My New Favorite Pesto

I found this recipe on The Sister’s Café and decided to try it.  It’s only slightly different from the one I used before but it was easily the best pesto I’ve ever had.  We have basil growing like weeds in our garden right now so it was fun to put it to use.  Our camera battery is dead so my husband took a picture with his phone.  Not bad, right?

Pesto

¼ c. walnuts
¼ c. pine nuts
3 T. minced garlic
5 c. fresh basil leaves, packed
1 tsp salt
1 tsp  black pepper
1 1/4 c. olive oil
1 c. freshly grated parmesan cheese
Put the walnuts, pine nuts, and garlic in blender. Blend for 30 seconds. Add the basil leaves, salt, and pepper. While blender is running, slowly pour the olive oil in and blend until the pesto is finely pureed. Add the parmesan and puree for 1 minute. Serve immediately or store in the fridge.  I didn’t even put oil on the top and it has stayed nice.  We’ve eaten it on pizza and then tonight we put it on pasta.  It’s amazing!
(Green Bean recipe to follow)

Baked Pasta with Summer Veggies

This recipe is a slight variation of one my Corsen gave me a few weeks ago and I’ve been waiting for my red peppers to ripen so I could make it.  It turned out really amazing.  Phil even loved it, and he’s not a huge fan of meals that don’t involve meat. So there ya go.

Baked Pasta with Summer Veggies
 
4 cloves chopped garlic
2 red bell peppers, sliced
2 zucchinis, sliced (I used one zucchini, one yellow squash)
2 tbsp.  olive oil
1 lb. spiral or penne pasta (Used Tinkyada spirals and the texture was awesome)
1 C. cottage cheese
2 carrot, sliced
1 C. Parmesan cheese
Pinch of nutmeg
3 tomatoes, chopped
1 tsp. oregano
1/2 lb. mozzarella cheese
3/4 C. crushed Rice Chex cereal
 
Preheat oven to 425
1) cook pasta 2 minutes short of package directions
2) Toss garlic, peppers and squash in large bowl with olive oil, salt and pepper.  place veggies on baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes
3) mix cottage cheese, 1/2 of parmesan and nutmeg in large bowl.  Gently fold in cooked pasta, veggies, tomatoes, cubed mozzarella and seasonings.  Pour into greased baking pan.
4) Sprinkle with remaining parmesan and crushed cereal.  Bake uncovered for 20 minutes.

Pork Lo Mein

I am typically intimidated by anything that sounds as fancy as “Pork Lo Mein.”  I’m just not a very adventurous cook, but I decided to try this out and it was to die for!  So incredibly easy and so good you’ll think you’re having take-out.  Try it and let me know what you think.

Pork Lo Mein

1 pound pork tenderloin, sliced lengthwise and then into 1/4 inch slices (I think chicken or beef would probably work too)

1/4 c soy sauce

3 garlic cloves, minced (I used 3tsp of the bottled stuff)

1 tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

2 c. fresh snow peas

equivalent of one sweet bell pepper, thinly sliced (I used half of an orange one and 1/4 each of a red and yellow one)

3 c. cooked spaghetti (I used Tinkyada.  I think texture-wise this one is fantastic for recipes like this)

1/3 c. chicken broth

2 tsp extra virgin olive oil

In a large Ziploc bag, combine the soy sauce, garlic, ginger, and pepper flakes.  Add the pork, shake it up nice and refrigerate it for about 20 min.  Spray a large skillet with cooking spray.  Pour entire contents of bag into the skillet and stir-fry for about 5-6 min or until meat is cooked through.  Add peas and peppers and stir-fry for one minute.  Stir in the spaghetti and broth and heat it through.  Remove from heat and stir in the oil.

This will be the most delicious thing you eat all week. I promise.

Chicken Basil Pasta

I recently found a recipe website that I love! It’s called Eat Better America. We’ve made a few successful recipes from this site that I’ll try to post soon, but the one we made tonight….oh, it was delicious. I had to post it right now. I modified the recipe just a little bit, so here’s my version:
Chicken Basil Pasta

1 T. olive oil
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
3 Roma Tomatoes, diced
2 C. cubed cooked chicken
3 T fresh basil, chopped
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp Tobasco Sauce
8 oz pasta (I used Tinkyada spaghetti noodles)

Prepare pasta according to directions. Meanwhile, heat oil in skillet on medium heat. Add all other ingredients and cook until tomatoes are soft (about 5 min). Serve over pasta. Sprinkle a little parmesan on top if you want.
When I made this, I was looking at it wondering why it wasn’t more “saucy.” If you’re as concerned as I was about the lack-of-sauce, just have a little faith and try it out. It doesn’t need sauce. It’s perfect just the way it is.

For Dinner This Week...

I thought I would share one of my current favorite dinners. It's so easy. Tinkyada is by far my favorite brand of gluten-free pasta. It's great because it can hold-up to a little over-cooking and the texture really is just like "real" pasta. This Classico Pesto is delicious. I bought it for about $2.50 at WalMart. At Super Target I saw a Classico Sundried Tomato Pesto that I'll be testing out ASAP.

All I did was cook the pasta according to the directions and then stir in the Pesto, right from the can. I didn't add any meat, I don't think it needs it. If you want meat I think chicken would be yummy. I also have a recipe for homemade pesto if you want to try that.