Broccoli Pesto

Time for a spin on a delicious classic.... pesto!

Ingredients:
1 broccoli crown
2 cloves or 1 tablespoon of garlic
1/2 teaspoon red paper flakes or 1 dried red pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
dash of salt
1 box of pasta of choice (I used bowties)
1/4 cup of milk or pasta water from when you boil it
Cheese, if desired

Cook pasta as directed on its package.

Rinse your broccoli and chop the entire crown into smaller pieces. I used the stem also; just peel off the outer layer of it. Using a blender, a magic bullet, a food processor or whatever sort of gadget you may have that is similar, puree/blend all of the ingredients together until it is like a paste. If needed, add more olive oil.

Mix the broccoli pesto with your cooked pasta and add the milk/pasta water and cheese if you desire to do so. I threw in some shredded mozzarella because we loooove cheese! Parmesan would be great also! Stir until pesto is spread throughout and serve.

You've now got a pasta dish that

can feed four for under $2.00!! 

The price breakdown:
Broccoli crown: $0.36
Garlic: a head of garlic may cost around $0.60 so a couple cloves is just a few cents!
Red Peppers: I bought a big bag of dried peppers in the Hispanic food section at the store and it was $1.49, again - only a few cents! You may even have packets laying around from a pizza order!
Olive Oil: Probably already in most kitchens, but you're only using a little bit.
Salt: staple!
1 box of pasta: I usually see them for about $1.00, but just bought some that were 2/$1.00!

This dish took very little time to make and was delicious! It took longer to boil the water for the pasta than it did to make the pesto.

Try it, change it up, add things, use what is in your fridge already... Just get creative and don't be nervous to try something different! Have fun =]

Oh and look what Justin did with our leftovers the next night - added some chicken! Yum!

Inspiration in Hidden Places!

I have been nearing Zombie status for the last month due to an English class I am taking three nights a week right after work, not allowing me to get home before 9:30 on those nights.  I sort of dread Tuesday through Thursday because of this class.  I usually am the quiet person who keeps to herself and most likely comes off as a snob.  (I'm not, I swear! I'm just not good at making new friends and participating in classroom conversations.)  Tonight that changed for a few minutes.  

The Professor was going over our next essay which is a causal analysis + solution research paper.  The topic she chose to use as an example was child obesity.  Quite a few students were throwing out their input and ideas for potential objections and then the refutes to go with the objections.  

Examples: 

1. One may object claiming a lack of time to cook healthy and claim that it is easier to pick up fast food.  One may refute with the options of prepping meals ahead of time, or even doing crock pot meals.  (Of course, this all has caught my attention because it involves food, cooking, children and arguing.  I can be pretty good at that, ask Justin.)  A student chimes in, "well that's not healthy either. Cooking in a crock pot uses a lot of salt and you can't cook vegetables in there!"  "WHAT?!?!?! You can make practically anything you want in a crock pot AND of course you can cook vegetables in one!!" Yeah.... I actually spoke out during class participation to argue against that.

2. One may object and say "healthy food is expensive, it is cheaper and easier to get something off of the value menu at a fast food place." One guy actually said, "Some families can only afford something off of the dollar menu at McDonalds. A hamburger cost a dollar but if you go to the store, a head of lettuce cost $1.99" ARE YOU KIDDING ME??  This person obviously did not think that thought out before speaking it.  You can make a delicious salad for four for $4 or less instead of buying four hamburgers that include unknown ingredients!!  

And that is where the inspiration came from....

I'M BACK!!!  And with a bigger purpose this time - - to help make cooking at home less intimidating  for you and your family and to prove that it can be not only cheaper, but healthier and more fun! Along with sharing photos, ideas and recipes of the creations I come up with in the kitchen as I would usually do, I am also going to include pricing for that dish and per portion/person.  I am not sure that many will see this, but who ever does, I hope you get inspiration to get into your kitchen more often!  It won't burn a hole in your pocket, I promise.  

Tickling Taste Buds One Bite at a Time

Hello Lovelies! 

My blog has informed me that it has been neglected since December... yikes!

So here I am, making my comeback to tease your taste buds with some of my kitchen creations and perhaps even inspire you to create some masterpieces in your own kitchen! It's not as scary or as intimidating as some may think.

Lately, I have been busy painting my kitchen with sugars, flour, food coloring, frosting and more! If you weren't aware already, I have finally started up my own little baking business -- Dolci

It has been a fun little adventure so far! 

 Even though my job, house projects and Dolci have been keeping me pretty busy, I am still always in the kitchen making non-desserts as well to feed mine and Justin's bellies (and our friends and family, too!)

Get your taste buds ready and warn your kitchens that they are about to get messy - because hopefully you will be inspired to try some of these creations on your own. They will be easy and worth a mess, I promise! Your taste buds will love you for it!

Be back soon with some delicious ideas to share with you =]

I will leave you with a few photos of some recent things that have been prepared in my kitchen (all of which were not very complicated at all!):

Collision of Pumpkin Pie & Cupcakes!

PUMPKIN PIE CUPCAKES!!

What?? Yeah.. you heard me. 

Pumpkin Pie and Cupcakes crashed into each other and we suddenly had two delicious treats all in one! Yummmm.

I made some pumpkin pie filling, as you would for a regular old fashioned pumpkin pie. The filling is baked like normal as well, but minus the pie crust.

While the filling was baking, I crushed up some cinnamon graham crackers. I ended up throwing them into my handy dandy Magic Bullet to crush them up, much faster!

Once the graham crackers looked like sand,  I melted some butter and mixed the two together. (Graham Crackers and Melted Butter is one of my favorite smells!!)

A little bit of the graham cracker crust mixture is then scooped into each cupcake liner and patted into the bottom in a thin layer.

I baked the graham cracker crust for about 8 minutes. In the meantime, I mixed together the batter for the vanilla cake part. Each cup gets filled about halfway with the cake batter and then baked.

 

When the pumpkin pie filling was done and cooled down a little bit, I scooped it into another container and stirred it up with a fork. I let the filling refrigerate overnight to make sure it was completely cooled and thickened.

 

Here's a shot of the yummy graham cracker bottom!

When the pumpkin pie "frosting" was cool, I piped it onto each cupcake. Usually I go easy on the frosting when I make cupcakes, however with these little suckers... I wasn't going to hold back!

I think these would be extra good with a little whipped cream and maybe a sprinkle of cinnamon! I think I'll be making these again soon! =]

For the Love of Peanut Butter

Confession: I've got an unfathomable love for peanut butter. 

 

A friend of mine (who thinks he will be able to create a better pie than me in a pie bake off) asked me if I had ever made Peanut Butter Blossoms... I didn't know what he was talking about but once he described them, I knew exactly what he was talking about! Since I am a huge fan of peanut butter, I decided to try em out. 

Now for the Peanut Buttery Goodness!

The only ingredient that I didn't have on hand in my pantry was the Hershey's Kisses, but that wasn't going to stop me so I made a quick trip to the store to get some.

 Mixed the ingredients in my Pretty in Pink KitchenAid Mixer

- which I've decided needs to be magically turned into an industrial size mixer! -

The dough gets scooped into 1 inch balls [mine were a bit bigger than that] and then rolled in some sugar.

After baking for about 12 minutes, you immediately press a Hershey's Kiss into the center of the cookie (don't be afraid of the cracking - it gives them character!)

 

If you are nearby my kitchen when something is getting pulled out of the oven, lucky you! You just might turn into my taste tester! Don't think you could complain and turn down a cookie that was just pulled out of the oven, along with the cookies friend... a cold glass of milk!

 

 Heck you may even get lucky either way and receive some via special delivery!

 

Hmmm I smell an idea baking - - - perhaps I should start a little game of "one lucky person a week could receive a box of goodies in the mail"! That could be fun (or tasty!). I'll have to ponder that idea... what do you think??

"After tasting this cookie I have decided that if you don't open a bakery I will then be forced to file a law suit against you.....for withholding deliciousness from the masses......"

Guess my first time making these was pretty successful :)

Delizioso!

For a few months now, I have been telling my mom that we should make Braciole (pronounced "bra'zhul"), which is a delizioso Italian dish. When my brother called my mom from five hours away and said he wanted Braciole, that did the magic trick and as crazy as it sounds, it became our plan to make a wonderful Italian feast... the day after Thanksgiving. Suddenly the thought of turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and all the Thanksgiving goodness got shoved to the back of my mind!

My dad's aunts (the Italian side of the family) came out to visit a few years back and passed on some of the tricks and recipes to my mom for some of the amazing dishes that my dad's side of the family would make. If you didn't know my mom and you had a bite of one of these Italian dishes, you'd probably never guess that she ISN'T Italian. If you ever have the chance to join in on one of the oh so common cooking/eating parties at the Angelastro house, you're lucky!

Okay, okay... I'll get to the good part of all of this. Pictures of all the goodness!

 My mom ground up a mixture of fresh meats to create these round little masterpieces:

 The meatballs have fresh parsley, bread crumbs, spices and of course, garlic!

 While the meatballs were baking, the sauce was being created. After my dad's aunts came for their visit and spent a week cooking in my mom's kitchen, they decided she needed a new addition for her kitchen - They sent her a ginormous pot! This pot fits enough sauce for a small army of hungry guests, which is usually what happens when people find out my mom is cooking.

 The sauce is best when started early in the morning (or even the night before) and simmers all day long. 

When the meatballs are done baking, those get added to the simmering sauce. 

 Oh the smells! It could literally be smelt from the sidewalk outside of my parents house.

Now for the star of the show.... Braciole! 

Braciole is thin slices of beef (we used flank steak), filled with a mixture of parmesan, parsley, garlic (of course!), bread crumbs and pepper then rolled up and tied up with cooking string or held closed with a toothpick.

 

Some good friends came over to enjoy the flavors and ended up getting to do some hands on learning. 

Even Little Miss Hannah, who is 4, helped with the rolling!

The Braciole is then either baked or pan fried in it's own juice or a little bit of olive oil. We chose the baking method this time since we were making so many.

Once cooked, just like the meatballs, they were added to the simmering pot of sauce.

The best part of cooking everything... the taste testing through out the process! (And the company.) It's like appetizers and the entree all in one. Even better with a nice glass of red wine as your assistant :)

One of our friends, Elsa, brought a great addition... fresh Italian cookies from a small local place, Italia Panetteria and Deli. Yumm!

Are you drooling yet?!

pseUDONym

I had another "Ah there's still a lot more veggies I need to use up before they go bad!" moment the other night. I must say, I definitely impressed myself with this one. It turned out SO good! So much flavor, and even a nice spicy bite! Teriyaki sauce was the inspiration for this dish. I had originally made some couscous (one of my favorite sides!) but then after the chicken and vegetables were done and I realized how wonderful it tasted, it hit me that I actually had some Udon noodles tucked away in the cupboard. So the couscous (that I had actually already cooked) got shoved to the side in tupperware and out came the noodles! I'm so glad I remember those, it really made this dinner perfect! Alright so enough blabbering... here it is:

Elements needed to create the masterpiece:
(Yeah, you actually get a recipe this time! - - but just remember, I very
rarely ever measure anything so this is my guesstimate after the fact!)

2 Chicken Breasts

1 small Zucchini

1 small Yellow Squash

2 cups Broccoli

6 medium to large Mushrooms

1/4 White Onion

2 cloves Garlic

1/4 cup Jicama

1 package Udon Noodles

1 T Cream Sherry

1 cup Chicken Broth

1/2 cup Teriyaki Sauce

Olive Oil

Garlic Chili Sauce
1/4 cup Sliced Almonds

Spices:

Black Pepper

Salt

Red Pepper Flakes


What to do with all those wonderful ingredients:

Start off by cutting up all of the vegetables into chunks and set aside. Steam the broccoli until slightly tender (you don't want it too soft) and set aside for later once cooked.

Cook the chicken with 1/2 of a cup the chicken broth and the teriyaki sauce. over medium to high heat. Once it's mostly cooked through, turn off the heat, cut the chicken into bite size pieces the continue to cook the chicken. Add a dash of pepper and your desired amount of garlic chili sauce (depending on how spicy you like it -- me, I like it spicy!). Once completely cooked, set chicken (and juice) aside in a separate bowl.

In the same pan, add a little bit of olive oil and add your onions. Once they start to brown, scoot them to the edges of the pan, add a little bit more olive oil in the center and place your mushrooms in the pan. Add a sprinkle of salt and the cream sherry over the mushrooms. Cook until tender.

Go ahead, sneak a taste! I'm sure you won't be able to keep yourself from doing so!

Stir in the rest of the vegetables (zucchini, squash, jicama, garlic) to the onion and mushroom mix. Add the remaining 1/2 of a cup of chicken broth and sprinkle in some of the red pepper flakes (again, if desired). Cover and let the veggies simmer for a few minutes.

In a separate pan, bring water to a boil and add the Udon noodles. I made my noodles al dente.

Wait... is it still called "al dente" when
you are cooking Asian noodles?? :)

This took about 10-15 minutes.

Stir in the chicken and broccoli to your veggie mix until everything is heated through. Sprinkle in the sliced almonds. When your noodles are ready, dish em up and top them off with the chicken and veggies!

Hope you enjoy this as much as I did!