Taste the flavours of Tuscan cooking with a minimum of fuss. You can blend, heat, and serve this hearty Italian-style tomato soup in 10 minutes or less. From my mother I inherited a penchant for soups. She is a soup artisan, crafting homemade soups like Pasta y Fagioli on a regular basis. Her friends are often the ones who benefit from the big batches she cooks. We tasted … Continue reading 10-Minute Tomato and White Bean Soup
Perfectly matched fruits mingle marvelously in this trio of tropical flavours. My all-time favourite fruit salad, it first arrived on our table a decade ago in Vietnam, where mangoes, pineapples, and bananas are plentiful. There I would also add cubes of fresh guava, which is tough to find on the North American continent. Even with just the three fruits, you are in for a treat. … Continue reading Paradise Fruit Salad
Pretty floral guacamole blossoms are great starters for gatherings during the holiday season. With only three ingredients, they are simple to make. And the poinsettia flowers can serve as more than a decoration–they can be a conversation starter as well. Why do we use poinsettias as Christmas decorations? Have you heard of the legend of the poinsettia? Did the legend precede the tradition, or vice … Continue reading Poinsettia Guacamole Blossoms
One year for a big holiday meal I bought an uncured ham. Afterward we had a huge amount of leftover ham, and I had to find creative ways for us to consume it all. Though I don’t serve ham for holidays nowadays, I still buy it in smaller portions so that I can make these recipes, which are family favourites. They should prove handy ideas … Continue reading 4 Dairy Free Recipes for Leftover Ham
What better way to enjoy a three day weekend than watching a movie trilogy? Tonight we’re wrapping up the last of the new Batman movies. And it so seems fitting that I made BAT kebabs today. These are a superbly simple appetizer, much like last month’s pesto shrimp salad bites. Today is Victoria Day here in Canada, which means most people have the day off. For … Continue reading Bacon Avocado Tomato Kebabs
These petite hors d’Oeuvres are refreshing, flavorful (thanks to the citrus-spiked pesto), and so simple to make. Once you have pesto sauce made, you need only three ingredients. Another variation on this theme is to add some salad greens to create an entrée salad. The pesto sauce, with a little more olive oil added, serves as the salad dressing. Recipe for Pesto Shrimp Salad Bites … Continue reading Pesto Shrimp Salad Bites
Swirls and Spice 