Chips! The healthy way (Shhh don't tell anyone)

Got a weekend away at the cottage which was during a heat spell. Lucky us! It made for great weather and great times with family and friends. Being by the lake during the heat wave is the only place I want to be. Basking in the sun, enjoying good food, drinks and great conversation, the time away flew by. Back to reality came too soon and I needed to get back in the garden. Weeds were growing like weeds but the zucchini didn't seem to notice. I've got an entire bushel full of zucchini.

Chips...all for me!

Sorry folks another zucchini post. I don't want to see an ounce of it go to waste so I'm making lasagnas, baked gratins and even loaves to keep using them. Pinterest has tons of pins with chips created from assorted vegetables, zucchini and kale. I've tried the kale chips and wasn't happy with the turn out finding them oily. Zucchini chips seemed only natural and if the chips turn out as good as they look as the pictures; I'm sold! 

Mandoline!

I used the recipe from the Naked Kitchen, a fellow blogger that focuses on food simplified. Enjoying the simple pleasures of food is what I'm all about. The recipe called for slicing the zucchini thinly thankfully I had my mandoline to help with this making the chips crispier.

The breading process.

 This recipe was easy to do, its just time consuming having bread the chips. I would definitely do it again because the first batch came out and was gone within an hour. Yep! Guilty as charged. I ate every single one of them. I loaded the next batch up in the oven and became preoccupied which burnt! (insert sad face here) I would highly recommend this recipe to anyone looking for a healthy snack.

Find the local farmers market, support farmers and eat well! 

Presto pesto.

Few ingredients make summer fresh pesto.

The rain seems to have subsided for a couple days at least and was able to get in the garden and harvest buckets of basil.


In the past I have attempted at growing herbs from seeds but have had no luck starting them indoors as they get attacked by all kinds of ailments. To make my gardening life a little easier I cheat and buy my basil plants early in the spring and plop them in the ground next to my seeds. Luckily this year the plants were growing like weeds. Who wants to weed when the sun is shining and the pool looks so tempting?!

Blended in a food processor.

I don't want my basil plants to go to seed for two reasons: they slow down growing and tend to make the leaves taste more bitter. I made my first batch of pesto to keep up with the amount of basil this year. Since my tomatoes won't be ready until August caprese salads will have to wait. (insert sad face here) 

Pesto is a great to have on hand once winter comes when we need to be reminded of all of the goodness that summer provides. I use it in pasta, pesto aioli, dressings and to even make fish less fishy.  

I've used Jamie Oliver's recipe without the lemon juice and pour the pesto into ice cube trays or little muffin tins and freeze overnight. I pop them out and store in ziploc bags in the freezer when I need a little summer love in my food. 

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.