Tag Archives: Yummy

Why Tim Horton’s Sucks Now

Life, Opinion, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

I think it is safe to say that most people in Canada or even some parts of the world knows what Tim Horton’s is. Tim’s would be the Dunkin Donuts equivalent to the United States, or even the Krispy Kremes of the United Kingdom. And whatever else you would consider a big chain coffee shop with pastry delights in them. Tim Horton’s is a coffee shop. Chances are if you live in Canada you can get to one within a 30 minute drive if not far far before. Some streets go as far as having a Tim Horton’s every so many blocks. In gas stations, stand alone, in malls or in other stores as a side spot too.

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I think one of the biggest issues that I have with Tim Horton’s, and I would say a lot of Canadians have the same issue, it is that the company is not even Canadian owned anymore. The company was sold to Burger King or Wendy’s or whatever have you but the company that every Canadian knew of is no longer the Canadian company that we once knew and loved. I would even beg the idea that the quality has gone down as well. Everything pre-made and packaged and bakers simply throw in the oven. Or at least that is the way it tastes, like it has come off a factory line. Not to mention the regular things people once loved like coffee and things have changed. People are reaching for the cheaper counter part at McDonald’s which need I mind you in the summer has the dollar menu for drinks as well too.

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My personal gripe with Tim Horton\s was when they took my beloved Cinnamon Donuts and Timbits off the menu. That was my all time favorite flavor of donut and they took it away. It was a flavor that I had known and loved from when I was a child to the moment they removed it from rotation. This particular item isn’t even out in particular seasons or anything they are just gone. Now I have not found a spot that has these items still but if there is a place out there I urge you PLEASE comment where and if I am ever around hopefully they have that there when I arrive. It was such a simple flavor where they have taken it off and have put on more complicated flavors such as Oreo. Do we really need an Oreo flavor baked good from Tim’s, I think not!

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Another memory of my childhood that has been gone and I am unable to find is the “Gingerbread Figure”. See how progressive Tim hortons used to be? And now what, Nothing! This was just as it explains, a gingerbread person with either just icing or icing and a harden sugar head. Sometimes it was based on holidays or a generic girl or boy person. It really depended. Sometimes it was cartoons of popular movies or kids shows or even just animals too. I always loved going with my grandparents to Tim Horton’s in the mornings when I stayed the night there and looking through the glass case at Tim’s to see that they had some made! I would choose this one every time. I would always pick off one of the legs and then the arms and then save the sugar head for last. I know this probably sounds super morbid then it really is but honestly I was a small child and it really isn’t that bad!

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I will say even though they have basically sold out the heart and soul of Canadians that they still do a lot for the country. Especially for the children. For the supporting minor hockey, the Timbits so to speak or their camp day and smile cookie day too. They continue to help our programs that are impacting the kids of the country’s lives daily and helping the art of sport be more accessible. And their camps that are including everyone no matter their abilities.

I’m sure, after I have tried to rip into the Tim’s you are asking yourself, Wow, Does she like anything there? I do actually. I enjoy having their iced coffee made with chocolate milk and I also enjoy having an Iced Capp also made with chocolate milk. Sometimes I don’t mind a sour cream glazed donut or a chocolate chip cookie, Only if they are chewy though! As far as anything else I really am not a fan of their bagels that i once loved. I avoid that. Tea biscuits cheese no ham or just plain are also good however microwaved with butter is how they are enjoyed best!

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Even though they continue to do things that tick most people off. I probably will still enjoy their products here and there. I know it sounds cray why would you still go there when you have a lot of negative to say. I still enjoy some of their things, however if they were to change their iced capps that would be extremely hard for me to go there really. A major point we go there is because of their convenience. When I go for a road trip we always stop their first for their quick eats and coffee even if it doesn’t taste very good which is happening more often than not.

I am all for supporting Canadian shops however the more time passes they seem to be becoming less and less of what my memories are made of. Something that was a part of nearly every shift on my way there has become a few times a year. I just am not interested in going out especially with Covid let alone for their maybe okay tasting drinks. We have recently upgraded our home coffee in the previous year to a Nespresso and with the Cold Wave system that nearly instantly cools hot coffee, I would say that there really is no need.

Is there something that you really liked when you were younger from a restaurant or shop that has changed and you find yourself avoiding it

is it only known in your country or worldwide

Let me know as I am curious if anyone else has experienced this as well too!

My Favorite Foods

Food, Life, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

If you are no stranger to my previous blogs especially on weight loss you will find out this will be no shocker my favorite foods are nearly all junk food. I am pretty unhealthy in terms of food as there is many food groups I barely even touch. However like anyone I do have some favorite foods. Most of them I am sure you have heard of and perhaps there may be a few new ones in there that you haven’t, or ones that you also share a love for too!

Chocolate has always been a love of mine. In fact, it was so bad that I used to get patches of dry skin behind my elbows and behind my knees that would tell my parents if I was sneaking too much around the holidays. I love anything from a Terry’s Chocolate Orange to Cadbury Cream Eggs. There really isnt a whole lot of chocolate I wont eat however there are some specific criteria that I do not enjoy. I am not a fan of coconut in chocolate and as far as nuts go in it, it really depends. I can go for a Hersheys Almond bar. They are great. Even a good chocolate with peanuts I can go for. However I don’t normally choose a chocolate with nuts in it unless maybe it is M&M’s peanut or perhaps chocolate covered almonds too. I can also do without gooey and fruity treats too. My mom loves Cherry Blossoms. With the goo and cherries in them. I cannot stand those. It is the texture of them and I just cannot stomach it. As much as I love chocolate I will decline. And of course there is the weird Quality Street chocolates with the gooey flavors inside I also can do without those!

Garlic Fingers is for sure one of my top 3 things that I enjoy and probably something I miss tremendously here in Quebec since there really is no where to get any. Mind you, My culinary skills are up to par and I am able to make pia dough from scratch it still isn’t the same though. I miss being able to order out and enjoy it. My mom used to even make a few mini pans of it growing up so all we had to do was add cheese and put it in the oven. I normally just make it when I feel like it now though I don’t think I put enough love into it because it never really quite tastes the same. It always is edible however sometimes it is just extraordinary and other times it is just good. Or maybe it tastes better when my mom made it because I wasn’t putting in the effort to put it together.

Kraft Dinner has been a staple in my life since I can remember and to be fair, though I now have a child, and will probably not be making it for them as much, It still will be something that I love and enjoy for the rest of my life. Mind you if I ever became lactose intolerant I would probably have it a whole lot less I just would weight the risk when having it though! I love all the kinds of kraft dinner even the store brand extra creamy and white cheddar too. The only thing is that it can take a different cooking style if it is the store brand. It’s something I make many different ways as well. Sometimes I add more milk, other times I add more butter, some times I even dont add milk or butter and vice versa too! Sometimes we add hot dogs in or bacon bits and sometimes real shredded stuff too!

Potato Pancakes are something my mom made when I was a kid and I loved them so much it was typically the meal I choose for my Birthday meal year after year. They are super simple to make and they are always awesome. My mom and I would eat these the same, With a bit of salt and pepper and some butter. Since it was basically a type of hash brown. My dad on the other hand would eat them like french fries he would put ketchup on them. And lastly my sister which is super weird would put syrup on them! why or how it worked or tasted I have no idea. I couldn’t stomach thinking about putting syrup on potato pancakes. Her theory was they were pancakes after all.

Log Cabin Potatoes are something we only ever ate at Christmas time. Though, when my grandfather was alive sometimes he would treat us by making them on thanksgiving as well too which made them delicious though. These were mashed potatoes that were rolled into logs. They are then put in the fridge for a day so they can really harden up and by harden I don’t mean they get hard but they kind of get stuck together. After that you roll them in an egg and water mix and roll them in crushed corn flakes. After this you then deep fry them in oil. Before we would deep fry them once, and then a second closer to supper however everyone was eating scattered since you could only deep fry so many of them. Instead now we deep fry them and put them in the fridge. Afterwards we just put them in the oven to preheat them and they normally get crispy again and saves on the fat and everyone can eat them all at once together too.

Nuggets and Fries I think most people can agree is the staple of many children and low and behold it is something myself as a 30 something year old love too. I’m not super picky on kinds but man would I love the dinosaur nuggets though they are amaing. Other than that I like to bake my friend in the oven. We dont have a deep fryer and i always put it in a lot more though. My boyfriend is someone who follows the instructions on the box however anytime I do that I always find that they are never in long enough and the fries are pretty much always floppy with no crisp. Maybe for kids but not for me. I normally leave them in 40 minutes or so unless shoestring fries because they burn super fast compared to others.

As you can tell those are my favorite foods, And after reading this you may be asking yourself if I really am a 30-something year old woman or if I am an under 12 year old child. What can I say though, these are my favorites and I cannot wait to enjoy them, 1st being the Log Cabin Potatoes coming up at Christmas!

What are your favorite foods? Are they from when you were a child or are they advanced as you grew up and tried new things? Let me know in the comments below!!

-StaySeeJ08



Holiday Baking + Recipes!

Life, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

As the holidays are fast approaching and I am sure they are well welcomed this year due to 2020 not being the most pleasant of years to date in my life time anyways, I think most can agree that holiday baking is one of the things we all look forward to the most. There is probably some recipes that have been handed down that you may make yourself or you just wait for a loved one to make. For me I think I kind of wing it but I also have some recipes that I make that my mom has made too! Let’s dive in shall we!

Pretzels. Pretzels. Pretzels. This is a staple for my holiday baking. I love to make chocolate bark. Normally I use chocolate wafers for this however this year due to the virus I decided to get milk chocolate since it was at my local grocery store. I always start with a layer of pretzel on the bottom and melt whatever I am using, whether it is chocolate or the chocolate wafers (Which are cheaper if you are looking to save money!). I typically make two kinds, the first one I chuck some holiday M&Ms so red and green, so it adds a bit of color, sometimes I swirl different colors on it as well like white chocolate in there. The 1st is more about salty and sweet than anything so I try to keep it simple. The second one I did this year was a peppermint one. To do that I just lined pretzels on a tray with melted milk chocolate and put some candy canes on the top. Normally they are crushed but this time I just put them hole and would break them as they would be cut, and then I took girl guide mint cookies and cut those into pieces to put on the top as well! It seemed to work well and they look great too!

Next I make peanut butter balls. Funny enough, my mom called me the other day asking for the recipe and I really don’t have one. But for the sake of this I will do my best here.

2 Cups of Peanut butter
3/4 cup of butter/margerine
3-5 cups of icing sugar (Til the mixture becomes clay? It should not stick to your finger if you touch the mixture)
1-2 cups of Rice Krispies (Depending on how crunchy you would like your balls to be!)

For Dipping
Dark Chocolate
Vegetable oil OR paraffin wax
Sea Salt (Optional)

Start with the peanut butter and margarine/butter and melt it in a pot.

Once everything is melted and mixed start adding icing sugar, You will know when you have enough when the mixture will no longer be sticky. It will almost form kind of a ball or clumps. When it starts to get this way slowly add icing sugar as to not add too much that you are unable to incorporate it in. The point is when you start to make the balls the dough/mixture will not stick to your hands because the icing sugar will be there to keep it not sticky.

Once you hit this stage it should be a bit tough to even stir to be honest, and you can start adding rice krispies to your mixture/dough. You can add as little or as much as you like.
(My mom does this step backwards where she will add the rice krispies before the icing sugar and it just turns out fine I suppose. For me I like this way as it really makes things blended and not clumpy).

Once you have everything combined, start to roll the mixture into balls and put them on a tray with some sort of protective layer like foil, or parchment paper or wax paper. (Remember they have to be dipped in chocolate so bigger is not always better!)

Once you have them rolled throw them in the fridge.

Melt your chocolate on a double broiler on low heat. I use a touch of vegetable oil when the chocolate is melted just to slightly thin it out and make it easier to coat. After you dip the chocolates you can sprinkle some sea salt over the top (Flakes or rock). I didn’t do this as there was none in the house but it is possible to do!


Next I make a whipped shortbread cookie. This is by no means my recipe nor is it a family one or anything. It is one my mom uses from a Companys Coming cookbook. Im sure you know someone who has this book as there are legit SO MANY different collections. The recipe that I use is here:

Whipped ShortBread Cookies

1lb Butter (2 Cups)
1 Cup Icing Sugar
1\2 Cup of Cornstarch
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
3 Cups Flour

Beat all ingredients until it looks like whopped cream. Drop by the teaspoon on cookie sheet. Bake at 350f for 10 minutes. Add chopped red or green cherries on top before baking.

I think this can really go any way you wish. I dont do the cherries however I do roll them into balls. Then I use a fork to push it down too, since if you dont do this they will not level out on their own! This year I also dipped them into red sugar and sprinkles before pressing them down with a fork too. It really depends you also could probably roll them out and use cookie cutters too if you wanted to also! Use your imagination!

And lastly but certainly not least, My world famous Bits and Bites mix! Okay, Maybe they arent world famous (Yet) And they are a knock off of the recipe on the box of Crispex but I have dont the same modified recipe since I was a kid. This was one of the first things for baking that I was able to do since I loved them so much my mom let me take the reins. This is how I made it this year, Obviously things are inter changable and optional. Ill write what I put in and what I have put in also so you can build your own mix!

1 Box Crispex Cereal
1 Box Cheese Nibs
1 Box Swiss Cheese Crackers
Pretzels (To your liking)
Peanuts (To Your Liking)
1 Box Cheese Bits

Sauce
1 Cup Butter\Margerine
1 Small Bottle Worsherchire Sauce
Garlic Powder
Onion Powder
(I put a lot of each, Way more Onion Powder than Garlic Powder as I find it makes the mix a touch sweet, however if you find baking that you didnt add enough you can always shake some more of which ever you want as it is baking since you have to mix every 15 minutes)

Preheat oven at approx 325f, Once all the ingredients are added and the sauce mixed in. Place on a deep dish baking tray. Not small but enough that it can be easily mixed without making a mess too. Baked for 45 minutes stirring every 15. I also taste along the way to check flavors normally trying a piece of each I put in just to be sure coating is good.

Things that I have seen added are:
– Different types of nuts
– Gold Fish Crackers
– Cheerios
– Popcorn (popped obviously after by adding it.. Do not add this to the oven for obvious reasons.. HAHA)

And that is the extent of my baking this year! I may make more when we hopefully move back home but right now it is basically myself and the boyfriend eating things and I didn’t want us to have so much stuff. Also have to save a few recipes for next years blog post too! Can’t spoil it all! If y9ou found this helpful or you have slight variations let me know! I am always curious about what people add for their recipes too!

-StaySeeJ08