4/28/2010

Roast It Yourself...

One of my favorite things to do on a quiet weekend morning is to get up and watch cooking shows--shocking, I know. A few years ago, I happened to be doing just that, and happened across Ellie Krieger's Healthy Appetite on FoodNetwork. On that particular episode she was making her Fettuccine with Creamy Red Pepper-Feta Sauce and it looked yummy and healthy, so I thought I would try it out.

Let me tell you, I completely fell in love with that dish. It is a staple in my repertoire and I make it often. But I always made it with the called-for jar of peppers. Until Saturday.

I had a big bag of sweet red peppers, rainy weather, and an empty house, so I decided to roast the peppers and play with my camera a little bit. It's really easy, and I totally have pictures of the whole process but for some reason my computer isn't cooperating with me at the moment.

I'll walk you through it anyway...

First, lay out your peppers in a single layer on a cookie sheet and stick it under the broiler. The peppers will bubble, blister, hiss, sizzle, squeal, and make all sorts of noises you didn't think they should make.

When they are all bubbly and brown on one side (about 10-15 minutes), flip'em over and roast the other side.

Then, put all the peppers in a big bowl and cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap. Leave them in there for at least 30 minutes or so. This way they'll be cool enough to handle, and being in that bowl under the plastic wrap will steam them and make it SUPER easy to peel them.

Finally, peel all of the skin off, pull out the stem, and clean the pepper of all the seeds. If you don't use all of the peppers right then, you can store them in olive oil in an air-tight container.

I used about 3 of my roasted, cleaned peppers and made my favorite pasta, and it was a million times better than with the peppers out of the jar...totally worth the extra effort! With that, friends, I leave you with this photo of my finished pasta:


And believe me, it was every bit as good as it looks.

I hope everyone is having a superb week!
mg

4/24/2010

Treasure Hunt.

Last night, I came home and the Billy Goat had a little surprise for me.


It started at the back door, with a note that read:


“Ready to Play?

When I am visiting, I need to get clean...”

With that note was a 4G SD Card. Hmmm...


I thought for a minute and then decided that if I was visiting and needed to get clean, I would go to the guest bathroom. So off I went. Nothing in the sink. Nothing on the toilet. I checked behind the shower curtain...a-ha!


Note #2, taped onto a camera bag.

“What good is an empty bag? There has to be more.

You can say when I’m in the kitchen I’m TOP SHELF”


So I went on to the kitchen. Nothing on our top shelves in the cabinets looked out of the ordinary, so I checked the pantry...bingo!


Note #3, taped onto a ZOOM LENS...

“So you do agree I’m Top Shelf? I’m kind of pointless without my body...

I like to hang out in very dry places...”


DRY PLACES? DRY PLACES...DRY PLACES!!! THE DRYER!


Being the ding-a-ling I am, I looked in the washer first...oops. Nothing there. Look in the dryer next, and dug under some clean clothes I really need to fold...


Note #4, taped onto a CANON EOS REBEL T1i DSLR CAMERA!!!

“You found me!!! I’m all yours. Love, Billy and Murphy”


Swoon. Sigh. Grin. My husband sent me on a little in-home treasure hunt for the camera I’ve been gabbing on and on about for at least 6 months. My BFF Kara was there, and got to witness the whole thing. I was sort of in shock, and she summed it up perfectly when she said I was all “twitterpated”. You got it, girl.


So that lead on to lots of hugs, kisses, thank yous, beers, and the best darn burgers and potato salad I’ve had in months! I took a couple pictures but haven’t gotten very far in the manual yet to know how to upload them...haha. I’m working on it and will hopefully have some pics to post later today or tomorrow.


Now that I think about it, is TOP SHELF a play on TOP CHEF? Or could it be just that it is really good? Either way, I think it’s adorable.


I stinkin’ love that guy.