Spaghetti Squash Spaghetti

I buy strange vegetables all the time, and mostly, they just languish in the back of our fridge. But sometimes, they make it out and I wonder why I didn't think to make it sooner. Spaghetti squash was just one such example. 

When I tried to explain to T what was supposed to happen with this large yellow squash, he had no confidence in me at all. But I swear, when you bake this veggie, when you scoop out the flesh, it comes out like spaghetti noodles! It's the neatest thing. 

So, not only were we impressed by the appearance of this one, it was delicious. I'm sure there's tonnes you can do with spaghetti squash, but for this night, I simply topped it with a tomato sauce and some parmesan cheese and it was a healthy, carb-free meal. 

Spaghetti Squash Spaghetti

Serves 2-3

Ingredients

• 1 spaghetti squash
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• salt and pepper
• 3/4 cup tomato sauce
• 1/4 cup parmesan cheese

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• Cut spaghetti squash lengthwise and scoop out seeds. Brush with oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper and place cut-side down on a baking sheet.
• Bake for 40-45 minutes; until a knife can easily go through the skin. 
• Once slightly cooled, take a fork, and use the tines to scoop out flesh lengthwise. The flesh should come out easily and like noodles.
• Top with tomato sauce and parmesan cheese and serve.

Blueberry Sour Cream Cake

I don't know what's taken me so long to blog about this one; I make it all the time. This is one of the easiest dessert recipes I make, and is one of most well received desserts. It's also very light so it's good to serve after a heavy meal. 

What more can I say? It's delicious and you must try it.

Blueberry Sour Cream Cake

Serves 8-10

Printable Recipe

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup butter, room temperature
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 box frozen blueberries (about two cups)
• 2 cups sour cream
• 2 egg yolks (yes, more eggs, but this time, yolks)
• 1/2 cup sugar (yes, more sugar)
• 1 tsp vanilla (yes, more vanilla)

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Generously butter 9" or 10" springform pan.
• Beat sugar and butter until soft. Add the whole egg and 1 tsp vanilla. Stir baking powder into flour and gradually add to creamed mixture. Turn into prepared pan.
• Sprinkle blueberries on top to cover. If using frozen berries, no need to defrost.
• In another bowl, combine sour cream, yolks, sugar and vanilla and blend well. Pour over berries.
• Bake for 1 hour or until edges of custard are lightly brown.
• Let cool before removing sides of pans.

Pecan Pie Bars

A dessert has never disappeared so quickly in my house -- and there's just two of us. After the success of the pecan pie, which I left at our host's house, I wanted to make something T and I could enjoy. And boy, did we enjoy it.


The shortbread crust on these bars is light and crumbly. The centre is dense enough not ooze out yet is still gooey. And the pecans add the perfect amount of crunch and by mixing them in with the filling, they are fully coated with sweetness.


These lasted a full four days in our house, and I believe they got better each day. Try them and see how long they last in your house!


Pecan Pie Bars
Printable Recipe


Ingredients

• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup butter
• 4 eggs
• 1 1/2 cup light corn syrup
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 3 tbsp butter, melted
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 1/2 cups chopped pecans

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• In a large bowl, stir together the flour, 1/2 cup sugar, and salt. Cut in one cup of butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle the mixture evenly over a 10x15 pan and press in firmly.
• Bake for 20 minutes in preheated oven.
• Meanwhile, prepare the filling. In a large bowl, mix together the eggs, corn syrup, 1 1/2 cups sugar, 3 tbsp butter and vanilla until smooth. Stir in the chopped pecans. 
• Spread the filling over the crust as soon as it comes out of the oven.
• Bake for 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until set. Allow to cool completely on a wire rack before slicing into bars.

** I made these in a 9x13 pan and easily divided each ingredient into 2/3 (with the exception of the eggs where I still used 3)

Recipe from www.allrecipes.com

Salmon Poached in White Wine

We recently got a massive piece of salmon from Costco that I cut into fillets. I was looking for an easy way to cook some of this so we could enjoy it as an easy weeknight meal. Poaching immediately stood out as a simple technique that made the salmon moist and delicious. And the best part is that it took about 20 minutes to make from start to finish so we could enjoy a healthy and delicious meal in the same time it would have taken to make a frozen pizza. 

Ingredients

• 4 fillets salmon
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1 1/2 tsp parsley
• 1 1/2 tsp chopped garlic
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions

• Heat wine and water over medium-high heat until simmering.
• Place salmon in poaching liquid and dot with butter. Sprinkle with parsley, garlic, salt and pepper.
• Cover, reduce heat to medium-low and cook for 10-15 minutes, until salmon is easily flaked with a fork.

Recipe adapted from allrecipes.com

Hearty Winter Soup with Sausage and Tortellini

I have been on a soup kick the past few weeks. Every Sunday, I like to make a big pot of soup that we enjoy throughout the week for dinner. It's a quick and easy meal (mostly due to the french stick we scarf down with it), it's healthy and always satisfying.

As you can no doubt see, I usually gravitate towards cream soups -- cream of leak and potato, cream of cauliflower, cream of squash -- so this week I wanted to make something with pasta in it. Specifically tortellini -- cheese-stuffed are my favourite.

It wasn't long before I found a hearty recipe on http://www.allrecipes.com/ and I simply adapted it to what I had on hand. You could easily make substitutions or additions, depending what your family likes. There's no going wrong with this one, but here's what I did:

Ingredients

• 3 mild italian sausages
• 1/2 package fresh tortellini
• 10 stalks of asparagus, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 1 medium onion
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1 28 oz can diced tomatoes
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 5 cups chicken stock
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions

• Pan-fry the sausage until cooked. Let cool and cut into bite sized pieces. Set aside.
• In a large pot, melt the butter and sauted the onion and garlic. Cook until onions are transluscent.
• Add the diced tomatoes, white wine, chicken stock and tomato paste. Stir and let simmer for 20 minutes.
• Add the tortellini, sausage and asparagus and let simmer until tortellini is cooked.
• Season with salt and pepper.
• If desired, top with shredded cheese and serve with crusty bread.

Breakfast Burritos

After the success I had with the baked steak burritos, I thought that the burrito possibilities were endless. In a state of panic the other night when it seemed like there was no food in the house, I was able to pull off what looked like a pretty sufficient dinner -- all thanks to some great presentation.


You can really do anything you want with these burritos (which is what makes them so amazing), but I stuck with the classics: bacon, eggs, tomatoes, onions, cheese. This was a breakfast of champions and would be good to make in the morning for active kids walking out the door. 


Ingredients

• 4 large flour tortillas, warmed
• 6 eggs
• 8 slices of bacon
• 1/2 cup shredded cheese
• 1/2 cup diced tomatoes
• 2 green onions, diced
• salsa and/or sour cream to serve

Directions

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
• In one frying pan, cook the bacon
• In another frying pan, cook the eggs, scrambled
• Open up the four tortillas and spread out over the counter
• In each, in a line down the middle, place two slices of bacon, a couple of spoonfuls of egg, some tomatoes, some green onions and some cheese
• Fold the burrito by folding the long side in, tucking in the short ends and rolling over
• Lay seam side down on a baking sheet (don't be shy to use toothpicks to keep them closed)
• Serve with salsa and/or sour cream, or wrap in tin foil for easy portability

Dulce de Leche Brownies

I had some more Dulce de Leche left in the fridge and was looking for something to make with it when I stumbled on Dave Lebovitz' recipe for Dulce de Leche brownies. (who coincidentally created these for the same reason)

With nearly two chocolate bars in these brownies, they are dense and chocolatey. Three days later they were still incredibly moist. The DLD takes them over the top in sweetness though and trust me when I say these are best served with nothing but a big, tall glass of milk. 

Ingredients

• 8 tbsp butter, cut into pieces
• 6 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 1/4 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
• 3 large eggs at room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup Dulce de Leche
• optional: 1 cup toasted pecans or walnuts, coarsely chopped

Directions

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
• Grease an 8-inch square pan with butter.
• Melt the butter in a medium saucepan. Add the chocolate pieces and stir constantly over very low heat until the chocolate is melted. Remove from heat and whisk in the cocoa powder until smooth. Add in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the sugar, vanilla, then the flour. Mix in the nuts, if using.
• Scrape half of the batter into the prepared pan and drop half of the Dulce de Leche, evenly spaced, over the brownie batter, then drag a knife through to swirl it slightly. Spread the remaining brownie batter over, then drop spoonfuls of the remaining Dulce de Leche in dollops over the top of the brownie batter. Use a knife to swirl the Dulce de Leche slightly. (don't do too much swirling as you want some globs of it all over)
• Bake for 40 to 45 minutes. The brownies are done when the center feels slightly firm. Remove from the oven and cool completely.

Recipe from Dave Lebovitz

Baked Pita Triangles

When I make appetizers, I'm usually looking for something easy that I can mostly prepare in advance so I can focus on the main course. Recently, I picked up one of my favourite dips -- roasted red pepper, which I swear I'm going to learn how to make -- and put it on a tray with vegetables. I still wanted it to look like I put some effort into, so I grabbed a bag of Greek-style pitas and decided to bake them.


The real win for these was the kosher salt because they were unexpectedly salty. Served warm, it looked like I put in a lot of time into these little guys, but they were easy to whip up and, because of their large surface area, perfect for dipping.


Ingredients

• 4 no-pocket pitas (often called Greek style)
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 tbsp kosher salt
• pepper 

Directions

• Cut pitas into six triangles by cutting whole pita in half, then each half into three triangles
• Line pitas on a baking sheet
• Lightly brush olive oil onto one side of each pita and sprinkle with salt and pepper
• Bake at 400 degrees for 8-10 minutes
• Serve warm

Brown Sugar Oatmeal with Berries

It's getting cooler here in the morning. One of my favourite things to do on a Sunday morning is snuggle up with my dog, a hot coffee and a warm breakfast and watch Sunday Morning on CBS. I usually make pancakes, but sometimes I'm looking for something easier so last week I pulled out a bag of Quaker oatmeal and I might not turn back. 

I pretty much followed the recipe until the end when I opted to make it a little more decadent by adding cream and sugar -- balanced out with some blueberries of course. 

Ingredients (makes 2 servings)

• 1/2 cup Quick oatmeal (3-5 minutes to cook)
• 1 cup water
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 tbsp cream
• 1/4 cup blueberries

Directions

• Bring water to a boil and add oatmeal cooking for 3-5 minutes (or, as per the bag's directions)
• Remove from heat and add brown sugar and cream. Stir in
• Add blueberries and mix in, letting warm up slightly
• Serve in bowls and sprinkle lightly with more brown sugar and a few more blueberries

Shrimp Scampi

On Sundays I like to spend time in the kitchen. It's an opportunity for me to unwind and relax and make a meal that will have a couple of portions left over for a relaxed dinner on Mondays.

I saw this recipe over at Annie's Eats and I immediately gravitated towards it because it had only a few simple ingredients and looked like a light summer supper. We don't eat a lot of fish at home but often have shrimp on hand and I really like how it was the star of this meal. I made the pasta from scratch and tossed it with this light butter-lemon sauce and it was a hit. Unfortunately, it was such a hit, that there weren't any leftovers!


Ingredients

• 3/4 lb. linguine (try to make homemade like this)
• 4 tbsp butter
• 2 tbsp olive oil 
• 4 cloves minced garlic
• 1 lb. large shrimp, peeled and deveined 
• 1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 3-4 tbsp chopped flat leaf parsley
• zest of 1/2 lemon
• 1/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
• 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

Directions

• Bring large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook pasta according to package directions.
• Meanwhile, in a saute pan, melt the butter and olive oil together over medium heat. Add the garlic and saute for one minute. 
• Add the shrimp in an even layer and add salt and pepper. Once down side of shrimp turns pink, flip and cook second side evenly. 
• When shrimp is opaque, remove pan from heat and stir in the parsley, lemon zest, lemon juice and red pepper flakes.
• Drain pasta and add to the saute pan and toss to combine.
• Serve immediately.

Recipe from Annie's Eats

Roasted Garlic

I love garlic. Ever since we discovered jarred garlic (minced and packed in oil), we put in pretty much everything. Making veggies? Add some garlic. An omelette? Add garlic. Risotto? Where's the garlic? 


Lately I've been cooking with fresh garlic and it is significantly better than the jarred garlic (which, after awhile, seemed kind of gelatinous in my fridge). With this new discovery, I've been looking for more ways to enjoy garlic and roasting it was just the thing.


Roasted garlic is very different than fresh garlic. It's mild and flavourful and you can eat it plain. I probably ate three heads of garlic when it came out of the oven -- it was just that good. And simple!! It's super easy to make and very impressive.


How can you use roasted garlic, you ask?

• on garlic bread
• in mashed potatoes
• in mayonnaise 
• with goat cheese as a spread

Ingredients

• garlic heads (do five or six at a time, trust me)
• olive oil
• salt and pepper

Directions

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
• Peel away the excess skin on the garlic, but leave the skin on the cloves in tact.
• With a sharp knife, cut off the pointy end of the garlic so the tips of all the cloves are exposed.
• Place garlic heads on tin foil and drizzle with olive oil (don't be shy on the olive oil) and use your fingers to make sure all cloves are well coated. Season with salt and pepper.
• Create a package with the tin foil and put in over for 45 minutes or until garlic is soft when pressed.
• Let garlic cool and then either peel away skin with a fork or turn upside and squeeze out garlic into a bowl.
• Enjoy as is, or combine with your favourite recipe for a fresh new flavour.

** Tip: An easy way to freeze roasted garlic is in individual ice cube trays. Mash cloves first and then spoon into trays and freeze.

Summer Garden Pasta

I was recently given a gift certificate for Indigo and I knew exactly what I wanted to buy -- a cookbook by Ina Garten, the Barefoot Contessa. For years, I have enjoyed watching her on the Food Network for her simple, classic recipes and she always just looks so happy cooking! Though I guess if I had her kitchen in the Hamptons, I might too!

Anyway, so I just got two of her books in the mail and they are beautiful. Nice glossy pages with beautiful photos and I was immediately inspired to make three dishes of hers and they were all easy and full of flavour.

The first I made was the summer garden pasta. Angel hair pasta topped with a simple mixture of cherry tomatoes, olive oil, fresh basil and garlic. You had to marinade the sauce for a few hours before so all the flavours infused together and it smelled like nothing else. I couldn't wait to eat this one!

Ingredients
Adapted from The Barefoot Contessa at Home

• fresh angel hair pasta (make your own using this recipe)
• 2 pints cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 4 cloves freshly minced garlic
• 10 leaves fresh basil, chiffonaded
• 1 cup grated fresh parmesan
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions

• In a bowl, combine cherry tomatoes, olive oil, garlic, basil and salt and pepper. Toss and let sit for about four hours.
• Bring large pot of salted water to a boil and cook pasta. Drain.
• Put tomato mixure in a large pan and warm. Add in pasta and toss, fully coating pasta. Add parmesan and stir, letting it melt throughout.
• Serve warm with more parmesan and basil for presentation.

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

I was looking for a good, classic chocolate chip cookie recently and I decided not to look any further the chocolate chip package. This was bound to be a good recipe because anyone who would put it on their package, had to be confident in them. These did not disappoint and fully lived up to their name of Chewy Milk Chocolate Chip cookies. I put these in just before So You Think You Can Dance came on, and was eating them by the first commercial. Yum!

Ingredients

• 2/3 cup butter, melted
• 2 cups brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 tbsp hot water
• 2 2/3 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 package chocolate chips

Directions

• Combine melted butter, brown sugar, eggs and hot water. Mix well.
• In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add to butter and sugar mix.
• Stir in chocolate chips.
• Drop from a small spoon onto a an ungreased cookie sheet.
• Bake at 375 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes.
• Makes about four dozen cookies.

Recipe from Hershey's Chipits package

Easy Cheesy Tortellini Bake

I love East Side Mario's Cheese Cappelletti. When I used to go for dinner with my skating team at competitions, we would get 30 orders of it. Thinking about it actually makes my mouth water. It is that good.

Well, I have stumbled upon a really close second. It's cheesy and delicious and the awesome thing is that this is hardly even a recipe really because it has just FOUR ingredients. It was such a no-brainer I wasn't even thinking of blogging about it (really, it's hardly cooking), but it is so good that I couldn't keep it to myself.

It would be really easy to personalize this dish by adding tomato, different kinds of cheeses or even different pasta. This is going to be a staple in our house for sure.

Ingredients

• one can tomato soup
• one can milk (fill up the empty can of tomato soup to measure)
• one package of fresh tortellini
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions

In an oven safe dish, pour tomato soup and equal amount of milk. Stir. 

Add UNCOOKED tortellini -- yes, straight out of the package. 

Stir to coat. 

Place in oven at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Stir once or twice during this time so all tortellini cooks evenly.

At 40 minutes, spread mozzarella over top and put back in oven on Broil for 10 minutes until cheese is bubbling and browning.

That's it. So easy, so amazing.

Jumbo Stuffed Shells with Spinach and Ricotta

I'm becoming more flexible in my cooking. For example, I thought I was going to make lasagna rolls until I realized I didn't have lasagna noodles. So I used what I had -- jumbo shells -- and dinner still turned out great!

This is a great meal to make in advance for a couple of easy weeknight dinners.

Ingredients:

• 1 box jumbo pasta shells
• 1 tub ricotta cheese
• 1 box frozen spinach
• 1 cup parmesan
• 1 tsp garlic
• 1 egg
• 1 jar tomato sauce
• 1 cup mozzarella cheese
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Boil pasta in salted water until al dente.

Rinse with cold water and let cool off.

Thaw spinach and press well to drain water out.

In a separte bowl, mix together ricotta, spinach, garlic, egg, parmesan, salt and pepper.

Pour a thin layer of tomato sauce in a lasagna pan.

Stuff pasta shells with a spoonful of mixture. Now, the shells are closed like a clam, so it may look challenging to stuff, but if you put it in your hand lengthwise, squeezing your hand will help open it up to stuff. It doesn't have to be neat.

Arrange in lasagna pan.

Cover with tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese. (I also didn't realize that I didn't have mozzarella cheese...)

Cover with tinfoil and bake at 425 degrees for 20 minutes.

Uncover and bake for another 10 minutes until cheese is bubbling.

Download the recipe for Jumbo Stuffed Shells with Ricotta and Spinach