East Coast

Salty Air, Lighthouses & Strawberry Rhubarb Pie!

June 1, 2018 by Pies & Prejudice 1 Comment

Greetings, friends.

I’m in beautiful Saint John soaking up the sun & the salty air and enjoying the beautiful lighthouse-studded coastline. We’re visiting Billy’s family and having a great time here on Canada’s amazing east coast.

Our trip started over a week ago when Billy took me to Vermont to celebrate my turning a year older (my 25th birthday uh… AGAIN? haha!). And then from there we continued Eastward toward the White Mountains of New Hampshire and then up the coast of Maine before heading back into Canada.

When we got to Saint John it was fairly cool & rainy and it felt more like March than late-May (Brr!). There was even snowstorm warning in the Eastern part of the province and Newfoundland got a whopping 30 cm of snow! (Eeek). Thank goodness we didn’t get any of the white stuff, just overly cold weather for a couple of days before the temps started to rise again. We’ve been enjoying spending time with my guy’s family and I even got to do some of the cooking and baking. Which is handy because after a week on the road, I was going through severe baking withdrawals, ya’ll. But I’ve talked about this on my trip to the coast last September. I know many of you can relate 🙂

Since it’s been a whirlwind of a trip, I haven’t had much time to blog or post on social media unfortunately. But, at the same time, I’ve really enjoyed the wee break. So it’s about time I get caught up (slowly but surely) and I thought I’d start with sharing a few photos of our trip so far.

Here’s the pie I made for Billy’s parents as a thank you for their wonderful hospitality.

Strawberry Rhubarb is always a favourite. And for good reason….it’s freaking delicious! And it’s even tastier when it’s made with fresh rhubarb from the garden and pretty flowers on top. I’ll share the recipe in my next post!

Is there a better pie to celebrate summer’s imminent arrival? I love strawberry rhubarb pie so much that if I could find rhubarb (even frozen) in the winter, I’d be making this all year long. While I can’t find frozen rhubarb anywhere in Ottawa (any time of the year), I’ve seen tons of frozen rhubarb in the grocery stores here in Saint John!! Hmnnnnn…

If we weren’t going back to Ontario via the US, I would happily taken some of the rhubarb Billy’s parents offered us to bring home. But after having my grapes confiscated at the border once (from Vancouver to Washington), I decided it’s not worth the risk. At least at this time of year, fresh rhubarb is plentiful in Ontario. I just need to buy truckloads of it and freeze it for the rest of the year. Now to find a bigger freezer….and maybe a bigger house? HA

Anyone else love rhubarb as much as I do? I can’t wait to bake all the rhubarb pies when I get home.

Without further ado, here’s a few photos of our lovely time in New Brunswick so far. Happy almost-June, friends!

You cannot visit the East Coast without seeing at least one lighthouse. This one is Mittan’s favourite.

It’s been a wonderful visit with Billy’s folks

You have to walk the boardwalk at least once while you’re on the Saint John Harbour. Or, maybe run it the whole way— like our happy pup.

Spring has finally sprung out here on the coast. Which is good because we’re only weeks away from summer.

My little Monkey and I had fun wandering around St Stephen–the gorgeous little town that greeted us after crossing the border.

Have a great rest-of-the-week, all!

Cheers, Dana xo

When Life gives you Lemon Raspberry Bars

May 19, 2018 by Pies & Prejudice 4 Comments

Hello, everyone!

It’s Spring! That can only mean one thing….it’s time for LEMON BARS. Ok, Spring may be more about the pretty flowers, patios and muddy dogs, but when the lemon desserts come out you know the the warmer weather is finally here.

And these Lemon Raspberry Bars are the perfect way to put a little spring in your step.They’re a twist on the classic lemon bar with fresh raspberries for added zing and a lovely pop of colour. Sitting on top of a shortbread cookie-like crust, they’re a new favourite for the season.

These are also GF and paleo (ish) so if you’re like me and you find most lemon bars too sweet, you’ll enjoy these. They can be made refined-sugar free with coconut sugar (instead of brown sugar), maple syrup & fresh raspberries for added sweetness.

I’ve been wanting to make these since last Fall when I tried an awesome GF lemon bar on my road trip to the Boston area. However when I got home from that trip it was late September and we were already into Pumpkin-everything… and then Christmas desserts followed shortly after. But now that it’s nearly summer again, it’s time to crack out the lemons.

While in Plymouth, Massachusetts, we came across this great bakery called Cupcake Charlies (it’s now a chain, but a good one) and they offer several GF options. I was surprised that one of them was a lemon bar because I don’t think I’ve ever seen a GF lemon bar before in any bakery I’ve came across in my travels.

If you know me, you’ll know that I’m a hardcore chocoholic and I don’t usually opt for lemon over chocolate but I’m glad I tried this because it was super delicious (yep, even without chocolate)

I enjoyed it so much, Billy ended up buying me another for the road 😀 He, too, was surprised that I was drooling so much over a non-chocolate dessert for once haha

I think I’m also going to to try to a version of these with cream cheese as I think that this one was super creamy because of the addition of cream cheese. I like how it cut the sweetness and tartness a little.

Their hot fudge sundae cupcake cup was the bomb, too. I definitely needed another one (or 4) of these as well for the road. Just sayin’…

While we were in Plymouth, we also checked out the town’s museum where I learned about the history of the wedding cake! It was fascinating and I can’t wait to share more with you soon– including some pics and samples of old wedding cake recipes. I’ll be posting about that trip shortly in case you’d like to read about my adventure in that beautiful area.

Now, back these lemon bars and my recipe…

I took quite a bit of experimenting to make these lemon bars as I’m usually not impressed with most paleo lemon desserts that I’ve tried. These aren’t completely paleo as they’re still sweet (thankfully) but not overwhelmingly so. They’ve got brown sugar in them but you can use non-refined sugars (such a coconut sugar) if you’d like instead. They’ve got about half the amount of sugar as you’ll find in a regular lemon bar, but don’t worry–they’re equally delicious.

These are also no-bake (especially if you skip my crust and go with your favourite no-bake cookie crust) which is great for summer when you don’t really want the oven on. I did a few experiments and I much prefer this no-baked version. They’re really creamy and flavorful and you can’t go wrong with the pretty colour either. They just scream ‘Spring’.

I hope you’re having a fabulous spring so far, friends! It’s been a busy one for me as I’m constantly playing catch up while juggling my baking, social media and my new biz but it’s going well. I’ll be away for the next couple of weeks visiting family on the coast, but I’m back early June. Stay tuned for some travel-related posts coming your way.

Have a great LONG weekend, everyone!

Dana xo

Raspberry Lemon Bars

Delicious, creamy Lemon Bars with fresh raspberries on a shortbread-like cookie crust.

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter room temp
1/2 cup sugar reg, brown or coconut sugar
1 cup GF or All-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups raspberry puree *
1 tablespoon lemon zest
1/2 cup lemon juice
4 large eggs
1/4 cup cornstarch or flour
1/2 cup sugar coconut or brown will work
2 tablespoons maple syrup
2 tablespoons butter or coconut oil

Instructions

Crust Instructions

Preheat Oven to 325F and line an 8X8 " pan with parchment paper.
In medium bowl, beat butter with sugar until fluffy. Gradually stir in flour, cinnamon, salt and vanilla. The mixture should come together like a cookie dough. Press into the pan and smooth it out with a spatula to the edges and make sure that it is fairly flat/level. Bake for about 15 minutes or until golden brown. Cool completely.

Lemon Filling Instructions

In large saucepan mix together raspberry puree, lemon juice and zest, eggs and starch/flour (no need to temper eggs-- I no longer do this and rarely have a problem if I stir constantly). Add sugar and maple syrup and stir over medium-low heat until thick (about 6 minutes). Remove from heat, cover and place in fridge for about 20-30 minutes until cool. Spoon onto the crust (be sure that the crust isn't warm at all) and place in the fridge for several hours--preferably overnight to ensure the bars can be sliced properly. You can speed up the process by placing the bars in the freezer for about an hour and then in the fridge for a couple hours. Enjoy!

A Wedding Pie (not mine): Spiced Cherry

December 9, 2017 by Pies & Prejudice 14 Comments

Who needs a cake to celebrate your nuptials when you can have a WEDDING PIE? Especially if it’s a Spiced Cherry pie. Mnnnn…..

I made this pie for Darlene and Guy, who got married recently in their hometown of Dalhousie, New Brunswick. While visiting them there, I decided that they needed a wedding Pie. Plus, I was fairly desperate to get my bake on after several days on the road—without an oven in sight!! (the baking withdrawals are real, people!).

If you’re into pumpkin-spice-everything right now but you’re also missing summer fruit as much as I am, this is the perfect crossover pie. It’s a sweet cherry pie with a holiday twist. I’ve added cinnamon, fresh nutmeg, cardamon, brown butter, maple syrup and orange extract. I ran out of cherries while making this pie (I was travelling at the time and didn’t buy enough, oops!), so I added a few blackberries and blueberries to the mix. Super good! (recipe below post)

The wedding theme is optional, of course. But even without the bride and groom, I think you’ll like this pie.

If you look closely at the pie, you’ll notice the groom’s arm missing. After it came out of the oven, it needed to cool for a couple of hours. Unfortunately Guy had to work at 4am so he couldn’t wait to have the pie as it was getting late. Darlene didn’t want to cut into their wedding pie without him, but then she got hungry later and decided to bite a piece of his arm off (ha). The next morning she just told him a shark attacked the pie in the night. Considering there aren’t too many sharks in Northern New Brunswick, I don’t think he believed her. But it was a good attempt, anyway.

I hope you guys are doing great and having a fabulous fall so far! I’ve only been writing this post since I got back from my travels but then I got super busy with getting my baking biz up n’ running. How all my blog/foodie friends find the time to not only post on their blogs often, but also keep up with Instagram (and the comments!), facebook, twitter AND have time to recipe-test and bake is beyond me?? Teach me your ways, guys. Pleaseeeee?

Plus, I wasn’t sure how to keep my blog and business separate, so I decided to put this blog on a short hiatus. The problem was that many of my local homies were coming here looking for a menu and reviews of my treats. Instead, all they found were travel pics, food ramblings and recipes (ha ha). None of which helped them get their hands on a fresh Apple Pie whatsoever.

So, I’ve created a new Facebook page for my baking biz so that way I can keep this as my food/lifestyle blog and a place to share recipes, and anyone looking for treats can go to my Facebook page to see my menu and read reviews. That’s also where I can send event organizers who are looking to see if I’d be a viable vendor for their craft fairs. I’ll be posting my new creations there regularly, as well as events and updates.

Speaking of craft fairs…I need your help, guys! I’m hoping to get into a couple of upcoming events so I’d love it if you could stop by to check out my new facebook page (don’t forget to like/follow, too). Thanks a bunch, I really appreciate it.

I was also thinking of sharing my recent trip on here but then I remembered this is supposed to be a food blog, after all 😀 Plus my last few travel stories such as my Spring Road Trip and my Christmas holiday last year, didn’t get much traffic or feedback at all. So, I’ve decided to just keep my travel stories for when I meet friends over coffee or drinks (then they don’t have a choice–and can’t scroll either! haha) and just focus on my baking & recipes here. That also means my posts will be shorter (yay!). But don’t worry– I can talk a lot about food, too.

Hope you’re having a great start to the holidays! Let me know if you try this cherry pie, it’s one of my faves. I’m also sharing my latest holiday creation— White Chocolate Cream pie’– soon, too. If you like white chocolate, I think you’ll love it. Stay tuned!

Happy Weekend, friends!

Love, Dana xo

Spiced Cherry Pie

Summer and Fall Flavours combined into one very tasty pie. Perfect for the holidays, too!

Course Pies, dessert, Holiday

Author Dana

Ingredients

For the Filling

2 cups each cherries, blackberries and blueberries 6 cups total (or another mix of your choice)
1 small apple grated
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon fresh nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cardamon
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup maple syrup
3 tablespoons tapioca starch (or cornstarch)
1/4 brown butter or regular butter
2 teaspoons vanilla bean extract or regular vanilla
pinch of sea salt
1 tsp orange extract (optional)

Instructions

Roll out your favourite pie dough and put into a 9" pie plate, or skip if using a storebought unbaked pie crust.
Place 2 cups of frozen cherries (or other fruit) and brown sugar in a saucepan and cook over medium heat until the cherries soften and they become saucy (I use a fork or potato masher to help break them down). The mixture should reduce by approximately a third to a half, usually in about 10 minutes or so. Allow to cool slightly. *While this is not a mandatory step, I always do this because it takes some of the 'water' out of the filling and adds a condensed sauce to the pie filling.
Add brown butter, maple syrup (or reg/brown sugar), cinnamon, cardamon, nutmeg and salt to the cherry mix. Set aside to cool
Grate apple and squeeze some of the moisture out with a cloth or paper towel. Add to the cherries
Add the remaining 4 cups frozen (don't thaw) to the cooled cherry mixture and then add vanilla, orange extract (if using) and tapioca. Mix gently until tapioca is absorbed into the berry mix.
Scoop filling into shell. Place lattice or a full crust on top, if using. I generally bake my shapes/pastry letters separately. Place in freezer for about 15 minutes.
While your pie is chilling, preheat oven to 400F. Remove pie from freezer and brush egg wash along crust sides and top or lattices, if using.
Bake at 400F for 15-20 minutes then reduce heat to 350F and cook for another 30 minutes or so, or until filling is bubbling and crust is a nice golden brown. I use a pie shield (or tin foil around top crust sides) for the last 1/2 of baking if the crust is getting brown too quickly.
Allow pie to cool for at least a couple of hours, at room temperature. If you slice into it before it's completely cooled, it'll be very soupy (I know from impatient experience haha). If desired, add some fresh cherries berries to the top of your pie when it has cooled. This adds a nice freshness to your pie. Add your pre-baked pastry toppers or just whip cream/ice cream. Enjoy!

Back to the Future Day, the Ride that I missed in Florida & a McFly/Doc PIE!

October 21, 2015 by Pies & Prejudice 8 Comments

(Geek Alert). Great Scott, it’s here!

It was on this day…..October 21, 2015, that Marty McFly and Doc Brown went ‘back’ in time to the future and they arrived in a very different version of their hometown of ‘Hill Valley’….complete with Hoverboards and flying cars zipping all over the place.

Welcome to the ~~Future~~ er, I mean the present! (update: now the past)

This movie is no longer about the future, boys n’ girls. Yep, now when you watch it, Doc and Marty will be going to the past (well, our past). Man, that’s heavy.

“Heavy! There’s that word again. Why are things so heavy in the future?Is there something wrong with the earth’s gravitational pull?”

If you were a kid/teen in the 80s, like me (but seeing as I’m ~~still~~ only 25, I’m not sure how that’s even possible?) you probably loved this movie and maybe even saw it in the theatre, too. I’d like to say it’s timeless, but given that it IS a time-travel movie, that doesn’t make a lot of sense. Moving on….

It’s definitely my all-time favourite movie. Who wouldn’t want to go back (or forward) in time and see your parents as teenagers or your kids a heck of a lot older? Exactly.

And it’s even more fun when you can travel in time with these guys. Here we are stopping to take a quick pic before getting into the DeLorean.

Now this is what I call a throwback…uh, er….back to the future? Or the past? Or maybe this is the present. Confused yet? hehe

I was ~~in High School~~ not born for another 25 years when the second movie came out. After seeing the original, we couldn’t wait to see the sequel (three years was a long wait). It was fun to see them go into the future instead this time around. While watching it for the first time (back in 1989), we couldn’t really critique their rendition of the future since 2015 was nearly 25 years away. Who knew Hoverboards and self-tying laces weren’t actually going to be all-the-rage now?

Today we can (obviously) see what they guessed right (and wrong) in their take of 2015. There are several great articles written about it like this one and this one , in case you’re interested in reading more. If you’re a BTTF fanatic like me, they’re definitely worth checking out.

I can’t believe it was 30 years ago (32 now) that Doc and Marty punched ‘2015’ into their time-machine and headed to the future. I still love this trilogy just as much today as I did back then and I even loved the 3rd one, too. But since I’m a Wild West fanatic, that probably doesn’t seem too surprising for those who know me.

There are so many things about this movie that makes it a great story: time-travel, great characters played by totally awesome actors (I LOVE Christopher Lloyd– but Crispin Glover and Michael J Fox are great, too), romance, tons of action, and, of course—the villain ‘Biff’ (make like a tree and leaf!). And, it has the best score/soundtrack ever.

Every time I hear the theme music for this movie I feel like I’m getting ready to hop into the DeLorean to go back in time to 1955 as well. Although I think 1985 would be better because I can go back to my childhood and do things a little differently. I would also go to the location of where the movie was filmed (in California) to give the producers some insight into what they should do for 2015. Then, many years later, they’ll wonder how this chick they met back in 1985 managed to predict everything right. Are you telling me you time-travelled in a Delorean all the way from 2015 to tell us how to film the movie?

But seriously, while I LOVE anything time-travel related, the ‘Scully’ in me (yep–X Files fan as well) doesn’t believe time travel is possible. Not yet, anyway.

Over the years I’ve heard rumours about a 4th movie or—worse–a re-make !?? Noooooo! Thankfully none have come to fruition at this point. While it’d be interesting to see another take on the story, a remake of this would probably be awful. So leave well enough alone, Hollywood.

Without further ado….let’s add a bit of a time-travel element to this story, shall we?

It was April 2007 and I was heading to Florida for the first time ever with my good friend Al. I was SO excited because we were going to Universal Studios and I couldn’t wait to finally get to check out the Back to the Future ride that I’d been hearing about for years.

Or not.

Guess what I discovered when we arrived at the Back to the Future Ride? A closed sign, and not just ‘temporarily’, either. The ride was shut down & boarded up and another sign announced: ‘Coming soon: The Simpsons Ride.

NOOOOOOOO! Apparently I looked like a 4-year old who’d just dropped her favourite ice cream cone. That’s exactly how I felt.

Seriously, though? The ride has been around for almost 15 years at the time (this trip to Florida was a decade ago, so now we’re talking 25 years ago since the ride had been there). It opened its doors in Universal Studios, Florida in 1991.

The worst part? I missed it by A FEW DAYS!! Oh yes, you read that right. I couldn’t have had worse timing if I tried. It closed down permanently on March 30th, 2007 and we arrived April 5th, 2007. So my only option was a time machine so I can go back to, say–a week earlier–to do the BTTF ride.

Lesson learned. If that didn’t teach me to see something sooner than later (be it a place, ride, event etc) before it’s gone, I don’t know what else could.

At the very least, they did keep the Gift Shop open so we could check out some fun BTTF-themed clothes and gadgets.

I’m glad I got to see the store, at least, as it was gone when I came back to Florida a couple years later.

They also had ~~actors,~~ er, I mean the real Doc Brown and Marty McFly walking around chatting with everyone. Doc is such a nice guy, even if he is slightly eccentric. He hasn’t aged much since 1989, either.

And the DeLorean was still on display. The real one too, not just a replica. I think I’m gonna take this for a spin. Maybe even drive it home? Wonder if they’ll notice it missing? hehe

Here’s the Jules Verne train from the 3rd movie.

These cheered me up slightly and almost made up for missing the ride….*Almost*. I’m still upset, but I eventually got over it. If you ever had the pleasure of experiencing the Back to the Future ride in Orlando (lucky duck), I’d LOVE to hear about it. Let me know in the comments, I’ll try not to cry 😀

When I returned to Universal a few years later, this is what replaced the Back to the Future ride:

The Simpson’s ride was actually pretty cool. It’s a roller-coaster simulator/3-D ride, and even my dad (who hated roller-coasters) enjoyed it when we were here together. While it was fun, it ain’t no Back to the Future Ride! (Harumph).

They also had this guy wandering around pretending he was the Doc….on a bike!??? He looked 30 years old… at most. Seriously? For the DOC? The cosplay actors whom I met a few years earlier were much more realistic.

Update: While this post was written on the actual day when Marty & the Doc went into the future: Oct 21, 2015, now that I am baking themed pies, of course I had to make a Back to the Future pie for the 2 year anniversary.

It’s a Spiced Cherry Pie with Cardamon, Cinnamon and brown butter—and a Delorean, Marty and the Doc. Great Scott, this is yummy.

Happy BTTF day everyone! Hope your week is filled with pie, time-travel and maybe even a road trip?

Roads? Where we’re going we don’t need roads!

Dana xo (your friendly Canadian Geek)

I’m Back! And….A Stormy Ferry to Cavendish

October 13, 2015 by Pies & Prejudice 4 Comments

Hi Guys! Miss me? I know, I know…I’ve been a wee bit behind posting lately. I guess I can’t use the ‘I’ve-been-too-busy-travelling-excuse’ on a travel-related blog, eh? Womp womp womp.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! (yep, us crazy Canadians celebrate it a month or so earlier than our American cousins). I made 9 pumpkin pies this weekend (for others, not myself–thankfully) but I am glad that I *finally* got to eat a piece of pumpkin pie tonight. Woohoo! 😀 I love thanksgiving and getting to spend time with friends and family. Hope you all had a great holiday weekend, too!

I think I’ve fallen into that trap (like many other bloggers seem to do) where you wonder if anyone’s reading, so you post less often and then no one comes back (and you wonder why? ha ha). Oops!
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