Today is Valentine's Day, as you may know. A time to receive cards, gifts, chocolates, and the like. So far, I've received: two packages of chocolates, a Charlie Brown Valentine from one of my preteens (so awesome), and I won a peppermint-themed Valentine's gift basket with spa essentials. Too deadly, as a friend would say. I've also spent it with a couple of great tea/coffee dates with friends. I saw that a local pub is having a Valentine's pasta night, but since I'm busy tonight (with worship band practice), I decided to make myself pasta. And it's fantastic. (In my opinion). So because today is supposed to be about giving - I'll share my "recipe" with you.
I'm pretty loose with what I put in pasta sauce. It depends on what I have in stock, and what I feel like having. Today it worked out quite well. Here's what I did:
Sautéed up an onion and celery in a splash of olive oil. Took my handy-dandy Watkins garlic peppercorn blend and ground a healthy dash of that onto everything. (It has oregano and sea salt as well). Threw in a dried bay leaf and a tsp more of garlic powder. Added a dash of Knorr (I think) Buffalo sauce - I like spice - and a dash of Lea & Perrins worcester. Added a generous helping of sundried tomatoes. (All while sautéing). Threw in a half-pound of extra-lean ground beef, stirred it up nice n good. Sprinkled a satisfying amount of Watkins cinnamon in. Ground some more sea salt, and multi-coloured peppercorn in. Added a can of italian-spiced stewed tomatoes, and a can of earthpure organic tomato sauce. Added broccoli and cauliflower (add them last so that they're not soggy). Simmered it all while the bowtie pasta was cooking!
That's it, ladies n gentlemen! It would have been even better with a sprinkle of cheese, possibly feta, but I was out.
I definitely felt loved as I was enjoying my home-cooked pasta. Happy Valentines!
Showing posts with label recipes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label recipes. Show all posts
Thursday, February 14, 2013
Sunday, February 10, 2013
I am the bestest cook evaaaaaar!
I am currently making creamy tomato curry chicken veggie rice soup. Say that 10x fast. So far, it tastes good. But I need to let the rice (and the flavours) cook. I can smell the aromas wafting around my house as we speak. De-e-lish.
However, I tried making dairy-free gluten-free quinoa cranberry orange cookies last night.
The first batch of cookies came out crumbly. Or should I say, as crumbles. (No, flax water did not work well as an egg substitute.)
So I chucked in an egg for the next batch. Came out as cookies, but kind of, well, flavourless and a bit dry. Hot from the oven, and slathered with butter, they are edible. If I double-baked them I might be able to turn the batter into an acceptable biscotti.
Speaking of other cooking accomplishments, I came in second at my church's annual chilli cook-off. Kind of exciting since I beat the senior pastor, who is a professional chef. ;)
What made my chilli so amazing, you ask? (I don't know, I actually voted mine third, with pastor's as second.) But I'll tell you what was in it, if I can remember!
Chili-seasoned ground pork (yes I cheated a bit, but I made it right after church so i didn't have time to let the flavours simmer like everyone else did); quinoa; a bean trio I got from Costco comprised of mung beans, lentils, and adzuki beans; black beans; chili powder of course; roasted onions, celery and garlic, tossed in olive oil and crushed sea salt; diced tomatoes, tomato paste; honey... and I can't remember what else. (I cook based on intuition and smell, and I usually have a flavour or taste or sense in my mind of what I want, and cook toward that.) Oh right. I fried up bacon and tossed the vegetables in that when roasting them. I wanted a smoky flavour to my chilli and that was the only thing I had that was smoky. Plus, bacon makes everything better. (The chilli that I voted as #1 was ridiculously smoky. It was incredible. They used BBQ sauce, of all things.)
I've been on a quinoa kick lately. I got a quinoa cookbook for Christmas and have been poring over the recipes avidly. I have attempted a couple - well, the concepts - and both times they've come out a little less...just less... than I'd expected. But that's entirely my fault. I am a very spontaneous and adventurous cook and I usually don't use recipes for anything other than inspiration. Then again, I rarely bake - and the lesson I am learning is, recipes must be followed when it comes to baking! Someone gave me the advice of not to change a recipe until I've first done it to the letter. The next time start to make changes. Good advice that I think I will stick to, if I can. ;)
However, I tried making dairy-free gluten-free quinoa cranberry orange cookies last night.
The first batch of cookies came out crumbly. Or should I say, as crumbles. (No, flax water did not work well as an egg substitute.)
So I chucked in an egg for the next batch. Came out as cookies, but kind of, well, flavourless and a bit dry. Hot from the oven, and slathered with butter, they are edible. If I double-baked them I might be able to turn the batter into an acceptable biscotti.
Speaking of other cooking accomplishments, I came in second at my church's annual chilli cook-off. Kind of exciting since I beat the senior pastor, who is a professional chef. ;)
What made my chilli so amazing, you ask? (I don't know, I actually voted mine third, with pastor's as second.) But I'll tell you what was in it, if I can remember!
Chili-seasoned ground pork (yes I cheated a bit, but I made it right after church so i didn't have time to let the flavours simmer like everyone else did); quinoa; a bean trio I got from Costco comprised of mung beans, lentils, and adzuki beans; black beans; chili powder of course; roasted onions, celery and garlic, tossed in olive oil and crushed sea salt; diced tomatoes, tomato paste; honey... and I can't remember what else. (I cook based on intuition and smell, and I usually have a flavour or taste or sense in my mind of what I want, and cook toward that.) Oh right. I fried up bacon and tossed the vegetables in that when roasting them. I wanted a smoky flavour to my chilli and that was the only thing I had that was smoky. Plus, bacon makes everything better. (The chilli that I voted as #1 was ridiculously smoky. It was incredible. They used BBQ sauce, of all things.)
I've been on a quinoa kick lately. I got a quinoa cookbook for Christmas and have been poring over the recipes avidly. I have attempted a couple - well, the concepts - and both times they've come out a little less...just less... than I'd expected. But that's entirely my fault. I am a very spontaneous and adventurous cook and I usually don't use recipes for anything other than inspiration. Then again, I rarely bake - and the lesson I am learning is, recipes must be followed when it comes to baking! Someone gave me the advice of not to change a recipe until I've first done it to the letter. The next time start to make changes. Good advice that I think I will stick to, if I can. ;)
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