Beach Fun

We had a lot of fun going to the beach this summer and now it's back to school for the kids! I didn't bake a lot during the summer months, but plan to make time for baking cookies now that the kids will be off to school.
I will be trying different experiments with trying to make somewhat nutritious cookies so that I can pack them in everyone's lunch. I always find it challenging to pack a really good lunch, since tree nuts are not allowed at school. This eliminates the peanut butter, almond butter and other nut butters that I usually like to put on their sandwiches.
Either way, I can't wait to try out some new recipes!

White Lady Peaches

White lady peaches!! I recently purchased a box of tree-ripened white lady peaches. I was really excited since I had purchased some last year, and they were so very sweet and fragrant. This year I am not disappointed because they are just as good! Last year I made peach cobbler, ate them just like that, and froze some.
There are just so many things that you can do with peaches if you have time, such as: pie filling, jams (pure peach, or add some brown sugar for butterscotch peach jam!), spreads, ice cream or sorbet, and you can jar them for later as well.
This year I have already made peach sorbet for my girls quickly and easily using my Vitamix. I shared some peaches with my sister and she is going to jar hers so that she can feed them to her baby in the Fall when he's ready for solids. I was surprised since most the time when fruits are jarred it is done with a sugary or honey syrup, which wouldn't be ideal for a baby. But I learned from her that you can pack them in just water. The only differences are that the fruits may not be as sweet and the colour won't quite be the same.

If I get the chance before they over ripen, I would love to dry or candy them to add to cookies.
I hope you are enjoying this season's harvest of fresh fruits and vegetables! 

Zucchini Cookies

I am always trying to sneak vegetables into cookies and other "treats" since I find it quite challenging to get my kids to eat vegetables. I figured if I made some chocolate zucchini cookies, they might actually eat them. I didn't have a zucchini cookie recipe so I used my usual oatmeal raisin cookie recipe and added chunks of zucchini in place of half the oats and chocolate instead of raisins. I also used 1 egg instead of 2.

There are a lot of zucchini recipes that I would still love to try such as zucchini muffins, zucchini bread and even zucchini cake. The key to getting my kids to actually eat them is to make the zucchini pieces as small as possible!

Insurance Hunter-Insurances Quotes Made Easy

Post brought to you by Insurance Hunter. All opinions are 100% mine.

Calling various insurance companies for car, home or travel insurance is a thing of the past. I remember having to speak to so many different people who were trying to sell me on extras I didn't need and wasting a lot of my time. Nowadays, the search for Auto Insurance is so much more simple. You can do the search online!

Insurance Hunter makes getting a quote so easy and the service is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. There is no need to wait for someone to call you back or talk for hours with someone who is trying to sell you extra options that you don't need. I am always trying to find the best deal for Car Insurance and since an online brokerage called Insurance Hunter provides free access to home, auto and travel insurance quotes from the top insurance companies in Ontario, it is actually quite easy to get the best deal. The process is quite simple. Just answer a questionnaire and then immediately afterwards, the best quotes available for the specific coverage that have been chosen are listed. You can select the best coverage option suited to you and make a purchase right there!

Having such a busy lifestyle, I really like that the service is available at any time of day and any day of the week. If you love convenience, saving money and time, check it out! I'd also love to hear about your experiences on getting insurance quotes. Please feel free to comment!

 

Frozen Dessert

This was a really pretty frozen dessert that was served at a party we went to. It was fruit sorbet shaped to look like a pear! So delicious and refreshing. Perfect for a party in the summer.

Purse Cookies

I made these fun purse cookies for my friend's birthday. She loves black and white so I thought I would bake up some sugar cookies and decorate them to look like purses! I added a bit of gold sanding sugar to fancy them up a bit. They were all decorated with different patterns so that everyone could pick out their favorite design. The guests had a lot of fun picking a purse and eating it too!

They would also be perfect bagged or boxed up as bachelorette party favors, birthday party favors and even wedding favors! Or just fun for a girls night in!

Chocolate Dipped Cookies

Chocolate cookies are usually very popular in our house, but for the few people who don't like to have too much chocolate, these chocolate dipped cookies are perfect.

Dipping cookies in chocolate is quite easy, especially if you have a fondue pot. Both, chocolate dipped shortbread or chocolate dipped sugar cookies look great on a cookie platter.

For chocolate dipped shortbread cookies, bake up a batch of shortbread cookies and pipe the batter out onto a parchment paper lined cookie sheet. Once they are baked and cooled, I melt the chocolate in a fondue pot and dip the ends of the cookies. Then I place them onto a new sheet of parchment paper to dry.

If I'm making chocolate dipped sugar cookies, then I roll out the cookies and cut them into fun shapes before baking them. Once they are cool, I partially dip them in chocolate and place them onto parchment paper to dry.