Pancakes with a Quick Fruit Syrup

Syrup
ingredients:

1/2 cup fresh or frozen blueberries – or your favourite soft fruit or berry

1 tsp white sugar, dissolved in 1/2 cup of water

instructions:

Bring water to a boil in small saucepan over high heat. Add fruit and bring back to the boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and allow to simmer while you make the pancakes!

Add a [...]

Read Full Post »

Gourmet Pita Pizzas

You can make so many different thin-crust sensations using your favourite pita bread as the pizza “dough”. I switch it up between a whole wheat crust and different seasoned varieties. Here’s what you’ll see on my table:
ingredients:
Sun-dried Tomatoes (in oil), Kalamatas and Peppered Salami, with Feta cheese and (optional) tomato sauce.
OR
Chopped dried mission figs, cooked [...]

Read Full Post »

Bowtie pasta with Goat Cheese

ingredients:
1 handful (for one person) Bowtie or other chunky pasta
1 tbsp olive oil
1 garlic cloves sliced
pinch of red pepper flakes
small handful of cherry (or grape or strawberry) tomatoes – halved
handful of spinach washed well and chopped roughly
1 cup goat cheese, crumbled
Salt and Pepper
instructions:
start at least 4 cups of salted water to boil for the pasta
In [...]

Read Full Post »

Best Summer Salad. Ever.

ingredients:
4 or 5 fresh strawberries, sliced to 1/4″ or diced chunky
small handful fresh blueberries, rinsed and whole
1 firm, ripe red plum – cut along the center, twist to separate, remove pit and chop roughly.
1/4 cup bocconcini (torn into small pieces) or feta (broken up)
1/4 cup roughly chopped pecans
optional: chopped pre-cooked baby white potatoes (salt and [...]

Read Full Post »

Fresh Tomato and Bocconcini Salad with Fresh Herb Mix

ingredients:
2-3 small tomatoes, sliced into wedges and seeds removed (i like to do one red and one yellow – the sweeter the tomato the better).
1 tsp chopped fresh parsley (you really need fresh for this one).
1 tsp olive oil.
1 tsp balsamic vinegar.
coarse salt, fresh ground pepper.
a few bite-sized balls of bocconcini, split open with your [...]

Read Full Post »

Roasted Asparagus

ingredients:
1 small bunch asparagus (at least 5 stalks for one person)
olive oil
coarse salt (and fresh ground black pepper if you like)
instructions:
preheat oven to 425 F
Rinse asparagus in cold water and snap off the blunt ends – they will flex and break off above the woodiest part.
Lightly grease a shallow baking dish with olive oil.  Arrange [...]

Read Full Post »

Pan-Fried Halibut

ingredients:
2-3 halibut cheeks (for neat crab-like texture)
OR
1 small fillet of FRESH (not previously frozen!!) Halibut or other white fish
1 tsp butter
1 tsp olive oil
1/4 tsp fresh dill, chopped (just a pinch dried)
1 small lemon
coarse salt and fresh ground pepper
instructions:
Heat butter and olive oil together in a small frying pan over medium-high heat, stir until butter [...]

Read Full Post »

Roasted Root Vegetables with Feta and Rosemary.

ingredients:
2-3 baby potatoes (or one small russet or white table potato), sliced 1/4 inch thin.
1 small beet, washed and trimmed at both ends, sliced very thin.
1 small yam (orange fleshed “sweet potato”), quartered and sliced 1/2 inch or slightly larger.
1 small sweet onion, trimmed at both ends, peeled, and sliced vertically into eighths.
1/4 cup or [...]

Read Full Post »

Linguini with Blue Cheese and Figs.

ingredients:
1″ diameter handful of dried or fresh linguini, broken in half
I Tbsp butter
1/4 cup milk, or cream.
2 Tbsp (roughly) mild blue cheese, crumbled
1 Tbsp fresh parsley, chopped. set aside 1/2 Tbsp for garnish.
3-4 dried mission figs (the dark purple ones), roughly chopped.
instructions:
In a medium to large sized pot, bring salted water to the boil. [...]

Read Full Post »