Cheap Burgundy Pesto With Mozzarella

(A "What's In the Fridge?" Adventure Pasta!)

Ingredients:
Pasta
1 cup of cheap wine
4 cloves garlic
olive oil
A bunch of basil, fresh or dried
Any other green herbs you have lying around that you think will work, fresh or dried
Cayenne pepper (optional)
Mozzarella
Grated romano or parmesan cheese.

Cook your pasta.
During this time, chop up garlic and put in a skillet with olive oil and wine, on medium heat. Add cayenne pepper if you're into that, as well as a ton of basil and other green herbs according to what you have and your whims. I had dried basil and a random container of dried "italian herbs" I inherited from a roommate.
Keep the heat on your wine-oil-herb situation to medium low. It can bubble but don't let it go crazy. But it's OK to reduce it somewhat.

When your pasta is ALMOST BUT NOT QUITE DONE, drain it and transfer into the wine-oil-herb situation to finish it. You can turn the heat up a bit. Let it cook a few more minutes.

Chop your mozzarella into small cubes and toss it in, mixing carefully to distribute it well.  Add a small ton of grated romano or parmesan (use your own judgment of what "a small ton" is) and mix well.

Serve!

Chickpea & Red Bell Pepper Soup

I'm trying to get a little more protein because I'm recovering from a muscle/tendon injury. Then I learned from Google that a cup of chickpeas has 39 GRAMS (!!!) of protein and so...

Ingredients:

1 cup water
Bullion cube (I use Knorr's vegetarian vegetable)
1 can of chickpeas
Quarter of a vidalia onion
1-2 cloves garlic
Butter
1 small red bell pepper
5 sundried tomatoes
Paprika, Garlic Powder, Turmeric, Cumin, Salt, Nutmeg (to taste)
Splash of lemon juice.
Potato flakes to thicken as desired

Chop up a few cloves of garlic and your onion and start them off in some butter. Chop up red pepper (doesn't have too be too small) and add that too. Add your spices. After they are a bit more cooked, add  your can of chickpeas (don't drain it).

Let these things simmer a bit and then use a slotted spoon to transfer your chickpeas and red pepper into a blender.
Keep the heat on and add half a cup of water, and your bullion cube, to the pot. Dice up sundried tomatoes pretty finely and add them too. Cover.
Now, add the other half cup of water to the blender and blend until it is a thick liquid. Add back to pot.

If you like it a little thicker (which I do) you can add a couple of spoonfuls of potato flakes which are my preferred soup thickener because they're hassle free and a bit more nutritious than plain white flour. Or you can whisk in some flour if you're good at that (I'm not!)

Stir. Add a splash of lemon juice. Stir more. Simmer for a few more minutes and serve!

Lemon-Spinach Stuffed Shells (Vegan!)

This is one of those "random stuff in my fridge and cabinets" creations that worked out well.

Ingredients:
10 large shell pasta pieces
Half a large container of fresh spinach
Half a lemon
Olive oil
A few cloves of garlic
Salt, coarse ground pepper
Other spices according to your whim (I throw in a pinch of turmeric and cayenne to almost everything these days)

You can obviously up-size this dish if you're cooking for a crowd. Just bear in mind that fresh spinach shrinks a LOT. Next time I do this dish I might even do more spinach; there's room.

Boil water and add shells. They need 10 minutes or so to cook (or just make them according to the package directions or your own preference).

While they are cooking, chop up garlic finely & start it off in a generous splash of olive oil. Heat should be medium-low. Chop your lemon into a few pieces--squirt as much as you can and then toss the lemon pieces into the pan to continue to add flavor.

Once the garlic is browned, add the spinach. Be careful not to overcook--spinach should be a bright dark green when ready so it does not loose its flavor and nutrients. Remove from heat as soon as it looks close to done (it will keep cooking for a little bit off the burner).

Drain shells & spread on a plate. Scoop spinach into shells bit by bit. I did 2 rounds of this so I didn't end up with very uneven filling amounts.

Then, carefully place each shell back into your pan (add a little oil if you need to for non-stickiness) and let it simmer on low for a few minutes to cook the delicious lemon-garlic flavor right into the pasta.

Sprinkle with salt and coarse ground pepper and serve!

Accidental Necco Wafer Iced Tea

So my sister works for a tea importer and as a consequence, I end up taking home delicious and extremely fancy teas every time I visit.  Not coincidentally, I have developed a tradition of making a new fancy iced tea blend every weekend.

Today I sipped my new iced tea for the first time and was surprised to learn I had created something that had a flavor/scent somewhere between that of a Necco Wafer, and that of a Choward's Violet mint.

I'm not sure how I feel about this... uncanny... development.  My taste buds are still getting over the bizarre circumstances but I seem to be enjoying it.

Ingredients

-A bunch of ice

-Hot water

-1 bag Tazo Sweet Cinnamon Spice tea

-1/2 tsp loose Moroccan Mint

-1 tsp loose Buccaneer tea from Serendipitea

-1 tsp loose darjeeling tea

-like 1/4 tsp of Dark ChocolateTea also from Serendipitea (I was finishing off a container)

Put a bunch of ice (I usually use 2 regular ice trays' worth) into a large pitcher.

Steep tea in 4 cups hot water. (I usually just throw it all in loose, and then pour through a strainer once steeped.) Don't steep longer than 5 minutes - that will make it more bitter, not more flavorful.

Pour hot tea into the pitcher with ice and stick immediately in your fridge. It's usually cold enough to drink within a few hours.

This is unsweetened and I don't find it to need sweetener. But if are a sweet tea fan, dissolve sugar in the hot tea (before you pour it over the ice), to your taste. I find that the result is a little better if I steep tea first, and then add sugar.

Potato Garlic Halftime Soup

If, like me, you are ever watching a football game and then see a commercial for some sort of delicious creamy soup and you're like OH NO how can I eat something like that right now...
This soup is for you. Easy to prepare during halftime/commercial breaks.

Ingredients:
3-5 garlic cloves
2 tablespoons whipped butter
1/2 sprig of rosemary if available*
a few shakes of dried thyme
1 cup broth
1 cup milk
1 cup potato flakes (this makes it pretty thick, use less or more depending on desired thickness)
2 oz grated cheddar cheese
1 tsp lemon juice

*dried stuff is OK too; a sprig is just nicer because then you can pull it out after and not be left with branchy stuff in your soup.

Serves 1-2 people.

Chop garlic and start it simmering in butter with the rosemary sprig on very low heat. This way you can leave it until the next commercial.
On the next commercial, add your broth (or bullion and water if that's your fancy.)
On the following commercial, add flakes and then milk. Stir well. Adjust your thickness here with your flake to milk ratio if desired. Then add the grated cheese.
Let simmer, partially covered, until the next commercial break.
Add lemon juice & stir well/quickly so it doesn't interact badly with the milk.
Serve!