FoodFash

Adventure Begins in the Kitchen

Zucchini Ribbons With Almond Pesto

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Zucchini Ribbons with Almond Pesto

I’m years past the point of full-price Anthro shopping.  Unless I’m in the market for a Volcano candle, I B-line it to the sale rack.  I sift through too long skirts and too warm coats, but occasionally find the find of all finds.  Like the time I stumbled upon a $630 pair of Joie boots for $139 or the time I found the most perfectly fitting pair of shorts and bought them in every color.  Last weekend I found a different kind of a find.  A food blogger kind of find.  A slightly torn, heavily discounted Smitten Kitchen cookbook.

Zucchini Ribbons

When I brought the book home, I flipped through it page by page.  And as I flipped each page and read each description aloud, my eyes grew wide and my voice… little kid excited.  So excited that a friend may have suggested I re-read all of these recipe descriptions in front of the camera so everyone else could be as entertained by me as he was.

Toasted Almond Pesto

I must have tabbed a gazillion recipes – there were so many that appealed to both my healthified side and my butter-baking side.  I saved the butter-baking kind for later and started with the Zucchini Ribbons with Almond Pesto.  The almond pesto was one of the most wonderfully flavored things that’s ever come out of my kitchen.  Smoky almonds, tangy lemon, salty parm – serious goodness!  Topped with this pesto, I could eat zucchini ribbons for hours.  And I just might have done that.

Roasted Tomato Salsa

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Roasted Tomato Salsa

I’m coming up on four years of being a blogger.  What?  Yeah…  And after all these years of being the blogging sort, my friends are rarely embarrassed by the big camera.  They never take a bite before asking if I need a picture.  And they know that after a picture of their food has been taken, there’s no need to wait for my social media madness to dig in.  It’s really quite amazing, how well they’ve been trained much they support me.

Dry Roasted Vegetables

And after all these years of blogging, my friends aren’t the only thing that continue to amaze me.  Simple recipes, seriously, get me every time. Why I would think salsa is difficult, I haven’t a clue.  But tonight as I dry roasted veggies, blended them up, and they turned into this salsa, I couldn’t help but shake my head with a silly smile.  Why would I ever buy salsa again?

Blendtec Salsa

It wasn’t that this salsa was particularly special.  It was good, don’t get me wrong.  But if I love salsa (which I do) and making salsa is easy (which it is) then creating my perfect go-to salsa is gonna happen.  And that means no more store salsa.

Dinner Parties. All The Time.

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linguini with clam sauce

I moved into my new place ten days ago and I’m happy to report that three dinner parties have taken place in my freshly decorated dining room!  Mexican night, Hansell cooking night, and clam night.  It’s so wonderful to be in the kitchen whipping up some dinner and see your favorite friends walk up with a bottle of wine.  Perfect, actually.

Clams

I had been craving linguini with clam sauce for a while, maybe years, when Dickie asked if I’d make some after seeing a clam recipe on a Jacques Pépin rerun.  “Dickie, have you ever even had clams before?”, I asked.  I knew the answer was going to be no.  But I also knew that if Dickie asked me to make clams then he’d already made up his mind that he was going to try some clams.

linguini with clams 2

I found Giada’s Spicy Linguini with Clams and Mussels recipe and prepared it exactly as written with the exception of using only clams.  Not only was this recipe extremely easy, but it was also fun to see the shallots separate so perfectly, the sauce thicken so quickly, and the clams burst open letting you know they were ready.  The slightly spicy sauce complimented the egg linguini so well that I ate seconds.  And then thirds.  It’s safe to say that I will definitely be making this dish again for my next house guest!

Kickin’ Roasted Garlic

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Roasted Garlic

When I was brainstorming ideas for this video, lots of garlicky things came to mind.  Lots of garlicky things that I’ve made and wanted to make.  And then I realized I had never experimented with the most garlicky thing of all: roasted garlic.

Roasted Garlic Dutch Oven

I used a Pioneer Woman How To as my guide, making adjustments since most of my belongings are packed in giant plastic bins at the moment (I move to a new place on Friday!!).  Pie plates… packed.  Insert dutch oven.  Black pepper… where’d you go?  Insert crushed red pepper.

Roasted Garlic 2

I coated the pan and garlic with olive oil, sprinkled the trimmed garlic heads with salt and crushed red pepper, and roasted in a 375 degree oven for about an hour.  And what came out was a little bit of crack magic.  I polished off an entire head with crostini before heading to meet Molly, Anna, and Lauren.  And then I helped myself to a little more once girls’ night was in full effect.

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And… If you have a spare moment, please help me win a trip to Italy by voting for my “Share Your Taste for Italy” video!