Paccheri with Shrimp in a Tomato White Wine Sauce, by Cheryl

Oh paccheri, how I love you! This is my favorite pasta and I fell in love with it during my time in Naples. I also fell in love with their classic white wine tomato sauce. I can't ever seem to replicate it as well as they do, but this dish definitely brought me back. I loveee it. Yum!

Ingredients: 

1 package paccheri

1 8oz container of grape tomatoes

1 cup white wine

1 onion, chopped

A couple tbsp minced garlic

A couple handfuls of spinach

1 lb shrimp, seasoned

Salt

Olive oil

Directions:

1) Cook pasta according to directions.

2) Meanwhile, heat some olive oil over medium heat. Add the onions and cook until softened. Add the white wine, tomatoes, and garlic and simmer, mixing occasionally until sauce thickens. 

3) Cook shrimp in separate pan and then add to the sauce. 

4) Pour everything over the pasta. 

Kid Friendly Vegetarian Pasta Carbonara, by Cheryl

So this is NOT a carbonara dish, but the sauce is made from eggs, cream cheese, and butter, but has no bacon so that's the name I put with it. My sister-in-law makes this often for her kids and once I tried it I knew it was the best comfort food for me and a yummy dish for the kids! Super easy and delicious! Yum!

Ingredients:

1 box rotini or macaroni

A couple of eggs

Cream cheese

Butter

Salt for taste

Directions:

1) Cook pasta according to box directions.

2) After straining the pasta, mix with the rest of the ingredients until creamy. 

Orechiette with Bacon, Lemon, and Cream, by Cheryl

I was doing was usual grocery shopping online when I began questioning why I was even buying food to begin with. My pantry is overflowing, the freezer is full, and even though the fridge needs a serious clean out it also had plenty of food. So I really took the time to figure out what we already have and try to make some dinners with those ingredients in mind. Less wasteful, more resourceful! I didn't even realize we had orechiette, but there it was in my pantry. I searched for recipes with that and bacon and in comes this lovely dish that was satisfying, comforting, and delicious. I don't know if I'd make it part of my rotation (especially since the kids really didn't like the lemon), but I would definitely make it again if I wanted to spice up pasta night one night. Yum! Ingredients (modified recipe from the Food Network): 12 slices of bacon 1.5 cups heavy cream 1/4 cup sour cream Salt and pepper Grated zest and juice of one lemon 2 tsp Worchester Sauce 1 lb orechiette pasta 1/2 cup minced chives (didn't use this) Directions: 1) Cook the bacon until crispy. Set aside on a paper towel. Reserve a little bacon fat. When cool, rip into pieces. 2) In a large skillet, whisk the heavy cream and sour cream. Season with salt and pepper. Simmer the cream mixture over medium heat for about 5-8 minutes until it thickens. Add the lemon zest, juice, and Worcestershire sauce. Set aside. 3) Meanwhile cook the pasta in salted water until al dente. When done, add the pasta to the skillet with the sauce and toss to coat. Stir in the bacon, a little bacon fat, chives, and additional lemon juice. Serve immediately.

Whole 30 Arugula and Basil Pesto, by Diane

 

For dinners this week I found some Whole30 compliant gnocchi (TJ’s cauliflower gnocchi) and wanted a sauce to go with them. Since tomatoes are inflammatory and therefore off limits on this protocol, I decided to create a dairy-free pesto sauce. This was really good and the perfect accompaniment!

Ingredients:

1 cup arugula

1 cup basil

1/4 lemon, juiced

1/4 cup pine nuts 

1/4 cup evoo (I also added a splash of truffle oil here

Salt and pepper

Directions: Blend all ingredients together and adjust as needed.

Coq Au Vin, by Cheryl

We had a little French theme going on in our household this week. With an endless summer full of no possibilities I felt like I needed something to keep us entertained besides our backyard and afternoon movies. I suggested a learning about different countries theme and J was super into it. She picked France as the first country to learn more about since she was just there. The kids loved coloring rainbows with the French names for colors, learning that the rooster and iris are the country's animal and flower (who knew??), and making fun Eiffel Tower snow globes!

Ok, back to the food. I made a French dinner with the help of my sous chefs and this was fantastic. It didn't take nearly as much time as I thought it would and the sauce and chicken were heavenly. I have never made such a flavorful crispy skin! I love a crispy skin. I will definitely be making this again when the cooler months come rolling in. I forgot to make a side of mashed potatoes so I cooked up some pasta to go with it. It was delicious. Yum!

Ingredients (recipe from here):

• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 6 slices bacon diced
• 8 ounces mushrooms
• 6 small white onions cut in half or quartered depending upon size
• 2-3 cloves garlic mashed
• 2 carrots peeled and rough cut
• 1/2 bottle of full-body red wine
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 8 ounces Chicken Stock 
• unsalted butter
• 1 sprig thyme
• 1 sprig rosemary
• sea salt and black pepper to taste
• 4 large skin on, bone in chicken thighs

Directions:

• Add chicken to a 1-gallon zipper-lock bag. Pour in one cup red wine and seal bag, pressing out air. Let stand while you prepare the remaining ingredients or overnight for the best results.
• Preheat oven to 350°
• In a large Dutch oven or rondeau, cook bacon over medium-high heat, stirring and reducing heat as necessary to prevent scorching, until browned and fat has rendered, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and, using a slotted spoon, transfer bacon to a paper towel-lined plate.
• Remove chicken from zipper-lock bag, discard wine, and pat dry.
• Season chicken with salt and pepper. Return Dutch oven with rendered bacon fat to medium-high heat.  Add chicken thighs skin-side down, and cook until browned, about 7 minutes. Turn and brown the other side, about 5 minutes.   Don't move the chicken around while cooking, allow it to sear in place.  Use a spatula to get under the chicken when turning being careful not to rip the skin.
• Remove Chicken from pan setting aside until needed
• Add mushrooms to pan and cook over medium-high heat, stirring frequently, until browned, 10 to 12 minutes. Add onions, carrots, and garlic and cook, stirring, until lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Add bacon, the remainder of the wine, tomato paste, chicken stock, thyme and rosemary and bring to a simmer, stirring up any browned bits.
• Add chicken back to pan, leaving skin side up and not submerged if possible. Transfer to oven and cook, uncovered, for 1 hour.
• Remove pan from the oven and take the chicken out of the pan.
• Add in two tablespoons of unsalted butter that has been rolled in flour, getting as much flour into the butter as possible.  This is called a beurre manie and will thicken your sauce. Mix the beurre manie in well and allow to simmer over medium heat.
• Return chicken to pot, spooning sauce on top. Garnish with remaining sprig of thyme or rosemary.  Serve with potatoes, pasta, or rice.

Roasted Eggplant and Tomato Pasta, by Cheryl

Ugh, another night of what to make for dinner? I'm in a rut! Help me!!! Anyway, I had eggplant, tomatoes, and pasta so I put together this together. I used this recipe as a guide to help with some of the sauce making. The sauce came out really well and was tasty. I ended up adding a teaspoon of baking soda to take out the acidity of the tomatoes and it worked! This is a great meal to whip up when you have no idea what to make for dinner!

Ingredients:

1 eggplant, cut into 1 inch cubes
olive oil
2 ripe heirloom tomatoes, cut in half
2 garlic cloves
2 tbsp unsalted butter
pasta of choice.. something like farfalle or radiatore would be good

Directions:

1) Heat oven to 450. Toss eggplant with some olive oil and salt. Roast about 30 minutes.

2) Meanwhile, cook pasta until about 1 minute shy of al dente.

3) Grate tomatoes (until you get to the tomato skin) over a skillet using the large holes of box grater. Add garlic and 1 tbsp of olive oil and bring to a simmer. Simmer until pulp is reduced by half, then season with salt. This is where I added a teaspoon of baking soda and some cherry tomatoes to cut the acidity and add some chunk to it.

4) Add the butter and pasta and toss together. Bring to a simmer and cook until pasta is cooked through. Add eggplant.

5) Serve pasta with a little more olive oil and Parmesan cheese if using.

Lamb Giouvetsi, by Cheryl and Diane

We made this as our main course for the menu meal, and we thought it was just pretty good! This dish was inspired by a recent meal Cheryl and I had at a new Mediterranean restaurant, and we knew we wanted to recreate it! We found this recipe and converted the pork to lamb. It would have been greatly improved if we had tasted it before putting it into the oven, and had cooked it for less time because ours got a bit dried out (however, we were dealing with two other dishes and two small children and thus forgot to cover it with foil in the oven, so maybe that's why!!). It made the house smell delicious though!


Ingredients:

Olive oil
3 garlic cloves
1 big onion
1 lb lamb (stew meat works best here, cut into bite sized pieces)
Salt and pepper
½ bottle red wine
2 bay leaves
1 clove (or one pinch ground cloves)
1 ½ oz canned chopped tomatoes
1 lb Greek pasta (orzo)
½ tsp cinnamon
1 cup warm chicken stock

Directions:

1. Over medium high heat, add the olive oil to a pan. Add in the garlic and onion, cook for 4-5 minutes.

2. Add in the lamb, salt and pepper and sear each side about 4-5 minutes.

3. Add in 1/2 of the red wine (1/4 of the bottle), bay leaves, and cloves. Cook for 1 minute.

4. Add in the chopped tomatoes, bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer for one hour.

5. Preheat the oven to 400 (we think 350 might have been better here). Check the mixture for taste, and adjust seasonings. The pasta will absorb a lot of flavor so make sure to add in some extra!

6. Add in the cinnamon, chicken stock, and orzo and stir well. Transfer into a baking dish and bake for another hour, covered with foil. You want the end result to be a thick tomato sauce so watch it in the oven!

Avocado Bean "Alfredo" Sauce, by Cheryl

Um, yum!! This is such a healthy alternative to a standard alfredo sauce that is full of cheese and cream. The white beans blend really well to provide a nice base for the sauce (as well as added protein) and the avocado adds a whole other level of creaminess to the dish. I combined two recipes when I made this and since the dish was green anyway, I blended some spinach into the mix in order to add some greens. I put in about a quarter cup of shredded quattro formaggio, but you can easily eliminate that and the taste will still be there. We had this with whole wheat gnocchi and for leftovers the next day I made it with whole wheat rotini. Yum!

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons butter
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 can white beans
1/2 cup vegetable broth
1/4-1/2 cup milk (whatever you need to use to make it thinner)
1 avocado
spinach or kale
salt and pepper to taste
pasta or gnocchi

Directions:

1) Melt butter in a pan. Add the garlic and saute until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Transfer to a food processor.

2) Add the white beans, broth, avocado, and spinach to the processor. Blend until creamy. Add milk until it loosens out some.

3) Transfer to a pan to heat up slightly. Add cheese if desired and mix. Add the pasta or gnocchi to the pan and coat well. Top with shredded cheese, or not!

Health(ier) Alfredo Sauce, by Cheryl

Pictured with my eggplant balls in the background

This was really good and I can see it becoming a staple in our house. I'm not sure I would call it a healthy dish, but if you're in the mood for an Alfredo type sauce then this is definitely a healthier version of that! The sauce was creamy and covered the chicken and pasta very well! Yum!

Ingredients (recipe):

1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 cup broth
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup Greek yogurt
1/2 teaspoon salt
1-2 teaspoons garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan (I used a 4 cheese mix)

Directions:

1) Heat olive oil over medium heat. Add the cornstarch and cook for one minute, stirring constantly. While whisking slowly add in the broth and milk. Continue whisking until combined and smooth.

2) Raise heat to medium high and bring mixture to a simmer.

3) Simmer for about 2 minutes, stirring constantly.

4) Remove from heat and little by little whisk in the Greek yogurt.

5) Once combined put back on the heat, and stir in the rest of the ingredients.

6) Serve over pasta immediately or store in the fridge.

Cauliflower Sauce, by Cheryl

So I'm not sure about this. The reviews for this recipe were great so I decided to give it a try. My thought was that it would be a creamy Alfredo-like sauce that would be a healthy option to put over our whole wheat pasta while getting a veggie in there, but it didn't quite turn out that way. Now I will say that I added cheese to my sauce and while the original recipe said that I could do that to enhance flavor, I'm pretty sure that's what made it clump up beyond repair. The taste was there.. it was flavorful and I'm glad I added the Gruyere cheese to it. But it was basically like pasta with clumpy cauliflower and cheese. I think I'll try it again without mixing the cheese in since it was sauce-like before I did that (and maybe just added shredded Gruyere or Parmesan on top). We'll see. Yum?!

Ingredients:

8 large cloves garlic, minced (I used 4)
2 tablespoons butter
5-6 cups cauliflower florets (I used almost one whole)
6-7 cups broth (this seemed like WAY too much.. didn't use it all)
1 tsp salt (plus more to taste... we needed more)
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 cup milk

Directions:

1) Saute the minced garlic with the butter until fragrant. Set aside.

2) Cook the cauliflower until fork tender (either by boiling or by steaming - I steamed).

3) Puree the cauliflower, milk, 1 cup broth, and garlic in a food processor. Mix with pasta.

Chicken and Orzo with Butternut Squash Sauce, by Cheryl

It was a nice and cozy night for some warm butternut squash. The sauce that I made was amazingly delicious! When deciding how to make this I thought of what I did for a soup I made last year and modified that to make the sauce. The addition of a roasted apple really added a nice sweetness to the butternut squash and onion. It really went well with the chicken and orzo. Yum!

Ingredients:

1 butternut squash, peeled and cubed (I was lazy and bought it pre-cut)
1 Fuji apple, cubed
1 onion, sliced
chicken broth
olive oil
sage
salt
orzo
boneless, skinless chicken breast, cubed
shredded Parmesan cheese, optional

Directions:

1) Preheat the oven to 400.

2) In a bowl combine the butternut squash, apple, and onion and lightly cover with olive oil, salt, and sage. Spread out onto a baking sheet and roast for about 30 minutes.

3) Cook the orzo according to the directions on the box.

4) In a pan cook cook the chicken with some olive oil, sage, and salt.

5) When the veggies and apple are done roasting, put them into a pot and add some chicken broth. Heat for about 5 minutes, then use an immersion blender to blend together. Add about 1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese and mix it into the sauce. The sauce will still be good without it if you don't want the cheese.

6) Combine everything together and top with cheese.

Goat Cheese Rotini with Shrimp and Tomatoes, by Cheryl

I had taken out shrimp to defrost earlier in the day with the hopes that I would figure out what to make with it eventually. Closer to dinner time I stared into my refrigerator, willing for ingredients to pop out at me in order to figure out what to make. Then I saw the goat cheese! We had a lot of goat cheese leftover from our crostini appetizers the other night and we needed to use it quickly. I decided to make a cheesy pasta dish with it, which also included shrimp and tomatoes. It obviously had a very strong taste due to the goat cheese, but it was good! The shrimp didn't contribute too much to it and can easily be substituted for chicken. I wanted to also put spinach in it, but when I suggested it to Jon he wasn't feeling it. But I would definitely add a green in there :) Yum!

Ingredients:

Rotini, or other pasta
shrimp
cherry tomatoes, cut in half
basil, chopped (I didn't have this on hand, but wanted to add it in)
2 garlic cloves, minced
goat cheese, cut into cubes
red pepper flakes
salt
olive oil

Directions:

1) Cook the pasta according to the directions.

2) Add the tomatoes, goat cheese, basil, salt, and red pepper flakes into a bowl. Set aside

3) Add the garlic and olive oil to a pan. When hot add the shrimp and cook until done, about 4 minutes.

4) Strain the pasta when done and add immediately to the cheese bowl. Mix until the cheese has melted and the pasta is covered. Add the shrimp and olive oil from the pan. Mix until shrimp is coated.

One Pot Butternut Squash Alfredo, by Diane

This looks like soup, but was a very thick alfredo sauce!

This was the main course for our fall-themed bookclub, and was also a crowd favorite. The butternut squash made a really delicious sauce for the pasta, and I added in chicken to make it a more hearty meal. The only problem with this recipe was that it came out way too thin, so I had to thicken it with a rue. In the future I would make this without the 2 cups of water, and add those in at the end only if the sauce needs to be thinned out. I also subbed in chicken broth for veggie broth and for the water, which gave the whole dish a very comfort food feeling!

Recipe credits from Buzzfeed Tasty.

Ingredients:

- 3 cups diced butternut squash (about half a squash)
- 1 cup of vegetable stock.
- Butter (4 Tbsp.)
- One small onion (1 cup diced)
- Rosemary (1 Tbsp.)
- Sage (1 Tbsp.)
- Low-fat Milk (4 cups)
- Parmesan (1 cup, plus more for topping)
- Brown Sugar (2 Tbsp.)
- Nutmeg (1/4 tsp)
- Salt and pepper (to taste)
- Water (2 cups)
- Fettuccini noodles (1 16oz box)

Directions:
Melt 4 Tbsp. of butter. Add 1 cup of diced onion, 1 Tbsp. of Rosemary and 1 Tbsp. of Sage. Cook for 3 minutes on medium heat until onions soften. Then cook on medium-high heat until the butter begins to brown (be careful not to burn it). Add in 3 cups of diced butternut squash and 1 cup of vegetable stock, stir, then cover and cook for 15 minutes (until butternut squash is softened).

Uncover and mash with a potato masher until you’ve squished all the squash. Add 2 cups of milk and stir. Then, add 1 cup of parmesan and stir. Add 2 Tbsp. of brown sugar, 1/4 tsp. of nutmeg, and salt and pepper to taste and stir until well blended.

You can either cook your pasta beforehand in the pot and set it aside, or cook it in the sauce! Break fettuccini noodles in half and place in the sauce. Carefully cover the noodles with sauce. Then, pour in 2 more cups of milk and 2 cups of water and stir. (Add more water, if needed, to smooth out the sauce.) Stir the pasta continuously (to make sure it doesn’t burn on the bottom of the pot) and cook for 15-20 minutes (or until pasta has reached desired texture).

Top off with salt and pepper, parmesan cheese, rosemary garnish, and cayenne pepper (if you’d like a little extra spice). Enjoy!

Kasknopfle (Liechtenstein), by Cheryl

This teeny tiny country has a lot of culinary influence from it's neighbors Austria and Switzerland. This popular homemade "pasta" is pretty easy and is known as Spatzle in Germany. The Liechtenstein version has added cheese and caramelized onions and is known as Käsespätzle in Germany (literally mac and cheese). This was a little odd to execute and the end result turned out to be a little like mush, but still good nonetheless. In order to get their "shape" if you can call it that, they push the dough through a colander or slotted spoon with large holes. It cooks like gnocchi so when it floats to the top it's done. The texture is soft and chewy and with the added cheese and onions it has a nice taste. I won't be making this again, only because it didn't do anything for us. It was decent, but nothing I need to repeat again. Yum?

Ingredients (Recipe from here):

2 cups flour
5 eggs
2 teaspoons salt
1-1.5 cups water
8 oz Gruyere or Emmenthal cheese, grated
2 medium onions, thinly sliced 

Directions:

1) Sift the flour into a bowl. Add the salt.

2) In a separate bowl beat the eggs and water together.

3) Add the eggs to the flour. Mix well to form a thick dough. Add a little water if the dough is not thin enough to go through the holes. Set aside for twenty minutes.

4) Meanwhile fry the onions in a lightly oiled pan. Stir regularly until the onions are caramelized, about 15-20 minutes. 

5) Bring water to a boil in a pot. Add some salt. Push the dough through a slotted spoon or colander. The dough should form tiny oblong balls. The pasta is ready when it floats back to the surface. Immediately drain in a colander.

6) Put the pasta in a bowl and add the cheese. Stir until it melts. Serve in bowls topped with the caramelized onions. 

Kale and Mushroom Pasta, by Cheryl

What a healthy and easy recipe from 100 Days of Real Food! I actually needed to use up the kale and mushrooms in our fridge before we went away for vacation and when found this delicious recipe during my internet search. The sauce is really really good - I just wish there was more of it! Next time I will double the ingredients for the sauce in order to coat the pasta better. Yum!

Ingredients:

Whole wheat pasta
1 ounce dried mushrooms (I used regular raw ones)
2 tablespoons butter
2 shallots, diced (I used an onion)
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup white wine
2 cups loosely packed kale, stems removed and cut into strips
3/4 cup heavy cream (I used whole milk)
1/4 teaspoon salt
pepper to taste
1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:

1) In a small pot, add the dried mushrooms and cover with water. Bring to a boil and cook until the mushrooms are softened, about 3-4 minutes. Drain while reserving one cup of cooking liquid. Dice the cooked mushrooms.

2) In a saute pan over medium heat melt the butter. Add the shallots, mushrooms, and garlic to the pan and cook while stirring for two minutes.

3) Pour in the white wine and turn up the heat so the mixture comes to a boil. Cook until the wine almost completely boils off, about 3-4 minutes (longer if you double the recipe).

4) Pour in one cup of reserved cooking liquid (I just added water since I didn't use dried mushrooms) and cook until reduced by half.

5) Turn the heat back down to medium and add the heavy cream, kale, salt, and pepper to the pan. Cook until the sauce thickens, 2-3 minutes. Fold in the noodles, garnish with cheese, and serve.

Pasta Tradizionale, by Cheryl

This is so simple and soooooo good! Typically, pasta tradizionale (Traditional Pasta) consists of spaghetti with an oil sauce made of garlic, salt, and red pepper flakes. It really is the easiest dish to make that packs so much flavor in each bite. The key is to infuse the oil with the garlic, salt, and red pepper flakes for about 30-60 minutes beforehand. The amount of ingredients you use also depends on your tastes. If you want it really spicy then add more red pepper. If you want less of a garlic flavor than don't use as much garlic. You get the idea. It's so good and has become a part of our rotation! Yum!

Ingredients:

Pasta (any kind will be fine, but I like either spaghetti or rotini)
Approximately 1/2 cup of olive oil (more or less)
2-3 garlic cloves, minced
a couple of teaspoons of salt
a couple of teaspoons of red pepper flakes

Directions:

1) In a bowl combine all ingredients except pasta. Let sit for 30 minutes - 1 hour stirring once or twice in between.

2) Cook pasta according to box directions.

3) Heat oil in a pan. Add cooked pasta and stir until coated. Enjoy!

Noodle Kugel, by Cheryl

I barely had time to take a picture before it was just about gone!

Jon and I decided to host our first "Break-the-Fast" dinner to end Yom Kippur at our new home in Chapel Hill. There are quite a few other Jewish fellows and residents working at Duke so this worked out perfectly... we went over to other people's houses for Rosh Hashanah dinner so why not return the favor and make new friends while we're at it? Even though not many people were fasting (one of the plusses of being pregnant right now... hey I need some positives at this point!) we held a traditional break-the-fast meal with bagels, lox, whitefish salad, tuna salad, cream cheese, and kugel. I had never made it before, but decided to give it a try with a recipe I found on the Food Network. Not only was it super easy, but it was fantastic!!! The entire dish was gone in minutes and people were looking for more! I will definitely be making this again for other Jewish functions! Yum!

Modified from here

Ingredients:

1 package (12 oz) medium egg noodles
1/2 stick butter, melted
1 pound cottage cheese
1.5 cups sour cream

6 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1/2 raisins

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 375.

2) Boil the noodles in salted water for about 4 minutes. While noodles are cooking, combine all remaining ingredients together in a large bowl.

3) Strain the noodles and combine with the bowl mixture. Mix.

4) Pour into a greased 9x13 inch baking dish. Bake until custard is set and top is golden brown, about 45 minutes.

Ravioli with Tomato, Arugula, and Pancetta, by Cheryl

Hooray for U.S. television again!!! More specifically, hooray for cooking shows that I have missed while being abroad! Before moving overseas I used to watch Giada a lot and have gotten a lot of recipes from watching her show. Since being back I've watched quite a few episodes and that's where I got this recipe from. Since you're not making the ravioli from scratch this recipe is pretty easy and is very good. I think it needed a little bit more flavor so I put more salt on it as I was eating it. But I tend to like a lot of salt on my meals as well. Yum!

Ingredients:

1 pound cheese ravioli
6 ounces thinly sliced pancetta (I used bacon)
1 (15-ounce) can diced tomatoes, drained
3 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, plus extra for seasoning
1/4 teaspoon ground pepper, plus extra for seasoning
3 cups arugula
1/2 cup thinly sliced basil leaves, divided
2 tablespoons butter, room temperature

Directions:

1) Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add ravioli and cook according to package instructions.

2) In a large non-stick skillet of medium-high heat, add the pancetta, and cook - stirring frequently until crispy. Remove to paper towels to drain.

3) Add the tomatoes, olive oil, 1/2 tsp of salt, 1/4 tsp of pepper, and cook for two minutes until tender.

4) Add arugula and 1/4 cup of basil and cook until wilted.

5) Stir in butter and melt. Add the ravioli and cooked pancetta and toss until coated.

6) Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

7) Garnish with the remaining basil and serve.

Cheesy Zucchini Orzo

I forgot to take a picture! This is from baking domesticity

I have been searching for new recipes since we've been back in the U.S. My sister-in-law Rachel suggested that I go to her friend's cooking blog i in order to get ideas since she posts often and they are healthy. I found a lot of great recipes to try and this is one of them. It's so easy to make, you get your serving of veggies in it, and it's delicious! I'll definitely be making this again; maybe with some chicken incorporated into it. It can also be good as a side. Yum!

Ingredients:

1 tbsp olive oil
1 cup orzo
1 clove garlic, minced
salt
ground black pepper
1 medium zucchini, grated
1 cup sharp cheddar cheese
a splash of milk

Directions:

1) In a large skillet over medium heat, toss orzo and garlic with olive oil until fragrant. Add 2 1/2 cups of water and 1/2 teaspoon of salt and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer - stir occasionally so that orzo doesn't doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan. Cook until liquid has almost completely evaporated.

2) Stir in zucchini until warmed through.

3) Remove from heat and stir in cheese until melted. If needed, add a splash or two of milk to achieve an extra creamy texture.

4) Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Basil Shrimp with Feta and Orzo, by Cheryl

I found this recipe on Cooking Light's website while looking for a shrimp dish. This was really easy to make and very light! I enjoyed it very much, although I think I might have cooked the orzo too long. Jon could take it or leave it as he said it was good, not great. I had the leftovers for lunch today and they really filled me up for the entire afternoon. I really wasn't sure how the feta cheese was going to play into the dish and though that it might not belong, but it worked really well and was great! I'll definitely be making this again, but maybe just for myself as a lunch option. Yum!

Ingredients:

1 cup orzo
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup diced tomato
3/4 cup sliced green onions
1/2 cup feta cheese
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon rind
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined (I used precooked shrimp, but it calls for uncooked)
1/4 cup fresh basil

tin foil or oven bag

Directions:

1) Preheat 450 degrees.

2) Cook pasta in boiling water for 5 minutes. Place the pasta in a large bowl.

3) Stir in the olive oil, and the next seven ingredients through pepper and mix. Add shrimp and basil and mix.

4) Place in an oven bag or hand-made oven bag (I used tin foil) and bake for 25 minutes if shrimp are raw or 15 minutes if shrimp are already cooked. Open the foil and voila!