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)

Baked Ricotta and Roasted Vegetable Penne

This was actually a really rogue meal for me to make - i really don't make that much pasta, and this was probably one of the first times i baked the pasta. As usual i didn't have a plan for this meal - i had bought the ingredients in a rushed frenzy, and only had a vague idea of what i was going to make. This one turned out pretty good, but it did feature three types of cheese, so how bad could it have been!

A lot of the inspiration for this meal was actually due to a birthday gift i got from my friend Joanna. She gave a a moleskin recipe organizer - my recipes are one-eight written, cut out, printed, random notes on paper i can barely read - so i've been going through these. I think my veggie choices; garlic, eggplant and red pepper were inspired from a few different recipes i saw while going through my notes picking ones to preserve in the new book.

My Plate

(served it with some bruschetta)

Pretty simple ingredients - and a lot of PC product

I lightly tossed the veggies in olive oil and roasted them,

then cut them into bite size pieces

I mixed light ricotta with some chopped arugula

I mixed the pasta, sauce, roasted veggies and ricotta together.

I actually made the tomato sauce with a can of diced tomatoes, roasted

garlic, red peppers and some spices. Pretty simple and you could

easily use jarred sauce.

I simply put everything in a glass casserole dish, then i topped

with shredded mozzarella and Parmesan. I covered it with foil and baked it until

it was warmed through, removed the foil and broiled it until the top was melted

and a little brown.

Friday Breakie

Today i had a couple meetings downtown, so i didn't bother heading into the office, which gave me a little extra time to relax, read the paper, check emails and cook breakfast!!! I am heading up to my cottage, so i wanted to use up some of the food i had in the fridge, hence i threw together a quick breakfast with what i had in the fridge.



I roasted some potatoes with olive oil, shallots, salt, pepper and chili flakes. While that was cooking i chopped some tomatoes and avocados and dressed some arugula with olive oil and balsamic. When the potatoes were almost done i put a corn tortilla into the oven and fried an egg. Once the egg was done i assembled the meal: starting with the tortilla i topped it with the egg, some cheese, then the tomatoes, arugula and avocado. On the side i had the potaotes and some fruit from mother's day.


If only every weekday breakfast was this easy/good!

Lazy Oven Dinner

I read food blogs, that's really what got me started on this one - and occasionally i see trends within them. Recently i kept noticing one recipe in particular Smashed Potatoes. If you read this blog, realize that i'm not really a potato lover, but i still have some in my fridge which i've been trying to get rid of. This recipe kinda reminded me of potato skins, which i actually enjoy - so i thought this would be a good time to use them up.

What really made this meal super easy was that i was not only influenced by a blog, but also a tv ad that i kept catching on the run up to March Madness - so ended up buying a frozen seasoned haddock. Sometimes its good to have slightly healthy food in the freezer, since it gives me an excuse not to eat out when i'm feeling lazy!

The fish was okay - not amazing - and the packaging made it really unappealing. I was particularly horrified by the instructions on the plastic reminding you to remove it before baking. Makes you wonder who they thought would be eating this stuff. There were two "fillets" and the second one i saved and ate on salad - it was actually quite tasty.

The smashed potatoes weren't really that good - but i also used older ones, so i think i am going to try them again with fresh potatoes. You simply boiled them until tender, then "smashed" them and topped with olive oil and garlic, then baking them. They should have been a lot better, i'll keep you posted.

Above:

Dinner and a Ontario Pinot Grigio
Balsamic Asparagus
Fish for Idiots
Smashed potoatoes - ready for the oven
Ingredients aka lazy town.

Easy Thin Crust Pizza

Reading one of those ladies magazines at the gym (yeah all i think about is food while working out). I saw a recipe for pizza done on a flour tortilla. I am not a real pizza fan, only if the crust is really thin am i even remotely interestd - so i though that i would give it a try. It had been in the back of my mind for a few months now, and so looking at the groceries left over in my fridge i thought i would give it a try.

I didn't have any tomato sauce, and i'm not that big a fan anyway, but i thought that i could roast some cherry tomatoes and garlic in balsamic to make a nice base for the pizza. I also always have pesto in the fridge, and i love pesto on pizza so i thought i would add those along with some mushrooms, green onions and a bit of leftover cheddar i had in the back of the cheese drawer.

I put a little olive oil on the tortilla before all the toppings, and cooked it at 400 degrees. It was surprisingly crisp considering all the toppings i had on it, and was quite good. I would totally make this again, maybe with more sophisticated ingredients next time like buffalo mozzarella.

Above:

Pizza
Ready for the oven
The ingredients
Tomatoes to be roasted

Tofu and Shrimp Thai Curry

About six months ago i was on a crazy thai curry kick. I liked it in part because you could use so many vegetbales. At the time i used a President's Choice canned curry sauce that i liked, but then they changed it to a new jarred one that i didn't really enjoy as much. This led me to realize that i should probably learn how to make the sauce from scratch - it would be a lot healthier and i always like a cooking challenge.

I actually sort of invented my version of the recipe, so its not the most authentic thing, but it does have a lot of the ingredients you would expect in a thai curry. Once of my finds was purreed lemongrass, which is not always easy to find at any given time. Kafir lime though, that's another story, i think i've only used them once and really am not going to spend all the time sourcing it. For this recipe i did use some lime zest, which i think gives the recipe a nice freshness.

Sauce Ingredients:

Garlic
Ginger
Green Onions
Vietnamese chili
Green Curry Paste
Coconut Milk
Fish Sauce
Lime Zest
Cilantro

I did the usual - add a ton of veggies; mushrooms, carrots, onions, eggplant, bok choy, brocoli and green beans. For a little extra protein i added tofu and some shrimp that i had originally purchased to make a baked scampi which i haven't gotten around to yet.

One of the most exciting things about this meal is that i sucessfully made rice. It was white basmati, but i did not burn it. Take that starches!

Above:

Sorry about the different lighting - i've been swtiching things up in my kitchen, and apparently its made the lighting all odd

Curry (ignore my neighbour in the background)
Whole veggies
Cut veggies
Sauce ingredients
Sauce ingredients - herbs et al.

Weekday Healthy Taco Salad

A few days ago while i was running on the treadmill at the gym i switched the channel over to the food network. I was so sick of the Olympics, and i actually really enjoy watching cooking shows while i run - for some reason i find it inspirational. Well this was some show where they were making healthy versions of restaurant favorites. The one that really caught my eye was the taco salad. There is a great restaurant in Mississauga i often get the taco salad topped with salmon, but it certainly isn't healthy!!!

What really interested me was the way that they did the actual taco - they took a whole wheat flour taco and lightly brushed it with seasoned olive oil and formed it into a small baking dish. I thought i would give it a try, and it was really tasty, and although perhaps my pictures don't show, it was quite attractive.

I also decided what would make the dish a bit more interesting, was to make smokey black beans, which is a very easy recipe, that makes them a lot tastier.


Smokey Black Beans

One drained and rinsed can of black beans
Half a cup of veggie stock
1/4 cup of sliced red onions
one or two chipotles chopped

Bring the stock to a boil with the onions and chipotle, boil until soft
Add the black beans and bring to a simmer
Simmer until the liquid is mainly gone.

There you go.

As for the taco salad, i just chopped some lettuce, and made a fresh salsa of tomatoes, red onions, hot peppers, and avocados dressed with just lime juice. I also drained a low-sodium can of corn.

To assemble it, i put the taco bowl on the side, added the lettuce and topped it with the salsa, corn and black beans. You could dress this with a sour cream-lime dressing (equal amounts of both) but i found the beans to be moist enough to keep the salad from being dry.

It was a great dinner, and i had enough leftover for a good lunch the next day, which is always a bonus.

Above:

The taco salad
The ingredients
Taco bowl necessities
Making the bowls
The toppings

Beating the February Blahs with Salad

I don't know about you, but i really get the February blahs, and i have a hard time finding excitement in much these days. I thought one of the ways i might cheer myself up with a nice light and colourful nicoise salad! Lately i think my body is craving protein and sunlight! There is a lot of debate about what actually goes into a nicoise salad, some people think it should be canned tuna, some people add potatoes, but i think in my version i've covered off most of the basic elements, while making it a little fresher with seared tuna.

I picked up a nice piece of sashimi grade tuna at Loblaws. It was quite a large piece which was fine as then i can save some for lunch, i made sure to take it out early so that it would be warmer when i cooked it. Years ago my nana bought me a small Hamilton Beech grill, which is a great way to sear the tuna for the salad. I dressed the tuna with some olive oil and salt and pepper, then added some of the dressing right before i grilled it. I like mine to be pretty rare, but as i was so busy taking pictures i cooked it a little more than i would have liked.

Just before i grilled the tuna, i quickly blanched some green beans, shelled a hard boiled an egg. On a plate i placed some torn boston lettuce (you can also use bib) adding a few very thin pieces of red onion and some ripe black olives. For the dressing i made a vinaigrette with olive oil, red wine vinegar, mustard, lemon juice and shallots which gave it a nice citrus tang. Most people also include boiled potatoes, but i'm not really a fan, so i skipped that ingredient - if you do use them i recommend that you dress the potatoes while they are still warm since it gives them a better flavour. Once the salad was assembled i sliced the tuna and simply put it on top.

This was a nice weekday meal for a dark February evening. I also learned, when taking pictures of things on the grill, carefully wipe you camera lens or your pictures will have a strange soft border, that kinda makes them look like attempts at tacky/artsy photography. See below:



At top of page:

The salad
Searing the tuna
The dressing
Simple ingredients

Marlin Tacos on a Thursday Night

Eric, my guest chef from last week, and i have been making fish tacos for a while now. The originated apparently in Baja, and they are a lighter version of tacos and you tend to have them with cabbage. Often when i'm lazy i'll make them with already breaded frozen fish, haddock or halibut are nice options, but in honour of the worst month of them all - February, i thought i would get some fresh fish and make a light panko breading. When i was at the supermarket i saw some really nice Marlin steaks - i hadn't had Marlin in years, and knew it was a nice meaty white fish that would bake up well, so i grabbed a piece.

This is one of those meals where most of the work is actually in the chopping. As topping for the tacos i had cabbage (three types, but you can easily use the bagged kind) jalapenos, tomatoes, red onions, limes and i made a tomatillo sauce and guacamole. The tomatillo sauce was something i had read about, and after using canned tomatillos in the shrimp enchiladas i though that it might be a nice, fresh and tangy addition to the fish tacos. This was actually the most time consuming part of the whole process - i blended a tin of tomatillos with a hot yellow and two green serrano peppers and some cilantro. I cooked that for a few minutes, then added a cup of veggie stock. I cooked that for twenty minutes until it had reduced. I liked this one and thought it was a good addition to the marlin.

As for the fish, instead of using frozen filets (which is a great way to make these quickly) I cut the Marlin into larger than bite sized pieces, dredged them in flour, then egg mixture and finally lightly coated them in panko breading which i thought would lighten the meal up. I put them in a lightly oiled baking dish and baked them at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes, flipping them once. Marlin is one of those fishes you don't have too worry too much about overcooking; unlike a lot of other fishes it is pretty hearty. For the last ten minutes i added the corn tortillas wrapped in aluminum foil. Once they both were done we were ready to eat!

Above:

My first taco
Tomatillo sauce
Marlin
Marlin breaded and ready for the oven
The meal

Quinoa Taco Salad

I actually only discovered Quinoa a few years ago, and it is a wonderful versatile grain, very nutritious, high in fiber and a good source of iron. It can be used as a side, but i prefer to use it in a salad mixed with lots of veggies. It has a sort of nutty crunchy aspect to it that makes it a lot more interesting than couscous or rice, and it holds a vinaigrette well, without getting soggy.

Quinoa is quite easy to cook, easier in my opinion than rice. You simply boil water, add the Quinoa, boil again, reduce to medium and cover for 12 minutes. That said read the instructions on your package first! There are different kinds of Quinoa, the white/whole wheat, red and black. The black is pretty dramatic as a side as the colour is unexpected. This time i was just going to use plain quinoa, but i didn't have enough, so i mixed a little red in it too. I think it was visually nice.

I decided to make a sort of Tex-Mex Quinoa salad which was pretty simple considering i tend to have these ingredients in my pantry/fridge at all times. I began by sauteing the red onion until soft and translucent, once it was done i added cumin, red pepper flakes and cayenne pepper. Then i added garlic and cooked it for a little until it was also tender. I then added the canned, drained black beans, chopped tomatoes, red pepper and jalapeno. I stirred that until it was incorporated and added the cooked Quinoa and the juice of a lime.

I served this one a mix of chopped spinach and cilantro and topped it with shredded cheddar/mozzarella mix for a little extra protein and because i love cheese. This actually made quite a bit so i will probably get not only a dinner out of it, but also a couple lunches, which is okay with me.

Above:

Quinoa Taco Salad
Chopped ingredients
Ingredients
Cooked Quinoa
Raw Quinoa

Mustardy Mushroom Stroganoff

I got this great cookbook i've mentioned before in the tuna cakes entry called "easy everyday" there are lots of simple recipes and they are generally for one or two so i really like making them on weekdays. The ingredients are simple and convenient, but pretty healthy. One of my favorites is this mushroom recipe

Ingredients

1/2 small onion, sliced
2/3 cup of vegetable stock (i use organic low-sodium)
5 oz mixed mushrooms, chopped if large
1 clove of garlic, crushed
1 tsp of whole grain mustard (Kozlik's is my fav, and i use more)
1/2 tsp of tomato paste
1 tbsp of sour cream (5%)
salt and pepper

Instructions

Cook the onion in a covered saucepan with 3 tbsp of the stock until evaporated (5 mins).

Stir in mushrooms, garlic, s&p, then add the rest of the stock, mustard and tomato paste

Cook covered for 2 mins, remove the lid and cook rapidly to reduce the liquid to a syrup.

Stir in sour cream, then serve.

I usually serve this with couscous and a salad. The whole meal, including the couscous takes about 15 minutes. This portion is supposed to serve one, but i usually have leftovers and it makes a good lunch.

Above

Ingredients (minus tomato paste)
Weekday dinner
Close up
easy everyday book