Oatmeal White Chocolate Cookies

Just a craving I had...and also because I've never eaten oatmeal cookies before.
I used the recipe found HERE.
Very clean and straight to the point recipe, to which I only have one thing to add...if towards the you find the dough to be a bit too dry, add a splash of vanilla or 1 teaspoon orange liqueur or even 1 teaspoon up to one tablespoon of milk and that will do just fine.
Will definitely make this again !


Ingredients:
120 gr plain flour


3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt


100 gr butter


100 gr Raw sugar


1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract


200 gr rolled or quick cooking oats


100 gr white chocolate, coarsely chopped





Directions:
Preheat oven to 180C (350 F) and line a baking sheet with a silicone mat or parchment paper.
Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl.
Beat butter and sugar until smooth.



Add egg and vanilla and beat until incorporated.


Add flour mixture and mix until almost combined.
Add oats


and chopped white chocolate, stir until incorporated.


Divide dough into golf size balls.
I used my coffee scooper to measure and then formed a ball in my palms which I then flattened into a nice disk.
Flatten a bit and place on baking sheet .



Bake for 12-15 minutes.


They will puff up a bit and from the distance the white chocolate chunks will almost resemble macadamia nuts.


Cool in the pan for 5-10 minutes before transferring to wire rack.

Grilled Pork Skewers and Corn on the Cob

I am not an expert in outdoors grilling, but I am slowly learning.
For this recipe, I just put together skewers with veggies (onion,


grape tomatoes


and bell pepper


) and pieces of pork loin


and also grilled 1 piece of corn on the cob,

Here they are:

The seasoning I used is the Chicago Steak Seasoning.


then removed it with a knife


and used it the next day in a salad.


I cooked on a Weber grill.
I just lit 40 charcoal briquettes, let the flames go out and the coal develop a light ash coating, and placed the skewers on the grill.
Covered with the lid, opened the vents and let it cook for 10 minutes, then turned on the other side and cooked for 10 more minutes.


I also sprayed some Pam oil right after turning on the other side.


Delicious !


I always take them off of the bamboo skewers.

Roasted Pork, Potato Wedges and Carrots

(Click on the pictures to see them in their REAL size.)


Quite easy, very tasty.
If you roast them for long enough, the potatoes will develop a crunchy side. Yum !
Count 2 potatoes per person and cut them into wedges (cut each potato in 4), then add to a medium size roasting pan.
Add some baby carrots or carrot slices, then add 2 pork slices and some oil, season with salt, pepper and toss to coat.
Cook in a 400 degrees preheated oven for 50 minutes.


Plate and sprinkle some parmesan cheese or mozzarella.


Enjoy !


Oh, and here are some pictures my husband recently took while in Canada.

Pesto Pasta with Country Sausage

Pesto is one of those ingredients that can be really healthful and flavorful - and - if you do not use it in moderation, it might end up overpowering your entire meal, so if you have not tried it yet, do keep an eye on the amount you use.
For those of you who might not know, pesto in general and especially in this particular case is made of 5 ingredients: basil, pine nuts, garlic, olive oil and salt.
There might be slight variations in the recipe, but that's what it mainly is made of.

That being said, let's get to the recipe part where I will tell you about one of the easiest meals possible.
Tastiest too.
It's basically comprised of cook the pasta, cook the sausage, combine, add pesto, plate and serve.
We had salad to go along, just because we like salads so much, but the dinner is very hearty and filling even without the salad.

Ingredients (for 2 people):

5 to 6 inches of sausage, preferable country sausage that you need to slice

1 TBSP oil (canola or sun flower oil - olive oil will burn and so will butter)

1 cup Rotelle ( which means mini wheels) pasta per person or some other fun shaped pasta you like



1 dash of salt for the pasta water
6 cups water to boil the pasta
2 teaspoons Italian pesto (purchased or homemade if you have all the ingredients)

Directions:

Begin by bringing the 6 cups of water to a boil in a pot.

While the water comes to a boil, slice the sausage and fry it lightly in the 1 TBSP oil in a skillet, then set aside.

Salt the water lightly and boil the pasta until al dente or until it reaches or desired softness level.
Drain.
Return back to the pot and add the sausage slices and the pesto.
Stir and plate.
Serve as is or accompanied by a serving of salad of your choice.

This might not look extremely appealing, but once you have your first bite, you will see that this is not like the regular pasta with tomato sauce - not by far.
We wanted to have spinach


in our salads, so we used that, lettuce,


shredded mozzarella and the dressing : Sun Dried Tomato for hubby


and Ranch Dressing for me.