Alfredo Sundried Tomato, Asparagus Bowtie Pasta

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My daughter loves Ragu cheese sauces. Yes I realize alfredo is easy to make and I realize that this stuff is in a jar but this is her Birthday week and “What baby wants, baby gets.”. (<—* Movie quote do you know which movie? Gimme a comment if you do!) Sometimes you just have to give in. Being the first day of school and the fact that I was drop dead tired, why not give in? I do love that this pasta sauce is low carb because on a day like today when my stress level if through the roof, low carb is good. I also like that Ragu’s sauces are not bland. This one is Alfredo parmesan garlic. I love sun dried tomatoes and asparagus together. It was a really nice addition to this pasta. Well, needless to say, my daughter loved it but I think she would eat cardboard covered in this Ragu sauce.  For me, I loved the freshness that the tomatoes, asparagus and garlic brought to the sauce.  It made it more of my own by kicking it up just a notch with some fresh flavors. This is an easy weeknight meal for sure.

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Okra, Edamame and More Vegetarian Succotash

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A very nice lady gave me a pile of fresh picked okra. Well, my first thought was “Oh! Fried okra.”. The tired part of me thought “Oh! I am going to stew this.”. So stew is just what I did. I had a handful of fresh picked tomatoes, an onion and some left over edamame and who doesn’t have canned corn? Best part of it all is it could not be easier. Simply slice dice and throw it in a pot!

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Gnocchi Italian Style w/ Butter, Sage, Basil and of course Cheese

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gnochifinal1To say gnocchi is one of Heaven’s little gifts would put it mildly. These pillowy puffs of goodness are not only comforting but so versatile. These can be made into wonderful savory dishes or sweet with touches of cinnamon and sugar. I love it best Sicilian style. Now the traditional way is just brown butter and sage, a little salt and done. I like to take it a touch further and add cheese, garlic and fresh basil with the sage.  This is my comfort food.

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Grilled Jalapeño Poppers

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I get requests for these whenever I am invited to a picnic. “Oh, can you make those while you’re here?” I have to laugh because while these are so good to eat, they are not something you whip up in a matter of minutes. This one takes a little care. For instance, consider wearing rubber gloves!! Have you ever stuck a finger in your eye that has touched a jalapeño seed?  Well, DON’T! It burns and you will never forgive me if you don’t wear gloves, and we don’t want you walking around cursing my blog. So no, I won’t make these while I’m at your picnic but I will bring them with me and use your grill! So please do not blame me after you make these for the first time and share these delectable cheese and bacon lovelies with your friends when that they start begging you to bring them to every darned event! ‘Nuff said.

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Panini Party Night!

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Paninis are cooked in specific grilling machines called either panini presses or simply panini machines. Domestic panini machines are usually made of teflon-coated metal or glass-ceramic, whereas professional units are made out of glass-ceramic or cast-iron. Well… I don’t have a panini machine, mister wikipedia! So, what now? I will tell you what now. We make our own machine. Well, sort of. I don’t need a fancy machine to press a sandwich. I just need some wonderful bread, nice cuts of meat, cheese, oh and something heavy. It just so happens that the other day, a woman from work came in and was selling her homemade white bread. How could I resist? I bought 2 loaves and  the immediate idea that popped into my mind was “Paninins!”. This bread tasted more like white Tuscan it was so soft inside but chewy on the outside. Yes, I tried it right there in my office. That is the bread we love.

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