Cooking in Pajamas

2-3 sprigs of fresh basil, leaves picked 4-5 halves of sun-dried tomatoes (in oil), drained 2 cloves of garlic Olive oil 1 c. Parmesan cheese Squeeze of fresh lemon juice Salt & Pepper Coarsely chop the basil leaves, sun-dried tomatoes and garlic.  Pulse in a food processor until the ingredients are minced.  If the ingredients stick to the side of the food processor, add a little bit of olive oil, stir it up and pulse again. Turn the minced ingredients into a bowl.  Add half of the Parmesan cheese and stir. Add olive oil to bind the ingredients together.  The oil in your pesto should ooze a little bit. Do a taste test here.  Add more cheese and olive oil until you get the flavour right.  You can also add salt and pepper to taste. Finally, squeeze a little bit of fresh lemon juice into the pesto and stir. My comments: Mmmmm...this was one delicious pesto!! Easy to make but with amazing result. The thing about this recipe is that...

1.5 c. Extra virgin olive oil 1/2 c. Wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar 2 tbsp Sugar 1 tsp Salt 1/2 tsp Ground pepper 2 tbsp Tomato paste 2 tbsp Chinese garlic chili sauce 1/2 c. Parmesan or Romano cheese 1/2 tsp Oregano, dried 1 Sweet pepper, sliced 1/2 Onion, medium size, sliced Put all the ingredients in a blender or food processor. Puree to desired consistency. Salad dressing can be stored in the fridge for up to 1 month. Serve with your favourite salad. (This dressing has a thicker consistency when it's cold. If you want it to be more liquidy, warm the dressing up to room temperature before serving.) My comments: This is my favourite salad dressing. It's healthy because there are no preservative. It's tastey because it uses all fresh ingredients. You can adjust the amount of spices to your own taste and it keeps very well in the fridge. I shared this recipe with a few of my friends and they all love it. The original recipe on Epicurious called for ...

1/2 c. Natural chuncky peanut butter 1/2 c. Hot water 2 tbsp Soya sauce 3 tsp Honey 1/2 tsp Chopped garlic from a bottle 1 Small chilli pepper, chopped Sesame oil In a small bowl, combine the peanut butter and hot water. Stir until smooth. Add the soya sauce, honey, garlic and chilli pepper. Drizzle a little bit of sesame oil before serving. My comment: I got this recipe from Mrbunsrocks whose blog I stalk on a daily basis. Her recipes (and photos) always look absolutely amazing and I have always wanted to try them out. Finally, I found something that I've always wanted to make and looks easy to do: Spring Rolls. I was particularly interested in this recipe because I like to order this when I go to a Vietnamese restaurant. My hubby can't eat the fish sauce that comes with these rice wraps but he found the wraps a bit bland on its own. So I thought if I can make this at home, I can make a sauce my hubby can eat! I have adapted her recipe and made my own Vietnamese spring rolls...

1/2 c. Soya sauce ( Kikkoman ) 2 tsp Sesame oil 2 tbsp Honey 1 tbsp Brown sugar 2 tbsp Ginger, peeled, minced 1/2 c. Green onion, chopped 2 tsp Garlic, minced 2 tsp sesame seed, toasted Juice from 1 large orange Combine all the ingredients. Refridgerate for overnight. 1 tbsp Cornstarch 1/2 c. Cold water In a small sauce pan, slowly bring the sauce to a boil. Mix the cornstarch and water. As the teriyaki sauce begins to thicken, stir to mix the cornstarch quickly and slowly pour into the teriyaki sauce, stirring constantly. Only add enough cornstarch to achieve desired consistency in the teriyaki sauce. My comments: I wanted to make teriyaki steak and I thought it'd be nice to make our own teriyaki marinade. So I looked up a few teriyaki sauce recipe online and found this one from the Food Network . I made a few adjustments to the recipe since I did not have everything it required in my kitchen. I marinaded the steaks overnight and it was really good!! I put the steak strips in my r...

Cracked Pepper & Olive Triscuits Sandwich ham Provolone cheese , light Spicy garlic and curry dipping sauce Green onion, chopped Place a small piece of ham on the triscuits and overlay the ham with a piece of provolone cheese. Toast in a toaster oven for 3 minutes. Drop a dollop of dipping sauce on the cheese and sprinkle with green onion. Spicy Garlic and Curry Dipping Sauce 1 c. Hellmann's light mayo 1-2 tbsp Chilli garlic sauce 3 Green onion, chopped 1 clove Garlic, minced 1 tsp Curry powder 1 tsp Dill 1/2 tsp Crushed chilli pepper 2 tsp Lime juice Ground pepper Mix all the ingredients together. Chill for 1 hour before serving. My comments: This dipping sauce is a variation of the sauces we made for our meat fondue and it's really good dip for crackers, bread or veggies. It has a lot of flavour and you can adjust the ingredients to your preference. The whole snack was delicious and flavourful. This is a great recipe because you can play around with the type of meat, che...

2 Zucchini, medium size, grated 1 c. Plain yogurt (fat-free) 3/4 c. Sour cream (fat-free) 1 tbsp Cream cheese (light) 2 tbsp Olive oil 1 tbsp Balsamic vinegar 1/4 c. Fresh cilantro, chopped 2 Garlic cloves, minced 1 tsp Ground cumin 1/2 tsp Salt Cayenne pepper Chilli powder Parmesan cheese Grate the zucchini into a colander and sprinkle with salt. Let zucchini drain for 30 min. Rinse well and drain again for another 15 min. Squeeze as much water as possible from zucchini using a towel. In a medium size bowl, whisk together the yogurt, sour cream, olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Add the cream cheese and parmesan cheese. Mix well. Add in zucchini, cilantro, garlic, cumin powder, cayenne pepper and chilli powder. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Refridgerate for 2 hours to blend the flavour. Serve with pita bread. My comments: This was a simple and healthy vegetable dip, esp for someone who doesn't own a food processor, someone like me! I found the dip to be a bit bland and I th...

This delicious meal comprised of 3 main recipes: beef soup base, dipping sauces and coleslaw: Soup Base 620 mL Beef broth 620 mL Water 2 c. Red wine 1 tbsp Hot chilli sauce 4 Onions, chopped 4 Green onions, chopped 1 c. Fresh parsley 2-3 Bay leaves 1-2 cloves Garlic, minced Fried the onions and the garlic. Add all the ingredients in a large pot and simmer for an hour. Curry Dipping Sauce 1 c. Hellmann's light mayo 1 clove Garlic, minced 1 tsp Green curry paste 1 tsp Horse radish sauce 1 tsp Onion, minced 1 tsp Balsamic vinegar Sprinkle of tarragon Dijion Mustard Sauce 1/2 c. Hellmann's light mayo 1/2 c. Dijion Mustard Black pepper corn, grounded Curry Mustard Sauce 1-2 cloves Garlic, minced 1 tsp Curry powder 1 tsp Dill 1/2 tsp Crushed chilli pepper 1 c. Hellmann's light mayo 3 tbsp Chilli garlic sauce For all the dipping sauces, mix all the ingredients together. Serve with fondue meat. Also great with bread and veggies. Coleslaw 1/2 head Cabbage, finely chopped 3 Green oni...