Category: Vegan Or Could Be Vegan

1 Day Prep-Ahead Small Thanksgiving Time Saver Meal

11/5/2017

Greetings, All!!!

*Thanksgiving*
A day of food, family & friends or just hanging out in your pajamas! AmIRight :)
So I was on a mission to find time saver recipes for traditional Thanksgiving dishes,
when it occurred to me it's really the prep work that takes the most time, NOT the actual cooking.

So I found recipes that could be made up (rolls, pie, cranberries!) or prepped up
(stuffing, turkey, carrots, potatoes!) the day before and assembled and cooked quite nicely
and efficiently the following day.

Now this menu is for a small gathering: 2-6 people.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Angie's 1 Day Prep-Ahead
Thanksgiving Menu
Links to ALL recipes at the bottom of this page!
Herb-Roasted Turnkey Breast with Basic Gravy
Cheddar and Jalapeno Stufing
The Best Damn Vegan Mashed Potatoes
Honeyed Carrots and Oranges
Bourbon-Cranberry Compote
Homemade Butter Flake Pull Apart Rolls
Chocolate Cream Pie
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'll take you through some steps here with some brief commentary on each dish.

Herb-Roasted
Turnkey Breast
Ina Garten's recipe

Let's start with the 7.3 lb turkey breast that cooked in two hours.
TWO hours!

Prep Day Ahead!
I made the herby olive oil paste up the night before, coated the turkey and put it back in fridge.

Cooks up beautifully and slices up nicely.
The herbed paste rubbed directly on the meat and on top of skin was fantastic!!
Juices were added to the Basic Gravy.

Let's move along to the Basic Gravy.
No prep-ahead of this. Day of only.
I made a roux.

Add the drippings from the turkey roasting pan into the chicken broth.

I used
homemade chicken broth.

Whisk the broth and drippings into the skillet and bring to boil then simmer until thickened.

This gravy was hands down the star of the show.
*STAR OF THE SHOW*
I think the key is homemade chicken broth but I don't know that for sure. If you don't have homemade, buy the absolute best kind of broth you can.

Let's move along to the PREP AHEAD
Cheddar and
Jalapeno Stuffing.
By the way, I believe this recipe could be assembled and cooked day ahead and just add some extra chicken broth when heating up next day.
Note: I could not taste the jalapeno really, add more jalapeno if you like heat.

The recipe called for Italian bread so that's what I got was Italian bread.

By the way y'all, I do not know how to cook without a recipe.

Completely serious. So I tend to stay true to the recipe ingredients and amounts.

The day before...
cut or tear the bread up and bake in a 375 oven for 12 minutes, until dried out.

Cut up all the vegetables, grate up the cheese and deposit all ingredients into the pan you will use to bake the stuffing in tomorrow and
stick in the fridge.

Day of, melt butter and saute the vegetables.

This recipe calls for a half cup beer.

It can also be left out completely.

Cook until beer evaporates, then transfer mixture to a large bowl.

Add scallions, broth, eggs and cheddar to mixture and and toss in bread crumbs.

Okay,
I have this super exciting picture of buttered up aluminum foil to remind you to, you know, butter up your aluminum foil.

Cause if you don't,
all the good browned bits of stuffing will stick to the foil and you'll be sad.

Pour stuffing into prepared pan and bake covered with foil, then remove foil and continue baking. I let mine stay in 10-15 minutes longer to get more browned.

This stuffing dish really could be prepped, assembled and cooked the day before and just reheated day of with some extra chicken broth. I made this up in the morning, stuck it in fridge until dinner and then just reheated it in oven. This is why I used a metal pan too.

Another note with this dish: You can NOT taste the heat from the jalapenos. I used two seeded jalapenos just as the recipe states and there was no heat. Probably added flavor but there was no heat so it's safe for little kiddies.

Okay, let's get these
Best Damn Vegan
Mashed Potatoes made.
Disclaimer: I had full intentions of using vegan butter but I didn't, I used real butter.
Note: I wanted a mashed potato recipe that was different than the same old, same old, that's why I made these.
Also, Yukon gold potatoes are so naturally delicious buttery anyway.

By the way, these CAN BE MADE DAY AHEAD but I just prepped everything the night before and made day of.
I washed all the potatoes and set them aside. I then roasted the garlic by cutting off the top third, rubbed the cloves with olive oil, wrapped up in foil and roasted for 50 minutes. Mmmmmmm, always smells awesome. Also, chop up those chives and store everything but potatoes in the fridge until next day.

Before the meal, I threw the cut Yukon golds into boiling salted water and cooked until soft.

I mixed in butter, salt and pepper and the deeeelicious roasted garlic. I ate spoonfuls and then transferred the remaining into a bowl and topped with those chives. Yum!
These potatoes are awesome with or without gravy!!

Now, y'all, let's get to these super easy peasy
Honeyed Carrots
and Oranges.
I prepped everything night before and cooked them day of.
(I liked these so much I went out and bought more carrots to make this exact recipe again this week.)

Please do NOT cut the carrots in half lengthwise like I did, just buy thin carrots, don't use thick ones. If you do use thick carrots, then okay, you can cut them in half lenghtwise. Mine were thin already. Also, dudes, don't be like me and leave the freaking top on. Just don't.

The night before, I peeled the carrots and sliced the orange and had the honey/oil all measured out.

I had chopped up some dill but decided not to use the dill on the finished dish, these were just too darn good on their own.

This was super easy to prepare as well as to assemble and cook.

Day of, pull out the carrots and oranges, toss in olive oil and honey, salt and pepper, arrange on cookie sheet.
By the way, the aroma of the oranges and honey is fantastic!

Cook until soft. So easy.
Again, cut off the tops of the carrots. I did not do that cause I am a fool.
Don't be a fool like your pal Angie, just do the right thing.

These carrots were absolutely delicious, just make sure to follow the directions exactly!

Y'all. These Butter Flake Pull Apart Rolls
are delicious!!
This is Alton Brown's recipe and I always get PTSD from baking cause I am horrible at it.
I actually was able to make these without using too many swear words. Maybe three.
Four. Five at the most. Okay, six. SHUT UP!

So these are the fixins for these pull apart rolls.
I did NOT make these up a day ahead of time. I do think they would be fine made up 24 hours ahead and then just reheated shortly before the meal the next day.
Also I do not own a stand mixer. I old-school used my hand mixer. Worked fine.

Now this recipe calls for some ingredients to be weighed.

Don't fight it, just do it.

These are baked items.
You want to use correct measurements even if you have to bring out the scale.

So mix the stuff according to directions.
I love how I am so technical with my language. Seriously dudes, I can not bake so I am just trying to get through this as quick as I can.

Dough before rising and dough after rising.
Now if *I* can do this correctly, anyone can!!!

Okay, let's slow this down a bit.....let me explain...so roll the dough out to a 12" x 12"...

Cut 12 - 1" strips. Now I don't own a pizza cutter, so I pulled out this vintage pastry cutter I paid 50 cents for at a consignment store last year. Aaaaand this pastry cutter is broke and wobbly and doesn't make straight lines.

So I bring out my pizza cutter, also known as a plain ordinary knife, and cut 12 - 1" strips.

Okay, so this is my first try at the strips and stacking them.

And this is my second try at the other half of the dough, I got much better, especially after I figured out I need to GENTLY pull up the strips
and not stretch them.

My initial attempt is at the bottom...Second try at the top.

Set each section in a sprayed muffin cup.
Let rise until double.

Then bake 8-10 minutes. Or overbake like I did but then brush a ton of melted butter on the tops. They were still delicious!!

Okay, only TWO more recipes left!!!!
This one is so easy and delicious! Make it same day or day ahead, doesn't matter, it's delicious both days!
Bourbon-Cranberry Compote!

Combine and simmer.

Okay Friends, last item on the menu is a
Chocolate Cream Pie!
Tim doesn't eat pumpkin pie so I made a Chocolate Cream Pie with a
store-bought whole wheat crust.
This can TOTALLY be made up a day ahead of time!!!

Okay, the piece on the right up there looks a little wonky but trust me, deeeelicious!!

These are the fixins.

First,

chop up the semi sweet chocolate.

Whisk the dry ingredients together then add the heavy cream and eggs.
Don't forget the espresso powder!

Whisk in the cream and milk over medium heat.

Pour that lusciousness over the chopped chocolate & butter and stir...

Mmmmm, lookin' good!

Pour into a pie shell...

Buy whipped cream OR make this super easy whipped topping...remember, chill the bowl AND the beaters!!
Homemade Whipped Cream:
In a chilled bowl (very important, a CHILLED bowl, meaning chill that sucker in the freezer), combine 1 cup whipping cream, 2 Tbsp sugar and 1/2 tsp vanilla. Beat with a mixer on medium speed until soft peaks form.
Or continue beating until stiff peaks form.

Here's the deal on this Chocolate Pie...it is really rich!
This Chocolate Cream Pie is not for people who do not appreciate
deep layers of chocolate.
If you want a boring, bland chocolate pie, do not make this!
Oh, make a strong pot of coffee cause it will go wonderfully with this dessert!

Okay guys, I will come clean here.
I was planning on making this menu for just
Tim and me as a trial run.

But then friends of ours called and wanted
to pop out Friday night.

heeeeeeeeeeeeeee....

I said fine...

just come hungry.

Once they got here, I bamboozled them that they were going to participate in my
1 Day Prep-Ahead Small Thanksgiving
Time Saver Meal blog post.

They didn't seem to mind :) :) :)
and we had a fantastic time!!!

Okay, so that's all the recipes, friends!

Below are all the links to
the recipes!!

Herb-Roasted Turkey Breast with Basic Gravy
Cheddar and Jalapeno Stuffing
The Best Damn Vegan Mashed Potatoes
Honeyed Carrots and Oranges
Bourbon-Cranberry Compote
Homemade Butter Flake Rolls
Chocolate Cream Pie

If you have any questions at all,
contact me at the phone number or email address on the contact page or just ask away here in the comments!

Thanks for checking in!! I appreciate it!!
Have a great early holiday season!
Stay warm, have fun, eat delicious food,
and we'll be talking soon!!
:)

Angie's Show and Tell Day with a Spicy Roasted Red Pepper Soup, 70s Toys That Would Poke An Eye Out, Inappropriate Candy Cigarettes, and a Beautiful Kaffe Fasset Quilt!!

1/7/2017

So this week turned out to be a
little frosty, eh?!

Always nice to drink a warm comforting tonic first thing
in the morning though.
This is a mug of warm water with:
Juice of One Lemon
3/4 Tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar
1 1/2 tsp. turmeric
1 Tbsp. Raw Honey
One dash Cayenne Pepper

Something else warming up the inside spaces is this dehydrator with beef jerky drying in it.

Here's the recipe I used.
It's called Jerky Lover's Jerky - Sweet, Hot, and Spicy

Quick note: The recipe as written will handle
THREE lbs. of meat, not just ONE lb.

I made 26 lbs of beef total this season.
26 lbs!!!!

After all that beef dried in the dehydrator, it netted like 18 pieces.

Exaggeration a bit but still,

they shrink like the old Shrinky Dinks from the 70s.

Remember those??? Remember burning yourself on the oven and pan?

Frankly I don't remember my Ma (or anybody's Ma) ever being this excited to help kids shrink dinks in the oven in the 70s. :)

But hey, at least those same 70s parents made up for it by letting us kids blow giant super elastic bubble plastic balloons that I'm sure had
no toxicity in them whatsoever.

And what about the Click Clacks...aka Clackers.
Man, I LOVED THOSE THINGS!!

Did you know they were banned? Cause they broke up into little shards of glass. Probably poked someone's eye out, too.

But I digress, let's get to what this post is really about:
Roasted Red Pepper Soup!

Do you like spicy? This soup is spicy!
It's also super healthy, has delicious flavor and is packed full of red peppers.
Red peppers are full of vitamin C and are an anti-inflammatory and antioxidant.

The spiciness comes from that ONE lone jalapeno,
which gets seeded and deveined even.

If you want less heat, just use ***HALF*** a jalapeno.

This recipe is
from the
Better Homes and Gardens Publication
Soups & Stews.

This mag is on newstands right now.

Roasted Garlic and Red Pepper Soup
From Better Homes and Gardens Soups & Stews Publication 2016
Ingredients

2 whole garlic bulbs
1 large onion, sliced
1 tablespoon snipped fresh rosemary or 1 teaspoon dried rosemary, crushed
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 large red sweet peppers
1/3 cup firmly packed stemmed fresh parsley sprigs
1/3 cup firmly packed stemmed fresh basil leaves
1 fresh jalapeno chile pepper, seeded and chopped* Angie's note: Use only 1/2 jalapeno for kids
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
Bottled hot pepper sauce
1 32 ounce carton chicken broth
1/2 cup half-and-half or light cream
Shredded fresh basil (optional)

Directions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Cut off the top 1/2 inch of the garlic bulbs to expose ends of individual cloves. Leaving garlic bulbs whole, remove any loose, papery outer layers. Place bulbs, cut ends up, and onion in a small baking dish. Sprinkle with rosemary; drizzle with oil. Quarter sweet peppers lengthwise; remove stems, seeds, and membranes. Place peppers, cut sides down, on a foil-lined baking sheet. Roast garlic,onion, and sweet peppers for 20 to 25 minutes or until garlic feels soft when squeezed and peppers are charred and very tender.
Bring foil up around peppers and fold edges together to enclose. Let stand about 15 minutes or until cool enough to handle. Using a sharp knife, loosen edges of skins; gently pull off skins in strips and discard. When garlic is cool enough to handle, squeeze garlic paste from individual cloves. Discard skins.
In a blender or food processor combine garlic paste, onion, sweet peppers, parsley, basil leaves, jalapeno pepper, black pepper, crushed red pepper, and hot pepper sauce. Cover and blend or process until nearly smooth. Add 1 cup of the broth; cover and blend or process until smooth.
Pour pureed mixture into a large saucepan. Stir in the remaining broth and the half-and-half. Cook over medium-low heat until warm. If desired, top servings with shreded basil.

So let's start this soup by roasting two full heads of garlic and an onion.
Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with fresh rosemary and pop in the oven.

After about 20-30 minutes the garlic bulbs and onions are roasted.

Okay, so I should have kept the bulbs in longer cause when I popped them out of their paper,

they certainly weren't of a
"paste" consistency,
but they were roasted and soft.

I threw the quartered red peppers in to roast and
blister up...

I stuck the roasted peppers in a plastic baggie for ten minutes so it would be easy to remove the skins...

A bowl of yummy smoky, roasted sweet peppers
just waiting to go into soup.

I prepped the remaining ingredients...

Because I have attention issues, I arranged everything on the counter in an effort to stay focused when blending the ingredients in the correct order.

So basically all that arranging was a waste of time, you pretty much throw everything in the blender at the same time except the chicken stock.
By the way, throw the stock in the blender at this time too, otherwise the blender will just gum up with the peppers and such.

And this is the base for your soup!

Throw
the soup base into a pan on the stove on medium-low heat.

Pour in the remaining chicken stock (I used vegetable stock cause I wanted this to be completely vegetarian) and the
half-and-half (I used whole milk).

Heat until warm.

The soup will regain it's sharp red color as it heats up.

Fill up a bowl and grab a couple biscuits
to dunk.

Now this recipe as directed is SPICY, due to the whole albeit de-seeded jalapeno. Tim and I loved this!!
HOWEVER if you have little kiddos, DIAL DOWN THE JALAPENO SPICE BY HALF!!

This is such a super healthy soup.
If made with vegetarian broth instead of chicken broth,
this is a completely vegetarian dish.
Having said that I do think chicken broth adds a
wonderful warming flavor addition.

I hope you try out this soup recipe sometime!

So remember when we were discussing the toys of the 70s our moms bought us?
Well...
Remember these??

And of course we played with all those toys up above with these hanging off our childhood lips.

Now, if you were a girl in the 70s,
besides playing Rock em Sock em Robots with candy cigs hanging out of our mouths,
does anyone remember wearing these capes???

This is me. In my pink cape.
c 1972 ish
My mom made this. It was lined with a white satin type of material if I remember correctly.

Oh how I loved it!

I mean LOVED it.

Wore it everywhere.

Look at those buttons, so cute!!

It looks like I have a button on the end of my nose and am hoarding them in my cheeks too.

Anyway, this isn't the 70s anymore,
so my Ma makes me QUILTS instead of capes now!
This quilt is in the guest bedroom.

This is the quilt opened up.
Isn't it gorgeous??!!!!!!!

I love the jelly roll pattern, so fun and fresh.
I asked mom for bright oranges, turquoises, yellows, greens, you know, happy colors!

She nailed it with this Kaffe Fassett fabric!
I LOVE Kaffe Fassett fabric!!!!! It feels sooooo rich, luxurious, and the
different patterns and colors he designs is visually breathtaking!
Modern, fresh. Speaks to his many travels.

Here's the real kicker though,
Ma does all her own quilting, too!

Now my Ma is not a flashy or flamboyant person at all,
she's very modest and humble,
especially when it comes to the beautiful work she does.

Dear Ma,

IT'S *MY* BLOG AND I CAN SHOW PICTURES OF MY BEAUTIFUL QUILT IF
I WANT TO!!

So there.

Love,
Angie

P.S. I burned the top of my hand on Kim's Easy-Bake Oven one day when I wasn't supposed to be playing with it.

P.P.S. That yellow and orange Barbie camper was the best all time present ever. I can still smell how the plastic smelled on the back fold-down table.

P.P.S. Um. Candy cigarettes? ???? ?????

Okay Friends, that's all I got for today!!!!
Stay tuned for another riveting blog post where I share a baked chicken thigh recipe that tastes JUST LIKE fried chicken out of a pan!

I know, right!!

Thanks for checking in!!!!

Have a good rest of the weekend y'all
and we'll talk at ya soon!!

Rare Photo of Clean Sink and a Corn & Scallion Salad with a fresh Cilantro Mint Dressing

8/24/2016

Woke up the other morning to this.

I felt like I was dreaming still. Could it really be?
Clean dishes? Done up the night before?
An actual clean sink??

Well, I'd decided to turn over a new leaf and do my dishes up every night instead of letting them
stack
up
for
days.

Sooooo that lasted a whole
8 loooooong hours.

I figured, well, this new leaf I turned over would require me to actually "do dishes"
"every day" and well,

I have enough green and leafs in my life already!

There's green on my cutting board.

Green AND a leaf in my kitchen window.

Green couch.

Green footstool.

Green cat.

Wait, wrong picture.

Green tissue box,
I meant.

With leaves.

Green pillows.

Green dishes.

I even have green carpet.

Well, technically it's
teal.

And lastly a green stool that becomes
less and less green
every year.

So see, turning over a new leaf was

redundant
boring
interfered with my gift of procrastination

However I did make up a delicious, addictive LEAFY GREEN salad in that loooooong 8 hour time span.

Say hello to this
Corn and Scallion Salad with Cilantro-Mint Dressing!!!

The
Cilantro-Mint Dressing

is the star of this dish!

The grilled Sweet Corn
kicked the flavor up a notch
as well!

Once again, this is a
Bobby Flay recipe.

Here's the fixins for this fresh,
sweet and tangy salad!

I like how the amount of actual lettuce shown is small. Angie not shiniest bulb on Christmas tree, obviously.

Corn and Scallion Salad with Cilantro-Mint Dressing
Straight outta foodnetwork.com Bobby Flay's Barbecue Addiction show
Barbecue Addiction is one of my favorite shows!

Ingredients
1/2 cup fresh mint leaves, chopped
1/4 cup fresh cilantro or parsley leaves
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
1 to 2 teaspoons honey
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
6 large ears corn, husks and silks removed
1/4 cup light olive or canola oil
Canola oil, for brushing
2 cups baby mixed greens
6 scallions, green and pale green parts thinly sliced
1/2 cup crumbled feta or farmer's cheese

Directions
Combine the mint, cilantro, vinegar, 1 teaspoon of the honey and some salt and pepper in a blender, and blend until smooth. With the motor running, slowly add the olive oil and blend until emulsified. Taste, and then add more honey, salt and pepper as desired. Set aside for later use.
Preheat the grill to medium-high.
Brush the corn with some canola oil, and then season with salt and pepper. Grill, covered, until charred on all sides and the corn is tender, 2 to 3 minutes per side. Cool slightly and remove the kernels from the cobs. Combine the corn, greens and green onions in a bowl, then season with salt and pepper. Add some of the dressing and toss to coat. Top with the cheese and another drizzle of dressing. Serve immediately.

Just click HERE to go to Bobby's website where you can print off the recipe.

Let's start with the fresh minty mint mint!

Chop up the mint and cilantro and slice up the scallions.

Shred up that beautiful
semi-soft white
Farmers cheese.

By the way.........

Farmers Cheese
+
Angie
=
>>>>>>>>>>

So get out your blender and throw that
cilantro,
the minty mint mint,
white wine vinegar,
a tsp of honey
and salt and pepper in there.

Let 'er rip!

Pour in the olive oil
from the top...

Now I did a taste test and determined one more tsp of honey was just fine.

Let's get started on grilling up this corn!

T

Brush the corn with oil
and salt and pepper.

Typically when a recipe calls for canola oil
(usually due to high heat),

I use avocado oil.

Get a good char on this beautiful corn.

Cut the corn off the cob using this double bowl method so the corn kernels don't end up on shelves and counters and the tops of oven hoods and plastered to the ceiling.

This grilled sweet corn is just waiting to go on a salad!

Assembling the salad with the baby lettuce, scallions and grilled corn...

Let's add that Farmers cheese and Cilantro-Mint dressing!!

Creamy
farmers cheese,
sweetness of
grilled corn,
tangy dressing, savory scallions....
this salad is perfect!!

And because the dressing is so addictive, I added extra, just because!!

Hope you enjoyed one of the few salads I've ever posted on here!
If you make it, let me know what you think!!
I do know that salad dressing is definitely going to be made weekly in
my house!

Okay, so in closing I just want to share what Tim's and my daily morning drink looks like.
(I had read last year that lemon water was good for you for prevention so we drink this first thing in the morning, before breakfast.)

Juice of one lemon ( good for digestion)
3/4 Tbsp of raw honey (alleviates allergy symptoms)
2 tsp Turmeric (anti-inflammatory)
Two dashes cayenne pepper (calorie-burning and lowers blood pressure)
Warm tap water (aids in digesting the lemon)

Remember to drink this warm mug with a straw because the acid of the lemon can hurt the enamel on your teeth. (I am going to be buying glass reusable glass straws. Right now we just rewash the same plastic straw to be more environmentally friendly.)

Okay, thanks for checking in guys!!!!
I appreciate it!!

Have a great Wednesday and we'll talk at ya soon!!
Notice how I used fall colors there??
Doesn't it just feel like the start of football weather??!! Hut hut hike!
:)

Pretty Pictures and a Super Fantastic Pasta with Kale Pesto and Roasted Butternut Squash!

8/6/2015

Hi Guys!
THE FOLLOWING PICTURES MAKE ME HAPPY AND I JUST WANTED TO SHARE THEM.

This is a picture of Tim's Grandmother's kitchen window in Albuquerque about 30 years ago,
one of my favorite pictures ever.
Marguerite would change the glass out seasonally.

Can someone come to my house this weekend and lay this exact sidewalk by the summer kitchen, please? Hello? Bueller? Bueller?

artpeople.net

mariakillam.com...check her blog out, she's a fantastic designer and colour expert.

This entryway intrigues me. Even the carpet,
but especially that railing.
I want to tour the rest of the house.

Maria Killam is a designer and colour expert.
This is her living room. Talk about put together!

On the other hand, this entryway intrigues me too.
I'm nosy.
I want to know what's upstairs and what's on the main level here.

I saved this picture because I think the walkway might be realistically doable for me down the road.

mariakillam.com

This is gazpacho. Doesn't look like any gazpacho I've ever seen. Yes please, I'll take two bowls, er I mean glasses.

And when I get tired of that porch, I will retire to this other porch, also attached to my imaginary dual-porched house.

I'll eat that gazpacho out here on my pretend porch, by the sea.

Something is driving me crazy though....um,
WHO has floors that clean?? In a kitchen??? Who???

And I will wash up those gazpacho pedestal glasses in this here kitchen in that imaginary house by the sea.

Okay, now we get to a delightful dish that makes me super happy too.
This light refreshing dish is full of flavor and just a delight to eat.
Pasta with Kale Pesto and
Roasted Butternut Squash.

Lottery Hill Farm in Vermont.

This dish is one of the top five things I've made and devoured!!
In fact I made it for breakfast the other day, I was craving it so much.

So this dish is from
Melissa Clark with the
New York Times!

And here's the fixins for this
refreshing pasta dish!

Also, I used a whole wheat,
locally made pasta.

Oh gosh, I think this style is called corkscrew or twizzler or something...I'll remember before I'm done with this post.

Rotini, maybe?? Oh heck, I'll just google...
Okay, just googled,
it's either fusili or rotini.
Anyhoo, use whatever you have in the pantry.

Here's the recipe....Just click HERE to go directly to the New York Times recipe.

Pasta With Kale Pesto and Roasted Butternut Squash
MELISSA CLARK...straight outta cooking.nyt.com

Time 45 minutes
Yield 2 to 3 serving

Here is a one-pot meal designed explicitly for the hungriness of a long-distance runner, with garlicky kale pesto and sweet roasted butternut squash. Making the pesto with kale instead of basil gives it a structure the basil-rich original lacks, and it interacts beautifully with the crisp-and-soft smoothness of the roasted squash. A terrific dish.

INGREDIENTS

1 ½ pounds butternut squash
½ cup extra virgin olive oil, more for drizzling
¾ teaspoon kosher salt, more for squash
Freshly ground black pepper
1 small bunch (about 1/2 pound)lacinato kale, center ribs removed
8 ounces pasta (penne rigate works well)
⅓ cup toasted pine nuts
2 large garlic cloves, roughly chopped
Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
Freshly squeezed lemon juice, to taste
Grated Parmesan cheese, for serving

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Use a vegetable peeler to peel squash, then halve it lengthwise and scoop out seeds. Dice squash flesh into 1-inch pieces, place on a baking sheet, and toss with olive oil and season generously with salt and pepper. Spread pieces into an even layer, making sure there is space between them. Roast, stirring squash pieces once or twice, until golden brown and tender, about 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil; have ready a bowl of ice water. Drop kale into boiling water and cook for 45 seconds. Use tongs or slotted spoon to transfer kale to ice water. Bring water in pot back to a boil, adding more if necessary so there is enough to cook pasta.
Drain kale well, then wrap tightly in a dry kitchen towel and squeeze thoroughly to remove any excess moisture. Roughly chop leaves. When water in pot comes back to a boil, cook pasta according to package directions.
In a food processor, pulse together kale, nuts, garlic, salt and lemon zest until mixture is smooth and salt has dissolved. With motor running, slowly drizzle in the oil until fully incorporated. Taste and add more salt dissolved in a little lemon juice, if necessary.
Drain pasta, reserving a little cooking water. Toss pasta with kale pesto and some pasta cooking water if necessary to help it coat pasta. Add cheese, lemon juice and salt to taste. Serve topped with squash and more cheese.

So we'll start by toasting the pine nuts in the oven for
10 minutes at 300 degrees.

Angie's Public Service Announcement:
Do not,
I repeat
do not
have heart palpitations when you see how much pine nuts are at the grocery.
Just
#1 Breathe
#2 Cover your eyes with your hands and
#3 Buy them, they are essential here...

Just wanted to mention that I bought Lacinato kale,
or what is commonly referred to as
Dinosaur kale,
instead of the more traditional curly kale.

Either one works fine, for sure!!

First, prep all your ingredients.
Cut, chop, toast, grate and shred.

Olive oil up that yummy cut butternut squash, and salt and pepper them and bake
for 30 or so minutes....

Now get your boiling water in a pan ready for the kale

and then have a bowl with Ice cubes and water beside....

Throw that kale into the boiling water for
45 seconds or so...

...And then throw the kale into a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking...

it should look a gorgeous bright green!

Drain the kale on a paper towel and squeeze dry.

Throw the pasta in the boiling, salted water...

Now chock the kale, toasted pine nuts, the garlic, and lemon peel in the food processor and pulse away!

Now drain your pasta...

you're getting close!!!

It should smell heavenly,
just heavenly,

and look like this.

Toss
the pasta with the kale pesto....

Add a tiny bit of pasta liquid, if needed, to keep things nice and coated...

Looking good, yes??
Also, you can not even imagine how wonderful this smells with the toasted pine nuts and lemon peel, garlic and kale....fantastic!!

Oh my goodness gracious,
now add the roasted butternut squash...

Shred some of that fresh Parmesan on top....

I can still smell the lemony pesto
with the sweet butternut squash
and the saltiness of the Parmesan.

Like I said earlier, I made this twice in one week cause it was so light, refreshing, delicious, a perfect combo of everything summery.

OH! You can eat this warm or eat it for
lunch the next day cold.
Either way it's terrific and I really hope you try this recipe out sometime!!!

Okay, so closing out, I would like to share a couple of other pictures that make me happy (none of the pictures showcase potato chips or cheesecake though, that's for another day :)

So the weather last week was
a-changin' to the south there....

Tim was sitting on the deck...

rather
enjoying himself with a
cigar,

a glass of wine,

and the Bible,

his usual evening
accouterments.

I looked over at the sitting area off the deck, under the tree,

and stated how peaceful it looked that night,

with a newly mowed lawn.

So Tim decided that would be a good vantage point to watch the storms in the southern skies.

At least one cat thought so too,

and joined us as well.

And the sky that night was quite lovely to see, when you're far, far away...

Okay, so that's all I have for today!
I really do hope y'all try out the
Pasta and Kale Pesto recipe sometime soon though!!

So have a good rest of the week kiddos,
stay cool,
and we'll talk at ya soon!!!

Man I Love This Tuscan Kale Salad!

4/19/2015

Tim says,
"This kale salad is fantastic. Darn near like eating candy."

Angie responds,
"Well, I don't know about candy but this salad
definitely wowed me."

This
Tuscan Kale Salad
is an excellent side with pasta.

This Kale Salad is straight outta
Dr. Weil's website.

But let's clarify what kind of kale...
this recipe calls for
LACINATO kale,
otherwise known as
TUSCAN kale.

Tuscan Kale Salad
Straight outta Dr. Weil's website...check it out!
Ingredients
4-6 cups kale, loosely packed, sliced leaves of Italian black (Lacinato, "dinosaur," cavolo nero) midribs removed
juice of 1 lemon
3-4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, mashed
salt & pepper, to taste
hot red pepper flakes, to taste
2/3 cup grated Pecorino Toscano cheese (Rosselino variety if you can find it) or other flavorful grating cheese such as Asiago or Parmesan
1/2 cup freshly made bread crumbs from lightly toasted bread

Instructions

Whisk together lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper, and a generous pinch (or more to taste) of hot red pepper flakes.
Pour over kale in serving bowl and toss well.
Add 2/3 of the cheese and toss again.
Let kale sit for at least 5 minutes. Add bread crumbs, toss again, and top with remaining cheese.

Let's set the record straight on the difference between Curly kale (of which is the norm for most of us)....
looks totally familiar, right?...

And now this is Tuscan Kale, more commonly known as Lacinato Kale

They also call it Dinosaur Kale.

But I say,
yeah no,
that is stoooopid.
We will just continue to call it
Lacinato Kale.

Lacinato Kale
will say it's specifically "Lacinato"
on the tag.

Tuscan or Lacinato Kale is different from
Curly Kale
by
color
and
taste.
Tuscan or Lacinato is a darker green (almost a blue green) and it is a bit more bitter and earthy tasting.
It's Delicious!

Okay, so here's the fixins for this fine salad...

First,
remove the midrib thingies from the kale.

Slice into ribbons...

I interrupt this exciting Tuscan Kale Salad post to bring you pictures of the marinara I threw together for the pasta that we were going to have as well. I chopped up red and yellow peppers, red onions, garlic, carrots and basil and threw them into organic diced tomatoes with a little bit of red wine and salt and pepper..

Okay, going back to the topic of today's post, the Tuscan KALE SALAD, anyhoo, get your lemon juice ready, olive oil, red pepper flakes, parm and garlic.

Mix the olive oil, garlic, fresh lemon juice, pepper flakes and salt and pepper. This smells great!
It is at this point that you KNOW this is gonna to be a nice, light, tasty salad.

Mix that lovely dressing in.
You will want to make sure to toss the kale with the dressing, toss good, toss it real good.

Leave no stone unturned here.

Throw that freshly grated Parmesan
on top.

Toss.

Together. 

Not out.

Duh.

Ta-Daaa!!!!
I present to you a blurry picture of this yummy kale salad!

Saddle up this salad next to some pasta or a steak or veggie burger...just about anything!

As I said at the top of the post, Tim said this is darn near like eating candy.
(This coming from a man who would never touch a vegetable to save his soul
just 5 or 10 years ago.)
This Kale Salad is flavorful, a little sweet, a little savory, a tad spicy and light and refreshing.

To print the recipe, just click on the link and go to
Dr. Weil's website. (I had to cut and paste recipe.)
Dr. Weil's Tuscan Kale Salad.

So the other morning,
the sun was just perfect about 6:30am and I went out to snap a few shots with my craptastic $100 high dolla camera....

I've finally comes to terms that every picture I take out here,
SOMETHING always needs painted.

I'm convinced little hobbits and gnomes live in this tree. And woodpeckers.

I was genuinely excited the other day to show Tim of a picture of a grain bin just like ours that had been converted into a cute, girly woman cave.
He did NOT find it amusing one bit.

Looking to the west with the early morning east sun casting shadows.
The only time I'll ever be tall and skinny in my life.
It was fun while it lasted :)

Okay, tis all I gots for today!!
(Remember, gots is a word....in the Pretend Word Dictionary)
Hope everyone has a great rest of the weekend!
Thanks for checking in and we'll
talk at ya soon!

Hello Black Bean, Farro and Avocado Meal...You Are Healthy AND Tasty!

6/2/2014

Little Boy Blue says HELLO!! Look how big he is getting!!! 

Hello also to this healthy and
totally yummy
Black Beans,
Farro and Avocado meal!

This recipe is from the Reluctant Entertainer website.

This dish is soooo healthy,
but the thing is.....it's so tasty!!!
And filling! Who'd thunk?

Leave off the queso fresco and this would make a
nice vegan dish!

These are all the fixins for this quick and easy,
super healthy dish. Remember, it's vegan if you leave the queso fresco off. :)

So this is farro. It's a grain.
A bit expensive.
I think this 1 lb. bag was maybe $7.99.

I'm like, really dudes? $7.99? Get the price down on this please.
Farro is becoming more mainstream and not so exotic anymore, so I think they can get that price lowered eventually.

Now this is the salsa I used,
a local Iowa City salsa.

La Casa was a locally owned restaurant in Iowa City for years.
Mercy Sueppel, the owner, closed the restaurant but continues to make this fantastic salsa among other authentic Mexican products.
Very yummy!

Anyway, we start this dish by boiling up the farro.
By the way, I had to google to see how long to cook farro because the package
doesn't tell you...I had to search a little bit to find out.
35 minutes is how long I cooked mine.

Red Alert!
OHOHOH!!! I FORGOT TO MENTION,
I HALVED THIS RECIPE...it makes a ton!!!!

So anyhoo, I chopped up
the mixture of onions, shallots,
and garlic.

I did use all three, which I think factored into the layered flavor of this dish.

Now drain those beans!

BTW, Could this picture be any dumber?

Saute
the onion, shallot, and garlic mixture in olive oil.

Can you smell the aroma?
It smells heavenly!

Now throw in those beans! Do it, do it, just DO IT!!!!

Now stir in that corn and salsa and cumin and salt and pepper....

Okay,
so this is just waiting to be layered onto the farro.

So we plate this dish by layering the *warm* farro onto a platter...

Now layer the bean mixture on top of the farro...

Next, layer the avocado, queso fresco and chopped cilantro...

What a masterpiece on a platter!

Let's plate 'er up and see how it tastes....

Looks a
little messy on a plate......

...But look at those yummy avocado slices! And the fresh queso fresco!
And the hearty farro but most importantly, the tasty bean, corn and onion mixture!

Okay, something was spicy about this dish, I wanted to keep eating it. Tim asked what was so spicy and I said I just didn't know.

Tim calls this dish "deceptive." It seems as if the flavor is going to be boring but it is deceptively delicious and super filling as a main dish.
Gotta tell ya, the cilantro really finishes off this dish,
don't forget the cilantro!

Okay, so below is the recipe....you can click on the recipe document and then print it out OR you can click on that teensy tiny Download File thingie right below and print it out too.

black_bean_with_farro_and_avocado.docx
File Size:	13 kb
File Type:	docx

Download File

Well I hope someone tries out this recipe and follows back up and lets us know what they thought of it,
or if they changed it up!

In the In the meantime, I think Ima try and be as carefree as a yittle 2 1/2 year old toddler boy sporting a dimple, joyous spirit,
and plastic airplane.

Okay guys, that's all I got for now :)
Have a great week, stay cool and we'll
talk at ya soon!!!!

1 Day Prep-Ahead Small Thanksgiving Time Saver Meal

Angie's Show and Tell Day with a Spicy Roasted Red Pepper Soup, 70s Toys That Would Poke An Eye Out, Inappropriate Candy Cigarettes, and a Beautiful Kaffe Fasset Quilt!!

Rare Photo of Clean Sink and a Corn & Scallion Salad with a fresh Cilantro Mint Dressing

Woke up the other morning to this.

Say hello to this
Corn and Scallion Salad with Cilantro-Mint Dressing!!!

Pretty Pictures and a Super Fantastic Pasta with Kale Pesto and Roasted Butternut Squash!

Man I Love This Tuscan Kale Salad!

Tim says,
"This kale salad is fantastic. Darn near like eating candy."

Angie responds,
"Well, I don't know about candy but this salad
definitely wowed me."

Hello Black Bean, Farro and Avocado Meal...You Are Healthy AND Tasty!

Red Alert!
OHOHOH!!! I FORGOT TO MENTION,
I HALVED THIS RECIPE...it makes a ton!!!!

Author

Categories

Archives

1 Day Prep-Ahead Small Thanksgiving Time Saver Meal

Angie's Show and Tell Day with a Spicy Roasted Red Pepper Soup, 70s Toys That Would Poke An Eye Out, Inappropriate Candy Cigarettes, and a Beautiful Kaffe Fasset Quilt!!

Rare Photo of Clean Sink and a Corn & Scallion Salad with a fresh Cilantro Mint Dressing

Woke up the other morning to this.

Say hello to thisCorn and Scallion Salad with Cilantro-Mint Dressing!!!​

Pretty Pictures and a Super Fantastic Pasta with Kale Pesto and Roasted Butternut Squash!

Man I Love This Tuscan Kale Salad!

Tim says, "This kale salad is fantastic. Darn near like eating candy."

Angie responds, "Well, I don't know about candy but this salad definitely wo﻿wed me."

Hello Black Bean, Farro and Avocado Meal...You Are Healthy AND Tasty!

Red Alert!OHOHOH!!! I FORGOT TO MENTION, I HALVED THIS RECIPE...it makes a ton!!!!

Author

Categories

Archives

Say hello to this
Corn and Scallion Salad with Cilantro-Mint Dressing!!!

Tim says,
"This kale salad is fantastic. Darn near like eating candy."

Angie responds,
"Well, I don't know about candy but this salad
definitely wowed me."

Red Alert!
OHOHOH!!! I FORGOT TO MENTION,
I HALVED THIS RECIPE...it makes a ton!!!!