Saturday, May 21, 2011

the sister cooks

My little sister is home for the summer. My little sister is also relieved to be freed of a dorm room and on a cooking kick.

It was so so so delightful to walk in the door on Wednesday, my most stressful day of the week, and have this absolutely gorgeous thing waiting for me.

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Restaurant caliber, no?

She’s been digging in a major way to 5 Ingredient Favorites, a self-explanatorily titled cookbook which was actually a gift from my old roommate.

I underutilize it, because it is a really really rather excellent cookbook, particularly for someone who doesn’t want anything too fussy, and this recipe is an example of that.

I also tend to be lazy/thrifty/locavoreish and thus utilize ingredients that are already in my house, purchased at the farmer’s market. But you know what are awesome? Portabella mushrooms stuffed with ricotta, pesto, and tomatoes, atop pasta. White pasta, no less. It’s so yummy!

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Rounding out the meal was a zippy (local!) cucumber salad with fresh parsley.

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Another from 5 Ingredient Favorites: asparagus in a creamy yogurt sauce. It has orange zest.. it was tangy… rich… awesommmmmmmme.

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Plus yknow fresh local perfect spring asparagus didn’t hurt. Look how fat!

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Since she contributed a veggie, I focused on the protein portion of the meal: another wonderful farmer’s market buy, BUFFALO! Made epicurious’s buffalo meatloaf once again. Crikey it’s good.

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Didn’t feel like opening a new can of tomatoes so I just used some leftover cocktail sauce for the glaze, and I’ve gotta say, I’m not a huge ketchup person but it makes a real good lookin’ glaze.

Annnnnd a very simple rice dish. Heated up some leftover brown rice, jazzed up and pilaf-ified with dried dates, fresh parsley, and orange zest. Lovely.

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And, lest some of my family members be amazed at Malindi’s rather abrupt transition, I must also say that my house is currently filled with TEMPTATIONS.

Like Lucky Charms. Thin Mint ice cream. Many many kinds of cheese. Chocolate mousse.

Skinny cow ice cream bars:

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White chocolate. Peppermint. 100 calories. Entirely irresistable. If I read the ingredient list, I will weep.

Ahh, family.

4 comments:

Jess said...

That asparagus looks SO good!

Danielle said...

Yum!!

Maya said...

That sounds like a really great cookbook, actually. The worst is when you want to make a recipe but not buy 88237 things, and with that book, the worst case scenario is buying 5 things!

I can completely relate to the dorm thing. COMPLETELY. When I got tired of salad and stir-fry at the dining hall, I had pizza. I didn't even like their pizza that much, but it seemed the only semi-healthy vegetarian option.

Jess@atasteofconfidence said...

I love coming back to a kitchen, too. Enjoy!