Sunday Night Dinner - Chicken, Mushroom and Artichoke Heart Pasta

Brent came home from a grocery run with a large jar of marinated artichoke hearts, and I really only needed a small jar for appies I'm prepping for our annual Christmas party. I wasn't exactly sure what I wanted to do with the extras, and then realized I had chicken and mushrooms in the fridge. Thrown together with a hard, yet creamy, cheese a friend had brought over last weekend - I really wish I remembered what it was called - and a box of pasta, and we had a fantastic Sunday night dinner.

Braised Short Rib Macaroni and Cheese

I've said it before and I'll say it again - mac and cheese is by far one of my all time favourite meals. It's easy to throw together, and you can make so many different variations. I was feeling pretty exhausted tonight and almost just made a box of KD for dinner. However, I am also in supreme procrastination mode, so decided to whip up a new variation. I have to say I think this might be the best macaroni and cheese I have ever made! I think it was the combination of the different cheeses and the braised short ribs. You can really use whatever cheese you want, you just need about 2 3/4 cups of it. Whatever it was - loved it!

Easy Weeknight Dinners - Macaroni and Creamy Cauliflower Sauce

I love macaroni and cheese, and will often whip up a batch on a whim. However, I'm sure it's not the healthiest thing to keep at the top of my roster of quick meals. I was really excited to see this version using cauliflower instead of cheese. There is still a bit of cheese, a tiny amount of cream, and the winner for all recipes - bacon! I used a new bacon I'd never tried from Two Rivers Meats that was part of a freezer pack I'd purchased for a fundraiser this summer. I've got to say, I might have found a new favourite bacon. One note for this recipe, the instructions say to use a blender, which I did. I think you could just as easily use a food processor to make the sauce, whatever you prefer.

Easy Weeknight Dinners - Sauteed Mushroom Linguine

Sometimes I can be the last to admit how hard it is to juggle everything. Work, school, and a toddler make it difficult to keep up with the regular stuff like laundry and cleaning. Thankfully I have a great husband who pretty much takes care of the household stuff when I'm swamped with assignments and readings. However since I'm the one who gets off work first I take care of getting the little one's dinner. By the time we're done playing and Brent's home for bath and bed, it's hard to make a good healthy meal and easy to order take out or just make a sandwich. So I'm always on the lookout for easy weeknight dinners. The September Issue of Canadian Living contains 20 meals that they claim 'will be on the table in just 15 minutes, including prep time!'. One thing I will say is that I have found with Canadian Living recipes, they don't include the time it takes to get the ingredients to the state they list. For example, if a recipe includes 2 cups mushrooms, thinly sliced - the time on the recipe does not include slicing mushrooms. All that being said, this recipe was still pretty quick to get on the table. I modified using a few substitutes and it still worked out great.

Mediterranean Pasta for a Hot Summer Night

We are in the middle of a pretty intense heat wave in Vancouver right now. Normally in this type of weather I won't cook, and will choose to eat salads and sandwiches for a week if need be. However, I had all the fixings for a great pasta dish so decided to brave the heat and turn on the stove. I'm glad I did - this dish was quick and easy to put together.

Mediterranean Pasta Toss
- 1 package dried pasta
- 1 scallion, chopped
- 12 asparagus spears, cut in 1-2 inch pieces
- 6-8 small/medium tomatoes, chopped
- 1 can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
- 1 cup feta cheese, crumbled
- juice of half a lemon

In pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta according to directions. Meanwhile in large saucepan heat 1-2 tbsp olive oil over medium-high heat. Sautée onion for 3-4 minutes until softened. Add asparagus and cook for 5 minutes. Add tomatoes, reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes. Add artichoke hearts and heat through.

Drain pasta and toss with tomato asparagus mixture. Mix in feta cheese and lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper as needed.

Sunday Night Dinner - Quick Sausage Cacciatore

Another weekend of classes, and so I put Brent in charge of Sunday night dinner. After deciding to go for drinks after a long day of Financial Reporting I got home just in time to put the little one to bed, and Brent had prepped everything for dinner. Unfortunately I forgot I was sending him out to pick up a baby backpack carrier I'd purchased from a swap site, so I ended up finishing up the dinner myself. The recipe said it was a '20-minute' dish, but that must have been a typo, since the instructions clearly make it take at least 30 minutes. Easy enough to put together, and made enough for dinner tonight with leftovers for lunch tomorrow, which is great for the start to a very busy week!

Sunday Night Dinner - Quick Pasta Sauce

Life has been pretty busy for us, and for the past couple of weeks I've lacked in the wanting to cook department. Luckily we had quite a few items in the freezer (chili, stew, perogies) so we were still able to eat alright, in between the take out Indian and Greek and Thai. Today I'd had enough, so planned meals for the week and then realized I forgot about tonight's dinner. I took a quick inventory, and while we had a frozen bag of tortellini, I wasn't sure what to do about a sauce. I modified one I've been making for a few years with what I had on hand, and the results were quite lovely.

Slow Cooker Beef Ragu

I have a feeling the slow cooker is going to become my best friend when I go back to work in a couple of months. That and freezer meals will hopefully help get me through the first couple of months of juggling work, school and a baby. This recipe will definitely come in handy, especially because you don't have to sear the meat or anything before throwing everything in the slow cooker. And apparently it freezes well, let's hope so because I froze the leftovers for another meal sometime.

Sunday Night Dinner - Mushroom and Feta Fusilli

I had class all weekend so Brent was in charge of dinner. Saturday night we ordered in, and tonight he put together a pasta dish I had suggested. It was simple but nice, and I didn't have to cook or clean anything up! We used almond milk so it had a bit of a nuttier flavour.

New Year - New Recipes

It's January 1st, which means it's that time of year that people make New Year's Resolutions, and oftentimes they are similar - eat better, be more active, spend more time with family etc. etc. All of these are great resolutions, but in fact should be something we strive for every day, not just around the New Year. I do have a few friends who make some great resolutions. One year a couple of friends resolved to see more live music, and boy did they do a good job with that one. I have another friend who just recently finished his 2013 resolution of reading 26 non-fiction books (one every 2 weeks). So this year, I am going to join the bandwagon, and my New Year's Resolution is to cook new recipes. I'm not going to be specific and make a goal of one every week, or even every month. However, I am going to strive to cook new recipes as often as possible, whether from trusted sources, or making up new recipes myself.

To start off the year I picked up the January issue of Canadian Living and decided to try out their Ricotta Gnocchi. Brent and I made a similar version at a cooking class years ago, and I honestly don't know why I never revisited it. This recipe is a little simpler, because you don't need to drain the ricotta for 30 minutes. I couldn't find golden beets, so used regular ones, and thus the entire dish was a little pink, however it tasted fabulous! Brent said it was one of my top 10 recipes, which is great considering how easy it was to prepare.

Chicken and Blue Cheese Pasta

We had a couple of friends over for a games night, and I put together a charcuterie platter from some of my favourite shops on Granville Island. I had not been in probably a year, and it was great to get back to Oyama Sausage - which finally has a ticket system for taking your orders! I also visited Benton Brothers Cheese and asked the nice young man at the counter to suggest a couple of cheeses for a platter - a hard, a blue and a brie/camembert. The service was great, and he had me try each cheese before making a decision. I decided to go with a milder blue, as not everyone is a huge fan, and wanted something soft and creamy. His suggestion, a Saint Agur Blue, was perfect, so I bought a larger piece in order to have some leftover to cook with. This recipe came together nicely with ingredients I had on hand, and according to Brent was something he would be happy to have ordered in a restaurant.

Slow Cooker Spaghetti Sauce

There's nothing like making a big batch of spaghetti sauce in the slow cooker. This recipe is lightened up with the use of ground turkey instead of ground beef, but feel free to substitute as you wish. One batch of this recipe makes enough for us to enjoy one night, and freeze two more portions. With this in the freezer all you need is some dry pasta and you have a quick weeknight dinner in the amount of time it takes to defrost the sauce and boil some water!

Slow Cooker Spaghetti Sauce
- 1 1/2 lb ground turkey
- 2 cans (28oz each) tomatoes
- 1 can (5 1/2 oz) tomato paste
- 1 1/2 cups sliced mushrooms
- 2 carrots, chopped
- 2 stalks celery, chopped
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 1 sweet red or yellow pepper, chopped
- 2 - 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tbsp each dried basil and oregano
- 1 tsp each dried thyme and salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
- 4 tsp balsamic vinegar

In large skillet saute turkey over medium-high heat, breaking up with fork until crumbly and cooked through, about 6-8 minutes.

Meanwhile, place tomatoes in slow cooker. mash with potato masher or fork until slightly chunky. Stir in tomato paste, mushrooms, carrots, celery, onion, red pepper, garlic, basil, oregano, thyme, salt, pepper and cayenne pepper. Using slotted spoon, transfer turkey to slow cooker, mix well.

Cover and cook on low until vegetables are tender and sauce is thick, about 8 - 10 hours. Stir in vinegar.


Let cool for 30 minutes. Refrigerate for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 1 month.

Spinach, Tomato and Bocconcini Pasta Toss

This is another great recipe from Canadian Living, from the August 2011 issue. It's quick, fresh and has a lot of great flavours.

Spinach, Tomato and Bocconcini Pasta Toss

- 5 cups fusili pasta

- 2 tbsp olive oil

- 1 onion, thinly sliced

- 1 clove garlic, thinly sliced

- 2 cups cherry tomatoes

- 1/4 tsp each salt, pepper and hot pepper flakes

- 4 cups baby spinach

- 1 cup cubed bocconcini cheese (if you can find them the pearls are great)

In large saucepan of boiling salted water, cook pasta according to instructions. Drain, reserving 1/2 cup cooking liquid and return pasta to pot.

Meanwhile, in large skillet, heat oil over medium heat; cook onion and garlic, stirring occasionally, until softened and golden, about 6 minutes. Add tomatoes, salt, pepper and hot pepper flakes; cook until tomatoes start to split, about 5 minutes.

Add to pasta along with spinach, cheese and half of the reserved cooking liquid. Cook, stirring and adding more liquid as needed until spinach is wilted and cheese begins to melt, about 2 minutes.

Easy Alfredo Sauce

This is a great way to use up whipping cream you may have bought because you decided to make waffles for breakfast, and what are waffles without fresh whipping cream?

For this night we used up a zucchini, frozen chicken breast and spaghetti we had on hand. All I had to do was pick up a bottle of wine on the way home from work.

Alfredo Sauce

- 1 cup whipping cream

- 1/4 cup butter

- 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

- salt and pepper

- pinch fresh nutmeg

In large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta according to directions, until tender but firm. Drain well and return to pot.

Meanwhile in saucepan, bring cream and butter just to boil. Reduce heat and stir in Parmesan, salt, pepper and nutmeg. Add to pasta. At this time you can throw in some chicken and sauteed veggies, or shrimp, or fresh peas, anything you'd like. Toss to coat.

Pumpkin Gnocchi

It seems like the theme these days is pumpkin, and I'm okwith that. This is the first time I'd ever roasted a pumpkin and made a puree for cooking with. I have a couple of cups of puree left in the freezer that I'm going to use for some ravioli or soup.

This recipe was from the October issue of Canadian Living. I grew up reading

Canadian Living and my mom bought me a subscription a few years ago, and keeps renewing it for me. One of the best gifts ever! I look forward to every issue, and cannot think of a recipe I've tried from the magazines or cookbooks that hasn't been successful. This was easy to make, and so good! The pumpkin puree can be used for all sorts of things.

I didn't realize that you don't use Jack-O-Lantern pumpkins, but rather sugar pumpkins to cook with. You could use squash in place of this as well.

Pumpkin Puree

Halve and seed pumpkin or squash (keep the seeds for roasting!). Prick skin all over with fork. Roast, cut side down, on rack on foil-lined baking sheet in 350 oven for about an hour, until flesh is browned and tender. Let cool then scoop into a food processor, puree. Refrigerate for up to 48 hours or freeze for up to 3 weeks.

Pumpkin Gnocchi

- 2 cups roasted pumpkin or squash puree

- 1/2 cup finely grated Parmigiano Reggiano

- 1 egg

- 1 tsp salt

- 1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

- 3 cups (approx.) all-purpose flour

Sauce

- 1/3 cup butter

- 1/4 cup pine nuts

- 12 fresh sage leaves

To make Gnocchi: In large bowl, whisk together pumpkin puree, cheese, egg, salt and nutmeg. Using wooden spoon, stir in 2 cups of flour. Stir in remaining flour, 1/4 cup at a time to make a soft, sticky dough.

On well-floured surface with floured hands, roll dough into log; divide into quarters. Take each piece and gently roll and shape into 3/4 inch diameter rope. With sharp knife, cut each rope diagonally into 3/4 inch pieces.

In large pot of boiling salted water, cook gnocchi in 2 batches, stirring gently until it floats to the top, about 3 minutes. Transfer to warm serving dish with slotted spoon.

Meanwhile, in large skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Cook pine nuts until fragrant, and butter begins to brown, about 2 minutes. Add sage leaves and cook until fragrant (less than a minute). Scrape over gnocchi and serve. Deelish!

Garlic Scapes

As I mentioned in my last post, I picked up some garlic scapes at the market on Saturday.I wasn't really sure what I was going to do with them, and read around on the internet to see what people suggested. Two of the main suggestions were pesto and also sauteing them in butter. I didn't really feel like making pesto, but did like the idea of having pasta. Plus I had all of those heirloom tomatoes staring at me from the counter.

Before starting the recipe I decided I had to try a piece of garlic scape raw, just so I had an idea of what it was before I started cooking with it. It was very strong, almost instant heartburn. But, I knew from that small sample that once it was cooked down it would have a great flavour.

Pasta with Garlic Scapes and Heirloom Tomatoes

~ 8 garlic scapes, sliced into 1/4 inch pieces

~ 1/4 red onion, sliced

~ 1 tbsp each butter and olive oil

~ variety of tomatoes, chopped

~ 1/2 cup feta cheese

~ salt & pepper

~ pasta, your choice

Heat pan over medium heat, melt butter and add olive oil. Saute garlic scapes and onion in butter and oil until they begin to soften, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Add tomatoes, simmer for 15-20 minutes, until tomatoes have broken down. Season with salt and pepper.

At this point you can choose to serve, or as I did, you can add a bit of creaminess. Stir in 1/2 cup of feta cheese. If you choose to use feta, keep in mind that you won't need as much salt when you are seasoning.

In the meantime, cook pasta according to directions. Mix with sauce. Serve topped with Parmesan cheese, and garnish with a cherry tomato.

Very yummy!!! (and quite garlicky, in a good way)

Homemade Pizza

Growing up in Sault Ste. Marie, we had great pizza anytime you wanted. It was always from local restaurants, no chain pizza shops ever lasted very long. When I first moved out, to Ottawa, I remember the desperation my roommate and I (also from the Soo) felt when we were craving good pizza. It always took awhile, but eventually I would find a good pizza restaurant, only in time to move to the next city. In Ottawa, it was Fida's. I don't know if that place is still around, but on most days if you went to pick it up it was 50% off, awesome for University students, and damn good pizza too! When I moved to Montreal I ended up working at one of the best pizza places (and I'm not being biased) - Amelio's - where you have to try the Blanche (or four cheese).

Vancouver has been hit or miss with pizza. We'll find a decent pizza joint, but consistency is hard to come by. Incendio's is definitely on our list, however we find more and more that we prefer to make pizza at home. I used to use the recipe found here , and thought it was the bomb. It is great if you are making pizza and are tight on time. However, my sister recently introduced to me the beauty of a pizza dough that you let rise. You can either let this one rise for an hour and cook right away, or overnight. This dough is the bomb!

Pizza Dough (from The Complete Canadian Living Baking Book)

- 3 cups all-purpose flour (approx)

- 2 tsp quick-rising (instant) dry yeast

- 1 tsp salt

- 1 1/4 cup hot water

- 1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

In bowl, combine 2 3/4 cups of the flour, yeast and salt. With wooden spoon, gradually stir in water and oil until ragged dough forms, using hands if necessary.

Turn out dough onto lightly floured surface; knead, adding as much of the remaining flour, 1 tbsp at a time, as necessary to prevent sticking, until smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes. You can use a stand-mixer for this, cutting the kneading time in half. Place in greased bowl, turning to grease all over; cover with plastic wrap.

If you want to have the pizza today, let rise in warm draft free place until doubled, about 1 hour. If you want to have the pizza tomorrow or another time, let rise in refrigerator for 1 day. You can freeze in large resealable freezer bag for up to 1 month; let thaw and rise in refrigerator overnight.

When you are ready to make your pizza, roll the dough out to fit whatever size pan you are planning on using. I used a cookie sheet for mine. Grease the pan lightly, then place the pizza dough on it. It should feel quite flexible. Crimp the edges to create a bit of a crust. Top and then bake in bottom third of 450 F oven for 20 - 25 minutes.

While I love the quickness of the other pizza dough, I would really recommend trying this one if you have the time. It is so good, crusty on the outside and soft on the inside. I topped mine with artichoke hearts, tomatoes, green olives, mushrooms, spinach, zucchini and feta and mozzarella cheeses. So yummy!!!!

Bowties with Artichokes and Parmesan

I was recently in Toronto visiting family for Thanksgiving, brr was it ever cold! While there we went to a couple of different restaurants. I didn't take any pictures, but Sidecar on College was great, I would recommend to anyone in Toronto. Whenever I visit new restaurants I like to try and remember what the menu items were that I wanted to try, and then use that as inspiration for a dinner at home. I ended up ordering the Mushroom Risotto (which was awesome), but there was a pasta dish with artichokes that looked very simple, but would have nice flavours. So for dinner tonight I decided to try a new dish with marinated artichoke hearts that I had in my pantry.


Bowties with Artichokes and Parmesan
- bowtie pasta, about 2 cups uncooked
- 1 jar marinated artichoke hearts, chopped
- 1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
- juice of half a lemon

Cook pasta according to directions, reserving one cup of the pasta water. Drain and return to pot. Toss artichoke hearts and Parmesan cheese with pasta. Squeeze lemon over top.

This would be great with pancetta or prosciutto as well.

White Tomatoes

This weekend marked the return of the West End Farmer's Market in Vancouver. This year we had looked into joining a CSA (a Community Supported Agriculture program), which basically boils down to receiving a box of produce every week from a local farm throughout the summer. You pay up front and you don't know what you are going to get week to week. I liked the idea of being challenged with a box of produce every week, and having the opportunity to create new and exciting dishes out of what came my way. However, after examining the program, it wasn't the best fit for us, partially because we don't have a car to pick it up, and also because we will be away for several different weekends over the course of the summer. That being said, I promised myself that instead, we would shop more often at the Farmer's Markets, and I would start taking chances on produce that I had never cooked with before. So here I am in the Farmer's Market at a tomato stall, and there are all these different varieties of Heirloom tomatoes. I love tomatoes, but I have to admit I've never really ventured past cherry, grape, roma and beefsteak tomatoes. So there were these white tomatoes and it said they were low in acid, and good for pasta sauce. The result was surprisingly refreshing.


Pasta with White Tomato and Sausage
- 2 Italian Sausages, cooked and sliced
- 1 small onion, finely diced
- 2 - 3 cloves garlic, finely diced
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 5 medium white Heirloom Tomatoes
- 2-3 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 2 -3 tsp capers
- salt and pepper

Heat oil over medium heat in a large skillet. Add onion and garlic, saute for five minutes or until onion is softened. Chop tomatoes and add to skillet along with juices. Add salt and pepper, simmer on low for about 15 minutes. While sauce is simmering boil water for pasta, and throw together a salad.

While pasta cooks (I used broad egg noodles), add sausage to sauce and heat through. Drain pasta, add lemon juice and capers to sauce. Toss with pasta.

Pasta with Sausage and Asparagus Sauce

I love cooking with sausage, and particularly because I have access to some of the best sausage around. Oyama Sausage make small batches of fresh sausages every week. Anytime that I am at Granville Island I make sure to pick up a few different ones for the freezer. Their lamb sausages are to die for!!! For this recipe I used a couple of spicy Italian sausages.

Pasta with Sausage and Asparagus
~ 1-2 tbsp olive oil
~ 2 medium sized shallots
~ 3-4 garlic cloves
~ 2 sausages
~ 5 tomatoes, chopped, or 1 28oz can diced tomatoes
~ 5 spears asparagus
~ pasta

Saute chopped shallots and minced garlic in olive oil 1-2 minutes. Remove sausage meat from casings. Add to pan, breaking up with spoon as it cooks, about 8-10 minutes.

Add tomatoes, salt & pepper and simmer for about 15-20 minutes.

Meanwhile, boil water and cook pasta according to directions. When pasta is almost done, add asparagus to sauce.

Toss pasta with sauce. Serve topped with parmesan cheese. Bon appetit!