Whitewater Cooks At Home

Tonight my mom made this incredible soup, Chicken and Wild Rice Soup with Pineapple Currant Chutney.  This soup was so full of flavour...hints of coconut milk, cumin, and curry...divine.

I asked where she got the recipe from and she said the Whitewater Cooks At Home cookbook.  I went and got it and started looking through it, what an amazing cookbook full of yummy recipes.  Being up at Whitewater Ski Hill (a ski hill just outside of Nelson, BC), I can vouch for how amazing their food really is.

Here are just a few recipes in the book:

Ahi Tuna Tartare with Crispy Wontons
Goat Cheese and Sun-Dried Tomato Terrine
Curried Lamb and Lentil Soup
Sheri's Sole Gratin with Tomatoes, Capers and Olives
Filo Cups with Sauteed Bananas and Caramel Sauce
Mango Coconut Bread Pudding

If you are looking for a recipe book that is full of out of this world food, this is the one for you!

Sugar Cookie Cutouts

No matter what occasion, these cookies are the best if you are looking to make sugar cookie Cutouts.

Sugar Cook Cutouts

2/3 cup butter softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg
1 tbs milk
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups all purpose flour


In your Kitchen Aid, beat butter, sugar, baking powder, and salt.  Beat in egg, milk, and vanilla.  On lowest speed, beat in your flour.

If necessary, cover and chill dough for 30 minutes or until easy to handle.

On a lightly floured surface, roll half the dough at a time until 1/8 inch think.  Cut our desired shapes and place 1 inch apart on a parchment lined cookie sheet.

Bake at 375 for 7-8 minutes or until the edges are firm and the bottoms are lightly browned.

*Better Homes and Gardens

Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

This recipe is from my favourite go to cook book, Better Homes and Gardens.  Hands down the best book for all the basics.

The cake itself takes no time and looks rather impressive for such a minimal amount of work.  Enjoy this quick, easy, and delicious recipe.

Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

2 tbs butter
1/3 packed brown sugar

1 8-oz can pineapple slices
8 maraschino cherries, halved

1 1/3 cup all purpose flour
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp baking powder
2/3 cup milk or 1 cup 1% buttermilk (I ALWAYS use buttermilk)
1/4 cup butter, room temperature
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Prepare a 9" round pan, I always spray first with Pam or rub with butter and line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper.

In a small bowl, melt the 2 tbs of butter in the microwave.  Stir in brown sugar and pour into the bottom of your prepared pan.  Then arrange your pineapple and cherries on top of the butter/sugar mixture.  Below is an example, but do whatever you want.

In a my Kitchen Aid Mixer, I cream the butter and granulated butter.  I add in my egg, vanilla, and milk until fully combined.

I stop my mixer and put the flour and baking powder in.  Turn the mixer back on low speed for 30 seconds, then medium speed for 30 more seconds.

Spoon batter fruit in the prepared pan.  The batter is pretty thick so spoon as evenly as possible over the fruit.  I then try to spread it lightly with the top of a spatula.

Bake for 30-35 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted into the centre comes out clean.

Cool on a wire rack for 5 mins.  Loosen cake from the pan; invert onto plate.  Best served warm.

Best Kids Playdough Recipe

Simone really wanted to play playdough today.  All of her Play-Doh was old, so I decided to make a fresh batch.  I always forget how fun and easy this recipe is to make with kids.

Kool-Aid Playdough

1 cup flour
1/2 cup table salt
1 package Kool-Aid
1 cup boiling water
1 1/4 tbs vegetable oil

Mix all the dry ingredients in a medium bowl.  Add boiling water and oil to dry ingredients, stir until combined.  Once mixed, knead the playdough to incorporate all ingredients.  If you find the playdough too sticky, knead in more flour, a tablespoon at a time.

Store in an air tight container or ziplock bag.

Whole Wheat and Oat Blueberry Breakfast Bundt Cake

As always, I am continuously looking for yummy healthy snacks for when we are on the go or even chilling at home on a weekend.  I found a recipe on a website, added and took away some ingredients, and came up with this.

Whole Wheat and Oat Blueberry Breakfast Bundt Cake

2 eggs
2 cups buttermilk
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups quick cooking oats
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries

Pre heat over to 375 degrees.  Grease and flour a bundt cake pan and set aside.

In my Kitchen Aid I mixed together eggs, buttermilk, brown sugar, oil, and vanilla until well combined.  I then mix in the oats.  Allow the oats to soften while you mix the dry ingredients (whole wheat flour, all purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt).

On the lowest speed, slowly add your dry ingredients into the oat mixture.  Stir just until combined.  Remove bowl from mixer and gently fold in the blueberries.

Transfer cake mixture to your prepared pan.  Bake for 45-55 mins or until a toothpick inserted near centre comes out clean.  Remove from oven and cool 10 mins.  Remove from pan onto a wire rack and cool until room temperature.  Dust with powdered sugar if desired.

Red Wine Infused, Cream of Mushroom Soup

I always get so excited when I see lots of something for so cheap at Costco, sad, but true.  Last week I bought the "Costco" size package of mushrooms.  Now I am the only one who even eats mushrooms in this house, but how could I not buy that huge package for just $3.99!  I quickly had to come up with a way to use up those mushrooms and came up with this soup recipe.  It was amazing.  I am not just saying that because I made it, but even my husband who can not comprehend eating something that was grown in poop, loved it.

Red Wine Infused, Cream of Mushroom Soup

1/4 cup of butter

1 240 gram package (Costco pack) of white or button mushrooms, stems trimmed and mushrooms quartered

1 med onion, chopped

2 shallots, chopped

3 gloves garlic, chopped

2 tbs red wine

3 tbs all purpose flour

3 cups chicken stock

3/4 cup half and half cream (oh yeah baby!)

Salt and Pepper

Dollop of sour cream (optional garnish)

Grated cheddar cheese (optional garnish)

In a large sauce pan, melt your butter over medium heat.  Add in your mushrooms, onion, shallots, and garlic. Cook and stir until mushrooms are soft about 8-10 minutes.  You may notice some liquid at the bottom of your pan, it is just flavour baby, so don't worry.  Stir in the wine.  Sprinkle flour on top of mushroom mixture and continue stirring for one full minute.

Remove from heat and add in your chicken stock, stirring constantly.  Return back to heat and bring to a soft boil.  Continue boiling and stirring for two minutes.  Stir in your cream and remove from heat.  Using a hand blender, blend soup until smooth.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Gently reheat the soup, but DO NOT bring soup to a boil.

Serve garnished with a small dollop of sour cream and grated cheddar cheese.