Baked Spinach and Prosciutto Pasta

Cheesy Pasta with Ricotta, Spinach, Prosciutto, and Sun-Dried Tomatoes

Anytime I can throw ingredients into a baking dish and make dinner I am all for it.  And making something in large quantities just allows for more leftovers!  Fall is here and warm, cheesy, pasta always sounds good.  That's why this recipe is one of my new favorites!  Plus, baking in the oven always makes the house smell fantastic! 

I admit that I have been a little bit lazy when it comes to making dinner each night for Jamie and I.  It makes it hard when my internal clock wants me all snuggly in bed at 10pm and Jamie doesn't even get home for another hour.  I always try to stay up, but even when I do, I am pretty unmotivated to create a magical, hot and ready dinner for him at 11pm.  So a dish like this, that I can prep or even fully cook earlier in the day, really is a lifesaver.  Then I just have to preheat the oven and reheat the dish while Jamie is on his way home... BOOM... magical, hot and ready dinner at 11pm. 

Broccoli and Apple Slaw

Summer Broccoli and Apple Slaw with Dijon Agave Dressing

 

 

 

Summer has arrived and I am back at the blog.  It has been a busy and exciting few months, for sure.  Don't worry all of the updates are to come soon, but let's just say "the wait is over!" ::winkwink::

 

I abandoned the blog for a while, but I am back!  I've got a backlog of recipes and other posts that I can't wait to share with you! We have been grilling and chilling recently and one of my new obsessions are slaws.  But not the soggy, mayonnaisey, cabbagey slaw you may be used to (Sorry Dad!)  I've been experimenting with other veggies and more vinegar-based dressings.  There are so many prepackaged slaw mixes at the supermarket now that you don't have to be a slave to the mandolin or cutting board.  They can easily be dressed and mixed any way you want; the possibilities are endless.  I love that you can make them ahead of time.  I prefer to have mine refrigerated for 1 to 8 hours before serving, but I like my slaws pretty crispy.  Depending on the veggies you use and how you prefer your slaw, you can even make it up to a day in advance.

Roasted Strawberry Cornmeal Muffins

A Light Cornmeal Muffin Loaded with Sweet, Roasted Strawberries

 

 

I'm so sorry that I have abandoned the blog for the last few weeks, but to be honest, I have abandoned my kitchen a little bit too.  Our old house does not have air conditioning, and although we've had a relatively mild summer so far, heating up the oven to 350, means the house feels about that temperature too.  It's a great excuse to grill outside most nights, but I have yet to develop any baking recipes for the grill... Hmmm... that gets the wheels spinning...

 

 

The times that I have been able to suck it up and do some baking, I've really enjoyed using the fresh fruits of summer, and Fresh Strawberry Muffins can only be made better with ROASTED STRAWBERRIES.  I saw roasted strawberries all over the blogs and Instagram a few months ago and I thought I would try my hand at it.  And, man 'o man, these little suckers are good!  I had to resist snaking on all of them before they landed in my batter. 

 



Crab Cakes with Chimichurri

Crab Cakes with Chimichurri Sauce

It's been a stinky couple of days in our house lately.  No, not because of the crab cakes pictured above!  Our little pup, Scruffy, got sprayed by a skunk in the back yard!  We heard the commotion outside and quickly called him in, but it wasn't until he ran inside and started rubbing his face all over our dining room rug did we notice the two yellow spots on him.  The smell was soon to hit us a few seconds later... He was pretty traumatized, we all were, and our house smelled awful!  We quickly got him into the bath, opened all of our windows and googled how to cure the smell. 

We had two choices... tomato juice or a mixture of hydrogen peroxide, baking soda and dish soap.  The only tomato juice I had was a couple cans of expensive San Marzano tomatoes... so, sorry Scruff, the peroxide mixture it was!  We rinsed him in the mixture twice and bathed him in his regular shampoo about 5 times.  Poor thing already does not like the bath and he was in there for about an hour that night! After his bath, he recovered by curling up under his favorite blankey and just looking at us with sad eyes for the rest of the night.  The baths got most of the smell off of him, but it still lingers even a few days later. 

The house has had a lingering smell as well, but lucky enough, by the time I made these crab cakes for dinner two days later, the smell had pretty much dissipated.  The lovely smell of crab cakes replaced it!

Pasta with Spinach and Sun-Dried Tomatoes

Spaghetti with Chicken, Spinach, Sun-Dried Tomatoes, Garlic and Parmesan.

This is one of my go-to pasta dinners.  It has all of my favorite things and is really simple to throw together, and something that I can put together in about 30 minutes is really important to me. 

Very often my man works until 10 o'clock at night and has a 35 minute drive home.  I, personally, would hate having to eat reheated food alone every night for dinner, so I try my best to have a hot meal ready for him so that we can eat together.  So about 4 times a week we eat dinner very late, last night was no exception...

One of the struggles I am running into these days is photographing my food so late when there is no natural light. But I'm TRYING! I by no means am a photographer, I like to think that if I'm lucky enough to get a really good shot, it is all because of my iPhone or iPad and fiddling just right with Snapseed.  I don't really know what I'm doing.  And I'm sure that if my new neighbors ever looked into our kitchen at night they would think that a crazy lady moved in.  They would catch a glimpse of my makeshift lighting set-up, which includes an office floor lamp that has an adjustable light and another lamp that is missing its shade that I am constantly moving around.  They probably always wonder why I'm standing on a step stool with an iPad in the middle of my kitchen in the middle of the night.