French Pig Pizza

Another one from the Guy Fieri book... pizza (I cheated with prefab crust) topped with sauteed leeks and apples, brie, and pancetta, then drizzled with balsamic vinegar and olive oil.  In essence, this was delicious. I would definitely make it again with two variations:

1. It had about twice as much pancetta as it needed.  And if this girl says there's too much pork in something, there's WAY too much pork! 
2. I really need to get GOOD balsamic vinegar.  The thick syrupy drizzly kind.  That's what's meant to go on this.  But all I have, because all you can get in Stop & Shop, is just the... vinegary kind of balsamic vinegar. 

Mac & Cheese and toaster oven s'mores

 I like this mac & cheese, which I've been making for years, because it's very mild and somewhat fancy (it uses fontina and mascarpone).  This time I added some par-cooked spinach, which I think was an improvement, because it can be a little TOO mild.  I'm thinking of branching out into other cheese blends.

And this photo pretty much speaks for itself. 

Sunday: Chipotle-peach glazed pork tenderloin

Pesto pasta with arugula

The pesto is more or less pre-fabulous.  Added to pasta with mushrooms, and in a stroke of genius, a bag of arugula.  Yummy and so pretty!

I also made brownies, but forgot to take a picture.  They looked like brownies.

Key Lime Pie

Dessert for a little summer cookout with the parents:

Fresh graham-cracker crust, lightly baked key lime custard...

Set in the fridge for 3 hours, whip up some cream and spread on top:

Devour.

This recipe actually called for regular limes, saying key limes weren't worth the trouble.  That's nonsense.  I used key limes anyway and it tasted as good as any I've had in a restaurant.  They are a pain in the ass, but they ARE worth the trouble.

Chicken saltimbocca

This was Dan's handiwork: Chicken saltimbocca rolls (chicken cutlets with goat cheese, wrapped around asparagus and then wrapped with prociutto)

Snake Bite sandwiches

I haven't posted in here in like whoa, but I thought these were too pretty not to share with y'all.  "Snake Bite" sandwich from Guy Fieri's cookbook.  It's a very spicy shrimp in tomato and cream sauce served on garlic bread.  Verdict: skip the garlic bread next time and serve over rice.

March baking

No I didn't stop cooking, I just stopped posting.  Here are pictures of two of our recent baked goods: Dan's Irish soda bread and my chocolate ganache cupcakes with peanut butter frosting:

almond chocolate meringues

going into the oven:

Post-baking:

 Chocolate glazed:

Anti-pasta salad

This is my version of my mother's pasta salad.  The basics are: squiggly pasta (rotini, cavatappi, etc), cheese, scallions, cherry tomatoes, and italian dressing.  From there you can add whatever you've got around.  In this batch I have some salami and chick peas.

Divide it up into containers and you have lunch for the week (you can get 5 servings easily, but I only need four this week so I made them generous)