Farmers' Market Potato Salad

I love potato salad but I needed something other than the mayo-based standard recipe.  This recipe uses a mustard base and BAM! a shot of Tabasco.   haha.  I am guilty of adding a little too much Tabasco, o well!   I also left out the corn simply because I didn't have any available.  Farmers' Market Potato Salad.

Butternut Squash and Orecchiette

Butternut squash, what a funny looking vegetable... haha.  This was my first time cooking with a butternut squash and it wasn't so bad!  It just took me a while to peel off the outer layer.  Next time I think I'll tackle the spaghetti squash and see where it takes me. 

 Well I had some leftover orecchiette from last's weeks post so the ingredients were easy to gather.  The recipe is courtesy of Whole Foods, mine and Dave's food sanctuary.   I used some arugula instead of celery leaves but other than that everything was very simple. 

Grilled Halibut with Peach and Pepper Salsa

Tonight I made grilled halibut with peach and pepper salsa.  Not to brag but the dish turned out perfectly!  The peach in the salsa was sweet and a great compliment to the lemon and garlic marinade for the fish.

I will definitely recycle this salsa recipe for many years to come... I'm imagining it on grilled chicken, tortilla chips, or even in a pita with hummus. The possibilities are endless!

I got fresh halibut from Whole Foods and highly recommend it.  Then, to make it a meal, I prepared some quinoa for a side.  This recipe was also from my CookingLight magazine, I got 2 free issues but I just might subscribe for the year!  The magazine is good at incorporating the same ingredients into multiple recipes, so than a couple main ingredients are useful to multiple recipes.

Orecchiette with Roasted Peppers, Arugula, and Tomatoes

To all my followers (all 2 of you):  Sorry for not updating my blog for what seems like years.  But now summer is here and I'm ready to start cooking again!  So to begin, I've prepared something simple, yet delicious and filling for a nice summer dinner.  I had a bunch of leftover arugula from making a special pizza last week.  For you curious ones, the pizza had apricots, goat cheese, prosciutto, and arugula on it.  And yes, it was delicious.  And again yes, I didn't post about it; I blame my pure laziness.

So this is the final product. I got the recipe from a CookingLight magazine, which can also be found on their website.  I pretty much stuck to the recipe, just disregarding the measurements, and making it to fit my serving size.  Try it out and experiment with the vegetables and other add ins (shrimp may be a good choice). 

Soft Pretzel Day!

So if you don't already know, I have a bread maker which I make all my loafs of bread. What you may not know is that this bread maker can make a lot of other items like, coffee cake, jams, and soft pretzels!

These pretzels were so amazing, they actually kept getting better days after.

 

We made a lot of fun shapes like the original pretzel, hearts, stars, treble clefs, and braids. 

 

The bread maker prepared the dough, we shaped, then baked them in the oven.

Puree of Asparagus Soup

Remember the cauliflower puree from a couple posts back? Well now I made an asparagus puree in the form of a soup! Sprinkled with a little Parmesan cheese and we are rockin' and a rollin'.  

Always start with the freshest veggies you can find!

Then prepare with just a pinch of love!

This was one of my favorite recipes so far.  Not only was it easy but since I don't purchase asparagus often, it was a new adventure. 

Do I have something in my teeth?  Name that movie!

Italian Chicken and Vegetable Soup

Last week I made this really easy and delicious soup.  I cut the recipe in half and it still lasted me 3 meals.  Even with all the veggies, I still had room to add in spinach (Gotta get those extra vitamins A, C, E, and K!)

 Enjoy this one! Click here for recipe.

I Won a Year Supply of Meatballs!

 

I won a year supply of meatballs!... just kidding!  Just look at all the meatballs I made tonight. I know this picture is not blog-worthy but I just thought all those meatballs looked so funny!

Seared Salmon with Red Potatoes and Dijon Broth

I really wanted to make a salmon dish so I eventually I came across this recipe on epicurious.com which has recipes from a bunch of different food magazines.  The recipe serves 4 so I just cut it in half.  I also substituted tarragon for a little bit of rosemary and basil. This meal turned out so delicious that I'd definitely make it again. It is healthy and pretty quick!

The dijon broth was such a great part of the dish; the flavor wasn't overbearing and it really paired nicely with the salmon.  The only mistake that I made was boiling the potatoes too long initially because I forgot that they were going to go in the oven with the salmon, so in the end they were a little mushy.... but we still ate them anyway!

Sushi

I love love love sushi.  So why not make it myself?  Looks legit right?!  The process wasn't actually that bad and it was fun too!  My shopping list consisted of: sushi grade tuna and salmon from Citarella in NYC and other ingredients like nori (seaweed wrap), sriracha (Asian hot red chili sauce), avocado, carrot, cucumber, wasabi powder, sushi rice, and seasoned rice vinegar.

As a team, Dave and I made 3 rolls: spicy tuna roll, philadelphia roll, and salmon and tuna roll.  For the philadelphia roll, we rolled it "inside out" which made the rice the outside layer instead of the nori.

Isn't the display plate so pretty? Dave got that for me from Hawaii; it's handcarved and matches the sushi theme so nicely!

Baked Ziti with Beef Ragù and Roasted Eggplant

This recipe comes from a Williams-Sonoma Pasta cookbook. Besides making a homemade beef ragù beforehand, the recipe was pretty quick and easy. You may notice that is not a traditional baked ziti with ricotta, but the eggplant is a nice touch! I actually cut the recipe in half but I will post the full recipe here for you. You can also quickly make this a vegetarian recipe by simply using regular tomato sauce instead of a meat sauce... so have fun sisters!

Ingredients:
2 cups Beef Ragù
6 tablespoons Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper
3 small Eggplants, cut into chucks
3/4 lb Ziti, penne, or other tubular pasta
2 Tomatoes, chopped
1/2 lb Mozzarella Cheese, cut into small pieces
1/2 cup Parmesan Cheese, freshly grated

1. Roast the Eggplant: Preheat the oven to 450. Line baking sheets with foil. In a bowl, combine the oil and 1/2 teaspoon each salt and pepper. Drizzle eggplant chucks with oil arrange on the baking sheet so they are not touching. Roast until golden, about 10 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool. Reduce the oven temp to 400.

2. Cook the pasta: Bring pot of water to boil, and add 2 tbsp salt and the pasta. Cook, until still very al dente, about half of the timing on the package directions.

3. Assemble and bake the dish:  In a large bowl, toss together the pasta, sauce, roasted eggplant, and tomatoes. Spread half the dish, layer with half the cheeses, spread the other half, and top with the rest of the cheeses. Cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes. Remove foil and bake about 5 minutes longer, until the surface is golden and bubbly.