Veggie and Pesto Pasta Salad

I love the freedom of mealtime in the summer: grilling on the deck, ice cream at the beach, iced tea on a lazy Sunday afternoon.  Food always seems to taste the best when everyone is laid back and surrounded by the ones they love, and summer seems to give us the most opportunities for these meals.  

One dish that’s a staple to any summer get-together is the pasta salad.  I like my pasta salads swimming in mayonnaise, but not everyone likes mayo ( I have no patience for these people.) and it’s a pretty unhealthy choice.  Italian dressing is another option, but by the time August rolls around, maybe you want something new?  I’ve got just the thing: Pesto!    

    

I’ve only had pesto a few times and it was always from a seasoning packet.  To me, it tasted like buttery noodles with some seasoning salt.  Plus, I would always get the little green pieces stuck in my teeth. Annoying!  When I tried making my own homemade pesto, I was shocked at how much flavor it had.  At least it worth getting pesto stuck in my teeth!

Life is better with fun shaped pasta.

This recipe was inspired by Joy the Baker.

Veggie and Pesto Pasta Salad

4 cups of spinach, packed loosely

2/3 cup of extra virgin olive oil

2 spoonfuls of minced garlic (two garlic cloves)

3 teaspoons of lemon juice

1/2 cup of grated parmesan cheese

1 pound of uncooked pasta (about 8 servings)

A variety of vegetables

1. Bring a pot of water to a roiling boil and drop in your pasta.  Stir occasionally until the pasta is cooked.  Drain, then let the pasta cool by running cold water over it.

2. While your pasta is cooking and cooling, coarsely chop you spinach and put it in a blender or food processor with the EVOO, garlic, lemon juice and parmesan cheese.  Blend until the spinach is almost liquified.  This is your pesto sauce. 

3. Chop your veggies into bite sized pieces.  Use whatever veggie make you happy.  I used green bell peppers, tomatoes, onion, and green olives.  Others that would be good: broccoli, cauliflower, cucumber, black olives, celery, mushrooms, carrots, even kernels of corn.  So, yep, you’ve got lots of options.

4. In a large bowl, mix together the pasta, noodles, veggies, and add salt and pepper to taste.

So, now I’m confused: is all homemade pesto this good or am I just an excellent pesto cook?Anyways, this dish seems to keep very well in the fridge overnight ( I was worried about the olive oil separating), so it would be a wonderful item to make ahead for a backyard BBQ or a potluck. After all, garlic breath is best when it’s shared!  Enjoy!

Creamy Avocado Pasta

I like to eat food.  I like to eat good food. I like to eat good food that’s filled with carbs and fats and sugars.  I will probably never naturally gravitate towards a raw, paleo, or gluten-free diet. (Though I was a hard core vegetarian in high school.  I just ate a lot of donuts... just kidding.)  But as I get older, I see my body as a machine:  if I take care of this machine and give it all the nutrition it needs, it will run well and I will have minimal problems.  But if I don’t take care of this wonderful machine, it won’t work efficiently.  I will be tired, irritable, and have trouble concentrating.

That being said, I feel like mealtime is a constant battle between what I want to eat and what I need to eat.  But what if I could have both?  What if I had a handful of meal ideas that tasted amazing and were good for me at the same time?  This is exactly what I’m trying to come up with and I’d like to share with you one of my first meals.

Creamy Avocado Pasta

2 ripe avocados

1-2 teaspoons of lemon juice

2-3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, approximately

1 spoonful of minced garlic

A pinch of salt

1 large tomato, chopped, or several cherry tomatoes

4 servings of uncooked pasta, (whole wheat, gluten-free, or regular.)

1. Bring a pot of water up to a rolling boil. Add the pasta and stir occasionally.

2. Slice the avocados in half, remove the pit and scoop the ‘meat’ into a bowl.  Take a fork and mash it up a bit.

3. Now it’s time to add the lemon juice, EVOO and garlic.  This is a good time to personalize your meal: if you want the lemon and/or garlic flavor to stand out, add more of it.  The EVOO is use to thin the avocado mixture, so add it according to how thin or thick you want yours to be.  Add salt to taste and stir.

4. When the pasta is cooked, drain it, and place in a large serving bowl.  Add the avocado mixture and the tomatoes.  Stir it all together and serve immediately.

This dish tastes like a beautiful combination of fettuccine alfredo and guacamole.  It’s so good I could eat it every day. In fact, as long as I had this, I may never need to eat fettuccine alfredo ever again.  And that’s really saying something, because I really like alfredo!  Plus, avocadoes are much healthier for you than cream, butter, and cheese (alfredo) will ever be.  The only downside to this dish is that the avocado will oxidize after a few hours and turn brown, so it’s not the best dish to store for leftovers.  But, this meal is so good that eating it all won’t be a problem.

Hip hip hooray for avocados!

Carrot and Lentil Soup

I have always looked forward to grocery shopping, even when I was a kid.  It’s like a treasure hunt; combing the aisles, you never know what you might find!  Now that I’m older, I enjoy it even more because I decide what gets to come home with me and what stays at the store (yes, I’m talking about you, Malt-o-Meal).  The other day while I was in the produce section, something caught my eye: a bag of steamed lentils.  Honestly, at that moment, lentils kind of intimidated me, they didn’t sound overly yummy and I’d imagined they would be tricky to deal with.  I decided to buy the lentils anyway, just to be adventurous and to try something new.  

Over the next few days, I looked around online to find ideas on what to do with these lentils, but nothing really tickled my fancy.  I found many recipes for Spicy Lentils and Curry Lentils, but I wanted to save experimenting with curry for another time.  Then, I remembered that my dad used to put lentils in soup.  Bingo, that’s what I would do!  So I gathered up what I had in my kitchen and made one the most easy and tasty soups ever.

Note: Since my lentils were steamed, I didn’t need to cook them before putting them in the soup.  If you buy dried lentils, you will need to cook them first, but it’s pretty easy.  Here’s a quick article on how to cook lentils.  Dried lentils are more pocketbook friendly than their pre-steamed friends.  Also, if you are watching your sodium intake, you’re controlling how salty the water you cook the lentils in is.

Another thing that should be noted, is that there are many types of lentils.  Some stand up well to cooking, while others become soft and mushy while being cooked.  Since this is a soup, it doesn’t matter if the lentils stay firm or become soft, unless you have a preference.  Because it doesn’t matter, this is a great time to experiment!

Carrot and Lentil Soup

5-6 medium carrots

1 large onion

2-3 Tbsp of Extra Virgin Olive Oil

14.5 ounce can of veggie broth

14.5 ounce can of diced tomatoes

Roughly 4 cup of cooked lentils

1 cup of milk, or to your liking

1 cup of water, or to your liking

Salt and seasonings to your liking (I used Rosemary and a gourmet seasoning packet)

Shredded cheese (optional)

1.  Peel and chop your onion and carrots.  Add them into a large pot with the olive oil and sauté until the carrots are soft and the onions are translucent.

2. Turn the stove’s heat to medium and add the diced tomatoes, veggie broth and lentils.  Then, add milk, water, and seasoning to taste.  

3. Bring the pot up to a rolling boil, then let simmer for 10 to 15 minutes.  

4. Serve.  Garnish with shredded cheese on top if desired.

(Not to point out the obvious, but by using a non-dairy milk and cheese will keep this soup vegan friendly.)

Up close and personal...yummy!

There you have it and it’s so simple!  This soup isn’t the most photogenic dish I’ve ever made, but it makes up for it with how good it tastes. And when I had leftovers the next day, the soup was even tastier, so make yourself a double batch and save some for later.  Enjoy!

Pioneer Woman’s Olive Cheese Bread

My family and I have been Ree Drummond, aka the Pioneer Woman, fans for quite some time.  We laugh at Charlie the Basset Hound’s antics, swoon over the cowboys on her ranch (okay, I was the only one swooning), and gain plenty of calories from her out-of-this-world recipes.  Her photos are amazing, her children are adorable, what’s not to love, people?!

One of my family’s favorite recipes of her’s is her Olive Cheese Bread.  It is truly a combination of good and evil crammed into a slice of french bread.  One of the ingredients is real mayonnaise and in her recipe, she specifically says not to use low fat or fat free mayonnaise.  But being a health conscious person and bit of a rebel, I couldn't help but ask “What would happen if I ‘accidently’ used low fat real mayonnaise?”  Between the butter, cheese, and olives, I don't want to know how many calories are in this and using low fat mayonnaise probably isn't going to save me many calories, but every little bit helps, right?  So with that on my mind and the spirit of adventure in my heart, I made Pioneer Woman’s Olive Cheese Bread, with low fat mayonnaise.

Original recipe here.  It’s a great read and I highly recommend it.

Pioneer Woman’s Olive Cheese Bread

1 loaf French Bread

6 ounces, weight Pimiento-stuffed Green Olives

6 ounces, weight Black Olives

2 stalks Green Onions (scallions)

1 stick Butter, Room Temperature

1/2 cup (low fat) Mayonnaise,

3/4 pounds Monterey Jack Cheese, Grated

1.  Drain the cans of olives, place them on a cutting board and give them a good chopping.

 

Note:  If you don't like green olives or black olives, you can use two cans of the kind you do like.  Also, if you don't like olives at all, sun-dried tomatoes, mushrooms, or cooked bacon chopped into small pieces could be a good replacement.

2.  Dice up the green onions.

3.  Put the butter, mayonnaise, cheese, chopped olives, and green onions into a mixing bowl.  Stir them up real good.  

4.  Take you french bread and cut it lengthwise, so you have two long have pieces.  Place the bread onto a cookie sheet.  Spread your cheese mixture on both pieces of bread.  It’s going to seem like a lot, but don't worry, it will melt down into the bread.

5.  Put the bread into an oven which has been preheated to 325 degrees and bake for 25 minutes, or until the cheese mixture is melted and the bread is a light golden brown.

6. Let the bread cool and then slice it up anyway you want... or don’t, you could eat it all in one foul swoop.

So there you have it!  I couldn't taste any difference from using low fat mayo, but if you are an Olive Cheese Bread connoisseur, perhaps you can. Though, I doubt it’s very noticeable. Unless you don't like olives, I have never met a person who could say no to this Olive Cheese Bread.  It’s perfect for a girl's night in, or by yourself on a rainy evening.  Actually, don’t make it for yourself, because you risk eating the whole loaf.  Enjoy!