Hot Day Long Weekend Treats

We have a had a lovely long weekend here, sunny, hot, and a little humid. I needed some cookies to take to a friend's house on Saturday and there was no way I could use the oven, so a no-bake treat was needed. I have posted about this no-bake cookie before, but I have since found my favourite recipe for them, which I am posting here today.

**Note About The Photos: I'm still getting used to my new camera and my kitchen photos came out very yellow. I need to tweak the settings some more and possibly use the flash more often than I did with my old camera. Learning as I go!!

Chocolate Oatmeal No Bake Cookies

Ingredients:
2 cups white sugar
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup margarine
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla
3.5 cups rolled oats

Method:

1. Combine sugar, milk, and margarine in a medium saucepan and heat over medium heat until blended. Stir occasionally and bring to a boil.

2. Once boiling, continue to boil without stirring for 4-5 minutes.

3. Remove from heat. Whisk in cocoa powder until blended (be careful when stirring as liquid is very hot). Add peanut butter and vanilla and mix until smooth.

4. Stir in rolled oats.

5. Drop by spoonfuls onto lined cookie sheet (shaping them if desired). Allow to chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour.

Enjoy!!!

Red Lobster Crabfest #FoodPicFriday

I had lunch with Mom earlier this week and she treated me to Crabfest at Red Lobster. As a seafood lover this lunch was over the top and really hit the spot. It was messy to eat, but that is half the fun.

What I ordered was called the Crab and Roasted-Garlic Seafood Bake. It contained: crab legs, shrimp, bay scallops, corn on the cob, and potatoes. Everything was roasted in a garlic and white wine broth, which was excellent for dipping the signature rolls into. This lunch was a mega hit and I remained happy and full all day.

Photo Bouquet

I recently got a new (to me) camera. Hand me down from my brother to my Mom, and then re-gifted from Mom to me. My digital camera has become increasingly unreliable, shutting off randomly, freezing with the shutter open, corrupting files. It could be a battery issue, but replacing the battery is at least $30, and because the camera is over seven years old, I'd rather put that money towards a new camera (probably an SLR). Until I take the plunge and buy a new camera, I'm playing around with my hand me down one and it's pretty great. It's a point and shoot like my old one (same brand as well), a few years newer than mine. I'm taking lots of pictures and having fun with the new functions.

I did some practice shooting on a bouquet of flowers and I think they turned out pretty well. Going to keep practicing until I figure out all the best settings. I love this bouquet - just gorgeous.

Winging Wings

I got an excellent deal on chicken wings on Monday and John quickly made them into a mouth watering meal. He works without a recipe, so I'll give you a rough idea of what he did, but mainly he just sort of winged it. (Bad puns for the win!)

First he split the wings. We had 14 full wings which made 28 split. He put them in a bowl and sprinkled them with olive oil, pepper, and Montreal steak spice (our go-to spice mix).

He spread them on a baking sheet and cooked them at a high heat (450°F) until fully cooked (about 40 minutes), flipping once. 

Once fully cooked, he added the wings to a bowl for tossing.

John made an amazing spicy BBQ sauce for them that included: prepared hickory BBQ sauce, Sriracha sauce, vinegar, chili powder, and salt + pepper. Not sure of the exact amounts of each, but it was damn good! Here are the wings right after the sauce was added. Look at them steam! It had a wonderful smell.

We snacked on wings strait from the bowl while watching the Emmys Monday night. Quite fun. The coriander seeds from the Montreal steak spice added an amazing flavour to these crispy and saucy wings.

80s Synth Pop Break

I am so excited for my brother-in-law Tab who is heading to Toronto tonight to see one of his favourite artists live in concert. Tom Bailey, previously of The Thompson Twins, is currently on tour playing Twins hits, which included tracks like "Hold Me Now", "Doctor Doctor", and "Love on Your Side". This is the first tour of Twins music is over 25 years and this will be the first time Tab will be seeing these songs live. The tour has been on for the past few weeks, and there is already some footage on YouTube and it looks like Tom Bailey puts on a pretty good show.

So for your 80s Synth Pop Break today, here are a few Thompson Twins songs to get you into an 80s groove.

"Hold Me Now" (a classic favourite)

"Love on Your Side" (Tab's favourite)

Have a great time Tab!