Summer Vegetable Pasta

In May, I posted a photo of a recipe I tried with lots of vegetables from the At Home with Magnolia cookbook.

I tried it again, removing the spinach and sun-dried tomatoes and adding fresh squash. It was even better!

Chicken-Cheese Ravioli in Tomato Sauce

I took a half-day vacation on July 2 so that Josh, Ben and I (plus doggies) could leave on time for a weekend in San Antonio. Faced with the prospect of a lunch at home by myself, I opted to try something new.

Buitoni has a new line of ravioli pastas, and I chose the one with chicken and cheese. I made my typical tomato sauce - a can of tomato sauce, a tablespoon or two of mascarpone cheese, garlic, Italian seasoning, crushed red pepper, salt and cracked black pepper, then added the cooked ravioli to it. I also added some freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese.

With a defrosted baguette, it was a huge lunch - way too much for me. But the ability to be able to eat undisturbed (except for the two dogs waiting hopefully for any droppings) was great, and I'll remember this as a quick dinner for me in the future.

Tavern Bread

I have always liked beer bread, but given my past (disastrous) encounters with yeast, I have stayed away from the making of it and focused on the eating of it.

About two months ago, I joined mixingbowl.com, which is a recipe sharing site launched by Better Homes & Gardens.

I found an incredibly easy bread recipe called Tavern Bread which calls for some beer instead of a certain type of yeast, kneading, etc.

The effort in making this bread is nothing, and it tastes great! Josh is not a huge fan of bread, but this is one of the types that is converting him.

I'm planning on making another loaf this week for barbeque chicken sandwiches, and I'm looking very forward to that meal!

Sweet Potato Falafel

When Alicia was home from London for her friend Beth's wedding, she was able to take a day off from the wedding festivities to come with us to the zoo, which is described in an earlier post.

She is fully aware of my cookbook addiction and encouraged it with a gift of the Leon cookbook. Leon is a restaurant in London, and Alicia raved about a couple of things - one being their brownies (which I plan on trying to make in the future) and another being their sweet potato falafel.

I didn't have chickpea flour or sesame seeds, so ours probably didn't turn out exactly like the real thing. They were pretty tasty, but as a side dish and not a main one in the future.

If you like sweet potatoes in more savory dishes, try it!

Curried Chicken Sandwich with Radicchio and Pancetta

Josh and I wanted to try something quick but new one Sunday night, so we tried the Curried Chicken Sandwich with Radicchio and Pancetta from Giada de Laurentiis.

I had never cooked with radicchio itself, but the combination of it with the salty pancetta and the curried chicken was great.

Strawberry Pecan Quick Bread

I had never even knew that dried strawberries were available, but when I saw the recipe for Strawberry Pecan Quick Bread in Food & Wine magazine, I knew I had to try it.

Josh wasn't expecting much, but did like it when he tried it. I'll have to keep this recipe in my back pocket for breakfast.

Frank's Red Hot Buffalo Chicken Dip

You may have seen the coupons for Frank's Red Hot in newspapers with a recipe for Buffalo Chicken dip.

Josh and I had some at a party a few months ago and finally got around to making some on Father's Day.

It was really good. We tried combinations with blue cheese dressing / blue cheese and cheddar cheese / ranch dressing with no real discernable difference.

We now have a good reason to keep canned chicken on hand, because while you'll never see this in a nutrition magazine, it is a real crowd pleaser.