Penne a la Vodka

Apparently this is a manly, alcoholic pasta dish:

Recipe

1 lb penne
1 lb Italian sausage
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 lb mushrooms, chopped
1 can (16 oz) crushed tomatoes
1 c heavy cream
2 tbsp vodka
4 c loosely packed spinach, chopped
Parmesan cheese
4 tbsp butter
salt & pepper

Brown the sausage in a cast-iron skillet, then set aside to drain on some paper towels.

Probably about now, start boiling water for your pasta.

Melt the butter in your skillet, and saute the onions until soft.  Then add the mushrooms, garlic, and red pepper.  Once that's all soft, add the tomatoes, cream, vodka, and sausage.  Simmer 10 minutes.

Toss with the pasta and spinach, and top with cheese and serve.

Notes

I'll have to take their word for it that the vodka is a crucial element of the recipe - it's good but doesn't really have a drunk taste.  My main concern was really there being enough sauce to cover the pasta.  It ended up more minimal than the basic Italian/pizza joint staple.  It's a lot of ingredients to prep, but it does rotate them through one skillet - you end up needing a handful of bowls ready.  All in all a little gimmicky, but good for a couple hearty pasta meals.

There's a little bit of a comparison to the pumpkin & sausage pasta from earlier.  This one today is probably a little simpler - fewer ingredients - but the vodka maybe doesn't stand out the way pumpkin does...

Jalapeno-Cheddar Scones

This was a clear first choice from A Snap Cookbook: Good and Cheap.

Recipe

2 1/2 c whole-wheat flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 c butter
4 oz cheddar cheese, grated
1 jalapeno, diced
2 eggs, beaten
1 more egg, beaten
1/2 c milk
salt & pepper

Prep things first because your hands will get messy: Pop the butter in the freezer, preheat the oven (400), and put out a baking sheet with some parchment paper.  And do the other stuff like dicing the jalapeno, grating the cheese, beating the first couple eggs, etc.

First, combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Next, grate the (hardened) butter in and squish in with your hands.  The cheese, jalapeno, two eggs and milk go in next, and mix it all in with your hands.  Plop it onto a flat surface and shape it into a disk about 1 1/2" thick.  Cut it into six wedges, put them on the baking sheet, brush with the last egg, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and cook for about 25 minutes.

Notes

These came out pretty good, although I wasn't blown away by the flavors.  Use a big jalapeno and plenty of cheese.  And they're probably best going with something rather than just on its own.  But overall it's a nice savory pastry.

Hummus-Crusted Chicken

We're back after a little bit of a layoff for summer travels and being too hot to cook...  Original recipe here.

Recipe

boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 zucchini, chopped
1 yellow squash, chopped
1 onion, chopped
2 lemons
hummus
smoked paprika
olive oil, salt, pepper

Season the chicken with salt and pepper.  Toss the veggies with some olive oil, salt, and pepper.  Put the veggies in a baking dish and the chicken on top.  Cover the chicken with hummus.  Squeeze one lemon over the chicken and veggies, and slice the other and put the slices under the chicken.  Sprinkle the paprika over everything, and pop in the oven at 450 degrees for about half an hour (until done).

Notes

It's interesting that the major flavor here ends up being the lemon in the veggies.  The hummus does add something to the chicken, but maybe slightly underwhelming?

The other advantage of this recipe is that everything goes into one dish.

Final note: The recipe says to cook for 25-30 minutes.  After 40-45, mine was still underdone.  I actually preferred the leftover chicken breast, which I just cooked the hell out of.

Sesame Salmon

This recipe from the folks at Wok Woks does not actually require a wok...

Recipe

1 lb salmon fillet(s)
1 tbsp gomasio salt
juice of 1/2 a lime
1 tbsp sesame seeds
1 leek, shredded
2 carrots, shredded
1/4 lb snow peas, shredded
rice (optional)

Put the salmon in a (foil-lined) roasting pan and sprinkle with the salt, sesame seeds, and lime juice.  Bake for about 20 minutes at 425 degrees.  Meanwhile, shred and toss together the vegetables.  Serve the salmon and veggies together, with rice if you want, with the pan juices poured over the top.

Notes

The salmon is simple enough.  I don't have fancy gomasio salt, so just went for regular salt with some sesame oil for the flavor.  The recipe specifies skinless salmon, but whatever.  Anyway, the veggies are a nice touch though, as much as I'm not familiar with leeks.  After one attempt, I think it makes the most sense to grate the carrot and process the leek and snow peas.  All in all a good dinner.

Tofu Tacos

Yeah, I think I'll keep this intro brief and just present the links without comment: here and here.

Recipe

Tacos

1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped
1 handful cilantro, chopped
1 brick extra-firm tofu
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tbsp tomato paste
salt, pepper
6 corn tortillas
optional:
cheddar cheese, shredded
avocado, thinly sliced
tomato, chopped

Heat the oil in a deep pan, then saute the onions and cilantro, seasoned with salt, pepper, paprika, and cayenne pepper.  Crumble the tofu into the pan, add the tomato paste, and cook 3-5 minutes.

Line a baking pan with tin foil with three pockets for your tortillas.  Fill each tortilla with the tofu mixture and top with avocado, tomato, and cheese.  Bake for about 10 minutes at 400 degrees.

Papaya salsa

1 whole papaya
1/2 a red onion, finely diced
1 tomato, coarsely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
juice of half a lime
1 tsp Mexican seasoning (or sprinkles of paprika, cumin, chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, red pepper, oregano, salt, pepper, cinnamon, cloves)
salt

De-seed and -skin your papaya and chop into bite-size chunks.  Mix together with everything else.

Notes

As expected, it's really not quite as good as the real thing.  But it does have some nice things going for it - it's cheap and fast, feels very healthy, works well as a team effort, and (relatedly) I assume there's a reason you were looking for something vegetarian...  It came out as four big tacos.  Also just be aware that you'll have way more salsa than you need, so definitely plan on other ways to finish that off.

Almond Cookies

Here's an "old Dutch Colonial," recipe not house -->

Recipe

3/4 c butter (not a misprint - that's a stick and a half)
1/2 c sugar
1/2 tsp almond extract
1 1/2 c flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg, beaten
1/2 c almonds, crushed

Cream the butter, sugar, and almond extract.  Sift the flour with baking soda and salt.  Beat together the butter/sugar and flour mixtures.  Roll the dough out into about a 12" square.  Brush just enough of the egg onto the dough to cover in a light layer, then sprinkle the almonds on top.  Cut into squares and separate.  Bake at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes.

Notes

This was totally not my dinner tonight...

Asian Turkey Meatballs

I found a new bunch of recipes online courtesy of (the kind of hilariously-named) Eat to Perform.  Here's the first one.  It's Asian, so insert a meathead "ninjas really know how to perform" joke here, maybe?

Recipe

1 lb ground turkey (they say lean...)
2 tbsp grated ginger
2 tbsp minced garlic
1/2 c bread crumbs
1 egg

1/4 c scallions, chopped
2 tbsp coconut oil
1/4 c stock

1/2 tsp sesame oil
3 tbsp vinegar
3 tbsp soy sauce
3 tbsp honey
1/2 tsp cornstarch
1/2 tsp dried chili flakes
1/4 c scallions, chopped

Combine the first group of ingredients and make some meatballs, about 2".  Heat your oil over medium-high and brown the meatballs on both/a few sides, about 2 minutes each.  Move the meatballs to a pan for the oven and pour in the stock.  Heat at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, combine the bottom set of ingredients in a saucepan.  Bring to a boil, then simmer until it thickens.  Drizzle the glaze over the meatballs (once they're out of the oven, maybe over some rice) and you're ready to eat.

Notes

A few things:

• I un-paleo-ed the original recipe a little bit but I hope it's still healthy!  Cause it's pretty good. 
• I also used the old cast-iron skillet to brown the meatballs, flipped 'em a last time, poured in the (veggie) stock, and popped the skillet in the oven.  Even cutting out the extra pan, it's still a lot of dishes to clean up.
• The recipe is a little ambiguous on where the scallions go.  In the meatballs?  Into the glaze?  Sprinkled on top?  I went with option B...