Pasta with beans and slow roasted tomatoes

Ugh this week has been CRAZY!  I've been writing like crazy for my job, and applying for another.  I'm so stressed I could just about burst.  Like these tomatoes.  Only they are sweet and ripe and bursting of sweetness and not stress.  But it's almost the same thing, right?  

Magically I found a way to improve on these sungold beauties.  Slow roasting!  I followed the method found at smitten kitchen.  To make a complete meal I tossed the tomatoes with beans and pasta after roasting.  Light, fresh, summery.  Mmmm. (and easy!) 

 

I miss all of you bloggers and I can't wait to catch up on my blog reading! I hope you enjoy this recipe.  

<3 Karla

Pasta with beans and slow roasted tomatoes

Serves 2-3

3hrs total, 15 minutes active

Ingredients

1 pint cherry tomatoes

2Tbs olive oil

Salt, pepper and cayenne pepper to taste

8oz whole wheat spaghetti, cooked

1 small onion, diced

1 clove of garlic, minced

1C cooked white beans

1/2 C dry white wine

Method

1. First make the slow roasted tomatoes!  Preheat the oven to 225F.  Cut the tomatoes in half and toss with olive oil, salt, pepper and cayenne.  Roast for 3hrs until the tomatoes are shriveled and mostly dry.  The tomatoes will keep in the fridge for use later.

2.  Saute onion and garlic in a small amount of olive oil (1Tbs) over medium-high heat until the onions are translucent, about 5 minutes. 

3. Add white beans and cook until slightly browned.  

4.  Add the white wine and stir, scraping up the delicious brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Let the wine reduce a bit (only a minute or two) and stir in the cooked pasta and slow roasted tomatoes. Toss to coat.  Serve with fresh lemons. 

WIAW #3 +Jogging#3

It's time! Another WIAW. Can I say again how much I LOVE reading everyone's entries? It's fun to see the creative things people eat and to know that most other people out there have "bad" habits just like me. *cough* Starbucks *cough*.

Here goes, what I ate today (Tuesday).  My stomach has been having one of those "I can't tell if I am hungry or if I am nauseous" days, so I didn't eat very much. Ick.  Hopefully tomorrow will be better! 

"Lab-meeting lunch" 

Sourdough (mmm), muenster, avocado and hummus

"Post-lab meeting snack"

I won a bet this week, which meant I had dinner made for me!  It was Taste and Tell's spinach pesto and it was AWESOME.  The leftovers (with a beet!) were good too ;-). 

"New food settle my stomach snack"

Kombucha! Did you know this delicious sour drink has alcohol?  I didn't. Until I got carded. I feel embarrassed for my biology self.  I know what fermentation is.

"Try a new recipe dinner"

Mama Peas noodle salad with peanut mmmmmm sauce

Jogging

Goals from last week: Run at least four days for a total of at least 10 mi.  Do the same 4.3 mi loop without walking.  I am pretty sure my knees can handle it.  Speedy run of under 8:30.

This week

7/6- 2.65mi @ 9:34/mi
7/8-1.35mi @8:22/mi
7/10-5.6mi @10:10/mi--This included 3min of walking while dropping off my running partner who had to quit early because of a knee problem.  My last mile was my fastest at 9:07.  Felt pretty good! :-)
7/12-2.65mi@9:22/mi- Felt nauseous today. Ick.

Total miles =12.25

Jogging goals for next week:  12+ mi total, speedy run under 8:20/mi, 5 mi loop w/o walking!

Food goals!
I did try 3 new foods this week.
1. Kombucha
2. Spinach Pesto
3. Mama Peas Noodles with Mmmmm sauce!

Wow, I had them all today!

Time to go read all of the other delicious WIAW posts.  <3  

PS.  Best of luck to my friend, Alix, who is having a baby OMG RIGHT NOW. 

Fresh Tomato Soup!

I'm over-run with tomatoes.  A new bunch comes every week in my CSA box.  

Unfortunately, I still don't like uncooked tomatoes, and I have filled my freezer with container upon container of Mom's tomato sauce.  I've eaten the sauce twice each week.  And still, the tomatoes keep coming!

Trying to think of a new way to use (and cook) my never-ending supply of I came up with this recipe for fresh tomato soup.  It worked out really well and ended up being simple, fast and tasting like a very fresh tomato --only cooked :-D.

Just a warning, while I really liked how this soup turned out, it's not a traditional tomato soup.  It's not creamy or as savory as the canned (boxed?) variety.

Ingredients
6 medium fresh tomatoes
1 small yellow onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, smashed
1Tbs olive oil
2C vegetable stock
Salt, pepper and cayenne to taste.  (I used about 1/2tsp each)

Method
Remove the stems from the tomatoes and cut into quarters. Dice onion and smash the garlic.

Saute the diced onion and garlic in olive oil over medium-high heat until translucent, about 5 minutes.

Add the quartered tomatoes and the veggie stock and simmer for 20-30 minutes.

Blend with an immersion blender (or carefully in a traditional blender).  Add salt and pepper (and cayenne!) to taste.

Garnish with fresh lemon, basil or parsley.

Recovery Smoothie #1

This one goes out to all my friends who were over here last night. :-)

Recovery from what, Karla?  Well, it could be from running? Or maybe biking?  Or perhaps other things one might need to recover from. Personally, I am recovering from two slices of pizza.  I don't think cheese agrees with my tummy anymore.

Recovery Smoothie
Serves 2

Ingredients
1C almond milk, unsweetened (or any other milk, I've also used water + ice with a bit more agave)
2 very ripe frozen bananas, cut into chunks
1C pineapple cubes
2C (two large handfuls) spinach
1T agave nectar, or 1 packet stevia to taste.  My bananas were ripe enough that I didn't need to use sweetener

Method
Blend. Drink. Recover.

You can't taste the spinach, I swear.  Veggie hater approved.

WIAW #2 + jogging+ lazy girl guacamole recipe

Yay, What I ate Wednesday is back!  I was so inspired by all of the posts last week.  I had all sorts of grand plans to make new foods from them, but the week just got away from me and I ended up not really going to the store or trying anything new.  Next week I WILL be better. :-D

Here it is: What I ate on Tuesday, for What I ate Wednesday!

"Breakfast"

yep..double tall soy vanilla latte. I don't drink them every day...but..enough ;-)

"Snack"

A hunk of local fresh sourdough. One of the BEST things about the bay area, I swear.

"Lunch"

Lemon barley stew the same as last time, but with an added zucchini.

Another snack of a peanut butter pretzel cliff bar.  Mmmmmm.

"Dinner"

I lost another bet, but the request this time was one I can *totally* get on board with.  Veggie meat tacos!  I usually have black bean tacos, but when a veggie meal is requested of course I'm going to indulge.

My taco had some spiced veggie meat, spinach and lazy girl guac.

Lazy girl Guacamole
Ingredients
1 or 2 avocados, ripe.  1 avocado gives a really spicy zesty flavor, while using two avocados makes a creamier richer sauce
Juice of one lime
1 serrano pepper (or jalapeno), seeded
1 shallot
Salt and pepper to taste.

Method
Put the lime juice, pepper and shallot in the bowl of your food processor. Blend!  Then, add the avocado.  Blend for a couple pulses.  Spoon into a bowl and add salt and pepper to taste.

I used to chop all my veggies for my guac by hand.  This is MUCH easier. :-).  I also no longer add tomatoes to my guacamole because they always seem to make it too watery.  I chop up some tomatoes and add them on top.

Jogging!
 
Goals from last week: "Goals for next week are 10mi total, a speedy workout of 8:30/mi and a long work out of over 3 mi."

This week: 
6/30-  2.65 @ 9:51/mi
7/1-    1.35 @ 9:05/mi.  Not as speedy as I wanted.  Note to self--no beers before running.
7/2-    4.3 @10:43/mi.  I walked for 1 min every mile on this long run to try to save my knees.
7/5-    2.65@10:00/mi.  Just feeling crappy :-(

Goals for next week:  Run at least four days for a total of at least 10 mi.  Do the same 4.3 mi loop without walking.  I am pretty sure my knees can handle it.  Speedy run of under 8:30.

Eating goals:  Less processed food, more variety!  I want to make at least 3 new meals inspired by YOUR WAIW posts.  So I'm going to go start looking through them now!! <3

Pulled Pork, BBQ Sauce and BBQ Portobellos

Well, I lost a bet.  The result being slow cooker pulled pork. I wanted to share the recipe even though it is not MY favorite recipe, because everyone else loves it so much.  My new favorite sandwich (vegan and made with the same BBQ sauce) is at the bottom.  As soon as I lost the bet this was the very first request, that should give you a hint about how good it is! It's also super easy like most everything I make.  :-)

Ingredients:
3Lbs Pork.  (I've used loin, very lean and tender and shoulder, which is much cheaper)
1 Yellow onion
1C BBQ sauce (recipe follows)
1 bottle of beer

Method:
1. Sear the pork in a very hot skillet on all sides. This should only take a couple of minutes.
2. Slice the onion and layer it on the bottom of the slow cooker.  Put the seared pork on top of the onions.  Pork the beer over the pork, then top with BBQ sauce.
3.  Cook on low 6-8 hours in the slow cooker. Cool and pull!

BBQ Sauce Recipe:
Adapted from Moria, who adapted it from a magazine..we're not sure which one.  :-D


Ingredients:
2 Shallots, minced
1/2 C Ketchup
1/3C worcestershire sauce (Annies is Vegan)
1/3C apple cider vinegar
1 Tbs dijon mustard
1Tbs Garlic Powder
1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 cup molasses
1/4tsp cayenne pepper
Pinch Salt and Pepper

Method
1. Saute shallots over medium heat until translucent.
2. Add all other ingredients and simmer gently for a couple of minutes (about 5)
3.  Blend with an immersion blender (or in a standard blender) until smooth.
4. Enjoy! ;-)

I LOVED the BBQ sauce but I'm not a big fan of the pulled pork (really meat in general) so I decided to make something vegan with the BBQ sauce.  It turned into "The Best Sammich EVAR".  

To make it I marinated a portobello mushroom with 1/4C of the BBQ sauce thinned with 1/4C water for about 15 minutes.  I cooked the mushroom over medium-high heat in a grill pan until it was browned and cooked through.  I sliced it and layered it with more of the BBQ sauce, baby spinach and sliced red onions on a sour roll.  If you know (or are!) a "mushroom hater" you should definitely try out BBQ portobellos.  They turned out so savory and filling.  I want another sammich now.... 

*tummy rumblings*

New pages and a suggestion!

Hey there!  I've updated my blog with a couple "ease of use" pages.  You will find a link to all of my recipes here.  You can also find a link to my favorite blogs here.  

Finally, my suggestion for the week.  Don't just have a pinata. Have a pinata filled with candy AND booze.  

That is a fly.  It is also a pinata.  It is also filled with chocolate and tiny little bottles of booze!

I don't know which was more fun, watching the kids hitting the pinata call the booze "shampoo" or picking out the booze. There I was, sitting on the floor in the local BevMo rifling through a giant display of mini-booze bottles tapping each bottle to see which ones were made out of plastic.  "Can I help you Miss?"  "Nope, just looking for the plastic bottles!" "Uhm...OK....." 

**no children were harmed in the making of this post.  

EDIT: But maybe some pinatas...