Cookies & Cocktails Plus Catching Up

It's been awhile again. I haven't been in much of a writing mood lately I guess. It's an overwhelming time of year - work is busy wrapping up for our holiday shutdown, busy trying to think of presents for everyone (and realizing Christmas is in less than two weeks!!), busy cooking, and busy spending time with friends. Those aren't bad things it's just sometimes it all gets piled on at once and stresses me out a little.

But enough of that - there are a few exciting recipes I have been wanting to share from the past few weeks! The first is for this salad - it pretty much has everything that is great in it: kale, pineapple, avocado, black beans, and peanuts. You can find the recipe here. I more or less just followed it.

I made the salad to go along with a West African Peanut Stew. My coworker sent me the recipe for this one and I'm not sure where they got it from, so I will share it with you here!

West African Peanut Stew
2 c. onion, chopped
1 T. vegetable oil
1/2 t. cayenne pepper
1 t. powdered ginger
1 c. carrots, chopped
2 c. winter squash or sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 inch chunks
5 c. vegetable stock
3/4 c. smooth peanut butter (I used chunky and omitted the chopped peanuts)
1 T. sugar
1/2 c. diced green onion
1 T. chopped peanuts

Sauté the onions over medium heat for 3 minutes.  Add the cayenne and ginger.  Add the carrots and squash.  Add the stock, cover and simmer about 20 minutes until the vegetables are tender.  Puree with a hand blender if desired - I did only slightly, not until it was anywhere near smooth.  Add the peanut butter and sugar.  Season with salt and pepper.  Stir until blended.  Serve topped with green onions and chopped peanuts.

The next recipe doesn't have a great photo to go along with it - sorry, I was hungry after this pre-P90X workout! More on that later. I had some leftover pumpkin from making cookies that I needed to use up, and I'd been curious about these pumpkin and squash mac and "cheese" recipes I'd been seeing lately. I loosely followed this recipe here, except I cheated a little and added ~1/2 cup of smoked Gouda since I had it leftover. I didn't have any sage (or at least I didn't want to go out in the dark and rain to pick some) so I used some thyme to season it. The sauce was a bit thick so I thinned it a little with some pasta water - I think I could have actually used a little more since it was still pretty thick. I thought this was delicious though - super creamy and flavorful and a bit healthier alternative to regular mac & cheese with all of the comfort.

I've been doing a lot of holiday baking and candy making recently too. Here's a few things I've tried out so far:

Spritz cookies (fun with the cookie press!)

 Homemade Peppermint Patties (first time I attempted tempering my own chocolate - mixed results but better than I feared!)

 Caramel Pecan Bars (I have about a million of these since I used the recipe from the large batch cookbook!)

 This past weekend we had out annual Cookies & Cocktails party - I love entertaining and this party is pretty simple since you're asking people to all contribute a holiday treat. We always have a ton of food and end up with not enough table space to even display everything! It's a nice chance to get all of our friends together to hang out and surprisingly I think almost everyone actually likes the dressing up part - it certainly makes it more festive! Check out how nice everyone looked! I think the guys win this year - they all looked very fancy.

We had a smaller turnout this year - December is a tough time to schedule events! It was great fun though and luckily my coworkers willingly ate every single leftover that I brought in today!

Hope you're all getting ready for the holidays without too much stress - if so, let me know how you're doing it please!

-C

Sunday Dinner: Marscapone Pasta with Spinach and Sundried Tomatoes

I always find it tough to get back into cooking mode after a vacation. We used up all our leftovers and perishables before we left and since Sunday is our usual grocery shopping day I just never quite got back in the pattern this week. Anyway - long story shot, this week's Sunday Dinner was a less time consuming meal because I still don't feel back in my routine.

I saw this pasta featured in Web Delicousness on The Pioneer Woman earlier this week and instantly bookmarked it. I left out the chicken from the original recipe, but other than that it's pretty much the same. We bought some neat artisan pasta made by an Italian company called Montebello who have been making pasta since 1388 - yes, I really meant 1388! It was a shape I had never used before called "torchiette" and it looked like rolled up tubes with a slightly curled edge.

This recipe is super fast and easy to make - I think it would make a great week night meal since it really shouldn't take more than about 15 minutes to make (mine took a little longer because I had to finish baking the bread before I could make the bread crumbs). Plus it made enough for plenty of leftovers - always a good thing!

Looking back over my cooking photos I sure seem to make a lot of pasta dishes - I like them because they're usually quick and versatile. Anyone have a favorite go-to pasta recipe they like to use? I'd love to hear it!

-C

Toasted Walnut Thyme Pasta

Ever since Oba! became one of my favorite restaurants I have wanted to learn how they make the walnut sauce they use on top of their enchiladas. That was sort of where I started when I made this pasta sauce last week, although it definitely wasn't the same as what they use for those enchiladas it was really quite good! Once again I never measure or write down what I do, but I will try my best to describe it here!

Toasted Walnut Thyme Pasta
1 c. walnuts, toasted
1 c. cream or half-and-half
1 head of garlic
1/4 c. grated parmesan
1 Tbs thyme
Zest of 1 lemon + 1 tsp juice
Salt + Pepper
1/2 lb pasta, cooked
Extra walnuts, thyme, cheese, and lemon zest for garnish

Roast the garlic  - chop off the top 1/4 or so of the head (enough to expose the top of all the cloves), drizzle with olive oil, wrap in foil and bake for 30 minutes at 400 degrees. Set aside and allow to cool. Puree the toasted walnuts in a food processor until you have a fine crumb consistency. Add in all of the cloves of roasted garlic and pulse several times. Warm the cream in the microwave for a minute or so, then slowly drizzle into the walnut/garlic mixture - blend until smooth. Add in the cheese, thyme, lemon zest, and juice - continue to blend until you reach the consistency you want. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Boil the pasta and save some of the pasta water to help thin out the sauce once it is all tossed together - I added about a half cup back in with mine. Toss the sauce with the pasta and top with extra nuts, cheese, thyme, and lemon.

Enjoy!

-C