Italian Broccoli Pasta

I'm not really sure if the roots of this recipe are truly Italian.  I do know that the original recipe was from a family with Italian roots.  I have to say, this is one of the world's simplest recipe and I especially love that there's really no right way to make it; it's all personal preference.

Italian Broccoli Pasta

~1 lb pasta (I used 13.5 oz whole wheat penne)
~1 lb broccoli, chopped into bite sized pieces (depends on how much you like broccoli; we love it)
~1/2 head of red/purple cabbage
1/2-1lb sausage (again, it depends on how much you like meat)
1/3-1/2 cup olive oil
5-8 cloves of garlic, minced (we are garlic lovers)
1-2 t. red pepper flakes (how spicy do you like your food?)
salt and ground black pepper to taste
parmesan cheese to taste (if you want it)

1. Bring the water to a boil, cook pasta.
2. Steam the cabbage and broccoli until it's as tender as you like it.  I like mine with a little crunch, rather than just mush (the noodles are already mushy, we need some variety!).
3. Brown and crumble the sausage. Drain the grease. (I think chicken would also be yummy in this dish)
4. Put the oil in a sauce pan or frying pan, add the garlic and red pepper, cook on low for about 10 minutes.  (note: do NOT heat the oil first and then add the garlic, or the garlic will fry and burn.)  You can use a colander/sieve to separate the oil from the garlic/red pepper after this, or just leave together (which I usually do, to avoid having another dish to wash).  Basically, you're just making garlic/red pepper infused olive oil.
5. Combine the above ingredients.  Top with some freshly grated parmesan cheese (we've had it both ways, and of course it tastes better with it, but it's also fine without).

 
This isn't an especially flavorful dish, but it's a simple, fun, colorful, and inoffensive dish to make (unless you've got a vegetable hater in the family).  As Jesse put it, "You know, this isn't one of my favorite meals, but I can't stop eating it!"

Jesse also said that it looked like a fake, plastic-y dish because the broccoli and cabbage were so bright and colorful.  Isn't it sad when we think only food colorings make things colorful?  Fruits and vegetables are so beautiful.  The cabbage wasn't in the original recipe.  I added that because a) we had it and needed to use it and b) I love to eat colorful foods!

cauliflower and rice

On Monday I made some roasted cauliflower and a rice pilaf.

I had bought some cauliflower, but Jesse doesn't particularly care for it raw, which is how I've always eaten in it.  So, I tried something new (roasting it) which is something that most people have probably done before.  I guess I just like my veggies raw.   Jesse liked it this way.  I didn't put the cheese on it, but I imagine he would've liked it even more with the cheese...

I didn't have spinach, but I think the spinach would've tasted delicious in the rice.  I also didn't have pine nuts, so I just chopped up some walnuts instead.  Totally not the same.  Pine nuts would've been scrumptious.  I also used twice as many mushrooms as the recipe called for because we love mushrooms, plus they were starting to go bad.

There's so many recipes I want to try.  Why am I so addicted to trying new things?  I think it's a good thing, because I'm eating such a variety of food and ingredients, so I'm getting a more balanced diet than I would if I ate the same meals over and over again.  Or at least, that's what I keep telling myself...

cream of veggie soup

I invented a new recipe today. I didn't take any pictures since I wasn't sure how the recipe would turn out.  Maybe I'll take a photo later. I was needing to use up some of my veggies, since they were starting to go bad. 

So I threw this together:

cream of veggie soup

3 potatoes, cleaned and chopped
3/4 cup chopped broccoli
1 1/2 cups chopped cauliflower
2ish cups vegetable broth
3ish cups beef broth (I used 3 cups water and 2 bouillon cubes)
1 T oil
3/4 cup purple cabbage, roughly chopped
2 leeks, sliced and rinsed
4-6 cloves garlic, minced
6 white mushrooms, roughly chopped
1/4-1/2 t. dry thyme
3/4 t. dry basil
3/4 t. dry parsley
1/4 cup milk (optional)
sausage, browned and crumbled (optional)
grated cheese (optional)

1.  Put the potatoes, cauliflower, and broccoli in a stock pot with the beef and vegetable broth and turn heat on medium.
2.  Meanwhile, in a saute pan saute the leeks and garlic in the oil until the leeks are getting limp.  Then add the mushrooms and cabbage and cover for 1-2 minutes, until the cabbage is wilted.
3.  Add leek mixture to the stock pot, bring to boil.  Cook until the potatoes are tender.  Add the thyme, basil, and parsley.  Remove from heat. 
4.  Blend soup until creamy (if using a stand blender, you'll have to work in batches, filling the blender only about half way)
5.  Add milk (I used goat milk, and only because the soup was looking a little thick). 
6.  Fold in cheese (I used about 2-3 ounces of a Parmesan and Irish cheddar mixture) and sausage.

I was a little worried about how it would taste because the color (muddy green) didn't look that appetizing.  It sure did taste yummy though.

****edit****

Here's some photos.

warm your bones.

The last two days, I've made soup. . . the two days that have been above 50 degrees.  Figures.

Today's was cream-less Toscana soup.  I think I might like it better this way.  It's lighter and more refreshing.

I used...
4 potatoes
3-4 cups of chicken broth/vegetable broth (I used a combination)
5 cloves of garlic, minced
1/3-1/2 cup yellow onion
Italian Sausage (however much you like)
Kale (again, however much you like. I used 1-2 cups)

It's yummy.  Boil the potatoes in the broth until they're soft.  Boiling them in the broth makes the potatoes taste delicious by themselves.  Saute the onion and garlic together, add it to the boiled potatoes.  Brown the sausage, add it to the potatoes, remove from heat.  Chop the kale into bite sized pieces, add it to the soup, and put lid on for about 5 minutes, until the kale is tender (but not mushy!)

It's pretty quick and easy to make. . . Jesse took a shower in the time I made the soup, anyhow.

do you see a person looking over a child in the steam?

Anyway, tonight I'm broadcasting the basketball games.  It's fun.  It will be interesting, as we're on our own tonight.  The cheerleaders are also sponsoring "80's night" so I'm supposed to dress up.  The thing is, I don't have any 80's clothes.  Also. . . I hate the 80's.  That decade is so overdone.  Can't we be more creative than that?  Even the 70's would be better!  My favorite would be the 40's or 50's... not that I have clothes from those decades either.  But I'm serious.  Organizations need to stop with the 80's thing, because it's not cool anymore... assuming it ever was.

I can see a bird here, I think.

kitchen experiments

I made Sunflower milk a few days ago.

I can't say that I loved the smell of it while I was making it.  It smelled too much like grass/dirt/sprouts... do you get the idea?

I used the same nut/water ratio and process as I did for the almond milk.

I used a little of the milk in an egg I was cooking.  It turned my egg a strange brownish color.  I can't say I was a huge fan of that.

I'm not sure what it's like to cook with.  I haven't experimented yet.

The taste though. . . let's just say I don't plan on making this again.

p.s. it's been a good six months. :-)

purple potatoes

purple!

 I'd heard about these beautiful creatures before, but had never found them anywhere. . . not until I was at the health food store about a month ago.  I spotted the beauties, but ended up not buying any.  Bad decision.  I couldn't get the little spuds out of my mind.  Two weeks ago when we were back in Fayetteville, I bought a few of them.

so pretty

I browsed online looking for an interesting recipe to use them in, but I couldn't find anything that especially piqued my interest.  They sat on the counter for about eight days until I decided to bake them in the oven like I do white potatoes.  I could at least compare their taste that way.

garlic, thyme, rosemary, basil, olive oil

I smashed them with my fork once they came out of the oven.  They looked mostly brown before I smashed them, which isn't very visually interesting.

They were pretty and they were yummy!  I think they cook a little faster than russets, but the flavor is actually pretty close, unlike that of the sweet potato.  I thought it would be much more flavorful than it was.

Today I leave you with a photo of my small but functional kitchen.  It's probably where I spend the most of my time, besides the bedroom, of course.

Almond Milk

I think I've been inspired!  Making almond milk was fun!  Now I want to try making cashew milk/rice milk/sunflower seed milk.  It would be nice if the sunflower seed milk turned out, because that would be the cheapest to make.  Someday soon I'll try it.

 

 Step one: soak 1 cup of almonds in water overnight (I soaked mine for about 12 hours)

Step two: strain and rinse the almonds.

Step three: put almonds in blender

Step four: add two cups of water to the almonds.

Step five: blend for about a minute.

Step six: strain (ideally, using a cheesecloth, but I don't have one so I made do with what I had)

Step seven: place almond pulp back in blender, add two more cups of water, and repeat steps five and six.

Step eight: consume almond milk!

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I like the taste of the almond milk with cereal and to cook with, but I don't like it plain.  Maybe I would like it more if I diluted it.  However, I also think dairy milk is gross to drink on its lonesome (unless it's chocolate milk!).

Also, some people suggested adding some vanilla extract and a pinch of salt to enhance it.

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I dried out the leftover almond pulp in the oven, ground into a fine powder with my awesome new "spice" mill (coffee grinder), and turned it into an almond flour, of sorts.  Then I made biscuits with it, using equal parts white flour, whole wheat flour, and almond flour.  Next time I'll try without white flour, but I just wanted to get a feel for what would happen.  Instead of dairy milk, I used leftover coconut cream (from when I made curry) and almond milk.

The end result?  The biscuits were amazing!  They were not huge and poofy like canned biscuits, but they were very light and practically disintegrated/melted in my mouth.  Scrumptious.  Next time I think I'll try experimenting with replacing the fats with something else, maybe applesauce.

spiedies

A while ago I made yummy spiedies, which is basically just an Italian-American kabob.  The meat marinates for... well, as long as you let it.  At least 1 day, but up to 2 weeks.  Mine marinated for 3 days.  And the flavor? It was delicious.

My largest regret is that... I don't have a grill.  It would've been so much tastier with a smoky flavor. . . with the juices oozing out and dribbling down my chin with each bite.... the slightly crispy or blackened outside of the chicken cubes.  Yes.  I want a grill (well, only sometimes, but really it would just mean I had one more piece of "stuff" and I hate "stuff"). 

The recipe suggested it be served with Italian Scali bread, but I didn't know how to make that so I made Greek Flatbread instead.  Unfortunately, I didn't cook it all the way and it was still a little doughy.  It was still good though.

See how juicy it is?  The juices didn't have anywhere to drip to when the meat was cooking... and the outside was soft, not crispy. :(

This was especially annoying... all the juices from the chicken just soaked into the bread and made it soggy.  Yes.  It would've been better with a grill.

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Jesse gave this one either a 4.5 or a 5, I think, but I can't remember for sure.

I would give it a 4.5 or so had it been made with a grill. :P  The vegetables are optional too. . . Jesse liked the onion but he didn't like the green pepper.  I think traditionally it's just the marinated meat that is eaten in Italian bread.

I will definitely make this again someday. . . once I have access to a grill. :P

Kung Pao Chicken

I made Kung Pao Chicken recently.  I can't remember where I found the recipe, but I didn't have all the ingredients, so it turned out a little funky... plus I added too much vinegar which caused me and Jesse to both cough a lot during the consumption of it.  Also, Jesse's mouth caught on fire when he ate one of the red chili peppers.  Hehehe.

I think I would try it again... if I had all the ingredients.  It was fun to make and eat, with all the different textures in it.

Scallions, garlic, bamboo, ginger, chili peppers

garlic, ginger, chili peppers

chicken, snow peas, sauce + above ingredients

ready for consumption

The biggest problem I think I had was that I didn't have rice wine or black vinegar.  So it had a more bitter taste, and I think rice wine has a sweet taste.  Oh well.  Better luck next time. :)

Friand Fail

One of Jesse's favorite restaurants is a little "French" cafe called "La Madeleine."  He especially loves their chicken friand, something I'd only eaten once in my life.

Since he loves it so much, I wanted to make it for him as a special dinner.  After a lengthy search on the internet, I found a recipe.

Here are pictures from the cooking adventure.

Dried mushrooms rehydrating

Green onions

Fresh mushooms

Chopping the chicken

Cooked chicken

The sauce

Mushrooms + chicken

Mushrooms + chicken + cheese

  Puff pastries.

All baked!

Finished product

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The end result?

It was not good.  No, it wasn't horrible.  Jesse ate all of his.  I only ate a half of mine.  The other half plus the extra whole one sat in the fridge for a few days until I finally threw it out.

I think it had potential to be delicious, but it was a fail.

I personally think it just had too much mushroom flavor (I love mushrooms).  I think it was from the dried mushrooms; they had such a strong flavor.  Maybe if I'd gotten a different variety it would've been better, though I think it would've tasted best with only fresh mushrooms and without the mushroom broth... I'd use chicken broth instead.  It was just way rich and heavy with all those mushrooms.

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Maybe I'll try it again someday, but not any time soon... we're still recovering, and I made this mid November.