Recipe: Pantry Pasta Primavera

I should begin this recipe with a few caveats. 

1.) All of the ingredients for this recipe do not, in fact, originate in the pantry. You will have to open your refrigerator and freezer, as well. [If you're keeping your frozen broccoli in your pantry though, you probably have bigger problems than the title of this recipe.]

2.) This is by no means a fancy, blow your mind recipe. This is a recipe for those nights when you're not inspired in the kitchen, did a bad job grocery shopping and meal planning, and want something healthy and pretty tasty.

Now that we've cleared the air, how about that recipe?!

This recipe is inspired by a dinner that Torsten made last week -- Giada's Pasta Primavera. If you have all of the ingredients for her recipe, *by all means* make that instead. It is wonderful and gets 5 stars on FoodNetwork.com, which is unheard of. Giada is a goddess and I will not pretend that this recipe is half of hers. BUT! I can almost guarantee you have the ingredients necessary to make this recipe lying around.

I got home from campus last night around 8pm. I had attended a Campus Dining Forum with Aramark last night (repping the Nutrition department!) and an hour of talking about what kind of food I would like to see on campus left me Hungry with a capital H. This recipe was ready in 20 minutes and hit the spot!

Pantry Pasta Primavera

Serves: 1

Ingredients: 

1 large carrot, peeled

Handful of grape tomatoes

2/3 cup broccoli (I used frozen broccoli that I defrosted in the microwave - desperate times)

Fresh thyme

1 clove of garlic

2 glugs of basil olive oil

2/3 cup whole wheat rotini

Salt & Pepper

Directions:

1.) Preheat the over to 400 degrees

2.) Cut the carrots into long chunks, halve the tomatoes, and mince the garlic.

3.) Put the carrots, broccoli, tomatoes, fresh thyme, a glug of olive oil and salt and pepper on a baking sheet. Toss. Bake for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the minced garlic with 3 minutes left.

4.) Cook the pasta according to package directions. 

5.) Toss the pasta, vegetables an additional glug of olive oil and a dash of S&P.

6.) Serve! (bonus points for topping with freshly grated parmesan)

Note: the best part about this recipe is its flexibility. Any roasted vegetables would be great here. Butternut squash, onion, asparagus, squash, mushrooms, eggplant, etc. Additionally, any fresh or dried herbs can be substituted for the thyme (basil would be great!) and a plain olive oil would work just fine. Of course, I won't be offended if you happen to use penne or rigatoni instead of rotini. 

Hope you enjoy!

Recipe: Baked Honey & Banana Oatmeal

The mornings in these parts are getting chillier and I'm still stubbornly refusing to turn on the heat in my apartment yet [student budget cheapskate]. I'm also procrastinating studying for my Anatomy & Physiology test tomorrow morning.

So, naturally, I decided to try my hand at my first batch of baked oatmeal! Full disclosure: I also baked cookies last night and will be making pumpkin chocolate chip bars this afternoon for Torsten's office bake-off (don't tell! If anyone asks, *he* made them).

I loosely adapted this recipe from Kath Eats, my go-to lady when it comes to all things oatmeal.

I was highly skeptical of baked oatmeal for many years. I was worried it would be dry or flavorless or blah. But those fears were all for naught - this stuff is delicious! I promise I wouldn't share something with you that was dry, flavorless and blah. That would be mean!

I highly recommend this recipe for chilly mornings and busy weeks. I'm planning to reheat the leftovers for breakfast this week. I've heard that baked oatmeal is great brain fuel for memorizing muscles and nerves.

Recipe: Baked Honey & Banana Oatmeal
Serves: 4
Adapted from Kath Eats Real Food

Ingredients:

2 cups rolled oatmeal
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons dried cranberries
1 large ripe banana, mashed
1 egg, beat
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 3/4 cup skim milk
1 tablespoon honey
2 tablespoons brown sugar

Directions:

1.) Preheat oven to 375 degrees and spray 8x8 pan with cooking spray.

2.) Mix oatmeal, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and cranberries  in a large bowl.

3.) Whisk together banana, egg, vanilla, milk and honey.

4.) Stir the ingredients from #3 into those from #2. Mix well!

5.) Pour into the greased pan.

6.) Bake for 25 minutes.

7.) Sprinkle brown sugar on top and broil for 3 minutes until bubbly and delicious smelling.

8.) Eat! I topped mine with Trader Joe's salted almond butter and more cranberries and it Hit. The. Spot.

Enjoy!

Recipe: Sunday Crock Pot Roast

It has been a rainy and dreary Sunday here in Charlotte. What better way to pass the afternoon than with some crock pot/pot roast action? 

This was my first attempt at a pot roast and I deem it a great success. My apartment smelled like a cozy bistro all day, it was relatively inexpensive to whip up, I have leftovers for days AND it was delicious. 

It's just not very photogenic. Don't let that sway you! 

Crock Pot Roast (see what I did there??)

Ingredients:

2 lb chuck roast

1 cup sliced mushrooms

5 large carrots - roughly chopped

2 yellow onions - quartered

2 cups beef stock

1 cup red wine (cheap!)

Rosemary

Thyme

Salt & Pepper

1 Tbsp olive oil

Directions:

Heat olive oil on medium high in a large skillet. Salt and pepper up the roast and then sear both sides in the pan for 3 minutes on each side.

Transfer the roast to the crock pot. Dump in the chopped onions, carrots, shrooms, herbs, stock and wine. Season with salt and pepper.

Cook on high for 4-5 hours.

I served the roast-magic with smashed potatoes and red wine. There is a lot of liquid with this roast and I'm hoping to have it as a stew like thing for dinner tomorrow. Bring on the rain!

Hope you enjoy!

First Day of Fall!

"Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall." - F. Scott Fitzgerald

Good ole F. Scotty knew what he was talking about!

I'm sorry I've been a little quiet lately. I've been buried in Anatomy & Physiology (epithelial tissue, cellular respiration and bones oh my!), had my first Food Composition & Community Nutrition exams and some extra hours working at the olive oil shop.

Both of my Wednesday classes were miraculously cancelled today (I'm assuming to celebrate the first day of Fall, right?) so I'm lazing around and catching up on life things.

It's officially the first day of Fall and I couldn't be happier. It has been feeling crisp in the mornings here in Charlotte and there is pumpkin everything on grocery store shelves.

Judge me all you want, but I'm the girl beelining for the pumpkin greek yogurt, loading my cart up with pumpkin butter, and coveting my new plaid blanket scarf. And hey, pumpkin is a stellar source  of Vitamin A and Fiber. So the joke is on you!

I *may* have jumped the gun a little bit on Fall but now I can share my delight in the new season loud and proud.

Oh oh! This candle. So festive and not too sweet smelling. Bonus: Bath & Body Works had them on sale! Student budget...

This lil screen shot is from a few weekends ago, but this was the first morning I woke up to such a cool temperature. A squeal and victory dance definitely ensued.

This set-up appeared on the Student Help desk at Winthrop last week. The inspirational quote cracked. me. up. It makes it into this post because of the pumpkin and owl, obviously.

While this picture is no stunner, I promise this was one delicious and Fall-appropriate breakfast. 

The night before, combine:

1/4 cup oats

Scant 1/4 cup milk

1/4 cup plain greek yogurt

2 T pumpkin puree (NOT pumpkin pie filling)

Dashes of: cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice

1 t honey

The morning of, top with:

Walnuts

Pumpkin butter (never too much pumpkin)

Chia seeds 

Hemp seeds

Fun fact: we learned in Food Composition that this recipe format is called "Action Style." Most recipes are "Traditional Recipe Style" (aptly named) but there are also "Narrative Style" recipes in which everything is written in a paragraph, and ingredients are interspersed in the directions (I find these ridiculous and would always forget ingredients on my shopping list) and "Descriptive Style" which involve 3 different columns - ingredient, quantity, and procedure. Anecdote over.

Last but not least, another Bath & Body works find. This soap smells so cozy and makes me smile every time I wash my hands. Yes, it really is that easy to make me happy. Fall, I tell ya!

Spill! What are you most looking forward to this season? I'm on the hunt for some Apple Cider Donuts this weekend...

Recipe: Roasted Cauliflower, Farro and Chickpea Bowl

Greetings friends!

I hope you all had a summery and relaxing Labor Day weekend! I spent the long weekend in Atlanta with my family (with a pitstop in Greenville, SC which I will fill you in on this week!).

If you're anything like me, the weekend involved lots of ice cream, rose, burgers and treats. As it should be! After a sad "there is nothing in my fridge" lunch upon my return to Charlotte yesterday, I was craving extra veggies for dinner last night in a big way.

I put together this yummy bowl of whole foods (not the grocery store) for dinner last night and proclaimed it a "great success."

After dinner I eased back into this whole "week" thing with a batch of these Almond Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies which Torsten said "didn't even taste healthy" (!!!). If that's not enough to urge you to make these cookies ASAP, I don't know what is.

But I digress... This bowl of goodness would also be great with more roasted veggies, rice or quinoa instead of farro, or even a fried egg, feta, or chicken added in for more protein!

Roasted Cauliflower, Farro and Chickpea Bowl

Serves: 1

Ingredients:

1/4 farro (I used the Trader Joe's 10 minute farro)
1 cup chopped cauliflower
1/3 cup chickpeas
1/3 cup cucumber, chopped
2 Tablespoons walnuts
1 lemon
EVOO
Salt
Pepper

Directions:

1.) Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Toss cauliflower with a glug (<1 Tablespoon) of olive oil, salt and pepper. Bake for 15 minutes until there are some golden brown edges.

2.) Heat chickpeas in a microwave safe bowl for 2 minutes.

3.) Cook farro in a pot of boiling water for 10 minutes. Drain!

4.) Mix cucumber, farro, cauliflower and chickpeas in a bowl with the juice of 1/2 of a lemon and another small glug of olive oil (2 teaspoons), salt and pepper.

5.) Top with toasted walnuts.

6.) EAT!

Let me know if you try this recipe! 

Recipe: Overnight Muesli

Good morning!

Long time no talk, eh? I hope you'll bear with me as I get back into the school groove. It has been a crazy week!

Because I know I'm not alone in the whole "back to school" thing happening right now, I wanted to share one of my favorite breakfast recipes with you!

I'm a BIG fan of Overnight Oats and have made countless variations over the years. A pumpkin version will definitely make an appearance in a few short weeks...

I love that I can make this recipe the night before and that it is ready to go when I wake up. Whoever said "I love sleep because it's like a time machine to breakfast" was speaking to my soul. It can also be portable if you make it in a tupperware or mason jar.

I've tried several recipes for overnight oats and muesli that I love independently, but for this version I combined my favorite parts of each into one SuperRecipe.

I found this Super Seed Mix on my Trader Joe's run yesterday and it will now make regular appearances in my basket. [Does anyone else limit themselves to a basket at TJs in an attempt to curb impulse buys? Don't bother trying my tactic, it doesn't work. Case and point pictured above]. 

This mix is sweet and crunchy and filled with fiber and Omega-3 fatty acids. It would be a great topping for yogurt or oatmeal (or by the handful).

Overnight Muesli

Serving: 1

Ingredients:

The night before, mix:

1/4 cup rolled oats

1/4 cup milk (whichever % you prefer)

1/4 plain greek yogurt

1/4 cup of apple, chopped

1/2 Tbsp maple syrup

Dash of cinnamon

The next morning, top with:

Handful of almonds, toasted and chopped (I usually use 12-15 almonds)

2 Tbsp Trader Joe's Super Seed Blend with Cranberry and Coconut Chips

EAT, preferably with a cup of coffee and a side of The Today Show.

Recipe: Peaches n' Cream yogurt bowl

Breakfast is 100% my favorite meal of the day. I (way too) often fall asleep at night looking forward to breakfast the next morning.

Not only is it the most important meal of the day (your grandmother was right!), but it's the only thing that has the potential to make me a "morning person."

The peaches from South Carolina this summer seem to be particularly sweet and juicy and I've been buying them in embarrassing quantities every week.

Before peach season comes to an end, I thought I'd share one of my favorite quick and easy peachy breakfasts from this summer!

I give you...

Peaches n' Cream Yogurt Bowl

I hadn't had my coffee yet, hence the vaguely blurry photo.

"Recipe"

Mix:

1/2 cup plain 0% greek yogurt

1 glug of honey (very scientific)

Top with:

1 teaspoon chia seeds

1 peach, roughly chopped

Scant 1/4 cup old-fashioned oats

1 Tablespoon flaked unsweetened coconut

This would also be great topped with almond butter or chopped pecans for some crunch and more staying power.

Serves: 1

Recommended (but not required) serving suggestion: With 1+ cups of coffee.

Let me know if you give it a try! Enjoy!