Street Corn Pasta

When I got home from work I turned the grill on, let it heat up, and then put my "training" to work grilling corn. I didn't even have to call Ross and ask him questions. Weird. I learned that corn takes way longer to grill than I thought it would. But grilled corn is the only way to go when making this Street Corn Pasta.

Please head over to this blog for the recipe and pictures:
https://ohsweetbasil.com/elote-mexican-corn-pasta-salad-recipe/

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Greek Pasta Salad

I really love a good cold pasta salad; it's one of my go-to meals when I don't know what to make. (or when ross is out of town). I double up on the recipe (well, the veggies at least) and it feeds me for days.

I found this recipe, which includes a Sun-Dried tomato dressing that I really enjoyed. This picture is sub-par and doesn't do it justice!

Ingredients

For the dressing:
1 garlic clove
7 sun-dried or slow-roasted tomato halves, roughly chopped
2 Tbsp plain nonfat yogurt
1 tsp Greek seasoning
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1-1/2 tsp agave nectar (or honey, or sugar substitute)
5-6 tsp water

For the salad:
8 oz rotini (I used whole wheat)
1-1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, halved

1 red onion, diced
1 cup diced cucumber (I use seedless English cucumber)
1 medium green bell pepper, diced
1/2 cup pitted kalamata olives, chopped
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese, or more to taste

Optional topping: toasted walnuts, grilled chicken

Directions

In a blender, combine all dressing ingredients, and blend on high speed until smooth. If you'd like the dressing thinner, add a bit more water. Set aside.

Bring 4 quarts of water to the boil in a large pot. Cook the pasta according to package directions; drain and add to a large mixing bowl.

Combine all remaining ingredients in the mixing bowl along with as much of the dressing as you like. Top with toasted walnuts, serve at room temperature.

4 years ago: Baseball & Ceiling Fans

3 years ago: Weekend Drink

2 years ago: Thai Beef Salad

1 year ago: iPhone Picture Round-Up

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Asian Peanut Noodle Salad

Here's another mid-week recipe to add to your "meal hopper" :)

I recommend buying a rotisserie chicken and multiplying the ingredients by 4 so that you have leftovers to feast on for another meal!! 

Asian Peanut Noodle Salad with Chicken, Shredded Carrots, Red Cabbage and Green Onions, in Sweet-Spicy Peanut Sauce

(Makes about 1 lunch portion)

Ingredients:

2 cups cooked linguini noodles (cooled), drizzled with a touch of olive oil to prevent sticking
1 skinless and boneless chicken breast, cooked and shredded
¼ cup red cabbage, shredded thinly
¼ cup carrots, shredded thinly
1 green onion, sliced
2 tablespoons crushed peanuts
1 tablespoon cilantro leaves, chopped
• Sweet-Spicy Peanut Sauce (recipe below)

Preparation:

-Add all of the ingredients through the chopped cilantro leaves into a medium-size bowl, and toss together gently until well combined; to pack up and store, add these ingredients into a container, either a plastic Tupperware with lid, or glass container with lid that you can take with you, and store the Sweet-Spicy Peanut Sauce in a separate small container, and keep refrigerated until ready to enjoy.

-To assemble at lunch time or when you’re ready to eat, just pour the Sweet-Spicy Peanut Sauce as over the noodles/chicken/veg (you may or may not use all of it), gently toss together to coat, and enjoy.

Sweet-Spicy Peanut Sauce ingredients:

1 ½ tablespoons honey
1 ½ tablespoons rice vinegar
1 ½ tablespoons soy sauce
1 ½ tablespoons peanut or vegetable oil
1 tablespoon peanut butter (I used all-natural, creamy peanut butter)
1 clove garlic, pressed through garlic press
3 to 4 drops of Sriracha sauce (this is spicy, so use to your liking)

Preparation:

-In a small dish, combine all of the ingredients with a fork or small whisk until very well blended and smooth; keep in a small, snap-top container in fridge until ready to use. (*If the sauce gets a bit too thick from being in the fridge, just warm the container that it’s in under some hot water for a moment or two to soften the sauce and make easier to pour.)

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2 years ago: Haiti

1 year ago: Minus 9

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Thai Salmon Noodles

Do you have a whole freezer full of salmon that you need to get rid of before the first run of Reds in little over a month??

If your answer is yes, then you need to discover this recipe ASAP because it's good!!

Peanuts, cilantro, salmon, snow peas, carrots, sprouts, ...YUM

Roma wants some salmon too...

Here's the recipe, straight outta the book!

Hope you try it out! Use some garlic chili sauce if you wanna spice things up!

3 years ago: Chickpeas

2 years ago: Aspen or Birch?

1 year ago: Looking the Part

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Peanut Soba with Edamame and Kale

Whipped this up for myself while Ross was a'hunting last week. Ummmm, YUM! Peanut Soba Noodles with Edamame and Kale, anyone? Yes, please.

I'll also take 3 more leftover servings :) Cold OR hot works for me.

This might also be my favorite way to eat Kale thus far. Who knew?

Recipe from Love and Lemons HERE.

Peanut Soba with Edamame and Kale

serves 4loosely adapted from the Tastespotting the blog

INGREDIENTS:
8 oz. soba noodles (or rice noodles if gluten free)
1 pound kale (5 or 6 large leaves), chopped
1 cup edamame (cooked and shelled)
3-4 scallions, chopped
1/4 cup chopped basil leaves
1/4 cup chopped cilantro leaves
juice of one lime
1/4 cup crushed peanuts

sauce:
2 tablespoons peanut butter (creamy or crunchy)
1.5 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon mirin
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon minced ginger
1/2 teaspoon honey (or agave or brown rice syrup)
zest of 1 lime
1/2 teaspoon sriracha (or to taste)
1/4 to 1/2 cup water, (to thin sauce)
1 tablespoon sesame oil

METHOD:

Bring a pot of water to a boil and cook noodles.

Whisk together sauce ingredients. Set aside.

In a large skillet, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil. Add chopped kale, cook for about 30 seconds (tossing it as you go – bringing wilted leaves from the bottom to the top). Add edamame and scallions. Cook, stirring, for about 30 more seconds. (you could also just blanch the vegetables…boiling water + ice water)

Pour in the dressing and noodles and toss together. (If your skillet isn’t large enough for this transfer to a large bowl).

Taste and adjust seasonings.

Stir in basil and cilantro. Squeeze lime on top and garnish with chopped peanuts.

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Soba Noodles w/ Chicken + Ginger Peanut Sauce

Sometimes I just get cravings. Quite often it's for peanut butter. So in the name of peanut butter, I found this recipe for "Soba Noodles with Shredded Rotisserie Chicken and a ginger peanut sauce." It was just what I wanted: a little Asian, a little PB, and a lot of easy.  Done.

Now it's your turn!

Soba Noodles with Chicken + Peanut Ginger Sauce

Serves 2 (smallish portions) or 1 (largish portion)

adapted from Runners World

Ingredient

• 2 Tablespoons Soy Sauce
• 2 teaspoons Sesame Oil
• 1 Tablespoon Nut Butter, I used almond
• 4 teaspoons White Wine Vinegar
• 1 teaspoon Freshly Grated Ginger
• 1 Garlic Clove, minced
• 3 Ounces Soba Noodles, dry (if bundled, one bundle)
• 1 Cup Frozen Peas
• 1/2 Cup Cooked Chicken, shredded. Warm or room temperature ( rotisserie chicken from grocery to the rescue)
• 2 Tablespoons Sesame Seeds
• 2 Tablespoons Peanuts, roughly chopped
• salt and pepper to taste

 Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.  While waiting for water to boil, whisk together sauce.  In a small bowl, whisk together soy sauce, sesame oil, nut butter, white wine vinegar, grated ginger, and garlic.  Set aside.

Once water is boiling, add soba noodles and cook according to package directions, which is to boil for about 5 minutes.  (they cook faster than regular pasta)  During the last minute or two of cooking, add peas.  Drain soba noodles and peas and rinse with hot water until the water runs clear.  Do not skip this because your noodles will become a clump if left unrinsed.  Drain again.

In a serving dish, combine noodles, peas, shredded chicken, and sauce.  Toss to combine.  Garnish with chopped peanuts and sesame seeds.

This is excellent warm or cold the next day, once the flavors have really had time to settle in.

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Easter Thankfulness

Full tummies, empty eggs, beautiful weather, and a risen Lord! What a wonderful Easter!!

Kyle and Abbey hosted an awesome Easter brunch/egg hunt at their house. Here are some pictures:

Bird Nests. Had Reese's pieces eggs on half and Cadbury eggs on the other half.

  

Appetizer Cheese Trio.

Abbey and her Momma!

Ina Garten's Mac and Cheese

Pioneer Woman Green Bean Casserole

Jolin's Cornflake Potato Casserole. Maybe something like this.

Great day!

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Asian Chicken Noodle Broth

Jamie Oliver came over for dinner :)

We made his Asian Chicken Noodle Broth-- so good on a cold day! This scored very well on Ross's "Work vs. Reward Matrix" and clocked in under 30 minutes. Which means you should probably try it... There was definitely some ingredient improvising on my part (Alaska and fresh produce do not go hand in hand), but it would only be better with the fresh stuff.

 

In case you didn't see the cashews, sunflower, and pumpkin seeds... :)

 

Asian Chicken Noodle Broth
(17 minutes)

Recipe Courtesy of GOOP. 


This is a really quick dish but you’re going to have to multitask, cooking your veg and noodles in one pan and your chicken in another. Read through the recipe before you start so you’ll be prepared for what’s going to happen. You’ll be amazed at the results - just like something you can get in a posh noodle bar.

Serves 2
• 1 tablespoon mixed seeds (pumpkin, poppy, sun flower)
• a small handful of raw cashew nuts
• 1 quart chicken broth, preferably organic
• 2 skinless chicken breast fillets, preferably free-range or organic
• 2 teaspoons five-spice powder
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• olive oil
• a thumb-sized piece of fresh root ginger
• ½ to 1 fresh red chili, to your taste
• 4 ounces rice sticks or vermicelli
• a handful of snow peas
• 6 thin asparagus spears or 4 regular-sized spears
• 6 fresh baby corn or 1/2 cup fresh corn kernels
• soy sauce
• juice of 1 lime
• a small handful of spinach leaves

Put a medium frying pan or wok on a high heat and add the seeds and cashew nuts to it straight away, while it’s heating up. Put a large saucepan on a high heat. Fill the saucepan with the chicken broth, heat until very hot, and put a lid on it. Toss the seeds and nuts around until heated through nicely — this will take a couple of minutes. While this is happening, slice your chicken breasts lengthways into 3 pieces and put them into a bowl. Sprinkle the chicken with the five-spice powder and a good pinch of salt and pepper and stir. When the seeds and nuts are done, transfer them to a plate. Put the empty pan back on a high heat. Add a little olive oil to your hot pan with your slices of chicken and cook for 5 minutes, until golden, tossing and turning every now and again.

While the chicken’s cooking, peel and finely slice your ginger and slice your chili. Take the lid off the pan with the chicken broth and add half the chili, all the ginger, your rice sticks (or vermicelli), snow peas, asparagus, and corn, with 2 tablespoons of soy sauce. Bring to a boil and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, stirring. Halve the lime and squeeze in the juice. 

By the time the rice sticks (or vermicelli) and veggies are done, the chicken will be cooked. Take a piece of chicken out and slice it lengthways to check if it’s cooked all the way through — when done, remove all the chicken from the pan and slice each piece in half to expose the juicy chicken inside (please don’t be tempted to overcook it). To serve, divide the spinach leaves between your bowls and pour over the broth, rice sticks (or vermicelli), and vegetables. Divide the chicken pieces over and scatter with the toasted seeds, cashews, and remaining chili.

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Friends+Pasta+Vino

Ross was gone for Guy Weekend at the ranch so I had Girl Weekend at the house. Jessica and Britany came over and we had a great time. We hung out at the pool then came home to cook dinner and chat over some vino. We made shrimp scampi linguini with tomatoes and zucchini...

For as colorful and enticing as this pasta was, I wanted it to be even better. I think the ratio of sauce to pasta may have been slightly off. The food wasn't perfect, but the company was... and that's what matters!!

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Pad Thai- This is a keeper

There's not a whole lot to say about this Shrimp and Vegetable Pad Thai, other than it was DELICIOUS and you should MAKE IT.

Oh it was so good! This pad thai was chock full of veggies, just the way I like it. Mushrooms, carrots, scallions, bell pepper, garlic, tofu, shrimp, rice noodles, peanut, cilantro, lime... Yum. This was our first time to cook with tofu. It tastes so plain and bland on its own, but when you cook with it, the tofu takes on all the flavors. The next day leftovers were just as good too :)

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Authentic Mexican Cooking

How about some authentic Mexican cooking?? Here's a Rick Bayless recipe for Grilled steak with spicy Guajillo sauce.  Guajillo is a type of pepper, usually found dried, with a warm, smokey roasted flavor, a slightly different than an ancho pepper. We had Rick Bayless Browned Vemicelli with Roasted Tomatoes to go with the steak. In the recipe, you flash fry the pasta in olive oil, rather than the traditional method of boiling in water. It gave the pasta a little al dente bite, which was quite nice.

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Weekend at last!

I love waking up without an alarm clock. The only thing better might be a rooster, but I think I would get tired of that too (and I don't think my neighbors would appreciate a rooster). Instead, I have a cute little puppy come over and sit by the bed. A lot of times she doesn't make any noise, she just sits there, and when I finally open my eyes, there she is. Roma gives me the "Mommy, I need to go outside and go pee pee" look. That's how I like to start my day. Well, and with my oatmeal followed by a latte, but that's a story for another time.

Hello yummy pasta.  Here's the recipe for Chicken with Mustard Mascarpone Marsala sauce. I'm not a big pasta kinda girl, but this was really good, especially because it was quick and easy.  We used whole wheat linguini.

Time to create some weekend adventures!!!

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