Recipe creation can be a funny thing. Sometimes I'll come up with a recipe, jot down my ingredient ideas, easily throw it together, and it'll turn out awesome. Other times a recipe will sound delicious in theory, but not turn out as great as I'd hoped for. When that happens, I either completely throw out the idea and call it a kitchen experiment defeat, or I keep thinking about how I can change the recipe to make it better. This week has been a case of the latter. When I bought a butternut squash recently and was trying to think of what to make with it, my hubby was the one who suggested ravioli. I took his good idea and ran with it, coming up with a meal idea of butternut squash, sage & parmesan ravioli with a buttery white wine hazelnut sauce. Though it wasn't bad, I just ... [Read More]
pesto
Pistachio Pesto [Brown Rice] Noodle Salad
Hi there! Sunday night has come so quickly! My weekend was filled with things like running errands, hiking, cleaning and Apple tech support. My Mac was acting crazy the past couple of weeks, and since I rely on it for so much - including my full-time job, blogging, freelance writing work, plus all of the typical social media and Internet browsing nonsense - I was having a bit of a heart attack that my computer would conk out and I'd lose all of my files. I was debating whether or not to get another Mac or go with a cheaper option, but in the end, off to the Apple store I went to get a new MacBook. I'm an Apple brat now and I suppose there's no turning back. ;-) There was something very anticlimactic about getting a new computer that looked exactly like my old computer, but hopefully this ... [Read More]
Roasted-Vegetable Soup with Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto
Last weekend was rainy, chilly, and low key - the perfect scenario to try making a new soup. My hubby recently gave me the Williams-Sonoma Soup cookbook, and I was itching to make a recipe from it. This is what I wound up making: The pesto adds a flavorful punch to this vitamin-packed soup. As usual, I altered the ingredient list a bit based on personal preference - i.e. I'm allergic to eggplant so I obviously nixed that; I used vegetable broth instead of chicken; I didn't have the leeks on hand that it called for. I started off with a ton of veggies.... ...which I chopped up, tossed in a baking dish and roasted until tender: From there, some pureeing, pulsing, and mixing was involved, but all in all, this soup was somewhat simple to make! I paired the soup with whole wheat pita ... [Read More]
Fettuccine with Pesto Wine Sauce
Happy Saturday! My morning was spent hiking with my hubby and dog; then my afternoon consisted of relaxing on the beach in Del Mar. It was a gorgeous day and I'm happy I got to spend most of it outside. Pretty nice weekend I'm having so far! Moving onto food... I'm not a huge pesto sauce fan. I don't dislike it, but I don't go crazy for it either. Yet for some reason this week I was in the mood to eat pasta with pesto. Sadly my basil plant is coming to an end (and I need to get another one very soon!), so during this week's food store trip, I nabbed a big container of fresh basil. While I wasn't looking to change up a classic pesto sauce too much, I did want to try to decrease the amount of oil I used. As I peered around my kitchen, I spotted wine and thought This could be a good idea! And ... [Read More]
Veggie & Fontina Panini with Basil Pesto + Homemade French Fries
Whew, this post's title is quite a mouthful! I must have been in a panini kind of mood after making balsamic portobello ones last week, because last night's dinner was yet another panini creation -- and a yummy one at that. I paired the sandwiches with baked French fries, mostly because my good friend was talking about making homemade fries the other day, which gave me a yen for them. I haven't made fries in awhile, and let me just say, if you're in the mood for them but don't want copious amounts of grease (and guilt) involved, I suggest making these easy fries as a side dish... Veggie & Fontina Cheese Panini with Basil Pesto + Homemade French Fries Makes 4 servings For panini: 1 c of loosely packed fresh basil leaves 1 whole garlic clove, peeled 2 TBSP ... [Read More]
Veggie, Goat Cheese & Arugula Pesto Pizza
Today I ate breakfast early due to a conference call first thing this AM. Because of this, I found my stomach growling around 11 AM for lunch. I had pizza on my brain... and not just any pizza, leftovers from a new pizza recipe I came up with last weekend! Instead of using tomato sauce as I usually do, I came up with a healthy pesto to spread onto the dough. Though I'm a big cheese lover, I let veggies take the center stage with this tasty pizza. Veggie, Goat Cheese & Arugula Pesto Pizza Makes 8 slices Ingredients: 1 ready to bake whole wheat pizza dough (I use Trader Joe's) 2 c arugula 1/4 c fresh basil juice from 1/2 lemon 2 TBSP olive oil 3 oz goat cheese 1 c zucchini, sliced 1/2 c cherry tomatoes, sliced 1/2 c purple cabbage, shredded 2 ... [Read More]