Quick Creamy Pasta

I really don't eat too much pasta, but sometimes i crave it, and its a great way of using up things in my fridge. This monday i was just feeling like carbs, and was actually considering going out for pasta when i realized how lazy that would be, so i quickly picked up some leeks and mushrooms, as i already had asparagus, broccoli, red peppers, garlic and tomatoes.

I also saw some fresh basil on the stem at the organic market while i was there, so i decided to throw a bit of that in there. I had some left over cream, and finished off my precious Kozlicks Mustard to make the sauce. Basically this was decedent and carby - just what i was craving. I topped it with some fresh cherry tomatoes and basil to lighten it up a bit. (who am i kidding look at the sauce)

Jazz Festival Open House

My sister was nice enough to host an open house for the Beaches Jazz Festival. When my parents lived there we could always make a fun night of it, as its better when you have a home base. This year my sister had an afternoon event, with everyone heading down in the evening. Unfortunately it rained quite hard in the afternoon, but luckily it cleared up for the evening portion.

Of course i offered to make a food contribution for the event - since it was a drop in there was no need to make anything too intricate, so i settled with some dips. I have a great and super easy seven layer dip that people like so i thought i would make that for sure, but for the second i wanted to do something i had never done before/.

A few weeks before my friend Melanie had done a hot crab dip that went over well, so i texted her and got the recipe. It was really easy and definitely a crowd pleaser! Its originally from Epicurious - Hot Crab Dip. I did of course make a few alernations - i used shallots instead of onions, and used reduce fat cream cheese, half sour cream/half mayo.

Seven layer ingredients

The layers:

Salsa
Re-fried Beans
tomatoes, onions and jalepnos
guacamole (okay this is a layer in itself)
sour cream
lettuce
cheese
I top it off with the left-over tomatoes and onions.

Wrapped and Ready to go

The spread (yeah that's a sushi boat)

Some of the desserts

I love picnics

I really do like picnics - i even have these plates from the sixties (a whole set in the box) avocado in colour that i bust out when i get to go. So far this summer i've done two - nothing too fancy but they've been fun. The first was a trip to High Park for Shakespeare in the Park's production of Romeo and Juliet. I went pretty simple for this one - some sandwiches, pasta salad and cherries.

The second was a day trip to Elora Gorge - and i admit i went a little crazy for this one, but it was totally worth it.

All of the ingredients for the trip

(fruit, cheeses, crackers, prosciutto, veggies for grilling, candies)

As it was a day trip we at a few times, this was round 2 -

an afternoon snack of watermelon and salad

I also made hummus for this trip and served it with

pitas and grilled veggies.

Ingredients for my high park sandwiches.

My tacky plates (i now have matching napkins)

And red wine in a coffe cup.

Trying to eat in the heat

This heatwave has ben terrible for my appetite, and not that i would die if i lost a few pounds, i can't just drink beer and do need a bit to eat to get by. I was at the grocery store enjoying the air conditioning when i saw these cute little pitas - and i really like dark rye, so i thought that these might solve some of my eating issues. As a bonus, since i'm studying so much, i also thought i could make them ahead of time and take them with me when i study (in the park) and save a bit of dough!


The first one i thought i would make was a scramble sandwich with extra old cheddar, lettuce, tomato and green onions (along with a little may0). This was more of a breakfast thing - i don't think scrambled eggs would travel well, but hard boiled ones would.

Melting the cheese

YUM

The second one i made was a sort of greek salad sandwich. It was good too, but you have to make sure you get veggies right down to the bottom or your last bites are disappointing just bread!

Something Fishy - Elora

While at the Elora Gorge on the weekend, we decided to visit the town in part because i had read on another food blog that there was a fish and chips store that sold deep fried pickles. I first tried these in Windsor, and LOVED them, and have found them at one pub downtown, but the option to try them once again.... Well how could i resist. When we got there they also had deep fried clam strips, which i added to the order, and of course there were Cod and Chips that had to be tried.

The pickles and clam strips were lovely

The fish and chips were good too, but i was pretty full after all the deep fried goodness. I really enjoyed their coleslaw!

Kristen's Pancake Breakfast

My sister whipped up a nice little treat while we were at the cottage - fruit pancakes. I'm not the biggest pancake fan, but i do love maple syrup and there was also bacon so i managed to survive.

Making batter

Batter

Cooking the pancakes and chicken bacon

The spread - with fresh fruit

Mmmmmm..... bacon

Cottage Dinner with Seafood

My apologies, i've been super busy doing a summer stats class, so i have been cooking and photographing, but i just haven't really been posting. I'm going to put up a couple with minimal text and will try and write a few entries as soon as i have a minute to breathe!

Grilled some veggies and ended up blending them for a roasted veggie dip which was nothing special.

Got this shrimp recipe out of the Sunday NY Times and it is amazing. You make a sauce out of butter and Sarachi, and boil the shrimp - shells on - then toss them with the sauce and some diced jalepeno and corriander. Kinda like my popcorn guilty pleasure.

Scallops in a white wine, butter and garlic sauce

Potatoes that i boiled then tossed in a shallot butter.

Eggs and Caesars for Breakfast

Just because you're up at the cottage doesn't mean you can't do a nice little brunch - caesars and eggs benny included. I thought i would try poaching eggs without my little egg poachers - and i was a little nervous but i was able to do it without a real problem.

Making the hollandaise was another issue altogether. My mom surprisingly has a couple of cookbooks laying about so i was able to find a recipe. This one was interesting as it didn't have you doing it in a double-boiler, but actually doing the recipe over direct heat! I was nervous, but thought i would give it a try!

Eggs ready for hollandaise

My sister whisking

I was able to make the hollandaise. It wasn't the best i've ever had, but hey we were at the cottage. I also wilted some spinach, and quickly blanched some asparagus so we had a benny florentine mix going on.

Steak Nicoise

Now that i've started eating steak, i really enjoy it. I usually get tenderloins because to be honest i can't really eat more than 4 or 5 ounces of red meat. My brother in-law was in charge of picking up the steaks and he came back with two monsters. Actually that was good because we had a brand new bbq to test out. Since the steaks were so big and it was a really hot day i thought that i would make a nicoise salad, but with steak!

I had a bunch of leftovers, including these Yukatan shrimp that i got from the New York Times. (i'll give the recipe in another post). I decided to incorporate those in another meal-type salad. Unfortunately there were no asian ingredients at the cottage so i had to make it a lot simplier than i had intended. I did have cabbage and avocados left over from the Fish Tacos.

I also had some potatoes that i had tossed in shallot butter - i packed those in foil and heated them up on the bbq.

The steaks as i mentioned were monsters. Once they were finished i sliced them into thin slices for the salad.

I had a few of the usual ingredients for a nicoise - hard boiled egg, tomato, but i also added some left over grilled asparagus, butter lettuce. I topped it with a honey dijon dressing i made with pretty much everything in the fridge!

Fish Tacos

Yes, i know more fish tacos - they are soooo good, and have become a cottage favorite. This time i made them with mahi mahi. I also made my own coleslaw which i thought was a change. There was actually no bagged shredded cabbage at the grocery store to start with. I guess because it was the weekend there was a real rush on everything, it was tough to find most of the things i was looking for.

Sunny ingredients

I was going to do the fish on the grill, since mahi mahi is hearty enough to do this way. I rubbed them with a little olive oil, some cumin and chili powder. I figured they would only take about ten minutes on the grill, but when i went out to check on them about five minutes in - they weren't cooking. Turns out we ran out of propane!!! I had to line a baking sheet and put them in the oven to finish. They were still good but i was looking forward to a little char.

Luckily there was enough ambient heat to warm up the tortillas on the grill.

I had all the usual toppings, but i also decided to do some match-stick cucumbers in a light sour cream cilantro dressing for another topping. It was really hot out and i thought that this would cool us of along with the cabbage.