What are YOU fueling up for? Kellogg's Vector #Giveaway!

Happy Summer Everyone!  

I sure hope that summer is treating you and your loved ones as good as it is treating us.  

We've been enjoying amazing weather (though a few too many forest fires) - and I have been so lucky to be home with our kids all summer. We've been camping, hiking, biking, golfing, beaching, road-tripping, wine tasting...it's been wonderful. And - we still have just under 5 more weeks until school starts.  Super-duper awesomeness!

So, how do you fuel up in the summer?  When we are outdoors, in addition to the mandatory water, we are always carrying extra snacks for our family.  Our go-to snacks are granola bars - especially ones with protein.  We love the convenience on the bars.  We've also got our favourite post-activity snacks - such as yogurt with fruit and granola - our kids just eat that up (I'm also a big yogurt and granola fan for breakfast).

Speaking of granola, did you know that Kellogg's has recently launched new Vector Granola Honey Almond Flavour?  They have, and it's good.  With 20g of protein per serving, 5g of fibre and 10 vitamins and minerals.  We were fortunate to have been given a sample to try - and while my almond-allergic hubby couldn't have any, the kids and I really enjoyed it with our yogurt and fresh strawberries from our garden!

Now for the best part...YOU have the chance to WIN a Kellogg's Vector Prize pack ($50 value!) - just like the one in the picture in this post.  Lucky you!  Enter below via the Rafflecopter.  Thanks so much...and watch for new recipe posts coming to Addicted to Recipes soon!  Despite our busy summer, we still need to eat, and I have been testing new recipes that will get posted soon!


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Summertime Pasta with Tomato & Basil

My most favourite cookbook series is the Whitewater Cooks series.  A very dear friend introduced the series to me, and she has given me two of the books as gifts.  My husband bought me the other.  The recipes are great, the photos are lovely, and the books are just beautiful.  The author is from British Columbia (the province where I live) and she uses ingredients that we can easily find, even people who are from smaller towns.  It's great! 

Last summer we had an abundance of tomatoes in our garden.  Last year was a stellar tomato crop, our little garden gave us over 1500 cherry tomatoes (4 different varieties)...I stopped counting at 1500 (yes...I counted, I couldn't believe our crop!).  Everyone had a gazillion tomatoes, so I wasn't able to share our bounty as much as I would have liked.  I turned some into salsa (YUM!) and we ate a lot of salads with tomatoes.  Then I found the recipe for Summertime Pasta in the Whitewater Cooks book.  And it became an instant favourite!  Here is the recipe (it is SO EASY):

½ cup olive oil
3 garlic cloves, sliced or minced (or more if you love garlic)
2 cups cherry tomatoes cut in half
Sea salt (to taste)
Fresh pepper (to taste)
Fresh basil, chopped (to taste)
1 cup asiago cheese
1 package spaghetti or other thin pasta

In the morning, cut cherry tomatoes and chop basil, put into a large bowl. Add salt and pepper to taste (we use Epicure’s Chili Garlic Sea Salt and the 4 Pepper Blend). In a frying pan over medium low heat, heat olive oil. Add garlic to the olive oil. Cook for about a minute, just long enough to infuse the garlic and oil. Transfer oil and garlic to the bowl of tomatoes. Cover with plastic wrap and let the mixture sit at room temperature all day.

At dinnertime, cook and drain your pasta. Add the pasta to the tomato mixture and toss to combine. Serve with freshly grated asiago cheese. If you find asiago cheese too strong, try a different cheese, such as parmesan or mozzarella.

We usually serve the pasta with a grilled chicken, makes for all around nice, healthy meal.

VERDICT:
This dish is a HUGE hit in our house, and I can see it being made regularly over the next while with the tomatoes being harvested.  And it is so easy to make - start it in the morning, let it sit all day, cook up some pasta and grill some meat and dinner is done, just like that!

Did you know that you can also follow me on Facebook and Twitter?!

Italian Cream Soda

At the beginning of the summer, Ann at Sumptuous Spoonfuls shared the recipe for Very Berry Italian Cream Soda.  I picked it as one of my features from Scrumptious Sunday that week...how could I not?  Cream soda, my favourite soda from when I was a kid!  And her photos looked so tasty.  And it was the start of summer, and this summer I made sure we enjoyed all sorts of new summery beverages!  So, not too long after featuring the recipe, we made it....and well...the verdict is below!  Here is the recipe that I used (a little different than the original...we don't have mulberries here, and I didn't substitute any other berries):

Syrup:
Strawberries - approx 1 lb fresh - washed and cut up
Handful of fresh basil leaves - washed
1 cup water
1/2 cup - 3/4 cup sugar (sweeten to taste)
1 teaspoon vanilla

In a saucepan, put the strawberries, basil, water, sugar and vanilla.  Bring to a boil over medium high heat.  Stir occasionally.  Once boiling, reduce the heat to medium and simmer until the berries break down, approximately 15 minutes.  The sauce will be bright red.  Strain the syrup (I strained a few times) and pour into a glass container.  Refrigerate. 

Once the syrup is cool, you are ready to make your cream soda!  Here is what you will need:

Glass
Ice
1/2 cup Club Soda
3 tablespoons syrup (we like ours sweet)
2 tablespoons half & half

Fill your glass with ice.  Add in the club soda and syrup.  Pour the cream over top (and like Ann tells us, watch the beautiful art that the cream makes in the glass!).  Stir, and enjoy!

VERDICT:
These were so so so tasty.  A hit with the whole family!  (well, the baby is too young to have soda)  Ann shared a winner!  We enjoyed several of these over the summer (thanks to a wonderful crop of strawberries and basil in our garden!). I liked mine a little more berry-ful than the orginal recipe - so I often used 3-4 tablespoons on the syrup in my soda.

Coconut Shrimp

Our oldest son is a HUGE shrimp fan.  Seriously, huge.  I am pretty sure if we served him a plate full of shrimp he would eat every single piece of it!  So, we try to have shrimp on a somewhat regular basis, especially when I can find sales :-)  Because we seem to be trying panko with a lot of things lately, I did a little search for a breaded shrimp recipe, and I found a Coconut Shrimp recipe over at Skinnytaste that sounded pretty appealing!  Here is the recipe:

24 large shrimp, peeled and devined
1/2 cup shredded sweetened coconut
1/2 cup panko crumbs
1-2 tablespoons flour
1 large egg
Salt (to taste, likely just a pinch)
Cooking spray

Preheat the oven to 425F.

Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and spray lightly with cooking spray.

In a bowl, combine the coconut, panko, and salt.

In a second bowl, place the flour.

In a third bowl, whisk the egg.

Line up your dishes in order: 1) Flour, 2) Egg, 3) Panko mixture, 4) Baking sheet.  Dip your shrimp in the flour, then egg, then panko, then place on the baking sheet.  Repeat this process until all the shrimp are done.  Lightly spray the shrimp with cooking spray.

Bake for 7 minutes on the middle rack, flip the shrimp, then bake for another 7-10 minutes, or until the shrimp are cooked.

We served ours with a sweet chili thai sauce.

VERDICT:
Shrimp are always a hit in our house, and we were "fighting" over the last ones on the tray.  These were great!  We enjoyed them as an appetizer on a hot day, eating out on our patio.  So very good!  A bit of work - so many shrimp to dredge and dip, but worth it!

Asian Noodle Salad

Last week, I told you about the Spicy Charred Calamari that I made....this is the accompanying salad!

Asian Noodle Salad (Source: Chatelaine, June 2012)


Fine rice-vermicelli noodles
2 teaspoons lemon zest
3 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons fish sauce
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 cup chopped cilantro

In a large bowl, cover noodles completely with boiling water.  Let stand, stirring regularly until the noodles are your desired tenderness, approximately 5-7 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl, whisk together the lemon zest, lemon juice, fish sauce and sugar.  This will be your dressing.

Drain your noodles and rinse in cold water (very important to do this!).  Squeeze the excess water from the noodles (also very important!).  Put the noodles back in the bowl, and add your dressing and cilantro.  Mix well.

Serve the noodles, top with the Spicy Charred Calamari, and enjoy!

VERDICT:
I really enjoyed the noodles, so nice, light and FRESH tasting.  We love cilantro (which is a GOOD thing since it is growing wild in our back yard this year!) so I am always happy to find recipes that call for cilantro (hint...when you make tacos, if you mix onion, lime and cilantro together, it makes the onions OH so so so good, we always have to have our taco onions prepared that way!).

Scrumptious Sunday #18 - Features

Another week, another great party! Thanks for taking the time to link up, even with the Canada Day and Independence Day holidays!  I appreciate all of you!

If you are featured, I sure would love for you to grab a BUTTON (and help promote my blog), thank you so much!

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Congratulations to this week's features!

This sounds like an amazing dip, and I really really want to try it!

Hotsy Totsy Summer Shrimp Dip from Sumptuous Spoonfuls

We eat a lot of cucumbers in our home, and I think this change would be tasty!

Sweet and Spicy Cucumber Slices from All is Amazing

This just looks so.darn.good!  Tara, can we come over for dinner?!

Bun from Noshing with the Nolands

My hubby LOVES Oatmeal Raisin Cookies...this one is for him!

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies from Forgetful Momma

And these look so fun - I've never worked with meringue before, except for the topping on a lemon meringue pie!

Yoghurt Choc Strawberry Meringues from With A Blast

All of these recipes will be pinned to my Pinterest account, posted on Twitter, and shared on Facebook!

Just a reminder, this week's Scrumptious Sunday Link Party goes live Saturday - at 8 pm PST. Can't wait to see what you bring to the party!

Strawberry Lemonade

A few weeks ago I shared with you a recipe for Strawberry Infused Vodka...that sure was tasty...and since then I've also made some Blueberry Infused Vodka, another delicious treat!  Both of these pair nicely with Sprite/7-Up and the Strawberry version really paired nicely with Strawberry Lemonade.  Ever since I made this lemonade, I have been craving more...good thing I have more lemons!  Now if only the weather would smarten up!  Here is the recipe:

Homemade Strawberry Lemonade (Source: My Baking Addiction)


1 cup sugar
1 cup water
Fresh strawberries
1 cup fresh lemon juice (approximately 6-8 lemons, freshly squeezed)
4-6 cups cold water

Combine the sugar and 1 cup of water in a saucepan.  Heat over medium heat until the sugar is disolved, stirring occasionally.  Allow to cool.  This makes your simple syrup.

Squeeze/juice the lemons.

Take the strawberries and 1/2 cup water and puree in a blender.

Combine the cooled simple syrup, pureed strawberries and the lemon juice in a large pitcher.  Add water - start with 4 cups and taste.  Add more water as your taste prefers. 

VERDICT:
Oh.My.Goodness.  This was so so good!  What a perfect summer drink, I look forward to enjoying more to cool off from the heat of summer.  The lemonade was a hit with everyone in the family!