Shrimp & Broccoli Pasta with White Wine Sauce

One night last month, I was in the mood for some shrimp (This was after coming back from San Francisco, where I indulged in everything seafood.  I even had shrimp n' grits for breakfast one morning and it was fantastic!  I highly recommend Brenda's in SF for breakfast any day.) So, I went to the grocery store, bought a bag of frozen shrimp and experimented away.  This dish is so easy to cook and can be made into a healthy meal as well, minus all the parmesan cheese and butter (substitute olive oil for the butter).  Shrimp are great source of protein and low in fat.  However, they do have a high content of cholesterol, so for those of you conscious of your cholesterol intake, keep this in mind.  A  4 oz.  serving of shrimp contains 28% of your daily intake of vitamin B12, which helps to keep homocysteine levels in your body low.  This molecule, if high, can damage blood vessels and is also associated with cardiovascular disease.  Shrimp = happy blood vessels :)  And do I really have to mention the all the benefits of broccoli?  Cook away............

Ingredients
1/2 bag of frozen shrimp (cooked or uncooked)
1 head of broccoli or 1 bag frozen broccoli
1/2 - 3/4 cup white wine
Juice from 1/2 of a lemon
3 - 4 tbs. of butter (heart healthy - use olive oil)
2 cloves of fresh minced garlic
1/4 - 1/2 cup of parmesan cheese
Seasonings:  ground black pepper and sea salt to taste

1.  Place butter in sauce pan and melt.  Add minced garlic and seasonings.  Cook until you can smell the garlic, then add the white wine.  Next, add thawed shrimp and broccoli (only if shrimp are cooked).  Simmer for  7 - 10 minutes.  If shrimp are uncooked, make sure to cook thoroughly before adding broccoli.

2.  Cook until broccoli is slightly tender.  Next, add most of the parmesan cheese (leave a little to sprinkle on top of pasta, once it has been plated) and simmer for 5 minutes.

 3.  Serve with fettucini pasta and sprinkle with parmesan cheese!

Yum!

May the shrimp be with you (shout out to my bf),

L

Berry Oatmeal Crisp

What is there to say about desserts?  They're delicious, make your tummy happy, and they add the finishing touch to a meal.  I created this recipe out of my love for blueberries and oatmeal cookies. This is what happened:

Blueberry & Raspberry Oatmeal Crisp

Berry Filing

1 1/2 cups of fresh blueberries

1 - 1 1/2 cups of fresh raspberries

1/2 - 3/4 cup granulated sugar

Oatmeal Cookie Crisp

1 cup of Quaker oats
4 tbs. of flour (optional, to make it more cookie-like)

1 stick of unsalted butter

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease an 8 x8 glass baking dish.  

2.  Combine berries and sugar in bowl and let set for 5 - 10 minutes until syrup forms.

3.  In separate bowl, combine softened unsalted butter, oats, and sugars.  Mix until a dough forms.  Press half of the dough in the bottom of the dish and bake for 15 minutes.

4.  Remove baking dish from oven, and pour berry mixture on top of oatmeal layer, spreading evenly.  Next, sprinkle the remaining dough over the top of the berry mixture and bake for an additional 20 - 30 minutes or until the berry mixture is bubbling over the oatmeal crisp.

5.  Allow berry crisp to cool until edible.  Serve in a bowl with a scoop of vanilla ice cream!

Love & Pesto: The Signature Dish

I know it's been a while since my last post, but here it is, Love & Pesto's Signature Dish...my favorite!

P.S. I promise to make more posts this year!  Lots of new recipes to come.

Pesto Pasta with Herb Chicken

The Pesto

3 - 4 cloves of garlic
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
2 1/2 - 3 cups fresh basil leaves
1/4 - 1/3 cup roasted pine nuts
1/4 - 1/3 cup olive oil (this depends on how thin or thick you want your pesto to be)
1/2 tbs. of cracked black pepper
1/2 tbs. of garlic salt

1.  Add the basil leaves, 1/4 cup olive oil, cracked black pepper & garlic salt, and garlic cloves to your mixer or blender.

2.  Pulse 4 to 5 times for 5 seconds each.  Next, add half of the parmesan cheese to the mixer.  Mix on low for 10-20 seconds until blended.  Add the rest of the parmesan cheese and any additional olive oil that you may need.  Mix on low for another 10-20 seconds.

3.  Next, I add the roasted pine nuts to the pesto mixture.  At this point, you can either blend the pesto throughly or you can blend it lightly, leaving chunks of pine nuts in the pesto sauce (I like to taste the pine nuts in my pesto, so I leave it slightly chunky).

I usually make my pesto before I even start cooking the chicken, that way, it can sit and all the flavors can come together.

I love the color of pesto and of course, the taste!

Herb Chicken

4 skinless chicken breasts
4 - 5 cloves garlic
Fresh oregano and basil leaves (about a handful of each)
Olive oil
1/2 - 1 tsp. of each:  fresh cracked black pepper, garlic salt, & red pepper
1/2 cup of parmesan cheese, freshly grated of course!

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2.  While the oven is heating, prepare pans by lining with aluminum foil (makes for easy clean up) and drizzle olive oil to coat the bottom of the pan.  Place chicken breasts in pan and drizzle some of the olive oil on top.  Next, add the spices and herbs to the top of the chicken, making sure to add enough to each piece.  Lastly, sprinkle the parmesan cheese on top.  This helps trap in all the spices and herbs on the chicken, so they can flavor it as it bakes.

3.  Cook chicken 50 minutes covered and 10 minutes uncovered at 350 degrees.

Garrison's Garlic Bread  --- This recipe won my heart ;)

Fresh oregano & basil
4 - 6 cloves of garlic (chopped)
Unsalted butter
Red pepper, ground black pepper, sea salt
1/2 cup of parmesan cheese
French loaf or artisan bread

1. Slice bread loaf in half lengthwise.  Place halves on baking sheet and spread the unsalted butter on top.  Next, layer the chopped garlic cloves and herbs/seasonings.  Sprinkle parmesan cheese on top.

2.  Bake at 350 degrees until cheese is melted.

Yum!

Finally, plate your dish and enjoy with a glass of red wine!

* Note: I usually put more pesto on my pasta than this, but Garrison was here and I was so distracted by my excitement that I cooked too many noodles...opps! However, it was still delicious as ever.


- Buon appetito! -

A little history  -  Pesto originally came from Linguria on the Lingurian Sea in Northern Italy. The mineral-rich seaside terrain is ideal for growing various types of vegetation, thus making the Lingurian diet one of the healthiest in Italy.  Basil thrives and grows in abundance here, along with garlic and pine nuts which were combined to make Pesto Alla Genovese.

Spicy Pan-Seared Tilapia with Green Beans

I have less than 7 days until I see my boyfriend, so it's time to buckle down on my exercise and eating habits this week!  I love this dish specifically, because it is packed with lean protein (22g to be exact).  I especially enjoy eating fish because of all the healthy benefits, such as omega-3 fatty acids and lean protein.  My absolute favorite is salmon, either grilled or broiled, with lemon and spices (recipes to follow in later posts!).  Tilapia has recently become one of my favorites this year because of its light flavor and the ease with which it can be prepared.  For all those out there who usually shy away from cooking fish because of the smell or you don't like the taste of fish, this is one recipe worth trying.  It can be cooked in the broiler or a pan and is ready in a matter of minutes.  I usually buy the frozen tilapia loins at Costco, which can last for up to a couple of weeks.

Grocery List:

Frozen Tilapia Loins

Fresh green beans

Seasonings =  cheyenne pepper, paprika, red pepper, cracked black pepper and garlic (dried or fresh) for the green beans

Tomatoes for a tomato salad (I added this to the dish because we had some left over from our farmer's market trip)

Kirkland Frozen Tilapia Loins from Costco

For starters, I place about 2 tbs. of olive oil (or grapeseed oil, depending on my mood that day) into a frying pan on medium heat.  Next, I add my seasonings (cheyenne pepper, black pepper, and red pepper -about 1/2 tps. of each) to the oil and once the oil has heated up, I place my loins in the pan.  On the top side of the tilapia, I again, add more seasonings.  Cook each loin for 4 minutes on each side until a light brown crust forms.  

While my tilapia is cooking, I add 2 tbs. of olive oil to another pan along with about 1/2 tbs. of cracked black pepper and 1/2 - 1 tbs. of garlic (1 - 2 cloves).  Then, I place my fresh green beans (wash and cut off tops & tails first) into the pan  and cook for about 5-10 minutes until desired tenderness is reached - I like my green beans to still have a little crunch to them.  

As a side for this particular night, I cut up some tomatoes and served them on the side with a little cracked black pepper and sea salt.  This dish would also go great with a side of rice or quinoa as well.  

Enjoy!

- L -

Almond Crusted Chicken with Spinach-Tomato Sauté

I am really excited about this dish!  It's one of the those dishes that sends your taste buds into a flavor frenzy.....my mouth was literally watering from the smell of this chicken while it was cooking.  When I came home from work last night, I thought to myself, "Restaurants serve macadamia nut crusted fish, so why not cook almond crusted chicken?" In turn, this dish was born and needless to say, I put a little dent in my Costco size bag of almonds :)  


Ingredients:


2 boneless, thinly-sliced chicken breasts
Grapeseed oil (I like switching off between olive oil and grapeseed oil because of their different tastes)
5 water crackers (unsalted, plain), crushed
2 - 2 1/2 handfuls of almonds, chopped
Yellow and red tomatoes (I buy these from the farmer's market because I love the color and taste of the tomatoes I find there)
Organic spinach (1/2 a container)
Rice blend (brown, red, and wild rice)
2-3 cloves of fresh garlic
Seasonings = Mediterranean spice blend and white pepper for the chicken, cracked pepper for the spinach and tomatoes


1.  Crush 5 water crackers onto a plate.  They do not need to be finely crushed, some chunks are okay.  They will crisp up on the chicken, leaving a nice crust.  Next, add chopped almonds and spices to the plate of crushed crackers.  Rub grapeseed oil onto chicken breasts and roll in cracker/almond mix, coating generously.

2.  Chop up fresh garlic (1 -2 cloves) and place in a frying pan with 1/4 cup of grapeseed oil.  Cook on medium heat until you can smell the aroma of garlic.  Then, place chicken breasts in pan and cook 5 minutes a side or until crust is golden brown.

3.  Meanwhile, cut up tomatoes and place in frying pan with 2 tbs of grapeseed oil, fresh garlic (1 clove), and cracked.  Cook on medium heat until tomatoes are warm and soft.  Once soft, add 1/2 container or more spinach and sauté until spinach leaves are slightly wilted, but still bright green in color (about 2-5 minutes depending on how much spinach you use). 

4.  Once chicken and spinach are cooked, serve over rice and enjoy!   
(I proudly showed off my creation to my boyfriend, who was drooling over skype!)

Happy thought for the day:  Less than 2 weeks until I see my boyfriend! Hun- I can't wait to cook for you when you're here!  

Happy cooking,

L

Chicken & Vegetable Noodle Soup

I thought that I would start my first post by giving my recipe for chicken & vegetable noodle soup, given the recent cooler weather we experienced this past week.  It's perfect for those cool fall days when you want to curl up in a blanket, watch a classic movie (my favorites are anything with Audrey Hepburn, Carey Grant, or Humphrey Bogart), and indulge in a bowlful of warm soup.


Ingredients  
*amounts of each ingredient may vary depending on your preference*


1 - 1 1/2 cups of chopped celery
1/4 - 1/2 onion, diced
2 cups chopped baby carrots
2 tomatoes, diced
1/2 - 2/3 cup frozen organic sweet peas (optional) - I like them for the color and sweetness they give.
2/3 bag of egg noodles
1 container of organic, low-sodium chicken broth (you can make this yourself if you have the time)
2 large chicken breasts, cooked (Costco and the grocery store also have great roasted whole chickens that are perfect for adding to this soup if you are on a time constraint and want to speed up the preparation process)
Seasonings (amounts vary due to taste, but usually I put 1 - 1 1/2 tsp of each):  cracked black pepper, ground coriander, italian seasoning blend, fresh rosemary, paprika and cheyenne pepper (a couple dashes of each)


1.  Place a soup pot over medium heat with 1 - 2 tbs of olive oil and add spices. Next, add the celery and onion. Cook and stir until onions are slightly clear.

2.  Add carrots to the celery and onion mixture. Then, add enough chicken broth to cover the vegetables. During this time, I always add a little more of my spices because I love the flavor. Bring to a boil. Once broth has started to boil, add the rest of the chicken broth and add 2 1/2 - 3 cups water. Boil until carrots are halfway cooked. Next, I add the diced tomatoes and chicken to soup. Let simmer for about 7-10 minutes until carrots are slightly soft. At this point, I always taste the broth to make sure my flavors have all come together.

3.  Add 1/2 - 2/3 of a bag of egg noodles to the soup and let boil until noodles are soft, but not mushy. Serve in a soup bowl and enjoy! 

I always make a big pot of this soup and bring the leftovers to work for lunch.....yum!

Happy cooking,

L