Chicken Tikka Masala

 It's easy to confuse Butter Chicken and Chicken Tikka Masala as both of these two Indian dishes have a  creamy, tomato-based, spicy sauce. However, Indian Butter Chicken is creamier and sweeter than Chicken Tikka Masala, which is spicier and more intensely flavored. Butter chicken is also made with butter instead of oil. Serve this dish with roasted cauliflower, Basmati rice and naan bread. 

Breakfast Sausage Hash Brown Casserole

 

This breakfast casserole easy, it's quick, and it's absolutely delicious. 

Chinese Vegetable Stir Fry

 

Ever wonder how to make Chinese vegetables? Look no further. This recipe produces tasty tender crisp vegetables just like you get from your favourite Chinese food restaurant.  I like to make Chinese food at home but like to make as much as I can ahead of time so it doesn't seem like such a big job. What is nice about this recipe is that you can blanch and shock the vegetables the day before and then stir fry the vegetables right before serving without compromising texture or taste. 

Blanching and shocking vegetables prior to stir frying allows the vegetables to retain their vibrant colour and remain crisp. The vegetables are placed into a boiling pot of water for a short time and then immersed into a ice water bath to immediately stop the cooking process. 

Deluxe Eggnog

 

The original recipe can be found in the iconic "Joy of Cooking" recipe book but I found it last year in the Edmonton Journal. The eggnog is flavoured with rum, cognac and Grand Marnier. I added 2 cups of 1% milk to thin it out. Apparently this eggnog lasts quite a while in the fridge due to the alcohol content and gets better with time. 

Butter Tarts

 These tarts take time to make but are definitely worth the effort. I found the recipe on a great website a few years back called "Canadian Foodie". I make them in mini tart pans as I think it is the perfect portion for this rich Christmas treat. This recipe makes about 10 dozen tarts. To speed up the process, having 2 or 3 (36) count mini tart pans will make the process quicker as you won't have to wash the pan so many times in-between batches. 

Easy French Bread

 

This is my go to French bread recipe. It takes about two hours from start to finish. 

Creamy Carrot Soup

 

 The first time we ate carrot soup was at a winery in Okanagan Falls, B.C. called Liquidity.  We would like to thank Adrian for ordering this soup as we would of never known that the humble carrot could make such an amazing soup. We wanted to recreate the soup at home so we contacted the chef  and happily we were given the soup ingredients and after several attempts we have come up with our version.  The soup is luxuriously creamy even though there is only one cup of cream in it. Roasting the carrots is definitely the secret, so do not skip this step. We like to serve this soup with fresh bread and a simple charcuterie board.