Pizza Margherita

Pizza Margherita is one of my favorite pizzas. Simple, elegant, and oh-so tasty. There's no sauce and not many toppings, so the individual ingredients really shine. Everyone needs to try this pizza, it really shakes up the American ideal of "pizza". You know, greasy, cheese-ladden, smothered with toppings, and with thick, ropey crust. Instead, this pizza gets back to pizza's roots with simplicity (something I seem to be seeking out more and more these days).

Switching topics to something non-food related- I'm really upset by this water emergency in West Virginia (you can read up what's going on here). I should also mention I live about 40 miles west of the affected area, and about 65 miles from the actual leak site. Lets not even mention the damage done to the environment by having a toxic chemical dumped in the river and released into the air, but the fact that so many people have been affected. I had to run to Sam's yesterday (my area's Costco) and I couldn't believe the chaos. Families were pushing 3-4 carts loaded down with 20+ cases of water. The area where the water was located was worse. People were arguing over cases of water. When I was checking out, someone came to tell the cashier the store was out of water. Even today as I'm watching the news, the water ban in 9 counties in West Virginia remains indefinite. I felt spoiled yesterday as I used my water to make my pizza crust. Washed dishes in the sink. Took a long, hot shower. Americans take so much of their daily lives for granted.

All right, I'll hop off my soapbox and allow everyone to get back to their weekends. The hubby and I are having double-date night tonight with one of our couple friends, so I'm excited about today's potential. And... Zumba in a couple of hours!

Tonight's gonna be a good, good night ----> A little Black Eyed Peas reference for this lovely Saturday morning :)

Ingredients:

Basic pizza dough
1 garlic clove, halved
1 tbsp olive oil, divided
4 large plum tomatoes, thinly sliced
1 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
1/3 cup basil, thinly sliced
1/2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

Directions:

1. Prepare pizza dough according to directions. Preheat oven according to directions.
2. Once your pizza dough has been rolled into the desired shape, take the cut side of the garlic half and run it over your pizza dough. Repeat with the other half. Brush 1/2 tbsp of olive oil onto dough. Place tomatoes on pizza in a single layer. Cover with cheese. Broil in the oven 3-7 minutes, or until crust and cheese is browned and blistered. Remove from oven.
3. Sprinkle basil over pizza. Combine remaining olive oil with balsamic vinegar in a small bowl. Whisk furiously to combine. Drizzle mixture over pizza. Cut pizza into 8 slices, and serve immediately.

Recipe adapted from Cooking Light

Seviche-Style Shrimp and Avocado Tacos

This dish is a lesson in simplicity. It doesn't take a million exotic ingredients, and all day to put a flavorful dinner on the table. This recipe is about as easy as it gets.

I was first introduced to this recipe by my mom, the summer before my senior year of college. I was living with my parents for the summer, taking Calculus at the local community college and working full time as a teller at a bank. I distinctly remember this summer for a couple of reasons:

1. That summer was insanely busy. Very little sleep was had that summer.
2. My mom was on Weight Watchers, and I was doing Slim-Fast.
3. I passed Calculus!

So as my mom was discovering Weight Watchers, she was also bringing lots of healthy new recipes to the table. Literally. This was one of them. I wasn't quite the foodie I am now back when I was younger,  so I completely changed my mom's recipe at the time. I added sour cream, salsa, cheese, onions, and shredded lettuce. And oh yes, flour tortillas.  Looking back, this could have occurred because the only thing I was "eating" all day was Slim-Fast and I was always ravenous by the time I got home. Anyways...

While all that jazz tasted delicious, this recipe really shines by the way that these few ingredients meld together. So please, resist the urge to add more toppings. Slowly put those flour tortillas back on the grocery store shelf, and pick up the corn ones. And for heaven's sake, don't omit any of the ingredients. Just trust me on this one :)

Ingredients (serves 6- 2 tacos each):

1 lb cooked shrimp, tails removed, roughly chopped
1 cup tomato, chopped
1 cup avocado, chopped
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 cup lime juice
12 (6 in) corn tortillas

Directions:

1. In a large glass bowl, combine shrimp through lime juice. Cover, and chill for 30 minutes. Stir occasionally.
2. Heat tortillas according to package directions. Divide shrimp mixture among tortillas. Serve immediately.

Recipe adapted from Cooking Light.

Raspberry Mint Ice Pops

All right, so it's after Labor Day. Which technically signals the end of summer. Malarky, I tell you. It's supposed to be in the 80's the entire week here, with nary a drop of rain. If that doesn't sound like summer, I don't know what does. And that in itself justifies one more teeny, tiny popsicle recipe :)

These are by far my favorite popsicles that I've made. Yes, better than the winesicles and the gummy bear popsicles with their booziness! Now, I may be slightly partial to the raspberries, but it always says something when I prefer fruit to booze. I highly recommend making these with your end-of-harvest raspberry bounties, you won't regret it.

Now, where was I yesterday and Monday? On Monday (the holiday), the hubby and I discovered that someone had dumped 2 very young puppies near our property. Never one to refuse caring for a fur baby and seeing how the animal shelter was closed for Labor Day, I didn't even think twice about boarding these guys for the night. It was a hot day, and we were headed to my sister-in-law's for a family cook-out. We decided to put them in the basement. It was hot that day, the basement is cool, and it has concrete floor (easy cleaning). I set them up with newspapers, food, water, toys, and blankets. I think they did ok while the hubby and I were out of the house, but they did not enjoy being in the basement that night. They cried all night long. I felt like slime. As soon as day broke on Tuesday, I moved them to the front porch. And suddenly, the world was right. The pups settled right down, passed out, and didn't make one peep from the porch. Sheesh. Should have put them there all along. Anyhoo, the hubby and I got them to the animal shelter yesterday. The employees told us that since the puppies were so young, they shouldn't have a problem finding homes. I hope so. They were sweet puppies, but you could tell they were going to be HUGE. I don't know what they were, they appeared to have some shepherd or maybe some Rottweiler in them.

So, that adventure is over. My dogs are exhausted today from "guarding" the house :) I'm having my morning coffee, and hoping these cuties find a good home. Maybe I'll have a popsicle later? Hard to say :)

Ingredients:

1/3 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup mint leaves
4 cups raspberries
1 tbsp lemon juice

Directions:

1. In a small sauce pan, combine water, sugar, and mint. Cook 4 minutes, or until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat, allow to sit for 15 minutes. Strain liquids through a sieve, discard mint leaves.
2. Combine sugar-water, raspberries, and lemon juice in a food processor. Pulse until smooth.
3. Divide mixture among popsicle molds (makes 8 popsicles). Insert craft sticks, freeze pops overnight or until set.

Recipe courtesy of Cooking Light

Orecchiette with Roasted Peppers and Spinach

You may not be familiar with orecchiette. I wasn't familiar with it until a few years ago. It's also referred to as "Little Ears" pasta. Once I discovered this pasta, it quickly became one of my favorites. Orecchiette has a thicker, almost chewy texture compared to traditional pasta. The "scoop" shape allows the sauce to hide in the crevices of the pasta. Yummers.

A couple of things I've learned about orecchiette. It's very important to treat orecchiette delicately. I find the pasta loses its mystique if it breaks. Therefore, treat the dried pasta gently. Do not crush the pasta, don't toss it around, and stir gently when preparing. I brought some orecchiette from Oregon across country when we moved, and needless to say, the pasta was in pieces by the time we got to Kentucky. It just didn't taste the same. Big disappointment, as this pasta can be hard to find in the rural grocery stores here.

This dish is perfect for summer, capitalizing on fresh grape tomatoes, peppers, and spinach. Instead of a heavy marinara or cream-based sauce, this is made with a light vinaigrette. It makes for a light, one-dish, meatless summer meal. Something the hubby and I both appreciate on these hot summer days :)

Ingredients:

1 yellow pepper
1 red pepper
8 oz orecchiette pasta
1 tsp olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced (divided)
8 oz grape tomatoes, halved
3 tbsp white wine vinegar
2 tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 tsp sugar
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp dried basil
1/4 tsp black pepper
3 cups spinach
Shredded parmesan cheese (garnish)

Directions:

1. Preheat broiler on oven. Cut peppers in half, remove seeds and membranes. Flatten halves, and place under broiler. Broil 10-15 minutes or until peppers are blackened. Remove from oven and place in a ziploc bag for 15 minutes. Remove from bags, peel off skins, cut peppers into slices, and set aside.
2. Cook pasta according to directions. Retain 1/3 cup of cooking water. Set aside.
3. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add 1 clove garlic to skillet, toast for 30 seconds. Add tomatoes and bell peppers to skillet. Cook 4 minutes, or until tomatoes are tender.
4. In a small bowl, combine remaining garlic, vinegar, and next 5 ingredients. Whisk throughly.
5. Add pasta and vinegar mixture to skillet. Toss to combine. Add spinach to the pan, stir just to combine. If pasta feels too thick, drizzle some reserved pasta cooking water over the pasta, stir to combine. Remove skillet from heat, and garnish with parmesan cheese. Serve immediately.

Recipe adapted from Cooking Light

What I Love About Summer: Raspberries

There are few things in the world more perfect than the raspberry. They symbolize summer to me. Plump, juicy, flavorful, and a beautiful rosy red color. My parents grew raspberries in our backyard when my brother and I were growing up, and I'll confess- I spent a lot of time hunkered down in those raspberry bushes. My mom would freeze raspberries, make raspberry syrup for pancakes, and bake raspberry cobblers in the oven. She would keep large bowls of raspberries in the fridge, and they went on everything from my cereal to my bowl(s) of vanilla ice cream.

Now that I'm an adult, my lust for the raspberry has not abated. I would cook or bake everything (well, almost everything) with raspberries if the hubby wouldn't start to question my sanity. I do love to cook with them though- that means I get to eat whatever I put them in. Here's a few of my favorite raspberry recipes:

Raspberry Filled Vanilla Muffins

Raspberry-Peach-Lime Lemonade

Raspberry Banana Oat Muffins

Raspberry Filled Mini-Doughnuts

Raspberry Lemonade Muffins

Chewy Chocolate Raspberry Cookies

And, a couple of recipes on my to-do list:

Brownie Bites with Raspberry Sauce- Hardly Housewives

Raspberry Crisp- Pioneer Woman

Raspberry Lemonade Bars- Annie's Eats

Raspberry Bread Pudding- Chef In Training

Raspberry Mint Ice Pops- Cooking Light

I always dread that time of year when raspberries are no longer in season. I'm hoping to grow my own berries next year, so hopefully at this time next year, I'll have raspberries out the wahzoowilla. Yes, that's right. I said wahzoowilla.

I hope everyone had a great weekend!

Grilled Chicken Panzanella

I still know a few people who think carbs are the devil, and that avoiding them is the key to weight loss. I don't subscribe to this school of thought. Your body needs carbs. Carbs are not the bad guy they were once made out to be. Sure, some carbs are better for you than others. Brown rice and whole wheat pasta are better carb choices than regular pasta, white rice, and white potatoes. I would never advocate eating a box of pasta. I would advocate eating a serving of pasta, though. While it really should be whole wheat pasta, if you want that white pasta, eat it!

I believe in eating what you want, just in moderation. I don't deny myself what I want when I want it. I just eat a little bit. If, come hell or high water, I want that pasta, I'm going to eat it. Just a serving size however, and then I fill the rest of my plate with vegetables. Vegetables are my secret for not going hungry. Instead of loading up on calorie-laden side dishes, fill your plate with veggies. You still get to eat a plate full of food which makes my tummy happy, but you're eating a lot less calories. This makes my brain happy :)

One very nutritionally-confused person told me they wouldn't like this salad because it's too carb heavy. They told me I shouldn't be eating it, because of all those carbs. Sad, I thought, to go through life completely avoiding carbs. I'll continue to eat my carbs, like this salad. Because, you can simply eat low-carb the rest of the day to make up for the bread carbs. Easy peasy. And much more delicious :)

Ingredients:

1 chicken breast
4 ounces ciabatta bread, cut into cubes
1 tbsp olive oil (divided)
Salt, pepper, garlic powder
3 tomatoes, deseeded and diced
1 cucumber, deseeded and diced
1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. Preheat gas grill to high heat. Brush 1/2 tbsp olive oil onto chicken breast. Season chicken breast with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. When grill is hot, turn burners to low and place chicken on the grill. Close and let cook 4 minutes. Flip chicken over. Cook for another 4 minutes. Flip twice more, cooking 1 minute on each side. Remove from heat, and let rest for 10 minutes before chopping it. Set aside.
2. Preheat broiler on oven. In a large bowl combine bread cubes with remaining olive oil, toss to coat. Season bread with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Toss well to evenly season bread. Spread bread in a single layer on a coated cookie sheet. Place under the broiler, and broil for 4-5 minutes, stirring often. Bread is complete when lightly browned on all sides. Set aside.
3. In a large salad bowl, combine tomatoes, cucumber, basil, grilled chicken, and toasted bread cubes. In a smaller bowl, thoroughly whisk together the olive oil and vinegar. Drizzle dressing over salad, toss to combine. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
4. Consume immediately!

*Recipe adapted from Cooking Light*

Pepper-jack, Chicken, and Peach Quesadillas

I'm currently in one of those phases where I like fruit in the most unexpected places, in combos I've never tried. I like to consider myself a foodie, but the truth is there are so many flavors my palette hasn't tasted. There are many vegetables I don't cook with, many fruits I haven't tried. I don't cook with different squashes, such as spaghetti or butternut. I don't cook with beets. I don't cook with radishes. I've never tried a fig. Or a starfruit. Conquer these, I must.

I love how the peach in this quesadilla really ramps up the flavor. It's the star of the dish. I seasoned my chicken with Mexican-influenced spices (salt, pepper, garlic powder, chili powder, oregano, and cumin), and I made a lime-sour cream-cilantro sauce to put on the quesadillas. Let's face it though, that's all pretty standard fare. But, throw in some peaches and pepper-jack cheese? Flavor-town! I love the pairing of the sweet peaches with the earthy flavor of the chicken, the tanginess of the sour cream, and the spiciness of the cheese. Ay-Chihuahua!

I do urge you to try this. It might not be the healthiest meal of the week, but it will be one of the tastiest :)

Ingredients (makes 2 quesadillas):

1 chicken breast
1 tsp olive oil
Salt, pepper, garlic powder, chili powder, oregano, and cumin
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
1/4 cup lime juice
1 tsp salt
1 peach, peeled and diced
2 oz pepper-jack cheese, shredded
1 tsp cilantro, chopped
4- soft taco size flour tortillas

Directions:

1.  Rub olive oil on chicken breast. Season chicken breast with salt through cumin. Pre-heat grill to medium-high heat. Grill chicken breast 10-14 minutes, or until done. Remove from grill, set aside to rest. Let rest for 10 minutes, chop chicken, and set aside.
2. In a small bowl, combine sour cream through salt. Mix well. Set aside.
3. Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Take 2 tortillas, spread 1-2 tsp of sour cream mixture onto each quesadilla. Sprinkle chicken, peach, and 1-oz pepper-jack evenly over each tortilla. Sprinkle 1/2 tsp cilantro over each tortilla. Take 2 remaining tortillas, and sandwich over the prepared tortillas. Place in skillet, cover with lid, and cook 1-2 minutes on each side. Cook until tortilla is browned, and cheese is melted.
4. Remove from heat. Slice into 4 sections, and serve immediately with any remaining sour cream mixture.

*Recipe adapted from Cooking Light*

Brown Ale Chicken Tacos with Cabbage-Apple Slaw

This is one tasty dish! I made these tacos for the first time a couple of months ago, and I immediately regretted not taking a picture for my blog. This has been on my list to make for the last two weeks, but kept getting pushed. Forgot to defrost the chicken one day. Was out of bacon the next. Oops, I forgot to buy an apple. Last night, however, I found myself in the kitchen with all the components. Score!

I typically like my tacos packed with as much flavor as possible. This equates to stuffing my tortilla with as many ingredients as I can cram in there. When I stumbled on this recipe,  I first thought, "What? Only two things in a taco? No cheese? What's that about?". I'm glad I went against my initial dismissal of the recipe. For a taco with only two filling items, it's got tons of flavor. A little bitter, from the brown ale. Sweet from the apple in the cabbage slaw. Salty from the bacon in the slaw. Chewy from the chicken, and crunchy from the slaw.

The hubby is always up for something adventurous from the culinary world, so he loved the tacos. If you have a pickier mate, well, this might be one for you to skip :)

Ingredients:

1 lb chicken breasts, cooked, chopped
2 cups thinly sliced cabbage
1 cup green apple, julienned
4 pieces bacon, chopped
2 tbsp cider vinegar
1 tsp olive oil
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 (12 oz) bottle good quality brown ale (I used Costco's, surprisingly tasty)
3/4 tbsp flour
1/4 tsp sugar
4 soft taco size flour tortillas, warmed

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, combine cabbage and apple.
2. In a large skillet, cook bacon until crispy and fat is rendered. Remove bacon from pan with a slotted spoon. Drain on a paper towel, then add bacon bits to cabbage and apple.
3. Reserve 1 tbsp bacon grease to a medium bowl. Discard the remainder of the bacon fat. Add cider vinegar through dijon mustard. Whisk to combine. Drizzle dressing over cabbage mixture. Toss well. Set slaw aside.
4. In a small bowl, whisk together beer, flour, and sugar until smooth. Heat in the skillet, until boiling. Turn temperature down to a simmer, and reduce sauce until it's halved and thickened. Add chicken to the pan, toss to coat.
5. Spoon chicken mixture into center of a warm tortilla. Top with cabbage slaw, and serve immediately.

*Recipe adapted from Cooking Light*

BBQ Pulled Pork Pizza

There are times I wish I had a stand mixer. Making homemade pizza dough is one of those times. If you've ever made pizza dough from scratch, you know that it has to be properly kneaded. Many a pizza dough of mine has not risen due to poor working of the dough.

Sometimes I buy the Pillsbury pizza dough (you know, the one in a can?), but other times I just flat-out refuse to pay $4 a can of pizza dough. Why pay that much when I can make one for pennies? Plus, homemade dough lacks the sodium and preservatives you find in the Pillsbury variety. Yes, please!

Thankfully, the dough released its magic glutens last night. I'm always relieved when I check the dough after an hour to see it has risen. Throw in some barbecue sauce,  leftover pulled pork, mozzarella cheese, and a sprinkle of cilantro, and you have a happy hubby when he walks through the door.

Sure, you buy a pre-made pizza crust or have a pizza delivered.  But I truly believe working with yeast is a good skill to have under your belt. You never know when you are gonna need to make bread. Or in this case, pizza dough.

Ingredients:

Basic Pizza Crust (From Cooking Light)
2 tbsp barbecue sauce
2 cups Slow Cooker BBQ Pulled Pork
1 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
2 tbsp cilantro, chopped

Directions:

1. Prepare pizza crust according to directions.
2. Preheat oven to 500º (I use a pizza stone, so I let the pizza stone heat for 30 minutes before use).
3. Roll the pizza dough into a 12" circle. Spread barbecue sauce onto dough. Spread pulled pork on top of the barbecue sauce. Top the pulled pork with the mozzarella.
4. Bake pizza in the oven 5-7 minutes, or until cheese is melted and brown.
5. Remove from oven, sprinkle with cilantro, and let sit 5 minutes before slicing. Slice into 8 pieces, and serve immediately.

Homemade Double Decker Tacos

I love Taco Bell. Don't ask me why, I don't know. There's something about cheap, unhealthy Tex-Mex that's like a siren call to me. It was love at first bite when I had my first Bean Burrito many, many years ago. Unfortunately, my adult mind knows how unhealthy their food is, so I'm stuck trying to re-create healthier options at home.

I actually got this recipe from Cooking Light. Yep, that's right. Cooking Light. The hubby said he would never guess any double decker taco recipe would come from Cooking Light. So I showed him the recipe, which you can find here. Their recipe is lightened up from the fast food version with lean ground beef, fat-free refried beans, reduced-fat sour cream, and some restraint with the cheese. I found this delightful, and didn't even miss the calories. The hubby didn't even know I used fat-free beans and reduced-fat sour cream. If I wasn't watching my diet I would have served this with spanish rice, however I ended up serving this with a romaine lettuce and tomato salad with an avocado lime cilantro dressing. Still yummy :)

Cooking Light's version offers its own taco seasoning, however I had some of my own homemade taco seasoning so I used that instead.

Ingredients (serves 4):

1(lb) 93% lean ground beef
1 tbsp chili powder
1 1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp onion powder
1 cup water
1/2 cup fat-free refried beans
4 (6 in) flour tortillas
1/2 cup cheddar cheese
4 hard taco shells
1/2 cup thinly sliced lettuce
1/2 cup salsa
1/4 cup reduced-fat sour cream

Directions:

1. Preheat broiler.
2. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add ground beef to pan, stir to crumble. Cook until browned.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together chili powder through onion powder. Add spice mixture to the beef, along with 1 cup of water. Cook until water is reduced, and the sauce is thick (1-2 minutes).
4. Spread refried beans onto flour tortilla. Top with 2 tbsp of cheese. Place on a baking sheet, and put under broiler. Broil 1-2 minutes, or until cheese melts. Carefully wrap flour tortilla around a hard taco shell, pressing gently on the sides until the cheese sticks to the shell. Repeat with other tortillas. Fill taco shell with beef mixture, lettuce, salsa, and sour cream.
5. Enjoy your homemade and healthier Taco Bell :)

I hope every had a fun-filled Memorial Day Weekend!

*Recipe adapted from Cooking Light*

Cooking Light This Spring: 2013

Image Source: Cooking Light

Cooking Light is one of those things that arrives in my mailbox, and 5 minutes later it's sitting on the side table of my couch with 30 dog-eared pages in it. The tacos on the cover didn't help with my over-eagerness to get into that magazine.

I read the magazine very oddly. I flip quickly through the whole magazine 1 time. My 2nd browsing of the magazine takes a little bit longer as I dog-ear the recipes I want to try. The 3rd time around, I actually stop and read all the articles. It's weird, I know. It may even fall into an OCD category, but that's how I like to read my Cooking Light.

I'm amazed every month at all the inspiration I get. Most of the time, I'm smacking my forehead and wondering 'Why I didn't think of that?'. I've come to terms with the fact that I'm not a revolutionary thinker with my palette. That's ok, recipes were made for people like me :)

What inspired me in this month's issue? Tons!

Grilled Asian Flank Steak with Mango Salad

Chicken Noodle Bowl

Fish Tacos with Tomatillo Sauce

Grilled Chicken and Vegetable Quesadillas

Raspberry Chipotle Chicken Breast with Cucumber Salad

Seared Tuna with Avocado Salsa

Shrimp Fettuccine

Almond Brittle

Chocolate Tacos

You can bet some of these are going to show up on my menu plan ASAP! Especially those Chocolate Tacos :)

Have a great weekend everyone!

Top 10 List: Pasta

It's been a busy week. Doctor's appointments, vet appointments, the hubby had a couple of days off. There's just been no time to blog! Plus, we just got the Internet back after 24 hours without ANY. Gotta love livin' in the country :)

Thanks to Pinterest, I've been seeing a lot of pasta. Pasta makes my world go round. I could eat pasta morning, noon, and night. I love the texture, the way it tastes, its easy versatility, and the fact that almost anything could go with pasta. To that effect, here are my top 10 favorite pasta dishes. Tried and tested. Craved constantly. Delicious.

In no particular order:

Beef and Broccoli Lo Mein

1. Beef and Broccoli Lo Mein- Need I say more? I love Asian food, and this recipe tops the list. I frequently sub the beef for chicken, shrimp, or pork. The sauce is fantastic, and goes with almost any protein.

Bacon Mac

2. I love homemade macaroni and cheese. This is ironic, because when I was a child, I wouldn't touch homemade mac and cheese. I was a blue-box-of-Kraft kind of girl. My taste has pretty much flip-flopped, and now I turn up my nose at the boxed kind. What I like most about this recipe is the flavor that the small amount of bacon lends to the dish. I also love the peas thrown in for some extra color and veg.

Fettucine with Olive Oil and Red Pepper

3. This is one of the simplest recipes you'll find, but it's packed full of flavor. This is my go-to side dish for Chicken Parmigiana.

Gemelli with Broccoli, Bacon, and Chickpeas

4. Another crazy easy dish! Olive oil and pasta were made for each other. I actually prefer an olive oil based sauce, to a cream based sauce.

Shrimp Florentine

5. Umm, I'm sensing a theme here, and it's olive oil and pasta! Shrimp, spinach, and lemon are soooo good together.

Pad Thai

6. Pad thai is such a unique dish, and I love every aspect of it. Crunchy bean sprouts. Bits of fried egg. Salty peanuts. That sauce that is distinctly Pad Thai. Guarantee I will be making this soon, now that I've been thinking about it.

Spaghetti Carbonara

7. Well, I think I've made it crystal clear that I also love the combination of bacon and pasta. This is one of my hubby's favorites, and a go-to, fast, and easy recipe in our house.

Orecchiette with Roasted Peppers, Tomatoes, and Arugula

8. This is a perfect summer dish for when tomatoes, peppers, and arugula are at their peak of freshness. If you've never had orecchiette pasta before, I highly recommend it. The texture is amazing.

Chicken and Mushrooms in Garlic White Wine Sauce

9. Referred to as Chicken Stroganoff in our house, this recipe is tried and true. It's almost impossible to mess it up, and looks downright fancy. It also comes together in a snap.

Ravioli with Roasted Zucchini

10. What would a pasta list be like without some sort of cheese-filled pasta? Not a very good one, in my opinion :) You can make fresh raviolis if you like, or use a pre-made ravioli from the grocery store for a quicker meal.

Man, I'm wishing pasta was on the menu tonight :) 

Have a great weekend everyone!