Recipe: Farfalle With Ham & Peas

My husband loves peas. He’ll eat anything with peas, me on the otherhand…not so much. He especially loves ham and peas. I found this recipe on Martha Stewart and it’s been a repeater. The only thing I changed up was instead of half and half I used heavy cream. You can use either but obviously with the heavy cream it’s much more rich.

Ingredients

Serves 4 to 6

• 1 pound bow-tie pasta (farfalle)
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1 onion, diced
• 10 ounces (2 cups) frozen peas
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 pound cooked ham
• Grated Parmesan cheese, for serving

Directions

1. Cook pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water until al dente, according to package instructions. Drain pasta; return to pot.
2. Meanwhile, heat butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add onion; cook, stirring, until soft, 3 to 4 minutes. Add peas and cream; season with salt and pepper. Simmer until thickened, 3 to 4 minutes.
3. Cut ham into strips. Add to sauce; cook until heated through, 1 to 2 minutes. Toss sauce with pasta. Serve with grated Parmesan.

Out Of Town Review: Crumbs Cupcakes LA

I was up in LA for the weekend a few weeks ago at my friend’s place. We were bbq-ing and swimming and I decided to pick up some dessert. We were on the east side so we drove by Crumbs Cupcakes in Larchmont.

I am a cupcake fan and I do like them but these ones weren’t  overly special. Very very sweet icing. They do have a ton of different flavours and they are really appealing to the eye. Look at the photo below! There was even one that looked like a Hostess Cupcake. If you’re in the area, I would definitely go by but it’s not something that I would go out of the way for.

216 N Larchmont Blvd, Los Angeles, CA

Recipe: Greek Orzo Salad

Sorry I haven’t been posting lately. It’s been a busy summer and I actually haven’t been cooking as much as I usually do. Anyways here’s a regular in my summer arsenal. I take this bbqs and it is usually a hit.

Ingredients:

Dressing:

2 tbsp dill
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1/4 cup of olive oil
3 tbsp of lemon juice
3 tbsp of red wine vinegar

Salad:

1 cup of orzo, cooked in water until done, drained and cooled
4 roma tomatoes, seeded and diced (I used grape tomatoes and seeded them)
1 cucumber seeded and diced
3 green onions sliced thin
1 red bell pepper
feta cheese (I prefer blocked feta cut into cubes, less soggy)

*You can also add kalamata olives (I am not an olive fan) and other vegetables like artichokes. I also add different colour bell peppers to make it look festive. Go crazy! Do your thing!

Directions:

Whisk all the dressing ingredients together and chill in the fridge. Mix all the salad ingredients together, add dressing and then chill for a few hours to let the dressing soak in. Enjoy!!

Recipe: Kaiulani’s Curry Fried Rice With Cranberries

I discovered this recipe while I was in Hawaii. Actually I went out to a farmer’s market to look for fresh flowers for my bridal bouquet that I was to make myself. Long story short, we found this woman by the name of Kaiulani who mixes her own spices. She did a demo using her “Kauilani Exotic Curry Spice” and made this exact recipe. We bought a plate and then ended up buying a small container of the spice to take home. She gave me a booklet of her recipes to bring home with me. We have fallen in love with the recipe and I continually order her spices over the telephone and she ships to me in California.

I can’t describe the spice other than it is fantastic and I don’t know anyone who has tried the rice that I make who doesn’t love it. If you are ever in the Honolulu area and are able to hit the Saturday morning farmer’s market, I urge you to look for Kaiulani. Or at least check out her website and try out her spices. I also love her Hawaiian spice and rub.

Here is the recipe:

• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1 1/2 tbs Kauilani’s exotic curry (hot or medium)
• 1 tbs garlic minced
• 1-2 tbs cilantro leaves and stems, chopped
• 4 cups Jasmine rice cooked the day before
• 2 tbs cranberries
• 1/4 cup green onion stalks sliced small

Heat olive oil in pan on low. When oil is heated, add Kaiulani’s Curry, stirring constantly until the Hawaiian salt in the curry is dissolved. Then add garlic, cilantro stems and cranberries, and cook until garlic is done. Add rice and mix everything together thoroughly until rice is completely yellow. Add green onions and cilantro leaves to the rice and mix again. Taste rice and adjust seasoning. Serve. Quick and so easy!

I personally never measure and just experiment and taste. I use way more of everything and it always tastes amazing.

Drink Recipe: Mmmmmojitos

A drink that I love when it’s hot is mojitos. I love how refreshing soda, rum, simple syrup and mint tastes.

Here’s my recipe for a pitcher which I found online somewhere. I never follow a recipe to a tee though, I always experiment.

• 3/4 cup loosely packed mint leaves
• 1 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
• 2/3 cups simple syrup (for those who don’t know what simple syrup is, it is 1 part water and 1 part sugar boiled. Sugary syrup!)
• 1 1/2 cups rum (I used Bacardi Razz today to spice it up and because I had some)
• 4 cups club soda
• ice

Use a muddler to muddle the mint leaves. If you don’t have a muddler or mortar and pestle, you can use the back of a spoon to mash up the mint leaves. The point is you want to release the flavors and oil in the leaves as much as possible.

Fill the bottom 1/4 to 1/3 of the pitcher with ice. Toss in the muddled mint leaves and remaining ingredients. Fill the remainder of the pitcher with ice. Stir well and serve on the rocks.

Here’s a pic of my muddling:

And here’s a picture of the finished product. Yummy!

Out Of Town Review: Qoola Vancouver

So I went home to Vancouver for a visit last week and ate a ton of food that I have been missing. I didn’t tote my camera around with me that much but I did take a photo of some food stuffs. One of the things I did photograph was a frozen yogurt spot on Denman Street called Qoola. My husband and I walked from our hotel on Burrard and Robson to Denman and then to Davie. Near the end of our walk we walked by some great sweet tooth spots. I have been seeing a lot of friends posting on Facebook and Twittering about Qoola so I decided I should check it out.

I ordered a medium yogurt with pineapple and mango topping. Pretty basic but this is what I always order at Pinkberry so I thought I would grab this to compare. The yogurt was nice and tart, just how I like it. For someone who is semi-lactose intolerant, I did not suffer post consumption pains. So yay for that! My husband took a couple of spoonfuls and really liked it…I really liked. I would definitely order it again if I was in the mood for fro-yo while in Vancouver. My only gripe?? A medium with 2 toppings cost me over $7. Damn. That’s one expensive fro-yo! I thought Pinkberry was expensive. My husband wanted a smoothie or something and when I checked the price it was going to cost me $8. I am sorry, but I can’t spend $8 on a smoothie! I walked over to Cookies By George and got him a cookie instead. Hahaha.

Here’s a pic:

1116 Denman St Vancouver, BC

Product Love: Ruby Jewel Ice Cream Sandwiches

I don’t know if you can call this just love. I am very obsessed with Ruby Jewel ice cream sandwiches. The closest grocery store that carries them is about 7 miles away and if I have a hankering I will drive there just get one sandwich. Then I proceed to eat it very very slowly so that I can savour each bite. They are the best ice cream sandwiches around. Check out Ruby Jewel’s website for a retailer near you. You will thank me (or hate me because I’ve caused you to become obsessed as well) for it!

Roasted Veggie Lasagna

I had some zucchinis, red peppers and an eggplant in the my fridge that needed to be used up so I looked for a roasted vegetable recipe. The best thing I found was this lasagna. It looked pretty mellow and with the no boil noodles available, I was down. Making lasagna can sometimes seem like a chore but this one wasn’t too bad. I worked while my veggies were roasting so it didn’t feel like it took forever. Found this recipe at Allrecipes.com but of course I tweaked it a bit, my notes are in brackets. I made 2 small containers so that I could freeze the lasagna or give the excess to a friend.

Ingredients:

• 1 eggplant, sliced into 1/4 inch rounds (make sure the slices are thick or the eggplant will burn)
• 3 small zucchini, cut lengthwise into 1/4-inch slices
• 2 sweet red pepper, cut lengthwise into 6 pieces each
• 3 tablespoons olive oil (I used more)
• 1 clove garlic, minced (I used more)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1 (15 ounce) container reduced-fat ricotta cheese
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/4 cup egg substitute (I used 1 egg, as I didn’t have egg substitute)
• 1 container of frozen chopped spinach (defrosted and excess water removed)
• 1 (26 ounce) jar meatless spaghetti sauce (I used more)
• 12 no-boil lasagna noodles (I didn’t use this much)
• 3 cups shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese (I used more)
• 3 tablespoons minced fresh basi

DIRECTIONS

1. Coat two 15-in. x 10-in. x 1-in. baking pans with nonstick cooking spray. Place eggplant on a prepared pan. Place the zucchini and red pepper on the second pan. Combine the oil and garlic; brush over both sides of vegetables. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake, uncovered, at 400 degrees F for 15 minutes. Turn vegetables over. Bake 15 minutes longer. Remove eggplant. Bake zucchini and red pepper 5-10 minutes longer or until edges are browned.
2. In a bowl, combine the ricotta cheese, Parmesan cheese, egg and chopped spinach. Make sure that all excess water from spinach is removed. Spread about 1/4 cup pasta sauce in a 13-in. x 9-in. x 2-in. baking dish coated with nonstick cooking spray. Layer lasagna noodles (noodles will overlap slightly), half of ricotta cheese mixture, half of vegetables, a third of pasta sauce and 2/3 cup mozzarella cheese. Sprinkle with half of basil. Repeat layers. Top with the remaining noodles and pasta sauce.
3. Cover and bake at 350 degrees F for 40 minutes. Uncover; sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake 5-10 minutes longer or until edges are bubbly and cheese is melted. Let stand for 10 minutes before cutting.

This looks a bit mush in the baking pan but it was good, trust me! My husband is a meat man but he really liked this lasagna.

Quick Shepherd’s Pie

I am not a fan of Rachel Ray. She’s too annoying (my personal opinion) and most of the time her recipes are not up to snuff. One recipe I did like of hers was her 30 minute shepherd’s pie. I have made this many times and I usually never follow the exact measurements but taste and see what works for my palate.

Ingredients:
* 2 pounds potatoes, such as russet, peeled and cubed
* 2 tablespoons sour cream or softened cream cheese
* 1 large egg yolk
* 1/2 cup cream, for a lighter version substitute vegetable or chicken broth
* Salt and freshly ground black pepper
* 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, 1 turn of the pan
* 1 3/4 pounds ground beef or ground lamb
* 1 carrot, peeled and chopped
* 1 onion, chopped
* 2 tablespoons butter
* 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
* 1 cup beef stock or broth
* 2 teaspoons Worcestershire, eyeball it
* 1/2 cup frozen peas, a couple of handfuls
* 1 teaspoon sweet paprika
* 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves

Directions:
Boil potatoes in salted water until tender, about 12 minutes. Drain potatoes and pour them into a bowl. Combine sour cream, egg yolk and cream. Add the cream mixture into potatoes and mash until potatoes are almost smooth.

While potatoes boil, preheat a large skillet over medium high heat. Add oil to hot pan with beef or lamb. Season meat with salt and pepper. Brown and crumble meat for 3 or 4 minutes. If you are using lamb and the pan is fatty, spoon away some of the drippings. Add chopped carrot and onion to the meat. Cook veggies with meat 5 minutes, stirring frequently. In a second small skillet over medium heat cook butter and flour together 2 minutes. Whisk in broth and Worcestershire sauce. Thicken gravy 1 minute. Add gravy to meat and vegetables. Stir in peas.

Preheat broiler to high. Fill a small rectangular casserole with meat and vegetable mixture. Spoon potatoes over meat evenly. Top potatoes with paprika and broil 6 to 8 inches from the heat until potatoes are evenly browned. Top casserole dish with chopped parsley and serve.

*I didn’t have parsley so I skipped it this time. I also only had enough to make 2 servings which is fine because it was just hubby and me. My husband always gives it a thumbs up, so that usually means the recipe needs to get filed away.

Here’s the pie not fully topped with potatoes so you can see in the meat underneath. The potatoes look a bit runny as I didn’t use enough potatoes and put in too much liquid. After being broiled, it was all good in the hood.

Even closer view of the meat

Broiled and topped with paprika

Product Love: Trader Joe’s Mini Mint Ice Cream Mouthfuls

I have a big sweet tooth but sometimes I know I should not be eating a huge bowl of ice cream. But sometimes I just need that little bit of sweet to tie me over. Here is where the TJ’s Mini Mint Ice Cream Mouthfuls (phew that was a mouthful) comes in. One ice cream cookie sandwich is only about 60 calories and good enough to satisfy my tiny dessert craving.

Thanks Trader Joe’s!