Lilies, Lattes & Lace

This recipe is a serious staple of my mom’s. In fact, it was the very first meal she ever cooked for my husband. Like any good signature meal, there is of course a good story to go along with it as well. The first time she made it for him, she accidentally burned the sundried tomatoes to the point they were basically charred. However, since he was trying to make a good first impression, he proceeded to  eat them all (even though they basically tasted like ash), and then saw we had all pushed them to the side of our plate only after he was finished. Since then, we affectionally call it the burnt sun dried tomato pasta, but we all admit, it is one of our very favourites.

It is a very easy pasta to whip up, and relatively light compared to some pasta dishes, which makes it great for warmer nights.

Hope you like it as much as we all do!

Enjoy!

You will need (serves 4):

• olive oil as needed
• 2 TBSP chopped garlic
• One jar of pesto sauce
• ½ cup of Sundried Tomatoes( sliced makes it easier)
• 4 cooked  Chicken Breasts (cut into bit size pieces)
• ½ cup of sliced kalamato olives
• 6-8 frozen/ cooked shrimps per person ( omit if there is an allergy)
• 1 small package of goat cheese
• 1 large packet of linguine

Directions:

Start the water for the pasta,  but do not start cooking the pasta until the  chicken breasts are added –see below for timing.

1. Place shrimp in a colander to gradually defrost them by running cool water over them every 3 minutes or so
2. Use a skillet or electric frypan to make the sauce
3. Combine  4-6 TBSP olive oil/garlic cook on low for about 2 minutes
4. Add the sundried tomatoes/olives
5. Cook over med heat until tomatoes are soft – 5minutes – start the pasta cooking now
6. Add the chicken breasts , stir and cover the skillet for about 2 minutes
7. Gradually add the basil sauce ( turn the heat down/off  while you add the sauce otherwise it will really splatter )
8. Stir the Basil sauce so it coats the chicken
9. Let the sauce simmer for about 5 minutes ( add more olive oil if the sauce seems dry)
10. Cut the goat cheese into small servings to be added to the final dish
11. Shrimp should be defrosted enough and can now dried off and  de”tailed “
12. Add shrimp and stir so they are covered with the sauce
13. Once the shrimp  are soft and pinkish the sauce is ready
14. Pasta should be ready now – drain and place on plates
15. Spoon out the sauce  on top of the pasta ensuring that everyone gets some shrimp
16. Any left over sauce (oil) distribute evenly on top of each plate
17. Add the goat cheese in 2-3 small pieces on top

Yes, you read the title right, these cookies really are a mix of your favourite traditional chocolate chip cookies, with a good dose of coconut to go with them. These are made with brown sugar and coconut oil (recipe from here), which as my husband said, made them “fluffier” than a traditional cookie, and so good. They are so simple to make, I literally didn’t have to buy any ingredients, I had them all on hand, and they take a total of twenty minutes from end to end.

Enjoy!

You will need:

It is no secret when I make recipes for the blog, I definitely don’t go hunting down the healthiest of recipes to share, in fact I usually look at it as an excuse to share something yummy and a little bit of a treat with you. However, what is better than when both those things are found in one recipe? This is my mother-in-law’s recipe for jam muffins, and we all love them. I have been meaning to make them on here for awhile, and finally we enough time this past weekend to make them together, which is definitely more fun than making them in my kitchen by myself. These are relatively good for you, and what has always been my favourite part, is how moist the jam keeps the muffins. They are still super delicious tasting and moist days after making them.

I hope you enjoy them as much as we all do!

You will need (makes 12 muffins):