A few of my recipes from the past couple of weeks.

As promised earlier, a post with food in it! I didn't take many pictures from our dinners, but here are the ones that I did take.


There's no real recipe for this one, but I had a picture, so I thought I would share. :) I made this pasta sauce, but added a can of chickpeas to the pot. I cooked up the pasta of choice, mixed it together with the sauce, and covered it with a blanket of mozzarella cheese. Then I cooked it until the cheese began to brown a bit. This is Kyle's favourite.

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These are the muffins I make for Summer Solstice every year. The white of the cake symbolizes the light of the long days and the chocolate chips symbolize the little bits of dark night that are sneaking in ever so slowly. The kids just love them. I got the recipe from the book Circle Round: Raising Children in Goddess Traditions. I get many of our Pagan ideas from that book. I think it's my favourite book of all time.

Summer Solstice Muffins

1/2 cup butter, softened in the summer sun

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups all purpose flour

pinch of salt

2 tsp baking powder

1 cup milk

1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350.

Cream together the butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat the eggs in, one at a time. Add the vanilla. Mix the flour, salt and baking powder together, making sure to mix well. Add half of the flour mixture, and half of the milk. Mix well. Add the remaining flour and milk and continue to mix well. Add the chocolate chips.

Bake in cupcake cups for 25 minutes.

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These? They were sinful! We had them for Date Night In this week and we both ate too many. These are not exactly low in fat and calories, but so so so so good. YUM. I got them from my Vegetarian 3 in 1, but altered them a tad bit.

Creamy Mushroom Cups

2 tbsp butter

6 oz cremini mushrooms, chopped

1/4 tsp salt

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 tbsp dry sherry

1/4 cup whipping cream

1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

6 frozen filo party shells

chopped fresh parsley

Cook the filo according to package directions.

Meanwhile, melt the butter in a saucepan. Add the mushrooms and salt and cook for 3-5 minutes until tender. Add the garlic and cook another 30 seconds. Add the sherry and stir to blend. Stir in the whipping cream, and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened a bit. Add the parmesan cheese, stir and cook until melted.

Fill the filo pastry with the mushroom mixture. Sprinkle the top with some chopped fresh parsley and serve immediately.

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Slow cooked curried veggies are pretty regular in this house during the busy days. It needs a full day to sit and cook, and I love it for that. The vegetables tend to lose their bright colours in the slow cooker, but it's still delicious. I usually serve over a bed of basmati rice and a side of Naan bread.

Slow Cooker Curried Veggies

3 carrots, sliced

1/2 green or red bell pepper, chopped

2 zucchinis, chopped

a couple of handfuls of green beans, trimmed and halved

1 cup frozen peas

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1 can diced tomatoes

1 1/2 cups vegetable stock

1 can coconut milk, well mixed

3 tbsp curry powder

Put the veggies, chickpeas and canned tomatoes into the crockpot.

Combine the stock, coconut milk and curry powder until well mixed. Add it to the crockpot and stir it up.

Cover and cook for 10 hours on low.

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This was my first time making this pasta from Vegetarian 3 in 1 (altered a little). It was a huge hit in our house, though I would have liked a bit more punch to it. I served it with a simple cucumber salad and Harvest Herb Bread (recipe to follow).

Pasta with Spinach and Ricotta

12 oz box of tri colour fusili pasta

1 tbsp olive oil

10 oz baby spinach

5 cloves garlic, minced

300g ricotta cheese

1/4 cup parmesan cheese

1/2 cup cooking water from the pasta

salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Cook the pasta according to package details.

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large skillet (I used a wok). Add the spinach and garlic and cook about 5 minutes until the spinach has wilted. Stir in the ricotta cheese, parmesan cheese and water. Stir to combine. Season with the salt and pepper.

Add the cooked pasta to the skillet and stir to combine. Serve immediately.

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I made this bread from How it all Vegan, but then I de-veganized it by using regular old cow's milk. I also changed it a bit (surprise!). It was crazy yummy. Nohing like fresh (quick) bread.

Harvest Herb Bread

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp marjoram

1/4 tsp oregano

1/2 tsp basil

1/2 tsp thyme

egg replacer to equal 1 egg

2 tbsp sugar

4 tbsp vegetable oil

3/4 cup milk with 1 tsp vinegar added

Preheat oven to 375.

Mix together all of the dry ingredients while the milk and vinegar sit to sour. Add the oil and milk and mix until "just mixed". Pour it into a lightly oiled loaf pan.

Bake for 20-30 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.

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I know I missed more than that, but it's a start. Trying to get back to my normally scheduled blogging now. ;)