Scallops Pesto Pasta

1 lb bay scallops

2 cubes pesto

pine nuts

1/2 box farfalle pasta

Parmesan cheese

Fresh cut tomatoes

1. Boil pasta

2. Cook scallops. I sauted them in olive oil covered with flour/salt and pepper

3. Dethaw pesto

4. Toast pine nuts, chop and mix with pesto.

5. Drain pasta, add pesto mix and tomatoes.

6. Serve with scallops and voila!

Delicious!

Salmon Chowder

Based on two recipies (http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Alaskan-Salmon-Chowder/Detail.aspx?strb=1 and http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/recipes/recipe.php?recipeId=476)

3 strips bacon

1 yellow onion

5 or 6 stalks diced celery

3 russet potatoes

3 carrots

2.5 cups chicken stock

1.5 C milk/and half and half

approx 1 lb salmon cubed

fresh parsley

1 tsp dill

1 red pepper

1 zucchini

salt and pepper

1. Cook the bacon

2. take out the bacon and cook onion and celery in the bacon fat

3. add potatoes and cook ~5 min

4. add carrots and chicken stock cook ~ 10 min on low

5. add everything else and cook until everything is done!

We ate it with yummy bread and it was quite good!!! will make again :)

Israeli Couscous with Mushrooms and Sun Dried Tomatoes

Original Source

1 jar sun dried tomatoes in olive oil
1 package Israeli whole-wheat couscous
2 C water
Olive Oil
3 cloves garlic
1 bunch green onions
1/4 C each fresh basil leaves and cilantro
1/2 lemon, juiced
3 portobello mushrooms, sliced

1. Cook couscous according to package directions.
2. Heat olive oil in pan, add garlic, chopped sun dried tomatoes and onions. Cook until tender.
3. Add basil, cilantro and lemon juice
4. Add mushrooms and cook about 5 minutes.
5. Add couscous to pan to mix in the juices and serve!

This turned out pretty well, I was originally worried the sun dried tomatoes would overpower everything, but the cous cous and mushrooms balanced it pretty well. Perhaps some parmesan cheese would have been a nice touch! Will definitely make again, the whole wheat cous cous could be balanced with the regular stuff.

Things to catch up on...

I've been cooking a lot lately but no time to blog! Here's the rundown:
Bacon and Lentil Bake (Pretty good, anything with bacon is an automatic win!)
Peach and Cornmeal Upside Down Cake (http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/peach-and-cornmeal-upside-down-cake?&rsc=cf_link&comments_page=1&&showComments=true&#conversation-container)-VERY tasty, I think that the cake part didn't turn out as well, not as moist, but still yummy.
Whole Grain orzo with Tomatoes, Basil, Pine Nuts and Ricotta. (Good, a little thicker than originally anticipated, however I enjoyed it) I also added some grilled chicken.
Some other food from the Cooking Light cookbook, it has brocolli, bowtie pasta, turkey sausage and something else. That was good also, I think that it needed something else, or the real brocolli that the recipe called for.
Last but not least, Crumpets! They were amazing.

Greek Style Scampi

from Cooking Light Best of 2009

Pizza...part 1 of many

Tonight is pizza night! The list of toppings for tonight are:

1 red onion

mushrooms

spinach

1 red pepper

Monterrey jack cheese

mozzarella cheese

I was also too lazy to make pizza dough, so I bought some at Hot Lips! While the dough turned out to be delicious, it was also thinner than my pizza crust. This ended up in disaster with burnt pizza crust :( and not just the "OH it's OK burnt" it was like eating carbon.
Lesson learned. It was really sad because the rest of the toppings looked delicious!

Chicken Pine Nut Orzo Salad

I created this hodge-podge of a salad that ended up being pretty yummy!

1/2 lb orzo pasta

1 pint cherry tomatoes

1 package crumbled feta

1 clove garlic

2 chicken breasts marinated in balsamic vinegar salad dressing

olive oil

balsamic vinegar

dash onion powder

dash thyme

dash salt/pepper

fresh basil and parsley

pine nuts

Directions:

1. Marinate chicken

2. Boil water for pasta

3. Cut cherry tomatoes in half

4. Chop fresh herbs

5. Toast pine nuts in a pan

6. Add ingredients (except pasta and chicken) to bowl and add olive oil and balsamic vinegar

7. When pasta is done, rinse in cold water and add to bowl.

8. Chop chicken and add to salad bowl.

Enjoy!

Next time, I think I will add some red or green onion.

Thai Red Curry

1 can coconut milk
1/2 tbsp red curry paste
1 1/2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp lime juice
1/3 cup thai basil
1 tbsp fish sauce
some ginger and garlic
chicken, cut into cubes

frozen veggies
rice

1. Cook rice in rice cooker

2. Cut chicken and brown in large pan with olive oil, ginger and garlic.

3. Once chicken is cooked through, add curry paste

4. Add coconut milk, basil, fish sauce, sugar, and lime juice. Stir and let simmer for 20 min

5. Add veggies and simmer for another 10 min.

This ended up tasting pretty good! Fresh veggies usually taste better, but I needed to use some of the frozen veggies we have laying around!

The beginning of something!

I needed a place to keep track of the yummy food that I have been cooking and since I really enjoy using food blogs as a resource for gathering ideas I thought I would use this as a pseudo-recipe box.

I tend to cook things that sound good to me at the moment, and therefore I am sure the randomness will come across in my food choices!

We'll see how this goes!