Roasted Cherry Tomato and Basil Salad

I recently started a small patio herb garden, and there is no better way to enjoy fresh basil than with fresh tomatoes!  The leftovers from this salad were great with a sunnyside up egg and a slice of toast.

Roasting the cherry tomatoes really brings out their natural sweetness.  If you find that they need a bit more- try adding a touch of granulated sugar.  I used Asiago instead of a milder unripened cheese like bocconcini and I found it was too strong of a flavour when paired with the tomato and basil so I don't recommend it.

• Tomatoes- cherry or grape are nice, but any fresh, nice tasting tomato will do
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Balsamic vinegar
• Salt and pepper
• Basil (fresh)
• Cheese- preferably Bocconcini or other unripened mozzarella type cheese 

1. Drizzle tomatoes with olive oil, salt and pepper
2. Roast tomatoes in oven at 400C 
3. Mix tomatoes with fresh torn basil, cheese
4. Drizzle with a bit of olive oil and balsamic vinegar

Lemon Cheesecake Squares

Lemon cheesecake is one of my favourite desserts!  The richness of the cheesecake is perfectly countered by the light citrus flavour.  This recipe is from marthastewart.com and it seems pretty good.

• Crust:
• 8 graham crackers (each 2 1/2 by 5 inches)
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 3 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
• Filling:
• 2 bars (8 oz each) cream cheese, room temperature
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• Zest and juice of 1 lemon (2 to 3 tsp zest and about 3 tbsp juice)

1. Crust: Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line a 9x9" baking pan with aluminum foil
2. In a food processor, blend graham crackers with sugar until finely ground; add butter and pulse until moistened.
3. Transfer crumb mixture to prepared pan, and pat in gently (wipe processor bowl clean, and reserve for making filling). Bake until beginning to brown, 10 to 12 minutes. While crust is baking, make filling.
4. Make the filling: Place cream cheese in food processor; blend until smooth. Add sugar, eggs, lemon zest, and lemon juice; blend until smooth.
5. Pour mixture onto hot crust in pan; smooth top. Return to oven, and bake until set (filling should jiggle only slightly when pan is gently shaken), 30- 35 minutes.
6. Cool completely in pan, chill until firm, at least 2 hours. Use foil to lift cheesecake out of pan. Cut into squares.

Iced Tea

While I guess you don't really need a recipe to make iced tea... I'm going to throw this up on here anyway.  It's been so hot and sunny outside as of recent- perfect weather to relax in the shade with a good book and a cool glass of iced tea!

I like to cut up little pieces from the lemon and freeze them in ice cubes to use in the tea too.  I don't use much sugar in my iced tea, I love the taste of the tannins from the tea!  It's very easy to modify the tea to your taste by adding more or less water/ sugar/ lemon etc.

Regular Iced Tea

• Juice from 1/2 lemon
• Sugar (to taste, optional)
• Pot of tea (orange pekoe), brewed for 5 min
• Ice cubes

1. Brew tea, add lemon and sugar if using, pour over ice!  Of course, it's probably better to wait till the tea has a little time to cool...

Morroccan Mint Iced Tea

• Green tea
• Mint leaves
• Sugar (to taste, optional)
• Ice cubes

1. Like above, brew tea with mint leaves, add and sugar if using, allow to cool, strain and pour over ice!
2. Garnish with additional mint leaves

Crunchy Granola

This recipe was adapted from Mark Bittman's crunchy granola recipe in his book 'How to Cook Everything'.  It's a real gem of a recipe and very easy to adapt with whatever you happen to have on  hand.  It also keeps indefinitely in an airtight container in the fridge.  Great as a topping on oatmeal, yogurt, or with milk and some fresh fruit.


Most recently, I made a batch of granola with tahini, honey, sunflower and sesame seeds (3/4- 1 cup), raisins and dates (pictured).

• 6 cups oats (large flake oats- not instant or quick cooking)
• 1-2 cups mixed nuts and seeds: sunflower seeds, almonds, sesame seeds, etc.
• 1 cup shredded coconut (optional)
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, or to taste
• Dash salt
• 1 /2 to 1 cup honey or maple syrup, or to taste
• 1/2 cup nut butter (natural peanut butter or tahini work well, optional)
• 1 cup raisins or chopped dried fruit

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Over med-low heat cook oats for 5-8 min until lightly golden, stirring often
3. Add nuts/ seeds of your choice, cook for 5 min longer
4. Stir in sweetener (and nut butter if using)
5. Place on rimmed baking sheets or in a 9x13" baking pan and bake at 350 for ~30 min (stirring once/ occasionally if using nut butter to keep from burning) 
6. After removing from oven, stir dried fruit into hot granola
7. Allow to cool, store in an airtight container in fridge

Roasted Sweet Potato Fries with Garlic Aoili

These are super easy to make for an easy weeknight dinner side.  You likely already have all of the ingredients in your pantry.  If you don't keep sweet potatoes in your pantry, you may want to start now.  I don't bother peeling the potatoes as I don't mind the peel- I actually like the texture it gives the fries, and I've heard that it's more nutritious as most of the nutrients in root vegetables are located right at the peel.

Note:  Sometimes if I'm making a small amount, I just put my cast iron skillet in the oven as it preheats to get it nice and hot and cook the fries on there- it has a great non-stick surface and helps to make the fries nice and crispy.  Plus, a quick rinse is all the cleaning it requires.  Alternately, using parchment paper also cuts down on clean up work- it's non-stick and keeps your baking sheet clean.

• Fries:
• sweet potatoes, washed and sliced longitudinally into ~1/2-3/4 inch fries (or any thickness you prefer as long as they are all roughly the same size)
• olive oil
• salt and pepper
• Garlic Aoili
• Mayonnaise
• minced garlic
• fresh lemon juice
• minced parsley (optional, makes the aoili look really nice!)

1. Fries:
1. Preheat oven to 450F
2. Drizzle the sweet potato fries with olive oil and then sprinkle with salt and pepper
3. Place on oiled baking sheet or one lined with parchment paper 
4. bake for 10-15 min, flipping the fries halfway though
2. Garlic Aoili:
1. Mix minced garlic and lemon into mayonnaise (1 clove garlic and 2 tsp lemon juice for ~3/4 cup mayo seems to work nicely), adjust to taste