Valentine's Day dinner!

Valentine's day... I am not sure how I feel about this Holiday, Or if it should be called a Holiday at all. The past few valentines I spent with my steady boyfriends Ben and Jerry watching a sappy chick flick that I always end up disliking. So this year as Valentines rolled around I decided there wasn't going to be any wallowing in my self pity on the couch, this valentines was going to be fun; And my idea of fun is great food, great company and red wine in excess. My good friend Michaeline and I share our love for Tomato sauce, and my other friend Sarah who i made the butternut squash recipe with loves pasta so I got to thinking and I came up with a pretty great idea if i have to say so myself.  The idea was to have a Pasta Making Valentines dinner, everyone assumes that making pasta is out of the question but, with a few techniques and three ingredient's its a lot easier then one may think. I used the technique and for the most part the same ingredients as About.com (link below**) instructions on how to make fresh pasta, the only change i made was the pasta dough seemed a bit dry so to add a little extra flavor i added a tiny bit of olive oil. The kneading is the hardest part simply because it takes a bit of time and some effort. I have made pasta before but Sarah and Michaeline hadn't so they kept worrying that it wasn't going to come together, so if you to get discouraged I promise its nothing a little more kneading cant fix. And if you still think its to dry add a bit of warm water or to wet add a bit more flour, use your judgement pasta making isn't a science! After the discouragement was through and we finally rolled out, cut and cooked the pasta it was delicious. Did the pasta turn out looking perfect, absolutely not some where to thick, some were to short, some didn't quite cook all the way through. But this comes with practice and it ended up being a ton of fun and a great alternative for a pointless holiday.

*Pictures coming.






**(http://gourmetfood.about.com/od/cookingtechniques/ss/freshpasta.htm) 
   

Roasted Butternut Squash and Blue Cheese Pappardelle

       
           Tonight I invited my Alpha Delta Pi sister Sarah to have dinner and when I asked her what she wanted the only criteria was pasta. With so much wiggle room I wanted to make something I had never made before, and the first thing that came to mind was a recipe I saw while I wasting hours on Pintrest.com. If you have never been on Pintrest and are a foodie or a crafter BEWARE it can be addicting. But Recipe that inspired me was a stuffed butternut squash with sausage, sage, pine-nuts and blue cheese, YUM! So naturally I had to make similar flavors work for my pasta dish, and boy did it work. It is officially my new "go-to" pasta dish it was simple but tasted like something you could order from a high end italian restaurant, and best of all cheap! The most expensive part was the blue cheese and with the richness of the entire dish a mild blue cheese is really all you need. The major changes I made where that I changed the butternut squash from the vessel to the sauce and put a big bowl of crumbled blue cheese in the middle of table for sarah and I to pile on our desired amount. I am starting this new thing to try and cut down on my animal protein intake, specifically at dinner so I also took out the sausage, and honestly I think it was for the better. I did use a little bit of chicken stock but substitute for vegetable stock or even water and this recipe could easily be also a perfect vegetarian dish. All in all I think everyone needs to try this, I am completely obsessed with the recipe, and I am even more excited that I have tons of left overs!


Equipment:
blender or food processor or immersion blender


Ingredients:
Package of Pappardelle or any shape pasta
3 cups Medium size diced Butternut Squash
1 Medium yellow onion diced
4 leaves fresh sage minced
2 garlic cloves minced
1 Tbs Unsalted Butter
1/2 Cup Milk or 1/4 Heavy Cream
1/4 Cup Toasted Walnuts or Pine nuts
1/2 Water or Stock
2 1/2 Tbs Olive Oil
1 1/2 Tbs Red Pepper Flakes (any amount based on  desire of spice)
1 Tsp Turmeric
Salt and Pepper to taste


Directions:
Preheat the oven to 375 Degrees and line a Baking sheet with tin foil. Take the uncooked diced butternut squash pieces and toss them in 2 Tbs Olive Oil, 1 Tbs of the Red Pepper Flakes, Salt and pepper and spread the squash on the Baking sheet and cook in the oven for about 25 to 30 minutes (time varies depending on size of squash) or until they are tender to a fork and have a little golden color. Meanwhile in a medium sauce pan add the Butter, when melted add the onion, garlic, turmeric, sage and remaining red pepper flakes saute until translucent. Add the roasted Squash to the sauce pan and cook on low almost mashing the mixture as it combines. When the Squash mixture starts to look like the consistency of mashed potatoes add the stock and stir until mixed together. Cook the pasta as directed on the package and keep a 1/2 cup of the pasta water on reserve. Put as much of the squash mixture into the blender as possible making sure it isn't more than half way full (this may take a few batches), it is VERY IMPORTANT to not seal the top completely while there is a hot mixture  being blended, the steam needs to ventilate. While Blending the mixture add the milk or cream and return the blended mixture back into the sauce pan and keep on low until the pasta is done cooking. If the sauce seems to thin you can stir in as much of the starchy pasta liquid until it thickens up. Drain pasta and put it into the serving dish, pour sauce over the pasta, Sprinkle the toasted nuts and cheese and enjoy!

Mix & Match Trail Mix

            Trail Mix is one of my favorite snacks, but pre-mixed trail mix is usually expensive and  notorious for dried fruit with added sugar and salted nuts which takes away from the nutritional value. For these reasons this semester I have started to make my own. When made correctly with the appropriate proportions it is healthy very portable snack for a long day of classes and meetings. Maybe its just me but there is nothing worse then a warm apple or smushed banana that you put in your bag for a snack later in the day, so i have begun to use my extra small tupperware usually used for a salad dressing or dip for portion control for my trail mix! 

             My favorite mix is Raw Unsalted Almonds, Raw Unsalted Walnuts, No sugar added craisins, No sugar added Dried Blueberries, and Dark chocolate chips (with 65% or higher cocoa). The approximate ratio would be about half nuts, fourth of the dried berries, and a fourth of the chocolate. Some of the nutritional value of the ingredients i use are:

• Raw Unsalted Almonds: High levels Protein, Potassium, Magnesium, and Vitamin E. 
• Walnuts: Omega-3 Fatty acids, Magnesium, Potassium, and Calcium
• Cranberries: Antioxidants, Phytonutrients (Have protective properties against heart disease and cancer) 
• Blueberries: B Vitamins, Vitamin C, small amounts of Iron, Calcium, Potassium. 
• Dark Chocolate: Helps reduce risk of heart disease and lowering blood cholesterol levels, and possible benefit memory and learning.

             Some other things you can add to your trail mix are roasted Chick Peas, Sunflower seeds, Chocolate covered almonds, pretzels, Pistachios, Cashews, Pecans, Yogurt covered nuts, Dried pineapple, dried papaya, Marshmallows, your favorite cereal, Goldfish, banana chips, and pretty much anything you can imagine. 

  

Roasted Beet and Goat Cheese Salad

Beets... don't run away, I promise they are yummy! Just about everyone I have made this salad for started out saying that they didn't like beets, but this recipe changed their minds! This salad is a staple, I've been making it since I was 16. Because of the warm balsamic and honey dressing it's a perfect salad for either a starter course or even a main dish in the fall and winter seasons. This salad can also very versatile. In the salad I am showing you below, I added Avocado because it was on sale at the grocery store today, but if you want to make it more of a hearty main course you can add some roasted shrimp! Beets have such an earthy flavor that you can't find anywhere else, matched with the creamy tangy goat cheese and the peppery arugula, there is nothing better, you have got to try this!


Ingredients:
1 Tbs Minced Garlic
1 Small shallot minced
4 Tbs Decent Balsamic Vinegar 
1 1/5 Tbs Extra Virgin Olive Oil
3/4 Tbs Honey
Salt and Pepper to taste
Few handfuls of Pre-washed Arugula 
1/2 Ripe Avocado 
1/2 cup Pre-peeled and steamed Beets cut into bit size pieces 

Directions: 
To make the Vinaigrette mix together the Garlic, Shallot, Balsamic Vinegar, Olive Oil, Honey and salt and pepper in a small bowl. Add the cut beets to the vinaigrette and let it marinade for a few minutes. Turn the oven to 375 degrees and line a cookie sheet with tin foil. When the oven is warm with a slotted spoon transfer the beets to the foil lined pan saving as much of the vinaigrette as possible. Put the beets in the oven for 8 to 10 minutes or until fragrant and caramelized. While the beets are in the oven crumble the goat cheese and Avocado over a bed of arugula. When the beets are out of the oven let them cool slightly, then toss the arugula avocado and goat cheese with the extra vinaigrette and beets.  And enjoy! 

Balsamic Honey Vinaigrette (Above)

Finished product: Roasted Beet and Goat Cheese Salad (above)

Welcome!

Hey everyone,

So I figured the best place to start would be to give you an idea about myself. So I'll start with the boring stuff, My name is Juliana I am 21 years young and I was born and raised in East Hampton, NY and now live part time in Charlotte, NC. I am studying Public Health with a concentration in Women and Gender studies and Sociology at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. After a busy day of studying and being an active member of Alpha Delta Pi sorority and a handful of other organizations on campus what I look forward to most is cooking dinner and enjoying a glass or a few of red wine. I find cooking to be a stress relieving and a great way to end the day. I blame my love for food on my amazing mother, some of the most memorable moments I have of my childhood where around the dinner table. Of the few rules in my house growing up the most important one was that for one hour of our day we turned off the TV put our phones away and sat down as a family to eat dinner. Since I can remember I've loved to cook as well as suffer the consequences; eat! In my opinion I have a palate beyond most 21year old college students; again this is hugely because of my mother. My mom being a single working mom had only time to make one meal, so as kids my older sister Roxanne and I ate what she put on the table for the three of us and that was that. Another one of my mothers rules was you cant say you don't like it until you try it, this is what started my adventurous eating. And because of this adventurous eating there is a very short list of things I don't like, and as of now the only thing on this list Mayonnaise. I love different flavors, new combinations of flavors and most of all I love trying things I have never had before. I have been very lucky to have traveled all over the world including a few countries in Africa, Asia, South Pacific, the Caribbean, Europe, and Central America. In all the places I've been I have had some meals that I wasn't exactly sure what i was eating and, some meals that i have been trying to recreate since that first bite. I have no formal training when it comes to cooking besides a few informal classes, everything else I've learned largely from watching the Food Network, who recently started following me on twitter!!! So that's me in nut shell. Look out for my next post which will be about what to expect from Everyday Gourmet.

-Juliana