Monthly Archives: September 2014

Abigail’s Tea House, St. George, Ontario

For you tea lovers you have to visit this little gem in St. George Ontario. Located on the corner of Main Street and Highway 5.

Abigail’s Tea House has such a calm and unhurried affect on you allowing you to enjoy what you have chosen from the menu. The owners contribute to this atmosphere by attending to your needs in such a friendly way.

Our High Tea started with our pots of tea being brought to us, along with crackers and a cheddar cheese spread. I have never seen this being done before. Even in London, England. They have such a variety of teas to choose from. 40 loose leaf teas, how can anyone not find a favorite?

Next we were served a curried chicken salad. Nor have I ever seen this being done. It was sssooo good even my husband liked it. He’s not a big curry fan but he enjoyed this salad and guess what, I got the recipe.

Next was this lovely 3 tiered platter with our finger sandwiches, scones with a fruit spread, Devonshire cream (oh my gosh it was ssssooooo good). Of course you can’t forget the mini pastries. When this platter came to our table it was also explained to us about all the items on it. It was very elegantly displayed. You could tell they put their own spin on it. You could also have refills on the pots of tea. By the time you are done, believe me you are stuffed. Plenty to eat.

How nice and bright the room is. All the lovely colours seem magical and add to the ambience.

The tea room was nice and bright but someone forgot to turn the flash on her camera.

The day we were there each table was full so I would suggest making a reservation before heading out.

How whimsical are these birdcage chandeliers?

Do head out for a lovely afternoon. This would be a nice way to spend a few hours with one of your favorite people or gather a crowd to celebrate an occasion or just to enjoy one anothers company. There are plenty of items to choose from on the menu to enjoy at your leisure. Visit their website for further information. abigailsteahouse.com

Baked Wings

I love wings. The best I’ve ever had are my son’s. He is a fantastic cook and his wings are outrageous! He deep fries his that’s why they are so good. Well these are baked so they are a little healthier, if there is such a thing for wings. Now you can marinaded these or bake them and then put the marinade on them. Either way they are good.

In a bowl mix together ketchup, brown sugar, honey, grated ginger, salt and hot sauce which is optional.

Whisk together and add wings. Marinade in fridge for at least 2 hours. Longer is better.

Place on a foil lined pan and bake.

In another bowl mix brown sugar, yellow mustard, dijion mustard, honey and grated garlic. Add your second batch of wings and marinade as you did for the honey ginger sauce. After marinading, which is optional, place on the other side of the pan. Bake at 350 for approximately 1 hour.

They are good. Even great the next day cold or heated.

RECIPE

INGREDIENTS

24 Wings

HONEY GINGER SAUCE

1 cup Brown Sugar

1/4 – 1/2 cup Honey

1 – 1 1/2 cups Ketchup

3 -4 Tablespoons Grated Ginger

PREPARATION INSTRUCTIONS

Whisk all the ingredients together and place half of your wings into the sauce and mix to coat the wings, then into the fridge to marinade for 2 – 6 hours. Place the wings on a foil lined baking sheet and bake for approximately 1 hour. OR place the wings on the baking sheet and bake without the sauce. Then place the sauce in a pot and heat (bring to a boil) just before the wings are done. When the wings are finished baking, either place them into the sauce or serve as a dipping sauce.

INGREDIENTS

Honey Mustard Sauce

3/4 cup Brown Sugar

1/2 cup Yellow Mustard

1/2 cup Dijion

1/4 -1/2 cup Honey

3 Cloves Grated Garlic

PREPARTATION INSTRUCTIONS

Whisk all the ingredients together and add your wings to marinade. Place in fridge for 2 – 6 hours. Then place wings on foil lined baking sheet and bake approximately 1 hour. OR place the wings on the baking sheet and bake without the sauce. Then place marinade in a pot ready to heat (bring to a boil) and pour on your wings when they are baked. This also can be used as a dipping sauce.

Wings can also be coated with melted butter before adding any sauce, if they are baked dry. Who doesn’t like butter on things? It gives a nice creamy rich texture to food. The one other thing I do is heat boil) the sauce leftover from marinading and use it to coat veggies or rice.

This recipe is a nice alternative to deep frying your wings. It is easy to make and there is less cleanup. Leftovers are great hot or cold!

Honey Lemon Salmon

I love salmon and sadly I know I don’t eat enough of it. So while shopping I came across a filet of Atlantic salmon that I had to have. When I brought it home I cut it into portion size pieces and wrapped them individually in foil and put them in the freezer. This way when I want it, I don’t have to cook a whole piece with tons being leftover. This recipe is so super simple and quick that it’s hard not to make it at the spur of the moment. Especially when you don’t feel like cooking. Served with rice it makes a terrific meal.

These are all the ingredients you’ll need. Well…plus your salmon.

Into a bowl add your olive oil, grated lemon with juice, grated garlic, kosher salt, mustard, honey and some of the thyme. Give it a whisk.

Place the salmon into foil that has been placed into a baking dish.

Next pour your marinade onto the salmon. Along with a few extra sprigs of thyme.

Wrap the salmon in the foil, like a little pouch. Put in the oven and bake.

And there you have it. It is sssooo good with very little effort.

RECIPE

INGREDIENTS

Salmon

1/2 cup Of Olive Oil

Juice And Zest Of 1 Lemon

1/2 cup Honey

1 – 2 Teaspoons Of Dijion Mustard

2 Grated Garlic Cloves

1 Teaspoon Of Kosher Salt

PREPARATION INSTRUCTIONS

Whisk together olive oil, juice and zest of 1 lemon, honey, dijion mustard, grated garlic and salt.

Place salmon onto a piece of foil that has been placed into a baking dish and add the marinade. Wrap the salmon so the foil is like a little pouch. Making sure all the edges are sealed.

Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes. I like my salmon well done so it might be a good idea to check it after 20 minutes to see how it is doing. You can cook it a little longer or take it out of the oven at this point if you like the consistency of it.

Now wasn’t that simple? Serve with rice and a veg, if you like. Enjoy!

Oh So Good Zucchini Bread

I have had so much zucchini this year if I wasn’t freezing it I was giving it away. So with the last bunch of it I am going to start making zucchini bread. It is really easy to make and this one recipe makes two loaves. I love this recipe. You can add different ingredients in to jazz it up. You can make icing or just sprinkle icing sugar on top, which I prefer because it is the easiest and the fastest. I cut back on the sugar in the recipe because if you add the icing sugar or make cream cheese icing for the top, I find it too sweet. You can even cut back some more sugar if you like. As I am writing this it has occurred to me that you could even replace the zucchini with shredded carrots. There are so many ways to make this healthy and nutritious recipe.

Cut the zucchini and clean out the seeds.

Next shred your zucchini and set aside in a bowl.

Measure out 1 cup of raisins place into another bowl and cover with water. I like to plump my raisins up before I use them in baking. They are so nice and soft this way.

Into a mixing bowl add 3 small eggs or if you use large ones add 2.

Vanilla

Nutmeg

Cinnamon

Salt

And mix until a nice beige colour. This could take 5 minutes or so.

Add the butter and mix a little more. There’s a lot of mixing in this recipe but it’s worth it.

Now add the star ingredient, the zucchini and mix some more until it’s well incorporated.

Next comes the flour and of course some more mixing. Oh and don’t forget the baking soda.

Once the flour is in the batter and well mixed add the drained raisins,

nuts and mix a little more.

Then divide the batter and pour it into two greased and floured loaf pans. Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 1 hour. After about 50 minutes do the toothpick test. Which is, stick a toothpick into the loaves in different places. If it comes out clean then it is ready. If the toothpick has batter or some crumbly bits on it then it has to bake some more. When done take the pans out of the oven. Loosen the loaves around the edges with a knife and place on a wire rack to cool.

Now after they have cooled you can wrap them individually in plastic bags and freeze or you can sprinkle with icing sugar and serve.

This was so good it was gone in two days. It was really hard not to taste before I took the pictures. This bread is really delicious. I hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

RECIPE

INGREDIENTS

3 Small Eggs, Or Two Large

1 cup Sugar

2 Teaspoons Vanilla

2/3 cup Melted Butter

3 cups Grated Zucchini

3 cups Flour

2 Teaspoons Baking Soda

Pinch Of Salt

1/2 Teaspoon Vanilla

2 Teaspoons Cinnamon

1/2 Teaspoon Nutmeg

1 cup Pecans

1 cup Raisins

PREPARATION INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Grease and flour the pans.

Cut the zucchini in half, cut out the seeds. Slice into larger pieces and grate in the food processor. I love doing it this way because it saves me time and it also saves my fingers from being scraped.

Soak your raisins in a bowl full of water until they are nicely plumped up. Trying not to eat them in the mean time.

In a Kitchen Aid bowl add your eggs, sugar, vanilla, nutmeg, cinnamon, salt. Mix for about 5 minutes. You will have a nice tan colour. Then add your melted butter, mix and next add your zucchini. Mix again.

Your flour comes next. I added it in 1 cup at a time. Along with this add your baking soda. Now of course these next ingredients are optional, the raisins, drained of course, and the pecans.

When everything is nicely blended together, divide the batter and pour into two loaf pans, which have been sprayed and lightly floured. Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 1 hour.

Cool on wire racks. Watch these zucchini loaves disappear! Enjoy!