Penne with Cashew Cream Pesto and Smoked Salmon

In Category: ‘dinner’

May 7, 2012 Penne with Cashew Cream Pesto and Smoked Salmon

When a dish makes my 7 year old exclaim that it “needs to be on the blog, mom!”, then I know it’s passed the test. Tonight’s dinner literally took me 10 minutes to create, and yet it got rave reviews that many of my 2+ hour creations never scored. I struggled with my last mouthful of pasta tonight because I was debating whether or not I should save it and photograph it to accompany this post (yep – one measly forkful…what a waste of a inner debate, right? But this is the pickle I find myself in when I’ve thoroughly enjoyed a meal to the point of forgetting to photograph it). So instead I pulled out the main ingredients so you could see just how simple this dish is to throw together.

I also thought I’d do away with the whole “recipe” idea and just tell you about my process of creating this meal. Friends who have observed me in the kitchen know I rarely use exact measurements (only in baking – and even then I do a lot of eyeballing and adjusting) – so I figured it was high time that I stop trying to force measurements on the rest of you. If you are upset by this, I am very sorry, but I will have to blame my mom just a bit – she taught me the art of a handful of this and a pinch of that, and it’s really the best way I know how to create what my family will love.

Okay – so here’s the process:

Start the water boiling for your Jovial G-free Penne.

Get your mini-prep or food processor out. Gather a few handfuls of fresh basil, about a cup of green peas (frozen are fine), about two handfuls of raw cashews, kosher salt, garlic powder, black pepper, and a bottle of olive oil. Grind up the cashews first until they start to get a little creamy. Add the basil and pulse until combined, drizzling olive oil in to keep the blade running through the mixture smoothly. (Your water should be boiling by now, so add the package of pasta and cook for 9 minutes.) Add the peas and the salt, garlic powder, and black pepper to taste, along with a heavy dose of olive oil. Process until well combined, adding more olive oil and spices as needed. Stop the processor often and stick your finger in to taste the creamy pesto from time to time – and be careful not to add too much salt – less is better, because you’ll be adding smoked salmon later. The cream should be slightly sweet from the peas, and the cashews might just fool your family into thinking there’s actually parmesan cheese in there, but there’s no such thing! (Thanks, mom, for opening my eyes to the wonderful combination of cashews and “creamy” pasta sauces… genius!)

While the penne is still boiling away, chop up some smoked salmon (I like mine in tiny bits). Prepare a quick side salad with some red leaf butter lettuce, half a pear (diced), some pecans, and a drizzle of olive oil and balsamico.

Drain the cooked penne. Mix in the pesto, straight from the processor (no need to pre-heat) and the smoked salmon.

Enjoy!

Posted In: casein free, dinner, food, gluten free, kid favorites, soy free, spring favorites. Comments Off

December 22, 2011 leif’s pasta

After a full day of working with kids in both the classroom and on the soccer field, my sweet husband is usually pretty exhausted by the time he rolls in the door. He eats on the go throughout the day (as do I), so I love the opportunity to make us a warm, hearty meal that we can sit and savor – even if it’s just for 15 minutes – before he has to get out of his chair again and do tickly-wrestles, boxing matches, and whatever else our crazy little boys want to do before their heads hit the pillow. Hearty, savory, and healthy meals do not have to be elaborate… and this simple one-bowl dinner is proof!

This is Leif’s current favorite pasta – made super simple by a bag of frozen langostino (you can find them at Whole Foods & Trader Joe’s, or for those of you who are local, Draeger’s).

Start by cooking up a pot of Jovial pasta (or your favorite GF noodle). While it’s cooking, saute 5 cloves of pressed garlic in olive oil. Add the langostino tails, a splash of white wine, and a little chicken or vegetable broth (just enough to give the langostino some liquid to simmer in), and about 1/2 cup of frozen peas. Let simmer until the langostino are completely heated through, adding a little broth if necessary. Drain the pasta, toss it with a little olive oil and sea salt, mix in a small can of chopped black olives, the garlic/langostino/pea mixture, and crushed red peppers to taste. Serve immediately.

Posted In: dinner, food, gluten free, winter favorites. Comments Off

December 13, 2011 using leftovers & the pantry

We just returned from a magical few days at Disneyland (where we happened to eat some really delicious food! I will be posting about all the allergy-free dining options in the happiest place on earth shortly) and I haven’t been grocery shopping yet. You know what that means, don’t you? When we are going out of town, I don’t buy groceries for the week because, obviously, we won’t be home to enjoy them, and I don’t want them sitting around waiting for me in the fridge in case I miss my flight back – it could happen. So for a few days before any vacationing happens for our family, we work off of the pantry items… and then for a few days after our return. Or maybe for a week.

This is when a well-stocked pantry and freezer come in very handy… I happened to still have my turkey leftovers from Thanksgiving in the freezer, a package of unopened corn tortillas in the fridge, some boxed soups and broths, and various cans of beans, so this week’s dinners were quick fixes, super tasty, and didn’t require a grocery run. The first experiment was an enchilada-style casserole, and the second was my slow cooker version of turkey pozole.

A side note: please pardon the lack of image quality!… my camera is being shipped to me at this very moment, so the trusty iphone has provided this post’s illustrations.

Turkey Enchilada Casserole

My boys were convinced there was cheese and cream in this dish. They were even telling daddy he shouldn’t eat it, because it’d be bad for him. Boy did I fool them! I like letting them think they’re getting away with something daring while they enjoy a healthy and satisfying meal! All plates were thoroughly licked clean.

1. Prepare a 13×9″ baking dish with a thin layer of olive oil. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. In a blender, puree the following until smooth: 1/2 cup butternut squash soup (Pacific Foods boxed soup), the cream only portion of (1) 15 oz. can of coconut milk, 5 oz canned white beans, 3 tsp cumin, 2 tsp celery salt, 4 cloves of pressed garlic.

3. Place 6 corn tortillas on bottom of baking dish. Top tortillas with 1/2 can of diced tomatoes (I used a 15 oz. can that had green chiles added to them for a little extra flavor). Layer frozen leftover turkey pieces on top of the tomatoes (I diced the turkey before freezing). Drizzle 1/3 of the “cream” mixture over the turkey and tomatoes.

4. Add another layer of tortillas, then tomatoes, turkey, the rest of the can of whole white beans that didn’t get used up in the cream puree, 1/2 cup of frozen corn kernels, and another drizzle of 1/3 of the cream mixture.

5. With the final 2 tortillas, slice them into 1/2″ strips and layer them on top. Drizzle the remaining cream mixture on top of the tortilla strips. Sprinkle the whole pan with a little kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste.

6. Cover with foil and baked until bubbly – about 30 minutes. Remove the foil and continue to bake another 5 – 10 minutes, until slightly browned and the edges are just crispy. Serve with extra taco sauce or salsa for the adults, since this casserole is kid-friendly and not at all spicy. A mixed green salad and a fruit salad round out an easy family weeknight meal.

Turkey Pozole

The slow cooker makes this quite possibly the easiest meal I’ve ever enjoyed. Perfect for this icy almost-winter day!

1. Set your slow cooker on the lowest time/heat setting and let this simmer all day – just be sure to add extra broth as it cooks down. (I started mine at 9AM and ate my bowl of pozole – okay, my three bowls of pozole – at 7PM.)

2. You will need (1) 30 oz can of hominy, (1) 28 oz can of fire roasted diced tomatoes, 2 Cups of diced turkey leftovers, 1 Tbsp of cumin, 1 Tbsp of dried mexican oregano, 1/2 a yellow onion – diced, 5 cloves of garlic – pressed, (1) box of chicken broth, kosher salt and ground black pepper to taste.

3. Combine everything in the slow cooker, except for the chicken broth, salt and pepper. Stir it all up. Put the lid on it for an hour. Then add about a cup of chicken broth and give it another stir. Cover it up again and check back in about an hour to add a pinch or two of salt & pepper, and then add broth until the mixture is completely covered in liquid. Put the lid back on and forget about it until you’re ready for dinner. When it’s time to eat, if the mixture is a bit thick for your liking, simply thin it out to your taste with the remaining broth.

Posted In: dinner, gluten free, kid favorites, legumes, nut free, one-pot-wednesday, soup-day saturday, soy free, winter favorites. Comments Off

November 12, 2011 taco tuesday – pumpkin & chanterelles

Around here, there is something to look forward to on each day of the week. Though Monday boasts band practice and Friday promises family movie night, that special “something” usually has to do with food on the other five days of the week. Tuesday is the day for tacos – and that excites all four of us. If the rest of the day is crummy, at least we know we’ll be enjoying a little fiesta come 5 o’clock.

Last week, when we were up to our ears in pumpkins, we tried them out on taco night. We ended up with two variations of tacos, realizing the pumpkin taco “meat” might not fly with the boys. A little disguising of ingredients never hurts.

The adult version:

Pumpkin & chanterelle mushrooms browned in olive oil in a well-seasoned cast iron skillet with cumin, oregano, just a touch of dried sage, garlic, kosher salt & fresh ground black pepper. Mound the softened vegetables in warmed gf corn tortillas. Don’t forget the Cholula! Serve with sides of brown rice and black beans.

The kid version:

Add some of the browned pumpkin (lightly seasoned with the ingredients above) to the pot of black beans and, using a potato masher, smash the pumpkin and beans together. Layer a spoonful of the bean mash and a spoonful of brown rice in the middle of a warmed gf corn tortilla and roll it up tightly to form burrito rolls. For some reason the food goes down a heck of a lot easier when my kids can’t inspect it first. A burrito roll up keeps them from turning their noses up to new ingredients on the first go around. Once they are hooked, then I tell them what they’ve just enjoyed. It saves us from unnecessary dinner table drama.

Posted In: casein free, dinner, fall favorites, food, gluten free, legumes, soy free, vegan, vegetables, vegetarian.

Tags: pumpkin and chantrelle tacos, taco tuesday, vegan tacos

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November 8, 2011 meatloaf monday

Do you have a weekly meal plan?

My mom encouraged me to try this a few years ago… but at that time I had no desire to be “stuck” to a particular genre of food on any given night of the week, so I brushed off the idea as very old fashioned and extremely unadventurous.

For the record: my ideas about weekly meal plans have changed. I am sorry for ever thinking such things about a meal plan. I am now a weekly meal plan convert (at least for this season of life). Here are my reasons for conversion:

1) I know what my shopping list will look like every week (which means I can get in and out of the store in under half an hour!), and how much I can expect to spend.

2) The boys helped create the daily specials. Having them buy into the meal planning process is important to me – it means they’re excited about what they get to prepare and eat every night.

3) There’s enough room for creativity within each of our daily specials – for example, there are hundreds of ways to prepare tacos (Tuesday night’s feature).

4) It helps me avoid rash last minute purchases at my favorite gourmet stores. (Although this can be very fun, it’s devastating to a budget.)

Here’s our plan:

Meatloaf Monday

Taco Tuesday

One-Pot-Wednesday (usually a legume dish)

Veggie Thursday (usually a rice or pasta dish)

Fun Friday (a kid’s choice night – usually homemade pizzas or breakfast for dinner)

Soup-day Saturday

Weekend Waffles (usually Sunday for a big midday meal)

…and Sunday is usually family dinner night at Grandma’s or with other friends or family

What’s your weekly plan?

And if you have any creative takes on meatloaf – I could use a few new ideas for next Monday!

Posted In: dinner, fall favorites, food, gluten free, kid favorites, soy free, vegetables. Comments Off

November 6, 2011 soup-day saturday

We have a lot of pumpkins around here right now. And lots of acorn and kabocha and butternut squash. And lots of peppers – mostly anaheim and jalapenos. The farm my mom tends didn’t produce a whole lot during the summer months, but this fall harvest has filled her garage and cellar with a great bounty. So you might just happen to see lots of recipes in the next few days using the previously mentioned ingredients. Fair warning.

A couple nights ago we enjoyed a roasted pumpkin soup with toasted seeds and jalapeno cornbread muffins (they were spicy – my eyes were watering just chopping those little peppers… so I made half the batch of muffins sans peppers for the kids).

What’s your favorite soup dinner combination?

Posted In: casein free, dinner, fall favorites, food, gluten free, kid favorites, nut free, soup-day saturday, soy free, vegetables. Comments Off

November 6, 2011 midweek meals

After talking meals and cookbooks with a good friend last week, I was inspired to use my crockpot a bit more. She was telling me how helpful this website was, and seemed shocked that I wasn’t familiar with it already. I have always appreciated the notion of a one pot meal – especially in the middle of a busy work/school week. And what’s more, I love the amazing smells that fill the house while dinner (or dessert or whatever it is) is slowly cooking away all day – it’s so very fall.

Our first crock meal last week was a chicken dinner: drumsticks simmered in a spiced tomato broth with white beans over oven roasted acorn squash halves. The next night we discovered that green lentils are a great meatless crockpot meal. We packed this one with yellow onions, garlic, chicken stock (okay, I guess that’s not completely meatless – but you can substitute a mushroom or vegetable broth if you’d like to keep it vegetarian), carrots, some favorite spices, and finished it off with fresh spinach.

What are your favorite crockpot recipes? Don’t have one yet? Then why don’t you break out your pot and experiment this week. I’m declaring Wednesdays as One-Pot-Wednesdays around here, so I’ll need lots of good ideas from you all. Post your recipes in the comments below (and for all of you who have asked about it, I’ve fixed the comment section so you can actually use it now! sorry about that!). Happy crockpotting!

Posted In: casein free, dinner, fall favorites, food, gluten free, nut free, one-pot-wednesday, soy free. Comments Off

October 19, 2011 potatoes

Potatoes are at the top of my comfort foods list. This is another thing I inherited from my mom. When I was young, every now and then she would head to the drive-through line under the Golden Arches because she “needed a quick potato fix”… we wouldn’t order anything else – just fries with hot mustard, thank you very much… Well these thumb-sized, multi-colored potatoes are a far cry from the stringy, salted, quick fried taters of my youth, but they are hands down my favorites. I actually get excited to pick up a bag of them and drop them into my cart at the market.

So when I picked this bunch up the other day, I overheard a man talking with the cashier about my cherished mini potatoes. He was a farmer from Germany. He thought it was funny that we paid such an exorbitant amount for potatoes that he would feed to his livestock because they are the “runt potatoes, the leftovers”. Silly Americans we are.

I had plenty of reasons why these little spuds were perfect for me and my children and not the cows down the road: 1) they are all about the same size, so they cook evenly; 2) they are small enough to cook quickly, and therefore make the perfect last minute meal; 3) they are small enough for my kids to nibble on and not need a knife; 4) the various colors on my plate make me happy.

If you do not have a cross-reaction to potatoes (as some people with celiac do), then they are also a great option for those on gluten-free diets. Here are two ways that we’ve enjoyed them this week:

Take 1: Smashed Baby Potatoes with Braised Fennel & Apples

Using a large pot fitted with a colander (or a steaming basket if you have it), steam the potatoes until fork-tender. Empty the pot of the steaming water and pour the tender steamed potatoes out into the pot. To the warm potatoes, add two Tbsp olive oil, a bit of sea salt, 1/2 tsp garlic powder, about 1/2 cup of rice milk or unsweetened coconut milk, and 1 Tbsp of stone ground mustard (optional). Smash the mixture well.

Serve the smashed taters with braised fennel (olive oil and fennel wedges over med-high heat in a cast iron skillet) and apples (add these to the skillet about 5 minutes before the fennel is done).

Take 2: Herbed Potatoes with Onion, Kale, & Harissa

Heat your cast iron skillet on med-high heat, and cover the bottom of the skillet with a thin layer of olive oil. Add the whole potatoes and a thick chopped yellow onion. Cook for about 5 minutes or until the onions start to soften. Finely chop three cloves of garlic and add to the skillet and lower heat to medium. Stir up the mixture often to keep onions and garlic from scorching. Cook on medium heat until the potatoes just barely start to shrivel and they are tender (yes – you must try them – just stick your fork in there and check them out). Add a pinch of kosher salt to the pan, along with some red pepper flakes (both to taste – go easy on the salt). Roughly chop a handful of red kale and add to the pan, stirring the mixture well to incorporate all the flavors. Cook until the kale wilts and then turn off the burner. While the potatoes sit in the warm skillet, chop a handful each of fresh cilantro and flat leaf parsley. Top the potatoes with your fresh chopped herbs and a heaping spoonful of harissa. (And if you don’t know harissa – RUN to the market and find this outstanding condiment. Your mouth will thank you!)

Posted In: dinner, food.

Tags: dairy free, gluten free, harissa, kale, potatoes, vegan dinner