Quinoa Mac and Cheese
The recipe calls this "mac and cheese", but I feel like it is more of a "cheesy casserole". Either way, it is tasty and good for you - packed with protein rich quinoa and tasty veggies. You can make it even healthier by using fat free milk and fat free cheese. It is also totally customizable to your tastes!
Start by sauteing whatever veggies you want to use. I went with leeks and tomatoes as suggested by the recipe, but you could do onions or shallots, bell peppers, corn, spinach, anything you want.
Add the quinoa and allow to toast a little bit to get extra flavor.
Halibut en Papillote – 2 Ways
Now that Hurricane Sandy has passed us without incident, I can catch up on posting! Thanks to everyone for praying and thinking about us out here on the East Coast.
I have been trying to expand my repertoire of fish dishes beyond just salmon and discovered a really easy way to cook halibut. Wrapping it in parchment paper with with various other ingredients and baking it leaves it moist, flaky, and flavorful. Plus the presentation is really cool!
One combination that I really liked was lemon, cherry tomatoes, artichokes, olive oil, and basil. I made this right at the end of summer with super sweet cherry tomatoes - look at those colors!
Roasted Tomato Pasta
A few weeks ago I posted about doing a roasted tomato pasta, but forgot to take a picture of the finished product! So when I saw these gorgeous local tomatoes at the market, I wanted to make it again.
So - toss with salt, pepper, olive oil and roast at 400 for 20 minutes or until they are bursting and caramelizing. I roasted mine ahead of time and stored them in the fridge until I needed them.
Then you just toss the hot tomatoes (I reheated mine when I was ready for them) with hot pasta and they will turn into a chunky sauce. Top with fresh basil and adjust for salt and pepper. That's it! Gorgeous, fresh, fast, and easy.
Light and Fresh – Summer Food
The last time I posted a recipe for you was over a month ago! Oh my goodness! You have my deepest apologies, dear readers, and to make it up to you I will post not 1, not 2, but 3 delicious summer recipes for you!
Let's start with this gorgeous zucchini tart from Closet Cooking (which is a blog that I highly recommend). Puff pastry is topped with a mixture of ricotta, feta, lemon, fresh herbs, and an egg along with thinly sliced zucchini and baked to puffy, golden perfection. Served on its own or with a side salad, this is the perfect summer lunch.
Next up, take advantage of those juicy summer tomatoes in a slightly different take on a fresh tomato pasta with a Roasted Tomato Sauce.
Turkey Apple Burgers with Avocado, Tomato, and Corn Salad
Ah, summer - hot weather, cool drinks, fresh produce, grilling. For me, summer is mostly about air conditioning and trying not to get sunburned; but there are times when I get excited about it - beach trips, BBQ's, long days. On one of these bouts of enthusiasm I decided that I wanted legit summer food, so here it is.
Food and Flix – Big Night
Last week, I stumbled upon this really cool concept blog called Food 'n Flix that invites bloggers to watch a movie, make a dish inspired by the movie, then blog about it. This month, the movie is Big Night (hosted by Spabettie) starring Stanley Tucci and Tony Shalhoub as two hilarious Italian brothers that own a restaurant together. In order to save the restaurant from bankruptcy, they risk everything they have on one extravagant dinner to impress a celebrity singer.
I loved the movie, it was cute and funny and well acted, and it made me SO HUNGRY. It inspired me to make a Tricolore Lasagna in the colors of the Italian flag (green, white, and red).