Avocado and Arugula Pesto over pasta

What a wonderful day I had today. I got some work done in my home that needed to be done and I also got to play in the kitchen. That's not all. I went and spent some of my time with my bestie:) I love that woman! She is amazing and I admire how wonderful she is with her children. Anytime I get to see her and talk to her makes me happy.

I tried out a couple of new recipes that I had bookmarked a while ago but had not had a chance to make. One of these recipes I saw on the Food Network on Giada at Home. I would have never thought of combining the flavors she used in this pasta dish. Who would of thought of putting together avocados and arugula and creating a pesto out of it? I'll tell you who...Giada and it works together. I found it to be interesting and not in a bad way. The only thing I changed was I did not have any  basil but instead used sage in its place and I added more vegetables to it. I definitely will be making this again. The only thing the hubby complained about was I did not put enough chicken in it for his tastes. You know guys...all about the meat. lol:)

This recipe was so easy and fast and good for a week night meal. You would think you spent more time in the kitchen making it. I hope you will give this one a try.

Avocado and Arugula Pesto
adapted from Giada de Laurentis

Ingredients
1 lb of favorite pasta
1 1lb of chicken breast diced
1 c of mushroom sliced
2 c of squash diced
2 avocado pitted and peeled
3 c of arugula
1 c of sage (her recipe calls for basil)
2 cloves of garlic
1 c grated Parmesan
3 T of lime juice
1 tsp of pepper

Directions
Boil a pot of salted water and cook pasta according to the directions.

Drain pasta but save 1 c of water to thin sauce later. Place pasta in a serving boil and set aside.

Saute chicken, squash, and mushrooms together in a little olive oil, salt and pepper and set aside.

 Using a spoon and scoop at avocado and place in food processor, add the arugula, lime juice, garlic, salt and pepper. Blend until smooth add olive oil if needed to smooth out.

 Add 1/2 the Parmesan cheese and  blend again. Pour the pesto over the pasta and chicken with the vegetables and mix together.

Add the pasta water to smooth and thin out the sauce. Top with more cheese.

Enjoy!

I hope you are having a great day!

Banana Blueberry Muffins

Have I told y'all lately how much my hubby and I love muffins? I love them almost as much as I love cake with real icing. You know the kind made with sugar and butter and not the kind that resembles whip cream, but I digress. Back to the muffins. My hubby and I work during the week so we don't have time to make a complete breakfast,  instead I make muffins for a grab and go meal to go with my coffee. It helps to start the day right for me.

This week I decided to get a little crazy and mix up the flavor combinations:)
I am not talking super crazy but I do love to mix it up now and then. I tend to get curious about what will work together and what won't. I just consider it my quest to create the perfect muffin or muffins if you will. This week I decided to work with applesauce, blueberries, and banana. Okay, not so crazy flavor combination but baby steps. Can I say? Yum! Loved it:)

The recipe was really easy and the flavors worked. Do you have a favorite baked good that you are always trying to improve and create the ultimate recipe for? Muffins are mine. Like I said earlier, I love the muffins and will not stop until I create the ultimate one.....Hahahahaha:)

Blueberry Banana Muffins

Ingredients
2 c all purpose flour
1 T baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp all spice
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 c sugar
2 eggs
1/2 c soy milk
1/2 c apple sauce
1/4 brown sugar
1 T amaretto
8 T butter melted
1 banana mashed
1 c of blueberries

streusel topping
1/2 c all purpose flour
1/2 c brown sugar
5 T butter
1 tsp cinnamon


Directions
 Preheat oven to 375 and line 12 baking cups with liners. Make streusel topping - stir together flour, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Cut butter into flour mixture using your fingers until it is in pea sized piece. Put aside. Stir together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, all spice, and salt and set aside.

  In another bowl mix eggs, milk, apple sauce, sugar, and brown sugar, amaretto, and butter.

Mix together wet and dry ingredients. After thoroughly blended gently fold in blueberries and banana.

 Divide batter into 12 equal portions.

Top with streusel topping and bake for 20 -25 minutes.

 Enjoy.

I hope you are having a great day:)

Almost conquering the "big unit"

Good Monday everyone! Yesterday was finally game day and it was a great one. We won 7-0 against the Rockies and we went to Alice Cooper's Cooperstown for a before the game meal and drink. I may have mentioned a while ago that the hubby and I went there once before and saw they had a giant hot dog on the menu called the "Big Unit". This dog is 22 inches long and at least an inch around. After hearing the bells ring constantly in announcement of a patron ordering this monstrosity, we decided next time we were downtown we would order one too! Yesterday was finally the day:)

Take a look at this thing.

This one was my hubby's. He got the fully loaded one. It had things like onions, mustard, chili, cheese sauce, relish, sauerkraut, shredded cheese, jalapenos, bacon, tomatoes and ketchup. He was going to attempt to eat the whole thing himself. I know...he's brave but hey anything in the name of food. We could call this his man vs. food moment. Who will be victorious? The hot dog or the hubby? I will reveal the answer in a little bit.

My friend Erin and I decided to split one because we knew there was no way we were going to finish 22 inches of meat alone. We also did not want all of those toppings on our dog. Being the girls that we are we got our toppings on the side because we did not like the same things. I wanted onions, jalapenos, sauerkraut, and ketchup. Erin put relish, ketchup, mustard and onions on her half.

Here is Erin with our unit pre-toppings. Isn't it a beauty? Can I say, it tasted so good.

Erin is getting ready to take her first bite.

There's me getting ready to take on my half. Can you guess if I finished it our not?

If you said yes..you would be correct:)

So what do you think? Did my hubby finish his?

Nope, but it was close. Please ignore his gesture, I just teased him for not finishing it.

 Erin almost finished hers. All in all, we thought the unit was definitely worth trying. We probably would order it again but would have to split it again.

Yesterday was a good day. IF you are ever in Phoenix I recommend going to Cooperstown and trying the "Big Unit".

I hope you are having a great day!

Brownieesque cookies

Well folks Friday is finally upon us. For those who thought this weekend could not get here fast enough, me included, your patience has paid off. Let the fun begin! Except for me, I have to work tomorrow. Boo! But my Friday is actually Saturday because I have Sunday and Monday off. Yeah! I cannot wait until Sunday funday. My hubby, one of my best girlfriends and her man and I are going to a Diamondback's game:) We have been planning this outing for what seems like forever and it's finally time.

We have big plans, the four of us, first stop before game time is Alice Cooper's Cooperstown. We  all want that giant hot dog he has on his menu. Erin and I are going to share one because it is huge! I will make sure I take pictures of it because seeing is believing. I can almost taste it now. We are going to wash down this monstrosity with some beverages of course, then off to the game:) I hope we win!

I know you did not think I was done with the dessert posts for the week. Hee hee! My hubby has been craving chocolate and don't think he has been quiet about it either. He has been dropping some hints if you know what I mean? Anyway, I saw a recipe on the Brown Eyed Baker blog claiming to be better than brownie cookies. Once I saw this claim I knew I had to make these cookies. What could be better than a cookie brownie? The recipe was adapted from another blogger's website Culinography. I have to say these cookies were delicious! They were, in my opinion , better than brownies because they were in smaller portions and a lot neater to bake:)

I give these cookies an A because they lived up to their name.

Look at these beauties! Aren't they calling your name?
These will make anyone's weekend better and if it is not your Friday as well, these will make it feel like it.

Better than brownie chocolate cookies
from the brown eyed baker

Ingredients
2 2/3 c of bittersweet chocolate chopped ( I used ghirardellis chocolate chips)
4 T unsalted butter room temperature
4 eggs
1 1/3c sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 c all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1c of semisweet or bittersweet chocolate

Directions
Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or silpat mats. Preheat oven to 350F. Put 2 2/3c of chocolate in a heat proof bowl set over barely simmering water and melt chocolate, stirring occasionally.

Stir together eggs, vanilla and sugar while chocolate melts and then set aside.
In a small bowl mix together flour and baking powder.

Add melted chocolate to the egg mixture and stir until combined. Slowly add the flour mixture and fold until combined.

When all the flour is incorporated stir in chocolate chips.

Scoop 1 1/2 T of dough onto cookie sheets.

Bake for 10 -12 minutes or until firm on the outside. Do not overcook. Let cool on baking sheet. Enjoy!

I hope you have great plans for this weekend:)

Sausage and Tomato Pasta

I love pasta! Always have and always will. My dream is to one day go to Italy and just eat and eat and eat, oh and of course do a little sight seeing while I am there as well. Lol. But mainly  I want to experience Italian food right from the source. In my fantasies you would never gain an ounce of weight eating your favorite foods. Hey, I can dream right?

I am always on the look out for a new pasta recipe and since I was craving pasta last night I searched high and low for one. I finally found one that looked interesting on Lidia Bastianich's website. I had some heirloom tomatoes that I purchased at the farmer's market last weekend that I needed to use and decided a tomato sauce would be the perfect place. I peeled and seeded the tomatoes first and then pureed them in the blender.
If you have never peeled a tomato before it is quite easy. You just score them with an X and drop them in boiling water for about 30 seconds. This loosens the skin and makes it easy to remove.

Now my tomatoes did not go to waste and they tasted really good in the sauce. This recipe was very easy to make and well worth the time it took. I love Lidia Bastianich. I used to watch her all the time on PBS and she always made me wish I was related to her. She has a warm and inviting personality and I always imagined dinner time at her house would be a hoot! I am surprised however that I have never made one of her recipes before.

It was well worth the wait. I am going to purchase some of her cookbooks in the future and try more of her recipes. If you want a delicious pasta dinner that does not take a long time to make you should give this one a try.

Sausage and Tomato Sauce
Lidia Bastianich

Ingredients
1 1/2 lbs of Italian Sausage
1 c of white wine
2 T of extra virgin olive oil plus more for finishing pasta
2 c onions chopped
1 plump garlic clove peeled and sliced
1/2 tsp kosher salt plus more for pasta water
1/2 tsp peperoncino flakes
6 c of Italian Plum tomatoes crushed
1 branch of basil
1 c freshly grated pecorino

Directions
Crumble meat in a large bowl and add 1/2 c of white wine to it.

Mix it with your fingers until all is moistened.

Pour olive oil in big skillet and set on medium heat. Stir in onions and cook until softened about 5 minutes. Stir in garlic slices and peperoncino flakes until all is sizzling. Then crumble in the sausage.

(I added other vegetables in mine, mushrooms and squash as well as some chicken)
Pour in remaining wine, raise heat and cook until sausage is brown and the wine cooks away, about 10 minutes. Pour tomatoes and a cup of water in the pan. Submerge the basil branch in the sauce and bring to a boil and cover.

 Once it boils leave the lid ajar and lower the heat and simmer for about an hour or until sauce reaches desired thickness and develops its flavor. Remove basil branch and enjoy on your favorite pasta. Top with cheese.

Yum!
 I hope you will give this recipe a try and are having a great day!