Recipe Week, Day 1: Red Pesto Pasta Salad

Happy Monday!

I decided it will be Recipe Week on here. Everything I'll post is going to be great for your upcoming Memorial Day BBQ - so make sure to save & pin your life away.

So let's start it off with my favorite Pasta Salad :) it's easy to make!

You'll need:

• 1/2 box Pasta (I usually use Rigatoni or Penne)
• 1 glass Sun Dried Tomatoes in Oil (Julienne cut is a time saver)
• 1 glass Red Pesto
• 1-2 cups Cocktail Tomatoes (or more... to taste!)
• 1 package (1/2 lb) Arugula or Spinach & Arugula Mix
• 1/2 lb Mozzarella cheese

• Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta, and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente. Drain.
• In the large pot, mix the still hot pasta with the whole glass of Pesto, and the sun dried tomatoes WITH the oil.
• Let everything sit until cooled off.
• Put the Arugula in a large bowl.
• Chop or grate Mozzarella cheese, and cut Tomatoes in half. Add to pasta.
• Mix everything well.
• Pour the pasta salad on top of the Arugula.

 

Done! Enjoy!

 

Recipe: Easy Greek-ish Spaghetti Squash

I've had a spaghetti squash sitting in my fridge for a while now, and could never decide what to do with it. After googleing some recipes, I decided to go with one I found on allrecipes.com, but changed it up a little, especially spice-wise. So this is what I did:

"The flesh of spaghetti squash comes out in long strands, very much resembling the noodles for which it is named. In this recipe, the 'noodles' are tossed with vegetables and feta cheese. You can substitute different vegetables, but be sure to use ones that have contrasting colors."

Ingredients

1 spaghetti squash, halved lengthwise and seeded
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon Knorr® Bouillon Instant Stock Mix - Vegetable (or Chicken)

3-4 medium sized tomatoes, chopped
1/4 cup sliced black olives
1 handfull chopped fresh basil
3/4 cup crumbled feta cheese

Directions

Halve the spagheti squash lengthwise, and remove the seeds. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a baking sheet.
Place the spaghetti squash with cut sides down on the prepared baking sheet. Bake for 40 minutes in the preheated oven (or until a sharp knife can be inserted with only a little resistance). Remove your squash from oven and set it aside to let it cool off enough to be easily handled.

Meanwhile, heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. Cook and stir onion in oil until tender. Add garlic; cook and stir until fragrant, about 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes and cook until they are warmed through.
Use a large spoon to scoop the stringy pulp from the squash, and add it to your veggies in the skillet. Toss with the vegetables, feta cheese, olives, and basil. Serve warm!

To keep it strictly vegan, just leave out the feta cheese! Add more veggies, like peppers, eggplant, zucchini... you name it for an even more colorful and healthy dish!

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Refreshing Summer Recipe: Cool Cucumber Soup

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Expat Problems: Getting Used To New Food

I am in the USA for almost 2 months now. It's been great living here so far. The weather in southern Arkansas is been wonderful, I enjoy spending time outside.

I do have a major problem over here though: The food. I've had 2 really bad allergy outbreaks already. I would show you guys a picture of my hand, but since I plan on talking food in this post, I'll postpone it.

The food market in Europe is way different than it is over here. Additives, GMO, colors, sugars... Most things you find in "food" in the USA are prohibited by law in the EU. 

I read labels at the grocery store, and I'm honestly shocked!! It reads like a label of a chemistry set, and it sounds nothing like something I would EAT! It's really sad, but now I do understand why my body reacts to all this poisoning stuff. If a loaf of bread is advertised being "sugar free", I don't even want to know what's inside all the other bags on the aisle. 

I can cook! I love to cook! But even ingredients you would NEVER EVER GUESS having any additives, are loaded with them. So my shopping trips to the grocery store will take a whole lot of time from now on. Reading labels is very time consuming.

I'm glad I'm used to cook from scratch. So I buy mostly fresh food, and rock the kitchen! I do need some ideas though, cause coming up with new recipes every day is challenging.

Luckily I was stumbling across a great website most recently. It's called "fitsme"! 

Fitsme provides users with the ability to browse recipe and food dishes that are tailored to fit the individuals' dietary preferences. Users are also able to auto-generate meal plans or build meal plans by hand. Our use of persistent preferences and a thumbs up, thumbs down system allows us to learn over time about the each user's cooking and purchasing habits. This, in conjunction with an intricate ingredient relationship database, gives us a competitive advantage in the food tech market. We analyze every ingredient in every recipe and adapt our intuitive Pinterest-like interface to show only dishes that fit your tastes and dietary needs.

 The interface is really user friendly! I just took this screenshot for you:

I know some of my friends are living a Vegan or Paleo lifestyle. You guys might want to check out this website, and see if it has some new yummy recipes? 

Let me know what you think!

 

Fried Green Tomatoes

Ingredients

2-3	green Tomatoes
1 Tbsp	Dijon-Mustard
1 Tsp	Sugar
1/2 Tsp	Salt
1/4 Tsp	Paprika
1 pinch	Cayenne pepper
1 1/2 Tsp	Worcester sauce
1/2 cup	Cornmeal
4 Tbsp	Vegetable oil

Directions

1. Slice tomatoes 1/2 inch thick. 
2. Scoop flour onto a plate. Whisk all other ingredients (except the vegetable oil) together in a medium-size bowl. Dredge the tomatoes in corn meal, then dip the tomatoes into this mixture, then dredge in the cornmeal again, to completely coat.
3. In a large skillet, pour vegetable oil (enough so that there is 1/2 inch of oil in the pan) and heat over a medium heat. Place tomatoes into the frying pan. When the tomatoes are browned, flip and fry them on the other side. Drain them on paper towels.

My newest Challenge: Living vegan

Sometimes it feels as if my body is constantly trying to make me feel miserable.  And I am really sick of it.
I quit smoking 101 days ago. 
I'm on a healthy workout schedule, even though the freaking herniated discs were and still are a major setback. 
But somehow, no matter what, some shit happens.
I had a big check up at my doc about 3 weeks ago, because I had some health issues, especially being very, very, very, tired throughout the day. The test results came back, and long story short: I had to go on a vegan diet right away. I have a bowel inflammation which could become a chronically if I don't take any action. Both my cholesterol levels (the good and the bad) were HIGH! I'm just glad my food journal showed the doctor that I am far from eating crap 24/7. 
So - I am on this vegan diet now for about 2 weeks. If it would have been ME choosing this lifestyle, I would be ok with it. But no. My body decided.  I LOVE cheese. I LOVE fish. I LOVE beef. I LOVE chicken! Yoghurt!!!! Cake!! Ice cream... :o( I have to stop now.
I bet you can tell, the first few days were really tough. I had to clean out my fridge and pantry and was left with kinda nothing. I had to start doing research, finding recipes (THANK GOD FOR PINTEREST!!), trying them, liking some, disliking some. Trial and error. Geez, somehow some part of an animal is in every freaking thing you can buy at the grocery store! 
So where are my fellow vegan bloggers? Please stand up and help this lady walking through the valley of the shadow of death!
Tonight I will make Pasta + Zucchini + Mint + Cashew Ricotta Sauce + Almond Parmesan. Fingers crossed!
Yes, I accept this challenge! And guess what, it starts to be a whole lot of fun :o)

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