Linguini & Eggs Update

I had the brilliant idea to add pre-made pesto sauce from Costco into the beaten eggs before topping the noodles, and the result was pretty darn tasty. The pesto sauce was already salted so seasoning the noddles with salt was not really necessary. We had it with salmon as our extra protein. Too bad there wasn't any ham on hand, then we could've had green eggs and ham!

21 April 2010 Update
Here it is again (pictured above) in the pesto sauce with whole wheat linguine, wilted spinach & sauteed asparagus, Louisiana hot links and garlic shrimp. Yeah, I know that's a lot of ingredients...trying to use up the odds & ends.

Grilled Pork Chops

Total yummy goodness with Yoshida's marinade. I love the simplicity of grilled food. This portion was for two, not one.

IKEA Sauce & Baked Cherry Tomatoes

Another cool-looking baked fish dish, this time with just some garlic salt. I found this chive sauce at IKEA (there was a picture of salmon on the package so I couldn't help myself), which turned out okay after adding some half-and-half instead of the suggested margerine. We happened to have some fresh chives on hand, which I used to top off. The best part of the meal were the sugar snap peas and cherry tomatoes. The peas were steamed then stir fried with a little garlic salt. I wrapped the tomatoes in wax paper, added grape seed oil and garlic salt, then baked it alongside the fish. They turned out perfectly juicy and full of flavor. I just loved how everything looked together.

Baked Cod & Zucchini "Pasta"

I recently bought a julienne tool and thought I'd try something different on the zucchini by making it look like noodles. The fish was baked in soy sauce with julienned green onions and ginger. This was a very light meal and looked pretty cool.

Ranch Mashed Potatoes

I made these mashed potatoes tonight to accompany leftover market-roasted chicken, which I remade by adding gravy. I didn't actually read the recipe, but made it from memory of an episode of Rachel Ray's 30 Minute Meals. Although it may have been too overloaded with herbs and runny when I first took it off the heat, the flavor and consistency eventually rounded out and we both really enjoyed it. I forgot the hot sauce, which didn't make a difference since we're not into spicy. One suggestion: go easy on the dill.

Chicken Sausage & Bow Ties

So simple it's not really cooking, but I wanted to share it anyway because it looked so pretty! (This picture looks cloudy because steam was coming off of the plate.) Add the following to a pan in the following order and simmer:

• about 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  
• 3 links spicy chicken sausage, sliced then browned
  
• 1 medium & 1 small heirloom tomatoes, diced (or whatever you have on hand)
  
• 1/2 small container TJ's sun-dried tomato pesto
• 1/4 cup white wine
  
• chopped basil

The last part is to mix the sauce with about a cup of bow tie pasta and you're ready to eat!

Ground Pork 3 Ways

1. Stuffed into cucumber rings (combined w/ garlic salt & chopped cilantro; best steamed)
2. Browned & simmered in soy sauce w/ garlic & shitake mushrooms; served over rice
3. Take #2 and saute w/ green beans & some more soy sauce

My mom brought over some ground pork and a cucumber a few days ago for the purpose of making the stuffed cucumbers, but they never got made and left the ingredients here, so I had to use them up before they went bad. There was more than enough pork left over after the cucumbers were stuffed, so I figured why not make the most out of them. There's still about half of the meat left, which I froze for future use.

Hmmm....meat cupcakes?

La Jolla

We were down in La Jolla this weekend and ate at this yummy (and spendy) place, called the Whisk & Laddle. We had actually eaten here once before with my parents and sister, so when Ken told me we were headed to La Jolla, I couldn't wait to eat there again. Like before, we shared a charcuterie plate, which included 3 different types of salamis, 3 artisan cheeses, tampanade, whole-seed mustard sauce, seasoned almonds, cornichons, and the most delicious vine-ripened raisins. I had the mussels in a white wine broth with a fries, and Ken had a shrimp pesto pasta. That broth was so dangerouly good that I asked for extra bread to sop it all up. Honestly, I would've just picked it up and drank the whole thing, but that would've been uncouth and overkill.

I also had breakfast with a college friend and unfortunately, I forgot the name of the place. It was a cute little cottage in a fantastic location, nicely situated across the street from the ocean, so we had a great view of the cove where these people were SCUBA diving and snorkeling. We both had iced lattes and the lump crab Ipanema (Benedicts style with a chili sauce rather than Hollandaise). Funny thing was that, my eggs turned out runny--the way I liked them--and Tracy's turned out more cooked--the way she liked them. What are the chances?

Burger Dog

So I was racking my brain about what to make for dinner tonight, and the starting point was knowing what protein I had on hand, which turned out to be lean ground beef. Since we've been having pasta all week, it was time for a break. We had some hot dog buns so I thought, "Why not a burger?" When I tossed the idea to Ken, he was on board with getting burger buns, but then we'd end up with a giant pile of leftover burger and hot dog buns. I went ahead with the burger dog idea and they turned out just fine.

I made a mixture of ground beef, chopped onions and cilantro (from the garden!). The burger was too lean so I added some grape seed oil and shredded parmesan cheese to the mixture (don't forget the salt). Since I didn't have any sliced cheese, I stuffed the burgers with mozzarella medallions that were cut into halves to fit the elongated patty shape. I made two of the elongated patties and used the rest of the mixture to make round burger patties.

And since I only had cherry tomatoes from the garden, I made a caprece salad on the side in place of the standard lettuce and tomatoes that would've gone into the burger, which made this burger somewhat deconstructed. Anyway, this was a good way to get dinner on the table by making do with whatever we had on hand at the time. Yay!

Pasta Night x 2

On those days when you don't really feel like cooking and still need to get something out quickly and easily, this one's it. It's more like dressing up your spaghetti dish while getting in your protein, veggies and starch at the same time. Start by browning up Italian sausage into chunks (preferably without the casing but either will work) or lean ground beef, add garlic and onions (and mushrooms if I have any), add about 2 steamed squash (Ken's stepmom got him a microwavable steamer that I use all the time), then simmer the whole mixture in marinara sauce. Combine the sauce together with your favorite pasta and there should be enough to last you a second meal the next day (as in our case tonight). One trick to remake it for the next meal is to turn it into a creamy sauce (add cream, or creme fraiche in my case, while simmering), add a little chili pepper, then toss in a few shrimps. Ken liked it better the second time around (and who doesn't like creamy?).