wednesday dinner: homemade marinara

Last night, I made Giada's homemade marinara sauce.  It is so easy to make and I got to use my immersion blender for the first time which was really exciting!  Giada doesn't actually puree hers but some people in my family (my sister) have a major aversion to tomato chunks (which I love.)  I served the sauce on capellini with a simple caesar salad on the side and Dennis picked out garlic cheese breadsticks from Trader Joe's.  To set the mood, I picked out Italian chianti and turned on a little Dean Martin on the iPod.  What a great night!  Oh and Dennis made delicious truffle brownies...from a box (TJ's) but they were still amazing!

we made the table bigger so we can all sit together!

wednesday dinner: simple curry

A couple of Wednesdays ago I made Jamie Oliver's simple curry sauce with tofu, cilantro lime rice and roasted brussel sprouts and asparagus.  If you love curry, Jamie's Food Revolution is a must buy.  He has a ton of different curry recipes and they all look delicious.  Because I was short on time, I kept it simple.  It was pretty tasty!  My family really enjoyed it.  I did substitute low-fat coconut milk from Trader Joe's but when I make this dish again I'm going with the full-fat stuff.  I like the consistency better.

simple curry with tofu

cilantro lime rice (yum)

roasted brussel sprouts with turmeric

roasted asparagus

 

she loved the dinner...but the picture taking not so much.

wednesday dinner: asian chicken

A couple of Wednesdays ago I made Kelly's Asian Chicken for dinner.  My mom has been making this recipe for years.  We've shortened it to just "asian chicken" now and whenever she makes it the whole family is thrilled.  We even ask for it on special occasions still to this day.  Growing up, the house always smelled so good when my mom would make this...it would make our mouth water.  I would describe the smell as both sweet and pungent.  And until recently I thought my mom was some sort of magician...that is until she got me my very own The Garlic Lover's Cookbook (the really old book this recipe is from.)  This cookbook is really just a collaboration of recipes from garlic loving home cooks...some of them won contests and whatnot.  Turns out Kelly's Asian Chicken won first place!  It's silly how easy it is.  It doesn't take very many ingredients at all.  And if you love garlic, you will love it! 

 loads of garlic!

 roasted some broccoli

 veggie version for myself (trader joe's chickenless strips)

 dennis squeezing out the roasted garlic for the broccoli.  yum!!!

 finished product.