eighth day of Christmas :)

Asian Gravy

I love homey family dinners like turkey with mashed potatoes and gravy or roast beef with Yorkshire puddings and gravy. I love the feeling of warmth and love those kinds of meals bring to the table and I guess you could also say that I love gravy! 

But I also love Asian cuisine and gravy isn't found in Asian cuisine very often. At least it hasn't been found in Asian cuisine until now! 

Today's post is all much my take on an Asian "gravy". My gravy isn't a stock based gravy, it's coconut milk and peanut butter based sauce. And I'd probably suggest putting it on rice instead of mashed potatoes, but I think you could try it on anything you like. :) 

Want to know my recipe? Read on to find it out!

A Nutty Mix of Sweet and Spicy

I love to mix sweet and spicy flavours into one dish. I think it makes the flavours feel more layered and complex. And when I get to add in a nutty taste too, well that's just the icing on top of the cake. 

This recipe takes a basic sweet potato soup up notch by adding in a few tablespoons each of thick peanut butter and sweet Thai chili sauce. Plus I've created a garnish of sticky and sweet peanuts that make the soup extra special. 

I think the peanuts would make a great topping for a salad or even a great bar snack too. So I'd advise making a double serving of them! 

Colour, Colour Everywhere

Colour's what I think about when Thailand comes to mind. The culture is vibrant, the landscape is amazing, and the food explodes to excite your senses with spicy, sweet, salty, sour, and bitter notes. 

Of course, that's only what I think of when Thailand comes to mind, because I have yet to go on my dream vacation (as I've already told you when I made Pad Thai last year). I would love to visit the land of beautiful beaches, experience a Thai massage, see the Grand Palace, go on a canal tour, and most of all - eat delicious authentic Thai food until my heart's content (not an easy task!). 

My recipe for Sweet Potato and Chicken Salad incorporates flavours, colours, and ingredients that I think are a Canadian version of a Thai picnic dish and I would love to find out if I am right. 

The New Ants on a Log

How do make such a classic snack into something new? 

I did it! I took that boring piece of celery slathered with peanut butter and topped with raisins to a new level of tastiness. 

But it's not at all what you'd expect. For one thing, it's no longer a snack. It's a dinner! And for another, it's not just for kids, adults will love this too. 

Alright, I won't keep you waiting any longer. 

Just one more thing... Remember your wallet when you run out to the store for the ingredients of this dish. I know I get forgetful when I get hungry.

Taste the Feeling

I am so excited!

And this time it's not because it's less than 3 months until Christmas! Although, that is also pretty exciting...

This time it's because Kraft Peanut Butter has chosen my video for Spread the Feeling as one of the TOP TEN entries!

And that means that I have a one in ten chance of winning the ten $10,000 prize!

Can you believe it?

If not, check out my video and my recipe for my Peanut Butter Caramel Thumbprints.

Oh, and maybe while you're checking out my video, you could vote for me?

Thanks everyone!

(And thanks to you too, Kraft!)

Smells Like Teen Spirit

And tastes like it too!

But without the fear of eating raw eggs...

Wait... Am I getting a bit ahead of myself?

Did you figure out I was talking about all the sleepovers I used to have with my girlfriends? And how I loved baking cookies and eating half the raw dough with them before we baked?

You did? Great!

Well, did you figure out I was also talking about how the recipe I am going to share with you today is a vegan cookie recipe? So there are no eggs in the recipe, meaning no raw eggs in the cookie batter?

Let me say that again, just incase you didn't catch it the first time: there are no eggs in the batter!

I guess you can tell I am not a vegan or this little tidbit of information would not have affected me. But since I always have eggs in my cookie recipes, this is extremely exciting.

And what was more exciting was that these cookies were delicious.

I don't know about you, but I have always tended to think about vegan cooking in a negative light. I didn't think there would be a lot of taste because the food had kind of bland ingredients. At least that's how I thought about vegan cooking, without have tasted it.

I was definitely proved wrong. And I hope you will be proved wrong too.

So let Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero's Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar as soon as possible.

All I did to make their recipe my own was shape the cookies differently. Instead of wrapping the peanut butter part of the cookie with the chocolate part of the cookie, I used the peanut butter part as the centre of a flower.

Let me know which style of cookie you prefer:

Moskowitz and Romero's Peanut Butter Chocolate Pillows

or.... 

MY Peanut Butter Chocolate Flowers

6 Ingredient Fix

Check these out!

These cookies look like something you could find in a cookbook or maybe even in a bakery, but when you read my recipe you'll see that there are only 6 ingredients!

Gotta Be PB

I love peanut butter and with all the peanut butter foods out there, a lot of people must agree with me. 

You've got sandwiches, sauces, desserts, popcorn, ice cream, and everything else --- even dogs love the creamy stuff. 

Although... Maybe I am not the best person to talk about dog food. Olli gets "toppers" of steak, chicken, cheese, and veggies on her kibble every day and sometimes even sweet treats. 

No chocolate though -- we do have a line. 

Ten thousand thank yous!

I've always loved D'Italiano bread but now I have to say that I really really REALLY love it.

I don't think I will ever buy another loaf of bread, even if another brand is on sale.

And if you know me and how much I love sales, you'll know that's a BIG deal!

I clicked on the shiny gold button that said "find out" and this is what I found!

How a Basic PB and J Inspires Something New

Yesterday I was making myself a snack. Nothing special, just a basic peanut butter and jam sandwich.

I spread on the peanut butter and scraped the bottom of my jam jar to try and get enough out. There wasn't quite enough jam for my liking so I checked my cupboard for another jar. I was completely shocked to find that there were only two jars left!

One solitary peach jam and one lonely little blackberry jam.