Homemade Granola

I'm eating this granola as we speak, and every mouthful I am glorified at how deliciously easy this is to make myself.
This takes very little effort and time, plus makes for a great gift!

3-4 cups thick oats
1/2 cup flax seeds
1/4 cup hemp seeds
1 1/2 cup chopped almonds
2 tsp cinnamon
pinch of salt
1/2 cup canola oil (although next time I want to try coconut oil)
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/2 tsp almond extract
1 cup chopped banana chips
1 cup dried cranberries
3/4 cup coconut flakes


Directions:

• Oven: 325F 
• Combine oats, flax seeds, hemp seeds, almonds, cinnamon and salt in a large bowl
• Combine oil, honey, syrup and almond extract in a small bowl
• Pour honey and syrup mixture over the oat mixture. Stir well to combine and have all oats covered
• Lay the oat mixture flat out onto a lined baking sheet. Spread and press it out to make an even layer.
• Baked for 35-40 minutes, or until golden, rotating the pan once halfway through baking.
• Once baked, remove from the oven and let rest and cool for up to 1 hour
• And now the fun part! :) - using your hands, break the granola into pieces (size of your choice)
• Place the granola into a bowl and toss in the cranberries banana chips and coconut flakes

This makes about 8 cups of granola. Stored in an airtight container it should last up to 2 weeks.

As I mentioned, this makes for a great gift but don't seek yourself short; make sure to keep some for yourself also! Your taste buds will thank me!

Chicken and Avocado Salad

It's summer! ... and what do we all like to eat in summer? Bright and colourful salads! This one is no exception. It's great for BBQs, balancing out all that meat, potato and macaroni salad we all typically love.
I found this recipe on Pintrest (a site I am totally obsessed with and will eventually apply the icon link for my posts - if I can figure it out). The only change I made was not adding corn and the dressing I used was different. I thought a fruity flavour may let this salad sparkle even more than it already does, and boy was I right! Or you be the judge ;). I used a raspberry vinagrette (not homemade, sorry). The combination of flavours made my summer heart sing!

I didn't get a photo of the salad in it's original form (typical me!), but I had a little leftover and wanted to make a meal out of what was left the next day so I combined it with some penne, left off the raspberry vinagrette, and instead sprinkled with a bit of sea salt, squeeze of lemon juice and splash of olive oil. Yum!!!

So as you can see this salad is quite versatile. You can truly make it yours own :)

This makes about 8 servings as a side salad or 4 as a meal salad.

8 cups baby spinach (1 bag)
1 cup halved cherry or pear tomatoes
1 1/2 cups chopped cooked chicken (I used a ready rotisserie chicken)
1 large avocado, sliced
1/3 cup crumbled feta or goat cheese
1/4 cup toasted pine nuts
5-6 tbsp Raspberry vinaigrette

Instructions:
Toss all ingredients together.
(To make it look pretty when making this salad without pasta, toss half the toppings with the spinach, then roughy layer the remaining on top of the spinach in this order: chicken, feta, avocado, tomatoes, pine nuts)

Suggestion: do not add the dressing until you are about to serve. No one likes soggy salad! Or better yet, have everyone add the dressing to their own liking.

Enjoy!

Quinoa Salad

I've been meaning to get into the whole quinoa frenzy, but hadn't quite gotten to it. Pronounced keen-wah, for a long time I was even pronouncing it completely wrong! kwi-no-ah. How embarassing! Haha!

We went to friends for dinner recently and were very pleased to be presented with such a colourful and tasty meal, including the oh-so-healthy quinoa

It's similar to cous-cous in look, and somewhat in taste too. However quinoa is a grain derived from South America, where-as cous-cous is a form of pasta made from wheat and derived from Morocco. Quinoa can be considered a superfood because it is so high in protein and contains many essential amino acids :)

This salad was so yummy, and served with an equally delicious turkey loaf (sorry, no recipe for that). I am lucky enough to have been given the recipe for the quinoa salad and share it with you lovely folks!

Leftover Chicken Pasta

Wow! Has it really been 6 months since my last post?!
Time really flies but I have been feeling a hollow space in my heart from my lack of cooking and blogging this year.
What other way would I return than with a pasta dish?
I had some left over chicken.....you got it, this is a 'leftovers' and 'fridge clearout' pasta dish, and as many of you know, often the best kind of pasta dish!.... as I was saying, I had some leftover chicken and some stuffed olives on it's last edible days. I remembered I had some canned jalapeños that I bought specifically for my "it just needs a little something" moments with cooking. These three ingredients were shouting out "mexican!".

Spinach Fettuccine with Pesto and sautéed mushrooms

It's simple, it's fast, it's tasty. What more can you ask for?

If you want to make a simple pasta dish but with a different twist than the usual, go for spinach pasta! I love spinach pasta. Not only does it give a pasta dish a lovely depth but the colour is also so appetizing.

This is a 10 minute dish! Yup, you heard me right, 10 MINUTES!
You will need:

1 packet of fresh spinach fettuccine
As much pesto as you like (I put about 3 large spoonfuls)
2 handfuls of button mushrooms, halved
1/2 tbsp each of olive oil and butter
Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:
1. Put a large pot of water on to boil and heat a large skillet on medium-high heat
2. If you haven't got pesto already prepared this is the time to make it (view link for pesto above). Fastest method is just throw it into the food processor (as opposed to mortar and pestle)
3. Melt the butter with olive oil in the skillet, then place in mushrooms and sauté until starting to brown (3-4 minutes). Sprinkle with salt and pepper and sauté for another minute or so
4. The water is probably boiling by now. Cook pasta as per instructions
5. Combine pesto with pasta and plate it topped with the mushrooms

TIP (Sautéing mushrooms): Using a large pan for the mushrooms is important because the mushrooms must be place in a single layer, otherwise they will release juices and steam instead of getting nice and brown.

TIP (Sauce stick to pasta): To make sauce stick to the pasta always keep a little bit of the pasta water with the pasta

It's been way too long since I've submitted anything to Presto Pasta Nights. I've missed it so much! So here I go.....my entry for the next Presto Pasta Nights hosted by Claire at Chez Cayenne

Oven Roasted Vegetables recipe

What a great time of year for this colourful medley of veg! The amazing thing about roasting vegetables as your side dish is that you can use any vegetables you want. What are your favourite? Now mix these together, coat them in whatever your favourite flavouring is, whether it be plain olive oil or a chilli and cumin blend. It's all your choice. There are no rules!

Here is a simple recipe I made the other night

(Feeds 4 people as a side dish)

Vegetables:
1 yellow pepper - sliced into strips and halved
1 red pepper - sliced into strips
1/2 large onion - sliced and halved
1 zucchini - sliced and halved
1/2 eggplant (UK - aubergine) - sliced and quartered (please see NOTE on how to prepare egg plant)
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1/2 garlic bulb - cloves separated but left in shell
2 tbp fresh parsley- chopped

Flavour: Vinaigrette
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
1/2 tsp mustard powder
salt & pepper to taste
1 tsp dried thyme

Instructions:
1. Whisk together all ingredients for the vinaigrette
2. Combine all vegetables, parsley and vinaigrette together is a roasting pan or baking dish. Toss until well combined
3. Sprinkle with coarse sea salt and fresh ground pepper
4. Place vegetables in a 450 F  (220 C) oven until vegetables are tender and starting to brown at the edges (about 35 min)

Once your vegetables are plated you'll be at the best part! Squeezing out all the lovely flesh from the garlic shells. Oh yeah!!

NOTE:  EGGPLANT TIP - To avoid your eggplant releasing too much water and from it tasting too bitter simply lay slices out flat, cover in some slat and let sit for about 30min to an hour. You will see beads of "sweat" all over, this is the bitter water being released. Now rinse the eggplant and you're ready to go!
Also if you don't like tough skin you can peel the eggplant, but it's not necessary, totally personal choice.

NOTE2: ADDING POTATO - If you're adding potato or a hard root vegetable such as squash to your roasted veg make sure to cut them bite size so they cook through. Then you have a couple cooking options
1. Turn your oven up a bit (about 475 F / 245 C). You may also need to leave them in for a few more minutes.
2. Or you can par boil the 'hard' vegetable before mixing into the rest of the vegetables.

What type of mushroom?

A friend of mine recently asked me "how many types of mushrooms are there?". Well, I don't know the exact figure but I'm sure there are probably hundreds! She asked me this because I mention mushrooms in my recipes but never mention what type....whooops! My bad!
But usually if a recipe calls for mushrooms, and doesn't mention what type, surely it means the most common mushroom, which is the white mushroom (or 'button' or 'closed cup' mushroom, [image left]), right?
I should consider that some people don't cook much so they come to these cooking blogs for help.... I will try to be more specific in future.
My friend was also looking at my Chicken, Mushroom and Gorgonzola Pasta and asked "what kind of "mixed mushrooms", and how many?". Again I failed to mention that this can be as many and any kind of mushroom the cook prefers. I am very sorry to those of you who have been asking this question while looking at my recipes, for my lack of detail. My bad!

But lets look at it this way, just to make myself feel better ;) .... since I didn't mention a specific type of mushroom this allows you (the reader) to use imagination and decide yourself, which is exactly what a cook needs! Courage and imagination! :))

On that note, lets have a look at how many mushrooms we have to play with -

Crimini brown mushroom

Portabella mushroom

Shiitake mushroom

Oyster mushroom

Enoki mushroom

King oyster mushroom








This is just to name a very few!

Odd thing for me about mushrooms is that as I was growing up I couldn't stand them! My mother tried to hide them and cut them up really small but I always knew they were there. 'Ew! Yuck! are there mushrooms in here?!' Perhaps I was a bit too dramatic about it. So she had to start cutting them in large pieces so that I could easily remove them. My mother didn't mind though. This meant she could eat them. Mum absolutely loves mushrooms!
Overthe past few years, however, I've come to love mushrooms, and sometimes even crave them! Odd isn't it, how our taste buds change. Mushrooms honestly used to be my most dreaded food.
I'm so happy to be in the mushroom loving world now :)

Please note : all photos come from mushrooms.ca. To read more info about the differences between each of the above mushrooms (such as taste, texture etc) please follow this link

Pasta Primavera

This is a new favourite of mine! Delicious, healthy and quick to make! But not only that, the thing I like most about pasta primavera is you can use whatever spring vegetable you fancy most - no strict guidelines....Ok, I know it's not spring right now but these vegetables are actually available year 'round, so whatever. He he!

Many of you might already know that the word 'primavera' means spring, so really we should use spring vegetables otherwise it would have to be called something else (like pasta 'inverno' - winter pasta...hey! that's a great idea!! I might work with this idea...I'll keep you posted on it)

Although this pasta has an Italian name (and it is PASTA after all), it is not actually and Italian dish. This is an an Italian-American dish. Who knew!?

Anyway, back to the matter at hand.... Pasta Primavery, yes, super delicious, simple, healthy, excellent when you're hungry but don't want a heavy meal.

(Feeds 2 people)

300g short pasta (such as fusilli, penne, rigatoni)

1/2 a small courgette - julienne

3/4 cup muchrooms - sliced

1/2 a small carrot - julienne

1/2 red, orange or yellow bell pepper - julienne

1 cups broccoli florets

3 spring onions - sliced diagonally

1 clove garlic - crushed

3 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp each of fresh basil and parsley - chopped (or 1/2 tbsp each of dried)

1/2 tbsp dried oregano

salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:
- Cook pasta al dente in salted water
- In the mean time heat half the olive oil in a pan, add broccoli and carrots. Heat through for about 1 minute then add all remaining ingredients. Cook on medium heat for about 3-5 minutes.
- Toss the pasta in the pan with all the vegetables and the remaining olive oil

This tastes delicious as is but you can also 'luxury' it up a bit and serve with some parmesan shavings and an added sprinkle of chopped fresh basil


This will be my entry for this week's Presto Pasta Nights, hosted by the founder herself, Ruth Daniel's from Once Upon a Feast!

Oven baked Zucchini Sticks

This is such a treat! Especially for Canadians (we like to call them "Zoo Sticks").

I'm having one of those nostalgic days, craving food from home....and while, unfortunately, I can't just hop on over to my closest "White Spot" (Canadian family restaurant chain), I have no choice but to attempt at making them myself, which I, of course, am totally up for! New challenge :)

So off I went to the store to get my necessities and (also after reading a few ideas on line) came up with the following (approximately measured) recipe:

2 zucchinis

2 eggs

1/4 cup parmesan cheese

3 tbsp flour

1 cup dried bread crumbs (I chose the natural style breadcrumbs instead of the extra fine golden as I am using the baking method rather than frying - a healthier choice)

smoked sea salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

- Preheat your oven to 400F (gas mark 6)

- Cut zucchini into strips (about 3-4 inches long and 1 inch thick) then season with salt and pepper.

- Mix the bread crumbs, parmesan, flour and bit more salt in a bowl
- Dip the zucchini in the egg and then the bread crumb mixture to coat well
- Place the zucchini sticks, skin side down, on a foil lined then slightly greased baking sheet in a single layer
- Bake in the oven for about 25 minutes or until golden brown

This should make about 2 dozen zucchini sticks

Serve them hot with a ranch style dip - combine 1 part sour cream to 1 part ranch dressing

Yum yum yum!! Ahhh,the taste of home :)

Tuna and Vegetable Fusilli

Sometimes less is more, especially when it comes to food. This dish would definitely fall under this category!

Marek had a visit with the dentist today, leaving him with a bit of man blues. He came home very hungry as he wasn't able to eat anything most of the day.

Anything with tuna makes Marek happy and considering this along with him not being able to eat anything too tough on his teeth, a simple and soft pasta dish without a 'swooshing in the mouth' sauce is an an ideal meal.

Look at the colours!! Who wouldn't want to dig in??

300g fusilli (or pasta shape of your choice)

1 1/2 yellow pepper (chopped in large chunks)

1 leek (sliced so-so thick)

1 1/2 large beef tomatoes (chopped in large chunks)

1 can of tuna

2 tbsp chilli oil

3 tbsp virgin olive oil

1/2 tbps paprika

1 tbsp dried parsley

2 tsp celery salt

2 tsp black pepper

(additional salt and pepper to taste if desired)

Ok, so it may look like there are quite a few ingredients but it's really minimal effort using several 'commonly in the cupboard' ingredients, trust me! :)

Instructions

- While cooking the pasta as per package instructions cook the leeks and yellow pepper with chilli for about 2 minutes then add the tuna, tomatoes, celery salt, black pepper, paprika and parsley. Cook for another couple minutes.

- Toss in the pasta and olive oil, and add extra seasoning if desired.

This is my entry for this week's Presto Pasta Night!

Muesli Cookies

I love baking cookies! The prepping is so simple and takes minutes! Honest. It took me about 5 minutes to make the cookie dough! The excitement began to build...I drop spoonfuls of dough onto the cookie she....and who can resist eating some of the cookie dough as you go? I certainly can't! This process takes me about 5 minutes (ok, maybe closer to 10 if I include dough munching time). " batches through the oven, each taking 15 minutes.

This gives home made cookies in under and hour! Can anyone tell me if they've ever had store bought cookies that are better than home made?..... Anyone? ...Anyone?....I thought not :)


3/4 cup butter (room temperature)

1 cup brown sugar

2 medium eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

3/4 cup all purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

3 cups organic muesli (choose one with no added sugar)

1 cup dried cranberries

1 cup desiccated coconut

Instructions:

- In a large bowl cream butter and sugar together until smooth. Add eggs and vanilla, mixing until all combined

- In a separate bowl combine flour, salt, baking soda and cinnamon. Sift flour mixture into the butter mixture and beat in until all combined

- Stir in the muesli, coconut and cranberries

- Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and set oven to 350 F (gas mark 4)

- Drop small spoonful size pieces of dough, each about 1 inch apart (or for large cookies, drop large spoonful size piece of dough, each about 2 inches apart).

- Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until golden brown. When cookies first come out of the oven they will be very soft to touch. Allow to cool for 5 minutes and they will then be firm enough to transfer onto a wire rack to cool for a bit longer....but by all means get yourself a glass of milk and eat one or town while still fresh out of the oven! yummm!!

Makes 3 dozen small or about 2 dozen larger cookies

Bruschetta

I know what you may be thinking.....Summer has come to an end (well, in London anyways) so what is this light summery dish doing popping up on my blog? Well, as I mentioned in my previous post, I had lost inspiration to cook....which for some could mean losing the will to live....I hope you know I'm kidding.

Also you may notice from my posts that season doesn't seem to affect what I feel like cooking. If I feel like making stew or dumplings in the middle of summer I must let it be. And if I feel like making bruschetta [pronounced - bru'sketta] come fall or winter, same rules (or not rules, really) apply! It's extremely difficult for me to ignore my cravings.

I'll get on with it now and tell you how I made this bruschetta.....well I wanted it to be simple and traditional with no modern flares, especially since I'd never made bruschetta before. I found a great recipe from a fellow food blogger Elise at Simply Recipes. Her recipe was just what I was looking for, sweet and simple and full of traditional flavour.

I made a couple changes however. We love garlic so I put a 1 small clove extra, and my boyfriend is not a huge fan of anything too vinegary so I put a tad less balsamic.

I prefer my bruschetta a bit chunky so I did the same as Elise and chopped my tomatoes by hand instead of using a food processor.

I will add a little suggestion that if you find the chopped tomatoes are too watery (even after you have removed all the juicy bits from the tomatoes), you can put them into a sieve for a minute.

This is a gorgeous snack. Or you can make it a meal like I have and serve it up with other bits and pieces. I made a side of sauteed parmesan prawns to go with it and it was a brilliant combination!

Tomato and Anchovy Linguini

This a very tasty pasta. Great for a light summer dinner and it is probably the simplest pasta I've made in a long time.

(Feed 2 people)

250g linguini

2 beef tomatoes - chopped

1 can (50g) anchovies - drained

3 garlic cloves - chopped

2 1/2 tbsp Olive oil

1/2 tsp sugar

pepper to taste

Instructions:

1/ Cook pasta as per instructions (make sure to add some salt to the water)

2/ In a pan cook garlic and anchovies with olive oil for a minute or so (do not allow garlic to brown). Add chopped tomatoes and sugar. Cook on medium heat until reduced to a sauce. Anchovies should be completely dissolved into the sauce. Add pepper to taste.

You could add some salt to the sauce if you feel the need but as anchovies are quite salty already you may not need to.

3/ Toss linguini in the pan with the sauce until all noodles are completely coated

I served with my homemade focaccia bread

This will be my entry for this week Presto Pasta Night round up, hosted this week by the founder herself, Ruth Daniels of Once Upon a Feast

Chicken and black bean salad wrap

It's so easy to have a quick and healthy meal! Wraps are a great meal for breakfast lunch or dinner! They're good for any meal because they're just so versatile!

We had these tasty and healthy wraps for lunch today. They took all of 10 minutes to prepare :)

I pretty much just added any ingredients I had in my fridge that would go well in a salad.....

a bit of lettuce-shredded

some olives-sliced

a handful of sliced deli chicken breast

red pepper-sliced

and some black beans

For the sauce I mixed some yoghurt with red pepper pesto.

I used whole wheat tortilla wraps to make it even healthier.

You can be as creative as you want when making wraps. These were delicious!

Vietnamese fresh spring rolls

I've tried the fried spring rolls, now it's time for the healthier fresh ones! The fun thing about these is you don't necessarily have any cooking to do!

This is a great vegetarian dish or with seafood or chicken.


If you want vegetarian you could use tofu or just a your favourite vegetables.

I've made with prawns and chicken, but in this photo I've used only chicken.

It's a great dish for leftover chicken. I happen to have some cooked chicken from the deli which worked great for a speedy light meal before we went to the cinema. We had 2 each and it actually filled us up quite well. Traditionally, however, this would be a starter.

I didn't measure my ingredients, I judged by eye, so the following measurements are just a guideline.

(Serves 2-4 people)

4 rice wrappers (about 8.5 inch diameter)

75-100g fresh rice vermicelli noodles

100g cooked chicken (torn strips)

12 cooked prawns (peeled, no tails) - I didn't include in the ones in the photo as I didn't have any left on hand

1/2 carrot (thinly sliced strips - I used a peeler)

2 spring onions (chopped)

1/2 a red chili (chopped - seeds removed if you don't want too hot)

2 handfuls of fresh bean sprouts

Half handful of fresh cilantro

Half handful mix of fresh basil and mint

1 large lettuce leaf (chopped in large pieces)

Instructions:

- Have large diameter pie dish of warm-hot water ready for your rice wrappers

- Soak a rice wrapper in the warm-hot water for about 10-15 seconds, until it softens enough to work with, but do not over soften or it will rip too easily

- On a dry clean surface very gently place the softened rice wrapper flat in front of you

- Place bits of each ingredients an inch away from the edge (closest to you) of the wrapper. Leave about 2 inches of space from each side of the wrapper

(For nice looking wrap place filling ingredients in this order : lay lettuce first, then herbs, carrot, chili, spring onion, bean sprouts and rice noodles in a neat row over top of the lettuce, running lengthwise across the wrapper; place chicken on top or just in front of the vegetables; on the bottom 1/3 of the wrapper place 3 prawns in a horizontal row

- Start rolling from the side closest to you. Try to keep the rolling as tight as possible without tearing the wrapper. After rolling once pull in the 2 sides and continue rolling straight over the prawns. When finished you should be able to see the prawns nicely displayed through the wrapper

Cut each roll in half at an angle. Serve with peanut dipping sauce (I used satay sauce mixed with a bit of sesame oil and lime juice to loosen it up)

Enjoy the taste of health!

Hungarian Chicken Goulash

As my boyfriend is Slovak getting the hang of cooking Eastern European cuisine is obviously called for. This certainly doesn't bother me :))) I love Eastern European foods and nothing beats a wholesome goulash.

When looking around for different recipe ideas I hadn't realized actually how simple making a goulash is. It takes few and very simple ingredients.
Seeing as we're getting into summer season I figured I'd leave the potatoes out of this goulash, so it's not too heavy.
Goulash has the same concept as a bolognese sauce or stew....it's taste better and even more heavenly a day or two later.

(FEEDS 4 PEOPLE)
8 chicken thighs
1 large onion (chopped)
1 red pepper
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp paprika
1 tsp caraway seeds
1 x can 14 oz (400 g) tomatoes
1/2 pint (285 ml) chicken stock
Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:
- Remove skin from each chicken thigh. In a frying pan cook skins with 1 tbsp olive until crispy, then remove and discard. Add chicken thighs and cook chicken thighs until they are brown all over
- In a large stewing pot cook onions with some of the oil from the chicken pan, caraway seeds, paprika, salt and pepper. Cook until onions begin to soften then add the tomatoes and chicken stock. Bring to a boil. Now allow to simmer and add the chicken and red pepper. Cover and simmer for about 2 hours, stirring occasionally

Serve with egg noodles of your choice

note: for an even healthier choice discard chicken skins completely and brown chicken pieces in a pan with olive opil instead.

'In a flash' Singapore Noodles

I know I'm always saying what a huge pasta lover I am but perhaps I'm just an all around noodle lover? Yup, I think so ;) Asian food has tones of different noodle dishes and I can get just as excited about these as I can Italian pastas.

I was watching another of my cooking shows (I'm obsessed! but hey, that's where us cooks get our inspirations from right?), the dish of focus was Singapore noodles. I fell in love with how quick and easy it was so had to try! The ingredients are quite basic and so simple to play with. I didn't write down all the ingredients that the TV show had mentioned, I just got the gist of the main stuff and then made up my own. So easy!

This is my entry to Presto Pasta Night, hosted this week by Marye of Baking Delights. Don't miss out as every week has so many delicious and innovative recipes!


(Feeds 2-3 people)
300g fresh rice noodles (although this time I used fine egg noodles as I had some on hand)
3 tbsp sesame oil
1 cup cooked prawns
1 cup cooked chicken breasts (shredded in large pieces)
3 spring onions
2 tsp lemon grass (chopped)
2 cloves garlic (finely chopped)
1 tsp ginger (finely chopped)
2 lrg handfuls of fresh beansprouts (about 200g)
1 carrot (finely sliced, julienne)
3 hot chilies (red or green. I had jarred green ones in my fridge)
½ red pepper (finely sliced, julienne)
2 small heads bok choi (chopped in large pieces)
1 ½ tbsp madras curry paste
¼ cup soy sauce


Instructions:
- In a hot wok with sesame oil throw in the ginger, lemon grass, garlic, onion, carrots, red pepper and chilies. Cook for about 5 minute, tossing every minute or so. Add bean sprouts, bok choi and soy sauce. Cook for a few more minutes until sprouts begin to soften, then add curry paste, chicken and prawns (if you don't have curry paste or would prefer, you can simply use dry spices such as 1 tsp tumeric, 1 tsp cumin or 1 tsp curry powder, but in this case I would add a couple tbsp of stock to the wok).
- Once all the above is combined toss in the noodles and cook for a further 1-2 minutes.
There you go! A tasty meal done in 20 minutes
Serve and enjoy!

Note: If your chicken is not already cooked (I had some deli bought cooked chicken breasts) simply cooked your chicken for about 3 minutes in the wok before your start adding the rest of the ingredients. Same goes for the prawns, although they take very little time to cook, so raw prawns would simply be added at the same time as the bean sprouts and bok choi (they must all be pink before eating)

Dilly Citrus Salmon Pasta

I had some dill leftover from a disastrous dish I made a couple days ago (which I won't even consider making any of you suffer by posting it), and what goes best with dill? Salmon of course!! And what am I an addict for? Pasta! Of course!
I had a can of salmon in the cupboard and I always have pasta available.
I needed to either make my own white sauce or buy some cream. I didn't have much time so cream it was (I bought some on my way home from work), however! I found an excellent soy replacement for single cream. It worked great and so much healthier! What more could you ask for? :)


This will be my entry for the weeks Presto Pasta Nights which is hosted by Noob Cook this week. It's just too delicious not to share on a larger scale!

This is what you'll need:
(Feeds 3-4 people)

1 can (213g) wild red salmon (remove skin and bones as much as possible)
1 tbsp butter
1/2 onion (chopped)
1 clove garlic (crushed)
1 cup soy cream (of course you can indulge and use normal single cream but this is much healthier!)
Juice of 1/2 a lemon
3 tbsp fresh dill
1/2 tsp celery salt
Salt & Pepper to taste
300g Farfalle pasta (bow shaped)

Instructions:
- Cook pasta as per instructions
- Spray pan with non-stick olive oil cooking spray. Saute onion in a pan with butter, then add garlic and turn down heat a bit so garlic doesn't turn brown. Cook for a further minute or so
- Put cooked pasta, salmon and soy cream in the pan with the onion mix and stir. Then stir in celery salt, lemon juice, dill, salt and pepper
- Turn up the heat slightly and heat through for a couple minutes (until sauce has thickened a bit)

My recipe guinea pig loved this dish. It was one of those meals that cause allot of "mmmmmm" noises while eating. A sound I think any cook loves to hear!

We really enjoy spicy foods and found this dish also tasted quite good with some Tabasco added (although on it's own is superb). Or perhaps next time I'll cook in a bit of chili pepper :)

"Flavours of the Mediterranean" Pasta Bake

Olives, mushrooms, artichokes, sundried tomatoes, feta....doesn't this sound like a nice mix! My mouth is watering thinking about it.
This recipe of mine is tried and true. It's so easy and tasty. Great to make when you don't feel like making a huge effort with your meal but want impressive flavours.



I'm also sharing this with PRESTO PASTA NIGHTS and hope more of you can also join into this great pasta exeprience! Just click on the link to find out more.

250g conchiglie (small pasta shells)
1/2 cup sliced black olives
1 cup (1 x 280g jar) artichokes antipasto (or marinated), chopped into bite size chunks. NOTE: Reserve the oil for flavouring other dishes in future! :)
1 cup (1 x 280g jar) sun-dried tomatoes antipasto (or marinated), chopped into bite size chunks. NOTE:  same as above; reserve the oil
2 1/2 cups button mushrooms (halved)
1 1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese
3-4 large hand fulls of fresh baby leaf spinach
1 tbsp dried oregano
Salt & Pepper to taste

Instructions:
- Cook pasta as per package instructions, and make sure to add a good amount of salt to the water
- Mix all ingredients together (including pasta, but only 3/4 of the feta) in an oven proof dish.
Make sure to mix spinach in while pasta is still quite warn so that it starts to slightly cook and wilt, and making it easier to stir it in
- Use some of the oil from the jarred sun dried tomatoes to mix into the pasta dish. This will add great flavour
- Add the oregano, salt and pepper
- Top with the remaining feta cheese
- Bake in oven at gas mark 5 (375 F) for 20-30 min, until feta starts to brown a little

Stuffed chicken thighs

Stuffed chicken is a great meal! There are so many different flavours and it's really easy to just make up your own stuffing mixture, really. It could be lemon flavour, traditional onion and sage, cranberry, olive and sun dried tomato, or in this case, pesto....the list can go on and on....



Breast is typically used for this sort of dish but I thought why not try thighs! It's my favourite part of the chicken as I find it much softer and tender than breast. But this is just me. Of course breast works well too. Take your pick ;)
With this stuffed chicken I served steamed asparagus and roasted potatoes.

(Feeds 2-4 people)
8 boneless/skinless chicken thighs
2 tbsp red pesto
1/2 cup plain light cream cheese
1 cup fresh bread crumbs (approximately 3 slices of bread) - use wholewheat bread for a healthier choice
Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:
- Flatten each thigh to 5-10 cm thick using a meat mallet.
(I don't have a meat mallet so wrap the chicken in cling film and flatten with a rolling pin)
- In a bowl mix cream cheese, pesto and bread crumbs together. Season with salt and pepper as desired
- With all chicken thighs laid out place a spoonful of cream cheese mixture on each. Carefully wrap chicken thighs around the stuffing mixture (sort of rolling like you would a fajita wrap). Try to allow ends to overlap)
- Grease a large baking dish and carefully place each chicken with overlapping end facing down
- Season the top of the chicken pieces as desired
- Cover the dish with foil and bake in the oven for approximately 30min, until chicken is cooked through

Note: I didn't do any frying to the chicken as I wanted to keep it as healthy as possible. If you would like to add more colour and a bit more flavour just fry the chicken a bit before putting it in the oven. Fry chicken pieces in a hot pan for a minute or two on each side (down side first to make sure it stays closed when turning over). The cooking time in the oven should be a little less in this case.
I haven't done this yet myself but I'm going to keep it in mind for next time