Broccoli and Lemon Pasta

This is a deliciously simple meal for lunch or dinner.  You can make it with all fresh ingredients or from staple kitchen items.

You'll need:

-450 grams of pasta-- We used farfalle (bow tie).  I finished up two open bags so I'm just guessing on the amount here.
-salt
-broccoli (as much or as little as you like--frozen or fresh)
-2 tbsp. butter
-1-2 cloves of garlic (depending on your own love for garlic)
-2 tsp dried basil (or a few leaves of fresh basil, chopped a bit)
-one lemon (or a tbsp. of lemon juice and some lemon pepper)
-1/4 tsp. pepper

1.  Boil the pasta in salted water (think "the ocean" when you're salting your water for pasta).
2.  Steam the broccoli (from fresh or frozen) with a steaming basket.  You can also boil the broccoli and strain it later, but you'll loose a lot of the nutrition that way.
3.  Find a cute baby to pick a lemon from your yard (ok, this is optional... I guess).

4.  Juice and zest (grate off the first layer of the outside of the lemon... be really careful not to grate too deep) the lemon and set it aside.
5.  Find that cute baby again to pick some basil for you.

6.  Melt the butter in a small skillet.

7.  Press the garlic.
8.  Add garlic, basil, lemon zest, lemon juice, and pepper to the butter.
9.  Cook butter sauce for a few minutes (doesn't it smell amazing?!).
10.  Strain the pasta when it is fully cooked, but not soggy (al dente).
11.  Mix the sauce, broccoli, and pasta together.
12.  Eat and enjoy.

Blueberry Stuffed French Toast

Ok, so I know we're generally all about eating healthy, so two, though decadently delicious, mega cream cheese posts in a row might seem a little odd, but have you SEEN that enormous block of cream cheese we scored for a super low price?  Can you really blame us?

You'll need:

16 slices of your fav bread (may we suggest something whole grain?)
8 oz. cream cheese (softened or lightly whipped with that sweet mixer you have)
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup maple syrup (please steer clear of "pancake syrup" and all of its high fructose corn syrup)
3 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp cinnamon
salt (We'll talk about measurements in a bit.)
1/4 cup dried blueberries (You can probably use fresh, but those are unavailable to us here--lame, I know.)
1 cup milk
3 eggs
1/4 cup flour
2 tsp. baking powder
butter or oil for greasing

Let's start with the filling:
1.  Mix together cream cheese, brown sugar, maple syrup, 1 tsp. of vanilla, cinnamon, and a pinch of salt until it's all smooth.
2.  Stir in blueberries.
3.  Boom. Done with the filling.

Evenly-sized globs--very technical term, here.

Now to prepare those toasts:
1. Put evenly sized globs of filling on half of the pieces of bread.
2. Spread out the filling on each piece and top it with a second slice of bread making a "sandwich."

To the coating and the cooking:
1.  Wisk together milk, eggs, flour, baking powder, 2 tsp. vanilla, and 1/4 tsp. salt.
2.  Dunk each "sandwich" in the coating and flip it around a few times.  (Think covered, not soggy.)
3.  Let the excess coating drip off.  Put them on a greased skillet and brown them on the stove. (At the advising of one of our favorite cooks, Amy Renfroe, we registered a double griddle for our wedding.  Best. idea. ever.)

Browned, not burnt, mmk?

4.  Flip them over to brown on the other side.  This really shouldn't take very long.
5.  Place the browned toasts on a greased baking sheet and bake in the oven for about 5 minutes at 350 F.
6.  Make them appear restaurant-quality dust with powdered sugar if you like.  Eat, eat eat!

Grilled Tuna Sandwiches for Two

I'm (Kayti) always looking for ways to spruce up canned tuna fish (easy lunch option), but don't think of this sandwich as a tuna fish sandwich, think of it as a grilled cheese with pizzazz.

Here we go:

1 can of tuna
3 tbsp. plain yogurt (much more healthy than all mayo and tastes delicious)
2 tsp mayo (optional)
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/4 tsp. dill
pinch of celery seed (or use a pinch of salt and a pinch of celery salt instead of salt and seed)
your favorite cheese (sliced, grated, whatever...)--(may I suggest skipping the overly processed cheese and going for the good stuff)
two whole pitas

Mix everything together minus the cheese and bread.
Slice each pita in half and insert cheese (however much you'd like).  Spread the tuna evenly inside the four slices.  It will look sparse.  If you want more, double the recipe above.

Then... grill!  We use our grill pan and grill press from The Pampered Chef.  You can also use a sandwich maker, panini press, or a skillet with something heavy on top. ( love this sandwich grilled... the crunch is splendid.)

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake

Ok, so this isn't exactly an orthodox dinner menu, per say, but it is pretty much two of my (Kayti) favorite things...ever... in one divine dessert.  

Let's begin with the crust.  Now, I completely understand not making a pastry crust from scratch but I have absolutely no idea why people don't make crumb crusts at home. They are so simple.  For this cheesecake, we used Oreos.  

Crust:

1 1/2 cups of crushed cookies

1/4 cup of melted butter (half a stick or 56 grams)

2 tbsp of white sugar

Mix them together and press it all in the bottom of a lightly buttered spring form pan (the 9 or 10 inch variety is fine). Your crust should cover the bottom and go up about a half inch on the sides. Bake the crust alone for about 6-8 minutes in a 350 F oven.

While that's baking, get started on the cookie dough...

Cookie Dough:

1/4 cup of brown sugar

1/4 cup of white sugar

1/4 cup of butter

2 tbsp of water

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup of flour

1 cup of chocolate chips

1.  Cream the sugars and butter together in an electric mixer.  [Side note: If you have a hardcore mixer (e.g. the KitchenAid stand mixer) you can start by whipping your butter straight from the fridge.  Whipping it a few minutes will get your cold butter to the consistency of "room temperature" butter which is what it should be when you cream it with sugar.] 

2.  Add the water and vanilla and beat well.  

3. Mix in the flour and chocolate chips.

4. Eat a spoonful.  (No, this is not optional.)

Now for the cheesecake...

Cheesecake

1 cup of white sugar

16 oz. of cream cheese (room temperature)

1 cup of sour cream

3 eggs

1 tsp of vanilla

1.  Beat together the cream cheese and sugar. (Again, if you have a hardcore mixer, you can start by whipping the cream cheese a little by itself until it's soft instead of waiting for it to arrive at "room temperature.")

2.  Add sour cream and then the eggs (one at a time).

2.  Add the vanilla and mix until smooth.

Now for the combination!

1.  Pour the cheesecake batter into the baked (and cooled) crust.  

2.  Drop spoonfuls of cookie dough all over the cake batter, submerging them beneath the surface.  

3.  Bake at 350 F for about 40 minutes.

Whilst it is baking...

Topping

1 cup of sour cream

1 tsp of vanilla

2 tsp of sugar

Whisk all ingredients together until smooth.

And for the finale...

1.  Remove the delicious cheesecake from the oven.

2.  Pour topping over hot cake.

3. Let cake cool.

4.  Refrigerate the cake for at least 3-4 hours (overnight is best). We tasted this cake after two and a half hours and then again in the morning.  It was so. much. better in the morning.  Seriously.

5.  Unhook the side of your spring form pan and release your creation. (You may need a knife to separate your cake from the edges a bit.)

6.  Drift away into bliss.