Lemony Goodness

This week's new recipe: Lemon Penne with Ham and Escarole

Yummo (and I'm not just saying that because I think the recipe came from Rachael Ray)! This may be one of the best pasta dishes I've ever made, and that's saying a lot considering how much I love pasta. The sauce was made with eggs, parmesan cheese, and lemon juice/rind. So creamy and lemony. And even though the escarole was pretty much just wilted lettuce, it was great. Next time I might try it with broccoli or spinach instead. But there will definitely be a next time!

The Root of the Matter

This (last) week's new recipe: Roasted Root Vegetables

Never before have I had to buy fresh beets or a rutabaga. Never again will I buy a rutabaga. Overall, it was OK. I roasted carrots, turnips, beets, potatoes, rutabaga, and onion with garlic, olive oil, and rosemary from our garden. Turnips were my favorite, beets were delicious (but seriously staining), and the rutabaga just didn't cook. If you're a vegetable and you can't cook in 45 minutes in a blazing hot oven even when you're cut into small pieces, you do not have a place in my kitchen. (Maybe this is why everyone I talked to has always had boiled rutabaga?) In sum, it was a heck of a lot of chopping, a heck of a lot of trying to change my hand color from fuchsia to skin-colored again, a seriously delicious smell, and a so-so dish. I think next time will involve more olive oil and salt and less weird hard-to-spell vegetables in the mix.

Squashtastic

This Week's New Recipe: Whipped Butternut Squash

From: All Recipes (with some tweaking)

Result: This was great. It's basically mashed potatoes but with squash (so better for you, right?). I just roasted the squash and then mashed it and whipped it with butter, sour cream, and salt and pepper. Delish! We ate it with roasted brussel sprouts and chicken tenders. Right...chicken tenders. They said "chicken cutlets" on the package, but the package lied. So I just dusted them with a little flour and seasoning and cooked them in a skillet with a little olive oil and butter, then squeezed a lemon over them at the last minute. Yum!!