20 Minute Lemon Pesto Penne

So quick and easy- really delicious. Could add in chicken if ya want. Also, it's 1 pot dish! Luhhh dat.

20 Minute Lemon Pesto Penne

8 ounces whole wheat penne
2 cups broccolini (could use regular broccoli instead) I used 1 large bunch
1 cup oven roasted tomatoes (I used sundried tomatoes in oil and rinsed first)
2 teaspoon minced garlic
¼ cup pesto (I had a little jar in the pantry)
¼ cup feta cheese
1 lemon
fresh basil, cut into ribbons


1. Cook the penne according to package directions. 

2. Add the baby broccoli to the pot of boiling water for the last 1-2 minutes of cooking. It should turn bright green. 

3, Drain in colander- don't put back in pot yet.
4. Add the tomatoes and garlic to the pot you cooked the pasta in. Saute 1-2 minutes or until fragrant.

5. Add pasta and broccolini back in.

6. Add the pesto, half of the feta, and the lemon juice. 

7. Toss in the pan until well combined.

8. Remove from heat and add the basil.

9. Sprinkle with remaining feta before serving.

Rachael Ray's Linguini

Yall Rachael Ray is annoyingAF sometimes, but this recipe is too legit to quit. Make it! Make it for a group- it's so easy. It's much prettier with the mussels, but you can easily omit them from the recipe.

Ingredients

3 tablespoons olive oil
1 pound bulk sweet Italian sausage with fennel seed
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 small fennel bulb, finely chopped
4 large cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 small red chili pepper, finely chopped or 1 teaspoon flakes
Salt and pepper
2 tablespoons fresh thyme, chopped
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1/2 cup dry vermouth or white wine
4 cups chicken stock, plus one cup of water
1 pound box of linguini
About 32 mussels (around 1 pound, you want to serve 6-8 per person), scrubbed
1/2 cup parsley, chopped

Preparation

1. In large, wide pan or deep skillet with a tight-fitting lid, brown and crumble the sausage in olive oil over medium-high heat. 
2. Add onion, fennel, garlic, chili pepper, salt, pepper and thyme. Cover pan and cook to soften, 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally. 
3. Uncover, stir in tomato paste and add vermouth and stock. 
4. Bring to a bubble, add pasta, cover and cook 7-8 minutes, tossing with tongs occasionally. If the pasta is sticking to the bottom of the pan, loosen the pasta with water.
5. Add mussels, cover and cook 3-4 minutes more to al dente, adding more stock or water if needed. 
6. Add parsley and adjust salt and pepper to taste.
7. Serve.

Weekly Menu

Hiyaaaa! So excited to see everyone this weekend!

I hear ya about Blue Apron- so nice to do new recipes and not have to worry about going to the store, but def can be more time consuming. I really loved not having to buy a whole bottle of a condiment and just getting the tiny premeasured size instead. We did Blue Apron from the time that Reed was born (you heard that right- I was cooking with a newborn 3x/week!!! Ryan wasn't that impressed but really shoulda been) and we just got our last box. Taking a brief break. But I cooked soooo many new recipes over the last 11 weeks- kinda awesome.

Sun- Capellini with hatch pepper meatballs and salad
Mon- Crab cake on salad
Tue- Broccoli rabe & ricotta ravioli and salad
Wed- Chicken and veggies
Thur- Work event, Ryan on his own
Fri- Chili then HOUSTON!

Going on a date on Sat night to Provisions and sooo excited about it. A real grown-ups-only dinner! I loooove our nanny but her weekend rates are too high- really need to find a weekend babysitter here so we can start having date nights where we don't bring the baby :)

...Is this thing on?? Weekly Menu!

Hi friends! So much is happening in everyone's life (babies! wedding! more babies! home renovations!). We're so grown up. This is real life.

Home renovations have been chugging along, for better or worse. We had #tilegate last week - red veins and cracks in our master bath tile that weren't supposed to be there; but we ended up using it anyway. They'll be done with the tile soon. Hardwood floors, cabinets, and counter tops are next. Eek!

We're still in the rental, which I'm ok with - close to our work, close to the school, doorman, pool, etc. Still, would love to not have to pay rent + mortgage :)

We've been doing low key cooking, AND some Blue Apron. Here's my take on Blue Apron - I like it because it forces me to up my game (if I could roast chicken every night I would). However, it does take an additional 1 hour at least to cook. They bring me a huge eggplant, two squashes, an onion, and tomatoes to dice up to make ratatouille. I would never make ratatouille on any given weekday. Who's got time for that? So we've been doing it on the weekends and I actually do love it. Amelia sets the table, Will has made a specialty cocktail to go with it. It's nice. But again, for us it's better for weekends. The final product has been SO yummy! A pan seared cod one day, chicken with a delicious salad another day. Really have loved it.

I've wanted to start posting again to get strict on 4HB because Cris' wedding is a month away (where did the year go!?) and I had a very loosey-goosey summer.

This is what we have going on this week - it's a shortish week because we're headed to Houston to see ALL OF YOU AT THE SAME TIME AND MY UNIVERSE WILL EXPLODE!!! While we're gone, Will leaves for Argentina until the following Thursday (right before Labor Day) so it's going to be an interesting week!

Monday: I have a JL volunteer event so I made ground beef and veggies for Will to heat up for him and the girls
Tuesday: Chicken and Mushrooms with Roasted Broccoli
Wednesday: Chili
Thursday: Out
Friday - Sunday: IN HOUSTON!

xoxo

Week 12 Menus - Still.Not.Spring.

Hi everyone! Hope yall had a good weekend. We woke up to snow here in Chiberia. It's been snowing since we woke up. Still snowing. Supposed to be 30* all week. Womp.

We had an uneventful weekend. So uneventful that I didn't even cook dinner Friday or Saturday night. We just had leftovers. How lame is that!? We had soccer, went for lunch at Lula Cafe in our new neighborhood, the tile store. Boring. The girls were hilarious. For some reason extra funny.

Here's our menu for this week! 

Sunday: Lentil Soup

Monday: Out - Father-in-law is in town.

Tuesday: Meatloaf (didn't do it a few weeks ago)

Wednesday: Pork Tenderloin

Thursday: Leftovers

Friday: Shrimp Scampi

What are you guys up to?? xo

Week 11 2015 menu - late, late, late

Hi everyone! Long time no see :)

I've been cooking but it's been kind of uninspired and just surviving. Work has been crazy, the girls have been sick, I was traveling a ton. Surviving.

Here's what we have going on this week:

Sunday: Dinner at a birthday party
Monday: Roasted Chicken and broccoli (anytime I roast chicken, I slather the chicken pieces with dijon mustard and that's it! No oil, butter, nothing. Comes out delicious every time.)
Tuesday: Soy-honey Chicken with roasted broccoli - new recipe and really delicious!!
Wednesday: Leftover Chili - I usually make either Chili or Bolognese over the weekend for us to have as leftovers or the girl's lunch for the week. I'm going to TETE tonight with old co-workers so Will and the girls are on their own :)
Thursday: Meatloaf and mashed cauliflower
Friday: Lentil Soup


What do you guys have going on??

xo

Week of March 9

Made this Tamale Pie recipe last night and really like it! Lots of leftovers. Ryan got seconds. Next time I would either cook it in a smaller pan or use more meat/bean mixture so that the filling/cornbread ratio was a little more even.
Filling:

In pan before I spread cornbread:

Served:

 

Forgot the cilantro... oops. If it had been nicer weather or closer to summer, I def woulda served with grilled okra- that woulda been really good with this.

Other recipes on my To Try list:
Mulligatawny with grilled naan
Campanelle with burrata, lemon, grilled garlic

Week 3 2015 Menu

Hi everyone! Hope yall got to take advantage of the long weekend!

We did a lot of house things - looked at appliances and tiles. Have to start making decisions which is very exciting. Other than that, very low key weekend. We saw Paddington with the girls on Saturday. Nicole Kidman terrified them but the movie was cute.

Here's what we have on the menu this week!

Monday: White Fish Special (recipe below! Don't think I've posted this before.)
Tuesday: Beth's Korean Beef. Mitch is in town and will have dinner with us!
Wednesday: I'm out for a work event, so probably some leftovers or chicken nuggets for the girls.
Thursday: Basil Chicken Curry an oldie but a goodie.
Friday: Chili (I usually just wing the recipe, but my trick is to add corn tortillas to dissolve in the chili. It's amazing.)
Saturday: CHEAT DAY. World is our oyster. TBD.

What do yall have going on??


White Fish Special (adapted from Kobe Restaurant in Houston)

Any white fish - I use Tilapia
4 egg whites
2 tablespoons cornstarch
*Mix egg whites and cornstarch. Marinate the fish and egg white/cornstarch mixture for some time. I've done as little as 10 minutes while I'm prepping something else or as much as a few hours.
* Add oil to a skillet. Cook fish about 4 minutes per side. You're essentially frying the fish. Once the fish is cooked, set aside and use the same skillet for the sauce.

For the sauce:
1/2 stick of butter
2 sliced or diced jalapenos
fresh grated ginger (I keep mine in the freezer and just grate as needed)
1/2 c of soy sauce
*Brown the butter in the skillet, picking up any bits of fish. It'll start to foam and become brown and smell nutty. Throw in the jalapenos. Add soy sauce and the mixture should boil rapidly and reduce some. Stir in the grated ginger (I usually grate the ginger directly into the skillet). The sauce should be really dark - almost black looking. Put the fish back in the skillet to coat well with the sauce or plate the fish and spoon the sauce on top.

Week 2 2015 Menu

Hi everyone, not a lot going on in the food category - been an emotional few weeks (to say the least) so keeping things simple. Below is what we have going on:

Monday: Shrimp and veggies
Tuesday: Spaghetti and Meatballs for the girls. I have a work event and Will is traveling. Our cousin Karla will feed the girls.
Wednesday: Beef stew
Thursday: Leftovers
Friday: Sausage and Bean Cassoulet
Saturday: Cheat day!! The world is our oyster. Or our hamburger.

What do yall have going on? xoxo

New Year New Menu Week 1!

Hi everyone! Trying to get back into the swing of things while doing the 4 hour body. We didn't read the book, but talked extensively to Cris and Mitch about. Here is our menu for the week. The girls ate up last night's salmon. At least Amelia did - Annelise is really good at being defiant.

Sunday: Chili
Monday: Lou's Dill Salmon + Roasted Broccoli
Tuesday: Chicken Burrito Bowls (minus rice and cheese)
Wednesday: Lentil Soup, an oldie but a goodie
Thursday: Leftovers
Friday: Shepherd's Pie with Cauliflower Mash instead of potatoes
Saturday: CHEAT DAY! Probably pizza and sushi and pasta and ice cream.

What do yall have going on?? xo