Linguine with Fresh Summer Veggies & Feta

Day 286

Linguine with Fresh Summer Veggies & Feta

Fresh Summer Veggies

There is no shortage of veggies around here this time of year, and usually the only question is how to use them. I have enjoyed other variations of this meal in the past couple of months, so I grabbed some linguine and feta and a few more veggies from Sobey's and whipped this up in an hour and a half flat. Ugh. I was not expecting it to take that long.

Summer vegetables

The washing and chopping took about half the time and the cooking took about 40 more minutes, just to get the carrots to a desirable softness.

Garden Ingredients (Organic)

Carrots
Broccoli
Snow peas
Snap (shelled) peas
Kale (about 1 1/2 cups chopped)
1 bulb garlic
Oregano
Basil

Carrots & kale

Store Ingredients

Feta
Package of linguine (I used 3/4 of the package)
Grape tomatoes
Red pepper
8 oz fresh organic white mushrooms

Some of the veggies beginning to cook

Directions

I am not always the best cook, despite having some of the best ingredients to work with. Booo. I threw the carrots, broccoli, peas, tomatoes, mushrooms, red peppers and garlic into the pot with a bit of peanut oil and began to saute them. Before long, I could see that the peas and broccoli were much farther along than the carrots. I removed the broccoli and peas from the pan and continued cooking the rest, but the garlic cooked away, unfortunately.

When the carrots were finally getting soft, I added the chopped kale.

Adding chopped kale

Meanwhile, I cooked the pasta then mixed in with the vegetables. Next, I crumbled the feta into it and stirred everything in.

Adding the pasta & feta

Finally, I added the broccoli, peas and fresh herbs, let it cook about 2 more minutes and served it. The broccoli was still a bit crunchy, but that's not the worst thing.

Linguine with Fresh Summer Veggies & Feta

Tip: When using fresh herbs, always add them at the end, to retain their flavor. Same goes for garlic. Cook just until aromatic.

Reviews/Comments

I loved this so much. I rated it a 10, because there were so many awesome flavors and it was pretty nutritious and not difficult to make. Laura rated it an 8, and thought regular tomatoes, chopped fine, would have made it a better meal because it would have made a saucier cheese sauce. Filing that away for next time.

Bistro 140: Portobello le Cendrillon Penne

Day 283

Portobello le Cendrillon Penne

Tonight we had dinner at the Bistro 140 for the annual Miramichi Pride Dinner & Cruise. The dinner selections are pre-ordered in order to serve the entire crowd at once, but there are a few options for everyone. I don't know what the meat options were, but this year our options included:

• Eggplant Parmigiana
• Portobello le Cendrillon Penne
• Vegetable Lasagne Crepe

Portobello le Cendrillon Penne

We both opted for the Portobello le Cendrillon Penne. No regrets! Overall, it was a terrific meal to kick off a terrific evening.

Paul serving his guests

Another shot of the Portobello le Cendrillon Penne

Gisele was here

Reviews/Comments

Amazing, amazing, amazing. OMG. We have discussed at least three times since dinner how amazing it was. Now we know what the world's best cheese tastes like!! Gets an 11 from both of us.

Veggie Burgers, Potatoes, Yellow Beans & Grains

Day 282

Tonight, I had dinner with my mom, dad, sister, niece and nephew at the Boom Road homestead. Dad got these awesome veggie burgers at Costco, and BBQ'd them on the grill. We also had roasted potatoes, fresh yellow beans and a kale/grain dish that my sister cooked up.

Burgers

Dad grilled burgers for them and veggie burgers for me.The veggie burgers he found at Costco were super good. Will probably get some next time I go!

Dad at the grill

Grilling burgers

Yellow Beans

I think they got these at the Newcastle Farm Market earlier in the day. I slathered mine with butter and seasoned liberally with salt and pepper. Soooo good. Can't wait for ours to grow.

Yellow beans

Kale with 10 Grains

Tara made this side dish so I'm not sure about all the ingredients, but I know it had a 10-grain mix, chopped kale and minced garlic. I did not see what she used for seasoning, but it tasted good.

Kale with 10 Grains

Burgers, Potatoes, Beans & Grains

Jacob with his dinner

Veggie burger with potatoes, beans & grains

Strawberry Dessert

Dessert was strawberry-themed with the option of strawberries 'n' cream or strawberry shortcake. I had strawberry shortcake.

Mom preparing strawberries

Lily making strawberries 'n' cream

Strawberry shortcake

Reviews/Comments

The meal was delicious and the evening overall, was fun and relaxing.

Vietnamese Spring Rolls

Day 278

I took a week off from blogging. Let's call it my summer vacation. We didn't have anything fancy or new, so it's all good. :)

Vietnamese Spring Rolls

Vietnamese Spring Rolls

Filling
Original recipe
2 leaves lettuce
3 tbsp finely chopped fresh mint leaves
3 tbsp finely chopped cilantro
4 teaspoons finely chopped Thai basil
12 - 15 snap peas
2 radishes
4 small carrots
3 green onions
52 grams Vermicelli noodles

Veggies for spring rolls filling

Brown rice vermicelli for spring rolls filling

Peanut Sauce
Original recipe
(Substituted 3 TBSPs General Tso's sauce for Hoisin and omitted sugar)

3/4 cup peanut butter
1/3 cup water
3 tbsp General Tso sauce
2 tbsp freshly squeezed lime juice
4 1/2 tsp soy sauce
2 1/4 teaspoons chile-garlic paste
1 medium garlic clove, mashed to a paste
1/2 tsp toasted sesame oil

Peanut sauce for Vietnamese spring rolls

Wrap in rice paper.

Vietnamese spring rolls unwrapped

Wrapping Vietnamese spring rolls

Serve with sauce. Make extra for lunch.

Store in a container on a damp paper towel so they are not touching each other.

Reviews/Comments

OMG. I can die happy now.

Chinese Stir-fry & Cheese Rangoons

Day 270

Leftovers rock.

Chinese Stir-fry & Cheese Rangoons

Chinese Stir-fry

We added more veggies to this to freshen it up and also because there was too much sauce. I ran out and picked more snow peas, then chopped more carrots and another onion. I also threw in some garlic scapes and spinach that was in the fridge.

More fresh veggies for yesterday's stir-fry

Before & After

In the before and after pics below, you can see in the first pic that there is a lot of sauce for the amount of veggies in the top pic. 

Before

After

Cheese Rangoons

We had more wonton wrappers left so I picked up a new package of cream cheese and Laura grabbed more green onions outside and I made 15 cheese rangoons to have with the stir-fry tonight. Because we ate all the ones I made last night, since we had this meal for lunch today, too.

Cheese rangoons & veggie stir-fry

Reviews/Comments

The rangoons weren't as good as last night's bok choi rangoons, but the stir-fry was even better. Gets a 10 from me again.

Chinese Stir-fry & Vegetable Rangoons

Day 269

Chinese Stir-fry & Vegetable Rangoons

Chinese Stir-fry

Fresh, homegrown snow peas were the inspiration for this whole meal. The more you pick the more they grow so we're trying to use them as much as possible.

Snow peas & green onions

Stir-fry Ingredients

1/3 lb snow peas

4 carrots

1 lb mushrooms

2 onions

1 red pepper

1/2 lb bean sprouts

1/2 lb fresh pasta, cooked

Stir-fry ingredients

Stirfry Sauce

Original recipe (the Basic Stir-Fry Sauce one)

2/3 cup soy sauce

1/2 cup veggie broth

1/3 cup rice vinegar

3 1/2 tbsp white sugar

1 tbsp sesame oil

1 tbsp minced garlic

1 tbsp minced ginger

Directions

This dish requires a bit of prep and a few steps. All veggies need to be washed and chopped. The pasta has to be cooked then set aside and the sauce needs to be made. The veggies need to be stir-fried, then mixed with the sauce and noodles.

Chinese Stir-fry

Vegetable Rangoons

I've posted a rangoon recipe before but this one is slightly different. In addition to the cream cheese, green onions and soy sauce, I also added minced snow peas, diced red pepper and finely chopped bok choi, which changed the flavor and texture. 

Ingredients

1 package cream cheese

2 tsp soy sauce

5 green onion stalks, chopped

1 bunch of baby bok choi, chopped fine

6 snow peas, finely diced

2 tbsp finely chopped fresh red pepper

1 package wonton wrappers

Water for sealing

Rangoon ingredients

Directions

Clean your counter-top really well. Mix first 5 ingredients in a medium bowl. Arrange wonton wraps on the counter in a grid and wet 2 adjacent edges on each. Drop 1 tsp filling in the center of each wrap and fold opposite edges together to seal.

Making rangoons

Fry in 1" sunflower oil and drain on paper towels. Serve with Compliments Sweet Chili Heat sauce.

Vegetable Rangoons

Reviews/Comments

This was amazing and gets a 10 from me.

Laura thought the bok choi rangoons were perfect and delicious and she loved them. Gets a 10 from her too.

Egg Salad Sandwiches

Day 265

Eggs salad. Old standby. Always so good though!

Egg Salad Sandwich

My Egg Salad Recipe

Boil eggs. Mash them up. Mix with mayo. Tonight's egg salad also has 1 1/2 or 2 tbsp whole grain mustard in it.

Eggs

Sandwich Building

Lightly buttered wheat bread

Egg salad on bread

Add Lettuce

We almost always have BBQ chips with egg salad sandwiches but I opted for lettuce on this one. Garden fresh.

Egg salad & lettuce on bread

Egg salad sandwich

We used whole wheat diabetic bread simply because someone at work said it's "the BEST bread EVER". It's not bad. You don't miss the sugar and the texture is nice.

Reviews/Comments

I rate my sandwich a...7. Good, but not as good as say...roasted veggies.

Laura rates it a 7 too! Wow, we're totally on the same page. We usually are.