And the winner is...!

Thank you to all who participated in and read our Five Days of Festive Fun!

I hope you all enjoyed reading it as I did writing it.

I numbered all the entries and used a random number generator to choose a winner.

The winner of the Kitchen Aid Food Processor is Tracy Lee of Toronto. Congratulations Tracy and hope this helps with your holiday chopping!

 Thanks to Kitchen Aid Canada for sponsoring this great giveaway

Cheers

Carrie

Super-Yummy Banana Cake

The holidays are a time for family and a time for sharing, so I thought it appropriate to share a family recipe with you all that was passed down to me from a woman who is very dear to my heart.

My godmother (and aunt) gave me this recipe in a great little book put together by her daughter (and my maid of honour) for my wedding shower. It was a super thoughtful spin on a guestbook for my shower as all the guests were invited to contribute a recipe to the book. My aunt added fun little comments about the recipe and how well-loved it is in her family, including how my one cousin can’t get enough of the icing.

The recipe originally comes from my grandmother, who passed it down to my aunt and who has now passed it down to me.

This is a banana cake, a larger recipe than a standard loaf and can be baked in either a sheet or two rounds.  It is rich and decadent and the perfect end to a family meal.

I shared it tonight with my son and seems yet another generation will enjoy this family tradition.

Yummy Banana Cake

1 cup butter

1 cup white sugar, 2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 ¾ cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

2 tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

4 tbsp sour milk (stir one tsp of vinegar in with the milk)

3 large bananas, mashed.

Cream butter with an electric mixer, add in eggs and beat. Stir in vanilla.

In a separate bowl stir flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

(Optional, stir in a ½ tsp of cinnamon and a ¼ tsp nutmeg.)

Stir mashed bananas and sour milk together.

Add  1/3 flour mixture to creamed butter mixture. Stir in 1/3 of bananas and milk. Repeat until fully blended.

In a well greased 13x9 “ pan, pour cake batter and bake at 350F for 30-40 minutes until the edges are brown and a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.

Cream cheese icing

250 g of cream cheese

¼ cup butter

½ tsp vanilla

2-3 cups of icing sugar (depending on desired consistency)

Cream together cream cheese, butter and vanilla. Sift in icing sugar one cup at a time and beat until well combined.

Spread on cooled cake.

Optional top with toasted walnuts (or for an even more decadent treat, macadamia nuts)

Another variation: stir in one cup of chocolate chips to cake batter before baking.

 

So here are the rules for entering the giveaway for a Kitchen Aid Food Processor (retail value $399):

Leave a comment on the blog, or any other blog entry this week during my Five Days of Festive Fun! (That’s all you need to do for your first entry!) One comment per blog post, per person please!

This giveaway is for Canadian readers only, unfortunately, so you must live in Canada.

Since this post was a little late getting up, I'll extend the entries until noon Dec. 10.

For extra entries you can:

Find me on Facebook and like my page (come back to the blog and let me know you did this to complete this entry)

Find me on Twitter @Wifewithknives and follow me. (come back to the blog and let me know you did this to complete this entry)

Full disclosure: KitchenAid Canada is providing the winner of my giveaway with a food processor. I am not being compensated financially or in any other way through this giveaway. I have not received an appliance myself for review. The opinions expressed on this blog are my own.

Easy-peasy chocolate fudge- Day 4 of Five Days of Festive Fun

Welcome back for Day 4 of Five Days of Festive Fun.

Since becoming a mom, I’ll admit to taking some shortcuts in the kitchen here and there.

Yeah, I haven’t made my own mayo in months, and I think the last time I made my own pasta, I was two months pregnant with my first child (now five months pregnant with my second!)

So this next recipe is one that my family has used forever. It’s an easy-peasy fudge recipe that you can whip up in minutes and be good to go for a dessert tray add-on that everyone will love.

It’s three ingredients (more or less) unless you want to add more, and the part where you’re using heat (which I try to limit with a toddler in the house) is minimal.

 

Quick Chocolate Fudge

18 oz of dark chocolate

1 300 ml can of sweetened condensed milk

1 tsp of vanilla extract

Melt chocolate and condensed milk, stirring constantly over low heat.

Once completely melted, remove from heat, stir in vanilla and pour into an 8x8 parchment lined baking pan.

That’s it! Let cool and cut into 1 inch squares.

Optional add ins:

Traditional: 2/3 cup of toasted chopped walnuts

Festive: 2/3 cups of chopped candy canes

Please sir, may I have s’more: 1/3 cup crumbled graham crackers, 1/3 cup mini marshmallows

Cherry Pop: a pinch of cayenne pepper and 1/3 cup of chopped dried cherries

What are your favourite festive treats?

 So here are the details for the giveway to win yourself a brand new Kitchen Aid Food Processor (retail value $399):

Leave a comment on the blog, or any other blog entry this week during my Five Days of Festive Fun! (That’s all you need to do for your first entry!) One comment per blog post, per person please!

This giveaway is for Canadian readers only, unfortunately, so you must live in Canada.

For extra entries you can:

Find me on Facebook and like my page (come back to the blog and let me know you did this to complete this entry)

Find me on Twitter @Wifewithknives and follow me. (come back to the blog and let me know you did this to complete this entry)

Full disclosure: KitchenAid Canada is providing the winner of my giveaway with a food processor. I am not being compensated financially or in any other way through this giveaway. I have not received an appliance myself for review. The opinions expressed on this blog are my own.

Upside-Down Gingerbread Pear Cake

Nothing says holidays quite like gingerbread.

It fills the house with wonderful smells of warm winter spices and makes you wanna cozy up by the fireplace. Did I mention that it’s day three of my Five Days of Festive Fun? Make sure you see the end of this post and comment for you chance to win a Kitchen Aid Food Processor!

The following recipe is one of my all-time favourite holiday recipes. Great to bring to a potluck to serve for brunch or at the end of a meal.

It is elegant and rich, but has the added bonus of fruit.  It’s always a big hit at gatherings, and it’s easy to make to boot. Not to mention, it’s an upside-down cake. I love this style of baking, I think it’s one of the best ways to highlight fruit in a dish, without the labour-intensive business of pie.

I used Forelle Pears in this recipe, which are small and sweet, and the perfect firm texture for this type of cake.  You’ll need a 10-inch cast-iron skillet for this recipe

 

Upside-Down Pear GingerBread Cake

Topping

6-8 forelle pears, peeled and quartered

½ cup brown sugar

¼ cup unsalted butter

(You can add a couple of tablespoons of brandy if you like too)

2 ½ cups of all purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp ginger

1 tsp cinnamon

¼ tsp nutmeg

½ tsp salt

1 egg

½ cup unsalted butter

½ cup brown sugar

1 cup of molasses

1 cup of boiling water

Melt sugar and butter for topping over low heat in the cast iron skillet. Once sugar is completely dissolved add pears and let simmer slowly until pears soften a little (if adding brandy, add now).

Set aside.

Sift together flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt.

In a large bowl cream together butter and brown sugar with an electric beater. Once well combined, beat in egg until smooth.

In a two cup measuring cup, measure out 1 cup of molasses and top with one cup of boiling water. Stir to combine.

Add 1/3 of flour mixture to egg, butter and sugar mixture, stir. Add 1/3 of molasses and water mixture and combine. Keep adding thirds of each mixture until batter is fully combined.

Remove pears from the cast pan and arrange in pleasing circular fashion.

Top with cake batter and bake for 40 to 50 min. at 350F.

The edges of the cake will be crisp.

Let cool 15 to 20 minutes. Invert onto a large plate.

 Adapted from this recipe on epicurious.com

What are your favourite flavours and scents of the season?

So here are the rules for entering the giveaway of a Kitchen Aid Food Processor:

Leave a comment on the blog, or any other blog entry this week during my Five Days of Festive Fun! (That’s all you need to do for your first entry!) One comment per blog post, per person please!

This giveaway is for Canadian readers only, unfortunately, so you must live in Canada.

For extra entries you can:

Find me on Facebook and like my page (come back to the blog and let me know you did this to complete this entry)

Find me on Twitter @Wifewithknives and follow me. (come back to the blog and let me know you did this to complete this entry)

Full disclosure: KitchenAid Canada is providing the winner of my giveaway with a food processor. I am not being compensated financially or in any other way through this giveaway. I have not received an appliance myself for review. The opinions expressed on this blog are my own.

Mediterranean Filo Cups- Five Days of Festive Fun (Day 2)

Welcome back for day two of my Five Days of Festive Fun.

Remember to read through to the end to leave a comment for today’s entry for the KitchenAid food processor giveaway.

Yesterday I gave you a quick and easy recipe for an appetizer that you could whip up on a moments notice (if you happen to have artichokes in your cupboard).

Today, I’m will give a recipe for an elegant appetizer that is a little more complicated.

There is no reason to use a food processor for this one, but I’ll throw in an extra recipe that KitchenAid sent to me at the end that you could definitely use

These tasty little cups are a burst of flavour. And they look like you’ve slaved forever making them. But thanks to some frozen filo dough and some premade pesto, you’ll pull these together in half an hour (minus the baking time).

You’ll need a mini-muffin tray to make these into bite-sized morsels.

Mediterranean vegetable filo cups

¼ cup butter melted

6 sheets of filo dough (thawed)

4 plum tomatoes

2 small zucchinis

1 -300g pkg of goat cheese

about 2-3 tbsps of prepared pesto

½ ounce of parmesan cheese, grated

2 vegetable crackers crushed 

Seed and dice tomatoes into a very small dice and place in a bowl with crackers and cheese, and season with salt and pepper.

Dice zucchinis in an equally small dice and place in a separate bowl. Salt generously and let sit. (the zucchinis will shed a lot of water this way, and prevent you from having soggy filo cups.

Take your first sheet of filo and place on a flat working surface.

Brush with melted butter and top with another filo sheet.

Continue until all six sheets are stacked one on top of the other, brush melted butter on top layer.

Cut the sheet into two inch squares.

Take one square and press buttered-side down a mini muffin cup. Do this with all of the cups (This should make about 36).

Drain zucchini and squeeze dry.

With the back of a spoon, spread a tiny bit of pesto in each cup. Follow with a small piece of goat cheese, a few pieces of zucchini and top with a bit of the tomato mixture. Cups should be full to capacity.

Bake in a 350F oven for about 20 minutes or until the edges of cups are brown and crisps

Serve warm or at room temperature!

Enjoy :)

And as promised here's a recipe made easy with the use of a food processor, provided by Kitchen Aid.

I haven't tried this recipe, so I cannot yet vouch for it.

Holiday Slaw

1⁄2 large green cabbage, cored

1 small fennel bulb, trimmed

8 large red radishes, trimmed

6 green onions, trimmed

1 green pepper, cored

1 cup (250 mL) dried cranberries

1⁄2 cup (125 mL) white wine vinegar
1/3 cup (75 mL) each oil and maple syrup

2 tbsp (30 mL) lemon juice

1 tbsp (15 mL) Dijon mustard

3⁄4 tsp (4 mL) salt

1.Cut the cabbage into 5 or 6 wedges. Position the adjustable slicing disc in the work bowl and, using the thin setting on High speed, push the wedges through the feeding tube. Transfer to a large bowl. Switch to the coarse side of the reversible shredding disc. Cut the fennel into quarters. Push the fennel and radishes through the feed- ing tube; add to the large bowl.
2. Cut the green onion and green pepper into chunks. Use the multi- purpose metal blade to chop finely. Add to the cabbage mixture. Combine the cranberries, vinegar, oil, maple syrup, lemon juice, mustard and salt in a small saucepan set over medium heat; bring to a boil. Pour over the cabbage mixture and toss to coat. Chill for at least 1 hour or up to 4 days. Makes about 12 cups (3 L).

Do you serve warm appetizers over the holidays? What are your favourite combos?

So here are the rules for entering the giveaway:

Leave a comment on the blog, or any other blog entry this week during my Five Days of Festive Fun! (That’s all you need to do for your first entry!) One comment per blog post, per person please!

This giveaway is for Canadian readers only, unfortunately, so you must live in Canada. Comments close at Midnight on Dec. 9. A winner will be announced Dec. 11.

For extra entries you can:

Find me on Facebook and like my page (come back to the blog and let me know you did this to complete this entry)

Find me on Twitter @Wifewithknives and follow me. (come back to the blog and let me know you did this to complete this entry)

Full disclosure: KitchenAid Canada is providing the winner of my giveaway with a food processor. I am not being compensated financially or in any other way through this giveaway. I have not received an appliance myself for review. The opinions expressed on this blog are my own.