A perfect pesto

I had some errands to run after work tonight, and all I really wanted to do for dinner was stop in somewhere along my way home and pick up something quick. But in an effort to be a little healthy (Thanksgiving is upon us) and save a little money, I restrained myself and made it past at least two Qdoba's and home.


I remembered when I got home that last week I had bought the ingredients to make the linguine with pea pesto from The Smitten Kitchen blog. And I'm really glad I made it past those Qdoba's. This was fantastic and easy - a winning combo!


The only changes I made to this recipe were to cut down on two ingredients - the cheese and the olive oil - to try and make it a bit healthier. I used about half of the amounts of these she puts in her recipe, and I didn't miss a thing.


This wasn't only delicious and easy, it was also pretty - although, of course, my photos don't do it justice.



Before I used my favorite tool, my immersion blender,
to whip this into a pesto.



I loved how green this was!


Bottom line? As good as Qdoba can be for a quick meal, I definitely recommend trying this instead.

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And in other news - a very happy Thanksgiving holiday to all!

Mashed

No, this entry isn’t about my recent side dish of choice (mashed sweet potatoes with a little nutmeg, cinnamon, milk, and butter = heaven), but more about what my life has been lately – a mish mash of blog distracting events.

First off, work has been totally, certifiably crazy. But if there’s one thing this blog isn’t about, it’s my job.

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A few weekends back we went to NYC to watch my sister-in-law run the marathon. It was a great, albeit exhausting (yes, for me! just a spectator!), experience, made only slightly less great by the woman who felt the need to hurl the b--- word at me as we calmly walked (okay, we were running like crazy people) to catch our train. When I say woman, I mean of the 50-60 year old variety. Really? We haven’t learned better behavior by that age?

This is literally the best photo I took the whole weekend. Not much to say for my photog skills.

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Last weekend, I went to visit my sister and my adorable niece, and had the most amazing time smothering her (the niece) with kisses, encouraging her (the niece) to walk, and laughing non-stop at her (you guessed it) budding precocious personality. An anecdote – she now feeds their dog, Onyx, one Cheerio per Cheerio she gets in her mouth, in the most matter-of-fact, “of course I’m supposed to be doing this” way.

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This week, my darling, dearest Phoebe has been sick. She’s had a UTI and then a bad reaction to her antibiotic and spent last night meowing pathetically and in obvious pain and discomfort. It’s so hard to see her not feeling well – way harder than I would have imagined or remember (she’s only been sick like this once before). What am I going to be like when I have kids? Egad.

Corn Chowda

Tonight's dinner was a true experiment. I was testing the hypothesis that silken tofu - of all things - serves as a good way to thicken soups, dips, etc.

I've been having a craving for corn chowder, but I really wanted to try and make it without the cream, so it was time to brave the silken tofu!

I started out by doing the exact same thing I do for 99.9% of the dishes I make: diced 1 yellow onion, grated 2 cloves of garlic, and sauteed them until translucent in some olive oil and about 1/2 tablespoon of butter (I felt vindicated using some butter here, since I was skipping the cream).

I peeled and cut up 2 medium to smallish sized potatoes into bite sized pieces, and dumped them into the pot with 1 cup of chicken broth, then let that all cook for about 10 minutes, or until the potatoes were tender. 

Meanwhile, I emptied a 12 oz package of silken tofu (extra soft) into a bowl and, using my immersion blender, beat it for 3-5 minutes, until it was really smooth.

 You can see the consistency was almost like a batter....definitely very creamy....

Once it was super smooth and the potatoes were tender, I dumped the tofu right into the pot and added 2 more cups of the chicken broth (use less for a thicker soup) along with a 16 oz pack of frozen yellow sweet corn.

Then came the magic:

1 small can of mild green chilis (I recycled the can before I read how big it was, but you know the ones I'm talking about - they only make one small size of these things)
1 tblsp pimentos
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (or to taste)
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika (or to taste)
salt and pepper to taste

Abra cadabra - creamy corn chowda! (go ahead - I'll wait while you say that out loud)

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I let it heat through while I grated some white cheddar cheese to put on top.

It was really good, folks.

Full disclosure - this did start to separate as it cooled - you can see it happening a little bit above. But for the most part it kept its creaminess and it really was very tasty.

Be brave! Don't fear the silken tofu! Don't get me wrong here - cream would have tasted phenomenal, but I just don't always want something that heavy and rich, and this really did the trick.

The hypothesis tested true, but don't take my word for it - brave the silken tofu yourself, and let me know how it goes!