happy friday and happy april!!
first things first, let’s get some housekeeping out of the way: i have decided to make this newsletter an every-other-week thing for a few reasons… most importantly being that I am pregnant!! i’m sure most of you already know this, but figured i’d share anyway! i am 18 weeks pregnant, and baby c is healthy and all good! i have to say, writing this newsletter the first couple months of pregnancy was HARD. having absolutely no appetite and feeling nauseous was just one reason. the other thing is that we just weren’t cooking much! smelling food cooking made me queasy and all i really wanted to eat was cold fruit, popsicles, and popcorn. so… not much in the way of yummy recipes!
my appetite and interest in food / cooking has been coming back, slowly but surely! i am excited to share a really yummy pasta i made this weekend, as well as my go to “recipe” for spicy peanut sauce! so good on pad thai noodles, teriyaki chicken, spring rolls… the list goes on!
hope you make some of these recipes and enjoy :)
red pepper alfredo pasta
this was sort of a throw-together meal that turned out to be absolutely delicious! it’s on we will make again and again. i cannot claim the recipe for the sauce — it’s from a jar, and i picked it up at our grocery store on a whim. it was delicious! get the carrots fresh from the farmers market if you can — now is the time for gorgeous, sweet carrots!
ingredients:
1-2 large carrots, diced
1/2 a large yellow onion, diced
2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 lb of ground italian turkey
2 cups of baby spinach
~3/4 jar of Red Pepper Alfredo Sauce
1/2 cup of pecorino or parmesan cheese, shredded
pasta of choice (angel hair, capellini, bucatini, rigatoni, etc)
how to make it:
in a shallow sauce pan, heat about 1/4 cup of water with a dash of olive oil on medium-high heat.
simmer the carrots until the water is mostly absorbed and carrots have softened, about 5-7 minutes.
add onion and garlic, season well with salt and pepper, and drizzle with olive oil.
when the onion has softened and the mix is fragrant, add in the sausage and cook through. turn heat to low once cooked through.
put on a pot of salted water to boil and then add your noodles. cook according to package directions.
when the noodles are done, add about 1/4 cup of the pasta water to the veggie/meat mixture, then strain the noodles and add them as well.
toss the mixture together, then add the spinach, half the cheese and the sauce.
cover and turn off the heat to allow the spinach to wilt. mix all the ingredients together well, then plate.
top with remaining cheese and serve!
spicy peanut sauce
honestly, this sauce is drinkable. i think it’s just so good — if you’ve been to an asian restaurant had spicy peanut noodles or had fresh spring rolls dipped in a spicy peanut sauce, you know what i’m talking about! add as much or as little sriracha to adjust the heat to your liking.
the measurements on this are VERY approximate. this is a sauce i tend to just throw together when we need it. taste as you go and add more of whatever you want — more vinegar to thin, more nut butter to thicken, more sriracha for spice, etc.
whisk together approximately 3 tbsp. peanut or almond butter (almond butter is my fav for this) and 3 tbsp. soy sauce or tamari. add in 2 tbsp. rice vinegar, then dashes of sesame oil, garlic powder, onion powder, and sriracha. taste and adjust to your liking.
(serves 2)
spring is here!
with the warmer weather, comes a whole new batch of veggies, fruits, and herbs in season. use this handy chart to know what is in season now.