• Fill a large pot with cold, salted water and bring to a boil on medium high heat. Add the pasta and cook to al dente according to package directions.

 

• Begin heating 2 Tbsp. of EVOO along with the garlic, pepper flakes, and a pinch of sea salt and pepper on medium heat. Once the garlic and pepper flakes start to pop and sizzle, reduce the heat a bit and stir often. Let that sizzle and cook for a minute before adding in the halved cherry tomatoes and half the fresh parsley. Add another pinch of sea salt, stir, and cook for another 2 – 3 minutes.

 

• The pasta should now be finished, transfer the pasta directly from the pasta water to the frying pan along with another Tbsp. of EVOO if it looks like you need it. Toss the pasta together with everything in the pan and add up to ¼ C of the pasta water to help create a nice, starchy sauce to hold to the pasta.

 

• Now, turn off the heat and add the lemon juice. Add the Grana Padano in batches, folding everything together as you add. Fold in the remaining parsley and fresh basil. Taste and adjust salt / pepper if desired.

 

• For service, split pasta between two bowls and garnish with grana Padano and fresh herbs. ENJOY!

​www.thehappyveg.ca/recipes/mexican-mac-cheese-bake

Everything we love about mac and cheese, with a Mexican inspired twist. We've got black beans, cob corn, tomatoes, and peppers, along with spices like chili, cumin, and garlic. Topped with a crumb topping that features similar spices to really reinforce that Mexican flare, this is a fun twist on mac and cheese that brings the flavours and provides some veg action to go along with it.

​www.thehappyveg.ca/recipes/skillet-gnocchi-mac-n-cheese-with-roasted-brussel-sprouts

Skillet macs are probs my fav because they start and end in the same pan which means, less cleanup :) Another thing about this recipe that's fab you ask? The gnocchi doesn't even need to be cooked prior to being tossed in the sauce and baked, it's really that simple. This skillet mac features tender gnocchi and some beautifully roasted brussel sprouts that provide jus a little spice and bitterness to cut through all of the richness that is this cheesy skillet.

​www.thehappyveg.ca/recipes/cremini-spinach-cheesy-ditali-skilet

Almost any noodle out there will do just fine when it comes to a cheesy skillet mac and this recipe features ditali pasta. Ditali is one of my faves because it retains a lot of texture which provides a really great chew. This mac recipe features caramelized cremini mushrooms and loads of fresh spinach along with old cheddar, mozzarella, and a garlicky grana padano crumb topping. 

​www.thehappyveg.ca/recipes/southern-mac-n-cheese

Southern mac and cheese is a bit different than your typical roux based mac. It can contain evaporated milk but always contains eggs which gives your mac and cheese a custardy vibe that's pretty divine. Also, it's actually a lot easier to make than your roux based macs because everything is kind of tossed together and baked. This delightful mac features a jalapeno gouda, extra old cheddar, and American cheese which helps hard cheeses melt butter and provides a creamy, dreamy texture to your sauce. This mac is one of my absolute faves so y'all better get the recipe!

​www.thehappyveg.ca/recipes/gnocchi-cauli-broccoli-cheese-skillet

Another skillet gnocchi but this one comes in hard with the cruciferous veggies for the win. Blanched cauliflower and broccoli along with tender gnocchi and a dreamy sauce baked under a very simple layer of garlicky panko. There's absolutely nothing wrong with this aside from the obvious need for some couch time after you inevitably have two servings. 

 

1. Preheat oven to 350 F

 

1. Fill a large pot with cold, salted water, and set it to medium high heat. Once boiled, add the macaroni and cook about 2 minutes less than what is recommended for al dente. Strain.

 

1. While the noodles cook, whisk together the cream, eggs, butter, salt, desired amount of cracked pepper, mustard, cayenne, & cream cheese.

 

1. Return the cooked noodles to the same pan on the burner that is now turned off, but still warm. Pour in the creamy egg mixture and stir to combine. Now, fold in the American cheese, Gouda, marble, and half of the extra old cheddar. Transfer this to a greased 9” x 13” baking dish and top with remaining cheddar cheese.

 

1. Bake uncovered for 35 – 40 minutes until lightly browned on top. Remove from oven and set onto a wire cooling rack for a few minutes prior to slicing in to. ENJOY!

​

1. Bring a large pot of cold, salted water to a boil on medium high heat. Once boiled, add the ditali pasta and cook according to package directions minus a minute or two because it will continue to cook in the oven. Strain and set aside until needed.

 

1. In the meantime, begin melting the butter in a 12” cast iron skillet set to medium heat. Once melted, add the pepper flakes & garlic. Let that bubble for about a minute before adding in the onions, shallots, and a good pinch of salt and pepper. Stir and cook 5 minutes. Add the mushrooms, fresh thyme sprigs, and another generous pinch of salt and pepper. Continue to cook for about 3 – 4 minutes before adding in all of the spinach, another good pinch of salt, and covering. Cook until spinach has wilted (2 – 3 mins), then, stir in the flour until it has been fully absorbed. Continue to stir and cook for another minute.

 

1. Slowly pour in the milk, making sure to scrape the bottom of pan for any crusty bits. Continue until all of the milk has been added. Stir, and bring to a boil. Once the sauce boils, reduce heat to medium low and continue to stir until the rapid bubbling stops. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes.

 

1. Preheat oven to 375 F

 

1. Remove the sauce from the heat, pluck out the thyme sprigs, and stir in the two cheeses. Fold in the cooked ditali until everything is nice and combined.

 

1. In a small bowl, whisk together the crumbs, garlic, grana Padano cheese, thyme leaves, and a good pinch of salt and pepper. Add EVOO 1 Tbsp. at a time and work it into the crumbs until they are moistened and crumbly.

 

1. Sprinkle the crumbs over the skillet and place it into the oven to bake. Bake for 20 – 25 minutes until the skillet is bubbly and top is golden. Remove from oven and set onto a wire cooling rack.

 

1. For service, garnish with freshly chopped parsley, thyme, and some freshly grated grana Padano. ENJOY!

​ 

• Preheat oven to 450 F

 

• Place the potato on a cutting board. Starting from one end, make slices that are roughly ¼ “ thick through the potato leaving about ½ “ from the bottom of the potato to keep them it in tact. Once sliced, transfer them to a baking sheet.

 

• In a small bowl, stir together the EVOO, Italian seasoning, and as much red pepper flakes as you enjoy. (I used almost 1 Tsp.) Use a basting brush to brush the potatoes with the EVOO making sure to get all sides, doing your best to let the bristles slip in between the slices of potato. Once all of the potatoes are dressed in the EVOO, season each potato very liberally with sea salt.

 

• Place the potatoes into the oven to bake for 50 – 55 minutes. At the halfway mark, remove the potatoes from the oven and brush them once again with the seasoned oil. This time, the potatoes will have opened a bit, allowing for more seasoned EVOO to slip between the slices. Sprinkle a little more sea salt on each potato, making sure to sprinkle some in between some of those slices. Return them to the oven to finish for the remaining half of the cook time.

 

• Let the potatoes cool about 5 – 10 minutes before handling to stuff them.

 

• Slice the bocconcini cheeses and vine tomatoes thinly so that they fit in between the potato layers. For the smaller slices of bocconcini, double them up in each layer. Cut each slice of tomato in half giving you two half moons. To assemble, leave a few slices unstuffed on both ends, starting somewhere about ¼ of the way through the potato. Start by slipping a tomato slice in between your first two slices of potato, skip two slices, and then stuff with bocconcini and a fresh basil leaf. Skip two more, add a tomato etc., until you reach the other end of the potato. Continue until all potatoes have been stuffed. Season each potato with sea salt and cracked pepper.

 

• Place the potatoes back into the oven for 5 or so minutes until the cheese is melty.

 

• For service, garnish with a drizzle of store-bought balsamic reduction, a grating of fresh Grana Padano cheese, and fresh basil. ENJOY!

I loved how the original recipe suggested topping the muffins with additional oats, chunks, and nuts for a beautiful presentation. It was a trick I'm going to use for future muffins because it really had the desired effect.

The only change I made on the original recipe was swapping out the milk and using buttermilk instead. I also omitted the nuts so I could share them with my sister who has a bit of an aversion to them. The resulting muffins were so incredibly moist and super delicious. There was a very banana bread-esque feel to these muffins and overall, I would most definitely make these again.

RECIPE LINK - flourandfloral.com/banana-oat-chocolate-chunk-muffins/ 

Freshness overload here y'all! I'm obsessed with cranberries, especially when they're in season and you can get them fresh from the grocery store. Literally saw a bag, snatched em up, and knew I had to make something cranberry-licious.

I swapped out the margarine for butter, half the sugar for brown sugar, and omitted the nuts. The addition of freshly squeezed orange juice kind of made the batter look curdled, but the resulting loaf was fab. It was bursting with orange flavour and incredibly tangy but sweet enough that it was not overwhelmingly sour. I whipped up a glaze as well that was an utter fail but overall, the recipe itself was bang on. Such a fresh and tasty dessert.

RECIPE LINK - www.allrecipes.com/recipe/6913/cranberry-orange-loaf/

This was one that truly excited me because c'mon, two of the very best desserts coming together to create one seriously delicious combo. In a perfect world, this was going to be the best dessert recipe I'd made to date. I was wrong.

I did not change anything for this recipe because it was pretty in depth so I figured it was best to follow exactly. The first problem was the carrot cake batter. The recipe suggested it would be pourable but my batter was incredibly thick. Secondly, I don't believe there was enough cheesecake for this recipe. I felt like I was searching for more as I tore through it with my fork. Lastly, the comments suggested the baking time was not enough so I left it in for 10 more minutes and in my opinion, it was overbaked. It was pretty dense and frankly, not my fav thing. I didn't even make the frosting because I already knew I had wasted enough ingredients on this one.

RECIPE LINK - www.delish.com/cooking/recipe-ideas/recipes/a46468/carrot-cake-cheesecake-recipe/

 

• In a large skillet, begin melting 1 Tbsp. butter over medium heat. Once melted and bubbly, add the 3 cloves of minced garlic, pepper flakes, shallots, and a good pinch of sea salt & pepper. Stir and cook for 5 minutes. Add ½ the white wine and veg stock along with the rosemary, white beans, and another good pinch of sea salt. Continue to cook for 3 or so minutes before taking a potato masher and mashing up half of the beans. Pour in the remaining wine and stock, reduce heat slightly, and cover. Simmer for 5 – 7 minutes.

 

• While the beans cook, preheat a grill pan on the stovetop set to medium heat. Once heated, drizzle each side of the sourdough slices with EVOO and set on to the grill. Grill for 2ish minutes per side until crispy. Brush each grilled side with the two remaining garlic cloves and set the toast on to a plate until assembly.

​ 

• Fill a large pot with cold water and place it on to a burner set to medium high heat. Once boiled, salt liberally and add the lasagna noodles, cooking according to package directions. Strain and lay out to cool until assembly.

 

• In the meantime, begin heating the EVOO, garlic, and pepper flakes, for the sauce in a medium sized pot set to medium heat. Once everything starts to bubble and you can smell the garlic, add the onions and season with salt and pepper. Stir and cook 5 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste and continue to cook for another 2 minutes.

 

• Pour in the plum tomatoes and smash them up a little bit in the pot. Once the sauce comes to a boil, add the ¼ tsp. sea salt and fresh basil, reduce the heat to medium low, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes.

 

• While the sauce simmers, combine all of the ingredients for the filling except for the eggs in a medium sized mixing bowl. Taste and add additional salt and desired amount of pepper to taste. Stir in the egg, cover, and refrigerate until assembly.

 

• Preheat oven to 375 F

 

• To finish the sauce, use an immersion blender to puree until smooth. Taste and adjust salt if desired. Transfer half of the sauce to a separate dish and add the YVES Italian ground to one half of the sauce. Stir and let that simmer for a couple minutes to warm up the “meat”. You should be left with a chunky, meaty sauce.

 

• For assembly, slice the tops off the peppers and scoop out all the insides. Use a spoon to scrape away the pith until the pepper is nice and clean. Slice the lasagna noodles in to 6 equal sized pieces and start by placing two pieces of noodle overlapping one another in the base of each of the peppers. Spoon a heaping Tbsp. of the ricotta filling and press it down to form a layer. Spoon a heaping Tbsp. + of the meaty sauce on top, spreading it around to form a third layer. Repeat with noodles, ricotta, sauce, noodles, ricotta, sauce, and one final layer of noodles on top. Spoon some meaty sauce over the top layer of noodles and grate some grana Padano over each of the peppers.

 

• Fill the bottom of a deep, circular baking dish with the reserved tomato sauce. Nestle the peppers into the sauce, cover with tinfoil, and place into the oven to bake.

 

• Bake 40 minutes covered, remove cover, and continue to bake for 15 – 20 minutes.

 

• Remove peppers from the oven and set the dish on to a wire cooling rack.

 

• For service, ladle remaining sauce on the bottom of each serving dish. Place a pepper in the center of the sauce and garnish with fresh chopped basil, parsley, and grated grana Padano. ENJOY!

               Grocery List

• 8 Dry Lasagna Noodles
• 4 Large Bell Peppers
• Grana Padano – Garnish
• Fresh Basil – Garnish
• Fresh Parsley – Garnish

 
SAUCE

• 4 Tbsp. EVOO
• 1 Yellow Onion, chopped
• 4 cloves Garlic, crushed
• 1 Heaping Tbsp. Tomato Paste
• 796ml can Plum Tomatoes
• 14 g Fresh Basil
• ½ Tsp. Red Pepper Flakes
• ½ Tsp. + Sea Salt
• 340g package YVES Italian Ground Round

 
FILLING

• 475g container Full Fat Ricotta
• 1 Large Free-Range Egg
• ½ C Pizza Mozzarella, shredded
• 2 Tbsp. Grana Padano, grated
• 2 cloves Garlic, crushed & minced / pressed
• 2 Tbsp. Fresh Parsley, chopped
• ¼ Tsp. + Sea Salt
• Cracked Pepper