Hey, there.

I was delighted to hang out with my friend, Laura, a few days back. (Hey, Laura!!) She teaches kindergarten in a wondrous land where overhead projectors are given names like Mr. Magic Box. On top of that, Mr. Magic Box only comes out to play if you chant his name. What are your favorite kindergarten memories? One of my favorites was when Charles (bless his soul) came out of the classroom bathroom with his pants around his ankles. In, fact, not only was “it” all out there, but poor Charles hadn’t finished peeing yet. I digress.

I’m not in the mood for anything too flowery tonight. Just some simple meals, as usual. I had this Bear Naked cereal sample, and while I enjoyed the banana chips, it didn’t wow me. I prefer their wonderful granolas, but this cereal was ok, too. Nice to have a lighter alternative to their granola.

This I whipped up while the hubz was working. I got basil galore from the garden and made walnut pesto to coat buckwheat doonles! Anyone else ever heard them called doonles? I baked some eggplant and made some cheesy ciabatta and called it a meal! It was tasty and I had pesto pasta leftovers!

For those who watch the Office: Can you believe Jim and Pam’s wedding is next week?! What did you think of tonight’s episode? I still want the Stanley drama to unfold!

I’m so tired that this disjointed post is going to need to be wrapped up! Hope you’re having a lovely week!

Well hello hello!  My posts are obviously more infrequent these days…sorry!  There just isn’t enough time in the day!  I’m up for the gym at 5, off to work at 7, home at 6 and then by the time I get dinner on the table all I want to do is drink wine and watch something mindless on the tube.  Where does blogging fit in?! 

Anywho, when I look back on all of my eats to share with y’all, I feel like everything I have been eating is green!  Green smoothies for breakfast, spinach wraps for lunch, pestos, basil dressings, salads, zucchini…etc. etc.

On a side note, one NON green thing I picked up the other day at the store absolutely made my weekend!  HONEY CRISP apples are back in season!!  These are my absolute favorite apples (even though they are ridiculously expensive…story of my life) and I could not have been more excited to see them reappear in the grocery store!  I most definitely stocked up.

So back to the greeniness, I’ll share a few of my best (though not always the most photographic) green eats:

1) Walnut Pesto: I whipped this up for a pasta dish early last week.  Simply walnuts, basil, olive oil, salt, pepper, parmesan.  Walnuts are a great alternative to pine nuts for pesto!  Don’t fear the fatty nut.  They actually contain more omega-3s than other nuts (good for your heart!), will keep you fuller longer, and… not to mention they are an aphrodesiac (I swear, I read it in Women’s Health this weekend)!  I ended up using this pesto later in the week for steamed dumplings using Nasoya wraps.  They didn’t look that appetizing, but man were they delicious!!  I just stuffed the wrapping papers with a spoonful of pesto and dropped them gently into a pot of boiling water until they rised to the top.

2) A lower calorie avocado?  I’m still a little undecided about this find.  I bought it at Fresh Market because I was curious as to how a lighter avocado would taste.  It’s much less creamy and rich tasting than a regular avocado, but it does serve the same purpose as far as salads and smoothies.  I’d still rather have the full fat, regular avocado, personally.

3) Zucchini chips.  I adapted my own version from this recipe from Cooking Light.  I used almond milk instead of skim, so they were slightly sweet, and wheat germ and flaxseed instead of breadcrumbs, since I didn’t have any on hand.  Also, I didn’t measure any of the ingredients…just used my eyeballs as measuring tools!  These tasted sinfully good.

topped w. leftover guac from National Guac Day and more green: lime juice!

4) And finally…a green bottle of wine!  On a mission to supply y’all with great wine suggestions between $8 and $10, and never over $15, I asked for a recommendation at the liquor store on a light red.  The result? 

This delicious bottle of Spanish red table wine is fruity and very drinkable.  While a bit acidic tasting at first sip, let it breathe for a few minutes and it will be just right!  And the best part…

It’s $8.99!  Wine on a dime for sure!

Well, it’s off to bed for me!  I just finished watching Gossip Girl and now it’s time to hit the hay.  Is anyone else disappointed by the show’s transition into college?  I’m not getting sucked in like i have been with past seasons.  That’s ok though because my roommates and I are already 100% sucked in to Mad Men.  I am officially addicted.  We have watched all but the season finale of Season One (yes, we are a little behind…), which we plan on watching later this week and I am having withdrawls…I just can’t wait!  Does anyone else watch this show?! 

Hope y’all have amazing weeks!  Goodnight!

Thanks to Ben for my new header! I wasn’t in a rush today, but my lunch was still super fast. I made a delicious gazpacho with barley which I will give a semi-recipe for below! I don’t measure very often, so the amounts listed are approximate!

Gazpacho with Barley and Carrot

4 Very ripe tomatoes

4 medium carrots

3 tbsp chopped cilantro

1 tsp garlic powder

Sprinkle of red pepper flakes

1 cup pearled barley, dry

Blend all but the barley in the food processor or blender. Add cooked barley. Chill before serving.

Optional: pair with a delicious grilled cheese sandwich!

The hubs made us grilled havarti, tomato, and basil sandwiches which went perfectly with the gazpacho.

Perhaps you’ve noticed an increase in my cilantro use as of late? Well, my cilantro in the garden is now a giant bush! I went at it with some scissors and a food processor and made some cilantro pesto as well. I love it! It’s got some serious umph!

Cilantro pesto

The last of my feta crumbles

Tons of cilantro, washed

Walnuts

Splash of olive oil

FP, do your thing!

I’m loving some summer foods! We have to get lots of ‘em in before summer’s over! Tonight…more grilled corn! Yum!!

This morning was cool and breezy with cloudy skies. I can’t believe this weather in late July!! It’s fabulous and so relaxing. Breakfast was some Go Lean Crunch with frozen fruit leftover from the wedding and fresh blackberries with nilla soymilk.

I made some delicious pesto, using my favorite recipe with walnuts and fresh basil from the garden. I made it in the food processor which took about 5 seconds! I love that thing. Best wedding gift by a long shot .

Ciabatta topped with fresh walnut pesto and slices of Meditteranean zucchini

This was a very tasty lunch. I’m watching the Tour de France now, having returned from lots of errands this morning. It’s still just in the mid-70s today! I’ve got to get some exercising and cleaning in today.

In other news, I found the deal of the decade. I stumbled upon a $.25 organic bar at the grocery store the other day. I kid you not, these bars were discounted to a quarter.

AND….they are made by Larabar! I had never tried a Jamfrakas bar, but for 25 cents each, I dumped the rest that were on the shelves into my bag! This banana chocolate blastocrisp bar is pretty tasty. These are not as dense as your typical larabars due to organic rice puffs in the mix. Thus, they are crispy! But, we all know how good the naner and chocolate combo is. They are promoted as kids bars, but that doesn’t hold me back! I am contemplating including some of these in my first giveaway! Have a wonderful day, everyone!

]]> http://kissmyspatula.com/2009/06/04/walnut-pesto/ Fri, 05 Jun 2009 01:11:38 +0000 kms http://kissmyspatula.com/2009/06/04/walnut-pesto/ http://stitchandboots.wordpress.com/2009/05/20/walnut-pesto/ Wed, 20 May 2009 02:17:38 +0000 stitchy1 http://stitchandboots.wordpress.com/2009/05/20/walnut-pesto/

This is just about the easiest sauce to make. It’s also quite fast.   If you weren’t aware of it, you may like to know that walnuts are rich in the fatty acids every health guru has been going on and on about lately. The Omega-3’s.   So this is a healthful dish. Will this cost you many points in calories? Heck yeah. But if you only eat a cup of it, and the pasta is home made, the points are not wasted on your hips.

Here’s what you do to make it:

Put the following ingredients in your food processor;
1 1/2 cups lightly toasted walnuts
3 medium garlic cloves (roughly chopped)
1 tsp salt
freshly ground pepper to taste

Pulverize the heck out of it. When it’s all ground up, slowly add:
3 Tbsp olive oil

When you’ve got a smooth paste, add about 1/4 cup boiling water.

Add it to 16 oz  hot cooked pasta of your choice.  (You can use half the walnut sauce on the 16 oz of pasta if you like a real light coating of sauce, or you can use it all.  I prefer more sauce.)

Recipe Note: You can add a little of the pasta cooking water to the sauce to make it even creamier.  I always add a liberal amount of parmesean to each serving but it is delicious without the cheese.  An excellent accompaniment to this dish are roasted vegetables, my favorite being roasted asparagus.

Basil is beyond bountiful again in my garden. Last time (just a few weeks ago) I managed to chop up and freeze a good-sized load of it in ice cube trays. I found out that if I really pack the cubes, I get a tablespoon of basil into each square. Perfect quantities for soups or sauces, when the occasion arises. I also made a batch of the incredible maple-basil balsamic vinaigrette that I can’t stop eating. Stuff like that seems too good to also be good for you.

Here’s something else that’s good for you. I decided to whip up a batch of pesto this time, since it’s the only way to reliably use up decent quantities of basil. In my eagerness to harvest the best of my herbs, however, I picked far too many and as a result I made two batches – it worked out to 3 generous cups, or one for the week and two for the freezer. Naturally, the first has already been polished off tidily. This recipe - which substitutes easier-to-find, superfood walnuts for the expensive pine nuts - is adapted from Biba’s Italian Kitchen – perhaps a sign of my renewed obsession with all things Italian, at least culinarily speaking. (I made her recipe for potato gnocchi the other day too, but that’s another, very lumpy, story). In terms of ratios of ingredients, pesto recipes run the gamut. This one seems to me to have the right balance of basil, oil, nuts, garlic and cheese. I did omit the salt on the second round though – there was plenty of it in the parmesan cheese.

Walnut Pesto

2 cups loosely packed fresh basil leaves

1/2-3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil (I went for a little less to keep the consistency thicker)

1/3 cup shelled, chopped walnuts (since I was using a food processor, I sort of skipped the chopping part and just filled the cup a bit more to compensate for the size of the nuts)

2 garlic cloves

salt to taste

1/4 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

Put all the ingredients in the bowl of a food processor and process until smooth, scraping down the bowl in between as needed. Set aside or refrigerate (or freeze) until ready to use. Makes about 1 cup.

I found that “sealing” the sauce with a thin layer of olive oil before storing in the fridge or freezer helps prevent the rapid discoloration that happens once basil is cut and exposed to light. My batches came out a bit more than a cup each. Not that I’m complaining about ending up with more pesto than predicted.

Mangia!