Month: May 2010

Recipe: Three Easy Crostoni with Corn, Roasted Peppers, and Cheese

Recipe: Three Easy Crostoni with Corn, Roasted Peppers, and Cheese

  As much as I like to cook and make elaborate meals I often battle with an internal urge to be a lazy cook.  That is to say, like most working adults, I try to balance cooking great, from scratch, meals with the amount of time I spend in the kitchen.  When I’m feeling tired and do not want to […]

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Branzino with Feta, Parsley, and Red Onion Couscous and Sautéed Spinach with Garlic

Branzino with Feta, Parsley, and Red Onion Couscous and Sautéed Spinach with Garlic

When it comes to consuming food, a golden rule we aim to follow is centered on eating “whole foods”; namely, minimally processed from scratch food items.  For example, buying whole bean coffee (and roasting it yourself if possible) and grinding it before each use is better than buying a mega container of preground, and unforgiving, Folgers or Maxwell House and, […]

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Best of Money Carnival #52 : Practical Money Edition

Best of Money Carnival #52 : Practical Money Edition

(photo: while rice balls have nothing to do with personal finance, they are indeed delicious and contribute to a great quality of life!  Thanks A. Williams for sharing her Crispy coated Pesto Sausage Arancini with Mozzarella, served with Basil Pesto photo!) Welcome to the 52nd Best of Money Carnival! If you’re not familiar with the concept of a “blog carnival”, it’s simply a […]

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Recipe: Lavash Pizza

Recipe: Lavash Pizza

  (photo: left to right eggplant/feta/parsley, cheese and tomato sauce, red onion and mushroom lavash pizza) I love stumbling onto new food items. In fact, I encourage folks to pick up a few random items at their local market and try new recipes from time to time.  One such recent food stumble included a package of Lavash bread at a […]

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Scordo Pasta Challenge – #140 Strozzapreti with Tomato Sauce and Mozzarella

Scordo Pasta Challenge – #140 Strozzapreti with Tomato Sauce and Mozzarella

Strozzapreti is translated as “priest choker.”  The legend has it that the priests of  Emilia-Romagna and surrounding regions enjoyed the long pasta so much that they choked while eating it.  I can certainly understand eating Strozzapreti quickly as it is, indeed, a delicous pasta. I prepared our 500 grams of Rustichella Strozzapreti with tomato sauce and then added some finely chopped mozzarella.  I […]

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Scordo Pasta Challenge #92 Orecchiette with Mushrooms, Garlic, Broccoli, and Red Onion

Scordo Pasta Challenge #92 Orecchiette with Mushrooms, Garlic, Broccoli, and Red Onion

Orecchiette is the little pasta (or “little ear”, literally translated) that could; that is to say, at first glance the pasta shape from Apulia seems unremarkable, but when paired with vegetables it springs to life!  In southern Italy, Orecchiette are made by way of wheat flour and the traditional method includes pressing down on dime sized pieces of dough to get […]

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Wine Basics: Introduction to Wine Appreciation

Wine Basics: Introduction to Wine Appreciation

OK, so you know how sometimes you find a new love, maybe you start playing tennis on a given weekend in the Spring and have a realization about how invigorating it feels to drive a crisp forehand over the net or maybe, on a whim, you decide to try the local Sushi place and realize how nice raw salmon tastes […]

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Scordo Pasta Challenge #115 Ravioli with Mushroom Tomato Sauce

Scordo Pasta Challenge #115 Ravioli with Mushroom Tomato Sauce

Nothing says special occasion like ravioli!  You see, as a young lad, standard dry pasta shapes like penne, linguine, and rigatoni, made their way to my mother’s dinner table about 1x-2x per week.  However, whenever the regal ravioli made an appearance for lunch we knew it was a special day.   Ravioli were reserved for holidays or a special occasion such as a birthday […]

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Recipe: Homemade Roasted Peppers in Olive Oil, Basil, Garlic, and Dried Oregano

Recipe: Homemade Roasted Peppers in Olive Oil, Basil, Garlic, and Dried Oregano

I view homemade roasted peppers as the ultimate condiment; that is to say, you can include roasted peppers in your antipasto, sandwich, as a side with grilled meats, or even include them in your favorite grilled cheese sandwich or omelet.  Sound tasty; then stop buying the jarred stuff and make them at home!  Here’s the full ingredients list, including the items […]

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