I had some spinach, whipping cream and pine nuts. This is what I threw together. It turned out tasty, and the sauce came together in the time it took to cook the noodles.


Spinach Pine Nut Pasta Sauce
2 tbsp butter
1 shallot, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 package (300g) chopped frozen spinach, thawed
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup whipping cream
2 tbsp Parmesan cheese
1/4 toasted pine nuts

1. Heat the butter over medium high heat. When melted, add shallots and cook until softened. Add garlic and cook 1 min more.
2. Add spinach and Worcestershire sauce. Cook until warmed through, stiring occasionally.
3. Add cream and Parmesan. Cook another 2-5 mins until everything is combined - or your noodles are ready.
4. Serve over pasta, sprinkle the pine nuts on top.

I know I've only been posting about ice-cream and cake.....but my regular meals have been pretty dull recently. And I really really like eating cake and ice-cream.

This weekend's project (aside from reading Harry Potter) was this cake from Baking: From My Home to Yours.
It was a make-up for my brother's birthday because I didn't have time to bake him a cake earlier in the month. He is a big fan of chocolate and peanuts.

As a bonus here is a picture of the lasagna that my Mom made for Sunday dinner. It was delicious, but ever so slightly spicy.

Strawberry Sour Cream Ice-Cream

As I child I, was absolutely disgusted that my parents would put sour cream on top of strawberries. Disgusted. And yet, tastes change and now I think it is an awesome combination.

When I was looking through what I have started referring to as "the big baking book", Baking, From My Home to Yours, I saw a recipe for blueberry sour cream ice-cream. Now, I am not a huge blueberry fan. Fresh, I love them. Cooked or puree, not my cup of tea. But....I am sure you can see where I am going here....I thought to myself this would be awesome with strawberries.

My Dad wasn't sure if there would be any good Ontario strawberries at the market this week - but happily there still were and even more happily he sprung for a flat and gave me two pints.


The flavour of this ice-cream is very fresh, and I think the tang from the sour cream and a lemon juice is a nice contrast to the sweetness. However, I found this ice-cream a little more icy and less creamy than some of the others I made. I think if I made it again I will use 35% cream.


Strawberry Sour Cream Ice-Cream

500g hulled strawberries, about 4 cups
juice from 1/2 a lemon
1 cup sour cream
1/2 heavy cream (I used 18%)
2/3 - 1 cup sugar

1. Add all ingredients, except sugar, to the blender and puree. Add about 1/3 a cup cup of the sugar and blend. Taste the mixture. Depending on the sweetness of the strawberries, you may need to add another 1/3-2/3 cups of sugar.
2. Freeze in your ice-cream maker according to directions.

If you have left over strawberries, you can always have french toast with strawberries.

On one last note, this weekend it was the birthday of my friend Molly who likes lemons and has the same shoe size as me. I made the lemon yogurt cake for her, doubling the recipe and baking it in a bundt pan. The baking time was pretty much the same.
Photo taken by Paul.

But there was no pie....

Last week, my Dooda - my grandfather - went to a strawberry social. When my mom asked him how it was afterwards she found out that, "It was good....but there was no pie." He says this every year after the strawberry social. And every year, the next time my Dooda comes over for diner, my mother bakes him pies. Happily, as I am a child in good standing with my parents, I was invited over for this pie extravaganza.

My mother made lemon meringue.


As well as a strawberry pie.
This pie was very delicious. My mother made a glaze with cooked strawberries, so the pie had the taste of both cooked and fresh strawberries. Surprisingly, the lemon-strawberry combination was also really delicious.