Chive and Butter Noodles

Chives, butter, and noodles. I love them separately and I love them together. Especially when they are the base ingredients in a delicious dish that I made Saturday night.

The recipe came courtesy of Pinterest, but is from This Blog here. I had to run out to a local organic store to purchase nutritional yeast, but substituted spaghetti for the soba noodles. I had never heard of soba noodles prior to this recipe and did not care to try them. Spaghetti worked out just fine. 

Tom and I loved the meal. It was delicious and much healthier than the packaged mixes you might find in the pasta isle of a grocery store. They have much less sodium, fresh ingredients, and are packed full of flavor. Trust me, this will be made again, and again, and again! I may decide to double the chive/butter recipe next time in order to increase the chive/butter to noodle ratio. 

Chive and Butter Noodles

Adapted from Anja's Food 4 Thought 

Ingredients

• Spaghetti/Angel Hair pasta (enough for two people)
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/2 a red onion, chopped finely
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 tablespoons chives, chopped finely
• 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
• Salt to taste
• 4 tablespoons toasted walnuts, chopped finely

1. Cook pasta according to directions. 
2. While pasta is cooking, melt 1 tablespoon butter in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Once melted, add onion and cook for 2-3 minutes, until softened.
3. Add the chives and minced garlic and cook for an additional 1-2 minutes, stirring frequently. 
4. Add the nutritional yeast along with salt. Immediately add the 1 tablespoon of unmelted butter, and cook until butter has completely melted. Remove from heat.
5. Toast walnuts in oven by broiling for a few minutes. Be sure to watch them so they do not burn. Remove from oven, and chop finely on a cutting board. 
6. Once pasta is cooked, drain the water and add the noodles to a bowl. Pour the chive mixture on top and stir to incorporate the mixture into the pasta. 
7. Serve pasta on plates/bowls and sprinkle walnuts on top. The walnuts give a good crunch to the noodles. 

Enjoy!

We enjoyed the noodles along with fresh cherry tomatoes that we picked up at a local Farmer's market on Saturday. Cherry tomatoes always make my heart happy, but I must confess, they were not as the delicious as Pete's Green's tomatoes that we enjoyed last year. Oh how I miss their CSA.

Boston 2012: Carbs, Packing, and Weather Worries

Carbo-loading has commenced!

I have been craving meatballs and garlic bread all week. Although I was home alone last night, I decided to fancy up my dinner and fulfill my craving. Usually I'll opt for grilled cheese or cereal, so this was a step up for me. 

The carbo-loading portion of marathon training is my favorite. And now that the race is three days away, I am in full-swing of it. My long-run buddy, Rachel, informed me that apple pie counts as a carb, and ironically that's all I could smell in the halls of the high school this morning. 

New craving: Apple pie. And a my little cupcake birthday cake cupcake.

The three day countdown also means that it is time to pack. Last night I made a list of what I'll need, but I have a feeling I am leaving something off. I tend to over-pack, wanting to be prepared for any situation or weather scenario. Even though the forecast calls for warm weather, I'm not taking any chances. Spandex running pants are still on my list.

Speaking of warm weather, it is going to be quite warm. I typed "Boston Weather" into Google this morning and pretty much had a heart attack. You can see why below:

source

90 degrees?! YIKES!

Fortunately, I found other forecasts that seemed a little more reasonable. Either way, it looks like I'll be running in 80 degree weather.

Oh boy, this shall be fun....

Cheesy Eggplant Parm

A few weeks ago I posed a question on Facebook: "I have an eggplant and don't know what to make with it. Any suggestions?"

People responded immediately with ideas like stuffed eggplant, moussaka, roasted eggplant on pasta, eggplant rollatini, and of course - eggplant Parmesan. 

Last time we made eggplant parm we didn't want to finish it. This time, we had a real winner. It was plate of ooey-gooey-cheesy deliciousness!

Cheesy Eggplant Parmesan

Adapted from Allrecipes.com

Ingredients

1 large eggplant (or 2 smaller), thinly sliced

1 egg, beaten

1-2 cups bread crumbs

1 jar of spaghetti sauce (Bove's Garlic Lovers or San Marzano Tomato Basil were delicious choices)

3 garlic cloves

8 oz package of shredded mozzarella cheese (more for the cheese lovers)

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Dried basil

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Cover baking sheet with aluminum foil.
2. Set up workstation: sliced eggplant, egg bowl, bread crumb bowl, baking sheet. Dip eggplants in egg and  breadcrumbs before laying on baking sheet.
3. Bake eggplant in oven for 5 minutes. Remove from oven, flip, and bake another 5 minutes. 
4. Cover the bottom of an 8x8 or 9x9 baking dish with spaghetti sauce. Add a layer of eggplants, followed by half of cheese and all of garlic. Repeat by adding another layer of sauce, eggplant, and remaining cheese. Sprinkle dried basil on top. 
5. Bake in the oven for 35 minutes. 

Serve with pasta and enjoy!

CSA: Week 10 Preview: Chard and Bacon Pasta

Two posts in one day?! Only because I had such a delicious dinner that I wanted to make sure I could share it with all of you.

I picked up our10th CSA this morning. I normally put the greens away and wait a few days before using them in a dish.

Since I'm tired of "forgetting" to use them I set out to search for a chard recipe for dinner tonight.

And I discovered a winner! The following recipe is so good that it really could be on Sarducci's menu. You don't know what Sarducci's is? Please make plans to eat there next time you're in Montpelier....

Chard and Bacon Pasta
Adapted from Epicurious

1/2 box of Penne
6 oz Vermont Smoke and Cure bacon, cut into 1/2" slices
1 medium onion, sliced
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
6 cups of chard, stemmed, and chopped
1/2 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
Parmesan cheese (grated) or Parmesan, Asiago, and Romano cheese mix
Salt and Pepper

1. Prepare the pasta according to packaging directions. Collect 1/2 cup of the pasta water before draining the pasta and set aside. Return the pasta to the pan and cover to keep warm.

2. Cook the bacon in a large pot until it starts to crisp. Remove the bacon and place onto paper towels to collect the grease. Drain all but 1 tablespoon of the bacon grease from the pan.

3. In the bacon-pan, saute the onions over medium heat until softened. Add the garlic and cook for one minute before adding the chard, salt, and pepper to taste. Cook for one minute and add the pasta-water. Continue to cook for a few minutes until the chard is wilted. Add the balsamic vinegar, pasta, and olive oil, and mix thoroughly  Remove from heat. Sprinkle with bacon and grated cheese.

Enjoy!

Long Runs, Cake, and a Birthday Celebration

First, tell me what on Earth could be better than having a long run, a cake, and a birthday to celebrate all at the same time. Second, it was handy that I did have a birthday to celebrate as I had leftover cake to eat before my run today. My maybe-8-miler turned into a 12 miler and those extra calories were much needed!

Yeah.... I'm probably crazy to eat cake before a run. And to eat chips and salsa. I know I should be fueling my body with nutritious foods, but the cake always looks better than a banana. *sigh* I definitely need to work on my pre-run food decisions....

Anyway, I'm not posting about my own cake creation, but instead am introducing you to the decorator-in-training - Tom! His mom's birthday was this weekend and to go along with the new serving platter we bought her we decided to make and decorate a cake.

Unfortunately Friday wasn't a good day for me baking-wise. My attempt at a Boston Cream pie looked more like an omlette when I flipped the cake onto the cooling rack. Lesson: don't forget to pre-heat the oven and make sure you put the batter immediately into the pans and into the oven if the instructions say to. I reluctantly threw out the "pie" and began a batch of chocolate cakes. After a little snag baking those I finally had two cake layers and Tom began to decorate. 

For a first timer, he did a great job. He started to get the hang of doing a shell border and is way better at centering his lettering than I am. His mom was very happy to receive the-one-of-a-kind cake. 

We celebrated her birthday yesterday, and enjoyed a seriously-delicious dinner of fresh pasta with garlic shrimp, prepared by the Tom, his brother, his dad, and a family friend. It was very entertaining to hear four men in the kitchen attempting to create this at the same time. For someone who doesn't eat shrimp, I ate all of the shrimp that were on my plate! Although I don't have the recipe, it seems fairly easy: shrimp sauteed in  butter, with parsley, lemon, 5 cloves of garlic, salt and pepper. Cherry tomatoes were thrown in at the end and that was served over warm, fresh pasta. 

Sadly, my one-week summer vacation has come to an end and tomorrow I start class full-time. I promise I'll try my best not to forget about the blog. 

CSA: Week 3 Recap

This last CSA week was loaded with fresh fruits and veggies and it didn't help that we decided to go berry picking on Sunday. We came home with 7 lbs of blueberries and a carton of raspberries. Yuuuummmmmm.

This week's CSA consisted of: mesclun greens, peas, baby pearl onions, Zucchini, garlic scapes, kale (I had never tried it before!), green tomatoes, red beets, and frozen squash puree. 

Thursday night we made homemade pizza with the onion and kale from our CSA. While the pizza was baking Tom was busy making a batch of mint-oreo ice cream to enjoy while watching Harry Potter. We've been having a marathon over the last few weeks in order to get ready for the last movie. Unfortunately, we haven't been able to watch the 6th and part one of the 7th, so we won't be at the midnight showing tonight. 

Licking the ice cream maker's bowl clean!

As I mentioned in my last post, we used many of our veggies in our Thanksgiving feast. Sunday, after our berry picking, Tom cooked up a batch of Greek salad, with turkey of course! We also got to use up some parsley and cherry tomatoes. 

Tuesday night came and so did the weekly scramble-to-use-up-our-veggies-before-the-next-delivery-meal. I roasted my second batch of beets, and sauteed the kale and summer squash with the onion and scapes. 

This week's CSA is very exciting, and includes basil and heirloom tomatoes! 

Now some questions for the readers....

1. Since we don't have a garden I'm curious about yours. How is it doing? Have you been able to harvest anything yet?

2. Is anyone heading to see Harry this weekend? I doubt we'll get the chance as we're heading to a wedding - but next weekend! I'm excited to see it but I'm pretty sure I'm going to cry when it's over. It's been great  growing up with Harry. 

Three Cheese Mac & Cheese

Cheese. MMmmm! I can never have enough. Especially when it comes to Mac & Cheese. 

I had yesterday off and took full advantage of it. I had a relaxing morning before running 12.5 miles in preparation for the Leaf Peeper's Half Marathon in 2 weeks. The weather was beautiful - in the 60s. I definitely didn't want the day to end because I knew it meant that we're one day closer to the cold weather of winter. 

I found a recipe for this mac & cheese a few months ago. I changed some of the ingredients, either because the cheese wasn't sold in 5 oz packages, or because I couldn't allow myself to use all of the half & half that the recipe called for (actually it called for heavy cream!). Thank goodness herbs are durable plants. We still had thyme growing in our herb box that I picked just for this recipe.

Three Cheese Mac & Cheese

3/4 box of Penne

1 cup half and half

1/2 cup milk

3 tablespoons onions, finely chopped

2 minced garlic cloves

2 tablespoons flour

1 1/2 cups shredded extra sharp cheese

4 oz goat cheese

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

2 tablespoons sour cream

3/4 teaspoons lemon juice

1 1/2 teaspoons fresh thyme, chopped

salt and pepper (to taste)

1 egg yolk

Preheat oven to 400 degree Fahrenheit. 

Boil water and cook penne 11-13 minutes. Drain pasta and return to the pot. 

While pasta is cooking, add the half and half, onion, and garlic to a larger saucepan, and bring to a simmer. 

Pour half of the cream mixture into a bowl. Gradually whisk the flour into the mixture. Once flour has been fully blended, pour back into the saucepan and whisk the entire mixture for 3 minutes. Cream should thicken.

Remove the pan from the heat. Add the half of the Parmesan and all of the goat and cheddar cheeses to the crease. Whisk until cheese are fully melted. Add the sour cream, lemon juice, 1 tsp of thyme, and salt and and pepper to taste. 

Place the egg yolk into a separate bowl. Slowly  add 1/2 of the cheese cream into egg, whisking as you go. This will prevent the egg from cooking immediately, and will keep it creamy. Add the egg mixture back into the sauce pan, and fully mix. 

Cover the penne with the cheese sauce and mix throughout. Pour pasta and cheese into a baking dish. Sprinkle the rest of the Parmesan over the pasta and bake for 25 minutes. Pasta should be golden brown. Place the remaining thyme on top around the top of the dish, and let sit for 5 minutes before serving. 

What my taste buds told me: I loved the addition of the thyme. It added a little pizazz to the dish. I would have preferred to have had a creamier dish, so perhaps more cheese sauce and less baking time.