This weekend, after 10 months of growing, I finally harvested my brussels sprouts, one of the first vegetables I planted in my garden. We yielded a little over 4 pounds, so it was time for me to find some new, delicious recipes to try out.

A while back I remembered seeing a pasta with brussels sprouts, and since I just picked up a box of Mother-In-Law’s Tongue at World Market (beautiful, striped pasta – like a candy cane, only better!), I thought this might be the perfect recipe to search out.

Unfortunately I couldn’t find the pasta I was thinking of, with shaved brussels sprouts, but admittedly, I didn’t try too hard because I stumbled upon this recipe at Martha Stewart for a pasta with bacon and brussels sprouts – one of my favorite pairings! (more…)

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Dinner, In the Garden, Italian by Courtney

Today I awoke to gray skies. While the temperature wasn’t too cold, there’s something about a gray day that makes you want to snuggle back under the covers and hibernate, watching old movies and keeping warm. So that’s basically what I did, only the covers were on the couch, so I could enjoy all of the Christmas decorations around the house.

I decided it would be the perfect day to feed the craving I’d been having for a vegetable soup in Lidia Bastianich’s book, Lidia Cooks from the Heart of Italy. I had made the recipe last year, and it was so full of flavor and so easy that it has stuck out in my mind as a “must make as soon as the weather turns cold” meal. (more…)

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Comfort food, Dairy free, Dinner, Gluten free, Italian, Lunch, Soups, Vegan, Vegetarian by Courtney

Remember the days of Food Network actually having shows with cooking? Ahhh, barely. Thinking of that is almost as nostalgic as the show this recipe came from. Tyler Florence had decided to create an ultimate rainy day menu, which consisted of chicken soup, grilled cheese, and brownies. All with a gourmet twist of course.

With our rainy weekend and cooler days, I decided to make a grilled cheese panino, layering fresh mozzarella, pesto, and tomatoes on Acme’s Herb Slab, then weighting it down to grill until the cheese was nice and oozy. (more…)

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Comfort food, Italian, Lunch, Vegetarian by Courtney

This may be my hands-down favorite quick-an-easy meal. It’s so good, in fact, that I often order it if it’s an option on a restaurant menu! There’s just something about the thin pieces of angel hair coated with garlic, olive oil, and tomatoes that gets me every time.

Recreating it at home is pretty easy, and can be done in a myriad of ways depending on what you have on hand. A must is having olive oil, angel hair (though it might be argued that you could use a thicker noodle), and garlic. To start, get your water going so it will be boiling when you need it (add a tablespoon of kosher salt once it begins boiling). Add a tablespoon or so of olive oil to a skillet over medium-low heat. Saute chopped garlic in the oil until it has released its flavors (I usually do two cloves for myself, but I love garlic). (more…)

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Dairy free, Dinner, Italian, Quick and Easy, Vegan, Vegetarian by Courtney

One of my favorite prepare-ahead meals is pizza. Every month or two, I make up a big batch of pizza dough (usually doubling or quadrupling the recipe I have for 2 12-inch rounds), and I portion those out into large size and individual size lumps that are frozen for later.

When I do this, I also like to cube up some mozzarella and portion it into baggies (generally around 5 – 8 ounces per bag) and make a few batches of pizza sauce, freezing those in individual baggies as well. At some point in the month or two, I end up poaching a bag of sauce here, a baggie of mozzarella there, and I end up with just the pizza dough. So there are a couple of go-to pizzas I make when missing the other ingredients. (more…)

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Dinner, Italian, Lunch, Pizza, Prep for Later Use, Vegetarian by Courtney