Author Archives: Andrea

New-fashioned Potato ‘Salad’

Posted on by Andrea

new potato salad

Everyone is probably getting tired of potato salad this late in the summer, but this isn’t really what I would consider traditional potato salad. Sure, it contains potatoes, and it’s served at room temperature, and it has a dressing on it, but that’s where the similarity ends. This recipe was inspired by my friend, Karin Reynolds, who knows how to make everything taste good.  I suspect this was an old family recipe, and I’ve modified it here and there to make it seem ‘new’.  Try it,  it really is very tasty and not boring at all, and it’s a delicious way to use those great new potatoes that the farmer’s markets are full of right now. Continue reading →

Stacked Tomato Asiago Salad with Basil Pesto

Posted on by Andrea

stacked fresh tomatoes with asiago cheese and basil pesto

I bought a huge bunch of organic basil at the farmer’s market and decided to make it into pesto.  I can’t imagine what else you could do with it so I cleaned it up and made a classic pesto, except I used walnuts instead of pine nuts and I added some lemon rind in as well.  Plus, if you make it fresh, it’s so much better than anything you can buy at the store.  Pesto essentially mean ‘paste’, so bear in mind that a little goes a long way — it’s very concentrated flavour. I’ve demonstrated using it in a stacked tomato salad, but there are several uses for pesto. Continue reading →

S’more Chocolate Birthday Cake

Posted on by Andrea

Here’s an idea for a birthday cake I made today. It’s a chocolate layer cake that I  made from scratch, but use your favourite chocolate cake recipe, out of a box is fine.  I melted about 15 marshmallows with 3 tbsp of butter, and added that to a pre-packaged tub of white icing. I refrigerated that until it firmed up a bit. Frosted the cake, added some crumbled graham crackers in the center and sprinkled on top. Made chocolate shards and stuck them in. Quite dramatic looking, wouldn’t you say? Quite delicious too. Serve with ice cream. Fun! Continue reading →

Slow Cooker Risotto-Stuffed Peppers

Posted on by Andrea

I love stuffed peppers…so when I saw a recipe using aborio rice, I thought I’d try it.  That’s the same rice you would use to make risotto, so it’s a rounder grain, it produces a creamier finished product, and I found the entire stuffed pepper held together really well when you sliced the pepper in halves or quarters.  Recipes for stuffed peppers are a dime a dozen, and  I’ve adapted this version from the current (Aug/Sept 2011) edition of Cook’s Country magazine. There is no meat in my version, but you could easily reduce the rice and add in some sauteed ground beef, chicken or sausage.  Also, you could bake these in the oven, but it’s nice and easy to throw in the slow-cooker and walk away for a few hours. Continue reading →

Healthy Quinoa and Dark Chocolate Snack Bars

Posted on by Andrea

quinoa dark chocolate snack bars

Here’s a healthy and very tasty snack bar that works well in school lunches or as an afternoon snack.  They are sweetened with maple syrup and composed of cooked quinoa and a few different gluten free flours. I cut and wrap these individually and store them in the freezer. The quinoa and eggs contribute to these bars having a fair amount of protein so they are filling…but they also taste delicious. Give them a try if you are not interested in buying mass produced, high-fructose corn syrup-laden bars. The best part about these gluten-free, low glycemic bars is that they taste great. Continue reading →