Chinese Pineapple Chicken

Looking for a quick, tasty and healthy dinner?  This is it.  The beauty of this recipe is that you can use most vegetables- carrots, squash, onions, celery, mushrooms, cherry tomatoes...

This recipes serves four.

Apricot Jam- Use it for Asian Dipping Sauce

It doesn't get better than this!  Crispy, crunchy spring rolls dipped in apricot sauce (yes, apricot, not plum) made with your very own apricot jam!  Talk about multitasking!

Ingredients:

125 ml jar    Apricot jam (the recipe is posted)
2 tbsp              soy sauce
2 tsp                ginger, freshly grated
2 tsp                rice vinegar
Pinch of red pepper flakes


Directions:
Combine all of the ingredients in a small bowl and whisk together.  You're ready to dip in your spring rolls!

Margaret's Healthy Hummus- Quick and so easy!

Margaret brought this hummus to the IDG Cottage lunch.  It was delicious served with mini pitas and crackers.

Delicioso- Pistachio Pesto and Pasta

One of my favourite Kelowna Italian restaurants, Casa Sasso, introduced me to this pasta dish.  I was hooked- it is delicious.  Gaby, the owner/chef at Casa Sasso, is keeping her recipe top secret.  And, I don't blame her- it is wonderful.

My version is based on a recipe from a great little pasta cookbook entitled "100 Ways to be Pasta" and  "tweaked".  The pistachio pesto provides an unexpected great flavour for the pasta, not the usual tomato or cream sauce we are accustomed to.  This pasta dish is quick and easy to make with a little help from the food processor.

To serve 4

Ingredients
5     garlic cloves
1     cup whole basil leaves
1     cup Italian parsley
2     cups shelled, toasted (in a dry pan) pistachios, divided - 1 cup for the pesto and 1 cup for garnish
1/4  cup pinenuts
1     cup extra virgin olive oil
1     tsp salt, plus more for the pasta water
3     tbsp unsalted butter
3/4  lb dry pasta- tagliatelle, linguine, penne or farfelle
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:
Put the garlic, basil, pistachios, pine nuts, 1/4 cup of olive oil, salt into the bowl of the food processor, fitted with a metal blade, and blend.  Gradually pour the rest of the oil through the feed tube until all the ingredients are integrated into a paste with a slightly coarse texture.  The pesto should be fluid, not hard or dry.  Keep adding olive oil until you have a runny paste.

Place the pesto in a large serving bowl, reserving a large spoonful.  Place the butter on top of the pesto.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil.  Stir in a fistful of salt, a splash of olive oil and the pasta.  Cook, stirring often to prevent the pasta from sticking, until the pasta is al dente.  Lift the pasta from the pot and into the bowl with the pesto and butter.  Add a splash of pasta water and toss the pasta until the butter is melted and the pasta is coated.  Add the rest of the pistachios (1 cup) and toss again.  Dust with Parmesan cheese and serve very hot, with more Parmesan at the table.

WANNA PLAY?
Add cooked shrimp to your dish.  Or lightly brown cubed chicken until cooked through and add to the pasta, then toss.

You can also play with the proportion of basil and parsley- if you want more or less basil flavour.

Double or triple the pesto recipe, freeze in ice cube trays and you have an almost instant dinner!  Just try to thaw the pesto in the refrigerator at least a few hours before using.

Enjoy!

Great "Go To" Summer Salad- Moroccan Couscous

This is another quick and easy salad, perfect for the summer.  It's light and full of great flavours and, guess what?  There isn't really a recipe.

Your biggest decision is the flavour profile- what do you want it to taste like... This recipe is based on Moroccan flavours: cinnamon, lemon, honey, almonds...  Remember, the quantities below are approximate and feel free to substitute...If you're thinking Mediterranean, then your flavours would likely be: kalamata olives, roasted peppers, dried (or fresh) tomatoes, cukes,...

This recipe will serve 4-6 guests.

There may not be a prize, but who can resist caramel coated popcorn and peanuts?

Take me out to the ball game... give some peanuts and Cracker Jack... well Hedy's version comes pretty close.   Take my word for it, they are difficult to put down!

Makes five cups.

More Bark- so good and so easy... Popcorn and Peanut Bark

I love popcorn, and peanuts and chocolate... This treat doesn't get much better- it's a heavenly combination.

To make one pound.

Even Two Year Olds Can Cook- Aaliyah's Egg Salad

Aaliyah with her Egg Salad!  It was so fun!

 I travelled from Kelowna to Ottawa recently to visit Aaliyah, my wonderful, beautiful two and a half year old granddaughter.  I am blessed!

Healthy eating is so important, I'm so proud to see how varied Aaliyah's diet is.  She and her mama and papa must be spending time in the kitchen together, because this kid knows "stuff"!  Thank you mama and papa!

I'm now on the lookout for kid friendly recipes to share with my budding chef!  Our mission one morning was to cook an egg salad for breakfast.  Aaliyah was a great sous chef- she cracked and peeled the boiled eggs and was a master egg decorator!  This recipe looks good, tasted great and is kid friendly.

To serve four.

Homemade Croutons- Stocking the Pantry

When I go to the grocery store, I regularly check the reduced, day old bread bin for baguettes at 50% off.  Why would the champion of "fresh" buy old bread, you ask?  Well, they make great, economical, homemade croutons.

If you like great salad (and who doesn't?) with fresh, crispy lettuce, beautiful juicy ripe tomatoes, sweet onions and crunchy cucumber, why not top it with your own homemade croutons?  

Brian's Italian Sausage and Eggplant Pasta- Delicioso!

A good friend was reminiscing about a wonderful pasta dish he had once enjoyed and how he couldn't find the dish on Vancouver restaurant menus.  I love culinary challenges, so I made it my mission to recreate Brian's favourite pasta dish using eggplant, capers, olives, Italian sausage and cheese.  Brian tells me that I came pretty darn close to the mark.  This hearty dish is quickly put together for a weeknight supper.

Brian's Italian Sausage and Eggplant Pasta

Great News!  Omit the Italian sausage and you have a fabulous vegetarian dish.  Let's call it Jo's Eggplant pasta :-)

Jo's vegetarian version

To serve 4-6

Rainbow Vegetable Korma- with Curry Sauce Base

This is an Indian restaurant favourite for lovers of mild curries.  At home, you get to choose the vegetables (and the meat, if you must) - about five cups of vegetables are needed for this dish.  My neighbourhood grocer had amazing purple baby eggplants and Thai eggplants.  They will form the base of my Korma along with red pepper, cauliflower, mushrooms, carrots and peas.  I will admit to about eight cups of vegetables.  I can adjust the sauce if I need to.  A veritable rainbow!  Also, I know that chickpeas are not usually found in this korma.  But, I happen to like chickpeas and they add protein to my vegetarian dish  :-)

The Curry Sauce Base makes quick work of this dish...

This recipe serves 4-6.

Almond Crusted Shrimp Cakes- and there's bacon too!

Who doesn't love shrimp? and bacon, and almonds?  These are my favourite shrimp cakes- at least until I find another favourite.  Stevie (my daughter) prefers our shrimp and sweet potato cakes.  Not even the bacon and the almonds will change her mind.  

I started making shrimp cakes, and crab cakes and fish cakes, in earnest when I moved to the West Coast.  It's a fresh seafood mecca- the best place to make/sample all manner of fish cakes... 

Almond Crusted Shrimp Cakes

They are incredibly easy to make.  There's nothing like spending an afternoon experimenting with ingredients and flavour profiles. I use a "mini hamburger stacker" to make these.  It helps to make them uniform and freeze them easily in the container, if you choose to fry them later. I try to keep a supply of fish cakes in my freezer.  They are quick to heat up and an excellent dish to offer guests or bring to a pot luck.

The almond crusted shrimp cakes are popular whenever I serve them.  They are well worth trying out.  

This recipe will make eight shrimp cakes.

Jo's "Fully Loaded" Chocolate Bark- an Easy Christmas Treat

The Holidays are a busy time for everyone.  I'm always on the lookout for easy desserts and treats to offer to my guests or bring along as hostess gifts.  This is one of them.  This chewy, decadent chocolate treat looks and tastes spectacular and is so quick and easy to make.  It will please any chocoholic in your circle of friends and is a great treat to serve with coffee.

Jo's "Fully Loaded" Chocolate Bark- What a Treat!

My "Go To" Healthy Salad- Sooo Good and Sooo Easy!

Put on your creative hat- there's no "strict" recipe for this salad.  Just begin with beans- aduki, black, mung, lentils and let your taste buds run wild...  I served this salad to the Ladies Bridge group and it was a hit!

To serve four generously...

Spread or Filling? Your choice... Shrimp Mango Coconut

This shrimp, mango, coconut mixture began as a sandwich filling.  But it's also great as a topping for crackers  or toast... I served this dish at a recent Bridge Club luncheon and it was a hit with the ladies...

Shrimp, mango, coconut on croissant and in a wrap.  So messy but oh so good!

Makes approx. 15 sandwiches.