finding time for cooking

for the time-starved or curious culinary adventurer

Easy Baked Beer Mac & Cheese

I was kind of “meh” all last week.  Nothing bad happened. It wasn’t a particularly hellacious week at work.  Nothing was wrong.  I just wasn’t feeling it.

easy baked beer mac & cheese

So to banish the “oncoming winter” blues, I decided beer was the answer. Specifically, beer with carbs and cheese. This baked beer mac & cheese had been staring at me from my Pinterest page for quite some time, and I decided it was time to make it reality. Add beer bread into the equation, and you’ve got the recipe for an awesome Sunday night (with a lovely Malbec, a good friend, and The Artist on Netflix, of course).

The thing I love about this recipe (besides the beer, cheese, and pasta), is that it’s really not that bad for you relative to how awful mac & cheese can be. Sure, there’s quite a bit of cheese, but you use whole grain pasta, I used skim milk (most recipes call for heavy cream), and the whole recipe only takes 2 tablespoons of butter.READ THE POST

Tomato, Spinach, & Roasted Garlic Pasta with Ricotta

I didn’t really plan on cooking last Sunday. I have a bunch of travel coming up and my schedule’s so busy, I figured some nice pre-made ravioli or a Kashi pizza with wine would make a lovely end to the weekend. But then as I was browsing my Pinterest boards that morning, I came across this little pasta recipe and decided I could handle something this simple despite being tired (that was before, of course, I decided to make some chocolate hazelnut biscotti at the last minute, but that’s a story for another time).

This recipe was easy, a little different from what I normally do, very budget-friendly, and was a nice last “hurrah” of summer.

I also learned how to do a pretty great facsimile of oven-roasted garlic (which takes like almost an hour) in about two minutes, which is a very useful skill to have with my busy schedule.

pasta with roasted garlic closeup

The ricotta sauce (with a little help from some starchy pasta water) was creamy and light, and the parmesan (if you use it) adds a nice flavor. It was delicious fresh, though a little bland as leftovers a few days later (had to use much more salt and pepper).

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Pasta with Asparagus, Lemon, Goat Cheese, & Kale

I basically live on pasta. But mostly I stick to one or two recipes I’ve used for years (pasta con pesto and pasta with roasted veggies) and am too lazy to try new ones. So this recipe stuck out when I saw it on Pinterest, because it included goat cheese and lemon, two of my favorite things. I added the kale part myself, due to my great and abiding love for it.

I made this easy asparagus & lemon pasta recipe about a month ago when my family was in town. We went on a cooking and baking spree, trying new recipes left and right. This was actually a side dish when we made it, not the main entree, but it would make a great main dish as well. If you needed more protein, you could toss some pre-cooked chicken in with it too.

Goat cheese makes a really great, quick, creamy pasta sauce. And whether you blanch your pasta with asparagus or swap in string beans, edamame, or any other veggie, this dish comes together so quickly that you can put it in a regular year-round rotation and use whatever is in season.

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Baked Ziti with Summer Veggies & Chicken Sausage

I have a secret. I’ve never made a non-lasagna baked pasta dish (with the exception of the kale mac & cheese I made a few weeks ago). It’s weird, actually, given how much my diet has relied on pasta over the past decade. I think it’s because that just seems like too much work—I mean, the reason I love pasta is because I can cook it quickly, toss it with any kind of sauce or veggies, and have a meal on the table in 15 minutes. Baking just seems unnecessary. I also haven’t loved much baked pasta  at restaurants…they always seem so dry.

Needless to say, I approached this baked ziti recipe with some trepidation. But I was shocked by how GOOD it was! Delicious, great, bold flavors, a whole host of textures, and hearty enough to keep me feeling full for hours.

Baked Ziti with Summer Vegetables & Chicken Sausage | delicious, easy baked pasta dish for dinner, packed with veggies and flavorful chicken sausage (great with ground beef too) | finding time for cooking blog

The original recipe was vegetarian, and didn’t call for the chicken sausage. But I had some on-hand and I’ve been crazily craving protein so I decided it couldn’t hurt. And it actually added an awesome flavor to everything.

Baked Ziti with Summer Vegetables & Chicken Sausage | finding time for cooking blog

It’s important to note, I doubled the recipe (or thereabouts) to make a 9×13 pan, because only cooking half the package of pasta didn’t make a lot of sense to me. That way I had lots of leftovers to feed me through the work week. It made possibly a bit too much pasta, but otherwise worked out just fine.

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Pasta with Heirloom Tomatoes & Ricotta

I’m weirdly obsessed with heirloom tomatoes, given that I’d never had one until I finally tried this recipe. So I’ve been fascinated with this recipe for a few years, since I found it in Real Simple and tore it out (that’s right, kids, out of a magazine made of paper). It’s been languishing in my “must try” cookbook since then, because heirloom tomatoes are surprisingly hard to find.

But a few weeks ago, serendipity struck. My chiropractor (Austin, who’s awesome) had a box of peppers, squash, and heirloom tomatoes for the taking, from his and his wife’s own garden.

I snatched a couple, trying not to look like a greedy pig. I practically squealed with glee when I got back to my car. Then I got super lucky and found a third at Publix, which gave me enough to work with.

It’s said that each type of heirloom tomato has its own unique flavor, so by mixing them together you’ll have something different each bite. They are indeed delicious. But would this recipe live up to my three years’ imagining? Time to find out.

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Kitchen Sink Pasta, the unendingly-versatile dinner (Pasta with Sausage, Cabbage, & Kale)

You know the feeling. Sunday night…standing in front of the fridge and pantry…wondering what on earth you can throw together for dinner. Preferably that makes leftovers, so you can actually eat lunch this week.

For me, the answer is almost always pasta. It’s possibly the best food ever—a versatile foundation, and there’s almost nothing you can’t pair it with. That’s where kitchen sink pasta comes in.

So a couple weeks ago I was in that exact situation and ended up making yet another version of kitchen sink pasta. And it was GOOD. And kind of unique.

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Pasta with Mixed Greens & Goat Cheese

Yesterday morning while I was fulfilling my sacrosanct Sunday morning ritual of coffee & an old black & white movie, I browsed a few recipes looking for what to make for dinner. Sunday is often the only night I really have time to cook anything beyond packaged ravioli or a Kashi pizza, plus I can make extra for lunches.

I’d found two Smitten Kitchen recipes from my stash of Pinterest pins that I liked (Garlicky Broccoli Rabe Pasta and Asparagus, Goat Cheese & Lemon Pasta), and figured I’d get to the store and call an audible based on what I found. Unfortunately, Publix didn’t have any broccoli rabe, and I wasn’t in the mood for anything super lemony (I’ve kind of exhausted that lately), so I decided to grab an element or two of each and just wing it.  And thus, Pasta with Mixed Greens and Goat Cheese was born!

mixed greens & goat cheese pasta finished

I always have kale on hand, and I had some random greens (komatsuna, arugula, maybe something else?) and a shallot (scallion? let me know wow, leeks…it was a time of innocence) from my weekly box o’ farm veggies that I needed to use up. And, MAN, did it hit the spot tonight?!

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