Author: Marilyn Dishes

Many people ask me "how did you do that?" "will you show me how?' So I decided to make a blog about what I cook and bake. I am in no way a professional cook, but I love to feed people and try new things as well as making the "old foods" My friends are wonderful cooks, each with their own 'specialty' and i will be having guest cooks here, showcasing their favourite things to cook as well!! I hope you enjoy this blog and maybe decide to make some of these foods yourself! I am always available to answer any questions you might have about anything you see here. Some of my recipes are unique to me but most are not. They are all recipes I have found in a variety of ways, some are old family recipes that date back decades and some are new ones!

THE BEST Chocolate Cake!

This is our all-time favourite Chocolate Cake recipe! Always moist, rich in flavour, it is divine!

Continue reading “THE BEST Chocolate Cake!” →

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Chopped Broccoli Salad

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I had some broccoli crowns in the fridge, some carrots and purple cabbage so I decided to make it all into a salad. It turned out really nicely. The key, Murray says, is to cut the broccoli up into small pieces. The dressing is slightly sweet with the addition of maple syrup. I have changed the type of vinegar in the dressing from the original recipe which I got from a friend. Served this with some salmon patties last night, but of course it will pair as a side with anything.

Here is the recipe

Chopped Broccoli Salad

serves 4 as a side dish

SALAD

 2 1/2 cups chopped broccoli, cut into small pieces

1  cup purple cabbage, sliced thinly than diced

1 carrot, finely grated

1/2 cup dried cranberries *** this is also good with currants

1/2 – 1 cup of toasted sunflower seeds *

DRESSING

 1 tbsp Dijon mustard

1/4 cup maple syrup

1/4 cup white wine vinegar

1/2 olive oil

1 small shallot, finely chopped

juice of 1 lemon

salt and pepper

Method

 1 .Combine the shopped broccoli, purple cabbage, grated carrot  and dried cranberries together in a medium size bowl

2. In an ungreased skillet, gently toast the sunflower seeds. shake the skillet often to make sure they toast evenly. Cool slightly then add to the broccoli mixture.

3. Mix the dressing ingredients together. I like to mix my salad dressings in a jar and shake to combine.

This dressing recipe makes more than you need for this amount of salad so use any amount to suit your taste.

Enjoy!

Marilyn Dishes3 Comments

Blueberry Pudding

This delicious Blueberry Pudding is a lovely dessert.

I have the recipe in my recipe binders], but I do not know where I got it from! I cut it out of a magazine years ago. It is one of the recipes I saw one time, & thought it would be good- then did not make it! I have to say that I missed out on years of enjoying this Blueberry Pudding!

This Blueberry Pudding has a cake-like texture studded with blueberries, not too sweet which is perfect so you get the real taste of the blueberries.

Very easy to make with few ingredients. You can use fresh or frozen blueberries, though the original recipe calls for frozen blueberries. I like to bake with frozen blueberries to save time.. otherwise I wash & dry the blueberries then sort through to make sure none of the fresh blueberries are moldy, so I prefer to use frozen ones! And, if you keep a bag of frozen blueberries in the freezer you can make anything whenever you want! like these Blueberry Muffins or Blueberry Galette

You can serve this with some ice cream or whipped cream is delicious. On its own is great too ( I sprinkled it with some icing sugar but it quickly got absorbed into the Blueberry Pudding!)

A few recipe notes- This overflows a bit so the bottom of the oven will get some butter on it… my suggestion would be to but a foil lined baking sheet on the oven rack below the baking dish to catch any spills ( I always forget to do this & then regret it!!_. Also note that there is melted butter on the top of this when it comes out of the oven & this is puffed up a bit…as it cools the butter soaks into the pudding & it deflates…

Here is the recipe

Ingredients

4 cups blueberries, frozen

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 tbsp + 1 cup flour

1/2 cup butter, cut into small cubes

1 cup milk

1 egg, beaten

2 tsp grated lemon peel

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Method

Preheat oven to 350f

Grease a 9 inch round pie plate and the batter filled it up to the top! So next time I am going to use a bit of a deeper dish

1. Put the blueberries into a bowl, add 1/4 cup brown sugar sugar & 1 tbsp of flour. Mix to coat all of the berries

2. Put the blueberry mixture into the prepared baking dish

3. In a bowl, combine the remaining 1 cup of flour with the butter until it resembles a coarse meal. You can use your fingers for this, 2 knives or a pastry cutter. If you want to use a food processor, just pulse until it is to the texture you want & not too fine.

4. Add the remaining 1/2 cup of brown sugar, milk, egg, lemon peel & vanilla. Mix to combine.

5. Pour the batter into the prepared baking dish

6. Bake for about 55 minutes until it is firm in the centre & golden brown. Let cool for at least 10 minutes before serving. You can eat this warm or room temperature. If you want, you can warm up leftovers in the microwave briefly.

Enjoy!

This dish is very full!! So move it to the oven carefully!!! Or, use a deeper pan

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No-Bake Peanut Butter Squares

This No-Bake Peanut Butter Square recipe is from Kraft Canada. I had everything I needed in my pantry so that made this very  easy. It  only took a few minutes to put together. The chilling time was the longest part of this recipe.

I printed out this recipe in 2008 & on the paper I have written in a bright colours sharpie {this is the peanut butter squares everyone likes!) I like to make it for company on any dessert platter & also just to have for a snack! 

The ingredients are easy…nothing special, but when combines!! They are delish! Butter, graham wafer crumbs, icing sugar & peanut butter…then chocolate chips! So good 

This No-Bake Peanut Butter Square takes minutes to make & has to chill a bit to firm up 

Here is the recipe  from Kraft Canada. note: I used chocolate chips instead of baking chocolate that was in the original recipe 

Ingredients 

1/2 cup butter

2 cups icing sugar 

1 1/2 cups graham wafer squares

1 cup peanut butter 

12 oz chocolate chips 

Method

Line a 13 x 9 baking dish with parchment paper with some overhang so you can pull the squares up out of the dish to cut

  1. Melt the butter, then add the icing sugar..sift it into the bowl to get rid of any lumps
  2. Add the graham wafer squares & peanut butter. Mix well until completely combined 
  3. Pat this evenly into the prepared 9 x 13 dish
  4. Melt the chocolate & let it cool briefly then spread it over the base
  5. Let this cool & then cut partially into squares.. the recipe recommends cutting this into 40 squares but of course you can cut the squares any size you want
  6. Chill in the fridge for at least an hour
  7. Lift the squares out of the pan & cut all the way through

Enjoy!!

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