What's for dinner?

I've started blogs a few times in the past, but I've always lost interest after a while. This time, I'm hoping NaBloPoMo will keep me motivated. I've also gotten into a daily habit of reading a few local blogs about life in Central IL (I moved here a year and a half ago), cooking and restaurants. I started getting more and more interested in cooking over the last few years, and my husband and I have been obsessively watching the food network since we got together two years ago.

So, I'm planning to try to focus on what we've had for dinner - whether it's at a restaurant or something we've made at home (or a sad night where it's nothing at all!). I've found other people's blogs to be really helpful in choosing recipes, picking a restaurant, or just finding a good place to buy hard to find ingredients - so maybe other people will find mine to be helpful, too!

Wednesday's Dinner

Salad
Baby Lettuces with Olive Oil, Balsamic Vinegar, fresh ground pepper, grey salt, parmesean cheese

I got the grey salt from Penzy's, which has tons of options for spices, salts, pepper, etc. We actually needed more coarse salt for our salt grinder, and I thought I would give the grey salt a try. It's very good, but not appropriate for the grinder. It's too moist. It really does have a nice flavor, though!


Main Course
You Won't be Single for Long Vodka Cream Pasta

This is a Rachel Ray recipe. It takes me longer than 30 minutes, but it's still pretty simple (especially if you put the shallots and garlic in a food processor). I've made this many times. It doesn't take very long, and you end up with a TON of sauce. This was my first time making it on our new stove, which I'm still getting used to. I had the heat a little too high, and the garlic and shallots started to brown, which is not what you want. Next time, I'll put the heat right on medium (I had it just a touch above medium). I also wasn't able to get any fresh basil at County Market, and it really does make a difference. I used a little bit of dried instead. It was still good, but it's better with fresh basil. I also used this new pasta that has fiber added, which was great! I used to use the Barilla Plus, but this was better! Dreamfields is my favorite, but it isn't available here. The one I used last night was very good - but the name is escaping me at the moment.

In the past, I've frozen half the sauce to eat later. In that case, it's better to wait to add the basil, as it doesn't reheat well. When we freeze leftovers, we use this, which works great!