Creamy Peanut Butter Pie for Mary, Jane and Mikey

Last week, Jennie, from In Jennie's Kitchen, posted a creamy peanut butter pie recipe for her husband Mikey, who recently passed away from a sudden heart attack. Peanut butter pie was Mikey's favourite, and Jennie wanted everyone to make this pie and share it with their loved ones.



The response that Jennie received was incredible. It seemed that every picture on Taste Spotting was a Peanut Butter Pie dedicated to Mikey and loved ones. Even searching #APieforMikey on Twitter, you will find an enormous amount of support and love from food bloggers world wide.



Jennie's post really pulled at my heart strings and the fact that she wanted us to give love by making a pie was just amazing. I've experienced how powerful love can be when you loose someone. Two of my greatest friends, who I'm lucky enough to have as room mates, both lost their mom's to cancer. Maegan lost her mom, Mary, in April last year and Robyn's mom, Jane, passed away not even two months ago. I was so grateful that I got to see Robyn's mom one last time in May before she passed. I wish I could have been there for her service.



I did attend Mary's service last year. I remembered thinking how many people were in the church. People were packed in the pew, standing along side the wall and lining up out to the parking lot. I had never seen so many people at a funeral. It was clear to me how much people loved Mary. And even more clear how much people loved the McWades.



After Mary's service the McWade family had a get together to celebrate Mary's life. This house celebration seemed to turned into a huge party filled with drinking, stories and laughter. Yes, there was laughter and I had no idea I would be laughing that day since I spent the whole morning in tears. The drunkenly-told stories that each person had about Mary, and how she and Stew met playing baseball just filled me up with joy and love. We were all packed in their kitchen smiling and listening to these stories while we remembered Mary.

At this point in the night, it hit me, and it hit me hard. I finally understood what the Beatles were singing about all this time. Over and over the thought "all you need is love" repeated in my head. I finally got it! And told everyone at the party that I got it. I've always thought.. no... you need water, and food and shelter. But none of that stuff matters when you loose someone you love. What you need is love and the McWade family had so much love that night it was incredible, it was pouring out of everywhere and everyone. This is when I knew that they would be okay, because they had love and love is all you need.



So I am making this pie for Mary, Jane and of course Mikey. This pie is for them and I hope they feel the love that I am putting into this pie.

For Creamy Peanut Butter Pie recipe, click here.

Pear Walnut and Prosciutto White Pizza with Honey

I wish I could say that I invented the combination for this delicious summer pizza... but I didn't. It took one of the best Italian restaurants in Toronto to figure it out. They call it the C't Mang pizza at Terroni and no substitute toppings are allowed.

Each dish at Terroni is carefully created to achieve that perfected taste you experience in each bite. I never imagined fresh pears on my pizza, but when I took a bite I was instantly addicted.

You first experience the saltiness of the prosciutto, followed by the fresh sweetness of the pear, back to the saltiness of the gorgonzola cheese, ending with a lingering taste of honey and a crunch from the walnuts. Also, there is no sauce to interfere with the combination of all these toppings, just pure goodness on this white pizza.

So give this pizza a try. Everyone I've made it for has loved it. It makes the perfect summer get together pizza!

Pear Walnut and Prosciutto White Pizza with Honey

Makes 4 individual pizzas

• pizza dough
  
• 2 cups of mozzarella, grated
  
• 150 g of gorgonzola cheese, crumbled (if you can't find gorgonzola, the more milder and Canadian borgonzola will do)
• 2 pears, sliced
• chopped walnuts
• 125 g prosciutto
  
• honey
• olive oil
  

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 450 F.
   
2. Stretch out your pizza dough as thin as you can, without ripping the dough. If you are afraid of ripping the dough, use a rolling pin. You should be able to stretch it out to at least 8 inches. Make a circle, square, rectangle, whatever you like.
3. Once you have all four pizza's stretched out brush the top of each pizza with a teaspoon of olive oil. Now sprinkle the mozzarella evenly onto each pizza. I like to save half of the mozzarella to finish off the top of the pizza, but you can spread all of it down if you like.
4. Crumbled the gorgonzola onto each pizza, followed by layering the pears onto each pizza. Sprinkle the walnuts on top of the pears and then layer the prosciutto on top. If you have half the mozzarella, sprinkle the rest on top. Drizzle each pizza with honey and bake in the oven for 10-12 minutes.
   

Buon Appetito!

Lemon Ricotta Blackberry Muffins

Are you a fan of lemons? Yah!

Are you a fan of blackberries? Yah!

Are you a fan of ricotta..? Heck Yes!!

Okay, well then I have the perfect muffin for you. Well, I have the perfect muffin for my roommate, who will eat a whole tub of ricotta in a sitting. It may have something to do with her half Italian side. Of course I do enjoy ricotta, just not so much on it's own. But in muffins?! Heck yes in muffins!

You wanna know what ricotta does to your muffins? It turns your dull everyday muffins into this beautiful moist cake-like texture that makes you want to savour every bite. The whole muffin is quite the experience. A crunch from the turbinado sugar on top, into sweet lemony-goodness with a little blackberry surprise.

Please try this recipe, you will not be disappointed. It is so simply delicious.

Enjoy!

Lemon Ricotta Blackberry Muffins

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• Zest of 1 lemon
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup ricotta cheese (whole or low-fat is fine)
• 1 large egg
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup fresh blackberries ( I think it's safe to say any berry would do.. raspberry...blueberry..strawberry..you get the idea)
  
• Turbinado sugar-for sprinkling on muffin tops

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 12 muffin cups with paper liners or grease the pan. Set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. In a small bowl, add the sugar and lemon zest. Whisk the lemon zest and sugar together. Using an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar and lemon zest mixture together until light and fluffy, about two minutes. Add the ricotta cheese and beat until smooth. Beat in the egg, lemon juice, and vanilla extract.
3. Add the dry ingredients and mix until just blended. Using a large spoon, fill each muffin cup half way with batter. Add three blackberries to each muffin cup. Top the muffins with remaining batter so blackberries are covered. Generously sprinkle turbinado sugar over each muffin top.
4. Bake muffins for about 20 minutes, or until the tops are slightly golden brown. Let muffins cool for five minutes and serve.

Recipe from Two Peas and Their Pod

Best of India, Oliver BC

The town of Oliver, located in the Okanagan, is the wine capital of Canada. This small town contains 10% of the nation's wineries. Which isn't too bad considering Oliver only has a population of 4300.

Although the town may be best known for it's wineries, it is not known for it's happening night life. In fact, it seems as though the town shuts down at 5pm, making it hard to find a place to eat, unless you are a senior and you eat dinner at 4.



There was one restaurant that seemed to grab my attention. Best of India is the name of the place and you guessed it, it's an Indian restaurant. Living in Toronto, I have the flavours of the world at my finger tips, so I was craving some good Indian food. I was a little hesitant to try the place, as the the tinted windows made it seem like something shady was going on. The first time I drove by it I wasn't even sure if it was open for business. However, as person who likes to try new places and new restaurants I thought I would give the little Indian restaurant a try.





Despite the shady tinted windows, the inside of the restaurant was filled with the aroma of delicious Indian food and was brightly painted the same beautiful colours you would see in many Indian spices. It was a relief to see that I did not walk into some dodgy restaurant and even more of a relief to see the menu.





We decided to start with the Vegi Samosa. Just a heads up, the samosa is quite spicy but they don't state it on the menu. Then we ordered the Chicken Cuurry, I couldn't resist the "special curry sauce" and the Dal Tarka for the vegetarian.





Both dishes were delicious and the bowls were wiped clean with the naan bread. If you are fan of butter chicken I would recommend getting the Chicken Curry instead. I've had the Butter Chicken and it wasn't the best I've ever had, not that it was bad, I mean I have never had bad Indian food, I don't know how it could ever taste bad, but it was not the best. Go for the Chicken Curry made with that "special curry sauce". Yum!



Best of India
36094 97th Street
Oliver BC
(250)-498-0872

Pick up and Delivery available.

Bourbon Peach Turnovers

When you spend a summer in the Okanagan you are guaranteed a few things. Hot weather, beautiful wineries and orchids galore. It wouldn't be hard to attempt the 100 mile diet around here, especially if you have a few fruit trees in your own backyard.



The property I am living on happens to have a few fruit trees and right now is the harvesting time for peaches. So this weekend it was time to pick all the peaches off the tree and think of ways to use the boxes of peaches we had acquired. I think one obvious solution would be to make little peach turnovers. Filling them with bourbon is also not too bad of an idea.

Bourbon Peach Turnovers

Yields: 10 turnovers

• All butter pastry dough (Follow steps 1-7)
• 4 cups of peaches
• 1/4 cup flour
  
• 1/4 cup sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 1 tbsp of bourbon
• 1/2 tsp of vanilla

1. Take one of your chilled dough discs out of the fridge and let it sit for a few minutes before rolling. Once the dough has softened up roll out your disc on a lightly floured counter as close to a square as possible. Roll them to about 1/8 inch thickness.
   
2. Using a pizza cutter cut off access dough so you can form more of a square. Cut that large square into 4 smaller squares. Lay the square onto a baking sheet pan lined with parchment paper and put back into the fridge to chill.
3. Take the access dough that you cut off and put it in the freezer to chill while you roll out your second disc into the same four squares.
4. Once your 8 squares are cut, take the access dough out of the freezer and make 2 more small squares. Now you should have 10 squares. Let them chill in the fridge while you make your filling.
5. For the filling, peel and cut the peaches into half inch piece and mix in a bowl with the flour, sugar, salt, bourbon and vanilla.
   
6. Remove the chilled dough from the refrigerator, and let stand at room temperature until just pliable, 2 to 3 minutes. Spoon about 1 to 2 tablespoons filling onto a corner half of each square dough . Quickly brush a little cold water around the edge of the dough, and fold it in half so the other side comes down over the filling, creating a triangle. Seal the turnover, and make a decorative edge by pressing the edges of the dough together with the back of a fork. Repeat process with remaining dough. Place the turnvers back on the parchment-lined baking sheet, and return to the refrigerator to chill for another 30 minutes. Pre-heat the oven to 375 F.
   
7. Once the dough is chilled beat one egg yolk with 2 tbsp of water and brush over the turnovers. Use a knife to cut two small slits on the top and sprinkle the turnover generously with turbinado sugar. Place them in the oven for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.
   
8. Once the turnovers are out of the oven, let them cool completely before eating.

Filling Recipe from Smitten Kitchen.

Blueberry Pancakes

Sunday mornings are all about relaxing and taking the time to do the things you enjoy. Like sleeping in and eating blueberry pancakes. And since you have time on Sunday mornings you really should be making the pancakes from scratch. Actually you should never use pancake mix, you know it doesn't taste as good!

The one pancake recipe that has worked very well for me is from the classic American cookbook The Joy of Cooking. Every time I read this book it's like I get a little cooking lesson. From the technical information on cooking and baking to the sections on knowing your ingredients. If you are looking for one cook book you can rely on, this one is it.

Blueberry Pancakes

Yields: 14 4-inch pancakes

• 1 1/2 cups of flour
• 1 tsp of salt
• 3 tbsp of sugar
• 2 tsp of baking powder
• 2 eggs, beaten
  
• 3 tbsp of melted butter
• 1 1/4 cup of milk
• 1 cup of blueberries
  

1. In a bowl whisk together the flour, salt, sugar and baking powder.
2. In a separate bowl mix together the eggs, butter and milk.
   
3. Quickly combine the wet ingredients and into the dry ingredients. You don't need to over mix the batter, there should still be small to medium lumps. Mix in the blueberries.
   
4. Heat your frying pan to medium high heat and wipe the pan with butter using a paper towel. I like to scoop the batter with a 1/3 cup measuring cup into the frying pan.
5. Once the pancakes have bubbles on top you can flip them and you only need to flip them once. The second side does not need as long to cook, about 1 minute.
   
6. Repeat this process until all your batter is gone! Top off with real maple syrup.

Recipe from The Joy of Cooking

Fresh Strawberry Sauce

Last weekend I went strawberry and blueberry picking at Covert's Farm in Oliver BC, where I obtained many delicious berries, and some half eaten with the help of my strawberry pickers. Who am I kidding? They did all the picking, I mostly took pictures. This farm has over 600 acres of fruits and vegetables and all organic. Which will make you feel good about picking them, and of course eating them too.











Now after a hot day of picking strawberries in the sun you might want to treat yourself to some delicious ice cream. And don't just stop at simple vanilla ice cream, top it off with freshly made strawberry sauce from the 5 lbs of strawberries that you now have. Of course this sauce is not just good on ice cream but you can pretty much top if onto any dessert. I would highly recommend cheese cake or angel fruit cake.



Enjoy!

Fresh Strawberry Sauce

• 1 pint of strawberries, hulled and halved
• 1/3 cup of sugar
• 1/2 tsp of balsamic vinegar
• 2 tbsp of water
• 1 tsp of cornstarch dissolved into 2 tbsp of water

1. In a medium saucepan mix together the strawberries, sugar, balsamic vinegar and water on medium low heat for 15 minutes.
   
2. To this mixture, whisk in the water and cornstarch mixture until the sauce starts to thicken up a bit, about 2 minutes.
3. Pour the mixture into a blender and puree the strawberries until you get a smooth strawberry sauce.
4. You can store the sauce in a container for about a week.

Recipe from Chef John at foodwishes.com