Sesame Noodles With Asparagus & Carrots

I made these last night for my dinner.  Usually I don't cook on work nights, but I didn't have any leftovers, so I made this dish.  Well, sort of.  I had to use what I had, & I didn't have asparagus or carrots.  I used green beans, diced tomatoes, & mushrooms.  I also did not have tahini, so I used almond butter.  And I used angel hair pasta instead of whole wheat spaghetti.  And I only had a tiny bit of sesame seeds left.  I had all the other ingredients though, so the sauce was pretty close.  I got the recipe from the "Clean Eating" magazine Cheryl brings to work.  It was very good, an 8 1/2.  I think it would be good with any kind of veggies and even some almond slices.  I used 1 tablespoon instead of 1 teaspoon honey and I think even a little more would be good to give it more of a sweet and sour taste.  And I think a little less vinegar would be better.  It's very similar to the peanut butter spirals (pasta dish) I made a while ago.  This one may have been a bit better.  I would probably make it again.

Peach, Proscuitto & Ricotta Crostini

Hey, look, a recipe not from the Bob Greene cookbook!  I got my new "bon appetit" in on Friday.  I'm really broke right now so I can't afford the ingredients to much right now, so I just decided to try this one.  You're supposed to use special artisan bread, but when I saw the rye bread, I didn't keep searching for anyhting else.  I recently discovered how much I love rye bread, and really wnated to use this yummy looking loaf from the bakery.  I'm glad I chose it, it is very good bread.  The dish was very good.  I made it first yesterday with the peaches, but wanted to try it with pineapple today.  It's very good either way, a 91/2 both ways.  Maybe even a 10?  I used veggie bacon instead of proscuitto, of course.  It's better not to cook it too crisp though, and to leave it softer like the ham would be.  I will defientely make it again.  (The spell check is not working on the blogger site today, so hopefully I don't have a bunch of misspelled words on my blogs today!)

Wild Rice with Celery and Carrot & Angel Hair Pasta with Walnuts & Peas

I also made these 2 dishes last weekend.  I don't think I changed anything about the rice dish.  I added more carrot & celery than it called for but I think that was it (about twice the amount).  The carrots were supposed to be chopped, but I had shredd a whole bag so I just used shredded.  It was really good, an 8 1/2.  The pasta with walnut pesto was so yummy, easily a 9 1/2.  The only thing I think I changed was that I added the whole bag of walnuts to the pesto (it called for 1 cup, I used 1 1/2).  But I was dumb enough not to add more water, so it was a little thick.  It was still really good though.  I would defintely make this again. 

Zucchini Muffins & Sweet Potato Peanut Soup

I made both of these last weekend.  I ran out of zucchini, so I used half zucchini & half carrot.  Also, I didn't have any milk & didn't feel like going to to store, so I used whipping cream.  I can't remember if I did anything else different.  They were so yummy I ate the whole batch in 2 days!  They were so moist and really good, easily a 9 or even 9 1/2.  I would make them the exact same way next time.  The soup was pretty good too, an 8.  It was a bit spicy, & that was with me skipping most of the spicy ingredients like the cayenne.  I think the grated ginger and red pepper flakes must have made it so.  It was good, but I don't know if I'll make it again.  I was a little disappointed that it the sweet potato flavor didn't come through as strong as I would have liked.   

Warm Pea Soup

I made this Wednesday morning.  I usually work the 7:30-12:30 shift, but my co-worker needed me to switch so I worked the 12:30-6:00 instead.  So I had time before work to make this soup.  I wasn't sure I'd like it, but as with the beet soup, it's really good, an 8 1/2.  I added 2 potatoes instead of 1, and the "perfect pitch" seasoning.  I think I did everything else the same.  I'm putting 2 photos of it just b/c I love that cup.  It's funny that it has a basset hound on one side b/c I got it about 6-7 years ago (long before I got Ellie)!

Peach & Cream Bread

I made this Sunday for lunch at my mom's house on Mother's Day.  Pretty good, but more bread than filling b/c the bread rose so much.  I would either double the filling or not let the dough rise next time.  It's an 8.  P.S.  That's my mom's pretty plate.  I told her I needed to take a photo of it before she ate any!  I took a photo of the whole cake too, but it didn't look very pretty.  It looks gooey here too!   

Almond Pear Bread & Cannoli

I also made these last weekend.  The pear bread was pretty good, an 8 1/2.  I added dates to it just because I know pears can sometimes be a little plain, so I felt they needed a little boost.  I made the cannoli on Fri. & Sat.  The shells never quite turned out right (they are really tricky to make), but the filling was good.  All in all, I'd give them a 9.  But I would love to try again until they can be a 10.  The ones I used to get in NY city were a 20! 

Vegetable Cottage Pie & Beet Soup

I made these last weekend.  The pie was good, but would have been much better had I not decided to add fresh ginger to it at the last minute; I added too much.  But it was still pretty good, an 8.  I loved the beet soup.  Wasn't sure I would, but wanted to try it anyway.  I needed 3 cups of shredded beets & only had 2, so I added 2 cups of shredded carrots.  I also added 1/4 a cup of orange juice b/c it seemed like it needed a little sweetener.  It made a good lunch for the week, easily a 10.