Spring Italian Pasta

Let's see: The last time I cooked was Tuesday! Gasp! What would Julia say...

When Dan and I were in WalMart the other day, I became very excited when I saw Mastering the Art of French Cooking in the book section. Eventually I would like to get this book. Even if not for the recipes, there is a ton of good information regarding cooking, utensils, and methods of preparation for food.

I better substantiate my excuses for not cooking, right? So here goes. Sunday: Dan fractured his fifth metacarpal and upon returning from the ER, I made us some pasta and veggies. Monday we went out to a delicious Italian restaurant that we go to very often. I had ravioli and Dan had baked ziti because it is easy to eat with only one functional hand.

Tuesday I made Spring Italian Pasta. This is really my own recipe, and it is easy to make. My sequence of preparation included: 1) Pan roasting yellow peppers in olive oil. 2) Pan roasting carrot coins (that I cut!) in olive oil and garlic. 3) Placing vegetables in a separate bowl. 4) Boiling and bowling pasta. 5) Cleaning, cutting into strips (think how they do on a chicken salad), boiling chicken and once cooked, I seared it in olive oil and Italian dressing in a skillet.

I mixed it all together and heated it in the oven for about ten minutes, and it was a really fresh meal. I think it would be good served warm or cold. You really can include any vegetables that you like, but if you aren't using tri-colored pasta, for the sake of the appearance of the dish, include various colored veggies: red pepper, broccoli, yellow pepper, orange pepper, carrots.

If you don't want to use Italian dressing, you can improvise and do it the real way by using: olive oil, vinegar, finely chopped garlic, oregano and parsley, and some kosher sea salt.

And yesterday was my birthday! I had a very yummy sushi lunch (with fried tempura icecream!) with my friend, Lauri! We're starting to make a tradition of a weekly lunch date, which I love!

Then I came home, picked Daniel up from work and we had a delicious dinner with his Mom and Dad at a very delicious steakhouse in downtown Baltimore (right between Fell's Point and the Harbor)--Fleming's.

Tonight, I am having my first blog-dinner guest! Dan's brother, Robbie, will be in town for work, and he and Dan had planned a guy's night, but since Dan's left hand bailed, we're all going to have dinner together. I thought it was really nice that both guys didn't mind if we ate out or at home. I have a delicious dinner planned---one that Dan called "a surefire hit!" awww

Bon appetit!