Salami Pasta

This recipe is adapted from Nigella Lawson's recipe for small pasta with salami, which I first saw on her show, Nigella Kitchen. I love watching her cook because she clearly takes so much pleasure in preparing and eating everything that she makes. She also doesn't seem overly concerned with whether or not something is authentic or fancy - just whether or not it tastes good. That's just my style!

I was excited to try this recipe because it looked easy and tasty. It's also a nice way to use up sliced salami, which we often have on hand and sometimes end up tossing because it sits around too long. I love the addition of the beans in this recipe too. I never would have thought to add them, but they taste great with the salami and they add great texture and protein to the dish. While the dish takes a bit of time to cook because I like leaving the sauce to simmer for a while (though you don't necessarily need to simmer it as long if you don't want to), the dish is very simple to throw together. This one's a definite keeper!

Cauliflower Mac and Cheese

I have been watching a lot of British chefs on the Food Network lately. Nigella Lawson, Gordon Ramsay and Jamie Oliver have kind of taken over my TV. I love cooking shows, but they are even better when the hosts speak in lovely British accents (though I have to say it is really weird not hearing Gordon Ramsay drop a dozen f-bombs every half hour - his cookery course show is much cleaner than his others!). If you need me, I'll be practicing British cooking terms - like "spring onions" and "double cream" - in a terrible accent.

This cauliflower mac and cheese was inspired by Jamie Oliver's version from his cookbook Meals in Minutes. I kept wanting to make his version but forgetting to get crème fraîche and pancetta at the grocery store, so I just put together my own. I realize that this isn't technically mac and cheese, since I used fusilli and not macaroni, but if you're a stickler for that stuff, just sub in the elbow macaroni and you'll be good to go.

Spicy Italian Sausage Penne

Back-to-back pasta recipes on the blog this week! But I can't help it. I love pasta. It's so easy and versatile (and not to mention delicious). I have a couple of go-to pasta recipes (including my spaghetti alla puttanesca, which I can almost make in my sleep) but I also really like trying something new, or putting a new spin on an old favourite.

I use Italian sausages with pasta quite often, but I don't do anything particularly fancy or complicated with them. Usually I just break them up while frying them and then toss them in tomato sauce, often with artichoke hearts. I then saw Jamie Oliver's recipe for "Pregnant Jools's Pasta" in his cookbook Meals in Minutes, which is a different approach to sausage pasta than my usual. He puts the sausages through the food processor before frying it up, which gives the sausage a more silky texture, as opposed to the more rustic texture of my sausage pastas. He also makes the sauce with carrot, celery (which unfortunately I didn't have on hand) and diced tomatoes, which makes it taste fresh.

Pulled Pork Pasta

We had a lot of pulled pork left over from making pulled pork sandwiches the other day. Instead of making more sandwiches, I thought we would try making some pulled pork pasta. I have to admit that the idea came from that Boston Pizza commercial where the guy eats their pulled pork penne and turns into a "foodie," which in the commercial, apparently isn't a good thing. Too bad for me, since I self-identify as one. The commercial actually drives me crazy (mostly because it gets played alllll the time) but the idea was interesting.

I was going to make some tomato sauce to mix with the pulled pork but didn't have time, so I just used jarred sauce. Since we had the leftover pork, all of the hard work was already done. This was super quick and easy, and pretty tasty. It's so simple that I kind of feel silly writing it out like you don't know how to boil pasta and heat some sauce, but I guess not everything I put on this blog is going to be complicated, so here it is in all its glory!

Shrimp, Avocado and Tomato Pasta Salad

This shrimp, avocado and tomato pasta salad is a dish that I threw together the other day when I was trying to figure out what to do with the ripe avocado that we had sitting around. I wanted to try something new but didn't have anything particular in mind, so I used the avocados as a starting point and tried to figure out what would taste good with it. We had cooked shrimp in the freezer and a couple of pints of ripe grape tomatoes, so I decided to throw those ingredients together into a quick pasta salad.

Homemade Chicken Soup

My husband got sick recently, so I decided to make him some chicken soup from scratch. The canned stuff, while convenient, just isn't as good. Unfortunately, just after I decided to make the soup, I realized I didn't have any chicken with bones or any chicken stock on hand.

After some very unhelpful Googling about whether or not I could make a decent chicken soup from scratch using just chicken pieces without bones, I thought I would just roll the dice and give it a try. I did have a can of chicken noodle soup on standby, in case it didn't work.

Italian Sausage and Artichoke Stuffed Shells

I realized the other day that I had a half a box of jumbo pasta shells that had been sitting around for a while, so I thought I should use them up. The first time I made stuffed shells, I used ground turkey (and unfortunately they came out a little dry for my taste), but this time I decided to use some spicy Italian sausage, which I love. We are currently obsessed with using ricotta in our pasta (it started when I made baked ziti) so the love affair continued with this dish. I also added some artichokes to give the shells a bit more taste and texture. They turned out really great - I'll definitely make them again!

Lasagna Rolls

Lasagna is one of my favourite meals. These lasagna rolls are a neat-looking spin on the usual dish. I think I first saw them on one of Giada de Laurentiis' cooking shows. I find the rolls stay together a bit better when you cut into them than plain lasagna, though they're probably a bit messier to make - but that's part of the fun!

Pasta e Fagioli

Pasta e Fagioli means "pasta and beans." It is a hearty tomato-based soup with - you guessed it - pasta and beans. The versions I have had have also always had Italian sausage in it. Yummy! I first came across it at the Olive Garden and it was one of my favourite things there.

Baked Ziti

I love baked ziti. Back in high school when I worked in retail, I'd always get baked ziti on my lunch breaks from this Italian place in the food court. Baked ziti is delicious comfort food. It's pasta tubes mixed with tomato sauce and three kinds of cheese, then topped with more sauce and cheese and baked. It's very simple to make, and creamy and tomatoey at the same time. Can't complain about that! This is the recipe that I adapted from the one I found on Allrecipes.com.

Spaghetti alla Puttanesca

Spaghetti alla puttanesca is a recipe I originally heard of on Nadia G's cooking show, Bitchin' Kitchen. It's a spicy, salty, delicious dish that is quick to put together and has become my go-to dish when I want something made from scratch but don't have a ton of time to do it. I've made it so much since I first heard about it that I've made the recipe my own. I just looked up Nadia G's actual recipe and it's very different. Funny how things evolve the more that you make them!

Spaghetti al Forno

Spaghetti al forno is a delicious pasta and cheese frittata. Breadcrumbs, pasta, eggs, mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses and prosciutto are layered together and then baked. It's hearty, cheesy and so good with a side of marinara sauce. I adapted this recipe from Giada de Laurentiis' recipe for capellini al forno. This would make three to four servings because I cut some of the ingredients down so that my husband and I wouldn't have tons of leftovers. If you want to make more, there would be plenty of room in the springform pan for an extra layer if you follow this recipe, so you can increase the amount of pasta, prosciutto and mozzarella if you need to.

Avocado and Tomato Pasta

This is a quick and easy recipe for a creamy avocado pasta that I first saw on Two Peas and their Pod. I thought it was kind of odd-sounding, but I love avocado and I love pasta, so I figured, why not give them a try together? The avocado actually goes well with the pasta - it's very rich and creamy. I added some tomato and Tabasco sauce to the original recipe, because I like my avocado with a bit of zing.

Tuna, Artichoke and Tomato Pasta

This tuna, artichoke and tomato pasta is a quick and healthy dish that I adapted from Giada de Laurentiis' recipe for campanelle pasta salad. It's very fresh tasting and easy to make.

Minestrone Soup

I love making soups. They're so quick, easy, and perfect for a cold winter day. I like that I can throw in ingredients that I usually have sitting in my fridge and pantry and turn them into something delicious. One of my favourites is minestrone soup.

I've been looking around online and there are so many different variations of it - some with beef and some without, and it seems like each recipe calls for a different batch of vegetables. I decided to try to make it with what I had around the house - though I did go out of my way to get some Swiss chard to try with this soup for the first time, as called for in a winter minestrone soup recipe that I found on Giada DeLaurentiis' website. This is the version I threw together for lunch today, which makes a big potful of soup.