Recent creations in the kitchen...

Thursday night we tried this buffalo chicken crockpot lasagna from 'A Year of Slow Cooking.' I would give it a 3 out of 5, and that's with my modifications. I think it would be better in the oven...sometimes noodle and/or rice dishes come out kind of soggy and messy in the crockpot. My modifications included, sauteing the chicken breast with olive oil, red onion, garlic, and sweet pepper....using gorgonzola instead of bleu cheese, and mixing it in with the ricotta instead of throwing it on top, I also added some extra sharp cheddar into the ricotta mixture. If I made this again I would make it in the oven and I would mix a packet of ranch dressing powder mix into the ricotta mixture. Although, I'm not sure I'll be making it again...Bjorn's response to it was, "It's fine.....but I don't really like buffalo sauce stuff." Okay, #92304 added to the list of "Foods Bjorn Does Not Like."

Last night I asked Bjorn, "Spaghetti and meatballs, or barbecue chicken pizza?" BBQ pizza won. I don't use a recipe, but here's a rough run down of what I use.

Crust:
store bought mix...and added to it:
fresh cilantro
minced onion
minced orange pepper
parmesan cheese
fresh cracked pepper

Sauce:
half and half mixture of pizza sauce (spaghetti sauce works too) and barbecue sauce

Toppings:
loads of fresh cilantro
sauteed chicken breast
red onion
red pepper
mozzarella cheese
parmesan cheese

baked crust

 

toppings (no pepper or onion on Bjorn's half)

cheesey barebecue goodness

For lunch today I got creative and made some pasta that had a very fresh taste to it. I would say it was all about tasting the core ingredients...the only seasoning I used was fresh ground pepper and sea salt.

Ingredients:
3 hard boiled eggs
1 avocado cubed
3 slices of cooked bacon
fresh ground pepper
fresh ground sea salt
parmesan cheese
extra sharp cheddar
olive oil
gli Argumati Extra Virgin Lemon Olive Oil

I used a mix of whole wheat penne rigate and Whole Foods orecchiette rigate pasta...I needed to clear up some space in the cupboard. And the lemon olive oil really made this dish. It's expensive but I highly recommend it. It's not just olive oil with lemon flavor...the lemons are actually pressed with the olives. If you don't have any you could try adding fresh lemon juice or fresh lemon zest. I added the room temperature ingredients to the warm pasta and mixed it all together...It was super good!

the ingredients

the finished pasta

I wasn't the only one who enjoyed avocado for lunch...Tatiana had two thin slices of avocado, sweet potato puree with oatmeal, cinnamon and nutmeg, and about 6-8 Gerber cinnamon apple puffs. I think she really enjoyed it all! And she's getting sooo good at mashing food with her gums and chewing.