Swedish Meatballs

I think meatballs are great.  I rarely make them though, as they are a lot of work in my eyes and it's something that that never gets on my kitchen "to-do" list often.  However, my co-worker went to Sweden and I asked him to bring me some Lingonberry jam back, so this was the opportunity to make some balls!

Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole

So, I was going away for the weekend and being the nice mom I am, I always make a casserole for my son - to start him off for meals while I'm away.  I saw this on the past weekend and decided to make it and tailor it a little to make it a complete meal.  By doing so, I added some (1/3 of bag) "gnocchi sardi" pasta which looked like baby gnocchi noodles and some coarsely chopped broccoli crowns.

Cucumber Gazpacho Soup

This looked so good - I was excited when I saw it!  The recipe is here.  Seemed perfect for summer and easy.  Plus, long English cucumbers and grapes were on sale at IGA this week so I decided to go for it.  I was really hoping mine would turn out with that pretty green colour like is on the recipe website above.  I am a cucumber fanatic.  I love finger tea sandwiches with them, plain cucumber sandwiches with mayo & pepper, slices soaked in vinegar with pepper, cucumber boats with shrimp or chicken salad, every salad imaginable, in drinking water, and pretty much anywhere else I can put them in food!

Roasted Tomato Dip with Crab

Today was going to be appy day at our house.  I was making this dip and this.  I decided to add some crab to this recipe and got some blue crab claw meat from Costco, it's about $13 for a lb.  It's dark, so its best for using in dips, in my opinion.

Green Bean Bacon Bundles

I saw this recipe and decided I had to make it.  It looked delicious!  I had picked up my favourite green beans at Costco and we were having appy night.  I also made this.  These were nice because I could prepare them beforehand, and I did.

Spicy Asian-Chicken-Salad Lettuce Cups

This was not my "go-to" lettuce wrap recipe but it was certainly much easier.  The recipe is here.  Basically this was like a chicken salad in lettuce cups.  I would have liked to add cilantro, but forgot to buy it.  I added some cucumber on the side with the avocado.  I also served some crushed cashews with it.  I used my own measurements for the ingredients as well.

Roast Beef Hash with Mock Cauliflower "Potatoes"

I made a roast and had LOTS of leftovers.  My son already had beef dips the night after but it didn't even make a dent, nor did using it with lunches either (I even brought someone lunch too).  I decided to make a hash for both of us.  I remember making hash browns out of cauliflower when I was doing "Atkins" years back, so I used that in place of potatoes.  My son wasn't big on the "cauliflower" thingy but I was hoping to change his mind.  My ingredients:

Roasted Tomato, Chick Pea, Red Onion Salad

I had these beautiful mini San Marzano tomatoes in the fridge that looked like grape tomatoes.

Spicy Cilantro Chicken, Spam & Shrimp Tacos with Guacamole

I had made some homemade guacamole and saw that I had some great wild Argentinian red shrimp in the freezer (31 - 40 count) so decided to make tacos.  I saw a couple of frozen boneless, skinless chicken breasts beside the shrimp so decided to use those up too.  I thawed them the night before.  I had been craving SPAM, so had a couple of fried slices for breakfast.  I decided to cube it in small dice and throw it in with the rest of the ingredients tonight.  I based my recipe loosely on this one.  Easy and straightforward.  I added some fresh corn off the cob, chili powder and cumin too.