Friday, June 06, 2008

Food Friday

Time to blog has been sorely lacking lately, time to read or to write scarce. But one thing that I have found myself able to do is cook. This is awesome to me because I love cooking but it had fallen to the wayside in the wake of twin life. I have always felt really comfortable in the kitchen and loved trying out new recipes and this handy internet/blog thing has been a blessing in the finding of new recipes.

In the last week I have made three or four great meals from references or google searches. Thought I would link you to a few in case you are seeking inspiration.

:: Spinach and Cream Pasta...so so so good. And easy. If you love pasta and do not mind the splurge on cream, try this. I actually added milk to the sauce as I was short on cream and it tasted lovely. And I doubled (tripled?) the garlic cuz' I am crazy like that.

:: Pink Sauce Pasta...again, really easy pasta. You basically make a red sauce and instead of adding cream, add cottage cheese. I did this and blended it with an immersion blender and the husband loved it. And he hates cottage cheese. Hates it.

:: Portuguese Chicken in Crock....better for cooler weather (which we had a few days ago). The recipe calls for chorizo but I used spicy sausage as that it was we had. Simple prep, cannot beat the crock pot for doing the cooking. And you must add the olives and artichokes as suggested because it elevates the dish to Portuguese vs. just plain crock pot chicken.

:: Ciabatta Brushcetta...this is just a made up recipe on my part.
Fresh
Basically gather tomatoes (the yellow are from our eternally producing tomato vine outside our sliding door), chop and drain juices, add balsamic and olive oil and one crushed garlic clove and a generous potion of shredded fresh basil and let sit. Meanwhile, slice ciabatta (I like the individual rolls from Costco, they carry La Brea Bakery bread...mmmmm) rub with cut clove of garlic and olive oil and place on grill. Slice up some good mozzarella and lay on bread and let melt a bit on grill. Pull off grill and place whole leaves of basil on cheese. Salt and fresh ground pepper to taste and spoon tomato mixture over. Wah-la! Easy and filling summer dinner. Served with Rice a Roni, currently the only thing my children will eat.
Quick dineer

Have a great weekend, hopefully full of good food and an easy welcoming of the summer months.

6 comments:

spajonas said...

isn't it scary how picky kids can be about food? sort of makes you wonder how they managed to survive ages ago :) mine won't eat rice. she doesn't like the texture! ugh.

looks like mama and papa are eating well though! those tomatoes look scrumptious.

Gabrielle said...

Thanks for all these lovely recipes, they're great. Glad you are feeling better too. Beautiful photos of the boys from the last post, amazing detail in the drops of water. I'm still saving for an slr camera - perhaps by the time the next one arrives!

Anonymous said...

Yummy! That Bruschetta looks amazing!

Sereknitty said...

Oh yum ... I love anything I can throw in my crock pot, so I've already bookmarked that recipe! Next up with be the Bruschetta ... looks divine!

Katie said...

ooh! The heat has arrived in Boston and I was just looking for some good summery recipes, thanks for the inspiration!

t + j said...

tried the spinach cream pasta last night and YUMMMMMM! you just can't go wrong when creamed spinach meats carbs. thanks for the recipe! i got myself a legit crock pot this week, so i'm going to try the chicken next. here's to a great weekend!