Tag: pasta

Butternutty Couscous + Brussels Sprouts

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Poor Topanga, man.

She hasn’t gotten a blog shoutout in a hot minute.

Topanga is our 12yo shihpoo. She’s as cranky & cynical as you can imagine.

But she’s our sourpuss & we love her! Well, Garr & I love her, Lou is tolerant. Mainly because Topanga growls at her every time Lou is within 3 feet. I digress. This pup is in desperate need of a teeth cleaning. They are just…rotting in her head. & her breath! My God, I thought mine was bad. My stank mouth has nothing on Topanga. We’ve finally gotten her in for a teeth cleaning soon & I am just fearful she’s going to lose her mind. Like she’s such an indoor, lazy beast, anytime we break her routine of…nothingness, she freaks. The groomer is an event. This will be nothing short of the worst day of her life.

Honestly, she’ll probably figure out a way to escape the vet so she can find a family with no children to live with.

Time: 45 minutes (prep + cooking) | Serves: 2

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup of couscous, uncooked
  • 1 package of frozen butternut squash cubes
  • 1 package of Brussels sprouts, trimmed + halved
  • 1 tbsp of maple syrup
  • 2 tsp of yellow mustard
  • 1/2 cup of almond milk
  • 1 shallot, diced
  • 1 tbsp of garlic, minced
  • Juice of half a lemon
  • 3 tbsp of olive oil
  • 1 tsp of crushed red pepper
  • S+P, to taste

How to:

  • Preheat oven to 400
  • In a bowl, combine 1 tbsp of olive oil + maple syrup + mustard + S+P
  • Add Brussels sprouts + mix to combine
  • Spread on a lined baking sheet in an even layer
  • On another baking sheet, arrange butternut squash in an even layer + drizzle with 1 tbsp of olive oil + S+P
  • Roast both for 30 minutes, tossing once in the middle
  • Meanwhile, heat remaining olive oil in a pot over medium heat
  • Add shallot, cook 2-3 minutes
  • Add garlic, cook another minute
  • Add couscous + S+P, cook another minute letting toast
  • Add water + cook couscous to package directions
  • Once squash is done, combine with almond milk in a blender until smooth
  • Add to the warm pot with cooked couscous + adjust seasoning to taste, adding red pepper flakes if you’d like
  • Stir in lemon juice with the heat turned off
  • To serve, scoop some couscous into a bowl + top with crispy Brussels
  • I know it’s still sweltering out there, but make a bowl of this + welcome the autumnal vibes

Adapted from here!

Pesto Stuffed Shells

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Let’s talk about stomach viruses.

Not in gory detail, you weirdos.

Just in general terms I think all fellow humans can agree on.

They absolutely blow chunks. No pun intended. Somehow, someway, a plague fell upon our house recently. I feel both blessed and annoyed it chose me to kiss first. Once it hit, it hit hard and your girl was down for the count. Couldn’t move, couldn’t eat, but the best – I couldn’t keep my eyes open OR sleep. Have y’all experienced this before? It was righteous. All night I tossed and turned, unable to get comfortable. Then, G started tossing his cookies. We were both down! Who would care for our seemingly well child?! Luckily, I rallied just in time for her to start spewing. Oh, what great fun it is to crouch down on all fours scrubbing carpets when your body is weak from upchucking.

I say we have a handful more kids so we can all get sick together again sometime.

Time: 1 hour (prep + cooking) | Serves: 4-5

Ingredients:

  • 1 package of jumbo pasta shells
  • Pesto recipe from here
  • Tofu ricotta from here
  • 1 jar of marinara
  • Basil, for serving

How to:

  • Preheat oven to 350
  • Cook pasta shells to just al dente, drain
  • Combine the tofu ricotta + the pesto in a bowl
  • Pour some marinara into the bottom of a baking dish
  • Once shells are cool, stuff them with the pesto ricotta
  • Cover with more marinara
  • Cover with foil, cake for 30 minutes
  • Remove foil, bake another 5 minutes
  • Top your plate with no fewer than 12 + have at it

Lemony Orzo + Chickpea Soup

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We’re battling our first baby stomach virus up in here.

Pray for us, won’t you?

It all began when Garr & I decided it’d be nice to go out to brunch to celebrate our 7th anniversary.

That was our first mistake. How quickly we forgot we can’t have nice things or nice, pleasant times out in public with an 11 month old. About 90 seconds into our food coming out, Lou tosses her cookies alllll onto her cheese quesadilla. The very quesadilla Garr was looking forward to eating most of after she got done picking at it. But alas. Poor baby has never really been sick before, thank you, Jesus. So this is major unchartered territory for us. We both just kind of sat there stunned for a second like, “Did this really happen?” before we started frantically cleaning her up & trying to hide the fact she puked everywhere. She felt great afterwards, though, and proceeded to throw Cheerios at anyone who looked her way!

I really shouldn’t blog about vomit before sharing a recipe with you guys.

Time: 35 minutes (prep + cooking) | Serves: 3-4

Ingredients:

  • 1 white onion, chopped
  • 3 carrots or 5-6 petite, multi-color carrots (seen here), peeled + sliced thin
  • 1 tbsp. of garlic, minced
  • 1 cup of orzo, uncooked
  • 1 can of chickpeas, rinsed + drained
  • 1/3 cup of tahini
  • Juice of 2 lemons
  • 1 cup of fresh spinach
  • 1/4 cup of fresh dill, chopped
  • 1 tbsp. of olive oil
  • S+P, to taste

How to:

  • Heat olive oil in a stock pot or dutch over over medium heat
  • Add onion + S+P, cook 3-4 minutes
  • Add carrots, cook another 3-4 minutes
  • Add garlic, cook another minute
  • Add orzo + chickpeas + S+P + about 6 cups of water, bring to a boil, reduce heat to low + simmer for 10 minutes
  • Turn off heat, add in tahini + lemon juice + spinach + most of the dill, leaving some for serving, + some S+P, let spinach wilt, stirring occasionally
  • Serve warm with more dill
  • Adapted from here!