Farfalle with Portobellos and Kale

We've all made it to the week of Thanksgiving! You know, that week where we're all constantly daydreaming about turkey, stuffing, cranberries, pumpkin pie... or maybe you're even prepping already. Whatever the case, this is the one week above all others where you probably don't want to spend a lot of time in the kitchen. Or maybe you don't want to eat heavy this week. Either way, this incredibly simple pasta dish is super fast and also fairly light. It's chock-full of yummy portobello mushrooms and kale. A light dusting of parmesan is all you need to top this dish off. Serve alongside a side salad, and you have a tasty, light dinner. Or serve it alongside your favorite protein for a heartier meal.

You all might already know I'm obsessed with pasta salad. I call it pasta salad, but you might as well call it what it is- cold pasta. This dish is no different. I've been eating the leftovers cold, straight from the fridge. And I'm partial to it! There's something about the texture of cold pasta that draws me in. Like Walkers to the sound of gunfire... 

Sorry, the hubby and I've been binging on "The Walking Dead". What can I say? :) 

If you do have leftovers after making this dish, my advice is to try it cold. You might like it. You might even love it.

As for serving it the first time, it is a hot dish. The kale and mushrooms are braised in a yummy butter-garlic-white wine sauce before combining everything with fresh cooked pasta. I used farfalle, but as I was making this, it occurred to me that this dish would also probably be a hit with orecchiette.  I think you could even sub in a curly pasta like rotini if you were so inclined. I just so happen to love those little bowties.

Without taking too much from a future "pie" post, I did manage to complete my pumpkin pie yesterday. My second batch of dough rolled out with only a few minor problems. Problems I have since researched and I think I can correct before I make my Pecan Pie for Thanksgiving. As I mentioned yesterday, I have plenty of "don't!"s to share with everyone. Soon!

Yesterday, the hubby and I attended our niece's very first cheerleading competition. Her team ended up getting 1st place in their division which means they get to move on to the state competition! She's only 6, which I think is pretty darn cool. If she keeps up with this, she's going to be very, very good by the time she reaches high school. The whole experience took me back to high school dance team. I only wish I'd started dancing when I was 6. I didn't start dancing until I made the dance team my sophomore year of high school. I can't imagine how much better I would have been if I'd started early. So I'm proud of her! I really hope she sticks with it, I realized yesterday I kind of miss going to these competitions. 

Well, I have a busy day on tap, sooooo.... Adios!

Have a great Monday everyone!

Ingredients (makes 4 generous portions):

8 ounces dried farfalle pasta

3 tbsp unsalted butter

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/3 cup dry white wine

1 1/2 cups portobello mushrooms, chopped (you could sub another type of mushroom!)

4 cups kale, chopped

1 tsp fresh thyme

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp fresh cracked pepper

garnish: shredded parmesan cheese

Directions:

1. Prepare pasta- cook pasta according to directions. Reserve 1/2 cup of pasta water. Drain pasta, and set aside. 

2. Heat butter in a large skillet over medium heat. When warm, add garlic. Sauté 30 seconds to 1 minute, or until garlic has begun to toast. Add wine to the pan. Allow wine to reduce to about half (2-3 minutes). 

3. Add mushrooms and spinach to the pan. Sauté until vegetables have begun to soften, about 5-6 minutes. Add pasta, thyme, salt, and pepper to the pan. Toss to combine. If pasta is too thick or seems too dry, add as much of reserved pasta water as desired. 

4. Divide pasta into bowls, and top with parmesan cheese. Serve immediately. 

Printable Recipe

Recipe adapted from Recipe.com.

If you enjoyed this recipe, you may enjoy these pasta dishes-

Whole Wheat Tortellini with Corn and Tomato Relish

Garlicky Roasted Cherry Tomato Sauce

Udon with Thai Pickled Cabbage and Grilled Chicken

Linked to: Treasure Box Tuesdays, Weekend Potluck, Foodie Friday, Foodie Friends Friday Linky Party

Lately: November 2014

Happy Sunday from two warm and cuddly Chihuahuas! This is truly how these guys like to enjoy the weekends. Curled up in their favorite spots. Happy as little furry clams :)

I thought I would squeeze in a little weekend post here. I've been overflowing with food ideas lately, and haven't been thinking much about the in-between. But I do have a life outside that wonderful kitchen of mine. I read books in between batches of cookies. Scatter bird seed while concoctions are chilling. Or roasting. Or cooling. I run to get my creative juices flowing. I kind of wish there was an invention to dictate what goes on in my brain while I'm running, because I write some of my best stuff as my feet pound the pavement. A new techie idea perhaps? C'mon, doesn't anyone from Apple read my blog? Hehe. 

Anyhoo, it's been a great weekend thus far. The hubby actually had a 3 day weekend of Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. We don't get these traditional weekends very often! We took full advantage last night by getting together with one of our couple friends. We watched the first half of the Oregon game (Go Ducks!) and sipped margaritas before heading out for Mexican food. There may have been a tad too much tequila last night, but eh, life is short. I'm currently hard at work on pie crust, my first batch yesterday having been a dud. Rest assured, by the time this pie is completed, I'll have lots of "don't's"! I made a new batch of dough that chilled overnight, so I'm soldiering forward today. Fingers crossed. 

I hope everyone is having a relaxing weekend so far. I've got a few pictures to share of what we've been up to lately-

Haloti curled up in the hubby's sweatshirt. If you leave clothing on the furniture, the Chihuahuas will find it. 

The affair continues. It's been going on for almost 4 years now. We are venturing into common-law marriage territory at this point. 

My beautiful new FoodSaver! It arrived last week and I am so thankful! I literally squealed with joy when the UPS guy left it at my house. Thank you Mom and Dad! There was no hesitation- Out went the old FoodSaver, and in its place went the new. Immediately after getting the new machine set up, I sat down to write my totally overdue big-box store grocery list. 

Ah, the fruits of my labor. I picked up loads of chicken, ciabatta rolls, and bacon in bulk to freeze at aforementioned big-box store. And what did I do as soon as I got home? Vacuumed-sealed it into 2-person portions. I cannot say it enough, I LOVE that machine. I cannot live without it. Love it. 

So, I've been using FoodSavers for 8 years now. I do have a common-law marriage with my FoodSaver! :)

I think this poor little dude flew into either the side of the house, or the living room window. I heard a soft thud, but not the hard thud that usually kills these kids. I went outside and looked on the ground, and didn't find anything. However, when I went to empty my compost buckets, I found him sitting on our large composters. And he didn't move. He did let me pick him up, though. I was having the hubby set up a nesting box on the front porch for him to recover in when he decided he'd rested enough, and he took off. 

I'm just glad he ended up being ok :)

The snow everyone was so worried about getting around our parts. Can you even see this dusting? Not especially. 

Contrary to popular belief, not everything I cook winds up on the blog. Sometimes the recipes are too awful. Sometimes, the recipes are too good, like this Garlic, Lemon, and Fresh Herb Stuffed Chicken.  This bird never made it onto the blog because the hubby and I devoured it. I mean, we really scarfed this one down. All before I took an after photograph. Oh well. A similar recipe may make it onto the blog someday. That is, if I can keep my hands off of it long enough. 

Cheese enchiladas that never made it on the blog. I'm still playing with my chile gravy recipe, and I don't get to play very often. The gravy on these ended up being too heavy, too thick, and too salty. The hubby is not the biggest enchilada lover, so I only get a shot at this one every couple of months. I hope I perfect this recipe in 2015, though. That will be one of my New Year's resolutions.

Asian Roasted Asparagus. What can I say? Also scarfed down without many pictures.

Broccoli and Chard Garlic Spaghetti. This recipe may still make it onto the blog, however I wasn't 100% satisfied with the pictures. It was delicious, don't get me wrong. It might take a repeat making with new pictures for me to publish it, though.

The hubby and I's favorite tequila we brought back from Mexico. I love this stuff! We broke it open last night for Oregon's last home game of the season. It must have been a good luck charm, because the Duck's pulled out the win! The hubby and I were happy campers. We were told by an employee at duty-free in the Cancun Airport that they only sell this tequila in Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York City. He tried to talk us into buying a more expensive tequila that they only sell in Mexico, but we quickly informed him we didn't live anywhere near any big city and this was the bottle we wanted. I highly recommend trying this tequila if you ever see it anywhere. It makes the BEST margaritas.

Cue to the internet razing. Nickelback snuck a brand-new album out on Monday with absolutely no publicity. I had no idea they were even working on a new album. Some fan I am, right? Anyway, once I discovered their new album, I snapped it up. I've been listening to it on repeat. For days. Multiple times a day. I love running to this album. Most of the album has a really funky beat running though it and combined with Chad's voice, well, I've been tearing down miles. Well maybe not tearing them down, I did take a month off running. And lost a ton during that month. I really don't care that everyone hates Nickelback, I'm definitely not a person who follows the crowd anymore. That's one thing I love about getting older- the sheer inability to really care what other people think of your Nickelback addiction :) #iamunashamed

Here's my lazy morning. Finishing off one of my library books while loving my morning coffee. And pretty soon, I'll be rolling out my 2nd batch of pie crust dough. Oh man, oh man, I hope it's not crumbly!

I hope you all are having a lovely weekend! Ciao!

Creamy Chicken, White Bean, and Green Chile Soup

Today, I'm sharing one of my most favorite of soups with you guys. This recipe has been hanging around my kitchen for years. Since right around Day 1 of my food obsession. I've told y'all the story before- how I became super unhealthy in college, gaining 70 lbs from the day I graduated high school. Eating, and eating, and eating until I reached my rock bottom. Either go up another size in clothes or change my life. I chose to change my life and "Cooking Light" was where I started. In the beginning, I created a username at myrecipes.com and began to save recipes under my username. I would spend hours trolling the website, looking for new recipes to add to my bucket list. This soup just happened to be one of the first recipes I tried in the those days. 

You can find this recipe on Cooking Light's website under the name "Witches Brew Chicken Soup". However, since it's long past Halloween, I decided to call this soup what it is rather than stick to the themed name. Besides, this soup is good all winter, not just in the fall. It's creamy. Flavorful. Delicious. And customizable with your choice of toppings!

One of my favorite parts about this soup is that it's made creamy by mashing a can of beans and mixing it with a little bit of milk and flour. You know, rather than thickening with a larger volume of flour, and then adding heavy cream. This soup is so creamy, you'd never know it was made that way by a healthy trick. 

I suggest serving the soup with a nice crusty bread. You'll want to sop up every last drop of this soup. 

Choosing this soup to feature today actually brought about a really fantastic blogging idea for me. There are so many wonderful recipes I've got hidden in my Cooking Light archives. I think it would be fun to dig out some of my most favorite recipes I haven't made in years and feature them on the blog. Of course, I think this may be a project of the new year. We'll see. I've got Pumpkin and Pecan pies to make this week, Pumpkin Brownie Bread and Cinnamon and Toffee Chip Cookies in the pipeline, and then... dun, dun, dun... It'll be time to feature Christmas Cookies. I held off pretty long on choosing this years cookie menu, mainly because I get so darn excited I want to start at that moment. And cookies get stale, so they aren't anything you can make early. So I waited, and waited. Until yesterday. Temptation took over, and I was on Pinterest like white on rice. It only took about 10 minutes before I'd picked out what I was going to make this year. Above all else, I make Snickerdoodles every year. They are tradition, and everyone looks forward to them. I'll also be repeating my Christmas Crunch Popcorn. Mainly because the hubby's family is addicted to it. The rest of my lineup will be as follows: Cake Batter Christmas Cookies, Peppermint Truffles, Peanut Butter Cup Bark, and Homemade Turtles. 

And there I go. All excited again. And there's still a couple of weeks before I get to start! Argh, the humanity!

Ok, I'm going to try to get excited to bake my pies. I'm making my first-ever pumpkin pie! I freshly roasted another pumpkin yesterday, and I have big plans. Big, BIG plans. Pumpkin Pie, Turkey Pumpkin Chili, and as I mentioned before, Pumpkin Brownie Bread. 

Yep. Excited again :)

You know what I'll be doing this weekend. I hope everyone else has a fantastic and safe weekend!

Ingredients (serves 6-7):

4 slices bacon, chopped

1 large onion, chopped

2 large carrots, chopped

2 garlic cloves, chopped

4 cups chicken broth

1 tsp cumin

1/4 tsp ground red pepper

2 (16 oz) cans great northern beans, rinsed and drained (divided)

1 (4.5 oz) can diced green chiles

2 tbsp flour

1/2 cup almond milk

2 cups cooked chicken, chopped or shredded (I used leftover meat from a chicken I roasted)

1/4 cup cilantro

toppings: shredded cheddar cheese, sour cream, sliced green onions (optional)

Directions:

1. Add bacon to a large stockpot while cold. Place over medium high heat. Sauté bacon until crispy. Remove from pan with slotted spoon and place on paper towels to drain. Set aside, reserving the bacon grease. You only need about a tbsp, so you may want to discard some grease if you have more. 

2. Add onion and carrot to the bacon grease. Sauté for 8-10 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Add garlic to pan, sauté for 30 seconds.

3. Add chicken broth, cumin, and ground red pepper to the pot. Bring to a boil, then lower heat to a simmer. Simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in 1 can of beans and green chiles.

4. In a small bowl, mash remaining can of beans. In a separate small bowl, whisk together the flour and milk. Add milk mixture to the mashed beans. Stir to combine. Slowly, and stirring the soup continuously, add bean/milk mixture to the soup. Cook about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until soup thickens. Add chicken and cilantro, and heat until chicken is hot (about 2-3 minutes).

5. Ladle soup into bowls and top with desired toppings, including reserved crumbled bacon. 

Printable Recipe

Recipe adapted from Cooking Light.

If you liked this recipe, you may enjoy these:

Roasted Cauliflower Soup

Vegetable Beef Soup

Lentil Soup with Spicy Sausage and Kale

Linked to: Weekend Potluck, Foodie Friday, Foodie Friends Friday Linky Party, Treasure Box Tuesdays

Pineapple Pulled Pork Pizza

Did you try my Texas Pulled Pork? If so, you can turn this-

Flavorful and tender BBQ pork, made over into pizza!

All you need is some handy-dandy homemade crust, a smattering of toppings, plenty o' cheese and you have yourself an economical and tasty dinner!

I know I wax poetic about home economics quite often. It is a topic near and dear to my heart, as I suspect it is for a lot of people. We may have a tiny household of 2 people, but we also live on one income. It's not like the hubby and I are eager to throw away money. I think discussing ways to save money is interesting to just about everyone, I mean, who doesn't want to keep more of their hard-earned money in their own pockets? I've already told everyone how many meals I get out of pulled pork, and this pizza is just one example. It's super-easy to turn leftover pulled pork into just about anything. Which brings me to another point- small households. If you run a small household, you might feel adverse to cooking such a large amount of meat. A 4 lb roast sounds quite large, doesn't it? The fact of that matter is that you don't find many roasts that are smaller than that. I mean, I usually find the smallest pork shoulders to be around 8 lbs. Don't be afraid of this, small household. Cut that roast in half, and freeze part of it. And make the 4 lb roast! Just have a game-plan for the leftovers. And honestly, wouldn't it be nice to spend one day cooking the protein, and then have it ready to work with for several dinners throughout the week? 

Well, I'm not afraid to tell you- It's wonderful!

Here are few other ideas for leftover pulled pork:

Pulled Pork Empanadas by Confections of A Foodie Bride

Pulled Pork Huevos Rancheros by Foodie with Family

Pulled Pork Mac and Cheese by Nutmeg Nanny

Pulled Pork Nachos by Iowa Girl Eats

Pulled Pork Hash by Serious Eats

Can I tell you how much I heart food bloggers? I think we are some of the nicest and most creative folks on the planet. Not too mention people's photography skills. Wow! Definitely something I strive for every day.

Ok, I think I've demonstrated more than a few methods for leftover pulled pork. If you have a small household, please, don't be afraid. Be very, very excited! 

Have a great day everyone!

Ingredients (makes 1 pizza):

Basic Pizza Dough

cornmeal

1/2 cup BBQ sauce (I used Sweet Baby Ray's)

1 cup Texas Pulled Pork

1 cup fresh pineapple, diced

1 cup red onion, thinly sliced

1 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded

1/4 cup fresh cilantro, torn

Directions:

1. Prepare dough according to directions.

2. Preheat oven to 550º for 1 hour, placing a baking stone on very top rack. Remove dough from fridge, allow to come to room temperature.

3. After 1 hour, turn oven off. Turn broiler on. Sprinkle flour on a large working surface. Roll dough into a large circle. 

4. Remove baking stone from oven and place on baking stone rack. Be careful, the stone is hot! Sprinkle cornmeal over baking stone. Move pizza dough circle onto baking stone. Brush BBQ sauce onto dough. Distribute pulled pork, pineapple, and red onion evenly over dough. Evenly sprinkle mozzarella over dough. Broil in preheated oven for 5-7 minutes, or until cheese is melted and pizza has begun to form blistered pockets all over. Remove from oven (carefully!), sprinkle with fresh cilantro, and slice. Serve immediately!

Printable Recipe

If you liked this recipe, you may enjoy these-

Buffalo Chicken Pizza

Pepperoni and Green Olive Pizza

Spinach Artichoke Pizza

Linked to: Treasure Box Tuesday, Weekend Potluck, Foodie Friday, Foodie Friends Friday Linky Party

The Best Raspberry Vinaigrette

plus a salad recipe!

I love a good raspberry vinaigrette. Until recently however, I've been buying it at the store. Eek. Commercial salad dressings top a lot of foodie lists of the worst processed food items you can buy. Full of preservatives, artificial flavors and colors, and dun dun dun, waaaaay too much sugar. Preservatives I can see, but artificial flavors and colors? Look at that gorgeous raspberry color! Why would you need to artificially color that? And I'm pretty sure some commercial raspberry vinaigrettes don't even contain much of real raspberries. Well, I can tell you with ease, there are more than a few real raspberries in this dressing. 

This has to be one of the best raspberry vinaigrette recipes I've tried. And I've tried quite a few recipes. Recipes that had way too much vinegar and very little raspberry. Recipes that had way too much sugar and very little vinegar. Recipes that were bitter. Recipes that were way too sweet. Recipes that were too thin. It wasn't until I came up with this recipe that I was finally satisfied. This isn't your typical vinaigrette. It's thick, creamy, and for lack of a better word, luscious. The texture kind of reminds me of honey mustard. And it works.  It's a very versatile dressing, good for lettuce, spinach, veggies, fruit, meat, nuts, etc. 

One of my favorite salads to put raspberry vinaigrette on is a spinach salad. I've been making this salad (with commercial raspberry vinaigrette) for years. Years upon years. One of my friends brought a version of this salad to "Family Dinner" when the hubby and I were still living in our first apartment in Portland. "Family Dinner" was basically the hubby and I, plus a couple of his co-workers and their significant others getting together to share dinner and episodes of "Nip/Tuck". You know, in "Nip/Tuck"s heyday. We called it "Family Dinner" because one of the couple's family lived in Minnesota and the rest of us, well, our families lived not quite close. Each week, one couple would prepare dinner for the group. The next week, a different couple would prepare the meal. Ah, the early 20's. When friends were your family. Good times. I was introduced to quite a few "new-to-me" foods during that time. One being this salad. Spinach, red apples and red grapes, gorgonzola cheese, and raspberry vinaigrette. Yummy!

After being introduced to this salad, I began to reserve it for special occasions and I usually served it with steak. I remember 2 or 3 Valentine's Day menus that included a New York strip and this lovely salad. These days, I make it more often that once a year. And it goes perfectly with quite a few proteins- chicken breasts, fish fillets such as cod, halibut, tilapia, even salmon, pork tenderloin. You get the idea. This salad makes a great side dish. And don't limit your use of this dressing to this salad. The dressing goes quite well with lots of toppings, as I mentioned before. 

So, it's November 17 and here in NE Kentucky, we run the risk of getting some snow today. I'm not too worried, the temperature has been quite warm around here. It was 43º yesterday and it only got down to 35º last night. We are sitting firmly at 37º right now, so I'm thinking we might miss this first winter storm. I can only hope. I'm not ready for snow because once it starts, we'll probably be dealing with snow here until March. Maybe April, like last year. Ick. Can you tell I'm not a winter person? He he. 

All right, I'm out. The hubby says I need to be home by noon today, because that's when the snow is supposed to start. We went back and forth on this, me saying it should be too warm, him saying the snow could fall hard and fast and then it wouldn't matter if the temperature is too high. I'm not a snow driver though, so I fully plan on being home by noon. So-- off to run my errands :)

Happy Monday! Have a fantastic week everyone!

Ingredients (yields 2 cups):

3/4 cup frozen raspberries, thawed

1 cup canola oil (I used canola as to avoid the olive oil flavor)

1/4 cup + 1 tbsp white vinegar

1 1/2 tbsp dijon mustard

1 tbsp sugar

1 tsp poppy seeds

3/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp onion powder

Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients in food processor. Pulse until smooth, about one minute. Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 weeks. 

Printable Recipe

Recipe adapted from Food.com.

If you liked this recipe, you may enjoy these!

Apple Walnut Salad with Poppy Seed Dressing

Creamy Blue Cheese Dressing

Crispy Buffalo Chicken Salad

Linked to: Treasure Box Tuesday, Weekend Potluck, Foodie Friday, Foodie Friends Friday Linky Party