Penne with Spinach and Roasted Veggies

This blog is really starting to live up to it's name these days. Small time and simple is the name of my meal game most of the time. Last night I needed something for dinner, and I knew it needed to be veggie based. I'd had three servings of fruit that day, but not one bite of a vegetable. I usually make a salad each for Josh and I on weekdays to take to work for lunch. I stayed home yesterday though, so my share of the veggies I usually top our salads with was up for grabs. I also have several half-empty boxes pasta in the pantry. So, I grabbed some penne, my veggies, a little butter and parmesan, and got to work. This was really delicious. Next time I'll probably go without the butter and give everything a hearty squeeze of lemon juice instead. There isn't really a whole lot of instruction to give- I tossed broccoli florets, small red and yellow pepper strips, half-rings of red onion, and a clove of garlic with olive oil, salt and pepper and roasted them for about 12 minutes at 425 degrees. I boiled my penne, and after draining I tossed it with some butter and a handful of spinach, to get it just a teeny bit wilty. Add the veggies, smash and add the roasted garlic clove, then toss and top with some shredded parmesan. Delicious!

Penne with Spinach and Roasted Veggies

Roasted Fall Vegetables

While I seem to have a lot of irons in the fire lately- photography class, learning to Charleston, all those holiday activities- I've been feeling more and more like cooking new things. My cooking mojo, while laying dormant for some time, seems to have returned. Last week I decided I wanted to try cooking with another new-to-me food and I chose butternut squash. But since I am so busy lately I needed it to be a fairly easy recipe. We've got a freezer full of fish we received from Josh's dad, so I decided a side dish to go with some quickly grilled trout would be perfect. I went way back to an October 2006 issue of Everyday Food for this recipe. It was so, so good. Really, I don't know how you could expect some veggies you just stick in the oven and practically ignore to come out so good, but I guess that's the miracle of fresh produce. Along with the grilled trout I made some whole wheat couscous. This meal was so filling, but so good and I was more than glad to eat a lunch of leftovers the next day.

Roasted Fall Vegetables
Recipes from Everyday Food; Serves 8


2 pounds (about 1 medium) butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces
2 pounds red new potatoes (12 to 14), well scrubbed and quartered
1 pound medium red onions (about 2 to 3), peeled and quartered
1 pound carrots (6 to 8 medium), halved lengthwise, if thick, and cut into 1 1/2-inch lengths
4 to 6 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
3 tablespoons olive oil
Coarse salt and ground pepper

• Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Divide vegetables and garlic between two rimmed baking sheets (or line with parchment paper, if desired, for easy cleanup); dividing evenly, toss with oil, 2 teaspoons coarse salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper.
• Roast until vegetables are tender and beginning to brown, 40 to 50 minutes, tossing them and rotating sheets from top to bottom halfway through. Serve hot or at room temperature.

My notes: I halved this recipe, so I didn't have to bother with rotating sheets. And I had some mushrooms leftover from a recipe earlier in the week so halfway through, when I tossed the vegetables, I added them in too. The butternut squash was a pain to peel with my crappy peeler, but all was (almost) forgotten when I tasted the roasty golden chunks. This recipe used only half of the small butternut squash I bought, and I used the rest in a recipe last night that I'll be sharing soon.

Balsamic-Roasted Pearl Onions

Josh and I agree on a lot of things, but sometimes there are some foods that just don't fall into that category. And for quite some time onions were one of those things that I loved and he couldn't care less for. But his taste has slowly been growing, and he's been widening the range of foods he enjoys. A few weeks ago when he declared that he liked those tiny onions I knew I had to take advantage of this new revelation. I had been dying to roast some onions for a long time, but never getting around to making them if it was only going to be me eating them. Shortly after he gave pearl onions the seal of approval I was looking for a side dish to make with some savory french toast. I saw this recipe and knew that my chance had finally come. To the oven!

Balsamic-Roasted Pearl Onions
Recipe from Everyday Food; Serves 4














2 packages (10 ounces each) frozen pearl onions, thawed and patted dry, or 1 1/4 pounds fresh
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon olive oil
Coarse salt and ground pepper

• Preheat oven to 450 degrees. If using fresh onions, soak them in warm water for 5 minutes to loosen skins; using a paring knife, cut off ends, and peel onions.
• Toss onions with vinegar and oil on a foil-lined rimmed baking sheet; season with salt and pepper. Roast until onions are tender, 25 to 30 minutes, stirring 2 or 3 times and rotating baking sheet halfway through.

My notes: I used frozen onions to make this an easier week night option. I think this was a great, easy recipe and Josh definitely approved. Now to push the boundaries a little and try more versions of roasted onions!

Roasted Broccoli

Happy Memorial Day. I wanted to make sure I got one more post up before we leave for our vacation tomorrow morning. This is a fantastic recipe I stumbled across while looking for a way to use up some leftover broccoli. It is an Ina Garten recipe, so you know that it is good, that I found by way of The Amateur Gourmet. He was practically shouting from the rooftops about this broccoli, so I figured it was definitely worth a shot. I made this as an accompaniment to some grilled trout, caught fresh by my father-in-law, along with some rosemary roasted potatoes. This was one heck of a weeknight meal- super simple, but really enjoyable. Josh went on and on about the broccoli, mentioning to people days later. We both liked it so much I made it again the following week. This is definitely a keeper.

Roasted Broccoli
Recipe from Ina Garten via Amateur Gourmet














4 to 5 pounds of broccoli, washed and thoroughly dried, cut into florets
5 tablespoons olive oil, plus 1.5 tablespoons more
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
4 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
3 tablespoons toasted pine nuts
1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons julienned fresh basil

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
• On a baking sheet, toss broccoli with olive oil, salt and pepper. Add garlic and toss again.
• Roast for 20-25 minutes, until tips of some florets are starting to brown.
• Add the lemon zest, lemon juice, additional olive oil, pine nuts, parmesan cheese and basil. Toss and serve.

My notes: I've given Ina's measurements, ingredients and amounts here, but I followed Adam's version more closely; leaving out the pine nuts and basil. Also, I had far less broccoli than the original recipe calls for so I just eyeballed my olive oil, salt, pepper. I skipped the lemon zest and additional olive oil, and just gave a good squeeze over all the broccoli with half a lemon. I grated the Parmesan over the broccoli till it looked like enough. I can only imagine how good this must be if you go all out, since this half-finished version was so darn delicious.