primo pasta

we made some really delicious pasta the other night. i thought it was such a great summer dish because-though hot (as in stove)- it's light and fresh. it was so simple to make and we had it with steamed broccoli as a veggie.

ingredients: Italian sausage (spicy?)
two cans diced tomatoes
onion
cheese (asiago/parmesan/etc)
basil
salt & pepp to taste

first you brown the sausage. we've got super dull knives so we always just de-skin it then break it up into chunks; but it doesn't really matter how it's done. once it's almost cooked through, throw in the onion and any other additives. i think we also put in fresh mushrooms and garlic. add whatever you like. make it your own! once the onions cook to tender, add in the basil and tomatoes. we did put in about 1/2 c. of fresh grated parmesan and asiago combined in the sauce. then just let it simmer. that's it!

we didn't even have ours with pasta because we didn't have any. but, we are rice people, so we just had it over rice-which i was weary of; but chad said it would be good. and, sure enough, it was delicious! of course we had to sprinkle some more of that fresh cheese to top it off.

we drank cheap wine to go with it. this bottle was ok. a bit too alcohol-y to me; but we must leave no wounded soldiers. we drank the whole bottle.

ice cream fridays anyone?

on friday chad and i cooked home made hot fudge to put on an ice cream friday for chad and to put in a hot fudge milk shake for me! it was pretty delicious. you know, hot fudge shakes taste totally different than plain old chocolate milk shakes. if you're not privy to these kinds of things then, well, i feel bad for you. but, i'm here to deliver the good news: you can discover the goodness of your own home-made hot fudge shake any time! that's right, in your very own kitchen! all you need is:

vanilla ice cream

for sauce: 2c. sugar
1c. brown sugar
1c. cocoa
2 Tb. flour
1/4c. butter
1 1/5 c. water

mix all dry ingredients together, then add butter and water. simmer while stirring for about 4 min. then serve over ice cream or in blender for shake. serves 12.

p.s. if you didn't notice, this recipe serves 12 so chad and i cut it in half and had left overs. it's always the best on the first day, so take into consideration how much you need!

p.p.s. for an even more super shake, add malt to make it a hot fudge malt. this my friends is my absolute favorite. i wasn't able to do it because we didn't have malt-i cried (almost).

the hot fudge

the hot fudge on a banana. who doesn't love a chocolaty banana?

shake preparation

the goodness revealed. it was so delicious!

fried green tomatoes

i really always loved this movie. even though it's sad, i must have watched it like 15 times in a row when i was a kid. some of that may have been because i always thought the fried green tomatoes looked so darn good, although i never ate them until yesterday. over the past couple months chad and i have become burnt out and bored of opening the fridge and seeing the same old food with which we make the same old recipes. in remedy of this we've begun searching for new and exciting dishes to spice up our dining experience. enter: fried green tomatoes! i saw them at the store and, on a whim, new we just had to try them. we did it, and it turned out fabulously!

i looked up a bunch of recipes on the Internet and then decided that i'd make my own hybrid recipe. you'll need the following ingredients:

3 green tomatoes
1/2c. flour
1/4c. milk
2/3c. bread crumbs/cornmeal
1/4c. oil
2 eggs
salt
pepper

first, slice your toms into 1/2" thick slices. not too thick, not too thin. then, in a bowl combine eggs and milk. beat. in a separate bowl, combine flour and bread crumbs. you may need more flour and bread mixture depending-so keep it on hand. dip tomato slices in: egg mixture then bread crumb mixture, twice (egg, bread, egg, bread). put oil in pan and heat. after hot, fry the slices 'till brown on both sides. salt and pepper to taste. enjoy!

these were so delicious. they've got an almost citrus-y taste to them. as we were gorging ourselves we decided that there are endless possibilities for these. they'd be great with mozzarella cheese them and a marinara sauce. or maybe baked with goat cheese? you could even add stuff to the bread crumb mixture like basil and oregano for an italian feel. or cyan pepper, or garlic. mmm.....

chad's picnic

for weeks i had been trying to think of something special that i could do for chad; but was having the hardest time! we are barely ever home and when i'm home he usually is too. so, it leaves little opportunity for keeping secrets or preparing surprises. but, both of us recently had pretty drastic schedule changes and it just so happens that we have opposite days of. i have thursday and he has wednesday. it kinda sucks; but in the long run i think it gives us both time to chill out on our own and to have time to scheme little extras for one another. i hadn't done anything special for him in quite a while so i decided to surprise him with a dinner picnic. he gets off work at 7 and i wanted to be there in the grassy field waiting for him with blanket and meal displayed. i prepared an asian type meal of beef and broccoli with vegetable fried noodles. when i got to the field it ended up being pretty chilly and there was a family of 4 kids who were completely in love with claire. i left a note on his bike directing him to me and when he showed up the kids were all over trying to cuddle claire. turns out he was chilled to the bone from sitting inside an overly air conditioned building all day and it didn't help that it was super nippy outside. he obviously wasn't in the mood to picnic:( still, he obliged and we ate dinner, bless his heart. in the end the whole shebang was kind of a bust; but my main point was received-that i really appreciate him.

some pretty flowers i saw on the way

thanks for appeasing me chadley!

we were so distracted with kids and the cold that i forgot to take pics of our spread. that sucks.

colorful stuff

we love pizza!

last night chad and i made our first home made pizza- scratch from crust to topping! it was really fun, easy, and more delicious than any other. seriously. for sauce we used pesto then topped it off with tons of spinach, mushrooms, olives, broccoli, and cheese. the dough was so easy and it only took 15 min. to cook the whole thing in the oven. then there's nothing to do but eat it up. yum!

the dough is ready and chad's ready to butcher the tomato

i'm putting pesto on it. i love pesto.

now for the toppings-lots of 'em

the finished product. out of the oven and ready to see my stomach!