Garlic Scape Pesto

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Garlic Scape Pesto

Warning:  For garlic lovers only...all others beware the deliciousness!!!

It's garlic scape season again!!!!!!  Run, don't walk, to your nearest farmer's market and pick up some of these green beauties while you can, because their season is very short, too short, only 2 - 3 weeks in duration short.  I get a bit freakishly excited when I see garlic scapes at the market.  For example, my friend texted me that she picked up some garlic scapes and my reaction was 'Jealous!'  I've been known to buy armloads at at time, then go back for another bunch, then talk about it to whoever will listen.

Garlic Scapes !

Garlic scapes are one of the best kept secrets in the world of produce, and I'm here to out them.  The garlic scape is the long, bright green, usually curly stem that grows out of the garlic at the plant's maturity.  The closest thing that they resemble visually is a green onion, but they are hard to the touch unlike the soft green onion, with the stiffness of the stem of a daisy.  Their season is very short, from late June to early July (where I live anyway), and they can typically only be found at your local farmer's market.  Garlic scapes range in price from $1 to $2.50 a bunch - cheap, cheap, cheap - so get out there and support your local farmers.  They taste is exactly like garlic to me, which since I'm like very into garlic, works for me.

Golf Themed Cake

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I love my dad.  So much.  Enough to learn how to frost a cake with a cake decorating tip for his retirement party last year.  Which is something that I could never, ever, be great at.  I've just never been crafty...I don't think that I got that badge in Girl Guides.  But I do think that the golf-themed cake still turned out pretty well, all things considered.  This could be a great cake for your dad/husband/brother's celebration of their birthday/father's day/retirement.  Or hey, let's not discriminate here; it's great for golf-loving moms/wives/sisters/friends too!

I went to Michael's to buy the cake decorating tip, and may I just say that there is a whole world that I never even knew existed at Michaels in the cake aisle, including a whole section just for the various types of cake decorating tips alone.  To put it in perspective, the tip that I selected was called, "Grass," so that's how specific the cake tip selection gets.  Overwhelming.  I purchased my cake tip and left.
 

Creamy Bacon and Leek Pasta

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My family likes to cook.  So recently when we went away for a nice relaxing three-day weekend in Birch Bay just over the US border from our place, we decided to have a pasta throwdown.  Because why wouldn't you have an intense pasta competition on your relaxing family vacation.

The competition gets underway.

My family is obviously also competitive.  So when I called my dad a few days before our trip to let him know what kind of pasta I would be making and what my ingredients were, I shouldn't have been surprised when he remarked that he couldn't believe I had willingly given up my recipe so close to the competition and that he could really use this to his advantage.

Mini Peppers Stuffed With Goat Cheese and Asparagus

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Hurry and make this, while asparagus is still cheap in the stores!

I needed a healthy appetizer for when my sister-in-laws came over for some wine the other night.  I had a bag of mini bell peppers, a bunch of asparagus, and some goat cheese in the fridge, and this appetizer came to life.  Besides those three ingredients, the only other things you need are some olive oil, red pepper flakes, and garlic.  Although simple in terms of the number of ingredients, these healthy bites pack some delicious flavour.  And those mini peppers are just so cute.

My sister-in-laws and I gobbled down an entire platter of these mini peppers...they are so worth the asparagus pee!  But actually, in addition to eating too much food and drinking too much wine, the whole point of getting together that evening was to have an occasion to put on our wedding dresses one last time.  We pre-planned to meet at my place and throw the old gowns on for the night, because why spend so much money to just get to wear them once, right?!  I had never dry-cleaned mine after the wedding, so it still had McDonalds ketchup on it from the drive-thru on the way home from my wedding.  My sister-in-law Caitlin had mustard on hers for a similar reason, so there was no judgement.  The dresses didn't stay on too long, on account of then being extremely uncomfortable, but we had fun!