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Easiest Recipe Ever! Marinated Mozzarella and Tomato Salad

May 11, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Yesterday was a really nice day.  My cousin and her son, whom I haven’t seen in years, came for a visit.  It was really lovely and we reminisced and laughed and maybe even cried a little together. It’s funny how life works and how you come full circle sometimes, but I digress.  I wanted to have a simple yet tasty menu that didn’t cause anyone stress, yet still be fabulous.  I bought my favorite spreads (hummus, tzatziki), some chips to dip, Jim grilled cheeseburgers with lots of ‘fixins’, and I made Greek Pasta Salad, and this. Measurements are really approximate, you can not screw this up, I promise.

  • 3 packages of mozzarella pearls (if you have access to fresh buffalo mozz., by all means use it)
  • about a pint each of red cherry or grape tomatoes and yellow small tomatoes, halved – or chopped tomatoes of whatever variety
  • equal parts of extra virgin olive oil and dark balsamic vinegar (I used 2/3 cup of each and it was plenty)
  • 2 cloves garlic, very finely chopped
  • coarse sea, or kosher salt
  • a handful of basil, chiffonade

Combine the garlic, olive oil and vinegar in a large mixing bowl and whisk well to combine

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Toss the mozzarella and tomatoes into the mixing bowl and gently toss to combine until everything is coated in the dressing

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Add the basil and a big pinch of salt and again, gently toss to combine. Transfer to a non-reactive (glass is my preference) dish with a sealable lid.

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Allow to marinate for at least a couple of hours.  Test for seasoning, I had to add a bit more salt.  So ridiculously easy and so delicious!



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Filed Under: All, Party Food, Recipes, Vegetarian Tagged With: , , ,

Pasta Bar

December 19, 2011 By Leave a Comment

I always say that fresh is best, but sometimes I just don’t have the time, or the inclination… especially around the holidays.  So when I was contacted about sampling some of the products in the Giada De Laurentis for Target line, I was really intrigued. I may not always want to make things from scratch, but I never want to skimp on ingredients and I was thrilled by the very short list of ingredients on each of the bottles I received.  I had a couple of ideas as to what to do with the product, but in the end I decided that a pasta bar would be a neat idea.

Now, you could, if you wanted to, transfer your sauces to other containers if you wanted people to think this was home made and after sampling them all, I believe you could get away with that.  I wanted my “guests” to know what they were trying, so I left them in the jars.

pasta bar 1 Pasta Bar

Pictured are:

  • Black Olive Tapenade
  • Marinated Sun Dried Tomatoes
  • Marinated Roasted Red Peppers
  • Marinated Mushrooms
  • Genovese Basil Pesto
  • Eggplant & Pepper Pesto

I put them all out on the table, with a spoon for each one, boiled some pasta (linguine) and included fresh Locatelli on the table for grating.  I also reserved about two cups of pasta water in case the sauces needed thinning.

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I gave everyone a bowl of pasta and let them build their own masterpieces

Here’s mine:

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I just couldn’t decided, so I had tomato eggplant, basil pesto, black olive tapenade, mushrooms, sun dried tomato and roasted peppers. I mixed it all together and added some Locatelli

pasta bar 5 Pasta Bar

It was really good!

I have to admit, I was surprised by how tasty and fresh testing the products were. The tomato eggplant was my favorite, but everything was really good and I would absolutely buy them. The prices are really quite affordable and again, there are no chemicals or HFCS in sight.

If you’re planning a holiday meal and are stressed about it, there are alternatives. This is a great idea for a no stress, budget conscious, fun, tasty, party dinner.

I also received some kitchen tools and all in all I’m pretty impressed.  The mixing bowls are nice and sturdy and a good weight, with pour spouts(!), the tools are sturdy and thoughtfully designed and the stoneware is also quite nice.

pasta bar 2 Pasta Bar


I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of Giada De Laurentis for Target and received product samples to facilitate my review



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Filed Under: All, Easy Dinner, Party Food, Pasta, Recipes, Vegetarian Tagged With: , ,

The Best Alfredo Mac and Cheese Ever

December 7, 2011 By Leave a Comment

So if you read ColorMePink with any regularity, you’ll know that Pomi has been sending me product to test in my kitchen and while I’m really mostly interested in the tomato products, my children are completely in love with Alfredo Sauce and we’ve been having some really great fun with that as well.  This week I decided to make a Macaroni and Cheese Alfredo Baked Pasta and we had so much fun with it that I had to share. This is a very easy dish to make, but there are a lot of steps so if you read through carefully before starting, you’ll do great.

This was so incredibly delicious that I can totally see it becoming our “go to” decadent meal.

You’ll need a Dutch oven pot, a pasta pot, two medium or one really large baking dish, and a high lipped baking sheet

The ingredients:

  • 2 lbs. corkscrew pasta
  • 1.5 cups white wine
  • 2 packages Pomi Alfredo Sauce
  • 8 oz. smoked Gruyere grated
  • 10 garlic cloves peeled chopped, divided
  • extra virgin olive oil
  • big pinch red pepper flakes
  • 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • 1 teaspoon chili powder
  • 1 head broccoli (fresh or frozen, blanched)
  • 2 pints grape tomatoes, rinsed
  • 1 lb. bacon

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees and line a baking sheet with foil.  Lay out the bacon strips on the foil and place in the oven, rotating every 9 minutes till completely cooked.  Drain on paper towel lined dishes (for detailed instructions see the link for cooking bacon) when cooled, chop into a rough dice.

Preheat the dutch oven, pour in enough oil to cover the pan and when the oil is hot, add about 1/3 of the garlic.  When it’s sizzling, add the tomatoes and saute until they start to get wrinkly.

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Transfer tomatoes, oil and garlic to a glass bowl and set aside.

Add more oil to the dutch oven, when it ribbons add the rest of the garlic, red pepper flake, cayenne and chili powder and saute until it smells wonderful.  Pour the wine in and allow it to reduce by about a third.

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Add the Alfredo sauce, bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer, stirring frequently.

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At this point, put up the pot of water for the pasta.  Salt the water till it tastes like the ocean and cook the pasta for 1-2 minutes less than the package directions (it will finish in the baking process). Drain the pasta into a colindar when done, and transfer the Alfredo mixture into the pasta pot…  Meanwhile, get the gruyere cheese that you grated…

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Add most of it to the alfredo mixture and stir to melt and combine, reserving some for topping.

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I used frozen broccoli, so I microwaved it, if you use fresh, add it to the pasta water 2 minutes before draining. Add the tomatoes, broccoli, and pasta back into the pasta pot and using tongs, gently combine.  Preheat oven to 350.

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When everything is gently but completely combined, transfer to baking dish(es).  Top with the remaining gruyere and chopped bacon.

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Bake for 20-30 minutes or until cheese is browned and bubbly.

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Remove from oven, allow to cool a bit and serve.  Enjoy the oohs and aahs of your family scarfing this down.  Don’t forget to enjoy it yourself.  This was so good that I got multiple thank yous from the kids and the husband! Crazy, right?  Thank yous?  I can hardly believe it myself!



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Filed Under: All, Easy Dinner, Party Food, Pasta, Recipes Tagged With: , , ,

Deli Spirals

November 1, 2011 By Leave a Comment

I’m tired. We had a lovely time at a friend’s home last night.  The kids went trick or treating, the grown ups enjoyed some cocktails and then laughed at the sugar induced mania that ensued. It was really a fun night – and you can see the pictures here.

We have a lot of get togethers with this group of friends and we always do a pot luck sort of gathering so that no one bears the entire cost of the get together.  In this economy especially, it’s the way to go.  Everyone brings a little something and you get to sample everything.  This time I decided to make something home made, that we usually buy pre-made and compare the two.

Deli Spirals are always a big hit, but they’re expensive and have you ever read that ingredients list?  Ew. So – $12.99 for 60 pieces and a horrible list of chemicals.  No thank you. But please don’t get me wrong – even home made this is NOT health food. We did use cold cuts and they do have additives – so. That being said, here’s what I did.

  • 1 lb. Publix ham $3.99
  • 1 lb. Boar’s Head Genoa Salami $6.99
  • 2 packages, whole wheat tortillas $4.00
  • 2 packages Philadelphia Cream Cheese (every other brand had additives and chemicals) $5.78
  • 1 bunch of scallions $0.50
  • Mt. Olive Sandwich Stackers (I used the sugar free because I believe that Splenda is a better choice than High Fructose Corn Syrup and I was looking for that sweet pickle taste) I used almost two jars, but I bought them on BOGO sale 2 for $3.29
  • Various herbs from my garden (chives, parsley, cilantro)  Free.

So, the total is 24.55.  Two boxes of the store bought would be $25.98

Allow the cream cheese and tortillas to soften to room temperature.  Wash and chop your herbs and scallions.  Put each cream cheese in its own container.   Add scallions to one container, your herbs to the other.  Mash the cream cheeses with a fork to combine and soften further.

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Set up your work area – laying out the Tortillas, cream cheeses, cold cuts and pickles.  I sliced the pickles in half length wise for easier rolling.

Spread some cream cheese on the tortilla…

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Layer your meats, however you like, place the pickles on top and roll them up.

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Put the rolled tortillas in a covered container and refrigerate for a couple of hours.  Just before serving, remove from refrigerator and slice each roll into 8-10 pieces.

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We had at least an amount equal to two boxes of the store bought kind, better for you, fresher tasting and the possibilities are endless.  These were very kid friendly, but one of the dads suggested that putting some jalapeno, different meats, spicier choices would make them even more interesting and I agree.

 



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Sea Food Feast, Corn on the Cob and Sweet and Spicy Slaw

August 8, 2011 By Leave a Comment


For the Slaw

  • 1 head napa cabbage thinly sliced
  • 2 red bell peppers thinly sliced
  • 1/3 cup rice vinegar
  • 1/3 cup canola oil
  • 1/2 cup honey
  • 1/4 cup sriracha
  • 4 tablespoons soy sauce (we didn’t have soy sauce, so I used some worcestershire – but then Jim went to the store and I had him buy some soy sauce and splashed some of that in too.)
  • juice of half a lemon
  • salt and pepper to taste

Combine the cabbage and pepper in a large bowl (preferably with a lid you can seal)

Mix the rest of the ingredients in a mixing bowl and whisk well.  Slowly pour the dressing all over the salad and then toss to combine.  If it seems like it’s not enough liquid, you could add more, but I find that sealing the bowl and shaking the whole thing vigorously, (while holding it closed!), works best to combine it.  Remember it will settle a bit and you don’t want it to puddle.  Refrigerate.

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Spicy!

For the Cocktail Sauce

  • 1 cup ketchup
  • 1 heaping spoonful horseradish sauce
  • lots of shakes of worcestershire (10? – we like a lot)
  • juice of half a lemon

Combine all ingredients in a covered container, use a fork to whisk, cover and refrigerate.

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Ignore the box of ginger, it has nothing to do with this meal.

For the Corn

Put up a big pot of water to boil.  Clean your corn and set aside.  When the water comes to a boil, put the corn in.  Allow to boil for three minutes and then take the pot off the burner.  Eat as soon as possible.  I dont’ know if this method works with frozen, I don’t eat them. If the corn isn’t quite in season yet, let them boil for about 6 minutes. If you just picked it out of the garden, don’t let it boil at all, just put it in the hot water till it’s warmed up.

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See the crab steaming away on the side. Yum!

Have I mentioned I love summer food?

For the Shrimp

I like Ina’s method

Preheat your oven for 400 degrees – clean and peel the shrimp, leaving the tails on.  Toss with little olive oil, salt and pepper and bake on a sheet pan till pink and cooked through 8 or 9 minutes.  As soon as they’re pink, take them out.  There’s nothing worse than over cooked shrimp.  You can refrigerate these until cold or just set them aside until cool.  They. Never. Last.

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For the Snow Crab

Set up your steam pot, when the water’s boiling, drop the crab into  the insert (don’t submerge them in water), cover and steam till hot. Serve with butter, cocktail sauce, lemon wedges.  This meal is fit for a king and when crab is on sale, it’s not that expensive to do.  And if you buy the crab at Publix, ask them for the claws, apparently people ask them to take them off their clusters – I think that’s crazy, but I won’t complain.

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The slaw is very different and a nice change of pace, but in the end, I sort of missed the mayonnaise creaminess with my seafood.

We put all the bowls on the table along with salt, drawn butter and a stick of butter for slathering on the corn and let everyone serve themselves.



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Filed Under: All, Fish, Party Food, Recipes Tagged With: , , , , ,

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