Whole Wheat Veggie Pasta

We don't eat a ton of pasta at our house, but when we do I like to make things that are packed full of veggies and flavor.  This was absolutely delicious and didn't take long at all to make.  It just requires a lot of different ingredients.

Ingredients and cooking:

1/2 bag whole wheat pasta (any variety is fine.  I used fusilli because I like the way it catches the veggies and cheese) - Cook in a little salted water

1 yellow onion diced
1 heaping tablespoon of minced garlic
1/2 jar of sun dried tomatoes (I use Trader Joe's Julienne Sliced Sun Dried Tomatoes in Olive Oil) I use the oil from the sun dried tomatoes to sauté the onions and garlic.  I sauté all those three ingredients together until the onions are clear.

Once the above are cooked then I start throwing in all the additional items:

Yellow and Red Fire Roasted Peppers (also from Trader Joe's) - I slice up the peppers before adding
Red and Yellow peppadew peppers sliced (got these from my local grocery store olive station)
Big White Beans (got these from the olive station as well)
Artichoke Hearts (I used one can of whole artichoke hearts and then quartered them)

Once these are all mixed up together in a pan, then I add as much baby spinach or super green mix as possible.  You can pretty much fit an entire 10 oz container if you wanted, just add a little at a time.  Cook down the greens.

Once the pasta is cooked and drained, then add to your pan with all the veggies.  Toss everything together and add feta cheese.

I am telling you this is delicious.  It was great for lunch today too.  You can eat it cold or warmed up.  Yummy.

Easy Tamale Pie

I picked up this recipe at Whole Foods one day.  I tried it out and it to so delicious and it is something the kids love as well, which is such a bonus.  Not only do the kids like it, but it is super healthy.  It calls for no oil, very little salt and full of flavor.  I do however add some shredded cheese because there is no reason not to add cheese.  Everything is better with cheese.  Thank you Whole Foods!  This is delicious.  

Easy Tamale Pie

2 1/2 cups low-sodium vegetable or chicken broth

1 cup onion, diced

1 tsp chopped garlic

8 oz lean ground chicken (or shredded chicken)

1 cup crushed tomatoes 

1 1/2 cups fresh baby spinach, thinly shredded

1/2 tsp cumin

Pinch cayenne pepper

1 tsp chili powder

1 4oz can diced mild green chilies

1 15 oz can black beans no salt added, rinsed and drained

1 Tablespoon lime juice

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup instant polenta

1/2 cup cilantro, chopped

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350

Heat 1/2 cup of the vegetable (or chicken) broth in a nonstick saute pan over medium high heat.  Add the onion and garlic and steam saute for 3-4 minutes, until onions are translucent.  Add the chicken and cook for 6-8 minutes until cooked through.

Add the crushed tomatoes, spinach, cumin, cayenne, chili powder, diced green chilies, beans and lime juice.  Lower heat to medium low and simmer for 10 minutes.

In the meantime, bring the remaining 2 cups of vegetable broth with the salt to a boil, stir in polenta and cook for 3 minutes stirring constantly.  Remove from heat and stir in the cilantro.  

Spray a 8x8 baking pan with nonstick spray, place the bean mixture in the pan.  Spread the polenta evenly over the bean mixture.  Bake for 18-20 minutes.  

I usually put a layer of shredded cheese on top of the bean mixture and then add the polenta.  

Bacon, Butternut Squash and Kale Pasta Bake

I found this absolutely delicious recipe in my Cooking Light magazine.  However, this is not exactly a "light" recipe.  It is also time intensive.  It was well worth it.  I have posted the link to the actual recipe, but I did make some changes when I made it, so I am going to post what I used.  I tried to make it slightly healthier in some ways, but then I added a little more bacon, which definitely didn't help with the fat and calorie content.  But, who cares when something tastes this good.  

Here is the Cooking Light recipe link:

Bacon and Butternut Pasta

Below is my adaptation of the recipe:

Biggest Butternut Squash EVER!

Finished product

Ingredients:

5 cups (1/2 inch) cubed peeled butternut squash - Must use organic.  It tastes so much better.
1 tablespoon olive oil
Cooking Spray
16 oz of wheat ziti pasta
4 cups chopped kale
4 slices bacon
2 cups vertically sliced onion
1 teaspoon salt, divided (I used even less then that)
5 garlic cloves, minced (I used probably 6 cloves or more.  I love garlic)
2 1/2 cups fat-free, lower sodium organic chicken broth
2 heaping tablespoons whole wheat flour
1 cup creme fraiche
1/3 cup shredded Gruyere cheese (I used a combination of shredded Swiss and Gruyere that I got at Trader Joe's)

Getting it ready:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2.  Combine squash and oil in a large bowl; toss well.  Arrange squash in a single layer on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil.  Sprinkle with kosher salt and pepper.  Bake at 400 for 30 minutes or until squash is tender.  (Took about 22 minutes for me.)

3.  Cook pasta in a LARGE pot for 8 minutes or until almost al dente.  Add Kale during the last 2 minutes of cooking.  (Watch the pot because once it starts boiling again it can really easily overflow).  Drain the pasta mixture.

4.  Cook bacon in a large non-stick skillet over medium heat until crisp.  Remove bacon from pain; chop up.  Pour out some of the drippings, so that only a thin layer is on the bottom of your pan.  Add the onions to the drippings.  Cook for 6 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Add garlic; cook 1 minute, stirring occasionally.

5. Bring about 1 and 3/4 cups of the broth to a boil in a small saucepan.  Combine the remaining broth with the flour in a small bowl and whisk.  Add the flour mixture, a little salt and pepper to the broth.  Cook for about 2 minutes until slightly thickened.  Remove from the heat; stir in the creme fraiche.

6.  Combine the squash, pasta mixture, bacon, onions and sauce in a large bowl; toss gently.  Place pasta mixture in a 13x9 inch glass or ceramic baking dish coated with cooking spray.  Sprinkle on the Gruyere cheese and bake at 400 for about 25 minutes or until bubbly and slightly browned.

Enjoy.  This was absolutely delicious.

SALT

We tried a new restaurant, SALT a few weeks ago.  It has been open for about 12 weeks now.  I was nervous looking at the menu online because it seems like there were lots of items with pork and I am just not a huge pork fan.  Don't let that stop you, this is by far one of the best restaurants we have eaten at in St. Louis in a while.  It is located at 4356 Lindell in the Central West End.  There have been other restaurants in this location (it is an old big two story house off of Lindell, the restaurant Savor used to be in its location), but I have a feeling SALT will be here for a really long time.  It better not go anywhere because it is absolutely delicious.

Since it is located in an old house, there are different rooms with seating, but it flows really well.  The restrooms are located upstairs, but there is an elevator for those who need it to get upstairs.  It is a very comfortable ambiance.  Although it is very upscale food the prices and the atmosphere don't reflect that snotty attitude.  Some people came in jeans and others were dressed up and it didn't matter.

The wait staff was extremely knowledgeable about the menu, wine list and drink list.  You could ask them any question and they gave very detailed descriptions and offered wonderful opinions about the food and drinks.  The only thing our waitress wasn't sure about was which cheeses on the list were pasteurized and which weren't.  Since I am pregnant I can't eat any unpasteurized cheeses and she quickly went to the back asked and had an answer for every cheese on the list.

My husband and I love to go to dinners where we feel relaxed and not pressured to hurry up and eat our food and leave.  This was such a slow relaxing dinner.  I think we were there for almost three hours.

A plus is the corking fee.  It is only $10 if you bring your own bottle of wine.  That is such a great deal at such a nice restaurant.

The chef also likes to use as much local produce as possible.  You can taste the freshness in the food.

I can't say enough about how wonderfully delicious the food was and what a great dining experience we had.  We will go back many more times.

Here is a peak at the amazing food and drink:

 Since I am not drinking right now I usually ask the bartender to mix me up something refreshing and summery that is non-alcoholic.  This was my drink and it was delicious with giant square ice cubes which kept the drink super cold which I loved.  

I want to talk about each of the items above.  They were beyond flavorful.

Cheese Platter - We got two different types of cheeses (A goat cheese and a some other kind of cheese).  It came with almonds, crostinis and a homemade strawberry preserve.  The strawberry preserve and cheese together were a mouthwatering combination.  It was fresh, sweet and savory.

Pear Salad - This salad was full of surprises.  I didn't know what to expect when I ordered it and I was blown away.  There were julienne sliced pears, blueberries, mint leaves and smoked jowl bacon.  I wasn't sure about the combination when saw the salad, but the dressing that was used was spectacular.  It was a combination of bacon fat, vinaigrette and red pepper flakes.  The salty, spicy, tangy flavors with the sweetness of the fruit and freshness of the mint was like a party in my mouth.

Duck Fat Frites - I was nervous about trying these but it was so worth it.  The best part of this dish was the housemade mayo.  It also came with housemade ketchup, but the mayo was so delicious I wanted to lick the little container clean.  The mayo was full of garlic and salt and absolutely finger licking.  If I could change anything about this dish it would be that the frites needed to be a little bit thicker.  They were almost too thin and fried up a little too much.  I couldn't get as much mayo on each frite as I wanted.

I loved the dish that these meatballs were served in.  I am not really a pork fan, so things have to be really tasty for me to like them if they have pork.  These were pork and fennel meatballs with a blackberry jam.  Wow! There were layers of flavor in these meatballs.  You could definitely taste the fennel, but the blackberry jam was such a compliment to the pork.  I love eating food that the combinations are so unexpected, but so perfectly matched.

My main dish was a special that evening.  It was a  tart with caramelized onions, thyme, Gorgonzola cheese (and a few other things, but I can't remember) all wrapped in a pastry.  I could have used more balsamic vinegar over the top because I just love it, but it didn't stop me from eating this entire dish.  I wasn't a huge fan of the Italian parsley on the side and I didn't really eat any of it, but the presentation was beautiful.  

Although we were extremely full and could have gone without this dish,  my husband and I couldn't pass it up when we saw other people ordering it.  This is duck fat fried chicken.  It looked and smelled delicious.  It was two chicken thighs with mashed potatoes.  Everything tasted amazing.  If you like fried chicken you would love this.  It was salty and perfectly fried.  We were so full when we got this so we didn't fully enjoy it.  We took more then half of it home.  Also with all the other food this was at the bottom of our favorite list.  Not that it wasn't delicious, but all the other food exceeded our expectations.

They also have a brunch, which we haven't tried, but I can't imagine that would disappoint either.