Announcing Violet August Miller!

Born at 6:35am on January 23rd in a surprisingly fast and unexpected home delivery.

Asparagus & Pesto Lasagna

Back in Cari’s vegetarian days and before our Life at No. 71 (more like Life on Bay Street?) began, we subscribed to Vegetarian Times. One of the first memorable recipes we came across was this Asparagus & Pesto Lasagna from the April 2006 issue.  It’s weird to think that this delicious, simple pasta dish has been a part of our cooking repertoire for almost five years.

Despite the fact that it tastes indulgent, thanks to its bechamel-like sauce and pesto base, this is actually a lighter recipe.  Just be aware of the fact that it uses a LOT of milk.

Asparagus & Pesto Lasagna

Chili-Bean Quesadillas

Cari and I cook a lot with tortillas.  They’re cheap, satisfying and versatile.  They’re also our go-to “I don’t know what to cook” meal.  Just load ’em up with whatever you’ve got in the fridge and you’re in business.

Trouble is, after a while the whole idea of putting whatever in a tortilla and baking it gets kind of boring.  That’s why we were very happy to find this Mark Bittman recipe that is also very simple but different enough that it satisfies our cravings for something a little different.

This is also the recipe that made us fall in love with poblano peppers.  While not as hot as some other peppers out there, be careful while you’re slicing them… I’ve had to avoid wearing my contact lenses the following day because some of the juice got absorbed into my fingertips.

Here’s the recipe, adapted from Mark Bittman’s How To Cook Everything Vegetarian

Italian Meatballs

We first tried these meatballs at an Italian food themed New Year’s Eve party a few years ago.  They were a big hit, and we’ve made it once or twice since then.  It seemed like a good recipe to increase in size and make for the sake of freezing.  Only this time instead of cooking our meatballs in a slow cooker, we did it in our beautiful Le Creuset Dutch Oven.

The combination of meats, cheeses and herbs make these meatballs some of the most delicious we’ve ever had.  They’re great tossed with pasta or served on a nice crusty Italian bread.

Here’s the recipe:

Black Bean Soup

There are a few recipes that Adam and I make pretty regularly. For most of these, we actually consult our blog for the recipe rather than trying to remember where we originally found the recipe and pulling it from there. Maybe we’re just lazy that way, but hey – that’s the main reason we started this blog to begin with: To remember the awesome dishes we love so we can revisit them easier later.

This recipe is one that we just assumed we’d blogged about, but when we went to find it we were pretty surprised to find it wasn’t there! So, here it is. One of our favourite winter soups – a black bean soup. This recipe was inspired by Panera’s black bean soup, and is one that never ceases to satisfy.

Full recipe:

2010 Food-In-Review

2010 was a great year for food, beginning with indulgences carried over from our New Year’s Eve into New Year’s Day continuing with great meal experiences at home and abroad, and it closed with some of the best things we and our friends have ever eaten.

A few highlights from 2010: