The summer blizzard

I've already declared my love of sweets. While I enjoy a healthy diet and lifestyle, I do like to indulge every now and again. Who doesn't? I'm not saying it's right or wrong, or if it's right for everyone, but it's definitely something I enjoy.

One of my favourite things to do is treat myself with ice cream in the summer. Anyone who follows me on Twitter is familiar with my view toward the cold sweet stuff: anytime is a good time for ice cream! Well maybe not all the time, but if you have it once a week it's not the end of the world. Since there's no Marble Slab or Cold Stone in this town, I usually head to DQ to get my fix. I do love Blizzards (the ice cream kind, not the winter storm kind). Although sometimes when I get a Blizzard, I feel like I could have better spent my $5. Sometimes Blizzards are awesome; the perfect proportion of cookie bits to soft serve. But more times I feel like all the cookie dough and Oreo bits are at the top and when I am halfway done I'm left with plain vanilla. No even distribution, and certainly not what I paid for. So I thought, maybe I can do it better!

Aside from my own curiosity to see if I could actually do something like this at home, my other inspiration to give this a try came from my husband. When you're allergic to chocolate and you go to DQ, there aren't many exciting options on the Blizzard menu to choose from. I wanted to share the joy of a mixed delicious ice cream treat with him so he, too could understand the pleasure I take in every spoonful of Blizzard I devour.

I picked up Oreos, Golden Oreos and vanilla ice cream all for the low price of just $7 at the grocery store. Next? It was time to try it out. The Magic Bullet was the perfect blender to use for this experiment, since it gave me more control over the blending process and it was also ideal for making two quick but different flavoured ice cream treats. I took 3 Golden Oreos and broke them apart, and put them into one of my party mug Magic Bullet cups. Then, I added about 2 big scoops of vanilla ice cream, and I threw in a handful of carob chips for good measure. Time to start blending! I used the pulsing technique to make the perfect blend of ice cream to cookie pieces. The result? Success! I repeated the same process for my own, only this time I used Oreos and chocolate.

It's now a staple treat for a hot summer day, and it's much more cost effective and tastier (in my opinion)! If you give this a try, feel free to leave a comment and share what your favourite flavour combinations are! Enjoy! x

Every day I'm trufflin': Truffle recipe

Since it's Canada Day, I decided to make my holiday truffles! It's definitely not the season I associate with truffles or 'holiday', but since they're fun and it's been a few months since I've made them I decided it was time to make them again! These are delicious, easy to make, and fantastic for any holiday or occasion since you can decorate them however you like. For the truffles pictured here, I used Canada Day decos, white sprinkles and carob powder. If you haven't heard of carob, I'm sure you're wondering what it is! It's a healthier substitute for chocolate (or so I'm told). It's said to be lower in fat therefore healthier than chocolate, but it's definitely much sweeter.

If I was making these for me I would choose to use semi-sweet chocolate chips, but I'm married to someone who has the unfortunate plague of being allergic to chocolate and has never tasted a chocolate truffle in his life (at least that what he tells me anyway!) Since chocolate is out of the question for him, I used the next best thing: carob. I have made these in the past using chocolate and another time using carob, and on each occasion they were a huge success. The recipe below makes about 20 truffles. 

If you do make these, post a comment below and let me know how your truffle-making experience went! Happy truffling!

 Ingredients

• 9 oz. chocolate or carob chips
• 2 tbsp. butter
• 1/3 cup heavy cream
• Decorations

1. Melt chocolate or carob chips and butter in a double boiler. Add heavy cream and stir until satin-like and smooth. Cover and refrigerate until set (about 6 hours for chocolate; about 1.5 hours for carob). The mixture should be mouldable and not too hard.

2. Place decorations on separate plates, and set aside

3. When the mixture is set, scoop up by teaspoons. Form into balls and then roll into decorations. Store in an airtight container, refrigerate, and enjoy!