When you are looking for something to make in a hurry, ground beef is one of the go-to meats we tend to choose. Like chicken, it is very versatile and lends itself to a number of dishes. When in a rush, I sometimes like to serve tacos/tortillas. It is fairly quick to prepare and tasty to eat.
Spinach strawberry salad is very quick to prepare, tasty and eye-catching. It is also nicely nutritious:)
I had a bunch of dead bananas sitting around, taking up space in my kitchen. I was going to make them into muffins, and then realized I hadn’t made banana bread for a very long time. I like quick breads…they are nice to have on hand when you get unexpected company, or to pack in  a lunch, or with a cup of tea or coffee. Since I still had some caramel sauce left over from when I made sticky toffee pudding,  I decided to make this easy banana bread and add caramel and pecans to the mix. The result was delicious…a rich, moist banana bread with the added sweetness of caramel and pecans.
It’s been really hot here, and I don’t take the heat very well. Never have, never will. I’m fine when it is nice and warm, but I don’t like scorching heat when the house gets too hot and it seems hard to breathe. All I want then is a nice swim in a pool or lake; or some shade, a lounger, a book and something cool to drink or eat.  The other day I decided to do something I haven’t done since my daughter was a child…I made homemade strawberry popsicles.
In the heat this weekend, Steve really fancied making some red wine sangria…as we have red wine on hand and usually have a lot of fruit hanging about. He whipped this up and left it to chill so that it was ready to have with our dinner.
Posted in drinks, drinks and frozen treats
My husband expressed an interest in peanut butter cookies with chocolate chips  the other day. Being the obliging sort that I am, I first varied a chocolate chip recipe by substituting most of the butter with peanut butter. They were good, but we wanted something more peanut-ty. So, I tried this, which produced very nice chewy peanut butter cookies.
Here in Victoria, the start of June heralds the start of strawberry season. The local berries smell and taste absolutely wonderful. I picked up a pint of these delicious berries yesterday with the intention of making this easy strawberry shortcake for dessert. Unfortunately, it was too hot to even consider baking, so I waited until about ten at night to make the shortcake, so that the kitchen would have all night to cool off. We had it for dessert tonight, and the delay simply seemed to make it all the sweeter.
On a hot day, this cold Asian noodle salad with peanut dressing, is both quick and easy to make, as well as being refreshing. It is also gluten-free for those who cannot have gluten in their diet.
Posted in salads
I really hate wasting food, so when I noticed I had half a pint of cream that was about to turn sour, I immediately started trying to decide what to do with it. Cream soup? Already making hamburgers for supper. Make fudge? Not in the mood. Trifle? No leftover cake lying about. A caramel sauce…hmm. Pudding? How about individual sticky toffee puddings, for portion control? That sounded tasty, and would be ready for dessert.
It has gotten very hot in the last couple of days. When it gets hot, I like to eat things like cold ham or cold chicken with potato salad. Since I am trying to bring my weight down, I came up with this low fat potato salad, which is Weight Watchers friendly at 4 points per half cup, but still very tasty.
Posted in egg and/or cheese, salads, Weight Watchers points