Black Bottom Cup Cakes

I just couldn't resist these mouthwatering sight whose recipe comes from Eleanor's blog. I think hers turned out better or at least hers looks better through lenses. She was the one who directed me to Smitten Kitchen who is hosting the recipe. Really easy recipe and lots of helpful hints. I was really excited to taste them but I found that these need to get quite cool before they really show a good tasting. I did use a piping bag to pipe the filling into the cupcakes. I also made some large and some mini just to see which works better. I've only tried the mini ones and they are yummy... but only after they were well cooled. When they are just fresh out of the oven, they tend to taste a little cheesy, overpowering the chocolate.

Chicken Alfredo

I've been craving something creamy and I instantly thought about Spaghetti Carbonara. But those of you who know how it is made would know it is full of fat! All that bacon and heavy cream, tasty as they are, I thought I'd better make something a little healthier.

Chicken Alfredo isn't too much better but I used half and half instead of heavy cream. Start with boiling water and cooking your pasta. As always, I sauteed a little bit of minced garlic in some evoo. Then I added left over roast chicken from the local deli and strips of back bacon. Then the half and half plus frozen peas. Let this simmer for a few minutes to reduce the sauce. Add some parmesan cheese to the sauce to thicken and add flavour. When your pasta is ready, drain well and add to the sauce and toss till coated with the sauce. Serve immediately with more parmesan cheese and or freshly ground black pepper. It helped curb the craving for now. Hopefully this will carry me till October since I only try to make Speghetti Carbonara for Reno Man's birthday. It is a favourite of his.

Zerelli's Mediterranean Market

A lovely day for a walk to Elgin Corners and a visit to Zerelli's Mediterranean Market to get freshly baked bread for lunch. The market is quite large for a little neighbourhood mall. Its filled with lots of goodies from greek salads, assortment of cheeses and meats to sweet treats to olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

The bread featured here is foccacia. Made fresh everyday. Aside from bread, we also bought some very nice and lean capicolo and a piece of baklava.
I was starving and quickly slapped these sandwiches together and put them in a make shift panini press. I used a regular non-stick pan on the heat, put the sandwiches on that pan and used a cast iron pan to press the sandwich.
One sandwich had roast beef with jalapeno Havarti and organice greens. The other had capicolo, goat cheese and organic greens.
Both turned out pretty yummy. Perhaps next time I might not turn the heat on so high as to not scorch the bread.