Shrimp in No Time!

As as was passing by the seafood section at Bristol Farms, they were having a great sale on these beautiful shrimp.  I picked up some and made a really fresh, flavorful pasta and sauce to compliment their flavor.  I can't help but want to use all the fresh lemons that are in season now and all the lovely herbs from my patio garden.  This dish was quick and besides the shrimp I had everything else at home, so it was 1, 2, 3!

Garlic Lemon Shrimp

Ingredients

1 1/2 pounds large shrimp, peeled and deveined

3 large garlic cloves, minced

1/2 dry white wine

4 lemon slices, about 1/4 inch thick

1 tablespoon butter

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon pepper

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper

2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped

Directions

Sprinkle salt and black pepper over shrimp evenly.  Meanwhile in a large skillet heat oil over medium heat.  Add shrimp, red pepper and garlic.  Cook for 3 minutes, stirring frequently.  Remove from heat. Add wine and lemon to pan.  Increase heat to medium-high and bring to a simmer. Cook until liquid has reduced to 1/2 cup, about 3-4 minutes.  Add shrimp back to sauce and remove from heat.  Add parsley and butter, stirring until butter melts.  Serve shrimp with pan sauce over pasta.  Recipe below.

"Roasted" Garlic and Light Tomato Pasta

Ingredients

1/2 lb Spaghetti

4 tablespoons garlic, minced

2 tablespoons oil

1/2 cup marinara sauce

Salt and Pepper, to taste

1/2 cup Parmesan Cheese

Directions

In a large pot, cook pasta according to package directions till just al dente.  Meanwhile, in a large saute pan, heat oil over medium heat and add garlic.  Stirring frequently over medium-low heat cook the garlic till oil and garlic become a thick paste.  Add 1/2 cup of the pasta water to the garlic mixture.  Let reduce by half and add the marinara sauce.  Add cooked pasta.  Toss to combine.  Remove from heat and top with Parmesan.  Serve with shrimp.  

Enjoy!

Warm Pasta Salad

I love coming up with things to use a lot of leftover vegetables in my refrigerator.  Seems like I buy lots at the beginning of the week and end up with a little of each at the end of the week, but I hate to throw perfectly good food away!  Pasta salad is one of those great things to make on a hot day, but can be filled with lots of calories and too much pasta most of the time.  I threw together this Warm Spinach Pasta Salad easily in just the time it took to boil the pasta water and cook it!  

Warm Spinach Pasta Salad

Ingredients

2 Packages (about 10 oz each) Cheese Tortellini

2 Rotisserie Chicken Breasts, shredded

2 cups Grape Tomatoes, halved

1/2 cup Peas

1/2 cup Red Onion, thinly sliced

1/3 cup Basil, thinly sliced

1 can Artichoke Hearts (14 oz), drained and quartered

4 cups Baby Spinach, washed

1 cup Fresh Asparagus, washed and sliced into 1.5 inch pieces

Reduced Fat Balsamic Vinaigrette, about 4-5 tablespoons

3/4 cup Shaved Parmesan Cheese

Salt and Pepper, to taste

Directions

Boil a large pot of water and cook pasta according to the directions on the package.  During the last minute or so of the pasta cooking, add the asparagus and peas and cook with the 

pasta for the last 2 minutes.  

While the pasta is cooking chop and prepare the other ingredients (except cheese) and put into a large bowl to wait for the pasta, peas and asparagus.  After pasta mixture is cooked till al dente and drained, add to bowl and toss with salt, pepper and dressing.  Sprinkle cheese on top.

Serve warm, at room temp or cold.  

You could alter this for any vegetables you want, this is just what I had on hand, but the combination was very flavorful, filling and healthy!  Great for lunch the next day!

And You Thought You Hated Tofu...

I have met very few people who are raving about tofu, but prepared the proper way can be very delicious! Tofu has many nutritional benefits as well because it is high in protein, low in calories and fat, high iron and a great source of calcium.

Poor Brian doesn't digest cheese or milk products very well, but he loves Alfredo sauce. To his body that is like the devil, so I developed this recipe to give him that rich creamy texture he likes with pasta, but with a fraction of the cheese, fat and calories. I have made this to bring to friends before and no one ever can believe it is tofu and not cream sauce.

Creamy Baked Penne Casserole
Ingredients
1/8 cup Olive Oil
1 yellow onion, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 pinch dried oregano
28 oz can crushed tomatoes, preferably San Marzano
2 1/2 cups tomato sauce
1 package, about 14 oz) Firm Tofu, drained
10 oz package frozen spinach, defrosted and drained
2 cups chopped fresh broccoli
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1 large egg
1 pinch grated nutmeg
1 lb box penne, ziti, rigatoni (whatever you feel like)
2 cups freshly grated mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
salt and pepper to taste
1-2 pinches crushed red pepper depending on your taste

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large pot boil water and cook pasta till al dente, do not over boil!

While pasta water is heating, in a very large saute pan heat oil and add onion. Saute for 2-3 minutes, add garlic, and broccoli and saute till the onion is translucent.

Add crushed tomatoes, mushrooms, oregano and crushed red pepper. Reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Meanwhile, using a blender or food processor combine the tofu, egg, nutmeg, salt, pepper and process till smooth.

In a large bowl fold the spinach into the tofu mixture. Once well combined, add the penne pasta and the tomato mixture. Fold in half the mozzarella and Parmesan.

Spray two 13 x 9 inch baking pans with cooking spray liberally. Transfer pasta mixture evenly between both pans. Pour the tomato sauce evenly over the two pans. Sprinkle the cheeses evenly between the two pans.

Bake until golden brown, about 35 minutes. Let cool before serving for about 10 minutes.


Tomato Mixture Sauteing


Boiling the Pasta


About to pulse my tofu sauce
(Just noticed my wine glass is in the back of this... can you tell it was a long day?)


How creamy and delicious does this look?? Tofu is gross...I do not think so!


Freeze one of the casseroles for a rainy day! Skip the baking and Freezes well! When you are ready to use it, defrost and then bake as directed. Or bring to a friend...everyone loves a home cooked meal that they don't have to prepare!


Finished dish! Look how beautiful!

I dare you to try this...you will be surprised how great it is!!

A Taste of Home

I was running the other morning at Bootcamp and for some reason my mom's pasta fagioli popped into my head. I haven't had it in a really long time...like years, but for some reason I thought of it. Of course, then I had to locate her recipe and make it immediately!

I could not wait to run to the market and then run home to start making it. Just like any memory of childhood, experiencing it as an adult sometimes is totally different and familiar all at the same time. For me, I never realized how simple this soup is to make, but the flavors are still so developed. Warms my soul and reminds me of home, even though home is only 4 miles away. The weather has been so volatile lately, I feel like there are still several more rainy days lingering to enjoy a hearty soup like this!

Pasta Fagioli

1 cup chopped onion

2 Tablespoons Olive Oil

1 cup chopped celery

1/2 garlic clove minced

1 cup pasta sauce

1 quart water

1 cup small pasta shells

2 cups cannellini beans

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

fresh chopped parsley

Parmesan Cheese

Saute onions, celery and garlic in olive oil for 10 minutes or until soft. Next, add pasta sauce and simmer for 10 minutes. Add water and bring to a boil. Boil 10 minutes, then add pasta and beans. Continue to boil for 10 minutes. Turn off heat, add salt, pepper and parsley. Serve with Parmesan Cheese on Top. Enjoy!

The Best Thing I Ever Ate

Have you ever watched that show "The Best Thing I Ever Ate..."? Well, this, is the best thing I have ever eaten. There doesn't need to be a category or descriptor. This is the best thing I have ever eaten.

This dish is from Brian and my favorite restaurant in Long Beach called L'Opera.They have lots of things that are delicious there, but this takes the cake. It is called Capellacci de Zucca which is a homemade pasta wrapped into little bundles with Butternut Squash and Ricotta, a Brown-Butter Sage Sauce, Shaved Parmesan Cheese, Fresh Sage and the most heavenly Spicy Tomato Sauce.

Melts in your mouth. It is the best. End of Story.

Heaven in small bundles

Restaurant Review: Sibilla

Shopping is a big part of any vacation for me; naturally we went to Miami's famous walking street Lincoln Road. It was just like a Floridian 3rd Street Promenade. There were tons of out-door restaurants, boutiques and strange people. We set out at 10am for a day filled with walking, sight seeing, shopping and eating. The sun was out and it was a perfect day for what we had planned. As we were walking along the promenade we spotted Sibilla and decided to make it back around the same way around lunch time to try it.

Greek Salad

Tagliatelle Bolognese

Margarita Pizza (my favorite!!) The crust was thin and perfect!

This place was really good and I was happy the pizza was up to my standards. I never want to waste the calories if it isn't great. I ate the whole thing, so that speaks volumes!

Warming my Soul

All week I have been feeling like comfort food or no food at all. The idea of eating something cold seems unappealing which is so weird because it has been so beautiful outside. Don't know, but I thought Italian Beef Stew would be the perfect cure. Of course, with Stew you need hearty noodles of some kind and some bread to dip into the juices...Sounds good huh?

Half-way through making the dough for my Challa

Just in case you need a visual of the dough ball

Look how Beeeautiful my Cheese and Chive Challa is!

All Done! This is the perfect thing to make on a day when you have enough time to prepare the stew and let it simmer. It was great served over bow-tie pasta and of course with the bread. The big pieces of carrots were my favorite part, they made a perfect compliment to the juicy meat pieces. Brian went back for seconds...and thirds!

Still in the land of Pasta...

Still in the midst of my "Pasta Week", I decided to bust out my Urban Italian Cookbook. It is a great one for traditional Italian recipes with a modern twist. Has everything from an amazing tomato sauce recipe to really different things like Minestrone Risotto.

I really thought when I was preparing my grocery list on Sunday that I would end up with a hearty soup when I was done making this. I guess it is the way I read the title that it would be a soup with arborio rice swimming around in it instead of a traditional starch like rice or a noodle. I guess you have figured out by this point that I am not the best at reading directions, because this is actually a risotto with a minestrone flavor! I know, think what you want, I just failed to read the instructions all the way through before making this...

Regardless of what I thought it was going to be, it turned out excellent! I loved the flavor and it really does taste like Minestrone Soup only in a pasta! Brian loved it even though normally he won't touch risotto with a ten-foot pole. You have to try this one because it is a one-of-a-kind!

Craving Pasta

After Bridget and I's cooking class (if you can even call it that) on Sunday, I have been in the mood for pasta! This week I decided to pull out the big guns with my favorite "non-tomato sauce" pasta recipe. I love this recipe for Pasta Ponza because it is easy, tastes great, and you can use basically any vegetable in your fridge to make it. It calls for ingredients I usually have on hand all the time and tastes a lot better than plain old pasta.

I like to add the following things to the recipe, but it is also great in its original form. I just like to spice it up a little from time to time from the norm. I also always have a hard time coming up with other things to serve with pasta besides more carbs, so with these additions I feel like you are getting equal amounts of vegetables and pasta. My additions:

-Broccoli
-Cauliflower
-Mushrooms
-Green Olives sliced
-Zucchini

I have also tried:
-Chicken (Baked, chopped and added in with the cheese)
-Peppers
-Green Beans
-Corn
-Peas
-Crushed Red Pepper

Basically you can add as much as you want, but you need to increase the breadcrumbs to cover everything you put in the baking dish. I really reccomend you trying this one! I have never met anyone who doesn't like it.



One tip: follow the directions. I know this sounds elementary, but you need to use a pasta with ridges (for the sauce to stick) and you need to let the vegetable mixture cool for 5 minutes, otherwise it will become gummy.

Try it out and let me know what you think! Stay tuned for more Pasta to come this week...

We Love Breakfast!

Brian and I are both big fans of breakfast! Brian loves the food and I love a nice healthy breakfast to start the day off after a great workout! This morning I made French Toast with Maple-Apple compote before I set off for work. I really meant to make this on Sunday morning, but didn't get up early enough!

Sunday morning I went to a cooking class with Bridget at Williams Sonoma. We both went in thinking that we were going to learn how to make homemade pasta, but that isn't what happened. We learned how to make a basic bolognese and boil pasta. There were two highlights: First, when one of the ladies was naming off all the names of various pastas and she couldn't pronounce any of them. Secondly, when they were adding the ground beef and called it "hamburger". HAHAHAHAHA. It was ridic! Bridget and I are still laughing about this...

Back to my breakfast....

Apples Sauteing...

Finished Product!
Complete with a Lactose Free Latte for Brian with some fresh grated Nutmeg on top!

About 1 minute later!

Overall it was a good, tasty recipe. It was fairly simple to make. I say fairly because I was making it after my Morning Bootcamp and before work. When I am working on a time schedule and have a lot of dishes to clean it makes me a little frazzeled. Despite all the bowls and pans, this is a good one. The best part of it is that it uses a lot of things I usually have on hand anyway! Try it out and tell me what you think!

Note: I used about half the butter that it called for.
If you are going to do this, watch out for the apples or turn the temperature down a bit so you don't have to babysit them otherwise they will burn!