Roasted Cherry Tomato Sauce

Our garden was weird this year.  I guess I shouldn't say that.  I've never gardened in Southern California (kinda) before so maybe it was normal, but I thought it was weird.  The cherry tomatoes were supposed to be the first to ripen!  It said so on the package of seeds.  For some reason, they ripened AFTER some of our other tomato varieties that were supposed to take twice as long.  While I was a little confused as to why these sleeper tomatoes did that, I wasn't upset that we actually got some produce from our plants.  

Table Talk: Creamless Creamy Tomato Soup

I've been crazy about tomato soup and cheese sandwiches lately.  I've always liked the combo, but I've just gotten back into it.  I picked this recipe because I wanted to try it and use some of the tomatoes from my garden.  To make it creamy without cream, bread is thrown into the mix.  I thought that was interesting when I read the recipe but it seemed to work.  Although, I'm not sure why I am leaving out the cream only to load the soup with cheese?  Less cream equals more cheese, I guess.  Yeah, that's how I roll.

Tomatoes, Squash and Fresh Mozzarella with Creamy Polenta (Or without, whatevs)

I don't want to sound like a loser or anything but I've never had polenta before.  I've never cooked it before and I've never even seen it at the grocery store before.  I was wondering if I would even be able to find it but Bob's Red Mill came through for me.

If I'm being honest, I would have to tell you that I almost didn't even make the polenta.  I almost decided that it wasn't worth buying something I knew I wasn't going to like.  Then, I realized that I'm not a five year old and that this is the reason for the cooking group to begin with.  To learn new things.  To try new things that I wouldn't normally try.  To cook new things.  To eat new things.  To not be a 5 year old.  

After a pep talk in the mirror, I tried the polenta by itself and was less than impressed and wondered if maybe I was a 5 year old after all.  Determined to try everything together before I wrote off polenta forever, I dished everything up and took a bite.  And was pleasantly surprised.  All the flavor combinations really worked together.  The juices from the vegetables mixed with the polenta and it was really good.   It's almost like America's Test Kitchen knows what it's doing.  Weird.  And the texture of the polenta was completely lost in the vegetables and flavors.  I actually really liked it and would maybe make it again.  

 If you leave the polenta uncovered, it turns into a rubbery brick of cornmeal so make sure to serve it right away. 

And this is how the rest of the family ate their vegetables. Okay, fine.  This is how Tyler ate his and the kids pretty much had noodles with parmesan cheese.  (I forgot to add the mozzarella to his plate before the picture. oops)

I know what you're thinking, I should have just made them eat the polenta.  If they get hungry enough they'll eat it right?  Well, let's just say that all of my ideas about eating from my younger years have been blown out the window.  Like with a hand grenade.  I usually make them taste it and if they don't like it, they don't have to eat it.  When an autistic kid can't handle the texture of something, I don't make him eat it.  Or he will throw up.  Yeah.  And Tyler's decided he's pretty much autistic too so he got noodles.  And I can't punish Hadlee for being the only 'typical' one around here so she got to have noodles too.  (I learned that's what you call your normal kids when you have an autistic one, 'typical'.)  Maybe now that I'm more of a polenta eater, I will convert them in the future.  Like when all their taste buds have grown up a bit. :)  And Tyler did actually try a bite of the polenta with veggies and said it was pretty good.  He liked his noodles better though. :)

If you'd like to try the recipe you can get it at Janet's blog.  She was our host for the week and chose the recipe.  Thanks for making me try something new, Janet!

Here's what I did differently this week:

Not much.  I didn't have cherry tomatoes, but we have a lot of tomatoes in our garden so I used about 4 medium tomatoes, sliced them and roasted them in the oven.  Then, cut the slices into 4 quarters each and added them to the recipe like they were cherry tomatoes.  I didn't have fresh thyme so I used 1/4 tsp dried.  Other than those things, I followed the recipe pretty closely this week!  It's almost a record for me!

P.S.  I think I said 'polenta' 3000 times in this post.

Table Talk: Southwestern Black Bean Salad

 It's my week to host and when I chose this recipe, I wanted to pick something easy.  I haven't really been feeling like spending a ton of time in the kitchen lately.  I think it's because I'm pregnant (with someone else's baby) and nothing really sounds that great.  Then, late last week, we got some devastating news.  My little baby nephew had passed away in his sleep.  It was the most heart-breaking experience but at the same time, there was such an out-pouring of love for my brother and his family, it was lovely to see.  Our weekend was spent crying and driving and then more crying and driving and I don't know that we'll recover anytime soon.  This recipe ended up being about all a person can handle after something like that.  I knew it would be easy and once I got in the kitchen to make it, I found my kitchen to be what it always is-therapeutic.  I know some people won't understand but sometimes I think cooking keeps me sane.  Once I got in there I decided to bake some bread because fresh baked bread makes everything seem a little better.  And also because I knew Calvin wouldn't be too savvy on the dinner plans but he always likes bread. :)

White Chicken Enchiladas (Lightened-up) with Corn and Avocado Salsa

The other day I got a hankerin' (have I told you that Tyler, my husband, wants to be a cowboy now?  Just practicing.) for chicken enchiladas.  Which is weird because I keep telling people (including myself) that I don't really like Mexican food.  I could be in denial.  I went looking for a recipe but it started to seem like a lot of work to try and find one that fit what I wanted.  One of my stipulations was the it would be semi-healthy.  We are trying to be good over here, ya know?  After searching for a few minutes I decided I was bored with it.  I would just throw a few things together and could make it how I wanted it.  Guess what?  This time, it worked out.  These were delicious and only ended up being about 375 calories per serving (2 enchiladas).  I was pretty pleased with them so I thought I'd share.  If for no other reason than to have the recipe next time I want to make these.

Table Talk: Pan Seared Shrimp Tartines

 I am usually not this fancy.  I mean, what in the world is a tartine?  Well, it's a long story.  Actually it's really not a long story but I will tell you one anyway.  I went to this restaurant in Beverly Hills last month.  No, this is not something I normally do so I was excited when I learned something new and saw Tracey Ulman.  The something new I learned is that a fancy, French, opened-faced sandwich is called a tartine.  And I knew I was filing that little tidbit away for later.  

Fast-forward to our cooking group this week when I was trying to decide how I wanted to serve our pan seared shrimp with lemon and garlic and it just seemed like the two went together.  Shrimp is pretty fancy.  And tartines are supposed to be fancy.  So, there ya go.  I almost blew my own mind and made this aioli (which I have never made before) but then I decided the juices from the shrimp would be enough that the tartines wouldn't be too dry.

I made this french bread recipe and toasted one side of the bread with the broiler. If I were toasting the bread again, I might make the aioli because there weren't as many juices as I was expecting but I think it would be perfect with just un-toasted bread and the juices from the shrimp.  I diced some tomatoes and slices some avocados and it was finished.  I used cilantro instead of parsley because I had it on hand. And I would do it all over again in a heart beat.

This shrimp recipe is super fast and super delicious.  With the fresh sliced garlic and fresh lemon, how can you really go wrong?  We also had this a couple weeks ago and just made a salad with the shrimp, lettuce, avocado and tomato, and that was also delicious. If you want to try the recipe you can get it HERE.  Janet was our host for the week and chose the recipe.  {Thanks for picking a fast and delicious recipe this week, Janet!}

Honey-Lime Shrimp and Avocado Salad

Look at this!  Yesterday I promised a blog post on Facebook and here it is!  (I was sharing tips for storing cilantro)  I am not sure what my problem is, but I am all about the salad and veggies lately.  ??  Yeah, I don't know if my body knows it's Fall and I am supposed to be craving all things apple, cinnamon, pumpkin and cranberry.  I will try to break it to myself.  We've had this twice now because I bought some shrimp on sale. When shrimp is on sale, I am there.  I wish crab was on sale more often.....Anyway, we really liked this salad, like enough to have it twice in 2 weeks, so I thought I'd share.  It's fresh and pretty and healthy and delicious.  Are there anymore positive words I can use?  Oh yeah, it's fast too.  Enjoy!  And now that my internet is fixed, (WHOOOOHOOOO!!) I will, hopefully, be around more often!

Fresh Corn Salad

If you like corn at all, you need to make this.  ASAP.  I took one bite at dinner about a week ago and said, "Is it just me or is this salad freaking delicious?"  Yeah, it's freaking delicious.  And I don't often say the 'f' (freaking, never the other one) word.  I reserve it for special occasions such as this.  Tyler doesn't care for fresh parsley so he would have been fine if that was left out but I liked it.  To make the salad extra delicious, make sure you wait and cut the corn from the cob after preparing all the other ingredients so it stays as fresh as possible.  

Tortellini, Artichoke and Sun Dried Tomato Salad

Summer is here!  I can't decide if I am super excited about it or dreading it.  I prefer temperatures in the 80s.  Around here, is isn't unusual to see temps in the 100s and I don't look forward to those days.  But the pool is warmer and we hang out there a lot.  I just like the idea of summer, you know?  Barbecues, lemonade, lazy pool days.   This is perfect for a summer barbecue and one of my favorite summer salads.  It's delicious and a little different than what everyone is used to.

Chicken-in-a-Packet (or in the crock pot)

This has been such a favorite for a long time, it deserves a post on the blog.  It's one of Tyler's favorite recipes and he always requests it when I ask him his dinner ideas for the week.  As you can tell by the name of the recipe, it actually calls for the chicken and veggies to be cooked in individual foil 'packets,' kind of like a tinfoil dinner, but in the oven.  While it was fun to cook this that way the first couple times, it gets daunting separating everything into packets.  Now that my kids are older, it might be fun to have everyone make their own instead of me having to do them all.  But before I just realized that my kids can help, I looked for easier ways to make one of our favorite dishes.  I have made this is a covered baking dish in the oven as well as the crock pot.  All three ways have produced a successful result.  Just decide which way you like best.  My kids like to have the rice with it.  Tyler and I like it either way, rice or not.  I am not sure why we still call it "Chicken in a Packet" since we don't really cook it in the packet anymore, but none-the-less, we do.

Cheesy Spanish Rice and Chicken

I had a hankering for Spanish Rice the other day.  Put that together with the fact that I've felt like I've been running for my life lately but not knowing where I'm going and this is what you get.  I looked up a recipe for Spanish Rice and started planning my meal.  The thought of cleaning more than one pan seemed like just too much for the day and I decided to combine the meal into one pot.  Have I mentioned I hate dishes?

Cheesy Quinoa Bites with Avocado Cream Dip

 

 Tyler is not an easy sell when it comes to quinoa.  But I have a bag of it in the pantry that I need to use up!  And it's super healthy so when I saw this easy recipe I knew I needed to try it.  And it has "cheesy" in the title.  Isn't anything "cheesy" an automatic winner?  I think so.  Even though the name says cheesy, there are still only 50 calories in each one.  (According to Calriecount.com)

Bake 52: Cheese Pizza

I knew this would be a hard sell as soon as the recipe was chosen.  You see, I am very loyal when I find a recipe that I love.  It's not that I won't try a new recipe, but it has to be pretty darn good for me to leave something I love for something else.  Especially when the pizza that I love is also super easy.  Super easy and super delicious, that's a hard combination to beat.  

Roasted Tomato (Red Pepper) and Basil Soup

Speaking of healthy, wait until you see the info on this soup.  And it's meatless so I can check off one meatless meal for the week!  And it was so delicious.  And (are you sick of the "and" business yet?) I threw it in the crockpot after preparing everything and it was still delicious.  Which was perfect because I don't always know exactly when Tyler is going to get home, so when he did, I could do a couple things and serve dinner.

Fish Tacos

The first time I heard of fish tacos was when we were living in Hawaii.  Something about the sound of it made me want to throw up a little bit.  

It's not that I don't like fish.  I don't have a lot of luck cooking it; it doesn't seem to ever taste good when I do but I've ordered fish in restaurants before and enjoyed it.  Just the idea of fish being in a taco seemed to be a little ridiculous to me.  (If you invented the idea, I don't mean to offend you.)  They seem to be a big deal lately though.  My dad and Jan posted a recipe on their website recently and they seem to be featured in quite a few restaurants now-a-days.  I put them on my to-do list for the future, but I thought it might be further in the future.   And my plan was in place until a couple weeks ago when my dad and Jan were here, they took us to Taco Surf and I actually tasted a fish taco.