Awesome movie

Saw the movie "Inception" tonight. Wow. What an incredible show. If you haven't seen it, you should. I think it's one of the best movies I've ever seen.


Pool day tomorrow. Lots of sun screen and magazines :)

Chutney and Artichoke Pasta

Hope every one's summer is going really well. We haven't really done too much exciting, but there have been a few nice days by the pool.

I thought I'd post a few new great recipes.

The Rebar Appetizer (Tomato and Ginger Chutney)

from 'rebar modern food cookbook '

This is a wonderful slightly Indian flavored chutney, so good on warm bread. Keeps in the fridge for about a week.

4 Roma tomatoes, halved

1/2 cup sundried tomatoes (not oil packed)

1/2 medium yellow onion, chopped

1 tbsp vegetable oil

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 tbsp minced ginger

1 tsp cumin, roasted and ground

1/2 tsp red chili flakes

1 cinnamon stick, broken in two

2 tbsp honey

2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

1/4 tsp salt

1. Preheat oven to 325. Arrange Roma tomato halves on baking sheet. Brush with oil and sprinkle with salt. Roast in oven for 45 min. Let cool.

2. Rehydrate sundried tomatoes in boiling water. Soak for 10 min. Strain and reserve cooking water. Let cool.

3. Heat oil in a medium skillet. Saute onions for 5 min until soft. Add garlic, ginger, cumin, chili flakes and cinnamon sticks and saute for 5 min. Remove cinnamon sticks and let cool.

4. Place roasted tomatoes, onion mixture, honey and balsamic vinegar in a food processor. Pulse to combine, but leave some texture. Add a little of the reserved tomato water to thin the chutney if necessary.

5. Season with salt. Let sit for at least 30 min.

This next recipe is so simple and it tastes fantastic. As an added treat, I picked up some gourmet pasta to have with this. Also reheats really really well.

Linguine with Artichoke Hearts and Sundried Tomatoes

from ' rebar modern food cookbook '

1 lb fettuccine (or other pasta)

1/2 cup sundried tomatoes, (not oil packed), rehydrated

1/2 cup kalamata olives, pitted and chopped

3 tbsp capers

3 cups marinated artichoke hearts

4 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 cup chopped fresh basil

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

2 tbsp olive oil

salt and pepper

1/2 tsp chili flakes

To garnish

fresh grated Parmesan

4 small tomatoes, diced

1. Combine all ingredients (not pasta, or garnish) in a medium boil. Stir to combine.

2. Cook pasta.

3. Heat a skillet and warm the sauce through.

4. Toss with pasta and top with fresh Parmesan cheese and chopped tomatoes.

"Have a little faith" Banana Soft Serve

I found this "recipe' while perusing the blogs. In fact it's not really a recipe, since there is only 1 ingrediant. Banana. There is so much hype over it I thought I should try it myself.

All you need are a couple of cut up frozen bananas and a food processor. (I tried it first with the whole frozen bananas from my freezer that I save for banana bread, but it didn't work...)

2 bananas (slices and placed on a plate or in tupperware in the freezer for about 2 hours.

Place frozen bananas in the food processor. Turn on and let it go for about 5 min, stopping to scrape down the bowl if needed. You will doubt yourself the entire time. It will look too runny. Have a little faith.

If you want to add in a little something extra like cocoa powder, coconut or peanut butter, add it in the last 30 seconds of processing. (I tried the peanut butter and it was AWESOME!)

After 5 min, turn off the food processor and walk away for 5 min. When you come back, the bananas will be the texture of soft serve ice cream.

Eat from a bowl. Healthy and yummy.

Basil Vinaigrette

It's been very nice here the past week. I finally got a chance to have my first "pool day" of the season on Sunday. A full day of laying by the pool. We had a visit from some family from the island, so that made it extra special. It's perfection!

I've been very excited to go grocery shopping every monday for the past few weeks. There is so much incredible fresh and local produce available here. It's such a treat. I'm able to by 3/4 or my food from the farm markets. Food just tastes better when you can see where it came from.

In the spirit of fresh indgrediants, here is a recipe for a basil vinaigrette that is out of this world good! It's from a cookbook I've had forever which is actually from a veggie restaurant in Victoria. Rebar-Modern Food Cook Book.

2 garlic cloves

1 1/2 tbsp dijon mustard

2 tbsp honey

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

big handful of fresh basil

salt and pepper

up to 1 cup of olive oil

In a food processor or blender conbine all ingrediants except oil. Wizz it all up. Slowly add the olive oil until the dressing becomes thick and creamy.

I had this today on some amazing spinach with fontina cheese and pecans. It tastes a lot like pesto (which makes sense...) and it turns a plain salad into something incredible. It keeps in the fridge for up to 3 days.

Here comes the sun (do do do do...)

The summer has finally arrived here! Geesh, feels a little late, I haven't even been in the pool yet this year. Yesterday was about 35. Unfortunately, I was at work. Fortunately we have an air conditioner at work. Cross your fingers that the nice weather hangs around until the weekend. I'm in need of some sun.

I made an amazing Green Monster for breakfast today. It's already like 30 degrees out and I can't bare to make toast this morning. In my smoothie I put:

huge handful of fresh spinach
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1 banana
1 stalk of rhubarb
handful of unsalted cashews

It was a gamble, but it paid off. Not bitter at all. Yummy.

I also made mayo yesterday for the first time and it worked out really well. It's basically egg yolks, Dijon, vinegar and oil. Plus a lot of muscle. I grew up thinking that 'Miracle Whip' was mayo, so this is obviously a treat. Simple ingredients. So tasty.

It ain't so hard for me to JAM

One of the wonderful things about living on the West Coast this time of year is all fresh local food that is available. I've been shopping at one of several dozen farm markets in the area for most of my fruits and veggies for the past several weeks. It's been great. There is a certain satisfaction that comes from eating local ingredients.

My latest kitchen adventure started when my sister showed up at my door on Saturday night with a flat full of fresh raspberries and a couple buckets of fresh strawberries. She spent much of her Saturday at a local farm picking all these lovely berries. Luckily, she gave me a whole bunch. Thus, the adventure began.

I had a ton of fresh berries and wanted to do something with them. Something new and interesting. Something that would make them last into the fall.

I made JAM!

Since raspberry jam is my favorite, I opted to start with the raspberries. After a little research online, I found out that making jam really isn't that hard. In fact it's so easy, I'm surprised more people don't do it.

I used 5 cups of fresh, crushed raspberries, an ungodly amount of sugar and a box of pectin. That's it. Simple and incredible. Once the jars are processed, they will last a year in the pantry.

The exact recipe you use, really depends on the pectin you buy (the pectin is a natural fruit sugar that helps to thicken and set the jam.) Each box has the recipes inside. Since it's kind of a science, I would suggest buying the pectin, peaking at the recipe, then making sure you have the correct amounts of ingredients. You also need some glass jars (which I got for under $10 for a box of 12 at the grocery store.)

We patiently waited overnight until the jam set and we were very excited to try the first bite this morning. I made some fresh biscuits so we could sample the jam in all its glory. It was a complete success! It's awesome.

I have a recipe for strawberry rhubarb jam too. I think I might make that this week as well.