White Wine-O

Since discovering how easy it is to make marinara sauce from fresh tomatoes, that’s what I do!  Well, as often as I remember that’s what I do.

It’s always olive oil, garlic, tomatoes and basil.  However, I never use the same proportions, because what I also can’t remember to do is write this stuff down.

Well, tonight I made a mental note to make a mental note of proportions.

And I changed it up a bit!

FoodFash Marinara

3 Tablespoons Olive Oil

5 Cloves of Garlic, Crushed

4 Vine Tomatoes, Chopped

1/4 Cup White Wine (perhaps leftovers from a meal gone wrong?)

Lots of Fresh Basil, Chopped

Heat olive oil over medium heat and add the crushed garlic.  Just as the garlic starts to brown, add the tomatoes.  Increase heat to medium high and let the tomatoes cook down for about 10 minutes, stirring often.  Add the white wine and cook at medium high for another 10 minutes, again stirring often.  Reduce heat to medium low and cook until tomatoes are mush.  Add basil, stir, remove from heat, and serve!

Do you think it’s a coincidence that I stumbled upon a kick butt sauce creation and a newfound appreciation of freezing in the same week??

Semolina Superstar

It’s official.  With the addition of Semolina Flour, Bob’s Red Mill products now take up a larger percentage of space in my pantry than all other pantry items combined.  It’s ridiculous.

I couldn’t help it though.  I’ve been craving ravioli all week and it’s impossible to find a grocery ravioli that meets my non-dairy needs.  And everything I’ve read says all-purpose flour works just fine, but semolina… Well semolina is made for pasta.

I also knew that if I made it, I could add all the mushrooms my little heart desires.

And my little heart desires lots of mushrooms.

So I rolled out the dough that I prepared using Bob’s instructions and stuffed the ravioli with “ricotta” and lots of sauteed portobellos.  I used the same ricotta that I learned how to make at the Rollin’ Oats cooking class I attended a little while back.

The dough was surprisingly difficult to roll out.  It was thick and elastic and gave me an upper body workout I wasn’t prepared for this evening.  It was tough enough to justify looking into the purchase of a KitchenAid Pasta Roller.  Did you know they also make a ravioli attachment??  For the record, I’d like both, please.

The end result?  Yowza!

The ravioli was super delish.  I think the semolina flour added flavor that you wouldn’t be able to achieve using plain old, Jane old flour.  It could all be in my head, but that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.  I also created a personal best in the sauce department tonight.  Check back tomorrow for the recipe!

Becoming A Freezer, In Pictures

Breakfast: Oatmeal with Almond Milk, Raspberries & Maple Syrup

Lunch: Leftover Portobello Chili (from the freezer!)

Snackage: Greenwise Olives (all of them)

Dinner: Spicy Kale and Ponzu Marinated Tofu (pressed)

Dessert: Protein Pudding

About a month ago I made Portobello Chili and ate it until I had chili seeping out of my eye holes.  Not really, but I felt as though that was on the verge of happening.  So I stuck a few chili filled mason jars in the freezer and called it a day.

Although I often wish I was a “freezer”, I’m not.  But I can tell you a few reasons why today’s freezer story was a success.

- It was chili, and chili always tastes better the next day (or month)

- I froze individual portions which prevented me from having to heat up a huge amount of frozen food only to stick some back in the freezer

- I used mason jars to store the chili so it was easy to remove the lid and stick the frozen chili straight into the microwave (mason jars, btw, are a super cheap and all around better alternative to tupperware)

For reasons unknown, having a successful freezer story makes me feel accomplished and so I’ve made a mental note to freeze more often.

Oh!  And keep an eye out for a protein pudding FoodFash Mash!

The Pretty Fail

For a food blogger, the most notable bummer of cooking a crappy meal is…

Instantaneous writer’s block.

There is, however, a notable bright side…

Pretty pictures!

And since tonight I have both writer’s block and pretty pictures, I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves.

Thankfully, the wine and couscous were buy 1 get 1 free at Greenwise, so when I look in my pantry tomorrow it’ll be like tonight neeeever even happened!   :-)