Greek Pasta Salad

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With this wonderful unseasonably warm March weather, I cannot help but day dream about the upcoming summer. My mind keeps wandering to lazy days on the beach, picnics, late nights on patios, fresh fruit, summery cocktails, evenings surrounding the bonfire with friends, and many, many barbecues. BBQ season may not be that far off this year. I heard that the golf courses across the city opened up today – way earlier than usual! All of these thoughts have me craving one of my favourite salads – one I bring to almost every BBQ i’m invited to in the summer. This recipe was given to me by one of my best friends Sheila. She got the recipe from one of her many Jaime Oliver cookbooks. The original recipe does not call for olives, feta or pine nuts. The ingredients I added to this classic pasta salad is to “Courtney-ize” the salad – as Sheila would say *hehe* It’s a fantastically delicious pasta salad. Make sure to use fresh basil in this recipe. It really brings out the best in the salad. Bring this to your first BBQ of the season, and I guarantee you’ll be invited to another BBQ…and another…and….etc :)

Ingredients
  • 1 pound of small shell-shaped pasta (plain, whole wheat or gluten-free)
  • 3 cloves of garlic
  • 1 pint of red cherry tomatoes
  • 1/2 cup of chopped kalamata olives
  • 1 handful of fresh basil
  • 1/2 a large cucumber
  • 3 tablespoons of white wine vinegar
  • 5 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon of white sugar
  • sea salt and pepper (to taste)
  • 1 cup of low-fat feta cheese; crumbled
  • 1/4 cup toasted pine nuts (optional)

Note: for my lovely vegan friends, you can easily replace the feta cheese in this salad with homemade almond “feta cheese”. 
Method

1.Bring a large pan of salted water to a boil. Remove skin from the cloves of garlic. When the water begins to boil, add the pasta and cloves of garlic. Cook the pasta until it’s al dente (firm bite). Drain the pasta and run under cold water to stop the cooking process.

2. Meanwhile, cut the cherry tomatoes in half and dice up half a cucumber. Note: I normally take the skin off the cucumber, but feel free to leave it on. Chiffonade the basil.

3. Remove garlic and place pasta in a serving bowl. Add the cucumbers, tomatoes, fresh chopped basil and chopped kalamata olives. Sprinkle crumbled feta on top of pasta.

4. Roughly chop the garlic. Then, using the back of a fork, mash the garlic into a paste. Whisk together the mashed garlic, olive oil, white wine vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper. Once well combined, add the dressing to the pasta and toss well to combine.

Allow the pasta salad to sit in the fridge for at least an hour to allow the flavours to meld. Serve and enjoy!

Source: based on a recipe by Jaime Oliver

About Me :)

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Two weeks ago, Sunday Morning Banana Pancakes tagged me in a post aimed at getting to know fellow bloggers a bit better. A lot of bloggers have been offering up “12 Facts About Me” and I find them quite fun to read! When I was tagged to offer my “12 Facts”, I was a tad nervous, as I was not too sure what to write! I was able to put something together after much thought. So, without further ado, here are 12 facts about me :)

12 Fun Facts

1. My favourite movie of all-time is Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. I could watch it over and over and over again & never be sick of it. 

2. I wish I was musically inclined. I’ve always dreamed of joining a band!

3. I studied Japanese for nine years and was planning on doing my PhD in Asian Studies. My goal was to become an Asian Studies professor. But then I discovered photography and my goals changed.

4. I adore music and have a very diverse tastes. My two favourite music genres are Folk and Punk. I also really like jazz, ska, reggae, funk, indie rock, and rap. I love going to live shows.

5. I adore Coronation Street. My whole family watches it. We discuss people in the show like they are real-life people. *hah*

6. I have an undying love for Nerds candy.

7. I volunteer with a wonderful group of women in a local group called Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan (CW4WA). We focus on raising awareness of the plight of Afghan women and raise funds to support various initiatives such as an orphanage in Kabul.

8. I am fanatical about cows. They are so cute! Birds, however….well, I’m terrified of birds. Eek!

9. I love, love, love tea. My favourite teas tend to be that of the Rooibos family.

10. I’ve been a vegetarian for 15 years.

11. I want to move to the UK – mainly to Wales.

12. I love The Office, Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Mad Men, Weeds and any Woody Allen movie.

After offering “12 Facts about Me”, Sunday Morning Banana Pancakes asked that I answer 12 questions. Here are my answers:

Twelve Questions

1. Describe yourself in 3 words: caring, quirky, avid-learner

2. What is your ultimate food weakness? Definitely cookies. I love cookies of all sorts. I really don’t discriminate. Right now I am really enjoying chocolate shortbread dipped in dark chocolate & coconut from The Honolulu Cookie Company. My parents just returned from Hawaii and brought me home a WHOLE box. *nom nom nom* Best part, the cookies are in the shape of pineapples!

3. What is your favourite book of all time? I really love Slaughter House Five by Kurt Vonnegut. Although, I also really enjoyed A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. I’ve read some great books with my book club over the past seven years. We’ve been fairly lucky – only a few bad books!

4. What is the most exotic place you have travelled to/through? I’ve not really travelled anywhere I would considered exotic. I’ve spent time in various countries in Europe including Wales, England, Switzerland, Germany, Italy, Belgium and France. I’ve also been to New York and Hawaii. As for more exotic places, I would love to go to Japan, Thailand, Spain, Morocco and Iceland. Oooo! And I really want to go to Brazil. 

5. What is your favourite aspect of blogging? Definitely meeting people who are equally passionate about photography & food. And I love how much I’ve learned from all of my favourite bloggers in the way of photography, cooking and baking. I love inspiring people and being inspired.

6. Would you describe yourself as a control freak, perfectionist, laid back and why? I am definitely a perfectionist. I am way too hard on myself. I have a horrible tendency to feel like I’m not doing a good enough job at something and I quit; even if it’s just for a while. I’m working on pushing through the “failures”, so I can start to see true improvement in what I’m doing. I don’t want my perfectionism to prevent me from achieving my goals. 

7. Favourite cocktail: a raspberry mojito….yummmmy! Or any type of sangria.

8. How do you celebrate your birthday? Normally, I got out for dinner with my parents, sister, her fiancee and Jesse. The past few years, we’ve gone for Indian food at Clay Oven. My favourite!

9. Do you sing in the car? You bet! Very poorly, I might add. *hah* More so, I love “dancing” to music in the car. 

10. What is the one goal you set for yourself in 2012 that seems the most attainable? I have a few goals that I am working on. The one that seems the most attainable at this point is blogging three days a week. I’ve been doing it so far & feel like I can reasonably keep it up.

11. Who are the bloggers that most inspire you to be a better blogger, writer, photographer or all around person? I love Sunday Morning Banana Pancake‘s creativity with both her recipes and her photography. It’s very inspiring. I look to Annie from Annie’s Eats for inspiration on blogging & writing inspiration. She’s been blogging a long time and never seems to lose momentum. She always posts such great recipes & tutorials. I admire the photography on A Couple Cooks, Tartlette, Love & Lemons, and Flavour Food & Wine. West Coast Nest and Live It. Love It. Blog It. are also two favs of mine. I love their mix of stories, tales of travel adventures, photos, recipes and daily thoughts. I find local photographers Jennifer Lee and Erin Keown to be very inspiring. And my friend Tracey does some fantastic photography! As far as healthy fare, I am inspired by The Healthy Wife, Vanilla & Spice, The Vegan Chickpea and Once Upon a Cutting Board. 

12. What is your favourite thing about yourself? That I am so approachable. People tell me I have a welcoming presence because I’m always smiling. Random people LOVE to tell me their life stories. *hah* 

I also really liked some of the questions asked by Willow at Will Cook for Friends. So, I thought I would answer one or two of them as well.
1. What did you want to be when you grew up? When I was younger, I wanted to be an architect. As a kid, I loved sketching floor plan designs. And I used to take out books from the library about environmental design. My favourite pastime was designing my future home. In high school, I took drafting and a lot of art courses in order to prepare for applying to the Architecture program in my city. At the same time, I became passionate about learning languages and started studying Japanese, Spanish and French. In the end, I decided to major in Asian Studies and International Business in university.

2. What is your favourite quote or saying? “Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass. It’s about learning to dance in the rain.”

3. Is there a food or dish you’d really like to make, but are afraid is too hard? Definitely macarons. I think they are so pretty, but I have a fear of trying to make them for some reason. 

4. What would you say is your biggest kitchen mishap? I’ve had a lot of blunders and failures in the kitchen. And lots of successes. I’ve ruined a few cakes, pies, breads etc. And I also pour boiling hot water on my stomach while trying to drain pasta. The pot slipped and sent water flying down my stomach. It was painful!

5. What first inspired you to cook? My mom. She is an amazing cook & baker. I have very fond memories of my mom making elaborate meals and desserts on the weekend. I recall many wonderful times in the kitchen with mom – making cookies, learning how to make pie crust, sampling lemon tarts, helping chop veggies etc. My mom is very passionate about food. She instilled this passion into me at a young age. She’s truly the best.

6. After a long hard day, what would be your ideal meal to come home to? Probably my mom’s spaghetti with homemade tomato sauce. Yum! Or her stir fry. Love it.

7. What is one of your guilty pleasures? I love to buy cookbooks. I buy A LOT. I also adore cooking magazines. I’m running out of storage space :S

8. Besides food/blogging, what are some of your other hobbies? I love reading, thumbing through cookbooks, doing crossword puzzles, painting, watching movies, going to concerts and attending plays.

9. If you could have any famous person over for dinner, who would it be and what would you make? Perhaps Jamie Oliver, and I’d have him cook for me! *hah*

Peanut Butter Nutella Cookies

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And so continues my obsession with cookies. This week I made peanut butter cookies with Nutella swirled into the dough. And they were GOOD. Adding the swirl of Nutella into the dough made the finished product taste like a fancy peanut butter cup. And I love peanut butter cups! I brought a batch of these cookies to work to share during an over time shift this week, and they were a real hit. 

If you love peanut butter & chocolate as much as I do, check out my recent post for Chocolate Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting. Or, try out my Whipped Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie. It is one of my all-time favourite desserts. If you need some more ideas for desserts made with Nutella, check out my Ferrero Rocher Cheesecake recipe or my Easy Nutella Fudge with Cranberries.

Hope you are having a great weekend. The weather here is fantastic and the snow is quickly melting. It’s a bright & sunny day. Spring is definitely on its way! 

Ingredients
  • 1 and 3/4 cups of all-purpose flour
  • 3/4 teaspoon of baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon of salt
  • 1/2 cup (1 stick) of unsalted butter; at room temperature
  • 3/4 cup of smooth peanut butter
  • 1/2 cup of white granulated sugar
  • 1/2 cup of light brown sugar; firmly packed
  • 1 room temperature egg
  • 1/2 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup of Nutella; stirred to soften



Method


1. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

2. In a separate large mixing bowl, combine the butter, peanut butter and both sugars. Beat on medium speed until creamy and smooth (about 5 minutes). Add the egg and vanilla extract. Beat to combine; scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary.

3. Turn the mixer down to low speed and slowly add the dry ingredients. Beat until just combined. Using a large wooden spoon or spatula, gently fold in the softened Nutella. You want to have a distinct swirl, so do not over mix the Nutella. Cover the bowl and refrigerate for at least 3 hours (or overnight).

4. Preheat the oven to 350’F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper. Measure out a rounded tablespoon for each cookie. Cookies can be placed about 1/2 inch apart on the cookie sheets, as they should not spread too much in the oven. Using a fork, make a criss-cross patter on each cookie. If desired, sprinkle with a tiny bit of sea salt. Bake for 8 to 9 minutes. All the cookies to cool on the sheets for 2 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack.

Yield: about 35 cookies

Source: Une Gamine dans la Cuisine