Summer Spaghetti

Fresh ingredients. Vegetarian & Light. Summer spaghetti. Yum!

This is how it all began:
About a month ago, my students and I harvested these beautiful tomatoes from our school garden. (No, these tomatoes aren't a month old... it just took me this long to finally post about it)

 

A variety of tomatoes...Basil, peas and carrots too!  

We harvested so many that I think each child took home at least 15 tomatoes and I ended up with the extras. I was happy to take them home and see what I could come up with.

Think, think, think. Basil in my garden.  Fresh picked tomatoes. Pasta in pantry. Easy peasy, a summer spaghetti was on its way.  

I still wanted to add something to it... so I searched my fridge. I found a container of unopened non-fat cottage cheese. I bought it thinking that I might convince myself to try it finally, but I hadn't touched it. I decided to turn it into a "ricotta" for my spaghetti.

Here's how to make this easy, vegetarian meal!

Summer Spaghetti 
(serves 2)
1/2 box of your favorite spaghetti noodle, I used brown rice spaghetti
10 grape tomatoes
1 clove garlic, minced
3-4 leaves of fresh basil
Extra virgin olive oil

"Ricotta"
4 oz. non-fat cottage cheese
1 tsp oregano
Juice from 1/2 lemon
Salt & Pepper

First things first, get your pasta going. Next, take the cottage cheese and oregano and blend together. Add in juice from lemon until you've reached desired consistency. Season with salt & pepper and set "ricotta" aside.

Once the pasta is cooking and cheese is ready, slice your tomatoes lengthwise. Heat 2 Tbsp evoo in a pan and toss in garlic. Saute on low for 1 minute. Toss in sliced tomatoes and saute until tomatoes begin to soften.  Roll basil leaves into a cigar like shape and slice basil into thin strips, set aside.

When tomatoes are softened to desired consistency (I like mine on the crunchier side), add pasta to pan with tomatoes & garlic. Saute all together for 1 minute. Remove from heat and stir in basil.  Serve in bowls and top with a dollop of cheese mixture!   Enjoy!

Cheers,
Belle

Cumin-Lime Pasta Salad

      Whipped this little bad boy up today for lunch. Pasta salad is a favorite of mine on a hot day. I gave it a little mexican flair and ta-da, new flavors and reinvented salad.  Perfect for a picnic, a warm summer evening or heck...whenever you want to eat it!

Cumin-Lime Pasta Salad

Salad
1 package Corn Penne Pasta (you can use any pasta, I was giving the gluten-free, corn pasta a try)
1 can black beans, rinsed & drained
1 tomato, chopped or sliced
6-8 mini bell peppers, sliced
1 avocado, half cubed and half sliced
1 ear of corn, grilled and kernels cut off (this was my vision, I didn't make it to the store for corn)
Crumbled cotija cheese 

Cumin-Lime Dressing
1/2 extra virgin olive oil
2 limes, zested & juiced
1 tbsp agave/honey
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder
Salt & Pepper

  

While the pasta is cooking, chop, drain and prep salad ingredients

 

Then work on the dressing - add oil & cumin in a bowl

 

Zest & juice your limes,  add 1 Tbsp agave

 

Whisk ingredients together and add chili powder, salt & pepper to taste

Toss it all together. Serve with sliced avocado and crumbled cotija on top. yummo!

Super easy and light for a summer meal.

Cheers, 

Belle

Bacon Wrapped Figs

Dear Stomach, you're welcome. 

Have you ever had a fig picked fresh off its tree?   If not, take my word for it... it will change your world. Okay, maybe not your world - but it will change your mind about figs.

 My parents have a Black Mission Fig tree in their backyard and lucky for me, the tree bears a lot of fruit. Last year when I realized how delicious dates were, I gave figs a try also.

 mmmmm mmmmm.  So good! 

I was heading to a birthday party a few weekends ago and wanted to bring a yummy snack to share with the group. The group loves food as much as I do, so I wanted to really bring something fab.

And thus, bacon wrapped figs came to fruition.

 Look for figs with firm and greenish-dark skin, no breaks in the skin and no little fruit flies!

It is important to pick figs that aren't too ripe - you want a little green still 

so the fruit stays firm while handling and cooking.

 A few figs were up higher in the tree, I coaxed my mom to get them for me... Where did she go?

 Give those suckers a little rinse, pat dry gently with towel.

 Ta-Da!

 Trim hard stem just a bit and slice those beauties in half

 Scoop some of the seeds out, to make a teeny boat for the cheese.

 Spoon in about 1/2 Tbsp of goat cheese into the fig, and wrap it up with bacon!

 Broil, bake on a rack or BBQ until bacon is crispy and brown

 The combination of sweet & savory will knock your socks off!

Bacon Wrapped Figs

14-16 black mission figs

1 lb bacon

4 oz goat cheese 

1. Rinse fresh figs of sticky "sap" and yuckiness

2. Trim the hard part off the stem of the fig

3. Slice figs in half lengthwise

4. Scoop out a bit of the seeds to make a hollow space for cheese

5. Fill hole with as much or as little goat cheese as you want

6. Slice bacon strips in half, lengthwise

7. Wrap bacon around fig 

8. Bake on a rack at 400 degrees for 20 minutes, or grill on BBQ to allow fat to drip and bacon to get crunchy! 

9. Take a big bite of amazingness

10. Repeat

Happy 4th of July!

 Patriotic Moonstone Cookies

 Patriotic Pudding Pops, half eaten... mmmm...

Happy Birthday America!

Grilled Grilled Cheese

What is that goodness, you ask?  A grilled, grilled cheese. sigh.

My friend and neighbor loves to grill. A few weekends ago I think he told me made every meal of the day on his BBQ. He's good at it and having fun experimenting with things to grill. So I had a bunch of leftover charcuterie that I had decided I wanted to make into "grilled" grilled cheese sandwiches.  

I tossed out the idea to Jeff and we had a new feast for dinner.

(1) Butter up your bread on both sides    (2) Piece together some amazing sandwiches

First up... brie, grilled onions and peppered beef round

Next... peppered turkey, brie and bacon. Yowza!

(Note: the bacon was also cooked on the grill)

Salami on a grilled cheese?! eeeh, why not!? 

A white wine & garlic salami and a peppered salami with brie.

  

Hiding in the top corner was the fourth and final sandwich... 

Peppered beef, new york cheddar and spinach

     

 Pop 'em on the grill

Oopsy, one got a little burned - I actually like it that way!

Then we cut them into little slices so we could try them all! Poor little burned toasties.

Dipped in homemade tzatziki. 

I wanted more...

 and more...

and more... 

The possibilities are endless here. Interested to know, if you were to create a grilled cheese sandwich, what would it be?

Homemade Tzatziki

Summer is beginning to creep through the May gray. BBQs are grilling. 

Fresh cold beverages quench our thirst. It's time for a cool, zingy dip.

Homemade Tzatziki

16 oz greek yogurt

2-3 cloves garlic

1 lemon (juice & zest)

1 English cucumber
1 Tbsp fresh, chopped dill

Salt & Pepper

Place greek yogurt, garlic cloves, zest from half the lemon and juice from entire lemon in food processor. Pulse until mixed well.  

Cut cucumber in half, scoop out seeds. Thinly slice cucumber.

Place half of the sliced cucumbers & dill into food processor. Pulse until cucumbers are chopped but not smooth.  (I like my tzatziki a little chunky) Salt & pepper to taste.  Then stir in remaining sliced cucumbers.  Dip away!

      Add more or less garlic & lemon zest depending on your preference

I like the English cucumbers, since you don't have to peel them. Persian cucumbers are great too for this dip! If you prefer a smoother texture, pulse all cucumbers into mix.

Enjoy with chopped vegetables for a snack, dipped with crackers or on a spinach salad!