Spinach Dip ( with a kick! )

In a food processor:

• 1 garlic clove 
• 1/2 cup of scallions

Mince until smooth.  

Then add the following:

• 1 cup of sour cream ( the heavier the better, to give a good thick texture ) 
• 1 cup of cream cheese
• 1 tsp of chopped thyme 
• 1/2 tsp of salt
• 1/4 tsp of black pepper
• 1/4 tsp of cayenne pepper

Blend until smooth

For the bread you can either get a large round loaf and cut out the middle. Then add the dip inside. 

OR

You can cut up triangle shapes for the pita bread and toast them in the oven. 

Enjoy!

Sugar & Spice Pumpkin Seeds

Was it just me, or did anyone else feel bad for throwing out the pumpkin seeds after carving a pumpkin for Halloween? Well here's a way you can put those seeds to a good use!

In a bowl:
1 cup of pumpkin seeds
2 tbsp of butter or vegetable oil
3 tbsp of sugar
1 tbsp of cinnamon
1/2 tsp of nutmeg
1/8 tsp of all spice

Preheat oven to 300 degrees
Melt butter and add spices in a bowl. Stir and add in pumpkin seeds and coat them generously.
Put pumpkin seeds in a nonstick sheet or baking pan.
Bake for about 50-60 minutes and stir occasionally.

Let cool & enjoy!

Tip:
For a little extra spice, add 1/4 of cayenne pepper to the mix!

Peanut Butter and Nutella Cookies

Pretty much your classic peanut butter cookie recipe with a chocolaty nutella twist!

Makes about 2 dozen

Combine in a bowl:

• 1 cup of peanut butter
• 1/2 cups of sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup of Nutella 

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Mix first three ingredients well, after mixed add in Nutella and gently fold in. Do not mix Nutella in fully! You want to give it a marble look. 

Roll onto well greased baking sheet, golf ball sized balls and flatten with a fork. 

Add chocolate sprinkles to top off. 

Bake for 20 mins, let cool for 5 min. 

Enjoy!

Sausage and Sweet Pepper Pasta

My boyfriend wanted to cook for me one night and he made this delicious dish! I was quite impressed so I had to share it. 

Serves 5-6 people

Sauce:

• 1 can of crushed tomatos ( or your homemade tomato sauce )
• 2 sweet red peppers, chopped
• 4 regular sausages, mostly cooked and cut up
• 2 cloves of chopped garlic
• 2 small green chili peppers 
• 1/2 onion 
• 1 tbsp of salt to taste
• 1/2 tsp lemon and black pepper powder
• 1/2 tsp oregano 

In a large pot add oil and chopped onions and put on low heat. Cook until transparent then add garlic and green chili peppers, and chopped red peppers. Saute for about 3 minutes then add crushed tomato sauce, garlic lemon powder, oregano and salt. Allow to simmer than add the mostly cooked sausages. Keep sauce on low heat and stir frequently.

While sauce is cooking make the pasta. In this recipe we used penne but any pasta will do.

Pasta:

In a separate large pot:

• Fill pot with water leaving about 3 inches of space from the top
• Put on medium heat to boil
• Add a 1/2 of salt to water 
• Wait for water to boil and add pasta
• Cook for 8-10 minutes, or according to the instructions on the box

After pasta is cooked, drain, spoon onto plate, and top with the sauce.

Add a glass of your favourite wine and enjoy!


Tips:
You want the pasta to be al dente ( firm but not too hard )
The best wine for pasta is Cabernet Sauvignon, it enhances the flavours!

Classic Apple Pie

Tis' the season for apple pie, am I right? I like to think this is a specialty dish of mine since I make it all the time from scratch, even the crust! 

Wash, peel and cut about 10-15 Macintosh apples and put them in a large bowl.

Filling:

Add to apples:

• 1/2 of white sugar
• 1/4 of brown sugar 
• 3 tbsp of cinnamon 
• 1tbsp of nutmeg 
• 1 tsp of all spice 

Lightly mix. 

Now you can make your own crust or buy one from the store. I like to make my own crust just to say I did everything from scratch! So in case you want to make your own this is what I use.

Pie Crust:

• 1 1/4 cup of flour
• 1/4 cup of salt
• 1/2 cup of butter
• 1/2 cup of ice water

Combine flour, salt and butter into a bowl until dough is course. Stir in water a tbsp at a time until pie crust is just right! Preheat your oven to 350. Now roll out your pie crust and place in a pie tray. Add in apples and cover with more pie crust. Cut the top of the pie to allow air to escape while cooking. And glaze the top with butter. 

Let bake for about 25-30 minutes. 

Enjoy! 

Tips:

You can let your pie crust sit for 4 hours or you can freeze it if you like. 

Baked Vegetarian Samosas

I love Indian food and I was dying to try one of my favourite snacks from that culture, samosas! Although, they will take some trial and error when it comes to the folding part but all and all they are well worth it :)

Makes about 16 samosas

Combine in a bowl for dough : 

• 2 cups of all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup of buttermilk
• 1/2 cup of canola oil, veggie oil, or ghee(clarified butter)
• 5 tbsp of sugar
• 1 tsp of Ajwain seeds ( or Fennel seeds )
• 1 tsp of salt

Mix until everything then knead for 8 mins.

After kneading let it rest for 30 mins. ( this is very important, this will make our dough easier to handle )

Note: if the dough is too dry add more oil. If it is too wet add more flour!

Filling:

• First boil 2 medium sized potato peeled, and diced.

In a sauce pan sautee:

• 1/2 of an onion diced
• 1 tsp of crushed/grated ginger

Let it caramelized for about 5 mins then add:

• 2 cloves of garlic diced
• 1 tsp of garam masala
• 1/2 tsp of turmeric
• 1/2 tsp of cayanne
• 1 tsp of salt of needed

Mix and cook for about 30 seconds then add chopped potatoes cook for 3 mins 

Then add about 1/2 cup of sweet peas.

Remove from heat add:

• 1/2 cup of chopped cilantro 
• juice of 1/2 lime

Let if cool and set aside.

Here's the tricky part, assembly: 

Get your dough and make golf ball sized balls and roll into a circle with a rolling pin. 

Cut circle in half, use one half to fill with filling and tightly fold edges. Repeat until all your dough is gone. 

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. 

Tips:

You may want to glaze the top of the samosas with butter before cooking, these will give them that beautiful golden brown colour. 

( Low Fat ) Banana Walnut Muffins

The real recipe can be found in The Whole Life Nutrition Cookbook. This cook book tends to use some uncommon ingredients that I could not find, so I made this recipe into my own by using some more common ingredients such as flour rather than rice flour and sugar rather than date sugar.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

In a large bowl combine:

• 3 cups of flour
• 1 tsp of baking soda
• 2 tsp of baking powder 
• 1/2 cup of sugar
• 1/2 tsp of salt 

Mix well.

In a blender or food processor:

• Puree 4 large ripe bananas, it should be about 3 cups.
• Put into a separate bowl 

Add to puree:

• 1/2 canola oil
• 2 tsp of vanilla 

Whisk together.

Fold over and mix gently wet ingredients into dry. Add in 1 cup of chopped walnuts 

Spoon mixture into muffin tray. Cook for about 20-25. 

Enjoy! 

Suggestions:

If the mix seems a bit too dry add applesauce to make it more moist.

At the 10-15 minute mark open oven and sprinkle brown sugar on top of the muffins if desired.