I can hardly believe that I’ve been on “summer vacation” for 2 months. Time is flying. But in the best way possible. Weekends are filled with warm weather, barbecues, dog walks, gelato and swimming. All the best things about summer. That said, barbecues are probably one of my favourite things about the summer, such good company, music and food. I just love the atmosphere. Mind you, I feel the same way about pool parties. Put them together and I will be at your house in 2 minutes.

A few snapshots from my summer from my iPhone and Instagram!

Barbecue sauce is something I’ve always had a bit of a problem with. The store bought sauces are just so overwhelmingly sweet. It kind of feels like eating liquid sugar; you can almost feel the sugar on your teeth afterwards. So not for me! I’ve challenged myself to try my hand at making lots of different types of homemade barbecue sauce this summer – the combinations are almost endless! This first version is more of your basic homemade barbecue sauce. Not too sweet with just enough tang.

Homemade Barbecue Sauce (makes about 2 cups)
Recipe by Lou

Ingredients

2 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
1 jalapeno, seeds and ribs removed, chopped*
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp steak spice
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp dried mustard
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup crushed tomatoes
1/4 cider vinegar
1/4 cup ketchup
2 tbsp molasses
1 tbsp honey

* Can use less or more jalapeno depending on what level of heat you want.

Directions

Heat olive oil over medium heat. Add onion and jalapeno to the pan, saute for 4 minutes.

Add garlic and spices, cook for another minute.

Next, add the crushed tomatoes, ketchup, cider vinegar, molasses and honey.

Bring to a boil, cover and reduce heat to low. Simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Allow to cool, and then puree in a blender.

For a healthier alternative to store bought barbecue sauce, give this Homemade Barbecue Sauce a try.

- Lou

You would think that making homemade pasta would be this cathartic, religious type of experience, but for me, it was just a relaxing, genuinely happy hour or so in my kitchen. You see, I have made pasta before, when I was around twelve I used to make homemade pasta all the time with a friend of mine, for no reason at all. It’s kind of funny to think back to rolling out the dough on my counter and cutting and twisting these oddly shaped noodles, not really realizing what I was doing; that I was making pasta.

I haven’t made pasta for eight years, and in those eight years I have become intimidated by the idea. And then I went to the most fabulous KitchenAid Canada event “Get Attached to the Versatility of the KitchenAid® Stand Mixer” hosted by Chef Lynn Crawford, and watching her make pasta made me want to jump right in and make some too. Suddenly, making pasta seemed like something I could do again, something that would be fun.

To see more photos like this, follow me on Instagram!

And let me tell you, if you are intimidated by making pasta at home, you need to check out the Kitchenaid Pasta Press Attachment. Seriously, this thing is fool-proof. It makes homemade pasta a weeknight thing! So far I’ve only used the rigatoni shape, but I can’t wait to try the others

This is a standard recipe for your basic pasta dough. Now that I’m not intimidated by the idea, I’ll be experimenting with all sorts of different types of pastas! Stay tuned.

Basic Homemade Fresh Pasta

Ingredients

2 cups all purpose flour
3 eggs
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp water

Directions

In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, combine flour, eggs, salt and water on low speed.

Increase the speed slowly until a dough has formed. Knead for 2 minutes. Dough will seem crumbly, but I promise, it will come together.

Place dough on a lightly floured surface and knead for 10-12 minutes. To see if it needs more kneading, slash the dough with a pairing knife, if there are lots of air bubbles and pockets, continue kneading for another 2 minutes.

Let dough rest for 30 minutes under a kitchen cloth.

Cut dough into walnut sized balls and use your KitchenAid mixer and attachments as per instructions.

Have you ever tried making Homemade Fresh Pasta?

Disclosure: I was invited by KitchenAid to the “Get Attached to the Versatility of the KitchenAid® Stand Mixer” event and was given the KitchenAid® Pasta Press Attachment. The decision to post about my experience is completely my own and all opinions expressed are mine!

Breakfast is a tough meal, we all know it’s the most important of the day but all the convenience foods are so junkie. And honestly, at 7 in the morning who wants to prepare an elaborate breakfast? In high school, I used to eat toast with butter for breakfast…no wonder I was starving after first period! I’ve been trying to incorporate more protein into my breakfast to give me lots of energy in the morning and help me stay full until lunch – which is almost impossible. The protein in here comes from the yogurt, almonds and almond butter. This really is an Easy Breakfast For One (or two, or three – the recipe can easily be adapted for families!)

If I don’t eat this yogurt for breakfast, I love to bring it as a mid-morning snack for work (as long as you have a refrigerator available). Toss all of the ingredients into a Tupperware and you’re good to go. Whether you eat this for breakfast or a snack, it will definitely give you a boost of energy.

Easy Breakfast For One (serves 1)
Recipe by Lou

Ingredients

1/2 cup plain or Greek yogurt
1/3 – 1/2 cup chopped fruit (I like to use any berries, kiwis or banana)
2 tbsp chopped almonds (walnuts are great too!)
1 tbsp chopped unsweetened dried cranberries
1 tbsp almond butter
1 tsp of honey(or as much or little to taste)

Directions

Combine all ingredients and enjoy!

If bringing to work or saving for later – be sure to refrigerate.

This is my go-to breakfast 6 out of 7 days of the week – let me know if you give it a try!

- Lou

This dish was a complete fluke. Scrambled eggs with kale and prosciutto you say? Weird combination, right? Wrong. This started out as one of those, throw whatever you have into the pan kind of breakfasts, something that was not destined for the blog. And then it worked, and tasted magical. And I knew I had to share it, plus, sharing it required making it a few more times to get it just right, and that I could do. Food blogging can be pretty time consuming, but it’s amazing when you can recipe test a dish in the morning before work and have a delicious breakfast.

You may have seen me post this on Instagram earlier this week – I like to top mine with lots of hot sauce. Yum.

Scrambled Eggs with Kale and Prosciutto (Serves 4)
Recipe by Lou

Ingredients

2 tbsp olive oil
4 slices of prosciutto, diced
4 cups chopped kale
8 eggs
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
hot sauce for serving (Optional, but highly recommended!)

Directions

In a large pan, heat olive oil over medium-high heat.

Add prosciutto and cook for 4-5 minutes or until starting to crisp, stirring occasionally.

Add chopped kale to pan. Turn down heat to low. Stir kale and prosciutto together. Cook for 4-5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Turn heat back up to medium. Crack eggs into pan, stir with kale and prosciutto.

When eggs begin cooking (layer of cooked egg on bottom of pan) add in cheddar cheese. Scramble until fully cooked and cheese has melted.

Serve with lots of hot sauce.

Scrambled Eggs with Kale and Prosciutto is a simple breakfast made with 5 ingredients and the recipe can easily be reduced or doubled,

- Lou

May is Love Your Lentils Month and because of that I was planning on posting this recipe for Baked Lentils on Toast a few weeks ago, but then May just happened. In a good way. It’s like you blink and suddenly there are leaves on the trees and flowers blooming everywhere. It’s not quite summer yet, but finally that cold spring breeze is gone and you can almost feel summer. I love May.

My mom is from England, and while I don’t think I’ve ever seen her eat baked beans on toast, or enjoy tea and crumpets on a daily basis, we do love the Royal Family. The last time I was in England, a couple of years ago, I remember out hotel would serve baked beans on toast with every breakfast. I thought it was such an odd combination, but I obviously became obsessed. When I saw Lentils Canada was hosting a recipe contest for Love Your Lentils Month I knew I would participate, the question was what to make. I don’t cook with lentils too often, and when I do it’s always Lentil Soup but one day I had a brain wave. What about a take on baked beans on toast, using lentils instead? And voila, an hour or so later I had my first version of Baked Lentils on Toast. Which was much too onion-y. I finally got it right though, and this recipe is a great alternative to a classic.

Baked Lentils on Toast (serves 4-6)
Recipe by Lou

Ingredients

6 rashers/slices of bacon, cut into 1 inch pieces
1/2 yellow onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, diced
2 cups dried green lentils
4 cups water
1 cup crushed tomatoes
2 tbsp maple syrup
2 tbsp molasses
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp lemon juice

Directions

In an oven safe large pot, cook bacon and yellow onion over medium heat for 4 minutes. Add garlic, cook for another minute.

Remove bacon, onion and garlic from pot and set aside.

Add lentils and water to pot. Bring to a boil, partly cover and simmer for 20 minutes.

Remove from heat, stir in bacon, onion, garlic, crushed tomatoes, maple syrup, molasses, Dijon and salt. Cover with lid.

Cook for 20-25 minutes in a 375 degree oven.

Once finished, stir in lemon juice and serve.

This recipe for Baked Lentils on Toast will be sure to impress even your most British of house guests.

- Lou

It’s OK to start grilling vegetables, right? I know technically summer isn’t for another month or so, but I feel like I’ve been in the summer mindset forever – I started grilling in April!

I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this before, but it will come as no surprise that I love, love, love Julia Child. I had a phase where I would watch her cooking DVDs every night, even today, I’ll put on her DVDs if I’m feeling stressed out or just need a break. But did you know that Julia Child hated grilled vegetables? She once said “There’s nothing worse than grilled vegetables!” I’m sorry Julia, but I’ll have to disagree with you on that. The grilled vegetables in this Pasta Salad add a nice smokey touch to the dish.

Along with the smokey flavour from grilling the vegetables, the other flavour element of this dish is an amazing Spicy Rosée Sauce made by Maison Le Grand. Usually pasta salad can be a heavy dish, filled with mayonnaise, but using this healthy sauce to bring the dish together was not only really easy, but also delicious.

I don’t know about all of you, but I find vegan/dairy free cooking to be pretty intimidating (confession, I have never cooked with tofu!) and with all the substitutes out there, it almost feels like cooking with your eyes closed. This Spicy Rosée Sauce literally eliminates the fear because Maison Le Grand does it for you – it’s pretty tough to make a delicious dairy-free rosée sauce but Maison Le Grand has cracked the code.

Since I loved the sauces so much, I’m so excited to give one lucky reader a selection of pesto and rosée sauces valued at $50 courtesy of Maison Le Grand.

To enter, leave a comment letting me know what your favourite Maison Le Grand product or which would you like to try?  You can also earn additional entries by filling out the contest widget to increase your chance of winning!

Pasta Salad with Grilled Vegetables (serves 4-6)
Recipe by Lou

Ingredients

1 zucchini, sliced 1/4″ thick (roughly 20 rounds)
1 small eggplant, cut into 1/2′ thick rounds
1 red pepper, cut in 8 pieces
1/2 cup Maison Le Grand Spicy Rosée Sauce (or any of their rosée sauces)
1 375g box of whole wheat pasta (you can also use your favourite gluten free pasta)

For dressing:

1/2 cup Maison Le Grand Spicy Rosée Sauce (or any of their rosée sauces)
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1/2 tsp lemon juice
2 tbsp olive oil

Directions

In a large bowl, toss vegetables with spicy rosée sauce.Cover and refrigerate for an hour.

Meanwhile, prepare your dressing. Whisk spicy rosée sauce with balsamic vinegar and lemon juice. Slowly add olive oil in a steady stream to emulsify.

Cook pasta according to package directions. Toss with half of the dressing mixture.

Preheat grill to medium-low heat. Cook eggplant and peppers for 5 minutes per side. Slice grilled eggplant into long strips, and grilled peppers into bite sized chunks.

Next, cook zucchini for 2 minutes per side. Remove grilled vegetables and add to pasta. Toss with remaining dressing.

Give this Pasta Salad with Grilled Vegetables a try at your next barbecue, you’re vegan friends will thank you!

- Lou

a Rafflecopter giveaway
Giveaway is open to residents of Ontario and Quebec over the age of 18.
See widget for terms and conditions.

Disclaimer: I was provided with samples of Maison Le Grand’s line of pestos and rosée sauces. I was not compensated in any other way for writing this post – the decision to write about the product was my own and all opinions are 100% mine.

I spend a lot of time in the kitchen developing recipes. There are meticulous notes involved, multiple drafts and different coloured pens – the whole nine yards. But there is something magical about being in the kitchen and just throwing whatever you have together. While most of my time in the kitchen is spent working on recipes, I try to carve out a few times a month where I just go in there with nothing in mind and just throw whatever together. There are definitely some pretty big failures, but also some great successful dishes.

That’s how this Quinoa Bowl came together. It was 11:30 at night and I needed something to bring to work for lunch the next day. I wasn’t looking to create a “blog worthy” dish, or follow a recipe, I was literally just throwing ingredients together. I had leftover zucchini, broccoli and kale in my fridge that needed to be used up. With the addition of a little Italian sausage, I had a meal ready to go in 15 minutes. Plus, I love when things are monochrome, so the idea of this dish having all green vegetables pleases my nerdy, uniform side. This Quinoa Bowl is the kind of thing that works well for a quick dinner, but I love to make a batch at the beginning of the week and bring it for lunch.

Quinoa Bowl (serves 2-4)
Recipe by Lou

Ingredients

1 cup quinoa, rinsed
1 1/4 cups water
1 link hot Italian sausage, diced
1 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, finely diced
1 zucchini, sliced in semi-circles
1 cup chopped broccoli florets
1 cup chopped kale
1 tsp lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste

Directions

In a small pot, bring water to a boil. Add quinoa and cover. Reduce heat and cook for 12 minutes.

Meanwhile, cook sausage over medium-high heat, about five minutes or until fully cooked. Remove to a bowl and set aside.

In the same pan, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add garlic, cooking for a minute or until fragrant.

Next, add zucchini and broccoli. Cook for 4-5 minutes or until beginning to soften.

Add kale. Cook for another 2-3 minutes or until kale has wilted.

Finely, season with lemon juice and salt and pepper.

Toss vegetables with sausage and cooked quinoa.

This Quinoa Bowl will quickly become a lunch staple.

- Lou

Frozen puff pastry is a life saver. I don’t like to use frozen, pre-made ingredients often, but when it comes to puff pastry, I’ll make an exception. I try to always keep a box in the freezer, because I can almost guarantee that there will be a time when you forget you need an appetizer for a dinner or barbecue you’re hosting. Trust me, it will save your life, not to mention reputation. Ha! Just kidding, nobody really cares if you have an appetizer, but it’s fun to play Martha Stewart every now and then. Plus, because these Jalapeno Cheddar Breadsticks are so easy, you might love them even more than your guests.

I’ve made many of these bread sticks before and they are one of the easiest (and most loved) appetizers you can make. It’s amazing the way puff pastry can transform ingredients. If you’re looking for some other options to make, give my Olive and Mozzarella Breadsticks a try. You know what would be even more fun? If you made the Jalapeno Cheddar Breadsticks and Olive Mozzarella Breadsticks at the same time and had options for your guests. This is why they pay me the big(!) bucks my friends.

Jalapeno Cheddar Breadsticks
Recipe by Lou

Ingredients

2 sheets frozen puff pastry, thawed
1 egg + 1 tbsp water, whisked
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
2 jalapenos, seeded and finely diced
4 cloves garlic, diced
1 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp salt

Directions

Preheat oven to 400.

On a lightly floured surface roll out both pieces of  puff pastry and brush with egg wash.

In a medium bowl, mix together cheese, jalapenos, garlic, pepper and salt.

Leaving a 1/2 inch border, sprinkle one sheet of puff pastry with cheese mixture.

Place the second sheet of puff pastry on top of the first sheet. Pressing around the edges to seal.

Using a knife or a pizza cutter cut the sheets into 24 thin strips. Picking up by each end, twist the breadsticks and place on an ungreased baking sheet. Be sure to press down the ends of the dough onto the cookie sheet so that the breadsticks keep their shape.

Repeat with remaining dough and bake in the oven for 10-12 minutes.

Give these Jalapeno Cheddar Breadsticks a try at your next dinner party.

- Lou

With warm weather comes cravings for healthy, fresh salads. The thing is, salads can get a little boring if you’re eating the same old dressing and vegetable combination every day. I know this first hand because that’s exactly what I did with this dressing. I’m surprised I haven’t posted this recipe for Basic Balsamic Vinaigrette because I would bring this salad dressing for lunch every single day of my senior year of high school.

Ever since I graduated from high school, (almost two years ago…wow) I haven’t been making this salad dressing nearly as often. The truth is, I don’t think I’ve been eating as many salads as I used to. I think that’s one of the side effects of university – healthy eating habits go right out the window. Recently, I’ve been making more of a conscious effort to eat healthy foods and snacks and I can tell you that I feel so much better. Is anyone else planning a health kick this month? Mine’s been going pretty well so far, I mean, I didn’t buy any chocolate covered pretzels last time I was at the grocery store.

Basic Balsamic Vinaigrette (makes 3/4 cup)
Recipe by Lou

Ingredients

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp honey
1/8 tsp salt and pepper
1/2 cup olive oil

Directions

In a medium sized bowl, whisk together vinegar, Dijon mustard, honey, salt and pepper.

Next, while continuously whisking, pour in olive oil in a light, steady stream. Continue to whisk until olive oil is incorporated into vinegar and dressing has thickened, about 30 seconds. The dressing should be thick enough to coat a spoon (as seen in photo above). The oil and vinegar should not be separate.

Are you on a healthy kick too? What kinds of recipes are you looking for? Let me know. Give this Basic Balsamic Vinaigrette a try for your next lunch.

- Lou

These Baked Spiced Salmon Cakes are something that I’ve had up my sleeve for a while. It’s one of those simple, no-brainer types of dinners that are perfect for your typical Tuesday night. The leftovers might be my favourite part of making these salmon cakes for dinner. because as much as I love cooking, sometimes I just don’t feel like making dinner, especially when I’m taking some time off.

I finished exams last week (finally!) and since last Tuesday at 10pm, I have been taking a much needed break from everything. I’m not the best at taking breaks, I feel like it’s a skill that has to be learned. I, like many others, tend to feel really guilty when I’m not doing something. I always feel like I need to be crossing things off my to-do list, and moving forward and improving. But during this week off (OK, so I did post last week…baby steps), I realized just how nice it can be to take a step back and look at everything you’ve done and enjoy it.

Baked Spiced Salmon Cakes (serves 4-6)
Recipe by Lou

Ingredients

14 oz (2 213g cans) canned salmon
1 med. sweet potato, peeled, boiled and mashed
1/4 cup flour
1 egg, whisked
1 green onion, sliced
zest of 1/2 lemon
2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
2 tbsp mayonnaise
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 tbsp chopped capers
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 cup panko breadcrumbs
Cooking spray

Directions

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

In a large bowl, using a fork, combine all ingredients except for breadcrumbs.

Use an ice cream scoop to scoop salmon mixture. Using your hands form into patties. Carefully dredge in panko.

Place on a lightly oiled baking sheet. Spray patties with cooking spray.

Bake for 5-7 minutes in the oven, before flipping patties over and cooking for another 5 minutes. Finally, turn on the broiler and broil patties for 2 minutes – this helps to get them nice and crunchy.

These Baked Spiced Salmon Cakes make a great dinner with ingredients that are probably already in your pantry.

- Lou