Big ones, small ones..some the size of your head! (or baby)

The days are getting longer and finally we have had some heat. Work is picking up at the restaurant and our garden at work is beginning to share its goodies too! I'm heading up North in a couple of weeks and figured I should try this recipe before I make it for a vacation treat. The recipe was a keeper.

The garden is producing an overwhelming amount of green and yellow zucchini. They are coming in all sizes hence the title of this post. My mother and I have been trying to stay on top of picking them  before they get too big. The big ones aren't nearly as tasty and sweet as the little ones and I HATE having to fight with their seeds. If zucchini is picked before it gets too big you don't have to worry about any seeds at all.

 My favourite (and go-to) recipe with zucchini is lasagna breaded with panko breadcrumbs but since I'm trying new recipes I made zucchini loaf. I needed to lose a much as I could so I grated extra for the freezer for the winter months so that I could make these delicious loaves in the cold winter months. Mom bought a new loaf pan that is the same size as a regular pan but has four mini loaves spaces in it. Its so handy so I can make mini-loaves to share.

This recipe called for just cocoa powder but I added chocolate chips as well to get my chocolate fix! My nieces and nephews had no idea that there was zucchini in their chocolate loaf. Sneaky me. The new and improved Canadian Living cooking website is more aesthetically pleasing and the layout is easier to read when baking. I haven't been let down yet by any of their recipes and this was a crowd pleaser too. Find the recipe at the Canadian Living link above.  

Despite the increasing heat, get in the kitchen, turn on the oven and make this

sinfully chocolatey loaf.

Mexican Madness

Mexican right at home.

Ingredients for guacamole.

In spirit of my upcoming trip to Mexico I made fajitas. Most people have made tacos and fajitas including me, however I have never made homemade tortillas or my own Mexican seasoning.  Fajitas are quite easy, I chopped the chicken and fried it up with the peppers and onions and added my Mexican seasoning at the end. The Mexican seasoning recipe was found on Pintrest, I love that website. It could occupy me for hours.

Like a pancake, but better.

I pre-made guacamole as a garnish that we could accompany our fajitas with. I started making this particular recipe from The Healthy College Cookbook I bought myself in university knowing I wouldn't have a lot of time to cook.

Guacamole.

Much like the pasta dough the tortilla dough only had a few ingredients and was easy to make.  The only time consuming part is rolling out your dough and frying up each individual tortilla. But the little amount of work I had to do paid off and was well worth the final product. 

Cooking the onions, peppers and chicken.

If you feel a little SAD cause of the winter weather and lack of sunshine make some Mexican food, turn on the white noise app with some soothing beach waves crashing and pretend your on a sandy beach drinking a margarita. Andele! 

Muy Bueno!

Who doesn’t love fresh pasta? This week I channelled my inner Italian and became a pasta-making queen.  This week’s menu included homemade ravioli. I have made fresh pasta before but never a delicious pocket filled pasta. So I started with making the insides of my ravioli using swiss chard, onion and parmesan cheese.  I sauteed the  onions and swiss chard and let them cool as I started making my pasta.

Pasta dough, much like any other dough is quite simple to make. It only takes a couple of ingredients and a lot of love…kneading. I kneaded until my arm was sore,  then let the dough sit for half of an hour. I got the recipe offline from the Food & Wine website (a fantastic magazine resource for food lovers).  I purchased a pasta sheeter a couple of years ago and today I put it to good use.Looking like an old Italian lady with flour everywhere, in my hair,  on my face and all over the kitchen, I slowly and surely rolled the dough thinner.  In the future I plan on getting technology to help me out; Ill be buying a Kitchenaid  mixer that comes with a pasta sheeter attachment.

Pasta sheeter hard at work.

Fill, fill, fill it up.

Its ready when floating!

The most difficult part about ravioli is putting the filling in the dough and having to seal it with an egg wash, pinch it together with hands or fork and hope that all your hard work isn't destroyed the minute you drop it in boiling water. If not sealed properly your ravioli will leak and get filled with water which doesn't make for a tasty piece of ravioli. 

One of the best things about homemade pasta is that it cooks in only a couple of minutes. You know when your dough is done because it floats to the top of the boiling water. The ravioli was tossed with our homemade tomato sauce that my Mom and I made this past summer.  I also paired it with my homemade vegan caesar salad dressing. The raw (local) garlic will ward off any kind of cold this time of year.

Memories of summer, tomato sauce.

After my pasta making escapade,I’m going to relax and indulge in a glass of vino.