Caprese Pasta- Might be the best thing ever...

Honestly I'm not even going to bother with all the chatter and trying to be clever and write up an intro.  Just LOOK at this... It was delish!

And really, most importantly, this was SUPER easy.  I'm not even sure it counts as "cooking."  Making a meal, yes.  Cooking...not so much!  Can you boil water?  Then you can make this awesome dinner.  Or lunch.  Late night snack.  Breakfast?  Maybe not breakfast.

I spied this with my little eye while on Pinterest.  A quick look at the original post here, and I knew it was basically instinctual to make.   And I decided that instead of "italian dressing" this would be better with simple, classic, oil & vinegar!  I had Josh buy Parmesan too, thinking I would make some Parm toast to go with this (cause... everyone loves toast!) but I just didn't want to mix any other flavors with this yumminess.  So ignore the parm in the pic, k?  Now onto the important stuff!

Ingredients

• 1 package of Cheese Tortellini (Rainbow if you want it to be pretty!  And who doesn't?)
• Fresh mozzarella.  Seriously don't even think about using any processed fake stuff.  It just won't be the same and everything will be ruined!  (read in a super dramatic teenager voice!) 
• Bite sized tomatoes (cherry or grape will work!)
• Fresh Basil- which you will make fancy when I teach you to "chiffonade" it!
• 2 Tbsp Olive Oil
• 1 Tbsp Balsamic Vinegar
• Generous dash of Salt

Directions

1. Boil water for your pasta
2. Cut your tomatoes in half.  It's pretty and easier to stuff in your mouth in one bite with pasta and mozz!
3. Cut your mozzarella into bite sized pieces.  Why?  See #2.
4. Add these to your big white mixing bowl (everyone has one, right?)
5. Sprinkle with salt
6. Add Olive Oil 
7. Add Balsamic
8. Mix and let this marinate (yes, your pretty white cheese will get a little dingy looking but it will taste SOOO good.)  Plus, we aren't fancy here and don't need to look pretty all the time.
9. Add pasta to your boiling water and cook per the directions (probably 4-5 minutes.)
10. Chiffonade your basil!  Roll it and cut it.  Seriously THAT's how fancy it is.  I demo below.
11. When pasta is done, drain and rinse in cold water to stop the cooking and to cool it down.
12. Toss into your big white bowl
13. Stir to coat with the olive oil and balsamic mixture *You can make it more saucy if you want, just keep the ratio of oil to vinegar 2 to 1.
14. Top with your fancy basil and voila!
15. Oh ya, add chicken to His bowl...

Stack some basil leaves- I used seven.

Roll it up tight (I have no experience in rolling so that was good enough)

Cut into thin strips, then "fluff" it all up to be pretty ribbons!

 So there you go!  Simple and delicious.  An easy weeknight meal on those days when you haven't slept well for two nights, had spreadsheets and vlookups annoyingly calculating for DAYS at work, and hit traffic on the way home.  It's the best way to end the day on a yummy note!

Spicy!!!

I saw this while sitting on the couch in my pj's one morning...  Don't judge.  It WAS Saturday so no excuse or justification needed!  I am sure I was waiting for something super educational and not at all trashy to start, and just happened to be killing time on the Food Network.  (Ok, fine I watched it for like 2 hours. Whatevs)

This is from Giada and looked easy enough.  Plus I knew I had all of this already which meant no trip to the grocery store.  Her version is Spicy Red-Wine Spaghetti.  Mine is pretty much the same but like everything else, I change the recipe to suit our taste or just so that I can make it faster or cheaper (aka I use what I have on hand as much as I can!)

The good thing about this recipe is there are very few ingredients.  And very few steps.  Her website says it takes an hour and ten minutes.  I have NO idea how it could take that long.  I was done in about 30.  Here is a fancy picture of my ingredients.  And then the picture next to it is because I forgot the red pepper flakes, and also realized that I was using goat cheese, not parm.  Oops!

Ingredients

• Salt
• 1 package spaghetti (I used fettuccine cause I had it!)
• 1/4 cup olive oil (I always use less.  Enough to coat the pan and that's it.)
• 3 large cloves garlic, chopped (ya...I use a spoonful of pre chopped garlic in a jar)
• 1 large shallot, halved, thinly sliced (I used half a yellow onion, chopped)
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper (We like it spicy!  Prob 1/2 Tbsp not teaspoon!)
• 1 Tbsp tomato paste (I used 2)
• 1/4 cup fresh parsley leaves chopped (Cilantro has more flavor.  Plus it was in the fridge.)
• 4 ounces crumbled goat cheese.  Or as much as you want!
• 1 bottle of Zinfandel (I used Merlot.)

I had to try a tiny bit of it to make sure it was good!!!  :)

Directions

1. Boil your pasta until it's par-cooked.  Soft but still a bit firm.  Remove from heat and set aside.  (Pot, water, pasta and all.)
2. Heat oil in skilled over medium heat
3. Add onions and saute for about 2-3 minutes
4. Stir in the salt and red pepper flakes
5. Add garlic and stir for about a minute cause it will burn quickly.
6. Uncork your wine (try a bit to make sure it tastes good) and pour into the skillet.
7. Add tomato paste and stir it all up.
8. Turn up the heat to medium-high to bring the wine to a simmer.  Simmer for just a few minutes and reduce back to medium for an additional 2-3 minutes.
9. Add pasta to the skillet and stir to coat.
10. Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently.  I put a cover over the top to keep the liquid from evaporating too much.  If sauce is too dry, add some of the pasta cooking water.
11. Stir in the butter (I totally forgot this step and Josh was sad.  It would have been good.)
12. Turn off the heat, sprinkle the parsley/cilantro on top.  Crumble the goat cheese, and serve.

**I also made some Pillsbury bread sticks.  And twisted them to make them fancy.  I'm sure these aren't healthy at all but they are a guilty pleasure.  Would it make it "better" if I said it reminds me of my mom?  Do I get leeway for the nostalgia????

There is a TON left over.  We do that a lot.  Partially cause I wasn't going to "half" all the ingredients given the bottle of wine cause I knew we wouldn't drink it and it would be wasteful.  But the leftovers make good work lunches for me.  Josh doesn't really eat left overs which is fine cause this was not his favorite.  I do think Merlot was too strong for his liking but I LOVED this dish.  I'll have no problem eating this for lunch two days in a row.  And it was so easy it's going on the rotation.  Next time I'll try Zin.  And maybe even a version with white wine that Hubby may prefer.

I'm FULL!