Filled Noodle Soup

Um. Hello. It's been a long time. So how ya' doing? This is a little awkward. So I think I'm just going to pretend that there hasn't been a break and that we're just picking up as if I had all along been blogging. How's that?

Filled Noodle Soup

So today is January 1. The bright, clean start to another year. I really love the start of a new year. There's so much optimism. And I don't know about anyone else, but I usually spend January 1st eating all the chocolate so that it's out of the house. Blows the lets eat healthy resolution right out of the water, but I'm full of chocolate and pretty satisfied. I can't say all of the chocolate is out of the house though because somehow between the Brain and I we managed to receive 3, one pound bags of M&M's. We got a one pounder of dark chocolate M&M's (yay me!) We got a one pounder of peanut M&M's (yay Brain!) And we got a one pounder of peanut butter M&M's (I've only recently tasted them and they're all right.) So with all that chocolate (and chocolate from the stockings at my mom's and chocolate from a hostess gift), I know you're wondering what chocolate I actually feasted on. I feasted on the open bag of candy cane Hershey Kisses that I had in the house to make these fantastic cookies. Seriously the cookies were delicious. I only wish they didn't leave so many leftover kisses...

We've been getting a little snow, so after lunching on some leftover egg tomato curry, I put the princess down for her nap. Did I mention there's a princess now? Isn't she lovely? She's my joy.

The Princess!

Oh, where was I? Right. The princess went down for her nap and I fired up the snow blower. I love firing up the snow blower. But by the time I was done, I was cold and I wanted some serious comfort food. Like something my grandma would make. My grandma is 96 and doesn't cook anymore. My mom is much much younger and doesn't cook anymore either. Hooray for my step dad or she would starve! ha ha! I was texting Super G and she gave me the idea of having Filled Noodle Soup like Grandma used to make. Filled Noodle Soup is delicious and comforting and filling and perfect for a cold snowy day. The only problem is that I didn't have a recipe. Super G texted me some fairly loose instructions. Something along the lines of make a pasta dough, spread some hamburger on it and then boil it in beef broth for about 20-25 minutes. I called Mom and she said not to brown the hamburger ahead of time and to add an egg to it. She used to cook a long long long time ago.

Cutting the filled noodles.

We had it for dinner tonight and the princess loved it. I made an egg noodle pasta dough, added some garlic powder to the hamburger and I added some tomatoes to the broth. And I am writing this recipe down. So that someday when the princess asks for the recipe I will have it. 

And then I took one for the team and ate all of the available Candy Cane Kisses. Phew! Thank God that's taken care of.

Yummy leftovers!

Filled Noodle Soup
An original Shazamer family recipe

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/8 tsp of salt
4 tsp cold butter
2 egg yolks
3 eggs
1 pound ground beef
1 onion
1/2 tsp garlic powder
salt and pepper
8 cups beef broth
1 (15oz) can diced tomatoes

Stir together the flour and the salt. Then using a pastry blender, or your fingers, or a fork, cut the butter into the flour mixture so it looks like crumbs. Then make a well in the flour mixture and pour in 2 eggs and the yolks. Stir with a fork until it comes together and then knead it for about 7 minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic. Roll the dough into a great big rectangle. Try to roll the dough as thin as possible. Don't worry if the dough is thick though because it will just taste more dumpling-y. Cover the rolled out dough with plastic wrap while making the ground beef mixture.

Mince the onion and stir into the ground beef with the garlic powder, salt pepper and remaining egg. Sprinkle the beef mixture evenly over the rolled out pasta dough. Then starting on a long end, roll up the pasta and beef like a giant cinnamon roll. Pull the noodle tight as you go. Once the pasta is all rolled up, cut off the ends to make them even. Then cut the dough into 16 pieces.

Combine the beef broth and tomatoes in a large soup pot over medium heat and bring to a simmer. Then carefully drop the filled noodles into the broth. Stir once or twice to make sure the noodles aren't sticking to the bottom and return to a simmer. Set the timer to 20 minutes. Stir occasionally. 

Enjoy! 

Spaghetti and Meatballs

Hello. How are you?

Have you dropped a little weight?

You're looking pretty good!

I've been dieting some. I've also been working out more.

Why?

Because there's so much going on in the world today that I can't do anything about. I can't help those people in Haiti besides write a check. I can't do anything about all the poor people (and self employed people) who have very limited access to healthcare. I can't adopt one of the hundreds of thousands of little orphaned Haitian babies. I can't find Osama Bin Laden. (Okay, I haven't looked either.) It seems to me that every time I listen to the news it's just more and more that I can't do anything about. I find it a touch depressing.

What I can do, and the reason for the dieting and working out, is ride my bike. I have a teensy little seat and I'm seriously hoping it gets MUCH more comfortable in the next 7 months. Because July 29th - August 1st I will be riding 328 miles in Pan Ohio Hope Ride. I will be riding to raise funds for the American Cancer Society and their Hope Houses. In fact, today, when I learned yet another person I love very much has been diagnosed with cancer, the only thing that made me feel the tiniest bit better was to put on my biking clothes and ride my bike. So if you'd like to support me, here's the link to my page. If you'd like to join the team I'm on (Adam's Army- named after a soldier who was a good friend of my team leader Mike) we'd love to have you! Just click on the button that says "Join My Team."

Also, expect to see updates ocassionally on how the training is going.

And yes, those noodles are made from scratch, not a box.

If it weren't for the Pan Ohio Hope Ride, I would be doing what every other chubby, emotional eater, in rural Ohio does and eating plates and plates of this delicious Spaghetti and Meatballs. Okay. I did eat plates and plates of Spaghetti and Meatballs, but in my defense, yesterday was my birthday, and I seriously think The Complete Meat Cookbook is one of the top 5 cookbooks in my library (one of the spare bedrooms, not the public library.)

Meatballs and Sauce
adapted from The Complete Meat Cookbook

meatballs:
1 pound ground chuck
1/2 pound bulk pork sausage
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup dried breadcrumbs
2 tsp minced garlic
2 Tbsp minced onion
1/3 cup finely chopped parsley (I used 1/4 cup dried because it's what I had)
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
2 Tbsp finely chopped sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp dried marjoram
1 1/2 tsp ground black pepper

sauce:
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 cup chopped onions
2 medium stalks celery, chopped
1 Tbsp chopped garlic
1 cup dry red wine
1 cup beef stock
3 cups canned tomatoes
1 tsp Italian seasoning. (Ok, it supposed to be basil, but somehow I have none in the pantry)

In a large deep bowl combine all meatball ingredients. kneading and squeezing until everything is well blended. Shape the meat into 24 meatballs (approximately 1 1/2 inch balls). Place the meatballs on a cooking sheet lined with parchment and place in a preheated 500° oven and bake for 10 minutes, ocassionally shaking the pan.

Add 1 Tbsp olive oil to a Dutch oven, add the onions, celery, and garlic and cook over medium heat for 5 minutes, stirring once in a while. Pour in the red wine and bring to a boil. Cook until the red wine is reduced to about 1/4 cup. Add the stock and tomatoes and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer. Add the Italian Seasoning (or basil) and a pinch of salt and pepper. Simmer for 30 minutes and then using an immersion blender puree the sauce to as smooth as you prefer.

Put the meatballs into the pan and simmer over low heat for another 30 minutes. Taste for salt and pepper and serve over the cooked pasta of your choice.

Serves 8.

Steamed Clams and Tomatoes with Angel Hair Pasta

So, I've had a couple exciting days since I posted last. I had another interview for a teaching position teaching 7th and 8th grades (which I would LOVE to teach), but I didn't get it. Sigh. I found out that I passed my Praxis II PLT (which was a really hard and huge test). Yay! I got to spend some time with my baby sister. My mom made me an awesome sundress for the annual Family Vacation with the in-laws. The Brain and I spent a day boating and I almost went overboard (don't worry, I'm fine) and then at a baseball game. I also purchased some fun stuff this week that hopefully I'll be blogging about fairly soon. Hooray for summer!

Today was no less exciting. Today I got to meet Lisa.

You know. THE Lisa. Co-creator of the Daring Bakers. The extraordinary talent behind La Mia Cucina. Yeah. HER. Wow. And you know what? She's awesome! After a moment of fear that I was going to miss my exit and end up in Pennsylvania, I arrived way over on the other side of Cleveland and met Lisa, her terrific husband, and 6 of her good friends for breakfast. We then spent the day shopping at the West Side Market and Trader Joes and we ate lunch at this neat little Polish restaurant.

I took advantage of being around Lisa and picked her brain pretty thoroughly on how to steam clams. See, if I am going to buy seafood, I want good seafood. And pretty much, I don't think I'm going to find good seafood in rural North Central Ohio. (If you know of a place, please fill me in!) So I decided to take the West Side Market and meeting Lisa opportunity to be daring and make clams. I should also interject that I don't think I've ever had a clam before. I mean, I've had clam chowder and those battered fried ones that taste like rubber bands. But I've never actually had a steamed clam before. So I was a teensy bit nervous. Okay, nervous isn't the right word. Scared would be a better word. Teensy probably isn't right either.

But after much reassurance from Lisa, helpful hints from her husband, constant ice, and a friendly fishmonger, I'm happy to report that these were not hard at all. Yay! The fishmonger gave me some pretty clean clams. Lisa let me know that I should scrub the clams before cooking them. Her husband reminded me that if a clam is open before cooking it (and doesn't shut after tapping it) that I should throw it out, and if it is closed after cooking to also throw it out. And then I sort of followed the Cooking Light recipe that I had. They were not hard at all and super delicious! Yay!

Steamed Clams and Tomatoes with Angel Hair Pasta

inspired by Cooking Light

8 oz. uncooked angel hair pasta

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 cup chopped tomatoes

3 cloves of garlic thinly sliced

1/4 tsp crushed red pepper

1/3 cup dry white wine

1 cup water

2 dozen littleneck clams, scrubbed

1 Tbsp butter

Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Drain and keep warm.

Heat oil in large nonstick pot over medium high heat. Add tomato, garlic, and pepper to pan; saute for 1 minute. Add wine and water and bring to a boil. Add the clams and cover. Cook for 7 minutes or until shells open. Remove the clams from the pot with a slotted spoon. Add the butter to the cooking liquid and stir until it melts.

Combine the cooking liquid, pasta and clams and serve.

Oh and I also have FINALLY managed to mail out those prizes that I owed people. I am so sorry it took me so long.

Daring Bakers Bake Lasagna?

The March 2009 challenge is hosted by Mary of Beans and Caviar, Melinda of Melbourne Larder and Enza of Io Da Grande. They have chosen Lasagne of Emilia-Romagna from The Splendid Table by Lynne Rossetto Kasper as the challenge.

This was a difficult assignment for me. Partly because I had to add an egg and some extra water to make a coherant pasta dough. Partly because I have really very little time. A lot because I just don't like a bechamel sauce and we have a lactose intollerance problem. (Yes, I probably could have figured out how to make a bechamel with soy milk, except there's an even bigger soy intollerance problem). And I let more curse words fly in the hand rolling of the dough than I have all year. At one point I was ready to give up and quit the Daring Bakers. But then I decided that the purpose of the Daring Bakers was to stretch myself and that I was being a sissy for lack of a better word.

I also think the person who wrote the recipe didn't have this hungry little helper watching her every move. Otherwise the suggestion of draping the rolled out pasta over the back of chairs would have never been encouraged. I skipped that step. That's why there was some for me and the Brain to eat.

And I didn't use the three meat Country Ragu recipe either. I used this. The busy woman's fairly good pasta sauce.

I had such a rough time making the lasagna that I cooked it and left it on the counter to cool and drove through the Taco Bell drive through for dinner. (To be fair, I was on my way to school.) When I got home the Brain had had a hefty portion. And I decided to have a nibble.

Oh it's good. Really good. I'm not sure if I'll make it again because lasagna is a very rare treat in our house.

Go check out the rest of the Daring Bakers. And make sure you check out the new Daring Kitchen website!

Orzo with Chickpeas

I like to have the television on when I'm puttering about the house. I grew up in a big family and sometimes the house gets too quiet for me. I don't always pay attention to it, but the noise is soothing when I'm folding laundry or mopping floors. So, last Saturday, while I was cleaning our cozy little house, or knocking over liquor stores on facebook, I don't remember which. (I think I'm addicted to Mob Wars, but there's something fun about saying, "I just knocked over a liquor store!")

Anywho, I had the television on and all of the sudden there's Rachel Ray in all her EVOO, Yummo! and Delish! glory, making this really tasty looking orzo and chickpea salad. So then I had to sit down and watch and it looked pretty good. So I looked up the recipe and made it for lunch. It's really really good! I did lighten it up a little. I cut down the oil and added more zucchini. And ta-daa! Legume Wednesday starts 2009 on a light and healthy note. And yeah, this salad is good warm OR cold. Deeeeeelish!

Orzo with Chickpeas
adapted from Rachel Ray

1/2 pound orzo
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 medium zucchini, chopped
1 small red onion, minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 (15-ounce) can chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained
1/2 cup parsley leaves, chopped
1/4 cup mint leaves, chopped
2 ounces goat cheese

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add orzo and cook to al dente.
Heat oil in a skillet, add zucchini, onions and garlic, season with salt and pepper and cook 6 to 7 minutes until tender, add chick peas and heat through. Toss with herbs, orzo and cheese. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Farafalle with Sausage, Cannellini Beans, and Kale

Have you ever been so angry you walk around your house completely useless because you're muttering to yourself about how angry you are? Well, I've had a rough morning and as a result I'm just about angry enough to spit (like spitting would help). In the interest of not leaking that anger (or mentioning the person with which I'm angry), today's Legume Wednesday will be fairly without commentary.

All I can say is it's a truly delicious dinner and I'll definitely be making it again. Yum!

Farafalle, with Sausage, Cannellini Beans, and Kale

adapted from Cooking Light

16 ounces uncooked farafalle (bow tie pasta)

1/4 cup oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes

1 1/2 cups chopped onion

1 pound pork sausage

6 garlic cloves, minced

1 tsp dried Italian seasoning

1/4 tsp crushed red pepper

1 (14 oz.) can fat-free less-sodium chicken broth

1 (16 oz.) package fresh kale

1 (15 oz.) can cannellini beans, rinsed and drained

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Drain, reserving 1 cup cooking liquid. Keep warm.

Drain tomatoes in a small sieve over a bowl, reserving 2 tsp oil; slice tomatoes. Heat a large Dutch oven over medium heat. Add sliced tomatoes, reserved 2 tsp tomato oil, onion, and sausage to pan; cook 10 minutes or until sausage is browned, stirring to crumble. Add garlic to pan. Cook 1 minute. Add seasoning, pepper, and broth to pan. Stir in kale; cover and simmer 5 minutes or until kale is tender. Stir in pasta, reserved 1 cup cooking liquid, and beans. Sprinkle with cheese.

Rice Noodles with Peanut Sauce

Well here's a time saver for all of us busy people out there. Rice Sticks. Yes, they sound a little odd. But they are really cool little thin noodles. They look somewhat like angel hair pasta, but they take no time to cook. Seriously. These noodles took 1 minutes to cook. It took longer to boil the water.

This recipe is so quick and so easy that it even fit (with blogging) into my nonexistent Sunday. Yes, I am only awake and at home for a total of about 4 hours on a Sunday. Throw out one hour for church and that leaves me enough time to wash the donut clothes, eat and take a shower. I have to say, I felt very much like Rachel Ray on speed. She may make healthy and delicious meals in 30 minutes, but I made mine in 15 minutes. OK, so I was mostly following a recipe, and she comes up with many many recipes to make in less than half an hour and so far I have one. Well, unless you count pasta, but the Brain has declared no more whole wheat pasta, and we could stand a break from it anyway.

Rice Noodles with Peanut Sauce

adapted from Betty Crocker's A Passion for Pasta

serves 4

6.75 ounce package Mai Fun Rice Sticks

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

2 Tbsp soy sauce

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp crushed red pepper

1/2 cup water

14 ounce can of bean sprouts

1 small red bell pepper, cut into 1/4 inch strips

2 green onions, sliced (2 Tbsp)

2 Tbsp chopped fresh cilantro

Heat 2 quarts water to boiling, pull noodles apart slightly and drop into boiling water. Cook uncovered 1 minute. Drain. Rinse with cold water and drain again.

Mix peanut butter, soy sauce, ginger, and red pepper in small bowl with wire whisk until smooth. Gradually mix in water.

Place noodles in large bowl. Add peanut butter mixture, bean sprouts, pepper, and onions. Toss. Sprinkle with cilantro.

Bucatoni with Peppers

I had noticed this recipe in Serving Up the Harvest long before it was traveling home with me. It seemed so simple and so easy. It also called for fresh linguine. At the time that was no problem. The fresh linguine wasn't a problem until yesterday. When I was stumbling around the Trader Joe's after my fabulous eye doctor dilated my pupils. Seriously, if you live in the West side of Cleveland, you should visit my eye doctor, Dr. Kaye at Skyvision Centers. He's great. But he dilated my pupils and I was fairly blind. Wandering around Trader Joe's.

Somehow in my groping around and taking off and on my glasses trying to focus, I managed to spot some bucatini. Now the only reason I've heard of bucatini is because I watch Rachel Ray. Yes, she's insanely peppy. And the whole EVOO thing is pretty annoying. Especially because she says "that's extra virgin olive oil" after she says it EVERY SINGLE TIME. Why bother to say EVOO then? But bucatini is pretty tasty. It's like elbow macaroni, but really really long. I think kids would really like it.

So really the fresh linguine wouldn't have been a problem if I hadn't spotted the bucatini and been eager to try it. I'm glad I did. I'm glad I tried this recipe. I'm glad I bought the book. How about that? This pasta is light and fresh tasting and yet filling. the sweetness of the peppers works well with the little morsels of prosciutto. It works really well as a terrific summer dinner.

Bucatini with Peppers

adapted from Serving Up the Harvest

1 onion, quartered

1 celery stalk, roughly chopped

1 carrot, roughly chopped

2 garlic cloves

3 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil (or EVOO)

1/2 cup finely diced prosciutto

6 red, green, yellow, or purple bell peppers, cut into thin strips

1/4 cup chopped fresh basil

salt and freshly ground pepper

1 pound bucatini

1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Combine the onion, celery, carrot, and garlic in a food processor and pulse until finely chopped.

Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion mixture and saute until fragrant and softened, about 3 minutes. Add the prosciutto and saute for 5 minutes.

Stir in bell peppers, cover and cook for 10 minutes, until the peppers are soft. Stir in the basil and season generously with salt and pepper.

Cook the pasta in a large pot of salted boiling water until al dente. Drain, reserving 1/2 cup of the cooking water.

Add the pasta to the bell pepper sauce. Toss and add the reserved cooking water as needed to make the pasta moist.

Transfer the pasta and sauce to a serving dish and pass with cheese.

Penne with Chard and Sausage

I have a garden. A big, beautiful garden. OK, a big, overgrown and well producing garden. I do try to keep it from being a jungle, but reality sets in and without being able to squat or kneel (still) weeding is difficult. Fortunately for me, my inability to weed my garden hasn't hampered the massive production of vegetables that's going on, and suddenly I have about 15 extra tomato plants. Yippee!

What this also means is that my refrigerator is now resembling a highly stocked produce department. Of course part of that is because I've hit some very good sales at the grocery. I've got fennel, eggplants, zucchinis, bell peppers, and blueberries piled in the fridge and out in the garden waiting to be picked or pulled I have more zucchini, turnips, beets, some kind of hearty leaf lettuce, and some rainbow Swiss chard. It's a good thing I love vegetables. Also, I need to start eating these vegetables on a much more regular basis. It would be horrible to waste what I'm so blessed to receive.

So being that the chard was one of the first to mature, I decided I really need to eat that first. Well that and I'm still looking for something new to do with turnips. I just so happened to be in the nearest Borders the other day and also just so happened to find myself in the cookbook section of that Borders. Somehow I found myself buying this new cookbook, Serving Up the Harvest by Andrea Chesman. This tasty little book is full of 175 recipes of what to do with the vegetables you grow.

This new cookbook, Serving Up the Harvest, is a pretty neat cookbook. It's split into what time of year vegetables ripen and it's packed with tons of information about home gardening, growing each vegetable, and interesting tidbits. I'm sure if I had access or belonged to a CSA that I would find it extremely useful. It doesn't cover the quantity of vegetables as my other book, but Ms. Chesman has some exceedingly tasty recipes and far more recipes that are for main dishes. I decided I'd start with the Penne with Chard and Sausage. It was pretty easy too. I managed to use up most of the chard in the garden, and some basil and mint from the herb garden. The pasta had a delicious smell to it and the chard wasn't near as bitter as chard can be. The sauce wasn't very thick, but at the same time the meal itself was surprisingly hearty.

Swiss Chard originally came from Greece, where it was developed with wider stems and used like an asparagus. Ruby colored chard was grown in the South of France exclusively to be eaten at the Christmas Eve meal. Swiss Chard is very popular in Provence and the Rhone River Valley because it can withstand cold temperatures. But nobody knows why it's called SWISS chard. See, this book is full of interesting information.

Penne with Chard and Sausage

from Serving Up the Harvest by Andrea Chesman

2 Tbsp olive oil

1 pound hot Italian sausage, removed from it's casings and crumbled

1 1/2 pounds chard, thinly sliced

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 (15 ounce) can petite diced tomatoes

1 cup chicken broth

3 Tbsp chopped fresh basil

1 Tbsp chopped fresh mint

1 pound penne or other similar short pasta

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

grated Parmesan cheese

Heat the oil in a large heavy saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the sausage and saute until brown, 8-10 minutes. Add the Swiss chard and garlic and saute until the chard is wilted and the garlic is fragrant, about 3 minutes. Add the tomatoes, broth, basil, and mint. Reduce the heat and simmer while you cook the pasta.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook until al dente; drain well. Transfer to a warmed serving bowl.

Season the pasta sauce with salt and pepper. Add the sauce to the pasta and toss well. Serve immediately, passing the Parmesan at the table.

Sicilian Penne and Sausage ala Batter Splattered

Today was a standard busy Monday. I had physical therapy, where they finally let me on a stationary bike for a whole 6 minutes. Yay! Then I helped my fabulous mother-in-law learn some fun tricks in Word. And it's been rainy and fairly cold today. So I decided to finally participate in Ruth over at Ruth's Kitchen Experiments' weekly blog event Bookmarked Recipes (every Monday).

Molly at Batter Splattered posted this recipe for Sicilian Rigatoni and Sausage in late April and I've been waiting for the opportunity to make it ever since. I didn't have any rigatoni so I substituted some penne. And I only had 2 large ripe tomatoes so I added a can of petite diced tomatoes. This pasta was worth the time it took to cook. It was rich and delicious. I think next time I make it I'll do it exactly as she posted it because it was so satisfying that I can't think of a way to improve it.

Also, the always lovely Amanda over at Mrs. W's Kitchen has awarded me the Arte Y Pico Award for creativity, design, interesting material, and contribution to the blogging community. I am so incredibly honored.

I am very happy to pass this award on to these other deserving bloggers:

1. Jennie of Straight From The Farm because she not only informs about interesting plants and gardening, but also creates tasty recipes for a variety of vegetables and herbs.

2. Speedbump Kitchen who is extremely informative about cooking for children with allergies. I like to peek on her site when I need to figure out how to be careful about cooking for people with food allergies and intolerances.

3. Clara over at I heart Cuppycakes who consistently makes a better cupcake entry for Cupcake Hero than me. And who has some fierce skills in decorating.

4.Courtney of Coco Cooks because she lives an exciting and glamorous life and the diversity of dishes on her blog reflect it.

5. Janna, The Honeyed Hashette, who creates beautiful desserts and dinners. Her Paula Deen Chocolate Cake had me drooling!

Here are the rules for this award:
You have to pick 5 blogs that you consider deserve this award, creativity, design, interesting material, and also contrubutes to the blogger community.
Each award has to have the name of the author and also a link to his or her blog to be visited by everyone.
Each award winner must display the award along with the name and link to the blog that gave it.
Winners must link to the "Arte Y Pico" blog so everyone will know the origin of this award.
Winners must display these rules

Whole Wheat Spaghetti with Spicy Eggplant Sauce

Well the snow has started. It started at about 10am. One full hour earlier than it was supposed to start. Fortunately the MRI people called me when there was a cancellation so I was able to go in 2 hours earlier. That was a relief. The open MRI was also a relief. It was still noisy like a regular MRI, but there wasn't that hideous feeling that rises up in my throat that I am going to get stuck and trapped for the rest of my life. There was no hyperventilating. I didn't need to be drugged. Although, while driving through the snow I couldn't help but think how much I like that quick little bit of Valium. Its just so calming and lovely.

So yeah, the snow has started. We're scheduled to get between 10 and 15 inches and we've got a blizzard warning that starts at 4am and runs until Sunday. I will be shut inside the house just a chilling, maybe making some of that unbelievable Julia Child French Bread. Somebody suggested, and I apologize for not remembering who, making a double batch at the same time to get more bread, same all day affair. Brilliant!

But I digress, while the Brain has been cleaning the house, not because he saw this article, but because he's worried we'll lose power if we have a blizzard, I made dinner. I made this delicious and oh so very easy dinner in way less than half an hour. It's quick. It's easy. AND it's super healthy. There's a mere 1g of fat and 9g of dietary fiber. The best part about it though is that it's really darn good. Even though I made the, oh so common for me mistake, of cooking the entire box of spaghetti instead of just the 8oz. Ooops.

Whole Wheat Spaghetti with Spicy Eggplant Sauce

from Betty Crocker's a Passion for Pasta

4 servings

8oz. uncooked whole wheat spaghetti

1 small eggplant peeled and cubed (about 3 cups)

1 can (14.5oz.) diced tomatoes, undrained

1 can (8oz.) tomato sauce

1/2 tsp crushed red pepper

2 tsp parsley flakes

Cook and drain the pasta, reserving some of the cooking water.

Heat the eggplant, tomatoes, tomato sauce, and red pepper in a skillet. Simmer, stirring occasionally until the eggplant is tender, about 12 minutes. Add some of the pasta water if the sauce gets too dry. Stir in parsley flakes. Combine pasta and sauce and garnish with more parsley and some Parmesan cheese.

Per Serving: 265 calories (10 calories from fat); 1g fat (0g saturated); 0mg cholesterol; 630mg sodium; 62g carbohydrate (9g dietary fiber); 11g protein.

Look What I Made This Week!

Yet again I've been lurking around the food blog world. And yet again I've found some delicious delicious posts on other blogs that I gave a try...


This week I decided to give the Egg Muffins found originally on Kalyn's Kitchen, and then found here and here and numerous other places on the Internet. These little babies are a tasty way to start your morning on the go. I usually eat mine cold right out of the refrigerator, but the Brain likes to heat his up. They are super versatile too. I've made them with goat cheese, Swiss, Parmesan, dill and asparagus. I've also made them with red pepper, carrots, fennel, cracked black pepper, and mushrooms. Either way they're great, easy and a healthy way to start the day.


I also made, because I couldn't resist, these unbelievably cinnamony brownies from Quirky Cupcake. They were delicious even though I think I made the glaze wrong. If you'll notice the difference between my week glaze to her luscious glaze in the photos. All I can think is that if mine were made wrong and still tasted so decadent and so lovely that even the Brain, who notoriously doesn't like brownies, ate far more than his share of them. Although it should be noted, because he's been insisting, that I did indeed eat over half of the pan. But I'm not the one who took a fork to the pan the next morning.


Finally I made this delicious Greek noodle dish found on Kalofagas. I bet you were wondering what I was going to do with Halloumi and Ricata Salata. Well okay maybe you weren't wondering. But I have been poking around a lot and when I saw this dish, I knew I had to make it. I just had to wait until I could find some Halloumi cheese and it took a trip to Michigan to find it! And Peter M. is right! Halloumi does squeak when you eat it. I also had to substitute chardonney for port and these fun little radiatore shaped pasta for egg noodles. It's amazing what you run out of when you're not looking. Anyway, it was delicious and light and just perfect. Although I did have some trouble that I kept eating the hot fried Halloumi before I finished making the dish.

Cabbage and Pasta

OK, so now back to vegetables. The bagels were a fun little break, but January is all about the vegetable food group. Recently I read that if you make these 4 changes you can add 14 years to your life: 1) quit smoking 2) exercise regularly 3) eat 5 servings of fruits or vegetables daily and 4) drink alcohol moderately. I thought it was interesting.

I've already quit smoking, although I crave my cigarettes daily, like I have for 4 years. I dream about them. But smoking is bad. So I don't start back up again. I'm starting to get back Into exercise, although when Nora Jones came on in spin class this morning it was a little frustrating. I really really like Nora Jones, but she doesn't hype me up to pedal faster up an imaginary hill. She's good music to go downhill on the other side of that imaginary hill with your feet sticking out yelling WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! (Spin class is the same as "indoor cycling". It's basically pedaling up and down imaginary hills when the leader tells you to and there's loud music. Basically aerobics on a stationary bike.)

But I digress, as for #4.... I'm not very good at drinking. I used to be great at. I was fantastic at it. I could drink like a fish and not be sick the next morning. I could hang out with my guy friends and drink beer all day long while watching football. Ah the good old days. College. Now, I'm lucky if I don't have a hangover after 2 drinks. So pretty much I only drink about 2 times a month maybe. Can we call that moderate? hmmmm. Maybe I need to drink more often...

So let's up our vegetable consumption. Tonight's lovely vegetables are savoy cabbage and haricots verts, or as they're known in Nowhere, Ohio, frozen petite green beans. This is again from February's Bon Appetit. I Love this issue!! The only small ooopsy daisy I made was that I made the entire package of pasta. But really I thought it still tasted great. I think if I had only made half the package that it would be overpowered by the sauce and the cabbage.

This was a really good, different use of pasta. It tasted green. I was impressed at how fresh and delicious it tasted using for the most part a winter vegetable as a main ingredient. I used anchovy paste instead of whole anchovies and squeezed out 3 squeezes that looked like they were the size of anchovies. I'm not always frugal, but that was a $3 savings to buy the paste instead of the whole anchovy fillets. And the Parmesan mixed in is really essential because of its saltiness.

Multi-Grain Pasta with Sicilian Salsa Verde, Cabbage, and Haricots Verts

from Bon Appetit

1 pound whole wheat spaghetti

3/4 cup fresh Italian flat leaf parsley

6 Tbsp olive oil

3 Tbsp drained capers

3 anchovy fillets (or 3 anchovy sized squirts of anchovy paste.)

3 garlic cloves, chopped, divided

6 cups thinly sliced savoy cabbage

3 cups frozen haricots verts thawed (about 1/2 a bag)

3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Cook pasta in large pot of boiling salted water until just tender but still firm to bite, stirring occasionally. Drain, reserving 1 cup pasta cooking liquid.

Meanwhile, puree parsley, 4 tablespoons oil, capers, anchovies, and 1/3 of chopped garlic in food processor.

Heat 2 tablespoons oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add cabbage; saute until wilted, about 3 minutes. Add haricots verts and remaining garlic; toss 1 minute. Add 3/4 cup cheese pasta, parsley mixture, and 2/3 cup pasta cooking liquid. Toss until sauce coats pasta, adding more pasta cooking liquid if dry, about 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Serve, passing remaining 3/4 cup cheese separately.