'Tis the season!

Myles and I were having a cooking contest this morning. Main ingredient of the contest? Cranberries. Now, I'm sharing with you my winning recipe... I just came up with this recipe on the dot and it turned out super delicious!!! 

Cranberry-Balsamic Crumble

1 cup cranberries, halved

1/2 packet apple cider drink mix

1/4 cup water

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

2 tablespoons agave nectar

3 tablespoons oats

3 tablespoons brown sugar

3 tablespoons butter, chilled and cubed

Combine oats, sugar and butter in a food processor or blender. Pulse until it makes a crumbly powder. Set aside. Combine water and apple cider powder in sauce pan and bring to a boil. Add cranberries, balsamic and agave. Cook down for 5 minutes, stirring every minute. Transfer evenly to ramekins cover with crumble mixture and broil for 1 1/2-3 minutes until golden. Enjoy warm. 

White Peppermint Hot Chocolate!

Today is the first holiday recipe of this year!!! Love this drink, I will show you 2 versions on how to make it, depending on what you have. 

White Peppermint Hot Chocolate

Version 1:

1 cup milk

5-7 candy cane flavored HERSHEY'S® Hugs chocolates

Whipped cream and crushed candy cane bits (optional)

Unwrap the chocolates. Melt and place in  a mug. Slowly add warmed milk while stirring. Garnish with whipped cream and candy cane bits. Enjoy!

Version 2:

1 cup milk

5-7 squares of your favourite white chocolate

A couple drops of peppermint extract (depending on how much peppermint you like) 

Whipped cream and crushed candy cane bits (optional) 

Melt white chocolate with peppermint extract and put in a cup. Slowly add warmed milk while stirring. Garnish with whipped cream and candy cane bits. Enjoy!

Nailah's Note

You can substitute milk or dark chocolate for the white in Version 2. You can omit the peppermint in Version 2 for just White Hot Chocolate. For both variations, you can use any milk, like almond or soy. 

currently snacking on…

Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate (filled with) Speculoos Cookie Butter!!! From my last currently snacking on, you learned that I kind of LOVE Trader Joe's Cookie Butter. I saw that they had a chocolate bar filled with this stuff!!!! It is awesome. That gingerbread taste from the cookie butter mixed with the dark chocolate, yes please! I love this. 

currently snacking on…

So, my Mama recently went to Target and Trader Joe's!!! And got some delicious things!! At Target... There was some Gingerbread TWIX!!! I don't really know what those taste like because we aren't allowed to eat them 'till Christmas. But I DID try these amazing White Chocolate Peppermint M&M's!!! They are SO good! They taste just like my favourite drink from Starbucks, a white peppermint hot chocolate. And from Trader's we got this Speculoos Cookie & Cocoa Swirl. This is a toast spread that is TJ's cookie butter blended with like a nutella!!! It's really really good!

Crispy Roasted Broccoli and Onions.

Yum! I love this! I have always loved roasted broccoli... And... In case you didn't know, I actually did not win the grand prize (an iPad mini...) in the Global BC Contest. But, the experience was amazing. Thank you to my awesome chef mentor, Chef Ned Bell from YEW Seafood + Bar in Vancouver. He really helped me through me journey in becoming Global's Junior Chef. 

Crispy Roasted Broccoli + Onions

1 head green broccoli, cut into florets

1/2  red onion cut into 1/2 inch pieces

2 tbsp olive oil

Salt + Pepper

Combine all ingredients on a baking pan. Bake at 400F for 30 min. Enjoy as a side dish or on pizza or mixed into pasta... 

Fresh Street Jr Chef Competition on Global BC

Catch me and my awesome mentor Chef Ned, this morning on Global BC between 7:45 and 9:00am. I'm so excited to be part of this competition!!

Yum! Vegan Banana Cornbread

I recently had a box of Trader Joe's Cornbread Mix in my pantry (I loooooove cornbread!) and we were getting ready to go to a picnic at Centennial Beach and I wanted to make a little snack. I was out of eggs! I looked online for egg substitutes. I found a perfect one! Bananas. Yum. Off your measurements on your cornbread mix are different then you can change the measurements. I did 1/2 a banana per egg. If your mix calls for more eggs just use 1/2 banana per egg.

Vegan Banana Cornbread

1 box of your favourite cornbread mix
3/4 cup oil (if your mix calls for more oil, add more)
1/2 cup any vegan milk (soy, almond, hemp, rice, coconut, etc.) ( if your mix calls for more milk, add more) (if you don't need it vegan, use whatever milk is in your fridge)
1/2 a banana (read paragraph at the top of the entry)

Add your banana, milk, and oil to a blender or food processor, blend until smooth. Add to a medium mixing bowl. And add cornbread mix, 1 3rd at a time. Stir in between adding. Grease a mini muffin tin then add batter. Bake in a 350F oven for about 20 minutes. Enjoy warm or at room temperature. If you have any recipe ideas, leave a comment down below! I love reading comments!!

Bon Appetite!
xoxo, Nailah