Garden Pea Salad

I know I say that every recipe is easy... but this one might be the easiest so far. Canned peas? Check. Pre Hard Boiled Eggs? Check. Bacon Bits? Check. Could not be any easier. 

The last Pea post was just ok in regards to the peas, they were a bit sweet for me in that dish. Whoa... never thought I'd ever say something was too sweet. But this salad was delicious. Trevor and I had my parents over for dinner and we paired the salad with steak and potatoes. 

Since this was so easy, I don't have a lot of photos of the process. You can find the recipe here: Paula Deen's Garden Pea Salad. I did doctor it up with some bacon bits... how could I not?! I'm surprised Paula hadn't already put them in!

Pasta with Peas, Shrimp, Mushrooms and Bacon

Yum! That's all I need to say about this meal. I started with this basic recipe for Angel Hair Pasta with Bacon and Peas from Martha Stewart. But of course... I doctored it up! I do need to give some credit to Trevor for his ideas to add stuff... if it was just me it would have been very plain. 

Apparently most of the vegetables I've been choosing go great with bacon... or maybe it's that bacon goes great with everything!

Finished product... of course sprinkled with bacon!

How can you go wrong with these ingredients?!

Finely slice the shallots... hmmm is that fine enough?!

Saute the shallots and mushrooms in the bacon grease

Add in the shrimp, beautiful shrimp from Zupan's here in Portland.

Add in cream and peas, again both from Oregon!

Finally toss in cooked noodles and some extra pasta water.

June is Pea Month!

As any reader can note, I slacked off took a break all last month. I had good intentions, but they went out with the window with the insanely busy schedule that is Trevor and Leah.

In the span of six weeks, Trevor and I have been to:

Austin, TX (Leah)

Dallas, TX (Trevor)

Olathe, KS (Trevor... twice)

San Diego, CA (Trevor)

Lincoln City, OR (Leah)

Seattle (Leah)

Bend (Leah... once, Trevor... twice)

Kissimmee, FL (Leah)

Needless to say, we've been too busy globe trotting to cook vegetables. We'll continue to be busy, but a month off has provided the necessary motivation to continue. Everyone needs a break and since this is "my" blog, I should be able to give myself a break. 

So that brings me back to June. This month so far in Portland has been aptly renamed to June-uary and has been a rainy cold mess. The forecast calls for wonderful weather for the next several weeks, so fingers crossed! As a result of our mixed month, I'm going to choose Peas for June. This vegetable can be served in warm dishes such as pastas, casseroles and soups. But it can also be served cold in salads and... um... other cold things, making it versatile to our weather needs.

With three weeks left in the month and one of them being spent in Seattle, I'll do my best. Here's to cooking and blogging!

May is Salad Month!

Well I'm starting a little late this month. Let me explain why. Trevor got a job! After being laid off for four months, this is very good news indeed. A huge shout out to my wonderful boyfriend and the career journey he is embarking on!

In the span of about six weeks, the two of us will be in places such as Texas (both Austin and Dallas), Kansas City, Bend, Seattle, Lincoln City, Florida and possibly San Diego. We're about in the middle of this hectic time so the blog has been put on the back burner unfortunately. I had mixed emotions about my dedication to the blog, but sometimes you have to forgive certain things in your life. After all, a blog is not mandatory and not something that should create stress.

With that in mind, I've decided to do a leafy green month. So far the blog has been very successful at stretching my boundaries in the vegetable world and we are frequently incorporating vegetables in to our meals. I don't shy away from restaurant menus that have too many vegetables on them. However the one thing I'm still really iffy on is salad. So far no matter how much fat you put on it, it's still like eating grass. So this month my goal is to learn to love salads! 

While we have a hectic rest of the month, I will try and make at least a few salads by May 31st. However, I'm also going to be actively ordering salads at restaurants as well. Wish me luck!

A preview of months to come: Cauliflower, Brussel Sprouts, Squash, Peas, Herbs and probably a "remix" month in which I try recipes I didn't get to in other months. If anyone has suggestions, just let me know!

Baked Asparagus with Balsamic Butter Sauce

This next one is my second favorite Asparagus recipe yet! 

This was ridiculously simple and you can find the original recipe here. It's called Baked Asparagus with Balsamic Butter Sauce. It's buttery, salty and slightly tangy. I think this would go with a lot of things, but especially fish and steaks! Trevor made us a nice meal of pan fried tenderloins. I'm so lucky to be with a man who cooks!

Final Product!
Trevor made tenderloins with a gorgonzola cream sauce, yum!

Wash and trim asparagus.
Coat with cooking spray and salt and pepper.
Bake at 400 degrees for 12 minutes.

Melt 2 T of butter and add in 1 T of Soy Sauce and 1t of Balsamic Vinegar.
Pour over asparagus and serve!

This will probably be my last Asparagus post. I wish I had more time, but I'm headed to Austin, Texas for a work conference for the rest of April. I still have Cabbage dishes to make too! Maybe I'll have to do a "catch up" month. Look for the next vegetable announcement in May! I have a few in mind, but I would welcome suggestions.

Crispy Parmesan Asparagus Sticks

Alrighty, you have to post the times when the recipe doesn't work out so well... right?! 

Well here it is! They seemed like such a good idea and I have no doubt this is chef error. The basic idea was to put the asparagus through an egg wash and then in flour, panko and parmesan cheese before throwing them in the oven. I guess I must have done it wrong because it was just a floury goop that wouldn't stick to the asparagus. After battling with six of them, I gave up. They turned out alright, but not great and pretty tasteless. I liked most of the other asparagus recipes significantly better.

Trevor made a fantastic shrimp and mushroom dish and that definitely stole the dinner show. That recipe went in the recycling and I'm movin' on to different recipes!

Gnocchi with Asparagus and Prosciutto (Semi Homemade)

Semi Homemade... Sandra Lee style! 

This post might be sort of cheating. I had leftover prosciutto and asparagus from my last post and thought they would be great additions to my first gnocchi taste. I bought these pre-made gnocchi and an Artichoke Pesto from World Market (Cost Plus... whatever you want to call it). My mom raves about gnocchi so I thought I'd give it a go. 

This was VERY easy and I have a hard time calling it "cooking". I guess I did boil water. I loved the gnocchi and plan to experiment some more with it. The Artichoke Pesto wasn't my favorite though. It tasted like marinated artichoke hearts which I'm just not a fan of all the citrus in those. So in the style of Sandra Lee on the Food Network... I present you Gnocchi with Asparagus and Prosciutto Semi Homemade!

Finished Product

Gnocchi, sauce, cut one inch pieces of asparagus
and chopped prosciutto

Add Gnocchi and asparagus to boiling water and cook for 2-3 minutes.
Drain and stir in sauce and prosciutto... done!