butternut-pecan pasta and salad

perhaps you were inspired by our culinary feats and decided to make the casserole from our last post. like us, you probably had a lot of ingredients left over. are you wondering what to do with them? well, wonder no more, my friends!

how about pasta?we made a sauce by melting feta in heavy cream, then added whole wheat pasta, roasted butternut squash, and some greens (which totally cancels out any negative health effects of the cheese+cream sauce. trust me, i'm a nutrition minor). we stirred it all together and topped with pecans.

or maybe you'd prefer a salad?
greens+roasted butternut squash+feta+pecans+vinaigrette=delicious.
enjoy!
-Lola

penne with mushrooms, cheese, and carmelized onions

you guys, we need to talk about caramelized onions. the idea that with the right technique and a little bit of time, two totally ordinary ingredients-an onion and some oil-can become something completely different and amazingly delicious is one of those magical things that made me fall in love with cooking, but i had never actually made caramelized onions until now. i'd tried, but always ended up with onions that were too burnt and crispy. luckily for me, i'm taking a cooking class this semester and i finally know the secret to perfect caramelized onions.
first, you have to slice your onions into half moon shapes. cut the onion in half, then place the flat side on your cutting board and make thin slices downward. separate your slices so you have a bunch of pieces that look like parentheses.

next, sweat the onion. heat just enough canola oil to cover the bottom of a saucepan, then add your onions and stir over low heat for a few minutes, being careful not to brown the onions. cover your pot, and continue to stir every few minutes. if the onions are looking like they're starting to brown, add a little water. it should take about 10 minutes for the onions to get soft and translucent. at this point, heat enough oil to cover the bottom of a frying/saute pan and transfer your onions into that pan. continue stirring every 5 minutes or so until onions are brown and soft, like the above photo. if there's brown stuff stuck to your pan, you want that in your onions, so deglaze the pan with a bit of water or broth, then stir until the liquid is incorporated into the onions.

now you're done with your onions! i know this is getting long, but bear with me. i just read a 50 page chapter in my textbook about vegetables. you can read this.

so, caramelized onions are delicious on their own, but maybe you want to incorporate them into a balanced meal. perhaps pasta?
or more specifically, penne pasta with mushrooms, romano cheese, and caramelized onions.

here's the recipe (well, not really. as usual, no exact quantities. but its close to a recipe):
*penne pasta (we used whole wheat)
*onions (i used half an onion for 2 servings)
*canola oil
*olive oil (i used extra virgin)
*mushrooms (i used a medium handful for 2 servings)
*romano cheese, thinly sliced or shaved (used about 1/2 cup of shaved pieces for 2 servings)

slice and caramelize your onions, according to directions above. this should take about half an hour to 45 minutes total. meanwhile, cook pasta according to package directions. slice mushrooms, and cook in canola oil (just enough to cover the bottom of your pan), stirring frequently, until they turn a nice rich brown. toss mushrooms, onions, pasta, and cheese together. top with a drizzle of olive oil.
-Lola

pasta with chickpeas and parmesan cheese

I made this back when we were at home, but it was so easy and cheap it would make great dorm food. I wanted to try Trader Joe's lemon papardelle pasta and since the pasta itself is already lemon flavored, I went without sauce and just tossed it in a little olive oil and cooked garlic. Then I added chickpeas, shaved paremesan, and a little salt and pepper. It was delicious, and the perfect light lunch for a hot day.

-Rita

fashion's night out

happy fall everybody! well, i don't know if its officially fall on the calendar, but i wore boots yesterday (admittedly, it was about 10 degrees too hot for boots. i just couldn't wait to wear them) and have been eating sweet potatoes, so its officially fall for me.

the lovely emily was nice enough to respond to a post and tell us she'd like to hear some stories of new york life. so, here goes my attempt at that:

most new york events involve either standing around in large crowds of people or waiting in long lines of people. as a 5 foot 3 girl, i have failed to see anything except the backs of random new yorkers at many exciting events, such as the VMAs red carpet, the rockefeller center christmas tree lighting, and the macy's thanksgiving day parade. last friday was no exception, as i headed to fashion's night out with my friend A., A.'s roommate, and Rita.

i worked until 4, then chilled at home a bit before walking over to A.'s dorm. I only mention this because i had a celebrity siting on the way home from work: Ice-T and his wife CoCo. and their dog. because i am a cool, jaded new yorker, and also because i have no idea what i could say to Ice-T, i walked by casually (sidenote: my first celebrity siting since moving to nyc was Chris Noth. I was walking with my mom, who failed to see him, so I wanted to point him out to her. however, in my excitement, i forgot his name and shouted "mom! look! celebrity!" Chris Noth then gave me a funny look and kept walking).

Anyhoo, we started in an italian restaurant in little italy. it was one of those generic, slightly overpriced, but tasty restaurants that are everywhere there. We split 3 dishes between the four of us: Penne alla vodka, chicken with eggplant and prosciutto, and pizza margherita. yum!

we then hopped on the subway to midtown, where we wandered around in large crowds and looked in store windows. A. wanted to see Gwen Stefani, but we managed to miss her twice. We did see an almost naked male model showering in a store window, and we were offered cheetos approximately 27 times by a random guy yelling at us from a truck. those were pretty much the highlights. after walking around in circles until we got to times square, we were exhausted and decided to head home, so we dragged ourselves back to the subway and were back in our dorm rooms by 10.

so there you have it, a taste of glamorous new york life =) hope you enjoyed!
-Lola

pasta with parsley, edamame, and roasted onions

growing up, i was always very perplexed by the concept of seasons. i remember seeing a commercial for macy's new spring collection or something once, and suddenly having this revelation that somewhere in far away lands, people had completely different wardrobes depending on the time of year. san francisco tends to be foggy most of the time, with the occasional beautiful summer day, or random rainstorm. so moving to new york, with its somewhat extreme weather, has been filled with new discoveries for me. air conditioning! heaters! and, perhaps most exciting, that sunny spring day when you realize that winter is over. it always takes me a few weeks to realize that its not going to snow again for another year. weather doesn't just pop up randomly whenever it feels like it! there's actually a pattern! anyway, the past few weeks have been filled with glorious spring days, appreciated all the more after our long winter. so when my mom emailed me this pasta recipe, rita and i knew it was the perfect spring/summer pasta dish, perhaps something we could bring to a picnic in park (except that i actually ate it in class. oh well).

i forgot to buy garlic, so we left that out, and we added 1/2 an onion, roasted in the oven with olive oil for about 30 minutes at 400 degrees. it was delightfully fresh and springy!
-Lola
p.s. go check out katie's giveaway. because she is awesome and you could win a $50 shopping spree!

pasta with tomato sauce and egg

we've been trying to get rid of all our perishable food before leaving for spring break (yay! but we won't be posting all next week, sorry), so meals have been somewhat random. tonight, i decided that my usual pasta with tomato sauce and peas needed something extra, and all we had in the fridge was 1 egg (and pb and j of course, but that wouldn't taste so good).
i love pasta carbonara, but obviously didn't have the ingredients for that or really remember how to make it, so i figured pasta with egg would be good. and, lo and behold, it was.
deconstructed/work in progress.

i made my own tomato sauce thusly:
1. chop up one tomato into about bite sized pieces.
2. add to pan with about 1 T olive oil. stir, add sprinkles of garlic powder, italian seasoning, red pepper flakes, and black pepper. stir.
3. let simmer for about 10 minutes, stirring and mashing tomato bits with a fork until mix is sauce-like.
et voila! le tomato sauce! (i have no idea why i'm attempting french in a pasta recipe. just go with it).
then i cooked up my pasta, stirred it with the sauce and about 1/4 cup peas, and topped with a fried egg (about 3 minutes, in olive oil).
-Lola

pasta with tomato sauce and salmon

for nyu students like ourselves, food shopping can be a pain in the ass. you've either got to shop at overpriced delis and grocery stores, or deal with the madhouse that is union square trader joe's. tj's is worth it for the prices, but requires climbing over people to get to your yogurt and cereal, and waiting in line for half an hour. so sometimes you just have to go to gristede's and for the sake of saving money, choose the $2 can of tomato sauce over the $7 jar of good pasta sauce.

and when you open up said $2 can of sauce and find out it tastes like metal, you can always improve it with your own ingredients. above, sauce doctored up with a big handful of spinach, 2 cloves garlic (chop, then sautee in olive oil til brown before adding to the sauce), and a big sprinkling each of garlic powder, italian seasoning, and red pepper flakes (cook everything together over low heat for about 10 minutes).
and served with whole wheat pasta, canned salmon, feta cheese, and peas (all bought at tj's, of course).
-Lola
p.s. Averie has an awesome nut butter giveaway!
and enter this newman's own giveaway too!
one more giveaway...greek yogurt!

pasta with spinach pesto sauce and scallops

after a long journey, we finally made it back to new york city. classes start tomorrow, so we'll be back to our more "in the dorm" style of eats, but we've still got some awesome stuff we cooked over break to show you. anyhoo, we dug some scallops out of the freezer back at home and came up with this simple and delicious recipe:
pasta with spinach pesto sauce and scallops (someday i will learn to measure when i'm making things that i intend to post recipes for. today is not that day. sorry! but, like most recipes on our blog, this recipe is very forgiving and except for the sauce recipe the amount of ingredients really doesn't matter)
spinach pesto sauce...i honestly don't remember how we made this, but it was very similar to this recipe.
pasta
scallops (3-5 per person, depending on how big they are...the scallops, that is, not the people)
artichoke hearts
sun-dried tomatoes, cut into strips (you can buy them this way or just cut 'em up yourself. if you get the dried ones that come in a bag, you want to soak them in warm water for about 20 minutes before using).
put pasta in boiling water and cook according to package directions. meanwhile, get out your blender and food processor and make your spinach pesto. cook scallops in pan with non-stick cooking spray or small amount of olive oil until just opaque, about 3 minutes each side. once pasta is done and drained, mix all ingredients together and stir well.
-Lola
giveaway time!

baked pasta with gouda

just look at that big chunk of melty cheese:badly lit, yes, but cheesy nonetheless. i promise it really looks more appetizing than that. winter in new york=no natural lighting after 4 pm.

baked pasta with gouda serves 2-3
*2 cups penne pasta
*about 1/3 cups gouda cheese, chopped into small cubes if you live in new york, go here. its amazing.
*a good sized plop of tomato sauce (1/2 cup? basically however much you need to cover your pasta)
*2 tablespoons breadcrumbs
*1 onion
*about 1 tablespoon olive oil
1. cook pasta in boiling water. meanwhile, slice onion and cook in olive oil, stirring occasionally, until soft and translucent, about 10-15 minutes.
2. when pasta is done, drain and return to pot. mix in onion slices and sauce.
3. preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. put pasta mixture in a glass baking dish. top with breadcrumbs and cheese. bake for about 10 minutes, or until cheese is melted.
-Lola
giveaway links!
the twelve posts of christmas
kay's naturals, from averie
lara bars, from iowa girl
lots of good stuff from pure2raw

Pasta two ways

I feel so fancy and chef-y(which is totally a real word, by the way)saying "pasta 2 ways". It's just like top chef! Anyway, here's our pasta two ways:
1) Pasta with Trader Joe's marinara sauce, peas, and Tofurky Italian Sausage (photo above)
This was my first time having any Tofurky product, and the sausage was good. It didn't really have the texture of meat, but it was well spiced and very flavorful. The cooking is self-explanatory from the name, except that we did add a sauteed garlic clove.
Then, to cancel out the vegan-ness and healthiness of that meal...
2)Cheese and butter! aka Pasta with spinich, peas, and alfredo sauce.

Here's how you make the alfredo sauce (1 serving): melt 1/2 t butter in a small pan. Add 1/4 C whole milk & 1/8 C grated parmesan.Swirl it around until it gets creamy and alfredo-y(also definitely a real word), then add salt a and pepper to taste.
I tossed the sauce with 3/4 C pasta, peas, a handful of walnuts, and some spinach which I'd cooked for a few seconds in olive oil. It turned out good, although if I made it again I think I'd double the amount of sauce, because the pasta wasn't supper saucy. I like my pasta to have a lot of sauce, especially if said sauce consists solely of butter, whole milk, and cheese.

pasta with roasted veggies and goat cheese

Whether it's a package of Easy Mac or spaghetti with jarred tomato sauce and a sprinkle of "cheese topping" ("made with 50% real cheese!"), some form of pasta with cheese is a staple of the college diet. While Lola and I appreciate the thriftiness and convenience of these meals, we like something a little more gourmet, especially when we're at home and can afford goat cheese. (By "afford" I mean "can get our parents to pay for"). We used this recipe and the pasta was delicious and wonderfully cheesy.

two easy lunches

these are two easy,quick recipes. they're the type of thing we throw together when we're at home for lunch and want to use up some random leftover ingredients. obviously you could make them for dinner too, i just liked the sound of "two easy lunches" as a title.
first up, we have black bean soup, created and eaten by Rita.serves 1
*2 cups already made black bean soup (the smooth, pureed kind, she used trader joes)
*1/4 cup salsa verde
*2 tablespoons cilantro, roughly chopped
*2 teaspoons cumin
*1 teaspoon chipotle powder
*2 cloves garlic, minced
*olive oil for frying (about 2 tablespoons)
*1/4 cup green onions, sliced
*cheddar cheese to grate on top
*2 teaspoons lime juice
1. heat oil up in a medium pot.
2. add garlic and green onions. saute, stirring frequently, until onions start to get soft and garlic starts to brown, about 3 minutes.
3. add everything else except cheese to pot, stir and cook until thoroughly heated, about 5 minutes.
4. grate cheese on top.

and next we have pasta with tomato sauce and mussels, by yours truly, Lola.
not really a recipe, more just an idea and list of ingredients. also, its good without the mussels. we just happened to have leftover mussels, but they're not an ingredient we often have on hand.
serves 1
*1 serving of pasta (i used 3/4 cup whole wheat bowtie pasta)
*enough tomato sauce to coat pasta (the sauce i used also had garlic and basil)
*mussels, cooked and removed from shells (i used 10)
*a small handful of walnuts
*half an onion, sliced
*olive oil for cooking onions, about 2 tablespoons
1. cook pasta according to package directions.
2. meanwhile, heat oil in a small frying pan.
3. add onions to pan and saute, stirring occasionally, until onions are soft and translucent, about 10 minutes.
4. add sauce, onions, mussels, and walnuts to pasta. stir.

i'd also like to thank Molly Jean at the rookie chef for our first ever blog award!

so how does this work?
These are the rules of this award:

* 1. Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award, and his or her blog link.
* 2. Pass the award to 15 other blogs that you’ve newly discovered.
* 3. Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.
ok, who to pass this prestigious award on to? these are all people we've just discovered since we started blogging
the ordinary vegetarian
coffee beans and curry leaves
veganize it, don't criticize it!
latest addictions
peanut butter swirl
chick n' pastry
cake, batter, and bowl
veggie num nums
um, that's all i can think of right now. i hope the blog award police won't come after me for not having 15. and i'm sorry if i've left anyone off. i love you all, really!

Pumpkin Gnocchi

I came home today to find Lola already in the middle of making some pumpkin gnocchi (using a recipe from Cooking Light magazine) Since I'm writing this, I could claim that I took over and was responsible for how delicious and pretty they turned out. But actually Lola did most of the work while I made a salad and our dad sauteed some mushrooms in olive oil and garlic. While we were doing that, Lola made a gratin with the gnocchi, butter sauce, and some Parmesan cheese (also following the Cooking Light recipe). The pictures don't exactly capture it, but the gnocchi were a lovely orange color.
-Rita
the recipe
a little bland (not really that pumpkiny), but good and a nice texture. we ate the whole recipe between the four of us even though it says 6 servings. probably would be 6 servings as a side to meat or something heavier.
also, my dear sister is so modest. she was very helpful in making this.
-Lola

goat cheese ravioli with bell peppers and brown butter + spicy fried pb wontons

the first recipe in this post is very classy and gourmet, not something we would likely make in a tiny dorm room kitchen or on a college student's budget. the second recipe is somewhat ridiculous and would probably make good drunk food, except that it would be a very very bad idea to shallow fry anything while drunk. don't do it.

from bon appetite,the ravioli

because we did not have the time to make our own ravioli, we used wonton wrappers this time. definitely worked, but next time i would go all out and use homemade pasta.

seriously, make this. it was delicious and family members proclaimed it "one of the best dinners you've ever made."
we served it with a salad of lettuce, blackberries, and our sweet lemony dressing.

while we were cooking, we contemplated what to do with the extra wonton wrappers. for some reason, we decided that we had to put peanut butter (homemade--just throw a bunch of peanuts in the blender or food processor and blend until you get the right texture) and sriracha (asian chili hot sauce/best condiment ever) in the wonton wrappers and deep fry them. except we both have a fear of large amounts of hot oil, so it was really shallow frying.

we are culinary geniuses

the photo caption does not lie. epically delicious.

spicy fried pb wontons
makes 1 wonton

* 1 (square, not round) wonton wrapper
* 2 teaspoons peanut butter
* 1/4 teaspoon sriracha
* oil for frying
* warm water

1. put peanut butter in center of wonton wrapper.
2. top peanut butter with sriracha
3. pour oil in frying pan to a height of about 2 inches
4. gather wonton wrapper around peanut butter. dip fingers in water and use wet hands to seal top of wrapper.
5. when oil is hot, put wonton in pan.
6. fry until golden brown, about 2 minutes. using slotted spoon, carefully remove wonton from pan and place on a paper towel.
7. let cool about 15-30 seconds and enjoy!