pesto pasta salad

Its christmas and I decided to make a pasta salad to bring to chistmas lunch. Wheat pasta,asparagus,red bell pepper, baby heirloom tomatoes, kalamata olives, pesto and goat cheese. Then a whole bunch of fresh basil on top. Amazing!

soup tonight?

So, it has been a while since posting, and I guess I can only blame finals and craziness for that, and the fact my camera broke and I can't upload any pictures, and half the fun of sharing food is how good it looks.  And, unlike a lot of people, I still have a REALLY basic phone, so the pictures I take with it are actually quite horrible, but if I get around to making soup tonight, instead of studying through all meal times as I have been doing,  I will use my phone camera, because it is all I have.  I am planning on making bean with bacon soup, which is one of my all time favorites.  Homemade is definitely better than canned (as with everything) but when I was little Campbell's made a pretty descent one, as far as I can remember (at least it was really salty/smoky flavored and I'm a salt addict).  So, hopefully this soup will come about, as I rather be cooking than studying any day.  Check back for details and some really great grainy pics!

pasta night

Today Haley and I visited the North Park farmers market, the first time in a while.  We used to go weekly, as we had a share in a CSA with our old roommate Lauren and would pick up our produce box there and in addition would leisurely browse the booths that had amazing food and crafts. 

Going today was a delight as always and we stopped at my favorite booth, the one that sells homemade pastas, pesto and hummus.  Although I have a pretty well stocked fridge and pantry at the moment, I wasn't able to pass up the fresh pasta (lemon basil fettuccine), and one sample of the walnut basil pesto had me ripping money out of my wallet.  Remembering that I had a plethora of veggies at home, I got out of the market relatively cheaply, but still had a great time looking, and sampling. 

At home I cut up zucchini and yellow squash and put them in a wok with a bit of olive oil and sea salt and a splash of balsamic vinegar. I cooked these until browned and a bit caramelized. 

I also found a portabella mushroom in the far reaches of the veggie drawer and cut it up in thick slices, mixed together olive oil and balsamic vinegar and let it sit in the mixture for several minutes before cooking it on medium high heat until both sides were browned.

Because I was using fresh pasta, it only takes a minute or two to cook, so once everything else was done, I put the pasta in the boiling water, pulled it out soon after, and liberally spooned the pesto over it to finish.  Delicious.