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.

Campfire Cones

One of my sister's texted the rest of us a photo and instructions for a new treat to try out this summer at camp. I, however, could not wait until I'm at Basswood at the end of August and decided to try this out myself. You can make this over a bonfire, or like we did on a BBQ. What a great little treat. I was fully expecting a 'Pinterest fail' situation, but they went over really well. So well that since I posted a photo on Instagram and Facebook I've had several people asking me for the instructions. So, here you go!

Campfire Cones
- waffle or sugar cones
- peanut butter
- chocolate chips
- mini marshmallows
- bananas, chopped

Spread the inside of the cones with peanut butter. Fill with chocolate chips, marshmallows and banana pieces. I made sure to try and mix all the ingredients evenly. Wrap the entire thing in tinfoil. Place on hot coals or medium BBQ grill for 5-10 mins, turning occasionally.

Unwrap and enjoy! They were fantastic, and while the bottoms got a little burnt, I will definitely be making these again.

Easter Leftovers Day 3 - Quiche!

I love a good quiche, it makes a nice lunch or dinner, and is even great for breakfast. However, other than the mini quiches I make for my Christmas Cocktail party (recipe here) I don't often cook quiche at home. But, there are only so many things I know to do with leftover ham, and after cooking a 17 lb ham for 6 adults on Saturday, and giving lots away, I needed to do something! The pea soup was great, and enough for me to freeze for a few more meals. I did the same with the quiche, doubled the recipe and made two - one for tonight and one to freeze and reheat later. I used Tenderflake's Deep Dish Pie Crusts, and for the cheese I just grated what I had in the fridge - a little Fontina, some old cheddar, and a bit of mozzarella. The recipe below is for a single quiche, but is easily doubled and modified.

Post Easter Split Pea Soup

One of the things I miss about living at my parents house is soup after holiday dinners. At Christmas I'm usually home long enough to get in on the turkey soup, however I haven't had my mom's split pea soup in years. This year I decided to try and make my own. As I sometimes do I looked through a few different cookbooks and online recipes and came away with the basic idea, and went from there. The key for me was having saved the bone from the ham I roasted for Easter dinner, and using that to make the stock.

Back To Work - Freezer Meals

I headed back to work this week after a blissful (and busy) year off on maternity leave. In anticipation, I spent some time filling the freezer with ready made meals. It was quite funny, because a year earlier I had been doing the same thing in preparation for baby's arrival. How quickly the time does pass!

Life is busy, and when things start spinning out of control, making healthy choices can seem difficult. For me, taking the time to eat well and try and get at least a bit of exercise every day is a great way to manage stress. With that in mind, we froze some mini lasagna's, pasta sauce, chicken burritos, perogies and I picked up a few containers of soup from The Soup Meister in the Lonsdale Quay. Even though I've only been back for 3 days and there's still one day of the week left, so far so good. I seem to have enough time to get home, pick up the little bean from daycare, play for a bit and get dinner ready so that we can all sit down and eat together. Brent had a great idea for us to set aside one night a week to make something for the freezer, so we can keep this up. We'll be starting that next week and I hope that this will help get us through the next couple of months of learning how to juggle work, school, baby and all the other parts of our life.

Quick Coffee Cake

When I was younger I was always confused about coffee cake, thinking it was coffee flavoured, when in fact it's really just cake that goes really well with coffee. I had a group meeting for school Sunday morning, and decided since we were all having to get up early and meet, we should at least enjoy a little treat to kick off the day. I had never made this recipe, and it is pretty simple, and calls for ingredients most people have on hand. As a bonus, it is quick enough to make spur of the moment if you ever have last minute coffee or tea guests.

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!