Zucchini And Mushroom Pasta With Crispy Garlic

I have seen crispy garlic made on a couple of cooking shows, and have wanted to try my hand at it for a while.  Today, after a successful trip to the produce department of my favorite Asian market (I love that place!), I was trying to think of something to cook that would utilize the mushrooms, zucchini, and garlic that we got there.  This pasta is the result. 

I say this all the time, but this really is super easy to make.  It is also very light, and relatively healthy, considering the use of olive oil, and half-and-half instead of full cream.  I served it with a simple Caesar Salad and it made a great lunch.  One nice thing about making the crispy garlic is that it also seasons the oil to flavor the sauce.  This recipe serves 2 or 3 people, so multiply it as necessary.

Zucchini and Mushroom Pasta With Crispy Garlic
2 small or 1 large clove garlic, sliced very thin
3 Tbsp olive oil
dash each: crushed red pepper, black pepper, and salt
1/2 small zucchini, sliced
4 button mushrooms, sliced
1 tsp flour
1/2 c half-and-half
1 Tbsp grated parmesan cheese
1 1/2 c cooked pasta, just under aldente
fresh basil

In a large pan, heat olive oil over medium heat.  Use a slice of garlic to test: when the garlic just starts to sizzle, add the other slices of garlic one at a time so they don't stick together.  The garlic will burn quickly; begin to remove the garlic almost immediately.  The edges should be golden brown.  Drain on paper towels and set aside. 

To the remaining oil, add the zucchini slices, crushed red pepper,  salt, and black pepper, and cook over medium heat for 2 minutes.  Add the mushroom slices and cook another 2 minutes.  Sprinkle flour into pan, stir, and cook 1 minute.  Stir in half-and-half, parmesan, and pasta.  Let simmer about a minute to thicken.

Add more salt if needed to taste.  Serve, and sprinkle crispy garlic and chopped fresh basil on top.

Happy eating!

Cauliflower Mac and Cheese

I love mac and cheese and there are a few different ways I love to make it.  Adding cauliflower to the mix makes it healthier - not healthy, but healthier, at least - and is tasty, too.  If you know how to make a basic white sauce, mac and cheese is just a few extra steps.

A few tips:  shredding your own cheese instead of using pre-shredded bags is always best.  The powder they put on the pre-shredded cheese to prevent caking isn't the best for making a creamy sauce.  Note that the measurements for pasta are post-cooking.  Be sure to cook the cauliflower and pasta in salted water, as you normally would, to season them.  And, the amounts can vary based on what type of cheese you have, what type of milk, and other things, so it's a guidleline:  the key is to get a thin sauce so that it won't be too tight after baking.  Leave out some of the cheese if necessary, or add more milk, to keep it pretty thin.

Cauliflower Mac and Cheese
5 tbsp butter or margarine, divided
2 tbsp flour
1 1/2 c milk
2 c shredded cheddar cheese
1 c cauliflower, bite-size pieces, fresh or frozen, fully cooked
4 c cooked pasta, undercooked by 2 minutes
1/4 c dry breadcrumbs
salt and pepper

Melt butter in saucepan; remove 2 tbsp and set aside.  Stir flour into remaining butter; stir well and let bubble for 1 minute.  Stir in milk and heat just to bubbling.  Stir in cheese a little at a time to make the cheese sauce; it should be thinner than you want, because it will thicken later.  Add salt and pepper to taste to the sauce. 

Stir pasta and cauliflower into the sauce.  Pour the mixture into a baking dish.  In a small bowl, combine the reserved 2 T of melted butter with breadcrumbs and stir to evenly coat the crumbs.  Sprinkle the breadcrumbs on the mac and cheese.  Bake the mac and cheese in a 350 oven just until it starts to bubble, 5-10 minutes.  Then, turn the oven to broil and place the mac and cheese a few inches under the broiler.  Broil about 5 minutes or until the top is golden brown.  Serve immediately.

Happy eating!

Easter Brunch

Happy Easter!

Why is it that holidays become what they become?  It is interesting to me how the traditions of, for instance, stocking-stuffing at Christmas, or boxes of candy at Valentine's Day, or fireworks on the Fourth of July, get started.  Over the decades, somehow, brunch has become an Easter tradition.  It might not make a lot of sense, but there it is.

I love the idea of brunch.  Anyone who knows me knows I don't do mornings.  My husband and I are on a third-shift schedule, and that's the schedule I was on for years, long before I met him, too.  My morning is 2pm, and if I'm up at 6am, it's because I'm still up from the night before.  I don't do breakfast!  So brunch is perfect for me - breakfast that lasts well into the afternoon.  Not to mention, a gathering of all kinds of types of foods, which can be chosen to exactly my liking - which is perfect for me as a vegetarian who doesn't eat huge portions.  I can pick and choose the exact foods I like and the exact amounts.  I can have a variety of foods without feeling guilty that I won't eat 90% of it.  It's the same reason I like tapas restaurants.

Easter Brunch in particular holds a place in my heart because of happy memories of family.  My family on my mother's side had a tradition when I was young to gather on Easter Sunday at one of the holiday brunches being held in the Chicagoland suburbs (that's where we're originally from).  The whole family - and as one of seven kids, my mom's extended family was large - plus in-laws and friends - would all get together for brunch somewhere.  We were always a huge group and took over many tables at once.  I loved it.  Good times.

Dan and I have been invited to have Easter brunch with his family this morning.  It won't be the love-fest our old family Easter Brunches used to be (anybody who knows my in-law situation understands this), but I'm hoping it will be a nice time.  At the very least, I am hoping the food will be enjoyable.  Did anybody else enjoy Easter Brunch?  Any food adventures for Easter?  Tell me all about it.

Happy eating!

I'm All Hydroponic Up In Heah

It's spring planting season, people!  When I was a kid, my mother would take my sisters and me to the nursery to pick out seedlings for us to plant in our little squares of designated garden space.  I still love, love, love the smell of a greenhouse in spring -- the smell of rich, damp soil and flowers.  When Dan and I were at the nursery picking out seeds recently, I was like, sniffsniffahhhhhhh.  Am I the only one?

After drooling over a friend's Aerogarden at our weekly gaming sessions, I finally splurged on one for myself.  Actually, I splurged on two for myself.  Dan and I were discussing what to buy, and the purchase just kept getting bigger and bigger with more and more items.  The logic was something like, if one Aerogarden's cost is justified, two are also, right?  Right.  Or something.  I'm hoping growing herbs and veggies in the Aerogarden will keep me from having to tend to the sad, dying herb pots I buy at the store regularly.  At any rate, we now have two large Aerogardens, each which came with plants to grow, plus seed starter kits, plus a ton of other seed kits, plus other miscellaneous supplies.  We went a little nuts.  We have enough stuff to grow 3 or 4 years of plants.  We may not ever have to buy veggies at the store ever again.

For those who don't know, the Aerogarden is basically just a hydroponic garden for your countertop.  It's sortof like a very fancy planter.  It grows plants with minimal effort on your part since it waters, feeds and lights the plants.  They sell seed kits with pre-planted seed pods, but you can also buy your own seeds to grow in the garden, or you can use the garden to start seedlings to transplant to either a planter or into the ground.

I am using one of my Aerogardens to start seedlings for a summer garden.  I have tomatillos, peas, japanese eggplant, yellow and green zucchini, and two kinds of hot peppers starting seedlings right now.  I haven't decided if they will go into planters or into the ground yet.  Those will be ready for transplant in a couple of weeks and then I'll grow something else in that Aerogarden.

In my second Aerogarden, I have a mix of herbs and salad greens which will grow their entire time in the Aerogarden.  The instructions say not to mix types (herbs/lettuce) but I'm being a big ol' rebel and giving it a shot.  Such rebellion.  You can't keep me down!  Rawrr.

I'll report on my Aerogarden plants more as they grow.  I have a notoriously black thumb, so I'm hoping the Aerogarden is the missing link to me having successful plants.  Wish me luck!

Happy eating gardening!