Hey everyone! I know it's been a while but I haven't had money. I finally had just a little bit of money and I needed to cook. Honestly, it was a need. I bought some olive oil the other day and decided to separate some into a smaller bottle and added fresh garlic cloves. I also had a quarter of a box of pasta left and I really was feeling like some pasta. But I didn't make any the other day because, "I am trying to stay healthy and pasta is not healthy." So much for that idea! Today I was really hungry and we had some random stuff and I decided to check out my Rachel Ray cookbook and as I was looking at the pastas I said to myself, "Nope. I'm not gonna use a recipe because recipes are for chumps!" So I knew I needed some cheese and I wanted something tomato-ey. I also wanted some fresh herbs. I went to the store and I bought Asiago Cheese, Canned Tomatoes with Italian Seasoning in them, Organic Rosemary, Peaches, and Raspberries. I gave myself a budget which was $10 and I ended up spending 11 something. Pretty good I'd say.
When I got home I started cooking right away as if my life depended on it.
1st up was the pasta.
(Let the record show, I did not use any measuring cups or anything. These are just guesstimates.)
Jenny T's Pastachino
Ingredients:
A cup or so of Angel Hair pasta
1 sprig of my good friend, Rose Marie. (Rosemary)
About a half a cup of Asiago Cheese
Half of a medium onion
A 14.5 oz can of diced tomatoes with the seasonings
Olive oil infused with garlic
A pinch of Red Pepper flakes
And salt and pepper to taste
1st I started to boil the water and once the water came to a boil, I added the pasta to the water and I heated up the frying pan at about medium-high heat. To the frying pan I added about a tablespoon of the olive oil and let that get hot. Then I added the onion and as it started to cook I added a nice pinch of the chopped up rosemary. I could smell it right away. It smelled so sexy.
Once the onions turned slightly translucent I added the whole can of tomatoes.
Once that started to bubble I added some salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes. While this was cooking together I drained the pasta and added a little bit of canola oil to the pasta so it wouldn't stick together. I then grabbed about half of the asiago I had grated and added that to the tomatoes and onions. Once that got all melty, I added another pinch of rosemary and it gave the sauce more flavor. I turned it off and added half of the pasta to the tomatoes and onions.
Then I ate it.
It tasted really good. I could taste the onions and tomatoes and especially the rosemary. I added a little more of the asiago on top to make it pretty for the picture and plus I love cheese. For being pasta, it was quite light compared to what I usually make. When I make pasta I use lots of butter, oil, and cheese. But not this time. I tried to cut back on everything and this pasta turned out awesome. No exaggeration.
Then came time for dessert.
I have wanted to grill peaches for a while now. So I looked up grilled peaches at FoodNetwork.com and I came across a Bobby Flay recipe. But I didn't read much into it except that he used butter, cinnamon, and brown sugar. From that I made my own recipe.
Grilled Peaches and Raspberries
(Again, I did not measure anything out.)
Ingredients:
3 peaches
a handful of raspberries
1/2 cup of brown sugar
1 Tablespoon of ground cinnamon
a pinch of ground nutmeg
1/2 stick of butter
Heavy duty aluminum foil (better for grilling)
I started up the grill and away I went.
First I took the seeds out of the 3 peaches and cut the peaches into pieces of 8. So I quartered the peaches and cut each piece in half again. I sprayed the foil with some non stick cooking spray and put the peaches on the foil. I then added a small handful of raspberries. I sprinkled on some cinnamon and added the brown sugar. I then put 4 pads of butter on top of the fruit, cinnamon, and brown sugar. I decided to add a little bit of nutmeg because... well... Hey! Why not?
I wrapped it all up in the foil and put it onto the grill over indirect heat. I let the peaches cook for about 15 minutes then rotated them. I let them cook another 15 minutes and opened up the foil and checked them out. They were done and looked absolutely awesome. I did this all just randomly because I thought all of the flavors would go together like best friends that met in pre-school. And boy oh boy was I right.
I came in and served the peaches and melted berries to Michael, Jasmine, and my mom. Of course I tried some too even though I'm not crazy about peaches or fruit in general. I just thought it'd be a good idea.
We all tried it out and they thought it was really good but the sauce that it made reminded them of something. Michael said it'd be good on some kind of meat and Jasmine said it'd be good over ice cream. I then had a brain blast and grabbed my blender and sent Michael out to get vanilla ice cream because he's the best! I then puree'd the rest of the peaches and berry sauce until it was smooth. Michael came back and I put a little bit of the puree'd mixture over a couple scoops of ice cream.
Oh My God! It was soooooooo good! It was creamy and smooth and just a good idea all around.
Jasmine then proceeded to tell me how great of a friend I am and how she is really glad we are friends. I would love to cook for everyone someday and I promise that someday when I have my own restaurant, I will be inviting you all to eat at my restaurant. You won't be disappointed.
I hope you guys enjoyed this blog and sorry I go so long between blogs.
Any feedback just leave me a comment.
Live. Laugh. Eat.
