Stuffed Pork Tenderloin, Beets, and Kale

It's been a while since I have posted any recipes or meals.  Mostly that is because dinner is now whatever I can make in between feedings, diaper changes, and load of laundry.  I have found that anything I can throw in the oven for a solid chunk of time is really helpful.  This whole dinner took 45 minutes, with most of that being cooking time.  In addition to being easy and fast, this dinner was super tasty and pretty healthy.

Pork Tenderloin stuffed with Goat cheese, Spinach and Cranberries

Ingredients:
1 pork tenderloin
handful spinach
2 oz. goat cheese
1/4 c. dried cranberries
1/4 c. balsamic vinaigrette salad dressing

Directions:
Preheat over to 350.

Butterfly your pork tenderloin and pound until thin.  Sprinkle 2 oz. of goat cheese over the pork.  Layer spinach on top of cheese.  Sprinkle cranberries on last.

Roll up your pork and place seem side down in a baking dish.  Coat with salad dressing.

Bake 35 minutes or until cooked to satisfaction (I like my pork with a bit of pink).

Roasted Beets

Peel and slice your beets (3 beets is plenty for Seth and I).  Coat with olive oil, salt and pepper.  Place in covered baking dish (cast iron works wonderfully).  Roast at 350 for 40 minutes.

Kale

Wash your kale well (it can be gritty).  Pull the steam out of each leaf and tear into bite sized pieced.  Get a pan and just a bit of olive oil  pretty hot.  Dump in a bit a kale, it should crackle and pop a little bit.  Turn it until it starts to wilt.  Add more kale.  Repeat until all your kale is cooked down.  I like mine on the less done side of thing (wilted, but not limp).  Toss your cooked kale with the juice of 1/2  a lemon and a sprinkle of coarse salt.  The cooking process generally takes about 5 minutes.

Enjoy!

Thanksgiving revisited

So Thanksgiving, right?  I know, I am a little behind.  Even though it was only a little over a week ago, its already been long forgotten in the rush that is the Christmas season.  But I'm not ready to let it go yet, plus these recipes would all be great for Christmas!

Before I go on much further, let me say I actually impressed myself.  The day was a bit nutty between making dinner, running the dogs back and forth to my moms house, feeding the baby, and enjoying time with my in-laws, but dinner was on the table by 4 and it was mighty tasty.

Lets start- you remember the plan?  I followed it to a T.

The Pork- OMG, the pork.  I skipped the pan sauce, but holy cannoli this was amazing!  Please, promise to make it for a gathering.  Its super simple and way tasty.

The Stuffing- also really good.  I meant to add bacon to the recipe, but forgot.  Seth commented that it was "very appley," which I take as a good thing.

The Carrots- if I could skip one recipe, this would be it.  They weren't bad. so much as they were just meh...

Mashed Taters- I wish I has paid attention cause my MIL knows her way around a tater...  Those suckers were good.  She tells me the secret is evaporated milk and lots of butter.

The Kale- MAKE THIS ONE NOW...  Do not wait for a special occasion, it is amazing!

Cranberry Sauce- generally, I just kinda make up my own recipe and it always turns out just fine.  This year, I decided to take the easy route and used a recipe.  It was excellent and it was so nice to use the crockpot instead of worrying about another pot on the stove.

Pecan Pie- I am not generally a pecan pie kinda girl, but this pie was pretty freakin good.  Give it a try.

Apple Pie- Much like the kale, I demand you make this pie.  I did tweak the recipe just a bit.  I just poured the sauce over the apples and then did a crumb topping.  It was pretty awesome.

That was my Thanksgiving- it was tasty and fairly easy to pull off.  How did everyone else fair?  Anybody started to think about Christmas dinner yet?

Lets Talk Turkey...

Or rather, lets not, since I don't plan to make a turkey (blasphemy I know).  But lets back just a bit...  This Thanksgiving, we will be hosting Seth's family- his mom, brother, sister in law, and 13 month old niece.  I am very excited to see my in laws and celebrate Ella's first Thanksgiving. 

But, like I said, I will not be making a turkey.  Simply, neither Seth nor I like turkey.  I find even  the best cooked turkey to be boring and I don't like boring when it comes to my food.

The only turkey we'll see on Thursday is the one on Ella's sweet bottom

So what will I be cooking?  So glad you asked...

Before dinner, I will have a few cheeses, some crackers, hummus, carrots and celery set our for munching.  I know one of the cheeses will be have to be goat cheese since Miss E seems to have a dairy sensitivity and I cannot say no to a cheese plate.

The star of the dinner will be a pork crown roast with a pecan apple stuffing.  We will also have braised kale, glazed carrots, cranberry sauce, spiced peaches if I can find them) and my mother in law's mashed taters.  I am sure my papa would be ashamed that I am skipping the picked watermelon rind...

And for dessert I will be making a pecan pie and an apple pie.

Most of these recipes are new to me, so there is always the chance that some dishes will fall flat.  However, I am pretty selective about choosing recipes, so I am hopeful that everything will turn out a-okay.  Plus everything seems pretty straight forward, so kitchen chaos should be minimal.  I'll be back sometime after the holiday with a full debrief.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Beastie's Chicken in a Pita

So we call my mom Beastie.  Her name is Betsy and once upon a time, one of my cousins misspelled her name as Beasty and it stuck.  And we love our Beastie.  And Beastie gets all the credit for this quick and tasty meal.

Ingredients: 

boneless, skinless chicken breasts
lemon pepper marinade
lemon pepper seasoning
pitas
plain greek yogurt
cucumbers
garlic
lemon juice
dill
salt and pepper

Note: I have not included amounts, because amounts don't matter so much for this one.  You can easily make more or less depending on your needs.

Directions:

Marinate your chicken.  Longer is better.  But not too long.

While your chicken is marinating, make your cucumber sauce.  Simply peel and slice your cucumbers.  Mix together cucumber slices, plain greek yogurt, minced garlic, a squeeze of lemon juice, dash of dill, and salt and pepper to taste.  You can make this earlier in the day.  Let it hang out in the  fridge.

Once you feel like your breasts are good and soaked (hehe), slice them really thin and coat them with lemon pepper seasoning.

Next, get a pan good and hot.  Add a little oil.  Cook chicken slices, making sure they get good and brown (and cook all the way through).

Dump chicken on pita and top with cucumber sauce.  Enjoy!

Cilantro Lime Shrimp

This past weekend in NC was glorious.  I'm talking mid-60's and sunny.  I even went running in shorts and a t-shirt.  With the warm, springy weather, Seth and I were craving something light, fresh and zesty.  Luckily I had just the thing pinned. 

Cilantro Lime Shrimp
from Never Enough Thyme

Ingredients
1 tbs. butter (hell make it 2!)
1 tbs. olive oil
garlic, as much as you like
1 onion, chopped
1 jalapeno, chopped
1/4 tsp. (or more) red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp. oregano
2 tomatoes, chopped
1 lime, zest and juice
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 lb. shrimp, peeled and deveined
2 tbs (or more) chopped cilantro

Method
1. melt the butter and oil in a skillet over medium high heat
2. saute garlic, onion and jalapeno
3. add the red pepper flakes and oregano, cook for  a minute
4. add the maters and cook until they are soft
5. add the shrimp, lime juice and zest, salt and pepper
6.  cook until the shrimp are done
7. stir in the cilantro and serve

I dumped this over brown rice and made a little salad to go with it.  Excellent meal!

Thanksgiving: Appetizers

Okay y'all, Thanksgiving is only a little more than 2 weeks away, which means its time to talk about food.  I sure do love food.  In order for this series of posts to make sense, I must clarify one big thing.  Seth and I do Thanksgiving just the two of us.  I absolutely adore my family and Seth's family, but there is just something so nice about it just being the two of us.  We like to think that we are building the traditions that we will one day pass on to our kiddos.  So with the sappy out of the day, onto the recipes.

I love to have some form of appetizer out.  We usually put it out fairly early because we don't want to fill up too fast.  This year, I have two options I am playing with.

First up, Pogaca.  What the hell is Pogaca?  Well, its fluffy cheese bread.  I have never had it, but really come on, cheese+bread=hell yes.  Seth also has really fond memories of this stuff from when his family was living in Hungary.  If I don't do this for an appetizer, it will certainly make the rounds at dinner.  The recipe is below.

Option two: Y'all are going to think I 've lost my marbles for good with this one, but I promise it is delicious.  Brie with caramel sauce.  I'll give you just a minute to pick your jaw up off the floor...  Ready?  Recovered?  Seth and I had this combo a few weeks ago.  The Fresh Market had little boxes of brie with caramel, so we gave it a go and man, it was so good!  Seth and I ate this at room temperature, so I think the only thing I would do differently is heat it up a bit so the cheese gets all gooey.  I promise, the recipe for this one goes like this:  open wedge of brie, dump caramel on top.  DONE-ZO!

Tune in later this week when I will tackle the healthier aspects of our meal (fruits and veggies), the carbs, the main dish (spoiler alert: it ain't turkey) and desert.

Pogaca

Ingredients
4 c. flour
1/4 c. warm milk
1 tbs. yeast
1/2 c. vegetable oil
1 tbs. sugar
1 tsp. salt
3/4 c. mineral water
half bunch of parsley
1 1/2 c. feta cheese
1 egg yolk
poppy seeds

Directions:
Mix sugar and yeast with the milk, let proof.  Then combine all ingredients flour- mineral water (including the sugar/milk/yeast).  Mix well.  The dough should be pliable and not sticky.  Add more water or flour if needed.  Cover dough with a moist cloth and let it rest for 45 minutes.

Chop the parsley and mix it in with the cheese.

Pinch off a small piece of dough and flatten it with your hands.  Dump a tsp of cheese into the break and fold upwards into a bundle.  Place the pogaca's on a parchment lined tray, folded side down.

Preheat oven to 350

Beat the egg yoke and coat the pogacas.  Sprinkle with poppy seeds.

Bake for 30 minutes or until golden.

Butternut Squash Hash

I love the fall.  The break from the relentless summer heat and humidity, beautiful changing leaves and a serious change in food.  I love fall foods- winter squash, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, orange food.  Seeing that butternut squash was on sale at the Teeter, I got it into my head that I should try and make some butternut squash hash.  My recipe is based on this one.

 Butternut Squash Hash and Eggs

Ingredients
Veggie bacon
1/2 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic
1 butternut squash, peeled and diced
1 potato, diced
1/2 c. apple cider vinegar
1 tsp. (or more) of hot sauce
4 eggs

Method

Preheat oven to 400

Cook your bacon and set aside

Saute your onion and garlic.  Add your squash and tater.  Cook until the tater and squash begin to get soft.  Add the vinegar and hot sauce.  Cover and cook until everything is nice and soft.  Add in your bacon.

Make four wells in your hash and crack eggs into them.  Place in over and cook until whites are set.

Enjoy!

Lentil Veggie Soup

Sorry folks no pictures of this one.  This is not a pretty dish.  In fact, its down right ugly, but it sure is good.  Feel free to omit or sub out any veggies that aren't to your taste.  Really this is a versatile little soup.


Lentil and Veggie Soup

Ingredients
1 Tbs. Olive Oil
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic
3 carrots, peeled and chopped
3 stalks of celery, chopped
4 c. veggie stock
1 1/2 c. lentils
1 small butternut squash, peeled and chopped
1 package frozen spinach

Methods

Heat oil and saute onions, garlic, carrots and celery until soft

Add lentils, broth and squash.  If necessary, add water until all ingredients are covered. Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer.

Cook 20-30 minutes or until lentils and squash are tender.  Add spinach.  Season her up- really any way you like.  I like a bit of spice so just some salt, pepper and red pepper flakes did the job.

Enjoy!

Raw Kale Salad

Now before you go all, "eewwww raw kale" on me, I promise you that kale, raw or cooked, is delicious.  If you haven't tried it, you should (yes, mom, I am looking at you).  And if you have tried kale, try it this way.  You'll love it.

This recipe comes from Happy Health Life- Thanks Kathy!

Start with a nice big bunch of wash and shredded kale, make sure you remove the tough stem in the process...

Kale, Yum!

Now mix up some dressing...

This dressing is:
2 1/2 tbs tahini
3 tbs rice vinegar
2 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 tbs olive oil
2 tsp maple syrup

Next toss your dressing and kale together and add toppings....

Based on the recipe I added:
3 tbs sunflower seeds
1 granny smith apple
1 avocado
1 tomato
1 can of juice packed mandarin oranges
1/2 red onion

Arranged all pretty like...

And a close up of all the prettiness....

In the slightly annoying words of Rachel Ray, YUM-O

Grilled Shrimp Panzanella

As I mentioned in my last post, part of my summer absence was due to a mandatory work retreat.  I am not gonna lie- I dread our work retreat every year.  And this year, it was twice as long as years previously.  However, for our team building exercise, I scheduled a cooking lesson with Chief Elliott of Elliott's on Linden.  This certainly made the whole experience much better.

The whole Elliott's compound was awesome.  There is the resturant, but also a sweet "provision" store with awesome speciaility foods and a ton of kitchen gadgets.  I was in heaven.

Chief Elliott demonstrated four dishes: grilled shrimp panzanella, a watermelon and tomato salad, grilled scallops with a pea puree and an asian steamed salmon.  All of it was beyond delicious.  As soon as I got home, with recipes in hand, I knew I had to make the shrimp panzanella for Seth.

Grilled Shrimp Panzanella

Ingredients
24 shrimp
loaf of stale bread
3 maters
2 bell peppers
2 green onions
parsley
basil
mint
3 cloves of garlic
2 tbs. capers
6 tbs. red wine vingar
8 tbs. olive oil
umami paste or mixture of tomato paste and anchovy paste

Directions
Shred your bread.  If you buy a fresh loaf, do this the day ahead of time and let it get nice and dry.  Alternatively, if you are short on time, pop your bread chunks in a 200 degree oven until they are dry.

Grill your shrimp.

Add the tomatoes, peppers, scallions and capers to the bread.

Mix together the olive oil, garlic, parsley, vinegar, salt, pepper and various pastes.  Quick note:  adding just a bit of umami paste/tomato and anchovy paste makes the most amazing difference in the dressing.  Its just makes you go mmmmmmmmmmm. 

Pour your dressing over the salad, mix in your herbs, top with your shrimp and enjoy!

Basil Pasta with Cheesy Tomatoes

Summer is here in the south and, aside from mind numbing heat, that means loads of beautiful tomatoes at the farmers market.  Seth and I made a quick run out to the big farmers market on Sunday and were pleased to also snag some beautiful fresh basil.  This dish did a wonderful job of highlighting both the tomatoes and basil and was super quick and easy to make.  All in all, this is a great summer dinner.

Basil Pasta with Cheesy Tomatoes 
Real Simple

Ingredients
12 oz. spaghetti
3 large tomatoes, cut into thick slices
3 tbs. olive oil
salt and pepper
fresh mozzarella, sliced
1/4 c. cup parmesan cheese
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/4 tsp. to 1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper
3/4 cup torn basil leaves


Directions
1. Preheat your broiler.  Cook your pasta according to directions, drain and return to pot.
2. Arrange the tomato slices on a baking sheet.  Season with salt and pepper.  Layer with mozzarella and parmesan.  Broil until the cheese in nice and bubbly, 3-5 minutes,
3. In a small sauce pan, warm oil with the garlic and pepper until fragrant, 1 to 2 minutes.
4. Add the garlic oil and basil to the pasta and toss well.  Serve topped with cheesy tomatoes and additional parmesan.


Enjoy!

 

An Herbal Pleasure Dish

There's this Thai restaurant in Greensboro that designates certain items on their menu as herbal pleasure dishes.  I know its an accurate description, but it never fails to make me giggle.  Something about it just makes me think of a hooker covered in basil...  And in typical ironic fashion, both Saturday's dinner and desert ended up being what can only be described as herbal pleasure dishes.  Sadly, no basil covered hookers were present...

Seth planned the meals this weekend (I love not having to figure out what we're gonna eat!) and he decided he wanted to try Dave Lieberman's Spicy Coconut Shrimp with Spicy Mango Basil Salsa and Lime Jasmine Rice.  This recipe was super simple to make and absolutely divine.  It was a perfect balance between spicy marinated shrimp with sweet mango and lovely fluffy rice to set it all off.  Perfect for a sweltering hot summer night.

And speaking of a hot summer night, given the temperatures we have been experiencing (hello 90's in early June!), I got the itch to break out the old ice cream maker.  I found a recipe for frozen yogurt using Greek yogurt, fresh  mint, honey and lemon.  I served this up with fresh raspberries and it was so very refreshing.  A perfect finish to our spicy sweet dinner.

Spicy Coconut Shrimp with Spicy Mango Basil Salsa and Lime Jasmine Rice

Salsa
1 mango, peeled and diced
3 scallions, sliced
5 basil leaves, cut into ribbons
1 lime, juiced
salt and pepper

Combine all ingredients, cover and refrigerate.  Can be made up to a day in advance.

Shrimp
2 jalapenos, slices
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 in piece fresh ginger, peeled and grated
2 tbs. brown sugar
2 tbs. soy sauce
1/2 lime, zested
1/4 c. coconut milk
small handful of basil leaves, torn
2 tbs. vegetable oil
1/2 tsp. salt
15 grinds pepper
1 lb. peeled, deveined shrimp

Combine all ingredients, except for the shrimp.  This makes your marinate.  Marinate the shrimp in this mixture for at least 30 minutes and up to 4 hours.

Heat a nonstick skillet over high heat.  Using tongs, remove the shrimp from the marinade and place in an even layer, reserving the marinade.  Cook the shrimp until well browned on each side, turning once, about 3 to 4 minutes total.  Transfer to a serving plate.

Add the reserve marinade to the pan, bring to a boil and cook until slightly thickened (about 5 minutes).  Pour over the shrimp and serve with rice and salsa.

Rice
1 c. jasmine rice
3/4 c. coconut milk
3/4 c. water
pinch salt
1/2 lime, zested

Place the rice, coconut milk, water and salt in a saucepan and bring to a simmer.  Cover and gently cook until liquid is absorbed (about 12-15 minutes).  Fluff with a fork and stir in the lime zest.


Frozen Greek Yogurt

2 c. non fat greek yogurt
2 c. 2% greek yogurt
juice of 1 lemon
1/4 c. honey
10 fresh mint leaves, chopped

Combine all ingredients and mix well.  Place in your ice cream maker and freeze according to your manufactures directions (generally 15-25 minutes).  If a firmer texture is desired, you may need to place in a freezer container and freeze for a few more hours. 

Pasta with Spinach, Gorgonzola and Walnuts

I love pasta, plain and simple.  Its versatile, tasty and usually leads to a quick dinner.  This awesome recipe is no exception.  The sauce can be thrown together in the time it takes to boil and make the pasta.

Orecchiette with Spinach, Gorgonzola and Walnuts
adapted from Vegetarian Times

Ingredients
8 oz. orecchiette or other small pasta
1/2 c. lowfat milk
4 oz. gorgonzola cheese
1/2 c. walnuts, toasted and chopped
10 oz. frozen spinach, defrosted
fresh pepper to taste
Parmesan cheese for sprinkling

Directions
Cook pasta as directed

Meanwhile, heat milk over medium low heat.  Once the milk is hot, but not boiling, stir in the gorgonzola and mix until melted.  Add walnuts and spinach and stir until incorporated.  Season with pepper.  Toss with hot pasta and top with parmesan cheese.

Enjoy!

Cake Nirvana

As I am sure you all have figured out I like to cook.  I can't draw worth a damn or paint a nice bowl of fruit or anything, but I can cook.  My love of cooking actually began with baking.  I don't do much baking these days because I don't like to measure, it takes too much time and cake tends to make my bottom bigger rather than smaller...  Never the less, this weekend my mom decided to host a party, which gave me the perfect opportunity to get my bake on.

As strawberries are in season here in NC, I knew I wanted to feature them in my creation.

I started with this recipe for the cake.  The only adjustment I made was to follow the advice of others and use an additional 1/2 cup of milk.  I was able to make 3 8 in round cakes.  They came out moist and absolutely perfect.

And then I made this frosting.  It was super easy to make and so delicious.  Its not overly sweet, which let the flavor of the strawberries shine through.

And speaking of those strawberries, I ran down to the Farmers Market and grabbed a freshly picked gallon of beautiful berries. Once home, I gave them a quick wash, cut 'em up, added some sugar and let them sit.

To assemble the cake, I started with a layer of cake (duh), added a blop of icing and then some strawberries. I repeated with the next layers.  The top layer was another blop of icing with some artfully arranged strawberries on top.  I swear, it was the most beautiful cake I have ever made. 

The only problem was that the damn cake was so tall, I couldn't get the lid of the cake plate on...

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE make this cake.  I promise your efforts will be well rewarded.  And also, promise you will use real, fresh, local strawberries, cause those driven across the country strawberries are no good (sorry, California!).

Spring Risotto

I. LOVE. RISOTTO.  It's fast, easy and delicious.  Plus its so easy to customize based on the season.  On Friday, Seth and I whipped up some spring risotto with leeks, asparagus and peas.

This is one of those recipes where measurements don't matter too much and you can add or delete ingredients as your little heart desires.

Ingredients:
olive oil, enough to coat your pan
leek, clean it well and chop it up
garlic, a couple of cloves depending on how you're feeling
1 1/2 c. arborio rice
3/4 c. dry white wine
5-6 c. veggie stock, warmed
asparagus, cut into bite sized pieces
peas, I used frozen but you can always use fresh
parmesan
swiss

Directions:
Turn the stove to medium heat and coat the bottom of your pot with olive oil (you can also use butter, and I promise, I would have, but somehow we were out of butter.  I'm not sure how that happened, cause I LOVE me some butter) add your leeks and garlic and saute until soft.  Meanwhile, grab another pot, dump your broth in and heat it up until its nice and warm (just shy of boiling is perfect).

Next, dump your rice in with your leeks and garlic.  Add more olive oil (or butter) if you need to.  Saute your rice for about a minute or so.  Add your wine and stir it all together.  Once most of the liquid has been absorbed, add a ladle or two of warm stock, stir, let the rice suck up some liquid and then repeat.  Yes, this requires you to babysit your risotto a bit, but it is totally worth it.  And risotto always takes 25-30 minutes.  Perfect. 

One you have been adding stock for about 10 minutes, add your asparagus.  This will allow plenty of time for your asparagus to cook.  Keep adding and stirring and adding and stirring.  Once you get close to al dente or about 5 minutes out, add your peas.
 
Once you hit the 25 minute mark, check for doneness.  Your risotto should be al dente, creamy and delicious.  Add your cheese (a  handful or two of parm and another handful of swiss) and adjust your seasonings.

Enjoy!

veggie fajitas

Y'all I'm gonna be honest, I did not expect to be writing a post about veggie fajitas. I mean how exciting can they be, right?  Well, let me tell you, these things BLEW us away.  They are so freaking good.  Get you some...

Fajitas with Chipotle Sour Cream
from Vegetarian Times


Ingredients
1 c. sour cream (you can use light or non fat)
2 tsp. canned chipotles in adobo sauce
1/4 tsp. salt
10 inch flour tortillas
2 onions, thinly sliced
2 bell peppers, cut into strips
2 zucchini, cut into strips
1-2 poblano chiles, cut into strips 
2 tbs. canned chipotles in adobo sauce
1 tbs. fresh lime juice
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
2 tbs. vegetable oil
store bough salsa and lime wedges


Directions
To make the sour cream, mix the sour cream, 2 tsp. chipotles in adobo and 1/4 tsp. salt.  Cover and refrigerate, this can be made up to a day in advance.


Preheat over to 350.  Wrap tortillas in aluminum foil and heat for 15 minutes.


In a large bowl, combine onion, bell peppers, zucchini, poblanos, chipotles in adobo, lime juice, salt and pepper.  In a large skillet, heat 1 tbs. vegetable oil and cook vegetables in batches until tender, adding oil as needed.


Serve warmed tortillas with chipotle sour cream, vegetables, salsa and lime wedges.


Hope you enjoy as much as we did!

Happy Plates

 

Skillet Gnocchi with Chard and White Beans

This dish is a simple, one pot meal that combines gnocchi, chard, tomatoes and white beans.  Find the recipe below or check it out on EatingWell.

Ingredients
1 tbs. olive oil
1 16 oz. package shelf stable gnocchi
1 onion, thinly sliced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 c. water
1 bunch chard, chopped (if you are scared of chard, you can use spinach instead)
15 oz. can diced tomatoes with italian seasoning
15 oz. can white beans
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1/2 c. shredded low fat mozzerella

Directions
Saute the onion and garlic in the olive oil until they begin to soften.  Add the gnocchi and saute until slightly browned and plump.  Add the chard and water and cook until the chard begins to wilt.  Add the tomatoes, white beans and pepper.  Bring to a simmer.  Add the cheese and heat until melted.

Pasta with Sage Pesto, Butternut Squash and White Beans

Spring is here (that is if you don't count all the snow we had yesterday...) and my sage plant is HUGE!  I was so inspired that I decided to whip up a batch of Sage and Walnut Pesto.

Pasta with Sage Pesto, Butternut Squash and White Beans

This recipe is beyond simple.  For the pesto combine 1 c. toasted walnuts, 1/3 c. parsley, 2 springs of sage leaves, 1/3 c. Parmesan cheese, and 1/3 c. olive oil, dump it all in your food processor and process away!  Once done, adjust the salt and pepper as needed.  I found that mine was a bit thick, so I added some veggie stock, gave the processor another whirl and was left with pure herby heaven.

Georgeous

So to make the pasta, steam some butternut squash until tender, nuke some white beans until warm and cook some pasta (I used bow ties). Dump it all together in a big bowl, stir and serve.  Simple and delicious!

However, there was a lot of movement in the kitchen, so poor Oliver and Matilda were banished to the other side of the baby gate..

What recipes has spring inspired you to make?

Mushroom Pasta

Can someone please explain to me how cheese, mushrooms and pasta are not aphrodisiacs?  I mean really, something this delicious is bound to make you a little hot under the collar.  Or is that just me?

Anyways, way back a million years ago when Seth and I were young and just starting to date, I made this dish for him.  It was a knock out then and still is now.

Shiitake Angel Hair Pasta

Yikes, that picture is a bit yellow...

Ingredients
6 oz. angel hair pasta
6 oz. shiitake mushrooms, sliced (any mixture of mushrooms will work)
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 onion, chopped
1/4 c. dry, white wine
1 tbs. olive oil
1/4 c. chicken broth
1/2 c. heavy cream
salt and pepper to taste
2 tbs. parmesan cheese
2 tbs. fresh, chopped parsley

Directions
Saute onion and garlic over medium heat until translucent and aromatic, add mushrooms and saute until the start to brown, add stock and wine and cook until mixture is reduced by 1/2.  Add cream and reduce to desired thickness.  Adjust seasoning.
Meanwhile, cook pasta in a large pot of boiling salty water.
Drain pasta and toss with sauce, top with parmesan and parsley

Cheese and Ale Soup

Seth went to Moravian College in Bethlehem, PA.  Whenever I would come to visit, Seth and I would head over to Brew Works for some awesome beer and food.  One of our favorite items on the menu is their Beer and Cheddar Soup.  It is freaking amazing!  Being faced with some cold weather over the weekend, we decided to whip up our own batch.

Cheese and Ale Soup

Ingredients
3 tbs. butter
1 large onion, diced
1/3 c. flour
2 tbs. dried mustard
3 c. vegetable stock
2 1/2 c. sharp cheddar, shredded
12 oz. ale (we used a pale ale and it was a bit too pale, but I think a nice brown ale would be yummy!)
pepper to taste
chives for garnish

Directions
Melt the butter in your favorite soup pot, add the onions and saute until translucent
Add the flour and mustard, stirring to coat, cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly
Slowly add in the broth, simmer for 10ish minutes or until thickened and bubbly
Add the beer and cheese, simmer for 5 minutes
In batches, process the soup in a blender until smooth, return to pot
Heat for a few more minutes and adjust seasoning, garnish with chives

This soup is great with some hearty pumpernickel break and a nice green salad.  Enjoy!