Bring it tofu princess- my alfredo sauce will wreck you

so i was chatting on the phone with my best bud yesterday while i was doing some last minute grocery shopping at safeway, and i mentioned my impromptu dinner menu. For a quick pasta meal, i dont think you can beat a nice mushroom alfredo with gemelli pasta, peas, spinach and sautéed chicken. Looking to save time and lets be honest, effort, i opted to buy jarred sauce rather than labor all night over a homemade alfredo. To say the very least, i was bauked at and ridculed for my laziness by my pal. This pissed me off, not because she was right and it was annoying for her to point it out, but because it came from a girl whose very own homemade alfredo rivals the taste and consistency of skim milk! (i know, low blow right? but its totally true, the girl hasnt seen the likes of whole milk or cream in over 15 years, EASY!)

anyhow, i was starving and impatient ended up throwing this quick monday night pasta dish together in no time right after challenging VB to an alfredo cookoff. All i have to say to vanessa is: BRING IT tofu princess, i will wreck you!

ingredients:

- 1/3 box barilla gemelli pasta (cooked to al dente)

- 1 jar alfredo sauce of your choice (i heart bertolli)

- salt

- pepper

- 1/4 cup frozen peas

- few handfuls of fresh spinach

- 1/2 cup sliced mushrooms

- 1/2 lb chicken breast

- 1 tablespoon minced garlic

- 1/3 cup chopped onion

- 1 tablespoon olive oil

Preparation:

in a saute pan, saute the chopped onion and minced garlic with some salt and pepper. add in the mushrooms and continue sauteing for a couple of minutes. Add in chicken and cook until no longer pink and then add in spinach and adjust salt/pepper as needed then cover until spinach wilts. add in alfredo sauce and simmer.

in the meantime fire up some salted water and cook the pasta as directed on the package. once al dente, drain and toss with alfredo mixture.

Late night salmon with fresh broccoli orzo

i pretty much spent today smoking pot and eating animal crackers so passing out from 4pm until just around 9:30ish was no real surprise, but nevertheless i was hungry. Ever since starting at my new job i have started to embrace fish like salmon more but ive never had the balls to try preparing it myself. actually, i lie. stephanie and i attempted a grapefruit balsamic glazed salmon one year for our florida surf and turf Christmas but it came out very tart and i dont remember liking it much. Anyhow, in a lame attempt to mix in some yummy lean proteins into my usual diet of cupcakes, grilled cheese and waffles, i sucked it up and bought a bag of frozen alaskan salmon fillets and this quick tasty meal is my very first success!

Pan seared salmon with lemon and herbs

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh thyme
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 2 friendly squeezes of a lemon
• 1 teaspoon seasoning salt (i heart goya adobo)
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 (2 1/4-pound) salmon fillet
• Olive Oil

Preparation

Coat the bottom of a skillet with olive oil and heat to medium high

Place salmon fillet into a bowl and sprinkle with seasoning salt, pepper, and squeeze fresh lemon over it.

Place into heated skillet skin side down and cook until fillet flakes easily when tested with a fork or until desired degree of doneness.

Fresh Broccoli Orzo

Ingredients

1 small head of broccoli cut into small bite sized peices

1 table spoon minced garlic

2 cups water

1 hearty squeeze of fresh lemon juice

2 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese

1/3 box of orzo (i heart barilla)

2 tablespoons butter (i heart smart balance)

salt

pepper

Preparation

Bring a pan with 2 cups of salted water and 1 tablespoon of garlic to a boil

toss in broccoli and orzo and boil until both are tender but al dente and drain (careful to reserve some of the garlic broccoli broth)

Pour broccoli and orzo back into the pan and combine with butter, tiny bit of broth, parmesan cheese, salt, pepper, lemon juice and ENJOY!

will it ever stop raining? black bean chili

the rain has been pounding down in dc for days now and basically annoying the shit out of me. Mostly because I have this great balcony that has been soaking wet and heartbreakingly inhospitable for far too long. i cant tell you what the unconscious connection is between rain and chili, but black bean turkey chili seemed more and more to be what i needed to soothe this aching heart of mine. below is a recipe i stumbled on somewhere, cant remember

where:  

        

Black bean chili

Basic ingredients:
Onion
Garlic 
Bell pepper
15.5-ounce can low-sodium black beans
14.5-ounce can chicken broth
14.5-ounce can stewed tomatoes
Ground turkey (1/2 pound)

Heat a large saucepan over medium heat. Add first 3 ingredients and turkey; cook for 6 minutes or until turkey is done, stirring frequently to crumble. Rinse and drain the canned beans. Stir in beans, tomatoes, and half of the can of chicken broth; bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 30 minutes.

so yeah, i basically followed this recipe however, I found mine to be bit watery from the can of diced tomatoes with green chilies so i opted out from adding the chicken broth and used goya sofrito (sofrito = yum) to turn it into the perfect consistency.  i also added a couple of dashes of cumin and topped it with some sour cream.  the chili ended up being pretty spicy so the coolness of the sour cream was fab.  

another reason this recipe is cool: you can throw it together in like 2o mins, so its especially great for those nights after work when your broke and already hungry.