Shrimp, asparagus, and walnut pesto pasta

Made this last night: farmer’s market asparagus, shrimp from the shrimp truck  that Maria brought over, homemade basil walnut pesto, and linguine. I tried some of Bon Appetit’s tips – cooking the asparagus/shrimp with some pasta water definitely made a nice sauce, but I failed at implementing their plating tips (twirl in pan, plate, and retwirl) – I was more successful at whipping food around the kitchen than I was making a pretty plate of pasta!

helloooo summer!

Summer is here! Almost everyone is off traveling the world, but a few people, including me, are still in town. Rochelle and Maria came over for dinner the other night; they’re off to Ghana to do some pretty neat cervical cancer research (and lots of pap smears…exciting!!) On the menu was southwestern pizza, herbed polenta fries, watermelon salad (that Maria made and I don’t have a picture of!), and almond berry sorbet. It was probably one of the easiest (appetizers, entree, and dessert in less than 45 minutes and minimal clean up. get out!) and healthiest dinners ever…enjoy!

So excited to eat!!!

Herbed Polenta Fries from Gourmet.

Polenta is seriously my new favorite food. It might also be because I tend to eat it with a good amount of parmesan, salt, herbs, and butter. Meh. Either way, this stuff is good and I’m sad I didn’t discover it earlier. I added some salt, and used rosemary and thyme. I broiled them for about 15 minutes before getting impatient and just setting the oven at 450 and baking them for another 10 more (about 2″ from the top element). So crispy and delicious! They flew right off the plate!

Southwestern Pizza from TheKitchn

 Black beans, corn, tomatoes, onions, and avocados. Talk about healthy and delicious…and so much better than taco bell. We bought whole wheat crust from Trader Joe’s, and used Trader Joe’s hot sauce instead of the chili en adobo that the recipe called for. So beyond delicious; we would have had seconds if we weren’t already so full from the fries and watermelon salad.

Almond berry sorbet from FitBottomedGirls.

This made me rethink my secret desire to buy an ice cream maker. And I’ve been emailing my friends about buying an ice cream maker for the better part of the year – even during the middle of winter. So this is kind of a big deal. It was a little runnier than a true sorbet, but definitely fulfilled the sweet dessert cravings. We used a mix of frozen blueberries, strawberries, and (lots of) raspberries. The almonds really added something too. So freaking good.

Tempeh, Potato, and Spinach Curry

I bought tempeh about a month ago and, after several weeks of buying potatoes with the purpose of making this, I finally got off my butt and made it today. I’m honestly not sure how I feel about tempeh because the texture is all different and it honestly just tastes strange (there’s a weird bitter aftertaste…am I eating rotten tempeh?).

I kinda secretly hoped that this recipe would make me a tempeh-convert, since it’s supposed to be a healthy alternative to meat (other than the fact that it’s…NOT), but at the end of the day, I liked all the other ingredients in the recipe more than I did the tempeh. Maybe I should have called this “Potato, spinach, and try-at-your-own-risk tempeh curry.” In any case, I think I’ll give it one more chance  before I officially declare my apartment a tempeh-free zone!