Ashton's Artichoke Dip

Ashton fits in our freezer!

I'm very lucky to have such amazing assistants.  I'd like to take a moment, though, to thank my most frequent kitchen assistant, Ashton, for posing for countless pictures for all of your enjoyment.  Chances are if you've caught a piece of body or hands in a photograph, they certainly weren't mine.

So, in honor of my great assistant, I will share her secret family recipe for an AMAZING artichoke dip.  (I apologize in advance to her family for letting the cat out of the bag.  But not really...)





Ingredients:
2 C mayonnaise
2 C Parmesan cheese (powdered)
2 cans of water packed artichoke hearts
1/4 C fresh parsley, chopped
5+ garlic cloves, pressed (the more the merrier!)
~1 C shredded cheese of choice to melt on top

Directions:
1. Combine mayo and Parmesan cheese
2. Drain and chop artichoke hearts.
3. Combine artichoke hearts with garlic and parsley.
4. Mix everything together.
5. Sprinkle extra cheese shreds on top.
(We had a 4 cheese Mexican mix plus some left over mozzarella.  We just threw it all on there.)
5. Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes, or until nice and bubbly.

I used my stoneware for this, since it holds the heat so nicely.


Any pie dish, Pyrex, or other oven safe dish is acceptable.


Regardless, everyone will RAVE about about it and there will be NONE left over.

Crispy Parmesan Asparagus Spears

First off, here's the recipe. I followed it almost exactly (only doubled).  Asparagus is so cheap right now (.99 for a huge bundle), so we made three bundles, doubling the recipe in the mean time.

It's not quite asparagus season around here (at least not for another month or so), but any chance we get to make an asparagus dish on the cheap is good for me.  We used Progresso's Italian Panko, and I omitted the salt and pepper, leaving that to everyone's taste.  It really didn't need either, though.

 Look at how gorgeous those stems were!  My mouth is still watering just at the thought of them.

 One nice aspect of this recipe, in addition to how easy it is, is that you don't really come away with an overly breaded taste.  The breading is nice and crunchy (as panko usually is), but not over powering.

Thomas ate it reheated and said it was still wonderful, but I can't do second day breading.

It's a great side for entertaining or a nice weekend meal.  I, personally, wouldn't do it during the week because I have no patience with multi-stepped sides after work, but when I have the time for it, it is wonderful!

Balsamic Butter Penne with Roasted Asparagus

 This is the week of easy, but amazing, recipes.  I could rant and rave about certain websites, but I know that's getting old.  I just love being inspired!

Today, I kind of think this recipe is akin to mac and cheese.  Not because it is, but because the butter and cheese create that same consistency as when you mix the butter and cheese out of the blue box.

Sorry that there isn't a lot of pictures, but the process goes surprisingly fast (about the time it takes to make the noodles), and I kept forgetting to show my progress!

 The recipe can be found here from Food and Wine.  The only thing that really intimidated me was that I needed to reduce the "1/2 C plus 2 T" down to 3 tablespoons.  It went really quickly, though, mostly because I checked my conversions and I was going from 10T down to 3T, so I was shooting for a reduction of less than a third of the original amount.

Next time, I'll probably use more asparagus, but I'll wait until it's on sale or at our Farmers Market.  I also used a little more than the requested Parmesan cheese, but that can't be surprising to anyone who has read this blog before.

Pasta?!? My triumphant return!!

I know it's been a month.  I'm so sorry, but I've left the teaching profession, started a new job as a Recreation Director for a  home owners association.  This means (occasionally) weird hours and (always) longer days, plus I'm still tutoring after work.  This basically equates to me cooking about once a month, Thomas cooking all the time, or lots more take out.  Sad, but true.  However, my garden is still producing, and I've had this recipe that I've been wanting to try, and what better way to jump back into blogging than pasta!

My Orecchiette with Spinach, Sausage & Tomatoes was my way back in, and by that point, Thomas was so excited to have me make dinner, ANY dinner, that he would gladly put up with the tomato based pasta sauce.

Now, my biggest objection to this recipe was the sausage.  I used half hot and half mild, but I had to take the casing off.  Yes, I know there are places where you can buy the sausage just ground without casing (it looks like ground beef), but I wasn't at one of those stores, so I had to get off de-case as soon as possible!

Thomas recommended that I cut off one end and squeeze it out like a tube of toothpaste.  Gross?  Definitely!  I lasted one link, and then decided to just make a slit up the side and let it drop out.  Much easier, much quicker, and a lot less...toothpaste-y. 

I was a bit worried about all the juice in here.  I didn't use any water, although I did use a veggie broth that we had in the house.  I also kept all of the tomato juice from the cans to add.  I'm sure I also used a bunch of Italian seasoning, too.  I didn't want my triumphant comeback to be bland.

Turns out the juice was enough, and I actually could have probably used a little more.  Everything cooked down nicely, and if I was more patient, it would have done even more so, but I didn't want the orechiette to get mushy.  Turned out amazing, and even better? The leftovers lasted all week and were equally delicious.  I was sad to run out of this, and my co-workers were all super jealous every time I ate it.  On a scale of ponies to unicorns, I'd give this recipe a solid pink elephant.

AMAZING!!  Oh, and I promise I have many more posts in the pipeline, I just have to find the time to post them.  Welcome back to the Pampered Jes, and dig in while you can!!