Creamy Mediterranean Pasta

I created this recipe one night when I needed a quick and easy meal- and it was a hit! The sauce comes together in about the time it takes to boil the pasta and the unused artichoke hearts and sun-dried tomatoes keep well in the fridge for another use (or another Mediterranean Pasta night!) You can also start the sauce an hour+ earlier than needed. Remove it from the heat and then put it back on low when it's time to cook the pasta. Easy Peasy Pasta-Pleasy!

I swear this used to be a more attractive dish.....

I suppose this would be more 'Mediterranean-esque' if you omitted the creamy part and instead made it with white wine. But, that's up to you! We like it creamy, thankyouverymuch. :)

This is for 2 servings and the proportions/amounts is really just a guide.  

2 servings of your pasta of choice (we use a long pasta, like Fettuccine or Linguine)

4 ounces cream cheese (1/2 standard 8 oz block) you can use neufachatel too.

1 small onion, diced

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1 Jar sun-dried tomatoes in oil (use 2-3 tomatoes)

1 Jar marinated artichoke hearts (use 4-6 artichoke quarters; you can chop, if you’d like)

Splash of milk, cream or chicken broth

Parmesan cheese (optional)

Fully cooked spinach sausage-sliced (optional)

Handful fresh spinach

1/8 tsp. Red pepper flakes

Some of the stuff you'll need. 

Start your pasta, in the mean time:

Dice the sun-dried tomatoes; add to skillet along with diced onions, garlic and red pepper flakes.  There should be enough oil from the tomatoes to cook everything; if not, add a little olive oil to the pan.  

Cook until onions are soft and translucent. Add the sausage now, if you're using it.

Turn heat to low; add artichoke hearts and  ½ block (4 ounces) of cream cheese.  Keep the cream cheese moving until it completely melts.  Add 1-2 tablespoons of the liquid from the jar of artichoke hearts to help everything move around.  If the cream cheese doesn’t want to get melt-y/saucy, or isn’t saucy enough for your liking, then add splashes of liquid (milk, cream or chicken broth) to help thin it out/make it to your liking.  Add Parmesan cheese if you’re using it.

Once the sauce is the way you want it, add a handful of spinach.

With your tined pasta spoon, add your cooked pasta directly from the boiling water to the sauce.  Stir everything up; add a little pasta water to get things moving (if you’d like).

Serve with Focaccia bread and salad..... and dessert.... and post dessert dessert! :)

**I can't get all of the random sizing and fonts to match up and I'm tired of trying. Consider it an ocular exercise.

Lime Fries!

Yup, Lime Fries with an exclamation point!

I'm not a photographer.

Finally!  I've made ze lime fries!  I first came across these tasty sinful things a few months ago when we had food trucks in town for the Soap Box Derby. The food trucks were one of the main attractions- we don't have of them thar fancy food vee-hickles in our city, so this was a real treat!

 I filled up on a mac n cheese bbq concoction from one truck; but, as we were leaving I spotted another truck which had lime fries. I was in lurve, and so excited to tell everybody about them! They’re salty and sweet and limey and fry-ie. Kinda like key lime pie fries. So, I decided I had to make them for myself.

 I even kept the uneaten ones in the toaster oven well past their prime just so I could continue to examine -and hopefully figure out what they’re made of... and I think I’ve got it!

The great part, it’s tssuper tssimple!  

So:

zest of 2 limes

1 ½ tbsp turbinado sugar

⅛ teaspoon kosher salt

few drops fresh squeezed lime juice

fries of choice

First things first: prepare your fries! The food truck served them with regular white potato fries- which were fried (duh.) I decided to make them with sweet potatoes- and to bake them, because that's what I had, baking is easier and I thought it'd look pretty!

So promising!

Sadly, this is the best the fries looked all night. I burned the bejeesus out of them (I prefer 'char') 

because in the last few minutes of cooking, I decided that was the best time to go ransack my craft closet for some plastic lacing. I found it! I also sorta ruined my sweet potato fries. :(  Which sucks, because they’re the vehicle for the lime goodness. You can't cook if you're not in the kitchen... and mom always said don't play ball in the house... and, well, you know. Stuff like that.

You should mix this up.

While your fries are baking, mix up the lime topping! Mix the zest, sugar and salt in a bowl. Add a wee little bit of lime juice, just to make it stick a little and make it even lime-ier. Voila! That's pretty much it. And yes, you do need to use turbinado sugar- or some other large crystal sugar. If you don't, then it won't have the heft to stick to the fries and you'll end up with more of a syrup (I think?). If you don't have any around the house, then just take a few packets from your local coffee shop. Problem solved!

To Serve: just sprinkle the lime-y sugar topping onto your hot fries, and enjoy!

Note: You really can't cook while you're not in the kitchen (unless you're baking bread... or using the slow cooker... or, well, utilizing some other 'walk away' recipe/method of cooking). During this tippity type I had to run to the kitchen to save my dinner from burning.... again. Sigh. :)

Like a Rhinestone Cowboy.......

Tonight I was finally going to do it... I was finally going to make my *signature* dish (that's right baby, signature!) and then blog about it. Because, you know, that's what all the cool kids are doing these days. Well, turns out I don't have one of the key ingredients on hand... so I made lo-mein instead. And boy, was it sure good!  But, as long as you don't mind a recipe without pictures of ingredients or an updated picture of the finished product, well then you're in luck!  I present to you.....

Rhinestone Cowboy Caviar! (yee haw)

Mother of runny yolks... those are some perfectly poached eggs. Boo- ya!

A little back story: 

A few years ago (5...6...7?) I was watching $40 a day and Ms. Ray was lunching at some joint in California. Her meal was black bean soup with avocado and poached eggs on top- and it looked delicious. So good, in fact, I set about recreating it for lunch the next day- a trip to Panera for the black bean soup and a stop by Waffle House for the poached eggs- and I was in lunch heaven! (Don't worry closed Tokyo sushi place, I still fondly remember and miss (come back!) your amazing $8 bento box lunch- sushi, sashimi, miso soup (yuck!), and tempura- all for $8! RIP) So, yes- back on topic: I lurved my lunch meal so much, I set about to make it at home... but I tweaked it to make it more filling and nutritionally complete (that was lucky, truth is... I just really like rice) and just easier to make.  I even entered this recipe into a food contest and got to make it for a 'select panel of judges'; it turned out well, I mean, hellllo, I poach a mean egg, but this was slightly before the 'runny egg on top of everything craze', so some of the judges didn't know they were supposed to *love* it. Amateurs. I didn't advance to the next round, but neither did the Fancy Cooking School chick beside me, so... ha!

Look at me go!  Getting my saute on!

Enough jabbering, here's the recipe: 

1 can Ro*Tel tomatoes and chilis (any flavor, I like cilantro & lime)
1 can unseasoned black beans, drained
1/2 cup(?) diced onions
2 cloves of garlic, chopped

1 cup Basmati rice- or grain of choice, my friend likes quinoa

4 -6 eggs (2 per person)
vinegar

jalapenos (optional)
cilantro (optional)
other things you have on hand that you think would be good (add 'em, but they're optional)

Cook your rice, or grain of choice, according to package directions. For Basmati, you rinse it then add to a pot with 1 1/2 cups water (1.5 parts water for 1 part rice) and some salt. Bring to a boil, cover and reduce heat to low. Let cook while you prepare everything else.

While the rice is cooking, saute the onions and garlic in a skillet. Once they're soft, add your tomatoes and black beans. Cook 'em down until the beans have burst and the mixture is all saucy and thick. Use medium-low heat. Yeah, that sounds good.

Poach your eggs: Fill another skillet about 1/2 way up with water and add a splash of vinegar. 1-2 tablespoons if you must measure it. Heat the water on medium-low until bubbles begin to appear on the bottom of the skillet but they're not rising and bursting on the surface- so, don't boil it.  One at a time, crack your eggs into a measuring cup and gently add them to the water.  Spoon the hot water over the tops of the eggs and cook until they've reached the desired done-ness. Which is runny. Don't overcook the eggs. Alternately, you could just make a couple of wells in your bean mixture, add your eggs to that, pop a lid on it and just wait for it to cook that way. But, nah, you should poach them.

To serve: spoon rice into bowl, spoon on black bean/tomato mixture and top with your two beautiful poached eggs. Ta-da, dinner!

As for the 'optional' ingredients, you can fancy this up as much as you like.  If you have jalapenos, fresh cilantro and fresh tomato and you want to go that route then do it! Avocado, sure! But these ingredients aren't necessary for a tasty dish. I like to have the leftovers for lunch, just put your rice and beans in a microwavable safe bowl and make a well in the middle. Add a little water in your well (so your egg won't stick), crack an egg in the middle and nuke it until it's done- I don't know, 2 minutes? Yay, lunch!

P.S. Me and grammar... man, we used to be so tight!  But not anymore, so what if I use words that don't exist? Don't like my sentence structure? Well, suck it. I like exclamation points and ellipses and just rambling on about stuff... and your rules can't bring me down man! Ok....I'll do better. :(  (I like smileys too.)

(I think Sleeping with the Enemy is on in the next room. Spoiler alert: she didn't drown, she learned how to swim... and how to ultimately live her life!)

More pictures of me! It's my blog... I can do what I wanna!