Anniversary Lunch

This past weekend, Mr. McGhee and I celebrated our 11th wedding anniversary.

Now, I know this is the perfect opportunity for me to gush about my marriage, but all I am going to say is this.  After 11 years of marriage, I still think Mr. McGhee is cool.  Mr. McGhee still thinks I'm cool.  The best part of my day is when I hear the garage door open and I know he is home.  The best part of his day is when I say, "Mr. McGhee, sit down and relax.  Let me get you a beer and after you eat this dinner I made for you, I will rub your feet while the minis play quietly so you can watch sportscenter."


Mr. McGhee and I celebrated our anniversary by taking the minis to the mall to do some Father's Day shopping and out to lunch at our favorite local restaurant.  We lounged by the pool before we went to watch our middle mini pitch his first little league game.  I've got to tell you, there is no fancy schmancy anniversary trip that could top this.....

I did have time to squeeze in an anniversary meal.  I love roasted red peppers, so when I found a recipe for roasted red pepper and goat cheese pasta, I knew I had to try it.  

Roasted Red Pepper and Goat Cheese Alfredo

Ingredients

• 2 whole red bell peppers
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 small onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup fat free half & half
• 4 oz. garlic & herb goat cheese
• 2/3 cup grated parigiano reggiano cheese
• 1/2 cup artichoke hearts (optional)
• 1/2 lb. linguine, cooked to al dente
• salt & pepper, to taste

Directions

1.  Roast your red peppers.  You can follow the instructions from the original recipe, here  or you can follow my instructions here.  

2.  Saute onions and garlic in olive oil 7 minutes or until tender. Pour in half & half, goat cheese, salt & pepper. Stir to melt goat cheese into sauce and keep warm over low heat.

3.  Uncover peppers, peel off skin and remove stem and seeds. Chop into large pieces and place into sauce along with parmesan cheese. Stir to melt cheese and remove from heat. 

4.  Pour sauce into food processor and puree, or use an immersion blender. Place back into hot pan and toss with cooked pasta. 

5.  Taste and adjust seasonings (salt, pepper, any italian seasoning you like). Top with more parmesan cheese, pepper, salt and parsley, if desired.  I also topped with fresh basil.

Sauteed onion and garlic, with half and half being added.  

The sauce pre-food processor.

Processed and ready to be tossed with pasta.

Delish and ready to enjoy.

Happy Anniversary Mr. McGhee.  I am blessed to a be a dreamer that has found a partner that makes dreams happen.

Bucket Lists

Several years ago I decided that I wanted to put a running goal on my bucket list.  At the time, in my mind, there was only one goal worth putting on the list, and that was running the Boston Marathon.  However, in order to run the Boston Marathon, you have to qualify by finishing a qualifying marathon within a certain time.  So, I signed up to run the St. Jude's Childrens Hospital Marathon.  


Now, I wish this was an inspirational story where I could tell you I ran my qualifying marathon and finished with a qualifying time.  But I didn't.  I was on pace to do so and then something happened right after mile 20 and when I finished, I had missed my qualifying time by several minutes.  And as I limped away, completely chafed and missing 4 toenails, I realized something.....bucket lists are live documents and therefore are subject to being changed at any point in time.  So I happily went home and edited my bucket list, which now looks like this....

finish a marathon and live to tell about it.

I may be pointing out the obvious here, but training for a marathon involves a lot of running.  I discovered that while I do love running, I don't particularly love getting up at 4 am to run 20 miles in the rain on Saturday mornings.  The bright side to marathon training, and perhaps the thing I loved best was carboloading.  Every Thursday night for months I made the same pasta dinner and I wolfed it down with a loaf of garlic bread, completely guiltless.  Now, I am telling you right now....unless you are training for a marathon and burning 2000 calories in 3 hours every weekend, do not eat this pasta dish on a regular basis.  But, if you're curious as to what cream, butter, cheese, and pesto taste like, give it a try.  But just once.  Unless you're making an addition to your bucket list.

Anyway, the reason I am telling you all this is because the other day I stumbled upon this recipe, and after reading the bloggers description I had to try it.  Just to see if it topped my beloved marathon training pasta.  

Spaghetti with Lemon and Parmesan

• 1 cup (250ml (8.45 fluid ounces)) cream
• 3 cups finely grated Parmesan/Pecorino cheese
• juice and rind of one lemon
• 1tsp Dijon mustard
• 2tbsn freshly chopped parsley
• salt and fresh black pepper to taste
• 500g (17.64 ounces) spaghetti, cooked and 1 cup of cooking water reserved

• Combine all the sauce ingredients and mix well.
• Toss with the cooked spaghetti and add some of the reserved cooking water to loosen it up a bit if necessary.
• Serve with chopped parsley and some extra Parmesan if required.

Here's what I have to say about this dish.  I ate it.  Mr. McGhee at it.  The minis all ate it.  Success.  Nobody said one word about it.  It was neither great nor disgusting.  But, it was easy and quick to make, which was important because it gave me time to enjoy this.

I served the pasta with tomato parmesan.  

Tomato Parmesan

• tomatoes
• basil
• mozzarella, shredded
• parmesan/pecorino, shredded
• salt and pepper
• olive oil
• balsamic vinegar

1.  Preheat oven to 450F.  

2.  Cut the tomatoes in half and lay on a baking sheet.

3.  Drizzle with olive oil and salt and pepper the tomatoes.

4.  Lay a basil leaf on each tomato.

5.  Pile cheese on top of basil leaves.

6.  Bake for about 10-15 minutes.  Then broil an additional 1-3 minutes until brown and bubbly.

We love these parmesan tomatoes.  I want to warn you though, the tomatoes are mushy.  I think that next time I will skip the baking and just broil to see if that keeps the firmness of the tomatoes a bit more.  

Before I sign off, I just want to say...I think it's important to have a bucket list in life.  I love to dream of adventures and challenges I want to experience in life, but I find that when I write things down, they often go from something I dream about to something I am doing.  It is amazing how when you put those dreams out there in the universe, the universe will find a way for those dreams to come true.  And for those of you with minis, show your kids what it looks like when mommy chases her dreams.  If for no other reason, than this......

School lunch-inspired dinner

Am I the only one with fond school memories of Tuesday tomato soup with grilled cheese lunches?  You know, when the cooks opened 10 lb cans of this....

And slapped a few slices of this....

on this.....



Delish, right?  Fill your belly with and you were all set for a mean game of red rover at recess time. 

Tonight's dinner was inspired by all those warm fuzzy tomato soup Tuesday memories.  We had tomato soup and grilled cheese.  This soup is my favorite, I got the recipe from Our Best Bites.  This recipe makes a small batch, I would recommend doubling it. 

A quick **sidenote** before we start.  I am not a fan of canned tomatoes because of the controversy surrounding them.  If you can find diced tomatoes in a jar, I highly recommend it.  If you can buy fresh tomatoes and boil them and peel them, good for you!  I live in the middle, and would have to drive about 8 hours to find a decent tomato right now, so I used jarred tomatoes.  Also, cream cheese.....I would consider cream cheese a processed food, however my unprocessed food girl crush says it's okay.  So, we're moving forward with cream cheese!

Creamy Tomato Soup

• 1 T reserved oil from sun-dried tomatoes, or olive oil
• 1 C chopped onion
• ¾ C shredded carrot
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1 Tbs dried basil
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 2/3 C sliced sun-dried tomatoes, packed in oil
• 2 (14.5 oz) cans diced tomatoes, undrained
• 14 oz chicken broth
• 3 oz reduced fat cream cheese
• optional: 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

Optional: Parmesan cheese and fresh basil for garnish (not optional in my opinion...but this is the way recipe was written). 

1. Place oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion, carrot, and garlic, and cook for 3-4 minutes or until vegetables are tender, stirring often.

2. Add sun-dried tomatoes, canned tomatoes, chicken broth, sugar, salt, pepper, oregano and basil. (If you’re adding red pepper flakes, add them now)

3. Bring soup to a boil and then reduce heat to simmer. Cover pan and simmer for 30 minutes.

4. Remove from heat. Place soup in a blender (do this in 2 batches if necessary). Add cream cheese. Remove center piece of blender lid to allow steam to escape, but place a paper towel over opening in blender lid to avoid spills. Process for a few minutes until smooth. You could also add cream cheese directly to the pot and use an immersion blender to combine.

 

5. Add additional salt and pepper to taste and then divide soup among bowls. Garnish each serving with a sprinkle of shredded Parmesan cheese and a fresh basil leaf if desired.

Here's my soup simmering away.  I am always tempted to not blend it, and just try it like this but I know the mini McGhees will resist eating it that way with all those big chunks of vegetables floating around in there.  Therefore, I blend it in order to fool please the minis.

And here's how you blend it using a blender.  Make sure you take the top off of the lid and cover with a papertowel.  If you don't, the pressure will build up from the steam from the hot soup and pop the lid off while you are blending.  It happens, trust me.....Cara, are you still cleaning tomato soup off your white kitchen cabinets?

And here it is all delicously blended.  Delish.

We had apple slices and grilled cheese on bread from Great Harvest since I ran out of time to make a homemade loaf (and because I really wanted to go visit the ladies at Great Harvest).  We put fresh basil and guyere, gouda, and sharp cheddar on our sandwiches.  I sliced them into small wedges, so we all could enjoy the different flavored cheeses.  We're cheese nerds raising mini cheese nerds. 

And, I did all of this without a hairnet and disposable plastic apron.  I sort of wish I would have had them to wear though, just to really capture those Tuesday tomato soup day memories.

And, for dessert........HOMEMADE YOGURT!  BOO-YAH!!!!  I finally figured it out, I needed to use a smaller crockpot and keep it really wrapped tight overnight.  I woke up this morning to this....

We drizzled some honey and mashed some brown bananas in it.  Delish.