Pesto Penne

After our trip to Tanglewood I had some extra pesto and mozzarella to do something with, so I whipped up this super-simple pasta dish. First, I cooked some whole-wheat penne. Meanwhile, I sliced some cherry tomatoes in half and roasted them in the oven at 475 degrees for about 15 minutes. Last, I just mixed the pasta with the pesto, tomatoes, and diced mozzarella cheese. Done!

Tanglewood!

On Sunday, the hubby and I trekked out to Lenox, MA to visit Tanglewood, the summer home of the BSO. This was part of his anniversary gift to me, and a very nice gift it was! Since this is a cooking blog, I'll try to get through the music stuff quickly. Their program included three pieces: Suite from Iberia by Albeniz, Lalo's Cello Concerto (performed by Yo-Yo Ma!), and Symphonic Dances by Rachmaninoff. I wasn't super familiar with any of these pieces, so it was nice to hear some new things. I think if we'd been in a concert hall (I'll explain momentarily), my favorite would have been the cello concerto. In this case, my favorite ended up being the Rachmaninoff. I'm definitely going to need to get a recording.

Anyway, Tanglewood has a few different performance venues, this concert being held at the Koussevitzky Music Shed, which has a few sections of covered seating close to the stage, but then a huge lawn area in the back for people to picnic (do you see the food connection now?) and lounge while they listen to the music. The thing I love about it, is that unlike many other outdoor concerts that I have attended in the summer of jazz and rock/pop groups, people are really here to listen intently to the music and when the concert begins everyone is quiet (except for the small children who do their best to keep things under control!). It's really quite nice.

OK. On to the picnic! We wanted to keep things simple, but delicious. We started with some pesto, tomato, and mozzarella finger sandwiches. For these I just sliced up some ciabatta bread, spread a little pesto on each slice, and layered each sandwich with a slice of tomato and a slice of fresh mozzarella. Easy!


I did make my own pesto using this Cooking Light recipe. I really like this version because it's not as oily as store-bought.

Pesto
Recipe courtesy Cooking Light

Ingredients...

• 4 garlic cloves, peeled
• 4 cups packed basil leaves (about 2.5 oz)
• 1/4 cup pine nuts **I used walnuts
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Directions...

Drop garlic through food chute with food processor on; process until minced. Place basil and next 4 ingredients (basil through pepper) in processor; process 10 seconds. Combine water and oil in a measuring cup. With processor on, slowly pour oil mixture through food chute, processing just until blended.



Next, we had some strawberry spinach salad (not pictured), which consisted simply of baby spinach, sliced strawberries, walnuts, salt, and pepper with your favorite balsamic vinaigrette.

After salads...and some rain in the middle of the cello concerto (which is why I cannot call it my favorite...sadly, I couldn't hear the whole second half due to the sound of the rain on our umbrella)...


...we moved on to Brie with Grape Jelly and Wheat Thins. This is honestly one of our favorite treats ever! It was of course accompanied by a nice bottle of merlot. Notice how the sun is now shining brightly. The weather was quite fickle that day.


Finally, during Rachmaninoff, we reached dessert. I wanted something chocolaty, but fairly light. I found this recipe and then simply subbed light ingredients.

Dirt
Recipe courtesy of Recipe Zaar

Ingredients...

• 1 180z package Oreos, crushed **I used reduced fat Oreos
• 1 box instant chocolate pudding mix
• 1 8oz container Cool Whip **I used light
• 1 8 oz package gummy worms **I left these out and put in some sliced strawberries instead

Directions...

Make the pudding, fold in the Cool-Whip. Place half the cookie crumbs on the bottom of a glass bowl **I used three cookies each on the bottom of individual serving dishes. Spoon in the pudding mixture and place the worms, half in, half out, on top. **I just put some strawberry slices on top. Top with the remaining cookie crumbs. Chill.

The following photographs are examples of why I portioned everything instead of having us share out of one dish. I always feel like I'm racing. In the second photo, hubby's dish is on the left and mine is on the right - about 2 minutes after we started eating...

Tasty AND Healthy!

I often like to hit up our town library for new cookbooks to try. One of my favorites that I've found there is called Saving Dinner by Leanne Ely. The book is geared toward busy working moms and is organized by season and then by week. The idea is to get a healthy, easy to prepare dinner on the table for your family every night of the week, all year long. Each chapter includes enough main dishes for a week, along with a shopping list, and suggested side dishes. While I am not exactly in the targeted demographic, I have found some interesting new recipes in this book.

This cashew chicken recipe isn't exactly authentic, but the sauce is really tasty (if not a bit too sweet for some). It's also really versatile - you can really throw in any veggies you like.

Cashew Chicken
Recipe courtesy of Saving Dinner by Leanne Ely

Ingredients...

• ¾ cup orange juice
• 1/3 cup honey
• ¼ cup soy sauce
• 1 T cornstarch
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• ½ tsp pepper
• 2 T vegetable oil, divided
• 4 green onions, chopped
• 2 large carrots, sliced
• 1 celery stalk, sliced
• **I also added some chopped bok choy and sugar snap peas
  
• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, cut into 1-inch strips
• 1 cup cashews

Directions...

In a bowl, combine juice, honey, soy sauce, cornstarch, and seasonings.

In a wok or large skillet, heat 1 T oil until it begins to smoke. Stir-fry vegetables for several minutes until the onions become fragrant. Set aside and keep warm.

In the same skillet, heat another tablespoon of oil until smoking and stir-fry chicken strips until browned and tender.

Add cooked vegetables, cashews, and sauce mixture. Continue cooking until sauce bubbles and thickens.

**I served over brown rice.

Macaroni and Cheese Please!

I've been trying to find so many new recipes lately that I've kind of neglected some of my old favorites. This recipe actually has somewhat of a history with me. I cooked this for my husband on our 1 year dating anniversary back in August of 2002 and it was the first thing I had ever cooked for him. He loved it! I probably made it once or twice again after that, including once for Annabel (my dinner party partner), but soon moved on to newer and more exciting endeavors.

Well, when Annabel and I were planning our menu for this week's dinner she insisted on this dish, claiming that it's her favorite macaroni and cheese and she needed to have it. I resisted at first, thinking I wanted to try something new, but saw the desperation in her eyes and knew she had to have it. Honestly - she was so right. As we were eating it I realized that this is really the best baked macaroni and cheese EVER and I don't know how I could ever forsake it. It's creamy, tangy, delicious, and SUPER easy to make. Luckily I doubled it so I can enjoy it again for lunch today!

Chuck's Favorite Mac and Cheese
Recipe courtesy All Recipes

Ingredients...

• 8 oz elbow macaroni
• 8 oz shredded sharp cheddar cheese
• 8 oz sour cream **I used light
• 12 oz small curd cottage cheese **I used light
• 1/4 cup parmesan cheese
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1 cup bread crumbs **I used less, just eyeballed it

Directions...

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil, add pasta, and cook until done; drain.

In 9x13 inch baking dish, stir together macaroni, shredded Cheddar cheese, cottage cheese, sour cream, Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper. In a small bowl, mix together bread crumbs and melted butter. Sprinkle topping over macaroni mixture.

Bake 30 to 35 minutes, or until top is golden.

Simple and Delicious!

So it seems that my husband, James, has grown increasingly interested in this blog. The following "recipe" is really just something I like to throw together when I can't think of anything else and so I certainly wasn't going to blog it. Blogging should be reserved for something special, right? Well, James was so insistent that this dinner be on my blog that he got the camera out and shot the photos himself! Anyway, the following is going to be more of a description than a recipe and can have about a million variations depending what you have on hand!

Black Bean Quesadillas
Recipe courtesy of me!

Serves 2

Ingredients....

• 1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
• about 2 tablespoons chopped red onion
  
• 1-2 cups shredded pepper jack cheese
• a couple hand fulls of baby spinach
• chili powder
• lime juice
  
• 4 whole wheat tortillas
• oil/cooking spray

Directions...

Heat a skillet w/a little oil on medium heat (anything with a larger diameter than your tortillas - a double griddle so that you can do two at a time would be even better!).

Mix black beans and red onion with chili powder (season to taste) and the juice of 1/2 a lime. Lay one tortilla out on a flat surface. Sprinkle 1/4 of the cheese on the tortilla, covering most of its surface. Layer 1/2 of the black beans over the cheese. Spread a few spinach leaves on top of the black beans and top with another 1/4 of the cheese. Place another tortilla on top. Repeat this process with the rest of the cheese, black beans, spinach, and the other tortillas. Cook the quesedillas for 3-4 minutes on each side until the tortillas are brown and crispy and the cheese in melted. Flip carefully! (I have had many near-misses when flipping my quesedillas) Move to cutting board and cut into 4 wedges. Enjoy!

I serve this with guacamole, light sour cream, and salsa (homemade is best, but jarred is just fine!).

Here's all you need to make a quick salsa with your food processor:

5-6 roma/plum tomatoes
1/4 of a red onion
handful cilantro leaves
salt to taste
juice of one lime
chopped jalepeno

Throw it all in and pulse until everything is chopped and incorporated. To make the guacamole I just mash up an avacado with a couple tablespoons of the fresh salsa. Voila!

Angel Hair Pasta with Sun-Dried Tomatoes and Goat Cheese

Well, it's been over a month since I've posted! I haven't done a ton of cooking in the last month. December is a crazy month for me at work and that in combination with holiday shopping hasn't left me with much time. But now that I've had a bit of vacation, I'm ready to go again!

This recipe comes from Everyday Pasta by Giada DeLaurentiis, a book which I received from my husband for Christmas. It has a lot of great looking recipes and I intend cook each one of them at some point. I chose this recipe first because it looked fairly simple and I had just gone to Trader Joe's and picked up some goat cheese. By the way, if you have a Trader Joe's near you and you're as frustrated with I am at the prices of specialty cheeses at your local grocery store, you must visit! I got a 10 oz log of goat cheese for about $3.50. Normally, I pay that much for 5 oz at my regular grocery store. Unfortunately, the closest Trader Joe's isn't convenient enough for a weekly visit, so it's a special treat for me to make a visit! Anyway, this dish turned out to be really delicious. It will definitely be making another appearance at our dinner table.

Angel Hair Pasta with Sun-Dried Tomatoes and Goat Cheese
Recipe courtesy of: Everyday Pasta by Giada DeLaurentiis

Ingredients...

• 1 (10 oz) jar sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil, chopped (oil reserved)
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/4 cup tomato paste
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 1 pound angel hair pasta
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 3-4 ounces soft fresh goat cheese, coarsely crumbled

Directions...

Heat three tablespoons of the oil from the sun-dried tomatoes in a large heavy skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and saute until tender, about 3 minutes. Stir in the garlic and saute until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the tomato paste and cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add the wine and chopped sun-dried tomatoes and simmer until the liquid reduces by half, about 2 minutes.

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook until al dente, stirring occasionally, about 4 minutes. Drain, reserving 1 cup of the cooking liquid. Add the pasta and parsley to the tomato mixture and toss to coat, adding some of the reserved pasta water to moisten. Season the pasta with salt and pepper. Mound the pasta in bowls, sprinkle with the goat cheese, and serve.

Tomato and Garlic Pizza

Pizza is a meal that my husband enjoys making, which makes it great on nights that I don't feel like cooking! There's no real recipe for this since we just kind of throw it together with whatever toppings we have. We're also still experimenting with the best way to get the cooked. Recently, we've been pre-cooking the dough before adding the toppings and it seems to work out well. Here's the general idea...

Tomato and Garlic Pizza
Recipe Courtesy of Me and the Hubby!

Ingredients...

• 1 package store-bought raw dough
• flour for rolling
• olive oil to coat pan
• dried oregano
• dried basil
• 2-3 cloves chopped garlic
• 1/2 small can diced tomatoes
• 1-2 cups shredded cheese (we use the "italian blend" which includes mozzarella and parm. I think)
• 2-3 vine-ripe tomatoes
• grated parmesan cheese for sprinkling

Directions...

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease pan with olive oil so dough doesn't stick. Roll out dough until it fits your pan (we use a rectangular cookie sheet). Poke holes in the dough with a fork so it can aerate and bubbles don't form. Sprinkle the dough with oregano, basil, and parmesan cheese. Bake about 15 minutes or until golden brown. Remove the dough from the oven and cover with slices tomatoes, garlic, and cheese. Turn oven up to 400 degrees and bake pizza another 10 minutes or until cheese is hot and bubbling. Sprinkle with remaining parmesan cheese as desired.

Again, these are all approximate cooking times and we're still experimenting to find a system that works best, but it always tastes delicious! Enjoy!

Bruschetta

Welcome to my first post! Tonight we had a friend over for dinner and I decided that it would be a great time to try some new recipes.



Ali's Amazing Bruschetta
Recipe courtesy of: All Recipes

Ingredients...
2 large tomatoes, coarsely chopped
1/2 sweet onion, chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano
1 teaspoon chopped fresh basil
2 teaspoons chopped fresh parsley
1/2 (1 pound) loaf Italian bread, cut into 1 inch slices
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Directions...
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a bowl, combine tomatoes, onion, olive oil, oregano, basil, and parsley. Place bread on a baking sheet, scoop tomato mixture on and top with grated cheese. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until bread is browned. Let sit for 5 minutes before serving.

I changed a couple things about this recipe (as I typically do). I lightly toasted the sliced bread before putting on the tomato mixture. I think if your bread was stale, you wouldn't have to do this, but otherwise I was afraid it might not be as crunchy. Also, I didn't have any fresh oregano on hand, so I used dried and since I don't really like to measure, I guesstimated all of the amounts and added a lot more fresh basil than called for. Oh! I almost forgot! I really felt this needed garlic, so I went ahead and added some finely chopped garlic to the mixture.

Overall, the Bruschetta was a definite winner! Both my husband and my friend enjoyed it and I think it would be a great recipe to use for future company.