Pasta Salad with feta, garlic, and black olives recipe

Pasta Salad with feta, garlic, and black olives recipe

Serves 4
Preparation 15 min + 30 min to rest
Cooking 15 min

Place the tomatoes, onion, garlic, feta, oil, basil, mint, and lemon zest in a large salad bowl.Toss well and season with salt and pepper. Let rest for 30 minutes. • Cook the pasta in a large pot of salted boiling water until al dente. • Drain well and cool under cold running water. Drain again and dry on a clean kitchen cloth. • Add the pasta to the bowl with the dressing.Add the olives and toss well. • Garnish with basil and serve.

Ingredient :
1 1/2 lb (750 g) cherry tomatoes, quartered
1 small red onion, finely sliced
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
8 oz (250 g) feta cheese, cut into small cubes
1/3 cup (90 ml) extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon finely chopped basil, + extra sprigs, to garnish
1 tablespoon finely chopped mint
Grated zest of 1 lemon
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 lb (500 g) penne or other short pasta shape
1 cup (100 g) black olives, pitted

Penne Salad with tomatoes and mozzarella recipe

Penne Salad with tomatoes and mozzarella recipe
Serves 4
Preparation 10 min + 30 min to rest
Cooking 15 min

Place the tomatoes, mozzarella, garlic, oil, and basil in a large salad bowl. Mix well and let rest for 30 minutes. • Cook the pasta in a large pot of salted boiling water until al dente. • Drain well and cool under cold running water. Drain again and dry on a clean kitchen cloth. • Add the pasta to the bowl with the dressing. Remove and discard the garlic.Toss well. • Garnish with basil and serve.

Ingredient :
1 /2 lb (150 g) cherry tomatoes, halved
14 oz (400 g) fresh mozzarella balls, drained
1 clove garlic, lightly crushed but whole
1/3 cup (90 ml) extra-virgin olive oil
Leaves from 4 sprigs of basil, torn, + extra, to garnish
1 lb (500 g) penne (or other short pasta shape)

Fusilli Salad with cherry tomatoes and ricotta recipe

Fusilli Salad with cherry tomatoes and ricotta recipe
Serves 4
Preparation 15 min
Cooking 15 min

Cook the pasta in a large pot of salted boiling water until al dente. • Beat together the ricotta, oil, garlic, and basil in a large salad bowl to make a smooth dressing. Season with salt and pepper. Mix well. • Drain the pasta and cool under cold running water. Drain again and dry on a clean kitchen cloth. • Add the pasta and tomatoes to the bowl with the dressing.Toss well. • Garnish with basil and serve.

Ingredient :
12 oz (3S0 g) ricotta cheese, drained
1/3 cup (90 ml) extra-virgin olive oil
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
20 basil leaves, torn + extra, to garnish
Salt and freshly ground blacl< pepper
1 lb (500 g) fusilli (or other short pasta shape)
20 cherry tomatoes, halved

little devil.

i wish i could still fit into this costume...

tonight i'm taking isaac on a surprise halloween date!
and tomorrow night is chili and cornbread with friends.
can't wait.

happy halloween!

Yum cinnabun

My last post from Asos for tonight - a couple more cupcake lip glosses, which I think are cuter than the ones in the last post. I like the sound of the cinnamon one..yum. Also comes in peanut butter flavour.

Cupcakes make you lick your lips

This lovely pack of 6 baking inspired lip balms is available from Asos now for £6 - perfect little stocking filler for your (cup) cake obsessed (or lip balm obsessed) friends/girlfriends/mothers :)

As well as vanilla cupcake, flavours include lemon meringue pie, blueberry muffin, strawberry shortcake, choc-chip cookie and glazed doughnut!

Cute cupcake Pyjamas

These cute cupcake pj's with either trousers or shorts are on sale at Asos at the moment - with reductions the shorts set is £11 and the long ones are £14! A bargain, and perfect for cuddling up next to the heater with a cupcake and a hot choc on these cold nights!

really?

yesterday it snowed. i'm still in shock. this kind of weather makes me want to stay inside with my hubby and not leave our apartment. for dinner we had the ultimate comfort food...
grilled cheese made with muenster (my fav), tomato soup, and homemade chocolate chip cookies.
i love having nights off with isaac where i don't have homework on the brain. if we can spend all the snowy nights cuddling on couch eating cookies and drinking cocoa we'll have one happy winter.

another thing i am so happy about...
the snow can't keep isaac and i apart this winter. last year there we so many gigantic snowstorms that made it impossible to make the murray to orem/springville drive. not this year snow!
take that!

pumpkin patch.

sad fact: i have never been to a pumpkin patch. at least i can't remember ever going...so isaac and i decided it is a halloween/fall must. we found one here in south jordan and isaac, clint and i made our way over to the magical patch.

i love baby pumpkins.
i'm once again staying warm in isaac's sweatshirt...

i can't wait to carve them!

Bea's Halloween Spooktacular

I shall definitely be popping by to get a couple of the Halloween cupcakes and to see the fab window - was hoping to get there this weekend but have been too busy cleaning the kitchen and keeping warm sitting on the computer by the heater (I have the sniffles). From what I've seen so far Bea's have made the most effort with their Halloween window.

It's Halloween time!! What do you think of the display? We have cupcakes available for halloween available for pre-order by the dozen or half dozen. You can also stop by the shop and pick some up for Friday and Saturday. We have Ghosts, Jack o'Lanterns, Vampires, Eyeballs, and Creepy Crawly Spiders! We're also doing a special Red Velvet Cake with Red Icing---sure to please!

Check out their website for ordering info.

The above pics are from Bea's flickr - thanks Bea!

Spooky baking from Bake it Pretty

Bake it Pretty's site makes me have to be really strict with myself - otherwise I'd be going mad with my credit card and ordering loads!

Their Halloween selection rocks - my favourite being the zombie hand cupcake toppers! Also love the Wrath chocolate chilli sugar - great for spicing up your cupcakes for Winter.

They do ship to the UK so check it out - they have a superb range of Christmas stuff also! I wonder if this is where Primrose bakery got their very cute cupcake decorations from last year?

More Halloween/Cupcake goodies for me

My friend Dennis from Ann Arbour visited last month and came home with a HUGE bag of Halloween goodies for me, including the Martha Stewart cupcake cases I really wanted and blogged about previously.

He also brought me lots of other spooky cupcake cases and picks, decorating stencils and also a lovely cupcake stand - I'm aiming to make some cupcakes next week for Halloween to use these! My favourite thing, after the Martha cases, is the FAB skull silicone baking tray - I'll have to make some brownies or something in it asap.

How cute are these?

These are almost too cute to eat!

From Albuquerque's Cupcakeology cupcake store, found via Cupcakes take the Cake, these were too cute not to share them with you!

Warning - if you click on the cupcakeology site be prepared to drool... I want that butterscotch top hat cupcake on their homepage!

The cupcake revival

Quite an interesting article from the BBC re cupcakes - I'm particularly interested in the idea of cupcakes gentrifying an area

... cupcakes are a clear cultural barometer. Academics in New York are constructing a map of emerging cupcake shops throughout the city. The theory is that these give a more accurate guide to gentrification than traditional demographic and housing surveys.

If you look at the areas where cupcake cafes have sprung up in London I would agree this is certainly the case. They tend to be in the more exclusive areas, for example from the Kings Road area you can easily walk to 4 cupcake cafes. You'd have to be wearing some pretty sturdy walking shoes to walk to my local cupcake cafe - not many cupcakeries in the New Cross/Peckham area!

I also agree that the cupcake phenomenon has a lot to do with nostalgia. For Christmas I want one of these - something I remember using when baking with my mum/gran/aunt...

We're returning to things we've done in childhood, activities like baking, which gave us joy. It could be about the legacy of heritage. People are trying to hang on to a recipe that was sacred, that granny used to make."

Whatever gets people back into baking can only be a good thing surely so bring on the cupcake love :)

The picture is of last years Halloween cupcakes from Lolas (yes we tried a few different Halloween cupcakes)

Hallowen cupcakes in Brighton

Last year we went to Brighton for Halloween and ate some fab cupcakes from the Angel Food Bakery. This year we'd planned to go to Brighton (and Parklife in Worthing), however as we're going to Berlin in November we thought we'd best be a bit canny with money. However if you live nearby I highly recommend going to either as they're both offering Halloween cupcakes!

The pics above are from the Angel Food Bakery and the bottom one shows the Halloween devil cakes we got there last year.

Boo!

Halloween cupcakes available from Lola's - in store now (at Selfridges or Harrods) or you can order boxes online. If you order online you can choose pumpkin -not sure if they're available in store but will try and get to Selfridges on Friday to check, and check out the new cupcake bar.

Thanks to Lolas for the pics.

Next...more gifts

Couldn't miss out this fabulous cake stand (sorry the pictures a bit ropey) and mugs similar to the ones I got last year.

Think I might have to get the cake stand - its gorgeous. Next to the mug in the first picture is a packet of chocolate Westies....too cute :)

More cupcake gift ideas

It's exactly two months till Xmas and I'm sure some of you will be adding lots of cupcake items to your Xmas wish list. Next is always one of the best stores to visit - but be quick, they tend to sell out very quickly!! Last year we had to search all over till we got the cupcake hot chocolate set I wanted.

This year my list will definitely be including the diary and calendar, the book and the tea cosy! I already have a teapot (which is an ornament - Manny won't let me use it in case he breaks it washing up!) so I don't really need another one, although this one is really cute! You can find all the items by going to Next's website and searching for cupcakes.

I also really like the ceramic "cake" lettering - would look fab in my kitchen - think I may have to get it as its only £8!

Caribbean Salad with chicken and ginger recipe

Caribbean Salad
with chicken and ginger recipe
Serves 4
Preparation 25 min.
Cooking 15-20 min

If using chicken breasts, place them in a medium saucepan with the carrot, onion, and celery and bring to a boil over medium heat. Season with salt and simmer until the chicken is tender and cooked through, 15-20 minutes.

Remove from the heat and let cool. The cooking liquid will make a good chicken stock. Refrigerate or freeze for later use. • Chop the chicken breasts into bite-size pieces. • Boil the eggs for 8 minutes from the moment the water reaches a boil. Drain and cool under cold running water. Shell and cut into segments. • Toast the almonds in a frying pan over medium heat until golden brown, 3-4 minutes. Let cool.

Place the chicken and almonds in a large salad bowl. Add the endive, arugula, pineapple, ham, and eggs. • Dressing: Cut the avocado in half and remove the pit. Scoop out the flesh and chop in a food processor with the lemon juice, garlic, scallion, salt, and pepper until smooth.

Gradually add the oil, blending continuously, to make a smooth creamy dressing. Drizzle the dressing over the salad and toss well. • Serve at once.

Ingredient :
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts,
about I1/2 lb (750 g), or the same amount of leftover roast or grilled chicken
1 small carrot, peeled and chopped
1 small onion, chopped
1 celery stick, chopped
4 large eggs
2 tablespoons blanched almonds
2 heads endive, sliced
8 no (250 g) arugula (rocket), chopped
4 oz (125 g) fresh pineapple, peeled, cored, and chopped
5 no (150 g) ham, cut into ribbons
1 small ripe avocado juice of I lemon
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 scallion (green onion), chopped
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup (90 ml) extra-virgin olive oil

snow patrol.

i love snow patrol. and being the sweet wife that i am, i bought isaac snow patrol tickets for his bday in july (he likes them too...maybe not quite as much...) and we saw them on oct 10th. it was so much fun! i am a big fan of small venues, so it wasn't my favorite that it was at the mckay events center, but we loved it anyway. minus the annoying little tweens in front of us who were in and out, in and out the entire time. i wanted to pull off their snow patrol beanies and throw them in their faces.

i love a man in purple.
plain white t's opened for them but the lead singer was ill so they only sang 3 songs. it was fine by me because he sounded terrible.

did you know the lead singer of snow patrol is from ireland?? i ate that right up.

listen to their sweet tunes here.