Relaxation

Today, I refused to stain the deck. We decided to take the day off since we've been staining for the last 5 days straight. Thankfully we are so close to being finished! We have everything covered in at least one coat of stain. We just have to do a final coat on a little bit. And second coats are much easier than the first coat. So, I would guess about 3 more hours of work and we will be done! At least until it's time to strip it off and do the whole thing all over again. Next time though, we will only be doing a little bit each summer. This is just too much for one summer.

Tonight I made a vodka sauce I found on Epicurious. It's one of my go-to sauces because it's so easy. I accidentally added whole milk instead of cream though. It was definitely missing the velvety consistency it usually has.

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
10 cloves garlic, peeled
Crushed hot red pepper
1/4 cup vodka
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons unsalted butter or olive oil for finishing the sauce, if you like
2 to 3 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley

Pour the tomatoes and their liquid into the work bowl of a food processor. Using quick on/off pulses, process the tomatoes just until they are finely chopped. (Longer processing will aerate the tomatoes, turning them pink.)

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Whack the garlic cloves with the side of a knife and add them to the hot oil. Cook, shaking the skillet, until the garlic is lightly browned, about 3 minutes. Lower the work bowl with the tomatoes close to the skillet and carefully — they will splatter — slide the tomatoes into the pan. Bring to a boil, season lightly with salt and generously with crushed red pepper, and boil 2 minutes. Pour in the vodka, lower the heat so the sauce is at a lively simmer, and simmer until the pasta is ready.

Just before the pasta is done, fish the garlic cloves out of the sauce and pour in the cream. Serve over cooked pasta (I use penne for this sauce)

I also made the base for chocolate ice cream. I've got to let it cool so I'll be making it sometime later this week. It smells so good though!

Chocolate Ice Cream

from The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz

2 1/4 cups heavy cream

6 tablespoons unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder

1 cup sugar

pinch of salt

6 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped (I used Ghirardelli bittersweet because it's what I had in the cabinet)

1 cup whole milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a large saucepan, whisk the cream, cocoa powder, sugar and salt together. Whisking frequently, heat until the mixture comes to a full, rolling boil. Remove the pan from the heat and add the chopped chocolate. Whisk until the chocolate melts completely, then add the milk and vanilla. (If the chocolate doesn't melt completely, you can pour the mixture into a blender and blend for 30 seconds, until smooth. I skipped this step because my chocolate melted without a problem.)

Chill the mixture thoroughly and then churn in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Lonely Hearts

Little Caiti still won't let us pet her. I know all of the websites on feral cats said the older the cat is when you try to tame it the longer it will take (or the more impossible it will be). But, we really thought that LC would see how nice we are and would warm up to us. Poor LC did have things worse than Inky (we was the first one caught in the trap, she was caughte multiple times, and then she had to live in our garage for 2 months while waiting for her foot to heal) so it's understandable that she would be a little more hesitant... but we are nice people! We haven't caught her since her paw healed, and we give her food everyday, and we don't kick her or anything like that. But you would think we do hurt her! Anytime I'm outside she runs past me at full speed. She watches me all the time and has only let me touch her once. She lets V touch her every now and then in the morning when she is too sleepy to realize what is going on but that's it. It's so sad though because I really think she wants some loving! Whenever I'm playing with Inky she lays down about a foot away and rolls around while staring at me. Hopefully she warms up soon because I feel so bad for her.

Inky has been super lovey lately. She has learned that if she meows it will get me to come outside and pet her for a long time. She didn't make any noise for the longest time so I'm happy she has become comfortable saying hi but it makes me feel so guilty when I leave her to go back inside. She's also started letting me pet her tummy which is adorable. She rolls over about every 45 seconds to make sure I pet every part of her tummy equally. She's a silly one.

Tonight for dinner we are having spaghetti with homemade sauce and meatballs. I don't really use a recipe for my sauce. I make sure I have two cans of each (this makes enough sauce to freeze at least 2 meals worth): tomato sauce, petite diced tomatoes, crushed tomatoes. One can tomato paste. 2-3 onions (diced), 4-6 cloves garlic (diced), 1 bay leaf, dried or fresh parsley, dried or fresh basil, pinch of sugar, tiny bit of dried oregano. Saute the onions and garlic in olive oil. Add tomato paste. Add one can each of tomatoes. Let reduce. Add another can of the crushed and diced. Only add the second can of sauce if you need to thin it out. Maybe add another can of died. Let saute for a few hours with a lid. Then let cool and divide into containers.

I can't remember what recipe I used for the meatballs. I made a ton of those (about 40 small) so I've still got some leftover. Once I do make them again I'll post what recipe I use. I will say, it's easy enough to make homemade meatballs and if you made a bunch in advance it's very easy and then you have quite a few pre-made dinners for weeks!

Creamy Cauliflower Pasta

It keeps raining here! We haven't gotten any additional staining done. There are still several days worth of work left to do but we can't get it done because it won't stop raining. I thought V could stain this weekend but they just started saying it is going to rain on Saturday AND Sunday. Boo. I'm ready to be done with this mess. Hopefully we can finish it by the end of May so we can relax by the pool for the rest of the summer. If I angle my chair so I can't see the unfinished part of the deck the backyard looks pretty awesome.

For dinner tonight I made another internet recipe and I forgot to save the site. But, I made a few changes to it and it was really tasty. Nice and garlicy. My only complaint is that the sauce didn't stick to the pasta very well. I think next time I would thin it out with more pasta water.

Creamy Cauliflower Pasta

3 cups cubed italian bread

1/3 cup olive oil

6 cloves garlic

3/4-1 pound tube pasta

1 cup ricotta (I used skim)

2 cups cauliflower (I just used about a bag of frozen and then steamed it)

1/3 cup parmesan

fresh basil or parsley

Toast the bread crumbs. Dice the garlic. Cook in the olive oil until it smells like garlic. Chop bread in a food processor to make into crumbs (I also put the garlic olive oil in the processor to get the garlic extra small. ) Mix together oil and crumbs. Set aside.

Cook pasta. Reserve about a cup of the starchy water.

Puree cooked cauliflower and ricotta in a food processor. Stir in herbs, parm, salt, and pepper. Stir into the cooked pasta. Add as much water as is needed to thin out the sauce and help it stick to the pasta. Either mix in the bread crumbs or sprinkle over the top. Enjoy!

Goat Cheese Pasta

Tonight's dinner was super easy and super tasty. It's from Martha's new cookbook Fresh Flavor Fast. I think it's a good spring/summer dinner that's fast enough to make after work and after sweeping the back deck. Roasting asparagus smells a little funny but ignore it, it's worth it.

Goat Cheese Pasta

1 pound twisty pasta

5 tablespoons butter (approximately)

5-6 ounces goat cheese (depending on the size of package you find)

2 bunches asparagus

chives (if you want, I didn't want to spend the extra money)

Salt and Pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 450. Start boiling water in a big pan.

Break off the thick ends of the asparagus. Break the remainder into big-bite-sized pieces. Dot with 2 tablespoons of butter and toss in salt and pepper. Roast for 10-15 minutes.

Cook the pasta. Save 1-1.5 cups of starchy water. Drain.

Mix the butter, goat cheese, and 1/2 cup of the water. (I did this in the pasta pot to keep the number of dishes to a minimum.) Melt together. I added extra salt and pepper at this point. Stir in pasta and asparagus. Add in extra water until a sauce forms. I ended up using a little over 1 cup of starchy water. Enjoy!

Creamed Spinach

Tonight's dinner was a mish mash. I planned our dinner to be pork tenderloin, creamed spinach, and Italian bread. Unfortunately, the tenderloin took about twice as long to cook as the recipe said and V and I were too hungry to wait. So, my dinner was creamed spinach and bread. V had creamed spinach, bread, and leftover pizza. We are such adults.

The creamed spinach was amazing. It was creamy, garlicy, and rich. It's another recipe from The Pioneer Woman. It was very easy to make and I changed the recipe around a bit to suit my cooking style. However, no matter how tasty the dish was, it was definitely meant to be a side, not a main dish. It was soo rich! My tummy hurts. V thought it would be better as a dip than a side. It probably would be good that way. Or it's good by itself, just as a side. But soo good.

Creamed Spinach

1 stick butter plus a few extra tablespoons, separated

1 small onion

3 garlic cloves

8 tablespoons flour

2 cups milk (I used 2%)

Salt

Pepper

Fresh ground nutmeg

20 ounces spinach (she called for 24 but the only packages I could find were 10 ounces, not 8 ounces)

Melt stick of butter. I cooked the onions at this point because I like soft onions. She added the onions at the same time as the garlic. Add in the flour and stir. Let it cook about 5 minutes to brown (I forgot to do this and it was fine). Add in the milk slowly and stir the whole time. Add in the garlic and allow to cook while working on the spinach, stirring occasionally. Melt a few tablespoons butter in another pan, wilt in the spinach. At this point, I would sieve the spinach to get out as much excess liquid as possible. I didn't do that and mine was a little thin. Stir in spinach, salt, pepper and nutmeg. Serve.

Chicken Pasta Casserole

Tonight for dinner I made a casserole I found on The Pioneer Woman's website. I wasn't the biggest casserole fan growing up but they've come a long way, baby! V loves casseroles and is always begging me to make them so I'm on the lookout for tasty-looking recipes. Tonight's was pretty good, V said it was a keeper anyway. I didn't quite follow the recipe because I don't get home from work until 5:30 or so so I took some short cuts. But it was still good.

Preheat the oven to 350

Cook a bunch of chicken strips (she says 2 cups) I think I had about 3/4 pounds

Break a pound of spaghetti into pieces

Cook the spaghetti in chicken stock - when you drain it save 2 cups of the stock (I forgot to do this)

Mix together the chicken, spaghetti, 2 cans of cream of mushroom soup, 2 cups shredded cheddar, 1 diced onion, 1 small green pepper, 4 ounces pimentos, seasoning salt, cayenne pepper, salt and pepper all to taste. Then, add in the saved chicken stock (I used extra beef stock since I forgot to save it) - until the mixture is moist but not soupy.

Put into a casserole dish. Top with another cup of cheddar. Bake for about 30-40 minutes until bubbly.

It's pretty tasty. Next time I think I would cook the peppers and onions in advance because I don't like crunchy onions. But it was still pretty good nontheless.

Spinach Pockets

Tonight's dinner was another freezer special. It's spinach pockets from the Real Simple website but I messed around with it a little bit. It's basically like spanakopita and it's heavenly. Salty and flaky and I can pretend like it's healthy since it has spinach in it. This is our new favorite recipe. It's easy to make after work and it's also easy to make extra to freeze. If you want to freeze it put the pockets together and then put in individual baggies and freeze. Then defrost in the fridge overnight and bake as usual.

Putting them in individual baggies makes it easier to bake as many as you want. Which is nice since half the time V doesn't eat much dinner more than cheese and crackers. He's one of those weird people who only eats one meal a day. It's kind of nice because it means we don't have to make dinner every night because I like having cereal for dinner sometimes! But it can be frustrating too when I plan on a meal and then he's not hungry. So tonight when he wasn't hungry I just pulled out on spinach pocket and had it for dinner with no more mess than a bowl of Cheerios. Yummy in my tummy.

Spinach Pockets

• 20 ounces spinach (Real Simple calls for 3 pounds but I find that to be too much, I just buy two containers and that's plenty)
• 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan
• 1/2 cup ricotta cheese
• 2 scallions, trimmed and thinly sliced (I just use my kitchen shears and cut them as small as possible)
• 1 egg
• 1 1/4 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• 1 1-pound package phyllo dough, defrosted
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 1/2 cup lemon juice
• 1/2 cup water
• 3 cloves garlic diced (RS says to thinly slice it but I think it's easier to just dice)

1. In a skillet, combine lemon juice, water, garlic cloves, and 1 teaspoon kosher salt. Bring to a simmer and cook spinach in batches until just wilted. Drain and set aside.
2. Heat oven to 400° F. In a large bowl, combine the spinach, Parmesan, ricotta, scallions, egg, salt, and pepper. Mix well and set aside.
3. Fold 1 sheet of phyllo in half crosswise and place on a lightly greased baking sheet. Brush the top with some of the butter. Top with another folded sheet and brush with more butter. Repeat one more time. Leaving a 2-inch border around the edges, place 1/4 of the spinach mixture at one end of the pastry. Roll up the pastry, tucking in the sides. Brush with more butter. Repeat to make 3 more individual pockets.
4. Bake in the oven until puffed and golden, about 30 minutes

Baked Pasta with Prosciutto and Peas

Tonight I made dinner from Williams-Sonoma's cookbook One Pot. I highly recommend this cookbook and any of the cookbooks from the WS line - they are all easy and full of good recipes. This is one of my favorite go-to recipes. I can make a whole batch and freeze half in an 8x8 pan. And it's easy enough to make after getting home from work. I use pancetta instead of prosciutto half the time depending on what I can find. V loves it and doesn't seem to mind all the extra peas I add.

1 lb short tube pasta

1/2 cup unsalted butter

1/2 cup flour

4 cups flour

1/8 teaspoon fresh grated nutmeg

2 cups parmesan cheese

1 cup frozen peas - or more to your heart's content

1/4 lb prosciutto or pancetta or just regular ham

Cook the pasta (you should know how to do this.) Melt the butter in a pan, add in the flour, and whisk for 30 seconds. Slowly add the milk while whisking. Cook until sauce is thick, 5-10 minutes. Stir in the remaining ingredients. Add pasta combine.

At that point you could go two ways. If you are eating it right away then go ahead. If you are making it in advance put it in a pan, let cool then put in the fridge/freezer. When you are ready to eat it, put it in a 425 degree oven for about 20 minutes. Williams-Sonoma says to sprinkle over 1/2 cup of bread crumbs before putting it in the oven. But I don't like bread crumbs on my pasta as a general rule so I don't add them. Try this recipe and check out the cookbook - it's worth the time!