Harry Potter Butter Beer Cupcakes

I remember when my Nana and Papa first brought me the original Harry Potter book. They knew I loved to read and they had heard that the book was really popular so thought I'd love it. Well, they were right. I remember quickly devouring it in my bedroom and eagerly looking for the next instalment.

So when I heard that a Harry Potter cookbook was coming out, the Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook, I got extremely excited. I knew there would be recipes for all my favourite magical goodies. I knew everything from Pumpkin Patsies to Butter Beer to Pumpkin Juice to Hagrid's Rock Cakes would be represented and I couldn't wait to read it.

I picked it up from my library and I was really glad not to have bought it because the recipes were not what I had been expecting. No recipes were exciting or thought provoking. No recipes were magical. There weren't even photos! No recipes at all for my favourite Butter Beer.

But there was a "recipe" for Crispy Bacon as Ron had eaten it a few times in the books. I hope I'm spoiling the cookbook when I say they instructed us to crisp bacon on a frying pan and eat it. There were lots of recipes for standard things like bacon, roast chicken, and roast beef - with small stories of remember the time that Hermione once ate chicken or remember when Harry had roast beef?

No, this is one cookbook I won't be buying. One of my recipes from last Christmas would have made a better recipe for Hagrid's Rock Cakes than what appeared in the book. And this delicious recipe for Butter Beer Cupcakes that I've adapted from Amy Bites should have been a cover shot.

A Great Fish Dish

I know everyone doesn't love fish, or green beans for that matter, but this dish is worth trying. It's easy, quick, and best of all - all the flavours work together so well that it tastes awesome.

I've told Luke that I want real honest feedback from him on my cooking and sometimes it hurts, but sometimes it's wonderful. And the feedback from the dish was one of those wonderful times. The tartness, spiciness, and sweetness were just the right amount and everything was cooked nicely.

Sometimes I wonder why I asked for honest feedback on my cooking, but I know why when I get this kind of feedback. The dish is really as yummy as he says it is and I want all my dishes to improve to get to this same level of yumminess.

Homemade Creamless Corn

I have been known to buy creamed corn from a can from time to time. I love the flavour of creamed corn, but I really hate looking at the gluggy goo slopping from the can. It's just not appetizing. 

So when I had an abundance of corn on the corn in my fridge, I thought of trying my hand at making a homemade creamed corn - hold the cream. I love cream, but I thought I could make a delicious creamed corn without the extra calories so I could still enjoy dessert! 

The dish I came up with was great! The only problem was that the pan was emptied too soon. But I can remedy that too; next time I'll just have to make a double recipe! 

Beet It, Stains

I love eating beets. They can be sweet, earthy, or pickled and they add a beautiful rich hue to my plates. But I don't love the stains they leave when one when accidentally falls off my fork, tumbles down my blouse, and lands on my pants. In fact, I hate beet stains.

But I've learned how best to go about beating beet stains, and before I share one of the best beet salad recipes I've ever had with you, I'm going to share a couple of tips about getting rid of beet stains.

I've tried two methods and they've both worked pretty well. The first method sounds a little crazy, but I use it if I'm out of my favourite stain remover. Just soak a piece of bread in cold water and use it to sponge away the beet stains, then wash the clothes as usual. My second method is to run the fabric under cold water right away, pretreat the stain with my favourite stain remover, and then wash as usual. I'm always interested in learning about new ways to get rid of stains, so if you have other tested ideas, I'd love to hear about them.

I'm going to post my tips about getting rid of beet stains on Resolve's new Resolve Tip Exchange website. It's a great new site to learn about getting rid of stains, all from readers like you and me!

One of the ways that Resolve is encouraging us to enter tips is by offering 12 weekly prizes of $250 and a grand prize of $5000! Each week we can submit a tip to earn a ballot in the draw for the prizes and that's sure got me thinking of tips I'd like to share!

So far I've sent in tips for removing butter and red wine from clothes, but you'll have to head over to Resolve Tip Exchange to find out those tips! For now, since you don't have to worry about permanently staining your clothes from beets, read on for an amazingly tasty Beet and Carrot Salad recipe!

Bake Off Winner!

I love entering cooking and baking competitions because they're fun, challenge me creatively, and because I love to win! Every month for the last few months I have been entering the Food Network's Bake Off challenge and I have finally been successful and won! 

Last month's challenge was to bake Roger Mooking's Pavlova with Mango, Lychee Nuts, and Raspberries but I took a few liberties and made the dessert my own. I think that, plus how delicious my outcome was, really helped me to win. 

Check out my winning entry online at the Food Network's blog and read on for my adapted recipe. Both are delicious but I really like my decoration of a flower made out of thinly sliced mango. Thanks to Roger Mooking for a yummy recipe to adapt from and thanks to the Food Network for a great Bake Off. 

Crazy Ingredient Challenge - Avocados and Caramel?

If I thought that last month's Crazy Ingredient Challenge of pairing cauliflower and chocolate was hard, this month's challenge of pairing avocados and caramel took it to another level. But I brought out my big guns too and I think that the dish I came up with was both delicious and featured avocados and caramel really well.

At first I wanted to make the infamous avocado chocolate pudding that I've seen all over the Internet and I thought I would drizzle a little homemade caramel sauce on top. But then I decided to really stretch myself and make a savoury dish that really let caramel shine. That how I came up with my Creamy Avocado Salad with Caramel Almonds.

Since I'm still thinking about the avocado chocolate pudding, I know it's something I'm going to make soon. So if anyone is wishing I made that instead, just wait because it might appear on Delish in a Dish soon! For now, read on for my yummy Creamy Avocado Salad with Caramel Almonds recipe. 

Minted - Christmas Cards and More!

I know many of us are busy focusing on back to school right now, but it's also creeping closer to my favourite holiday season and it will soon be time to think about planning Christmas and holiday cards. It might sound too soon to some of you, but I know I start receiving cards at the beginning of December which means they must have been mailed in mid November, must have been personalized in early November, and in homes ready to go in October. It's going to be September in a just a few short weeks, so it's now time to start planning to stay ahead of the game!

Minted is a new website that I've just discovered and I am loving Minted's beautiful Christmas photo cards. I also love that choosing Minted cards means supporting independent designers and that the cards are reasonably priced. 

One of my favourite of Minted's Christmas photo cards is the template below. You can customize your photo card with five of your own photos and choose from a selection of colours for the background too.  I love this card because I love to include a simple holiday recipe in my Christmas cards and I would love to include a photo of my recipe as one of the photos. 

This year I am thinking about including a recipe for a simple Christmas fruit salad in my Christmas cards. Read on for my recipe and for a few great holiday gift ideas from Minted!