bold & blue cheeseboard ft. castello giveaway

 

happy december!!! i cannot believe how fast this year has flown by, but 2016 has turned out to be quite the year. christmas will be here in the blink of an eye & i still haven't finished my decorating or christmas shopping. almost done though, almost. we put a freshly cut tree up this weekend & decorated it with all these woodsy creatures. i think christmas shopping has been the most time consuming part this year. i seem to find nothing i want when i shop for myself & everything i want when i should be shopping for others. anyone else have that problem?! the one of a kind show i went to in toronto had the most beautiful things though a little over budget;)

as christmas rapidly approaches us, i promised you one more cheeseboard with the help of my friends at Castello®. a bold & blue cheeseboard with italian meats. now this is the cheeseboard my family puts together at every single gathering. since both my mom & dad are italian, we can't go anywhere without including prosciutto, capicola & salami. oh & those olives, i can't forget about the olives. these meats pair perfectly with strong cheeses, roasted or pickled veggies & some crackers or fresh italian bread. it is pretty much a deconstructed italian sandwich on a big beautiful platter. the three Castello® cheeses i used are the traditional danish blue (i always include a type of blue cheese on my cheeseboards, be it sweet or savoury), aged havarti (currently available at sobeys) & tickler extra mature cheddar. the cheddar and aged havarti can be found in the deli section of your grocery store & you can ask for a piece to be the exact size you want. tickler extra mature cheddar has a sweet + tangy flavour & has been aged for up to18 months. this wonderful variety of cheeses and meats is a savoury centrepiece for any holiday gathering.

p.s. in case you missed last months cheeseboard feature, i made a sweet & simple board that featured creamy Castello® cheeses, candied nuts & fresh + dried fruits. you can check it out here!

p.p.s i am giving away $25 of CASTELLO® CHEESE & this gorgeous raw edge wooden cheeseboard (!!!!) so you can make your own this holiday season. to enter just leave a comment below of what your favourite holiday cheese is. winner will be picked next week!

ingredients

directions

  • place the blue cheese, aged havarti & tickler extra mature cheddar on desired serving board.
  • line with prosciutto, spicy capicola & salami. decorate with olives, red peppers, grapes & herbs.
  • serve with crackers & sliced bread.

note: i usually put the different olives & red peppers in little pinch bowls & refill if necessary.

this post was created in partnership with Castello cheese! thank you for supporting the brands that keep me doing what i love. don't forget to enter the giveaway below for a chance to win $25 of Castello cheese & the featured raw edge wood board to create your own cheeseboard:) xo

black pepper + white cheddar mac & cheese

 

can you believe it is december this week?! WHAT. this weekend we put up our first ever christmas tree (a real one!) & decorated it with the cutest forest animal ornaments. it goes with the rest of the house since i have a slight obsession with foxes & deers. seriously though, fox figures everywhere. also, who watched the girlmore girls revival?! i pretty much spent all of friday binge watching it & not sure how i feel about the ending. BUT i don't want to spoil it for all you slow pokes so let's just skip on over to this mac & cheese!

this mac & cheese dish is SUPER cheesy because i used an extra old white cheddar cheese (& lots of it). since it is the holidays, i made it a touch richer with the addition of heavy cream but feel free to use whole milk for the whole recipe. instead of doing the traditional topping of bread crumbs tossed in butter, i used harvest snaps! they have so many flavours to choose from. i went with the black pepper blend but feel free be bold & use your favourite (wasabi?!?!). just make sure to have an extra bag on hand for snacking purposes cause i ate a whole bag in the process;)

happy ALMOST december! get those advent calenders ready.

ingredients

  • 1 box of short pasta
  • 1/4 cup butter
  • 1/4 cup flour
  • 1 tablespoon mustard powder
  • 2 cups whole milk
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 egg
  • 3 cups grated extra old white cheddar, plus more for topping
  • salt, to taste
  • freshly cracked black pepper, to taste
  • 1 bag of black pepper harvest snaps, crushed

directions

  • preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  • cook pasta as directed on box until al dente. strain & set aside.
  • in a separate pot over medium heat add the butter, flour & mustard powder. stir constantly & cook until a smooth roux forms, about 5 minutes.
  • add the whole milk, heavy cream & bay leaf. simmer for ten minutes.
  • remove bay leaf & temper in the egg, followed by the grated old white cheddar cheese.
  • add the strained, cooked pasta to the pot & stir until evenly coated. if the pot is not oven safe, transfer to a baking dish.
  • top with additional cheese & crushed black pepper harvest snaps.
  • bake for 30 minutes or until the cheese is bubbly & golden brown.

this post was created in partnership with harvest snaps! thank you for supporting the brands that keep me doing what i love. xo

mini matcha swirl cheesecakes

 

happy gilmore girl release day!!!! errr.. black friday. i hope you all had an amazing thanksgiving & ate your weight in turkey! instead of being surrounded by crowds & going black friday shopping this year, i am going to do the complete opposite. i plan to stay in, bake some holiday cookies & binge watch the whole season of the new girlmore girl's revival. i woke up early & already watched the first episode, but i don't want to spoil it!

if you plan to do the same as me today, here is the perfect little bite size treats to whip up: mini matcha swirl cheesecakes. i usually only make cheesecake during the holiday's & this year i wanted to make something mini. if you couldn't tell by now, i love making mini versions of things! the filling is half vanilla cheesecake & half matcha cheesecake baked onto a gingersnap crust. as always, i used aiya matcha's cooking grade matcha powder to ensure the matcha flavour doesn't get lost with all the other ingredients. a little cheesecake making tip for you, ALWAYS make sure the cheesecake & the eggs are at room temperature or you will end up with chunks of cream cheese. i always use philadelphia's full fat cream cheese because i never have any luck with other brands. lastly please, PLEASE do not buy the lower fat cream cheese available, they never turn out! i have tried one too many times. anyways, have a great long weekend:)

ingredients

for the gingersnap crust

  • 1.5 cups gingersnap crumbs
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

for the swirled filling

directions

for the gingersnap crust

  • in a mixing bowl add the gingersnap crumbs, sugar, vanilla & butter. stir until a wet sandy mixture is formed.
  • press the crust into twelve lined cupcake tins & bake for five minutes while you prepare the filling.

for the swirled filling

  • in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment cream the cream cheese & sugar until smooth.
  • add in the eggs one at a time, scrapping down the sides of the bowl after each addition. finished off with vanilla extract.
  • divide batter into two equal portions. leave one as is & add the matcha powder to the other one.
  • add one scoop of each mixture per cupcake tin & swirl together with a knife.
  • bake for 20 minutes & let cool completely before serving.
  • top with whipped cream if desired.

this post was created in partnership with aiya matcha! you can find the cooking grade matcha powder that i used here. thank you for supporting the brands that keep me doing what i love! xo