Tomato and Basil Spaghetti

Yes, this is a new post...
I really have to apologize, again, for being so distant...it's not you, it's me...

So. Yesterday I actually COOKED! Well, it was a quick, under 30 minutes easy meal before running out the door, but still. Last time I made a plate of pasta...I don't even know.
This is not really a "recipe", per say, but all things that match so well thrown together for a fresh little lunch:



Cooked spaghettini
Different colored tomatoes, cut in 4(or half if they're small...)
Garlic
Button mushrooms
Fresh basil(yes, the plant is still alive!!! and H-U-G-E!)
Olive oil and butter

Sautee the garlic and mushrooms in the butter and oil until it's semi-cooked. Preferably on medium heat and stir often so the garlic doesn't burn...Add the tomatoes, season with salt and pepper, cook for a few minutes until soft but not totally mushed. The idea is to keep the tomatoes chunky and looking like tomatoes, rather than sauce. Add basil at the end, throw in the pasta, stir to combine and voila. It's easy isn't it? Oh, and if you'd like you could drizzle a little olive oil on top, but I was a little generous with the oil in the beginning so I passed on the drizzle...



I should really start cooking again...

Millet salad with Mediterranean flavors...

It's summer time, almost, so there will be a lot of salads coming on this blog. This is one I made a few days ago but kept the pictures for a later post...one week later. I have a full time job now, food-related, so my cooking/baking time as gone WAY down! But I'm still around...
So this salad was thrown together after looking in the fridge and grabbing whatever was in there:

1 zucchini
3-4 button mushrooms
1 clove garlic
Leftover millet from last week "bread of the week"(about 1/2 cup was left...)
2-3 big pieces sundried tomatoes
BIG chunk feta cheese
about 1/4 cup roasted UNsalted sunflower seeds.

I started by sauteeing the zucchini, mushrooms and garlic in olive oil, with oregano(lots of it!!), salt, pepper, and paprika.
In a big bowl I mixed the cold millet, feta, sundried tomatoes and sunflower seeds with cracked black pepper. Didn't add salt because feta is pretty salty already...
I threw in the hot sauteed zucch's and 'shrooms to make the cheese soften a bit.
I then mixed in 1 tablespoon lemon juice and 2-3 tablespoons olive oil.

So fresh and delicious.



Only thing missing is a nice cold glass of white wine...

Onion and Chicken Soup with Mushrooms and Spinach.

Mother Nature is acting up today. April 27th, it's snowing. Personnaly I don't mind it so much because it is late april, it's gonna melt and tomorrow we'll be running in shorts again. But, today, it feels like late november. And in late november I make soups and stews and comforting hot meals. So the snow outside inspired me to make this awesome chicken soup loaded with onions and mushrooms. Earthy and delicate.



I already had cooked chicken in the freezer so I used that.
I started by sauteeing one big leek and one big yellow onion in oil and a little butter, for about 5 minutes. Then added about a cup of mushrooms and 2 cloves of garlic, salt, pepper, paprika, a bay leaf, couple sprigs of fresh thyme and dried chili flakes. Sauteed for another 2 minutes, added chicken stock(3 cups)and simmered until the onions were well cooked. About 15 minutes...
At the end I threw in the cooked chicken, 2 cups chopped baby spinach and 1/4 cup chives, let it all heat up and done!



With bread on the side, that's a pretty decent lunch.

I don't how to call this one...brown rice gratin? ok.. Brown Rice Gratin.

This is a perfect example of freestyle cooking. Tonight i had NO idea where I was going with this, I just kinda made this dish up as I was going along. I knew I wanted something with rice, brown rice, so as that was cooking I kinda startd chopping veggies with the intention of a stir fry, then I had the idea of turning it into a gratin. A little cheese never hurt anybody right? Everything tastes better with cheese anyway. So I think I ended up with something pretty darn good.



Here's how it happened:
First, I cooked the brown rice. Toasted it first in a bit of butter(unsalted butter!) and added 3 parts of water. I knew it was gonna be a little too much but that water can be used to add moisture to the stri fry. Meawhile, I shredded half a zucchini(it was a big zucchini...), chopped about 1/2 a cup of mushrooms. couple of green onions, clove of garlic and 1/2 cup flat leaf parsley. When the rice seemed to be almost done I started sauteing the veggies in grapeseed oil, added salt, pepper, paprika and cajun spices. As I had thought the rice was done with a little extra liquid at the bottom, I threw all that in and cokked for a few minutes. That would have been awsome on its own. But the cheese! So I threw the rice mix in an oven proof dish, mixed in a couple big pinches of parm in it, stirred and topped it with about 1/3 cup shredded Montrey Jack queso. In the oven at 425 for about 10 minutes to make the cheese melt,(in the meantime the dishes are done...)broil for 5 minutes to give it a crisp and voila! Oh and to be fancy I sprinkled dried parsley on top. Restaurant habits die hard...
Pretty good diner. Also, the brown rice and the cheese together make a complete protein, so it's a great vegetarian meal!

Breakfast potatoes.

Potatoes rock! I love them anytime of the day, but breakfast is, in my opinion, the best time to have them. Who can resist sauteed potatoes, really? It's a perfect side-dish to eggs. In restaurants they're usually deep-fried, but it's really easy to make them healthy and delicious without loading up on the fat. So it doesn't have to be a once in a while luxury anymore.
I make those 2-3 times a week. I'm Irish, after all, I gotta have my potatoes!



Ingredients(not really specific, i don't like measuring things unless it's for baking...):

-Potatoes, diced, one medium-size per person.(i keep the skin on but you could peel them if you'd like...)
-Mushrooms(potato's best friend if you ask me...), sliced, about 1/3-1/2 cup...
-Green onion, chopped, about 1/4 cup(1-2 onion...)
-Flat-leaf parsley, 1/4 cup or so, chopped roughly.
-Salt, pepper and paprika.
-1-2 TBSP canola oil

-Heat the oil med-high heat.
-Add potatoes, salt, pepper and paprika to taste. Toss so they get evenly coated.
-Cover, turn heat to medium.
-Cook about 5 minutes(could be more depending on the size of your potatoes, the smaller they are the faster they will cook), check for doneness and toss around to even the browning.
-Add mushrooms and onion, cook until everything is, well, cooked...
-Throw in the parsley at the end.
That's what I call some good potatoes!