Grilled Veggie Pasta Salad

So yesterday a friend asked her FB family for a new twist on a pasta salad. Coincidently I was making one for supper. So I thought I could share with all of you! Keeping the words short today. It's Friday and the house is still a mess, errands still have to be ran, and I would love to squeeze in a nap... not going to happen, but in an ideal world right?

Start by raiding your fridge for grillable vegetables. You like that right, Grillable.

I got some zucchini, peppers, mushrooms, and red onion.
Drizzle with olive oil and salt and pepper.

Grill. Big chunk chop.

Boil some pasta, I did Rotini, drain, throw in the bowl with the veggies.

Grab some cherry tomatoes and cut them in half, some green olives and do the same. Hey why not some artichoke hearts? (I didn't have any this time)

Throw all that in too.

Now some dressing. About 1/3 cup olive oil, 1/4 cup balsamic, salt and pepper, and chopped fresh basil. (measurements are very aprox. I don't measure sorry). Mix it up.

You got it, throw that it too.

Mix it up.

Add some cheese if you want. I had Haloom on hand.. Oh my yummy salty friend Haloom, how I love thee.

Hope you like it!

Two colour swirl

Ever wonder how to make those cute cupcakes even cuter? Two coloured swirl does it for me. In a pinch you throw some icing on your cupcake with a knife. If you have a little more time you pipe it on. A little more and you can do a two colour swirl.

So it was my eldest's birthday over the weekend and we went away on vacation, she got a frozen icing cream cake on her actual birthday. BUT the day before we left we gave her her presents and had some home made cupcakes. Instead of sharing a recipe today, I'm sharing a technique. Let's face it, in a real pinch Betty Crocker does just fine. :)

So start by making and cooling your cupcakes. These ones were vegan Mango. I made a regular Butter cream icing.

I took two disposable piping bags (they are recyclable) and put them in a tall glass, just to hold them still as I filled them. So much easier this way.

Then I tinted the icing using Wilton's Gel paste, one pink and one purple. (unlike me, my daughter really is a girlie girl)

Then I tied the top with these.

They are like those old school elastics we used to wear in the 70's early 80's. It basically just helps to keep the icing from coming out of the top of the bag.

Then snip the point of your bags, and place them both in your bigger piping bag like so.

If you have a 16" bag it really works best. I used the Wilton 2D tip for these. Twist the top of the bag to keep it all together. These take a little more elbow grease to get out, but it's still pretty simple. Just keep constant equal pressure.

I practiced on a plate to make sure that the two colours were blending. Then started on the cupcakes.

Cute like this? Yes. But wait. Fun activity find. I was at Winners and saw these:

So without telling my kids what they were for I got them to colour them.

Then after supper we put it all together. Pretty cute no?

Challah Bread

Oh my bread machine, how I love thee, let me count the ways. I don't know why I only tried this for the first time recently. Why did I over look it for so many years???

To all my bread lovers out there. You must MUST try this one.

Place in your bread machine:

3/4cups water
1 egg (beaten)
3 tbsp shortening (I used butter)
3 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
2 1/2 cups flour
1 1/4 tsp bread machine yeast

Set the machine on the dough cycle and let it do it's thing.

Once it has finished remove the dough from the pan and split it into 6 equal parts,

Roll them each in a ball

Then into a snake shape.

Then attach the snakes at one end.

Next you braid the 6 "ropes"

Voila, it's a little tricky, I'm not going to lie.

Let it rise for about 30 minutes

Combine 1 egg yolk and a splash of water, Brush over the bread.

Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes.

Let's just say that my kids ate all their Quinoa salad so they could get a piece of bread.

Mom's always love something home made. Right?

Inaya came home from school yesterday with the first piece of art that I actually said "I will never throw this out." You know they come home with scribbles on a paper from day care, they call it a flower, your like "What the heck??". Well not this. This one is a keeper. So I thought I would share the mothers day preparations that have been going on here for my mom, mother-in-law, and grandmother.

Let's start with the supper cute craft from Inaya. Simple to make for any of you scrambling around to get your kids to make something. So simple even a Dad could help his kid do this. (feel free to forward it to him).

Ok serious how cute is that. I know my pics are lack lustre, but still you get it right?

I then packed up the 4 kids for a trip to the basement to do, yes I'm going there, crafts. I am not a crafty person. I bake, pretty good at that... crafts, not so much. Patience... not so much. But here is what we did.

Finger paint hand flowers. Now you can't really see,but each of the 3 older kids dipped their hands in one particular colour, then stamped for hands, Inaya, Isa, then Zayan. I was going to do a single hand print from Layth in the middle, but he was not amused with this exercise.

Then I let them free style.

Isa called this a spirit. I'm not going to lie, he kinda creped me out.

So this morning it was my turn to bake up some treats.

Snickerdoodles, Coffee chocolate blondies, and Mango loaf.

Click *here* to get the snickerdoodle recipe. I'll share the blondies another day. But today I will share the Mango loaf.

Whisk together:
4 tbsp canola or other flavorless vegetable oil
3/4 cup sugar
Add 2 tbsp flax seed powder and beat in.
Add 2 cups mango pulp and beat until well mixed.
Then Add
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
2 level tsp powdered cardamom seeds
1/4 tsp salt
I wish I would have had sliced almonds and shredded coconut to add, next time.

Bake in a parchment lined loaf pan for about 45 minutes at 350, or until tooth pick comes out clean.

Wrap in up with a cute little bow.

Happy Mother's Day to all you fabulous Moms!