I used about 15-20 baby red and white potatoes for this, cut them into halves and quarter’s (depends on how small or large they are). You can use regular potatoes as well.

What you will need:

• 1 large bunch rapini
• 15-20 baby potatoes
• 1/2 red bell pepper
• 2-3 tbsp pesto
• 2-3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tbsp mayo

Rinse rapini well, as it is sandy, trim stems off, and chop up into big chunks.

Bring a pot of water to boil, season with salt and a little olive oil to the pot, add in chopped rapini and boil for 5 minutes till rapini becomes a bright green colour, and is tender. Meanwhile boil potatoes (make sure to season water with salt).

Drain rapini when done. When fork goes through the potatoes, they are done cooking; drain.

In a large bowl add the rapini and potatoes, and diced peppers.

Combine with pesto, olive oil, mayo, you may add some pepper if desired…no need for salt as it was added in the cooking process. I served it right away, and it was all gone!:)

Oreo Cookies…where do I begin? I never been a fan of them to tell you truthfully….I always preferred chocolate fudge cookies…or even better  homemade cookies! All of a sudden this past month I have grown to love this cookie! Its the only store bought cookie that I ever buy as its the only store bought treat my kids ask for! Last week I made an Oreo cake and I loved it, I made one last year…didn’t care for it much…but this time around it was different…I actually really enjoyed it! 

Since I had some leftover cookies I decided to use them up and make these yummy pancakes! You can be more fancy than I and serve them with whipped cream, if I had any I would have squeezed some on top….mmm sounds so good!

What you will need:

• 1  egg
• 1 and 1/2 cups buttermilk*
• 1 1/2 cups  all purpose flour
• 2-3 tbsp oreo cookie crumbs*
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 3 tsp baking powder

Add egg, and buttermilk  to the dry ingredients.

Stir only until blended. Gently fold in the cookie crumbs.

Heat your non stick pan or cast iron pan.

Using a ladle, spoon batter onto hot pan or griddle and shape into a circle. Cook on 1 side until small bubbles appear. Flip and cook the other side.

*You can make your own buttermilk with milk and 1 tbsp vinegar

*To save on calories use  Oreo cookie crumbs instead of Oreo cookies

I find the best fennel to use for this dish is the long stemmed and small bulbs, so much flavour…although the the bulb is more tender and people tend to like the larger ones, the smaller ones are in my opinion better. Try to get them at a farmers market rather the grocery store…makes a difference as well I noticed. For this dish the whole fennel is used, the bulb the stems and the dill looking leafs.

What you will need:

• 2 whole fennels
• 1 small onion
• 1/2 cup water
• salt and pepper
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 4-5 tbsp cooked crumbled up ground beef
• 1/2 lemon

Rinse fennel, and cut into bite size pieces. Chop onion. Combine cut up fennel and chopped onion in a pot, add water and season with salt. Add ground beef, olive oil and pepper. Cover with lid and cook on medium heat, if you find that there is too much water, uncover. Cook till desired tenderness, takes about 20-25 minutes. When done cooking, squeeze lemon juice over. Enjoy!

What you will need:

• fresh green beans or flat green beans
• 2 tomatoes
• 1 carrot
• 2-3 cloves of garlic
• 1 onion
• salt and pepper
• extra virgin olive oil
• 4-5 cups boiled water

Rinse beans, cut ends and cut in half or three parts depending how long the bean are. I like to boil them separately at first as I find the acid from the tomatoes make beans hard. So first boil them in water, do NOT add salt!

Once beans are no longer bright, they are ready. Drain.

Meanwhile, chop onion and tomatoes and garlic in olive oil.

Saute onions till tender, add in the garlic and tomatoes. Cook till tomatoes are tender. Add in the green beans, add in the boiled water (helps speed up the cooking process) add 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil . Cover and let simmer on medium heat till beans are soft and tender. Season with salt and pepper near end of cooking.

What you will need:

• 1 cucumber
• 2-3 tomatoes
• extra virgin olive oil
• 1 bell pepper if desired
• vinegar or lemon juice
• salt to season
• feta cheese if desired

Slice cucumbers, chop tomatoes and pepper if using,  combine and season with olive oil, vinegar or lemon juice and season with salt. Top with feta cheese if desired. Enjoy with a fresh loaf of bread.

This soup is good for you and taste great too! Perfect for when you have a cold, or when its cold outside…warms you heart and soul!

What you will need:

• chicken or turkey bones
• 1 carrot
• 1  celery stick
• 1 cup orange lentils
• 1/2 cup chopped swiss chard
• 1 lemon
• 1/4 cup filini noodles

Fill a 6 qt pot of water, season with salt and add chicken bones, bring to boil. Boil chicken till cooked, remove and strain if needed. Sort lentils and rinse. Peel and chop carrot and celery. Add lentils, chopped carrots, celery and swiss chard to broth. Boil on medium heat till veggies are tender. Puree with hand blender, add in the filini noodles, cook for a few minutes till tender. De-bone chicken and add pieces of chicken into the soup. Squeeze lemon juice, and stir in soup. You may add a touch of paprika for colour if desired. Enjoy!

Mine turned out a bit thicker than the original, could be because I used 2 eggs, not sure. They are moist and bit chewy…just the way I like a brownie to be.

My adaptation, original recipe: cadbury-mini-egg-blondies

What you will need:

• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 stick and 1/2 of unsalted butter
• 1 cup golden yellow brown sugar
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 -8 g packet vanilla sugar
• 1/8 tsp vanilla bean paste ( 1/4 vanilla bean, scoop out the bean paste)
• 2  eggs
• 1 cup Cadbury Chocolate Eggs

Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt.

Melt the butter in a small pot,  transfer to a mixing bowl,  cream melted butter with both sugars. Add in the vanilla and eggs.

Add in the flour, combine well. Fold in the chocolate eggs. Transfer to a 8×8 inch pan that is lined with parchment paper. Bake at 325 for 35-40 minutes, check with a toothpick at 30 minutes…if it comes out clean its baked. If not continue to bake till toothpick comes out clean.

Remove from pan with the parchment and allow to cool for 20 minutes before cutting into. Enjoy!

I don’t think there is a right or wrong way to make guacamole, I like mine tangy so I use both lemon and lime…I also use yogurt, Balkan yogurt from Astro is my favourite its thick and creamy. You can add or omit the onions, its really up to you…tastes better though with the added onions.

What you will you need:

• 2-3 large ripe avocados
• 3 tbsp Balkan yogurt or Greek yogurt
• 1/2 lemon
• 1/2 lime
• 1 small tomato
• 1 tbsp finely chopped onion
• salt

Mash avocado either with a fork or hand blender for a smoother texture. Chop onion and tomato. Add yogurt, tomato and onion to the mashed avocado, combine. Squeeze in the lemon and lime, season with salt. Taste and adjust seasoning by adding more lemon, lime and salt to personal preference. Enjoy:)

They’re all desserts and they’re all so good! Hope you enjoy one or all three of them as much as we did!

Lets start with these scrumptious Lemon Raspberry Jam Bars! Well I didn’t use meyer lemons as they are hard to find in Canada, so I used regular lemons, I also didn’t use strawberry jam as I didn’t have any out from the freezer…so I used my raspberry freezer jam instead, it was so good! I think any jam would work for these bars!

For recipe follow this link : meyer-lemon-strawberry-jam-crumb-bars by tutti-dolci

Secondly, these yummy Cranberry Bliss Bars! I was introduced to them by a friend, who asked if I can make them for her…I was up to the challenge even though I never seen or tried one before! Found the recipe on the net and made it…couldn’t wait for her reaction! Well she loved it and said it tastes just the same maybe even better! Score!

For recipe follow this link : starbucks-cranberry-bliss-bar

Lastly is this amazing moist spice cake! It was so good, first time ever trying a spice cake and I have no reason to try another! This was perfect! My whole family loved it! Made it especially for my grandmother and she even loved it! Excuse the melting icing…I couldn’t wait to take a picture…the cake was a still a bit warm I guess cause as soon as I cut it through the icing started to melt. It did firm up nicely within an hour, but by then it was dark and we had to eat dinner…still I a good picture I think…;)

Just to note I didn’t have any vegetable oil, so I used olive oil and it tastes great…no one could tell, also I used 1 stick salted butter for the frosting instead of 2 sticks or 8 oz of unsalted butter.

For recipe follow this link : buttermilk-spice-cake by jannapatterson

This is a simple recipe, I like to serve salad or coleslaw as a side along with homemade fries.

What you will need:

• 4 large fillets of tilapia or as needed
• flour
• salt to season
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• pepper if desired
• sunflower oil for frying

Thaw frozen tilapia, cut fillets in half, season with salt. Season flour with salt, pepper and paprika, dip fish in the flour. Heat oil (just enough to cook not ‘deep’ fry)  till its hot and ready to fry.

Fry the fish, brown on both sides till fish is cooked, transfer to a paper towel lined tray or plate to absorb oil.

Serve fresh and hot. Enjoy!