Creamy Orzo With Pancetta

Jan 30, 2012 by lovelypantry

I had an opportunity to try a pasta called orzo. It’s a small pasta shaped like a grain of rice quite suitable for salads, soups, risotto or creamy pasta dishes. It’s a wonderful addition to my Pantry. This is a very quick and easy week night meal that I hope you’ll enjoy as much as I did. I made quite a few changes to the original recipe but I was more than happy with the result. Sometimes, all you need is an idea to get your creative juices flowing. The texture of this recipe reminds me of a risotto since the pasta has to absorb the liquid that it is cooked in.

I enjoyed making this dish and I can actually think of a few variations that I would love to try – like meatless, or with chicken instead of the pancetta. I love that there are so many options. The first time I made this dish… I forgot the cheese. I’ll just call that the “reduced calorie” version 🙂 It looked pretty though, and tasted great too.

 

 

Here’s how I made it. So easy. I bet you’ll be making this meal this week 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I remembered to add the cheese this time 🙂

 

 

 

This recipe was adapted from Everyday Food

 

Happy Monday!!! ~Lyn

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Roasted Curried Chicken

Jan 23, 2012 by lovelypantry

I love curry. I think if I could curry everything, I probably would – just to try it. Ok well, not EVERYTHING. I’ve  curried Tofu a few times. That turned out super!

In Jamaica, it is traditional to stew curried chicken. And for the most part, that is how I’ve always prepared curried chicken. Its great. But I wanted to do it a bit differently. You know, just because. I figured it would be ok to roast chicken that has been seasoned with curry. Especially since I’ve found a new appreciation for roasting chicken. It’s so easy! And the skin is so crispy and yummy.

When stewing curried chicken, carrots and potatoes are the usual suspects in the dish, so I kept them. I couldn’t leave them out. Besides, they taste amazing when roasted!

 

 

 

Prep time!

 

 

I just love my oven. It works wonders!

 

 

And here you have it. Serve with rice, or like me – just like this.

Have a splendid week, my friends! ~Lyn

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Peanut Butter Chocolate Cookies

Jan 18, 2012 by lovelypantry

I wanted to post the recipe for these cookies for a few days now but alas, I’m slightly behind in my posting. I’m so happy to share this with you though, as these are my husband’s favourite cookies. I kinda love them too. I promised him I’d make a batch this week so me posting is great timing. I love the simplicity, and also that I’m using  low-fat peanut butter, less sugar than what the original recipe called for plus I used dark chocolate chips. Sounds like some good stuff right? You can substitute peanut butter for the organic kind. I plan to use vegan dark chocolate peanut butter to see how it comes out. I may omit the chocolate chips to avoid overkill. We’ll see!

This recipe is adapted from Everyday Food.

 

 

 

 

 

Don’t you just want to dive in? Seriously.

 

 

Take good care guys! ~ Lyn

 

 

 

 

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Apple Crisp

Jan 9, 2012 by lovelypantry

For those that don’t know me, I have a deep love for my family. I suppose it only gets magnified knowing that I’m so far away from them. But it warms my heart whenever we do get a chance to talk and catch up with each other. I’m always so happy to help with any recipes or techniques should they inquire. Recently, my cousin called me with a question that was so simple, but somehow I didn’t have an answer for her. She had an apple and wanted to know if I had any recipes for a single apple. I looked for recipes for a while just to satisfy that desire to have a recipe for a single apple 🙂 Although I did not find exactly what I was looking for, I played around with the basic concept of apple crisp and came up with my own version. I did it quite a few times until my husband and I agreed that we had arrived at something special. So thanks to Kim, I’m able to share this recipe today.

I wanted to keep the ingredients as simple as possible and good for you too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For some reason, Brown Sugar and Cinnamon look so beautiful together…

 

 

 

 

The result is a very clean and lean Apple Crisp that I’ve enjoyed many times. Thanks, Kim!

 

 

 

 

Have a great week everyone!

~Lyn

 

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Ginger Molasses Cookies

Jan 5, 2012 by lovelypantry

Holiday baking was fun for me. I generally look for recipes that are quick and have fairly simple ingredients. I had been searching  for cookie recipes for a few days during the holiday season (lots to go through) and I was really happy to try this. I did not adapt the ingredients for this recipe in any way. It was perfect just the way it was. Find the original recipe here.

My kids loved it, and honestly, I had a hard time restraining myself while they were cooling. I messed up my first batch because I tried to bake 8 cookies on a tray. And when I say messed up, I just mean they baked stuck together and I had to cut them so they looked like weird squares. Tasted great all the same :-). These cookies start out small but they do spread quite a bit. 6 Cookies go on a 15.5inch X 10.5inch rimmed baking tray.

I made this recipe 3 times over the holidays! Yep, they were that good! I was able to give them as gifts and as a treat at a New Year gathering. I did my cookie baking at night so I did not get to take too many photographs but here are some that I shared on Facebook while I was making them.

Here they are, “chilling out” in the fridge before baking.

 

And here is the first batch cooling. Thank goodness for stackable cooling racks! I only have 3 racks but once the cookies cooled, I transferred them to a cookie pan to make way for the set coming out of the oven. I definitely need more baking trays. This will reduce the overall cooking time drastically.

 

 

 

 

 

I really enjoyed these cookies. They were delightfully crispy and had a satisfying crunch. I might make some more this week – just because! 🙂

 

 

 

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