garlic » Living Lou

Basil Garlic Spaghetti Sauce

Foods always bring me back to places, and this Basil Garlic Spaghetti Sauce is no different. This sauce reminds me of summers spent up at the cottage with my Grandmother. Lazy days spent fishing by the dock and feeding the ducks, or biking into town and splashing in the lake were always accompanied by a comforting spaghetti dinner. When the summer ended and we were no longer enjoying the freedom of cottage life, my sister and I would beg my Mom to make Grammy’s sauce, so much so that we ate it weekly. Even today, whenever I make this sauce, my sister will come into the kitchen and ask if I’m making Grammy’s sauce.

Here is the handwritten recipe she gave to my Mom years ago, that we still use today. I’ve changed just a couple of things in her recipe to have it suit me – switched out ground beef for ground turkey and took out the onion. It doesn’t effect the flavor as the sauce is simmered for an hour!

Basil Garlic Spaghetti Sauce (serves 4-6)

Ingredients

1 tbsp olive oil
1 lbs ground turkey
4 cloves garlic, chopped
2 cups crushed tomatoes
1 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp dried basil
salt & pepper to taste

Directions

In a medium pot, heat olive oil over medium heat.

Add the ground turkey and garlic, crumbling until meat is browned.

Add the crushed tomatoes, sugar and basil.

Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for an hour.

After the hour, season to taste and serve over spaghetti.

So there’s a favourite family recipe of my Grammy’s Basil Garlic Spaghetti Sauce, hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

- Lou

Tomato Garlic Swiss Chard

So here’s the thing, Tomato Garlic Swiss Chard is my new favourite. I make it at least weekly, but preferably daily. Kind of like that time when I would eat those little white sugared doughnuts daily. That was fun. But we’re trying to stay healthy here, so no more powdered sugared doughnuts, or Old Fashioned doughnuts, but if you are so inclined, these Muffin Doughnuts are pretty good. I think I’ll be making them today.

Last week I was deep into exam stress. Which for some people means stress eating chocolate, but for me it meant stress eating Swiss Chard. Like the way my puppy stress eats carrots during wind storms. We’re two peas in a pod me and my pup.

So, being done exams means that for me, it’s officially summer! I’ve got a lot of summery fresh and yummy Spring recipes that will be coming your way over the next few months, and this is the first. Swiss Chard is at its peak during the Spring, so give this recipe a go.

Tomato Garlic Swiss Chard (serves 2-4)
Recipe by Lou

Ingredients

5 cups chopped swiss chard leaves
1 tbsp oil + 1 1/2 tbsp water
5 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
1/3 cup crushed tomatoes

Directions

Heat oil and water over medium heat, add garlic and saute for a minute.

Next, add the swiss chard leaves and cook for 2-3 minutes, the leaves will wilt but have a slight crunch.

Finally, add the crushed tomatoes, stirring to evenly coat swiss chard.

Serve as a side dish or on its own.

If your life is a little packed and busy right now, I think this Tomato Garlic Swiss Chard will be a healthy snack and time saver.

- Lou

Herbed Pasta with Garlic and Walnuts

I’m usually more of a saucy and cheesy pasta kind of girl. You know, that pasta, the quintessential pasta, the one where the pasta sauce that is simmered for hours before being mixed with pasta, then its thrown in a casserole and covered with cheese and baked in the oven until it’s all melted and bubbly. That’s usually the type of pasta I go for, and this dish, well surprise folks, it’s not that. So, why am I sharing it you ask?

Because it’s pretty much perfect, it’s delicious, and flavorful and best of all EASY. It’s ready in the amount of time it takes to cook pasta, about 8-10 minutes.

You say that it’s not as comforting? I say that it’s pretty comforting knowing that it’s not going straight to my hips, or my thighs, or both. Don’t knock in ’til you try it folks, coming from someone who loves her pasta sauce (ahem, my favourite sauce is a loaded and flavorful bolognese sauce.) this is now one of my favourite pasta dishes. Seriously guys, it’s the best.

Herbed Pasta with Garlic and Walnuts (serves 1-2)
Recipe by Lou

Ingredients

1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1/4 tsp hot chili flakes
1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/4 walnuts
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
190 grams/7ish oz of whole wheat linguine
lots of freshly cracked pepper and Parmesan cheese (omit cheese for vegan)

Directions

In a pot of salted boiling water, cook pasta according to directions. Reserve 1/2 cup of cooking water.

In a frying pan, heat olive oil over medium heat. Saute garlic and chili flakes until fragrants, 2-3 minutes. Add the parsley and walnuts, stirring to cook. The parsley should wilt and the walnuts will become golden and toasted.

Drain cooked pasta, reserving 1/2 cup of cooking water. Add pasta and reserved water to pan, stirring to coat. At the last minute, add the basil. Serve.

Enjoy this simple pasta dish, packed with flavour and ready in 10 minutes!

-Lou

Garlic Parmesan Orzo

Up until a week ago I thought I hated orzo. I had a valid reason though, there was this one time when I had a bad experience. All I’ll say about said experience is plane food. I think it’s pretty self explanatory, but plane food is usually rather revolting, and orzo on a plane might just be the grossest meal I’ve ever had. Shudder. What was it then, you ask, that made me decide to try orzo again? A little something called The Secret Recipe Club. Which is a wonderful take on the idea of a recipe exchange, except it’s all done in secret and revealed on the reveal day, which is today!

This month I was assigned the blog The Jey of Cooking a wonderful, cleverly named blog written by Jey. Not only is she hilarious, as seen in a recent post where she talks about how her love of garlic means that she is most definitely not a vampire, but her blog is chock-full of delicious, simple and healthy recipes. I perused her archives, spending hours going all the way back to her very first post to decide what I wanted to make. I stumbled upon this recipe for Garlic Parmesan Orzo and was completely smitten when I read the list of ingredients, garlic, parmesan and spinach – a winning combination, the only issue, orzo. I conquered my fear and am so glad that I did so, this recipe for garlic parmesan orzo will blow. your. mind. It’s one of my new favourite recipes and I can’t wait to make it again.

Garlic Parmesan Orzo
Recipe source: The Jey of Cooking originally from All Recipes

Ingredients

1 cup uncooked orzo
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
2 tbsp unsalted butter
2 cups spinach, finely chopped
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 tbsp milk
salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Cook orzo, following the directions on the package.

In a large pan, melt butter over medium-low heat. Add garlic, cooking for 4 minutes, or until tender. Turn off the heat and add the chopped spinach and cook for a minute, allowing to wilt. Next add the Parmesan, orzo, milk, salt and pepper. Allowing the cheese to melt into the orzo.

What I love about this recipe is not only does it taste heavenly but it is also extremely simple to make. After eating this orzo, I can definitely say that I am no longer a hater of all things orzo.

- Lou

Honey Garlic Chicken Drumsticks

Honey garlic chicken drumsticks are in my opinion one of the best finger foods. Honestly, you just can’t go wrong with honey and garlic, whether it’s in wing or leg form. You also can’t go wrong with finger foods… therefore this combination of honey and garlic in finger food form is bliss.

Do you want to know what else I love about finger food? It makes you stop, and eat. You can’t multi-task while your hands are covered in sticky sauce, which means you have to stop whatever you’re doing. It’s a rather nice break from the final editing stages of a short film you’re making… you know, if that’s your thing.

What’s your opinion on finger food? Do you, like me, love it? Or, are you one of two people in the world who’s just “not crazy about it”. If you answered “yes” to the latter, well thank you – more for me! If you just can’t get over eating with your hands, well I invite you to come and sit down with me, let’s enjoy some honey, garlic chicken drumsticks!

Honey Garlic Chicken Drumsticks (makes 5 chicken legs)
Recipe by Lou

Ingredients

1/4 cup Soy Sauce
1/4 cup honey
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp ground ginger
2 large cloves of garlic (crushed)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine all of the ingredients together for the sauce.

Grease a cookie sheet with a little olive oil and place your 5 drumsticks on the sheet. Brush the marinade over the drumsticks and bake in the oven for 40 minutes. Brushing with marinade every 10 minutes until the chicken is done.

This may seem as though it’s a little tedious, but really it isn’t, and it’s definitely worth it when you bite into your succulent, juicy drumsticks!

- Lou