Monday, June 29, 2009

Moan-Worthy

So with Gary gone on a business trip for the past week, I've pretty much been nutritionally subsisting on chips and hummus, pizza, salads, and veggie burgers.

But last night I was feeling culinary, so I did some grocery shopping and busted out some of my cooking know-how.

And the result?

Delicious!

Spinach-Basil-Roasted Garlic Pesto

Start out by making the pesto sauce. Chop the top off of one head of garlic. Place in a small glass baking dish with about 1 cup of veggie broth, a drizzle of olive oil, and smother the top of the garlic with oregano and a little dill. Cover with aluminum foil and bake at 425 for one hour. Let cool.

Next, in your food processor, blend a quarter cup of olive oil, a quarter cup of grated parmesan cheese, an entire 4-oz package of fresh basil, about one-quarter to one-third of a package of spinach, and a handful of cherry tomatoes. Blend until it's a nice smooth consistency, and salt and pepper to taste. Squeeze the roasted garlic into the food processor and give it one last whirl to work that in. Mmmmmmmmmmm, it's looking good already, huh?

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From here on out, you could toss this pesto with any kind of pasta you'd like, or use it as a pizza base. But here's what I decided to do:

Onions, peppers, (soy) sausage, and potato gnocchi!

I browned up some soy sausage, the kind that comes in the Jimmy Dean-like tube. While that was cooking, I diced up some red and green peppers and some onion, and added that in with a good helping of black pepper. Cooked long enough for the onions to start to caramelize but not so long that the peppers got mushy.

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Next, I boiled some frozen potato gnocchi. When that was done, I mixed together the potato gnocchi, the sausage and veggies, and the pesto sauce. I liberally added more olive oil and grated parmesan cheese. Then, at the very end, I mixed in more spinach so that it would just start to wilt.

For some final color, when plating I added some diced cherry tomatoes and dusted again with a bit of parmesan cheese.

Voila!

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Friday, June 26, 2009

SATC - Huh What?

Sometimes I think that there's a definite inverse relationship between the amount of actual cerebral, intellectual work I have to do here at work and/or at school, and the type of mindless entertainment crap that I'll willingly sit through at home.

Case in point. Right now things are taking off for me here at work in an exponential way. I am being challenged more than I ever have, taking on more and more responsibilities, and stretching myself to achieve objectives I before could not have imagined. (Shame there isn't a raise to go along with all of that! But given the layoffs around here, I'm honestly satisfied with having solid employment and a great benefits package.)

Additionally, I'm now well into my second semester of grad school.

All of this culminated last night when I got home from a challenging work-day and spent three-and-a-half hours sitting at my dining room table working on a take-home accounting exam.

By the time 9:30 rolled around, I was so numb and exhausted that I barely had the will to make myself a salad and a small bowl of pasta for dinner.

And what did I do for the rest of the night? I spent two hours flipping back and forth from the Food Network to E and MTV for news about the death of Michael Jackson. But here's the kicker. After all of that, from 11:30pm - 1:30am I sat on the couch watching the friggin Sex and the City movie. SATC! I never even liked the show! WTF!? And I was stone cold sober!

Like I said, I suspect there is some kind of inverse relationship thing going on here. And if that's the case, I'd better watch out. Two more semesters of school and I might find myself sitting on the couch some Saturday night, drooling all over myself like a special child while giggling to the sounds of a Sandra Bullock rom-com.

Thriller night, indeed, Mr. Jackson.

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Imposed Single-dom

Gary left today for a business trip to Rwanda. (Yes, you read that right. His work requires him to travel to places like Rwanda... Don't ask.)

Anyway, that means that I'm on my own for the next 10 days, just twiddlin' my thumbs and wondering what to do with myself. Needless to say, I'm going to miss the guy terribly (already do, only 4 hours in!). So how to appease the longing?

I think cheese and veggies make a decent substitute, food-wise, at least. (If a single Ryan Reynolds wants to make an appearance later this evening while I'm here on my own, that would be fine too...)

So, here I am, making a veggie lasagna:

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All the whilst, listening to the music of one of my favorite groups, Cut Copy.

What do you suggest I do in the next 10 days? Keeping in mind I'm married, working full time, and going to school in the evening for my master's in accounting?