Well, this is about a week late, but better late than never.  I was lucky enough to have my mom, my brother Travis, his Wife CJ and their son (my nephew) Cooper come visit on the 4^th. 

 It was a packed house but we had a blast! We experienced a lot of what Boise has to offer including floating the river, visiting the zoo and going to the Saturday market.  Unfortunately, a damper was put on the trip to the zoo when Jav told us all that the Giraffes died last year.  Apparently, Giraffes are really hard to take care of….Cooper loves animals and was very sad.  Well… Jav thought they had died, but really they were alive and well!  Phew! Pretty funny.

On the actual 4^th, we had a barbeque and invited some friends/family over to light off some fireworks and enjoy lots of food and drink.  Here are some pics from the night:

I made a few different salads, but decided to post this Pasta Salad with Sundried Tomato Dressing as I thought it turned out the best.  It was darn pretty good and very easy to make. 

Hope you enjoy!

Pasta Salad with Sundried Tomato Dressing
Printable recipe here

16oz Penne Pasta Cooked

1.5 Cups Grape Tomatoes Halved

1 Red Pepper Chopped

1 Green Pepper Chopped

½ Cup Fresh Basil Chopped

1 Can Artichoke Hearts (not marinated) drained and chopped

½ Sundried Tomatoes Packed in Oil (drained)

1 Shallot Chopped

4 Tablespoons Balsamic Vinegar

1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice

¼ Cup Olive Oil

¼ Cup Grated Parmesan

½ Cup Feta Cheese Crumbled

Mix penne, tomatoes, peppers, basil and  artichokes in a large bowl.  Set aside. 

 In a blender, blend sundried tomatoes, shallot, vinegar, lemon juice, olive oil and parmesan. 

 Blend until smooth.  Pour over pasta mixture along with feta.  Mix well.  Serve cold. 

Enjoy!

Love,

Lindzee

PS, Thanks mom, Travis, CJ and Cooper for coming to visit! I had such a good time! Hope to see you around these parts again soon :0.

I served this salad twice this past weekend.  Two times when Crissie from Design Eat Play was at my house. Once for Easter and once for a bachelorette party for my friend Julie.  Here she is prior to our cowgirl extravaganza:

 More on her wild party in a later post.

Crissie will not leave me alone until I post the recipe.  Apparently she liked it. She even shot and edited the pics for me in hopes that I would post it.

She sent me this message yesterday:                 

 Dear Cordon Pink,

I was thinking of making your salad as a main dish with steak. Wouldn’t that
be yummy? Like a big, fat steak salad. Or actually I have pork in the crock
pot today…that could be good.

Ah hem. Recipe?

Give it to me or you will never see your dog again…(this part may have been exaggerated)

This salad is wonderful for entertaining because you can make the two parts in advance and just combine them when you are ready to serve.  No worries about your salad getting soggy prior to your main dish being ready etc.  Plus, it is very refreshing and light for spring.

Avocado, Orange and Fennel Salad with Citrus Vinaigrette

2 Avocados Diced

3 Oranges Cut into segments with white pith removed

½ Fennel Bulb chopped into small pieces

Citrus Vinaigrette (Recipe below)

2 Heads of romaine or any mixed greens washed and cut into bite size pieces

Add avocados, oranges and fennel to a small container with a lid.  Pour dressing over fruit and fennel.  Let marinate in the fridge for 2-3 hours.

  When ready to serve, remove from fridge and pour entire mixture over the mixed greens.  Mix well and eat!

Citrus Vinaigrette

Zest of one lemon

Juice of one lemon

1 Tablespoon Red Wine Vinegar

1 Teaspoon Dijon Mustard

1 Tablespoon White Sugar

1 Clove Garlic Minced

Lawry’s seasoning salt to taste (or any seasoning salt)

¼ Cup Olive Oil

Add zest, lemon juice, red wine, mustard, sugar, garlic and seasoning salt to a small mixing bowl. 

Mix well. 

 Slowly drizzle in olive oil whisking well to combine until it emulsifies. 

Enjoy!

Love,

Lindzee

Hola Friends!  I love spaghetti with meat sauce.  Always have.   I make mine with brown sugar so it is a little bit sweet and uses a base of Prego.  Prego is one of the cheapest spaghetti sauces out there and I love it (with a few additions). On a side note, I am not sure why I do this and it is totally dorky, but I always say “She is prego-ragu”, if someone is pregnant.  Weird, but true.

 Anyways,  I used to think my recipe was the best – until I tried this one at our good family friends, Debbi and Steve’s house.  Debbi is a wonderful cook - not to mention a great singer, dancer and hula hooper .  She is the appetizer queen (I am hoping she will send me some of those recipes soon)!  Her and Steve very graciously organized my dad’s memorial reception and hosted an after party at their house…where they served this amazing chicken and Italian sausage pasta sauce.  Which is actually a recipe of Debbi’s friend Leslie.  As soon as I ate the first bit, I asked for the recipe.  I only made a few changes, which is really strange for me.  It is fantastic and super simple to make for a crowd.  I served mine with ravioli, but you could use your favorite pasta.  Caesar salad recipe will be posted next. 

 Italian Sausage and Chicken Pasta Sauce

Printable recipe here

1 Tablespoon olive oil

1 Tablespoon butter

1 White onion chopped

10 Large mushrooms sliced

3 Garlic Cloves minced

5 Links of uncooked (spicy or mild)Turkey Italian sausage cut into ½ inch pieces

4 Skinless Boneless Chicken breasts cubed (sausage and chicken is easier to cut if it is a little bit frozen

16 oz can diced tomatoes

1 Quart Prego Spaghetti sauce

1 T. Italian Seasoning

¼  cup dried basil

¼ cup dried oregano

2 Tablespoons brown sugar

1/2 Tablespoon balsamic vinegar

6-8 servings of your favorite pasta

In a large stockpot, saute onion and mushroom in the olive oil and butter until soft and onions are translucent.  Add garlic and sauté one minute more. 

Add the chicken and sausage pieces and cook over med- low heat until the meat is browned and cooked through.

  Add the tomatoes, sauce, seasonings, brown sugar and vinegar. 

Stir well.  Simmer over low heat for at least 20 minutes up to an hour stirring occasionally.  You shouldn’t need to season with salt because the sausage has quite a bit of salt already.

Use over cheese ravioli or your favorite pasta.  Sprinkle with parmesan and enjoy.

Love,

Lindzee

Aaron was a wonderful host and cooked for us the whole weekend.  He made us some very delicious steak tacos with chimichurri sauce and jalapeno pickled onions for dinner one night.  I wish I would have taken a photo of those.  Before dinner the group decided to have a few glasses of red wine (minus Cindy).   I, being the huge klutz that I am, dropped my glass of wine in their brand new living room and broke Cindy’s brand new wine glass.  Yes, I felt awesome.  They didn’t seem to mind too much, but I think they were just being nice. 

On our last day, we went down to Alki Beach and had lunch at Cactus.  Cactus is a cute little Mexican/Southwest restaurant that overlooks the beach.  The food was spicy but our waiter was H-O-T.  Crissie and I could barely look him in the eye. Serious movie star caliber good looks.   I asked if I could take a picture (the pic does not do him justice).  Aaron was disgusted and mortified.

Anyways, I ordered some amazing Butternut Squash Enchiladas at Cactus and have been dreaming about them (and the waiter) ever since.  I decided to try and make them since it is the perfect time of year for gourds. Let me give you a little warning.: This recipe was not quick in any sense of the word, but truly is worth it.  The Manchamanteles Mole took the longest and was unlike anything I have ever made.  If you want to take a few shortcuts, I would make a tomatillo sauce or buy some Mole, but the real stuff was yummers!

Roasted Butternut Squash Enchiladas with Goat Cheese and Mole

Manchamanteles Mole

I found the recipe for the mole here.  As I mentioned, quite the time consuming process, but it made a ton of sauce that I can keep for another recipe.  The flavor is very nutty and spicy.

6 Dried Guajillo Chiles
1 Dried Ancho chile
4 c Boiling water
1.5 Cans of 14.5oz  chopped tomatoes
Olive Oil
1/2 c Toasted Sesame Seeds
1 White onion; roughly chopped
1/4 c Whole raw almonds
1/4 c Raw pecans
1/4 c Raisins
4 Garlic cloves; halved
2 Whole cloves(or 2 pinches ground cloves)
2 Black peppercorns
1 Whole Allspice
1 Cinnamon stick -; (2″ long) (or 1 tbspn ground cinnamon)
2 Fresh oregano sprigs (or 1/2 tspn dried oregano)
 1 c Chicken stock ( I used store bought, but you could make your own)
1 16oz Can of pineapple sliced (drained)
Salt
1 1/2 Tablespoon Sugar

Remove stems, seeds and veins from both kinds of chiles ( I wore gloves).  Toast chiles in skillet or on griddle over low heat until slightly fragrant and beginning to blister. Be careful not to burn chiles. Put chiles in bowl and pour boiling water over them. Let soak 20 to 30 minutes (the longer they soak, the less hot they become).

While waiting, Cook tomatoes in dry skillet over medium heat until dry, about 20 minutes.  Blend well in blender. Transfer to bowl. Grind the toasted sesame seeds in a spice grinder or with mortar and pestle. Once chiles are done soaking transfer chiles from bowl to blender with slotted spoon and puree, adding some of soaking water if needed to blend well. Pass pureed chiles through sieve or food mill and set aside.

Return skillet to medium heat, add 2 tablespoons oil and onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is soft and transparent, about 10 minutes. Add almonds, pecans, raisins, garlic, cloves, peppercorns, allspice, cinnamon and oregano and saute, stirring constantly, until brown and fragrant, about 10 minutes.

Transfer to blender and add 1 cup chicken stock and pineapple. Blend until smooth.

Put 2 tablespoons oil in large pot and heat over medium heat until slight haze forms over oil. Add chile puree and fry, stirring constantly, until dry, about 20 minutes. Mixture will splatter, so carefully partially cover pot with towel. Add tomatoes, sesame seeds and onion mixture and cook, stirring constantly, 10 minutes. Add chicken stock to make fairly loose mixture, 4 to 6 cups, and continue cooking, adding more stock as necessary.   Set aside or if you make it the night before you can put it in the fridge.  It should keep for about a week.

Mole recipe is heavily adapted from the Los Angeles Times – 04-28-1999 Recipe from Billy Cross, founder of the Napa Valleys Great Chefs of France Cooking School

Now that part is finally done, we can start on the actual enchiladas!

 Butternut Squash

 2 Large butternut squash peeled and chopped into 1”cubes (remove any seeds)
½ Cup olive oil
1 Tablespoon chipotle chili powder
2 Teaspoons cumin Powder
2 Teaspoons garlic Powder
2 Sprigs thyme chopped
2 Sprigs oregano chopped
1 Tablespoon brown sugar
Salt and Pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Mix olive oil, chili powder, cumin, garlic, thyme, oregano, sugar, and salt and pepper to taste in a small bowl.  Put squash in a large roasting pan and cover with olive oil mixture.  Bake for 40-50 minutes until soft and brownish. Once you remove them from the oven smash them up a bit with a fork.  Not too much as there still should be chunks.

Meanwhile, you can start carmelizing some onions. 

1 Tablespoon Butter
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
1-2 Red Onions sliced ¼ inch thick.
Salt

Add butter and olive oil to a medium skillet pan on medium heat until butter is melted.  Add the onions and stir to coat with oil/butter mixture. Spread the onions out evenly over the pan and let cook, stirring occasionally.

After about 15 minutes add a dash of salt.  Keep stirring every few minutes for about 30 minutes total.  You can lower the heat if they start to burn.  You want them just slightly brown.

 While the onions are carmelizing, you try and sauté some spinach if you are good at multi-tasking.  However, if you have problems with this, then just wait until the onions are done.

 Sauteed Spinach

½ Bag of fresh spinach (2 or 3 cups)
1 Tablespoon olive oil
2 Cloves of garlic minced (Do not use the jarred stuff.  It is disgusting.  Just sayin)

Add olive oil to a medium skillet pan on medium heat until oil shimmers.  Add garlic and sauté for a minute or so until fragrant.  Add the spinach and sauté until wilted. 

 Finally time for assembly!!!

8 Burrito Size White Corn Tortillas  ( lightly fry each one in small amount of oil for aboutt 30 seconds each)
Manchamanteles Mole
Roasted Butternut Squash
Sautéed Spinach
Carmelized onions
2 small rolls of Goat Cheese
2 cups of Shredded Monterrey Jack Cheese
Pico de Gallo and Sour Cream for serving

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a 9 x 13 glass baking dish with cooking spray.  Cover the bottom of the dish with about a cup of the mole sauce.  Next setup an assembly line with all of the ingredients.  Dip 1 tortilla in the mole and cover completely.  Add about a ½ cup to 1 cup (depending how big you want the burrites) of the squash.  Add a spoonful of the onions and spinach each to the tortilla.  Spread out evenly.  Add a few Tablespoons of goat cheese.  Roll it up with the edges tucked in.  Continue this process for all 8 burritos adding each one to the pan when completed.  Cover with Jack cheese and bake for 30 minutes until cheese is bubbly and browned in spots. 

Serve garnished with Pico de Gallo and sour cream. 

Yay! Eat up!  My kitchen is now destroyed.

Love,

Lindzee