From the lack of updates it probably looks like I haven’t been cooking much. While I have been cooking, although less frequently than I wish, it’s really just been not having the time to post.

Today, I finally got around to uploading my photos and discovered a bunch of shots from an amazing meal I made a few weeks back: fresh pasta with farmers’ market peas and spring onions. I know I jotted down the recipe on the back of an envelope or something that has since disappeared (shocking!), but the truth is that for something this fresh and delicious you don’t really need a recipe.

In fact, I’m not even sure what the highlight of the dish is: the fresh homemade pasta or the glorious peas and onions straight from local farms. But the best part of this weeknight meal is that it came together in less than hour!

I started with the homemade pasta by whipping up the dough and letting it rest at room temperature for about 30 minutes. I then rolled it into thin pieces using a pasta machine, but cut it by hand into wider pieces, which was a lot of fun.

While waiting for the pasta dough to rest, I prepped the other ingredients and began making the sauce: sauteed the chopped spring onions in equal parts butter and olive oil (be generous – this is the base of the pasta sauce!) until soft and caramelized, added minced garlic and cooked until fragrant, then removed the pan from the heat and stirred in about a cup of fresh shelled peas.

Next I cooked the pasta in batches of salted, boiling water and strained the noodles directly into the saute pan with the vegetables. Fresh pasta cooks really quickly – just two minutes. Finally, I stirred in ricotta cheese, fresh mint and basil, lemon juice, and salt and pepper to taste. Save a bit of the pasta cooking water to thin out the consistency of the sauce if necessary.

And that’s it! Fresh, simple and incredibly delicious – quite possibly the best thing I’ve had all summer that didn’t contain chocolate!

Chocolate cake with chocolate frosting is my favorite dessert. If you’ve ever spent any real time with me, I can guarantee you’ve heard me whine about needing chocolate cake, and needing it now! It truly is my favorite and when I’m craving it nothing else will suffice. That is until recently when I discovered Red Velvet Cake.

While not a traditional chocolate cake – especially given that it’s best with cream cheese frosting (gasp!) – this moist, delicious cake contains cocoa powder, giving it that hint of chocolatelyness that I need but in a much more quizzical way.

If you’ve never made it before you must try this recipe adapted from Paula Deen, which is one of the easiest from-scratch cupcake recipes out there. It takes just minutes to whip up the batter and get the cupcake tins in the oven!

Here’s the recipe for Red Velvet Cupcakes:

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Despite my carb-centric tendencies, every so often I can handle a bread or grain-free meal, especially if it’s something as fresh and crisp as these Mango Jicama Lettuce Wraps.

The filling is simple – ground turkey, chicken or even those strange soy crumble things (more on those later) mixed with aromatics and Asian flavors. But it’s the mango jicama slaw that really makes the dish pop. The sweet, cool, crunchy flavors are offset by the warm, savory protein filling, and all of it is wrapped in fresh, crisp butter lettuce leaves.

Now, about the filling. For a while I’ve been curious about those frozen soy crumbles and decided this was a good opportunity to give them a try. While not offensive in flavor or texture, next time I’ll definitely stick to lean ground turkey or chicken which, to me at least, tastes much more natural.

Here’s the recipe for Mango Jicama Lettuce Wraps:

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One of my favorite quick-and-easy egg dishes – and in fact one of the few I like – is a balsamic fried egg. Usually I make it with mushrooms because I often have them around, but sometimes I like to change it up a bit, such as this delicious incarnation of asparagus, garlic and cherry tomatoes.

The concept is the same: saute the vegetables, fry the egg, combine everything in the pan and add a dash of good quality aged balsamic vinegar. Two minutes later and a healthy dinner (or breakfast) is served!

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It’s not often I eat pizza. While of course I like it, the fact that most are loaded with cheese is enough of a deterrent for my lactose sensitive self to order something different.

This is why making pizza is so fun! I tried a new pizza crust today, the winner of the pizza contest on Food 52. If you haven’t checked out Food 52, you absolutely must! It’s a really cool project where the public submits and votes on recipes for a cookbook that will be published later this year. (To toot my own horn a bit, I won one of the contests last summer!)

This recipe by TasteFood truly is a winner! It was easy to make and crisped up beautifully in the oven. I made half the recipe which was enough for two medium-smallish pizzas and cooked them at a higher temperature than the recipe stated. The only problem I had was getting the pizza onto the hot stone as I don’t own a pizza peel. It would’ve turned out prettier but at least the taste wasn’t affected.

While a peel would make life easier, a pizza stone really is essential to get a good, crisp crunch. Mine was inexpensive (from Target I think) and fairly small for easy storage, but it gets the job done.

And as for the unconventional toppings of chive cream cheese (in my case non-dairy cream cheese), smoked salmon, shallots, tomatoes and watercress? Absolutely divine and a new favorite that all must try! Trust me, you’ll thank for me for it someday!

Here’s the recipe for Smoked Salmon Pizza:

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