Cookies and Cream Fudge

It's taken me awhile to finally show the fantastic cookies and cream fudge recipe I found over at Cupcakes and Cashmere, but I'm more than excited to share my fabulous treat that had everyone swooning over the holidays. I'm a sucker for Hershey's Cookies and Cream chocolate bars and by no means did I plan on the outcome of the fudge to taste similar. So when I got reactions asking me if I used any of the chocolate bar in the recipe due to how identical it tasted, I was pleasurably surprised. I modified the original recipe slightly, out my own idiocy when  grocery shopping and didn't purchase enough supplies, so the overall taste is less sweeter than the original.

I used this recipe, but I replaced sugar for icing sugar once I realized that I didn't actually have any at home. This actually sped up the cooking process as the finer sugar melted a lot faster than I had expected. I started the process by doubling the recipe, and by the time it came to incorporating the marshmellow cream, I realized that I had only bought enough for one portion. So only 3.5 oz were used.

I also omitted the pinch of salt because of the decreased cooking time due to the icing sugar made the entire mixture extremely difficult to mix.

Omnomnomnivore

A couple years ago I lived alone on campus for a year, and being a lazy student, my meals consisted of pizza; shawarma, burgers, fries, KFC, take-out galore and desserts. Besides spending money on rent and shopping, a large portion of my paycheque went to food. Being a huge foodie didn't help either as I'd love visiting any new restaurants that popped up. To top it off I lived downtown, allowing easy access to everything I previously mentioned. I noticed that I always felt sluggish, tired, lazy, lethargic, unmotivated and the list goes on. In one word, unhealthy. I decided to change my lifestyle for the better this past year by reviewing my diet and health.

Ever since I started going to the gym, my diet has significantly changed. I've removed processed foods, refined sugars, simple carbs and empty calories from my diet.  On on average day, you'll see me ingesting a variety of fruits, vegetables, nuts, protein and complex carbs. This doesn't mean that I don't allow myself to indulge every once in awhile though. The key is moderation. It's okay to have something sugary every once in awhile as long as you know when to reign in your cravings and not give into them every time.

I have a weakness for macarons and frozen yoghurt, and when I say weakness, I crumble to my knees. So when I heard that a new location opened up on Elgin street, a visit was a must.

Miss Yogurt boasts not only yogurt and macarons, but smoothies as well. I have yet to try the frozen yogurt as I am a loyal Menchies customer but I definitely will go back and give it a spin as they do sell green tea, an all time favorite flavour for me.

The macarons are actually transported from La maison du Macaron, Montreal so it's hard to say what flavors are available on any given day. Starting at $2.50 a piece, the macarons are a little larger than the one's I've seen so far in Ottawa. Although being on the slightly pricier side, the more you buy, the cheaper it gets. I had originally picked up 6 flavors but my hunger failed me and I ate 2  (pistachio and salted caramel) before I could go home and take photos.

The ones that you see here are my reminants of my hunger; strawberry rhubarb, vanilla dipped in chocolate, spicy mango and raspberry.

Why do I love them so much? Who knows, I find the crispy shell that crumbles to reveal a moist interior really intriguing. Also the variety of possibilities for fillings are also always interesting. Between jams, butter cream frosting and marshmallow, I love the explosion of flavor that the filling provides.

Remaining true to my healthy lifestyle, I limited myself to just these six and vowed to not go back for at least a month. The sugar content in these six miniature hambuger-like desserts definitely filled my quota for the next 30 days. Will I ever relinquish my sweet tooth? Probably not, but I definitely know how to enjoy my cravings in moderation.

Ribtober Fest

If you missed out on the annual Rib Fest that happens on Sparks Street this summer, you had a second chance this weekend. Once again, Sparks Street brought back the same street meat vendors but dubbed as Ribtober Fest (as a pun on October, get it?). I'm not an avid ribs fan, but there's always something there for me, pulled pork. I've never liked having to eat food that involves your fingers and getting sauce all over your face (this includes wings, don't judge) so pulled pork has always been a solid favorite of mine since I tried it for the first time.

I'm a loyal Camp 31 fan, but this time my friends and I wanted to try a different Ribber. Honestly, we had only just finished a gym workout about 20 minutes before hand, so the closet stall with the shortest line up was what sold us. Enter: Billy Bones. Now I'm extremely used to the sweet, peppery tang of Camp 31, and that's not to say that Billy Bones was bad, just different. It had more of a smokey taste to it. The same kind you get from a backyard grill when you accidentally burn your burgers. What was great about Billy Bones was that the napkin stands had huge pumps of their signature BBQ sauce just in case you felt that your order needed a little bit of extra juice. I'm not a huge fan of salt, so I didn't go for that option, but for those who like to be able to add more juice to their plate, I definitely thought that this was an ingenious idea!

I ended up ordering a pulled pork sandwich - as always, and got tempted into the delicious food that was cooking on the grill. My order resulted in some chicken as well. Can I say that I'm a convert to Billy Bones? Definitely not, once a Camp 31 fan, always a Camp 31 fan. But I did enjoy branching out and trying the flavors that other Ribbers had to offer.

Did you guys get to try Rib Fest or Ribtober Fest? Let me know if you have any favorite Ribbers that I should try, I'm always open to suggestions!