Food Minia

After making a blueberry dessert pasta I couldn't stop and made several other types of pasta that are beautiful in color inspired by a website called Spoon Fork Bacon .  In addition to blueberry pasta made in a previous post I made tomato, spinach, saffron, and beet pasta. I hung the pasta to dry on clothes hangers and stored them in large Ziploc bags.  Ingredients: basic pasta dough: 2 eggs 1 cup all purpose flour 1 cup semolina flour 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil 1-2 tablespoons water, if needed for spinach: 1/2 cup canned spinach, purred until smooth for saffron: 1 pinch of saffron (soaked in 1/3 cup warm water for about 30 minutes) for beet: 1 small roasted red beet, pureed until smooth for tomato: 1 8oz canned tomato paste for blueberry: 1/2 cup tundra blueberries (store bought blueberries will not give you a vibrant purple color) Directions:   For dough: In a food processor combine flours, eggs, spinach, saffron, beet, tomato, or blueberry, followed by oil.   Knead dough on

This isn't the best picture, it's a picture of the leftovers.  But, I must say, these are just as good the next day.  I made these during the holidays for family and then again for friends this last weekend.  This recipe is a keeper!  I love the cheese filling with spinach, mushrooms, garlic and roasted red peppers. It's packed with flavors I love. The recipe makes two pans (about 50 shells) so it will feed a crowd.  You can always freeze a pan or cut the recipe in half.   The recipe comes from Tina at  Epicuricloud.com .  Check out her blog and recipes, she's one amazing cook!  Also, check out her recipe here as she has step by step instructions with beautiful pictures.  Tina's recipe is vegetarian and I'm sure it's delicious as is but I made a few changes.  I added Italian Sausage to the marinara sauce,  I used 1/2 ricotta and 1/2 cottage cheese just because my Mom always used cottage cheese in her filling and that's how I like it and I also used more

Last Christmas I received a pasta attachment for my KitchenAid.  I've been making all sorts of pasta egg pasta, beet pasta, spinach pasta, etc.  I wanted to make a pasta that could somehow incorporate Alaska, therefore tundra blueberry pasta. To get this vibrant purple color you have to use tundra blueberries also called bilberries similar to huckleberries.  Blueberries from the grocery store just won't cut it. Ingredients: 1 cup semolina flour 1 cup all purpose flour 2 tbs. olive oil 1/2 cup tundra blueberry puree 2 tbs. sugar 1 tbs. lemon juice dash cinnamon Directions: Mix all ingredients in a your Kitchen aid mixer and finish off with your dough hook or used a food processor to blend all ingredients so that it forms into a solid ball.   Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface. Roll out dough or wind through your pasta machine. Cut into strips or wind through your pasta machine. Cook the pasta in boiling water until al dente…it will only take 3-4 minutes if the pa

Doesn't look much here but STAGGERINGLY tasty I am always a bit shaken up by Christmas and New Year. It's something to do with the weight of expectation vs the result, which is worse times a million when you have little kids. When you are childless you can just laze about watching Christmas specials, which will make you feel Christmassy as hell, but as a parent of very little kids, it's not so simple. They still don't really get it - and you're still changing an awful lot of nappies, which at times can get in the way of conjuring up that Christmas feeling. My main issue was the fact that I ought to have been lazing about watching Frozen. But Kitty is the only four year old IN THE WORLD who doesn't want to watch Frozen on repeat. I just adore Frozen. Adore it . I'd marry that reindeer in a heartbeat. And everyone loves Let It Go, surely?! (Except some hardcore refusniks who get upset about Elsa's sexy new ice dress.) I know, I know. I am a lamentable cl

Happy New Year!  I looked back and realized I didn't post one recipe in December.  It's not that I didn't do a lot of cooking and baking, I did, but during the holidays I stick to my tried and true recipes.  One recipe that has made it into that category is this tiramisu recipe.  If I had to pick a favorite dessert, tiramisu would be it.  I thought I would have to try a few recipes before I found a keeper but after serving this to my daughter (and she likes tiramisu as much as I do), she agreed with me, this one is perfect. I've only made this twice and have looked forward to making it again soon.  Just so happened, I got a call yesterday about getting some friends together for dinner next weekend. There will be 5 couples and trying to get that many around a table at a restaurant and trying to visit with everyone, didn't sound like as much fun as it would be to just have them all over.  The funny thing was, as I was suggesting to have this dinner party, I was thinki

6 months ago I decided to start a new blog, Eat Like You Love Yourself which focusses on generally healthy delicious food, even if you're eating alone.  So most recipes are for one or reheat well. The reason I started Eat Like You Love Yourself is because I found I was often eating 'rubbish' when eating alone.  Oven chips and mayonnaise was a particular low point.  I realised that if I was cooking for someone I loved, I wouldn't be cooking this kind of easy but tasteless food devoid of anything nutritious. So my blog was born.  Please take a look and let me know what you think.  The best way to keep up to date with new recipes is to follow by email but I also have a facebook feed and I'm on pinterest , twitter , foodgawker ...