Leeky Garlicky Pasta (with or without fried chicken)

I do not often make recipes that I find in magazines, but Real Simple, the only magazine to which I actually subscribe, published a delicious looking recipe (which you can find here) in this month's issue. I purchased the ingredients to make said recipe this weekend, and was planning to make it Wednesday, but when I came home from work this evening, I found myself to be an exhausted but ravenous food beast. (For serious. Teaching high school will take it right out of you.) I could no longer resist this leeky, garlicky culinary mess. Upon looking in the fridge, I discovered that I was missing about half the ingredients, but alas, the food must go on. With a little editing, here is my version of the recipe.

Leeky Garlicky Pasta (with or without fried chicken)

Ingredients:

As much spaghetti as you are planning to eat (or more, for leftovers)

1 tbsp olive oil

1 leek (just the tender portions), thinly sliced

2 cloves of garlic, crushed or thinly sliced

Kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1/2 cup dry white wine (I used Sutter Home Chardonnay)

1/2 cup heavy cream, whole milk, or evaporated milk, whichever is handy

One handful of greenery (I used marketside organic herb mix)

Grated parmesan cheese

Cut up your ingredients according to the ingredient list.

Get your pasta rolling so that it will be ready on time.

Heat the olive oil over medium-high heat in whatever big pan with sides is available to you.

Add the leeks and garlic, and sprinkle with kosher salt and pepper. Saute until wilty (about three minutes).

Add the wine and simmer for a few more minutes. Stir in the milk product of your choice.

Stir in the pasta. Fold in the greenery. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and cheese. Enjoy!

If you are like me, a vegetarian meal like this one will not satisfy on its own, so I made the chicken found in this recipe (from my absolute favorite food blog) to top my pasta.

My dinner came out quite nicely.

The only drawback is the kind of breath a dish like this will give you, but if you are eating alone it is not a problem!

I am considering this cake for dessert.

Pancakes for One

I woke up this morning feeling particularly grouchy. It was 6:30 (way too early to be awake on Labor Day), there were skeet shooters spraying down my house with birdshot, I was still sick with a swine-flu-like virus, and I knew that my milk was not fresh, thus killing any chance of having a decent breakfast. As I was laying in bed, feeling sorry for myself, I started thinking about pancakes. I have had this craving for pancakes for the past couple of mornings, perhaps stirred by the fact that my mom used to make sure the family always had a really good breakfast to look forward to on our shared days off from work and school. I got on the internet, surfed around, and found this recipe for pancakes for one. No milk required. With a little editing, here it is.

Ashley's Pancakes for One:

Ingredients:

• 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons toasted wheat germ
• 2 tablespoons instant buttermilk
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup water
• 1-1/2 teaspoons vegetable oil
• Butter and maple syrup

Directions:

In a bowl, combine flour, dry buttermilk, wheat germ, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and sugar. In another bowl, beat egg; add water and oil. Stir into dry ingredients just until blended. Pour batter by 1/3 cupfuls onto a lightly greased hot griddle; turn when bubbles form on top of pancakes. Cook until the second side is golden brown. Serve with butter and syrup. Makes about three thin pancakes.

I'm pretty sure the wheat germ makes them healthy, too!

Pan Pasta with Sausage and Spinach

During the summer, the Bible study group I meet with gets a little more relaxed, and whoever is hosting usually makes some kind of dinner for us to eat prior to studying our material. This week, Jake is hosting, and he is making pasta with two kinds of sauce. Well, I absolutely LOVE pasta. If you mention it, I will have to go eat some, and Jake mentioned it last Friday, which was a long time ago now! I made it until today, and then I had had HAD to make something with pasta. This recipe is from my mother (with my own twist on it), and it's really easy and delicious.

Pan Pasta with Sausage and Spinach

Penne Rigate

Olive oil

Two cloves garlic, crushed

1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes with garlic, basil and oregano

A handful of fresh spinach

Two fresh basil leaves, if you have them

2 Italian sausages, cooked how you like them and thinly sliced

Cook the penne according to the directions on the package. (I used 1/2 cup because it was only me eating tonight, and leftover pasta is not as good as fresh pasta.) While the penne is cooking, saute the crushed garlic in a splash of olive oil. When it gets relatively done, dump in the whole can of tomatoes. No need to worry about straining them. Cook this mixture over medium heat until the tomato liquid starts to form a sauce. At this point, shred in your fresh basil if you have it and stir the mixture around until the basil wilts a little. Turn off the heat, and shred the spinach into the mixture, stirring again until the spinach wilts. Toss the sauce with your cooked penne and sausage. Sprinkle on some parmesan for a tasty garnish. Enjoy!

When I decided to make this tonight, I only had frozen, uncooked sausage, so I decided to broil some in the oven as I lack a grill. Well, I started cooking the pasta and the sauce, opened the oven to check the sausage, and it was ON FIRE. I shut the door and just stood there for a minute, then had the presence of mind to turn the oven off and put a baking sheet over my fiery sausage.

I then had the following conversation with Christie via facebook chat:

me: so I definitely just lit a sausage on fire in my oven... go me

Christie: mmm i bet it will be so good tho

Because that's what friends are for.

The sausage was delicious. I highly recommend roasting it over an oven fire until thoroughly blackened.

Mmm!

Tasty Recipe

I'm leaving on a road trip to NH tomorrow, so I have been packing, planning, and running around all day today preparing. I did, however, take the time to make some cookie bars to bring on the road. One of my friends posted this recipe on facebook, which looked good to me, but needed some minor editing. (Peanut butter, raisins, and cinnamon applesauce? Not in my kitchen!) Here is my revised version:

INGREDIENTS

• 1/3 cup Bisquick (slightly rounded)
• 2 cups quick oats
• 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1/2 cup regular applesauce
• 1 cup chocolate chips
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup honey

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9 by 9-inch baking pan with whatever oil available; set aside.

In a mixing bowl, stir together baking mix and oats until well blended. Add remaining ingredients and stir until well combined.

Press dough into prepared baking pan. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes. (Mine took about 18.)

Cool completely before cutting into bars. (I skipped this step and ate one while they were still warm. Mmmm!)

Here is what they looked like:

I can only figure that these are healthy-- no butter, no added salt, and no processed sugar. They have a different taste than what you might expect, as the flavors of the honey and the applesauce really stand out, but it is a good taste! I will be wrapping the rest of them up in some waxed paper and stowing them away for the trip.

Musical Obsession: Regina Spektor

(Photo from npr.com)

Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! NPR decided to post Regina Spektor's new album on their website for all to enjoy. Link: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=105518205

The Rain, Rain, Rain Took My Baby (Chive Plants) Away

I got all excited because I thought I was actually going to have success at growing something from seeds, but after a surprise thunderstorm during the night on Friday, I awoke to find that my chive plants had taken a steep plunge off the side of my porch. (Apparently they realized they were in my care and committed "chive-icide.") I thought all was lost, but then this morning, when I decided to clean up the carnage and start over, I saw this:

Somehow, despite the fact that over 75% of the soil fell out of the pot, the chives hung on. They are brave plants to continue to remain in my care... I plan to add more soil to them later, and vow to move them closer to the house when it storms from now on!

Do-it-yourself: Air Conditioner Repair

I recently moved into an old house that does not have central heating and cooling. Instead, it employs two window units to chill the place down, which usually works out alright as it is not a very big house. The a/c unit in the bedroom is a Whirlpool brand relic. I initially doubted its cooling capacity, but that thing has been an absolute air conditioning beast, chilling my bedroom down to temperatures that normally only occur in places like Siberia and the Upper Peninsula so that I may snuggle up under as many layers of blankets as I like, even when the MS weather is 90 degrees overnight.

However, in the past week or so, I have been noticing that the unit has been making some funny noises, almost like the fan was trying to chew something up. I did not think it was terribly abnormal, but it did seem strange to me that the noises only occurred in the morning, after the unit had been running all night. This morning I finally took a look at it, and this is what I saw:

That would be ice, people. Lots and lots of ice. There is only one cure for an ailment such as this one, and that is to defrost the unit. This can take up to 36 hours depending on the temperature of your house / outdoors, how much ice there is, etc. I decided to take the Ashley approach, which is always to agitate the situation in order to speed it up.

I'm pretty sure this goes against every electrical safety thing I have ever learned, but oh well. It is working, and I haven't lit anything on fire. Yet. It is really hot in here, though. (And I know, it's really messy in my house, but I just moved, which I think is a worthy excuse.)

That cup fills up about every 15 minutes, and I've been defrosting for about three hours, which should tell you how much water is coming off the thing. At least it's draining outside, not inside like I expected it to! 

Once this thing is ice-free and dry, I'll have to take a look to figure out what is causing the ice to form. It could be something as simple as a blockage in the airflow, which I can just adjust, or it might be that the unit needs to be recharged, in which case I will be calling the landlord!

In other, better news, my chive plants are growing! I actually planted something that grew! I had a couple of starter kits,

which came from Target c/o Jake, but I have a particularly brown thumb and can't usually keep my plants alive for longer than it takes to get them from the store to my house.

But there it is-- growth! There are actually two little chive plants growing. Hopefully they don't figure out that they're in my care and decide to kick the bucket.

To update on the a/c situation-- it appears the problem is a severely nastified filter. I plan to clean it off and let the fan run for a while to get it all dried out. Hopefully I can get it running properly before nightfall!