A Favorite Grows Up

As a kid, there was nothing more comforting, not to mention yummy, than pasta with butter and cheese. In an Italian family there is always plenty of good-smelling food bubbling on the stovetop or in the oven, but sometimes kids want something simple and known. On such days I felt like the luckiest kid around when I was allowed to eat pasta dressed with butter and freshly grated cheese. Even though my childhood days are a little farther behind me than I'm entirely happy to admit, I still find comfort in a hearty bowl of simple. That's why I was delighted as I thumbed through my newest cookbook, Bountiful, and came across a recipe for Lemon and Cream Spaghetti. While it is still ridiculously simple, it adds a bit of sophistication to my old favorite. The sauce is simply olive oil, white wine and heavy cream gently simmered and then mixed with hot spaghetti, fresh lemon zest, fresh lemon juice and freshly grated Locatelli cheese. How could any of that disappoint? Let me tell you that it did not. To make myself feel just a bit more decadent I added in a lobster tail. Why not? If you have to be grown up, may as well go with gusto!

Snap the center of the lobster shell, loosen the meat from the shell and season it as you like. Bake in a 375-degree oven for about 1 1/2 minutes for every ounce of lobster meat. 

A glass of white wine rounded out my meal.

To check out more about Bountiful or its authors, Todd Porter and Diane Cu, check out their blog at WhiteOnRiceCouple.com.

Saturday

I remember the excitement that Saturday brought when I was a kid. I loved waking up to play with toys and watch Saturday morning cartoons. Mind you, this was a time well before the Cartoon Network, so kids actually had to get up and watch cartoons when they were available! It was such a thrill to tune in and see what sort of mischief my favorite characters would get into. My all-time favorite cartoon was Captain Planet. I can still sing the song, lucky for you I'm not including a video of me singing with this blog! "We're the Planeteers, you can be one too, because saving our Earth is the thing to do! Looting and polluting is not the way, hear what Captain Planet has to say!" Oh I really loved that cartoon.

Piping hot straight out of the oven!

I also loved playing with my toys, a habit I have not really grown out of. On this fine, and slightly hot, Saturday morning I was motivated enough to get up and run. The terribly hot and sweaty experience reminded me why I usually take the summers off from running, but since I suffered from amnesia two weeks ago and signed up for a half marathon in November...the responsible thing to do was get started on my training program. My reward for enduring the heat was to play with my Vitamix. Enter redemption! I started off with a recipe from my Vitamix Whole Foods Recipes cookbook called Blueberry Breakfast Cobbler. Naturally, if you have the good toys to play with you may as well go all the way, so I started by grinding a fresh batch of whole wheat flour before jumping into the recipe. I felt good about mixing up the fairly virtuous list of ingredients and then popping the dish into the oven to bake.

Blueberry Breakfast Cobbler

As the cobbler baked, my sweating came to a halt and I began to notice that my stomach was growling. I decided to try my hand at fresh carrot juice to help rehydrate my cells and tide my stomach over until the cobbler was ready. I loaded up the Vitamix with water, carrots, freshly grated ginger, freshly squeezed lemon juice and ice, and then blended it to a frothy-juicy consistency. I was not quite satisfied with the flavor so I added an apple, 1 1/2 teaspoons of maca powder (why not beef up the antioxidants, right?), some lemonade-flavored coconut water and a little more ice. After another whirl in the super sharp blades my juice was ready and absolutely delicious! I started to think that maybe my hot run wasn't quite so bad afterall. In fact, maybe it was a pretty darn good run! When I finally sat down with a heaping serving of the cobbler, my amnesia fully returned and I was plotting out what an amazing runner I was going to be- heat or no heat. Each satisfying bite of the warm treat that seemed like part dessert, part baked oatmeal transported me a little farther from the discomfort I endured on the road only a short time ago and gave me a glimpse of those old Saturday mornings when my toys and some cartoon dreaming were all a kid could want.

Saturday morning treats

Blueberry breakfast cobbler and fresh carrot juice

From Scratch

You make time for the things you want to do. I always want to eat well and will make time for preparing a tasty morsel. There is a sense of accomplishment when the dish is complete, particularly if the process was challenging or tedious. There is excitement from trying something for the first time, and a deep sense of satisfaction when going back to an old favorite. Sitting down at the computer however, is something that comes less naturally. Maybe I should put a computer in my kitchen to increase the chances that I'd want to sit in front of its screen, which makes my eyes feel tired. At any rate, my lack of posts does not reflect a slow-down in the kitchen. Here is something I felt particularly excited about making because I got to create it from scratch. Mmmm...homemade is always preferable, especially when the ingredients are good for you.

Step one: measure out whole wheat berries for grinding.

A last look at the wheat berries before they become pulverized into flour.

Fresh flour smells wonderful and has natural moisture, meaning your recipes will require less oil or other type of fat.

Fresh flour ready to become anything you want it to be.

This time I used it to make blueberry and orange bread.

Plump blueberries and fragrant orange zest make this bread a delicious treat for any time of the day.