what's for dinner tonight: spicy coconut noodle soup with shrimp, carrots, and ginger

Ingredients:

1 can of coconut milk

2 cups of vegetable broth

4 cloves of garlic, minced

3 slices of ginger, minced

1 tbsp. of chili pepper flakes

2 cups of carrots, sliced

8 ounces of angel hair pasta

8 ounces of peeled shrimp

1/8 cup of lime juice

1 tsp. of potato starch

1 tsp. of warm water

Salt and pepper to taste

Olive oil

Chopped green onion, for garnish

Chop the carrots in slices and mince the garlic and ginger. Thank goodness for my food processor. Mincing was a snap!

In a deep skillet, warm up 2 tbsp. of olive oil on medium heat and add the minced garlic, ginger, and chili pepper flakes. Season with salt and pepper and add the carrots once the garlic and ginger begin to soften, about 1 minute.

Immediately add the coconut milk.

Then add the vegetable broth.

Stir together the potato starch and water until the starch has dissolved entirely.

Add this into the skillet.

Turn the heat to high and wait for the soup to boil. Then add the angel hair pasta, but break the noodles in half before doing so.

Reduce the heat and simmer until the noodles are al dente. 

Add the lime juice and shrimp once the noodles are just about finished hot tubbing in their jacuzzi.

Cover the pan with a lid and let it simmer for a couple more minutes. Meanwhile, slice up some green onion.

Ladle the soup into your bowl and add your garnish!

Enjoy! Nom, nom, nom.

what's for dinner tonight: roasted pepper pesto penne with zucchini, mushroom and basil

Ingredients:

1 lbs. or 1 box of penne

1 jar of roasted red bell peppers, drained

6 cloves of garlic

1 tsp. of ground basil 

1/3 cup of olive oil

1/2 cup of sliced zucchini

1/2 cup of sliced mushrooms

1/2 cup of grated Parmesan 

1/2 cup of heavy whipping cream

1/2 cup of shredded mozzarella 

In a small skillet, slowly cook the garlic in olive oil, on low heat. Pour the oil and garlic into a food processor and set aside some oil.

Slice the zucchini and mushrooms and saute them in the reserved olive oil. Salt and pepper the vegetables.

Meanwhile, boil the box of penne until al dente.

In a food processor, combine the oil/garlic, roasted bell peppers, Parmesan cheese, basil, and whipping cream. Puree.

Once the noodles have finished cooking, return the penne back into the pot. Add the vegetables and pesto and salt and pepper to taste. Stir together, and add the mozzarella. 

Enjoy! Nom, nom, nom...

something yummy for the holidays: mini apple pies with a braided crust

This holiday season, instead of making a different kind of cookie, I decided to make mini apple pies. These require no fuss-- no cutting, no serving, no worrying about the filling falling out! These turned out really yummy, and were also a lot of fun to make.

Ingredients

Filling:

5 small apples (I used honeycrisp, my favorite! Their flavors really brought out the sweetness in these pies.)

3/4 cup of brown sugar

2 tsp. of ground cinnamon

1 tsp. of ground nutmeg

6 tbsp. of flour

2 tbsp. of melted butter

Crust: 

6 cups of flour

11 tbsp. of butter, set at room temperature

1 tsp. of salt

4 tbsp. of water

1 egg, whisked

Set your oven to 425. 

In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, salt and butter. Using a mixer, mix until grainy.

Add the water and, using the mixer, mix again until pea size pellets form.

Using your hands, mix and kneed until a dough forms. Set this aside while you mix the filling.

Wash and peel 5 small apples.

Core and cut the apples into small cubes.

Combine the cinnamon, nutmeg, flour, melted butter and sugar and mix well.

Roll out the dough, and using a small bowl, make cut outs.

Insert into a non-greased muffin pan.

Add two, big spoonfuls of the filling into each mold.

With your hands, roll out three small strands of dough and braid for the crust (My play-doh skills really helped me here). Using a brush, gently brush each strand with the whisked egg.

Attach each braid, egg side down, onto the pies.

With the extra dough, make criss crosses across each pie.

Melt 2 tbsp. of butter and brush the tops of each pie.

Bake at 425 for 18 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown.

Enjoy! Nom, nom, nom...

what's for dinner tonight: farfalle with spinach, onion and mushroom and cheesy, garlic bread sticks

Cheesy, Garlic Bread

Ingredients:

6 cloves of garlic, minced very finely

1 bag of shredded mozzarella cheese

Pizza crust (I used Pillsbury)

1/4 cup of olive oil 

2 tsp. of garlic powder

1 tbsp. of dried basil

Preheat your oven according to your pizza crust directions. The Pillsbury crust I used was set to 425. Prepare the crust by rolling it onto a sprayed pizza sheet. Mince the garlic and add the olive oil and garlic powder. Drizzle this mixture on top of the entire pizza crust. Add the mozzarella and sprinkle the dried basil on top. Bake according to the package (13 minutes for me!)

Farfalle with Spinach, Onion and Mushroom

Ingredients:

4 cups of spinach, chopped in 1/2 inch pieces

1 small red onion, sliced

2 cups of mushrooms, sliced

3 cloves of garlic, minced

1 lbs. of farfalle noodles

1/2 tbsp of dried basil

1/2 tbsp. of dried oregano

Salt and pepper to taste

Olive oil

Boil the farfalle according to the packaging in salted water.

In a large skillet, heat the olive oil on medium-high heat and saute the garlic and onion. Add the dried oregano and basil.

When the onion and garlic starts to yellow, add the mushroom.

Wait until the mushrooms sweat, then add the spinach, cut in 1/2 inch pieces.

Toss in the drained farfalle and salt and pepper to taste. 

Add Parmesan cheese to taste.

Enjoy! Nom, nom, nom.

what's for dinner tonight: tomato-basil pizza with mozarella

I had never tried making pizza before. Figured, 'Why not? Let's try something different.' IT WAS DELICIOUS! And what's great about this recipe is that no yeast was used.

Ingredients:

1 packaged container of Cantelli Tomatoes, sliced (Roma tomatoes or even grape tomatoes would work well).

2 packages of fresh mozzarella balls, sliced.

1/4 cup of fresh, chopped basil

6 cloves of garlic, finely minced

1/4 cup of olive oil, plus some 

4 cups of flour

2 tsp. of salt

4 tsp. of baking powder

1 1/3 cup of warm water

Preheat your oven to 350. 

Combine the flour, salt, baking powder and water in a large mixing bowl.

Knead, knead, knead.

About ten minutes later, you'll have the finished dough (Take frequent wine-rest breaks when needed)!

Set your dough aside until it's needed. Wrap a plastic sack around the mixing bowl, to keep the dough from drying.

Mince your garlic (I recently purchased a mini food processor, which turned out to be the best investment ever. No more garlic and onion hands!) and add 1/4 cup of olive oil with the garlic.

On a cooking sheet, drizzle the garlic-olive oil mixture on top of the tomatoes. Sprinkle some fresh-ground black pepper and dried basil on top. Bake at 350 for 7 minutes, then broil for 3 minutes.

With 2 tbsp. of olive oil, brush the pizza pan to prevent sticking.

Press the dough and flatten it against the pan. Fold the edges over to create a crust.

Brush the olive oil-garlic mixture onto the dough, paying close attention to the crust, to prevent any excess drying.

Add the baked tomatoes.

And the sliced mozzarella and basil. Sprinkle some grated Parmesan cheese on top.

Bake at 400 for 25-30 minutes, or until the cheese has covered most of the dough, and until the crust is golden brown.

Enjoy! Nom, nom, nom...