.a little help from pre-made.

So, I like to cook things from scratch. I like to involve sauces of my own making. I dig that kind of stuff.

Sometimes though, it's nice to have things that you can just throw into a pot and make a delicious meal with. Sometimes I don't want to spend an extra 20 minutes making pesto.

This recipe is great for those times. My aunt made it for me once and gave me the recipe and tonight is a perfect night to use it. I'm still kind of on vacay mode. Plus, my cute little basil plant, that my awesome mother-in-law gave to me, is kind of... um.... dying a little bit..... Sorry Chris! My green thumb needs a lot of work.... and by that I mean probably a brand new green thumb cause I don't have one at all. Is there such thing as basil cpr?



Pesto Ravioli with Chicken serves 4
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cubed
1 tbsp olive oil
1 zucchini
1 red bell pepper
5 button mushrooms
1-2 cups chicken broth
9 ounces frozen ravioli
4 ounces pesto (basil or sun-dried tomato)

Heat oil in a large saute pan. Add chicken, cook for 4 minutes. Add zucchini, red bell pepper and mushrooms, cook for another 4 minutes. Remove from the skillet. Place ravioli and chicken broth in skillet, bring to boil then simmer for 4 minutes. Add chicken and vegetables back to skillet for 3 minutes. Remove from heat, mix with pesto.

I think I just love anything with pesto but this dish is super flavorful. Another really good thing about it is the fact that it's a one dish meal, with an added bowl to hold the cooked chicken and veggies.

Cook on!

.home, home, home.

The man and I just got home from good ol' Columbus, GA (actually it's kind of a craphole- no offense). He was there for work for the week, hence no recipes to share with y'all. Over all it was a good time though. We did some geocaching, we ate some tasty food, I had some awesome beer at the Cannon Brewpub in the historic downtown district, along the riverwalk and the whole week was kind of a nice break from our little small town.

But now, our poor neglected cat has stolen my spot in bed next to my husband and I intend to win it back.

Recipes to come soon! Goodnight!

Cook on!

.halloween fun.

Ok. Let me start by saying, I am SO disappointed! The man and I did tons of Halloween decorating, (and by tons I mean we decorated two pumpkins) then we bought a metric ton of candy (and by that I mean one bag) and then no trick or treaters came to our house!!! Argh! Little brats!

Anyways, the upside to this is that we have kick ass pumpkins, a boat load of candy and..... roasted pumpkin seeds!

It came to my attention that not everyone has had the Halloween upbringing that I did. Perhaps it has something to do with having an October birthday? Regardless, the Man had never carved a pumpkin before in his life! Never! I was shocked and appalled and hell bent on fixing this at once.

Here are the fruits of our labor.

Now, I know what you're thinking. "Aw, he did a cute little kitty cat for his first ever pumpkin." And you would be wrong. He spent three labor intensive hours carving a negative space piece of gourd art. And I made the shitty cat face.

He told me, "If I'm going to do something, I'm going to do it right." So, there it is. Yoda's head. In all its shining glory. We have already decided next year we will be doing multiple large pumpkins in a Star Wars theme. That is his request.

I also realized my Halloween fortune when a friend asked what to do with those pesky little pumpkin seeds. When I was a kid we would carve pumpkins every year and then roast the seeds to snack on over the next few days. A little kick of salt helps keep that sugar coma at bay.

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds
The seeds of one or two pumpkins
1-2 tsp olive oil
Salt, chili powder, garlic powder for taste

Start by separating the pulp and guts from the seeds. This takes awhile but I found it was easiest to do it in the sink with two large mixing bowls. Wash the seeds and dry them slightly with a paper towel.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Toss the seeds with olive oil then spread them out on a baking sheet in a single layer. Sprinkle them with the salt, garlic salt and chili powder, or whatever spices you would prefer. Bake them for 25 minutes or so, checking and stirring them after 10 minutes.

Cook on!

.hey y'all.

So, there hasn't really been much fun happening in my kitchen for the last few days. Lots of egg salad sandwiches, easy pasta, crackers with cheese, and then we ate out for sushi..... yeah. I love to cook but sometimes a few days go by when we're happy eating sandwiches for dinner. This week has been one of those times.

I will add though, that a boca burger (vegan original), cooked with a teaspoon of olive oil in a saute pan, topped with an egg cooked over-medium (you know, not over-easy but not quite over-hard), with a dash of salt is pretty much the most delicious post-workout food ever.

Go on. Go try it. I promise.

Cook on!