My favorite thing about fall is the baked goods, especially when I get to make them. Baking to me has always been tops on my list of things I like to do in my kitchen so it’s no surprise that I spent the majority of yesterday with my mother’s recipe and one of Maris’ spread out all over my kitchen table while I watched Buffy. (I’m up to season 2 in case you were wondering)
Growing up, Pumpkin Chocolate Chip bread was always a staple in my home starting around the time the leaves started changing on the trees. My mom would bake loaves and loaves of this stuff to give out as gifts to our teachers and bus drivers and we would have a few loaves sitting in the fridge for our own consumption. This has been one of my absolute favorite recipes of my mom’s and I have made it myself for the past couple years. It’s super easy to make and super delicious. Sometimes my mom leaves the chocolate out but then I question her sanity.
I also have a thing for banana bread but my mom uses walnuts and I’m just not a fan of walnuts. She’d constantly yell at me to stop picking them out of the bread and just eat them–they were good for you. I’ve made her banana bread recipe (which, every time she sends it, she makes sure to star the walnuts), editing out those walnuts. I saw a post recently on Maris’ In Good Taste and decided that I was making her version of Banana Bread this year–a Peanut Butter Banana Bread. It sounded too good to pass up. I mean, who doesn’t love a peanut butter and banana sandwich?! IN BAKED FORM.
As usual I made an enormous mess of my dining room (me + flour = disaster) but it was well worth the slice of peanut butter banana bread I enjoyed after I heated it up this morning. It’s got such a nice texture and is more creamy than regular banana breads, thanks to the peanut butter. It’s a perfect breakfast treat. The Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread is more of a dessert and I like it best cold although I can see the appeal of melty gooey chocolate.
You can find the recipe for Peanut Butter Banana Bead at In Good Taste and the recipe for the pumpkin bread is below. Happy fall baking everyone!
My Mom’s Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread
Ingredients:
1-3/4 cup Flour
1 cup sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 heaping cup pumpkin puree
1/2 heaping cup of chocolate chips
Steps:
1. Preheat oven to 300.
2. Mix the flour through the salt in one bowl, the rest in another (with the exception of the chocolate chips). Add the dry to the wet and mix thoroughly. Add the chocolate chips last.
3. Bake for 1 hour or until fork comes out clean when inserted in the center. If baking two loaves, check at the 40 minute mark.
The wind is howling away outside, it’s getting down to 31 degrees tonight and snow is in the forecast. Fall appears to have been spectacularly brief but beautiful here in Boulder. While I am no where near ready for winter and especially not for snow, I can’t help but feel a little more excited. Excited for boots and sweaters, scarfs and cute jackets, cozy socks and slippers, warm soups and hot teas before bed.
I love seeing the mountains all snow capped again. As I said when I first came here, there’s something magical about snow here in Boulder. It’s probably because it never lasts but it’s just so damn beautiful here I cannot help but look forward to when the flatirons have a bit of powdery white on them again.
As I ran across the street to my gym in the frigid wind that’s been tearing through Boulder all day, I couldn’t help but feel excited, couldn’t help but love these cooler temperatures. Granted, I’ll be just as happy if they don’t stick around, but for the first time in probably my life I am embracing the coziness that fall and winter bring. After a spring and summer of being a social butterfly, it’s now my time to hibernate on my couch under blankets and sip on my gingerbread tea. To think about the holidays (Thanksgiving happens to be one of my favorite holidays) and decorate accordingly.
After kicking my ass severely at the gym (seriously, this machine I’ve discovered has got to be the most painful experience of my life. I hate it worse than the stairmaster but love it because it’s the best workout I’ve ever had–on a machine, at least!), I was thankful for the crisp air as I limped home in a heavy sweat.
I have pumpkins on my ledge in the kitchen, a soup my mom made in the fridge, spiced candles burning and gingerbread tea in my cabinets. I bought a cute sweater dress today, have beautiful gray suede riding boots arriving tomorrow or Wednesday and am doing a much needed wardrobe change later.
I have also come to the conclusion that I will be happy if I can spend the entire season wearing leggings, warm knee socks, sweater dresses and boots.
Are you looking forward to the cooler temperatures or are you dreading them and planning a trip somewhere tropical (which is what I’m going to be doing next fall!)?
*…and how they have absolutely no relation to each other.
I remember when weekends were filled with things like bars, drinking, picnics in the park, lazy mornings and pajamas. Now I wake up early, get ready for work, stand on my feet all day and then I come home, make dinner and watch reruns of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 1 on Netflix streaming until eleven.
Or at least that was my weekend this time around. Most weekends have been following that same agenda though–with the exception of Buffy. I recently found that hiding in the Television section and was so excited to start watching it again. I used to LOVE that show and have rediscovered the crush I had on the young David Boreanaz. I forgot how sexy he was/is. I may have debated staying in tonight to watch Buffy instead of going to a last minute potluck at Grace and Jackie’s place. Potluck won out but it was a tough decision.
Anyway, I am verging off topic. Wait. I didn’t have a topic. Or maybe I do?
We were talking at work today about how we’re getting older and going out at night is becoming harder and harder to do. I’d have to agree with that. I used to stay out and party until two or three in the morning; nowadays I have a hard time staying out past ten before I start the yawns and the is it time to go home yets. Since when did I suddenly get in my late twenties? Since when am I a year and a half away from being thirty??
Since when am I old? I certainly don’t feel like I should be old, especially since I don’t have a career, haven’t gotten to the point in my life where I’m ready to buy a house or ANYTHING really, I’m not settled into a relationship–hell, I’m not settled in any aspect. Yet, come eleven I’d rather be snuggled up in comfy pants in my bed than out at a bar. Sure there are exceptions but my saturday nights, more often than not, consist of spending quality time doing a whole lot of nothing and I’m pretty content with it.
As much as I miss my social life, I kind of prefer remembering my nights. Not waking up feeling like shit is another added benefit (except for when you stay up until midnight editing photos and then wake up at 7am for work for the third day in a row and you can’t see straight because you’re so tired. I’m WILD I tell ya!). All in all, I can’t really complain but I’m just wondering when I became an adult? Because it feels like I should be one right now when I don’t feel like it at all.
I actually am not sure if there WAS a point to this post. I seem to have just gone off on a random tangent. *shrugs* I’m old and forgetful. I can totally use that as an excuse right?
Hope you all had a fabulous weekend! Do anything fun? Please tell me so I can live vicariously through you. I must go back to drooling over Angel. If Twilight had vampires as hot as him, I maybe could get into it. MAYBE.
A few of my fellow bloggers are participating in Grace in Small Things, a wonderful weekly series where you say what you’re happy for. I used to participate in this on my last blog but when things went downhill at my job, I just stopped doing it. I stopped looking for the beautiful and the happy in my life and instead focused on a way out of it.
Right now I’m happy about a lot of things. I don’t have to look very hard to see the beauty, joy and happiness in my life but I still think it’s important to reflect on the good, even when you are happy. So I decided to join them using an adorable graphic made by the lovely Danielle.
- I had a really good week at work–no, month. I’ve been blessed with a couple really awesome clients who have been a dream to work with and I’m really excited about the house I just helped design. While it is all furniture from my store, everything we selected and the fabrics we chose are beautiful.
- Really cute new boots I was able to buy myself:
- My apartment is almost finished being decorated and I am loving how it has turned out!
- I bought pumpkins for the apartment. Not only are they pumpkins but they are baking pumpkins! I plan on making pumpkin bread with chocolate chip cookies and the pumpkin pie for inside of my cupcakes with them. Ambitious of me–the girl who uses pumpkin mix out of a can–but I’m excited to try this.
- Netflix streaming giving me things like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 1 and 30 Second Bunnies Theater (movies summarized in 30 seconds by cartoon bunnies. Genius!).
- My photos have been chosen, printed and are waiting for me at the post office. This art show is really happening and I’m one step closer to the big night. I’m nervous, excited and have absolutely no idea what I’m getting myself into.
- The fall colors are finally coming out in Boulder. Got to see them on a gorgeous hike up into the flatirons that completely abused my muscles but was well worth it.
- I’ve lost a little bit of weight and fit into jeans that I wore last year! It’s not the jeans I wore after Europe, my eventual goal, but I’m seeing progress from my healthier lifestyle and my trips to the gym, seldom as they may be.
- Gingerbread tea. You must try this, it’s delicious!
Where have you found grace this week?
Did you know that every seven years your taste buds change? And that you can develop new allergies? Apparently your body goes through a cycle. I believe it–I used to hate cooked fish, couldn’t even smell it without getting nauseous–up until this year when I started eating it. Now I love it! I also used to ride horses when I was little but when I turned 21 I discovered I was pretty damn allergic to them. I also have spring allergies and other things I never had when I was younger.
Apparently every seven years things can change like you suddenly develop a liking for cooking. Maybe I’m making that up but I have to blame something for my sudden love of cooking. There are evenings where I’d rather spend them grocery shopping and making something on a stove or days where I get excited to make a recipe. I don’t even recognize myself anymore, that’s how much I used to detest cooking for one person. Now I’m actually enjoying it.
Say what? I’m growing as a person? Impossible!
Anyway, the other week I was having a pretty bad night and just wasn’t feeling good about the way work, life, etc was going. Clearly, not having issues with that anymore, but I turned to cooking to remedy this. I never have turned to cooking before so I found it odd just how therapeutic the four hours I spent slaving over two dishes was. I had picked out a spicy tomato chickpea soup to make and then when Ashley from Our Little Apartment tweeted about Rosemary Apple Scones I HAD to try them. After all, my mom left me with twigs of fresh rosemary from her garden that I had no idea what to do with. She suggested Rosemary chicken, but quickly changed her mind when she remembered the last time I tried making that. So I was at a loss of what to use it for. I hated to see it go to waste. I’d never used herbs like that in a baked good so I was intrigued by how they would turn out.
I first made the soup and was surprised at just how easy it was. I moved onto the scones which were a bit more of a challenge but one that was well received. The best part about these scones is that they are 100% VEGAN. I have never baked using a vegan recipe before so I was a little skeptical, I’m not going to lie. No eggs? No milk? I mean, HOW?
The soup turned out delicious but a tad too spicy for me. After round five of the leftovers, my body has basically put the stops on and has let me know that I cannot have any more spicy foods for a while. Please and thank you. It still was good, I’ll just have to modify the recipe the next time around. As for the scones…
Well. Those scones turned out HEAVENLY. I made a HUGE mess of my kitchen, and of myself, but had fun making them and the past couple weeks I have enjoyed them immensely. I am not sure how my kitchen feels about me being in it so much but it’s really nice to scour my cookbooks for recipes, go to the store, buy ingredients for those specific recipes and then spend time putting all these fresh ingredients together. I’m usually a boxed foods girl so I’m really enjoying this new lifestyle that I’ve found for myself.
This week I made an amazing Tahini Noodles dish that I cannot wait to share and am planning a vegetarian chili more towards the end of the week. I’m holding off baking until Thanksgiving when I’m pulling out the big guns, scaring myself a little, and making a cupcake that has a pumpkin pie baked inside of it. I KNOW.
For your enjoyment, here are both recipes (and pictures!)
Spicy Tomato Chickpea Soup (from Vegan Yum Yum)
Makes 4 servings (I got more out of it)
2-3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 sweet onion
2-3 cloves garlic, minced (optional)
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon chili flakes
1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1 15-ounce can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast (optional I didn’t use)
1 cup hot water
Black pepper to taste
Steps:
1. Heat the oil in a large skillet with high sides. Add the onion and saute for 2-3 minutes until softened. Add the garlic, cumin and chili flakes and stir for another minute.
2. Add the mustard seeds, turmeric and the drained chickeas. Saute until the chickpeas begin to turn golden. (Hard to tell when the turmeric turns them…golden!)
3. Add the tomatoes and salt and let simmer for 10-15 minutes until the tomatoes are cooked.
4. Transfer the mixture–all of half of it–to a blender. Add the nutritional yeast if using and hot water and blend until smooth.
Apple Rosemary Scones (found here. And a big thank you to Ashley!)
Ingredients:
1 ¼ cups almond milk (I used Light Vanilla Soy and it was delicious!)
2 tsp apple cider vinegar (I don’t always have everything–I used white vinegar and it was fine)
3 cups flour
2 tbsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
½ cup sugar (plus more for sprinkling)
¼ cup fresh rosemary, finely chopped
¼ tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ cup non-hydrogenated vegetable shortening
2 tbsp canola oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 ½ cups diced apple
Steps:
1. Preheat oven to 375° F. Lightly grease a baking sheet. Measure milk in a large measuring cup and add vinegar. Set aside to curdle.
2. Combine flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, rosemary, nutmeg and cinnamon in a large mixing bowl. Add the shortening in small clumps, then use your fingers or a pastry cutter to cut it into the flour until the dough texture becomes pebble-like.
3. Create a well in the centre and add the milk mixture, oil and vanilla. Mix with a wooden spoon until about half of the flour is incorporated. Mix again until all ingredients are just moistened, taking care not to over-mix. A couple dry spots are fine. Fold in apples.
4. Use a ¼ measuring cup to spoon mixture onto the baking sheet. Dust the tops with more sugar, then bake for 18–22 minutes, until tops are lightly browned and firm to the touch. Transfer scones to a cooling rack.
Bon Appetit!
I’m coming up on my nine month anniversary of moving to Boulder, a fact that I just can’t get over. How has it been just nine months?! It’s incredible how fast time can fly and just how much can happen in such a short period of time.
It’s taken a lot of time and patience on my part but my apartment is finally coming together, it’s finally feeling more like home. AKA I got my shit finances together and now can afford to more actively decorate my apartment. That and my parents visit allowed me to use my father’s incredible handy-man skills to hang things like pictures, something this girl HATES doing.
Home to me–to anyone really–isn’t just the place you proverbially place your hat. It’s more than just a few walls, a couple pieces of furniture and curtains to block the sun. For me to really feel at home in a place, it must be painted, shined up with art on the walls and candlesticks on the mantle. Shelves for my odds and ends and pretty pillows on the sofa. In a world where we’re told to simplify our lives and not become married to our possessions, I cannot help but like my possessions. I cannot help but like having things. Do I need an @ paperweight? No. Do I need owl candle holders? Nope. Do I need a globe? Maybe.
I fight a battle of wanting to not be tied down with things, to be able to leave when I want and not have to worry about stuff. At the same time, I want to settle into my space, I want to make it a home and to do that, I collect things to put in it. Things I find beautiful, meaningful, comfortable.
My home isn’t nearly complete but it’s getting there. The best part is that I haven’t spent much money. The furniture being the most pricey, I’ve utilized Home Depot’s 51 cent wood pile for both the painting of the map I did and the shelves in the dining room. Doni and I have collected cheap candlesticks from TJ Maxx and Marshalls for the fireplace and those same stores have helped me find other cute gadgets every once in a while, like the owl candle holders and the gorgeous Moroccan-style pillow on my sofa. I got the vintage 1958 map of New York at an antiques store for $5. The little spice jars in my kitchen were a dollar each at Michaels (in the kids craft section!) A coworker generously gave me the gorgeous curtains in my living room and a beautiful mosaic mirror that I put over my kitchen sink.
Next on my list? The kitchen needs a new paint job, the hallway/stairs have an abundance of empty wall space and my bedroom is looking really bare. All this is pretty handyman of me but I will admit that a month later, I’m STILL terrified my shelves are going to come crashing down even though my dad has tested them and said they aren’t going anywhere.
I have three new recipes I want to share with you guys that I am so in love with. I don’t know when I became a food blogger OR when I became a cook but I’m having a lot of fun with it! Here’s a sneak peak at the scones I made last week…
Life has kind of been surprising me lately. It’s been overwhelming at times and frustrating at others but for the most part I’ve been enjoying the twists and turns it has been taking. While it’s frustrating that my interior design career isn’t going anywhere, my photography has picked up in ways I never could have imagined last month at this same time. People are suddenly noticing me and it’s a weird combination of awe, excitement, disbelief and #HOLYSHITTHISISREALLYHAPPENINGTOME.
Maybe we can blame thank the relaunching of my more “professional” site, Spectacular Pieces, which has been down for the past few months. I revamped it, have been putting in a little more effort into showing more stuff in it and I guess, people have noticed it. In the past two weeks I’ve had three things happen: I wound up with a spot in Denver’s First Friday art show on November 5th, had a photograph auctioned off at a fundraiser for a non-profit Bri works for and am in the talks for hanging my artwork in a business downtown. There’s one more thing but I will talk about that at a later time. 
It’s all absolutely insane and wonderful. I don’t even know why this is all happening but I’m letting it happen and jumping at every opportunity that gets passed along to me. Thanks to things going well at work, I am in a position to do more things. Oh and my credit card is at $0. Can I tell you how amazing that is? I’m not out of debt completely but my credit card is paid off in full. And how amazing is it that for the first time in months I am not living paycheck to paycheck?!
So yes, I am happy. Ridiculously happy and overwhelmed and excited. I could kiss puppies and tackle hug strangers.
While I’m doing that, make sure you check out the new Spectacular Pieces site, become a fan on facebook and follow SP on Twitter! And leave me a comment here telling me what awesome things are going on in YOUR life.
I’ve always had this fantasy of wanting to live in a very, very small town in Ireland. You know the ones that have only pubs and maybe a convenience shop–inside that pub. It’s a nice fantasy that I play with everytime life gets a little hectic and I think, wouldn’t it be much more fun if I lived in a little cottage in the middle of all that beautiful green that is Ireland? And have sheep for neighbors? Surrounded by guys with sexy Irish accents?
It all just sounds so romantic.
When I was backpacking through Scotland I ended up in a lot of small towns–no, villages. It was a nice change of pace after living in New York City and it kind of played up to that silly romantic fantasy of mine. Scotland is just as green and pretty except their population is a hell of a lot harder to understand. (No seriously, I once had to ask someone to translate what a guy was saying. That someone looked at me like I’d lost my mind, reminding me that he was speaking English. It didn’t SOUND english to me!) I digress.
In Kyleakin, on the Isle of Skye, I found myself in a little cottage style hostel, complete with a cozy fireplace, hot chocolate in the community kitchen, a community orange tabby cat and some of the nicest people I’d met on my travels at that point. It was perpetually stormy outside, they had a little pub where I had a nice juicy burger and chatted with people at the bar and a dinky little bus that took me up to one of my top five most gorgeous hikes that wound between two mountain ranges–the red and the black cullens.
I took a tour with one of those little van groups which was probably one of the best tours I have been on. I’m usually pretty anti-tour but when you’re on an island where a car is necessary to actually see anything, a tour is needed. This tour was pretty awesome and not just because our driver was barely understandable, wore a kilt and blasted really loud Scottish music that involved a lot of bagpipes. He also tried to get us to stick our faces in this river which signified good luck–something I passed on but wished I hadn’t when my camera lens broke later that day in the “Faery Glen”.
If I had had my way I would have spent a month just hanging out on that island, doing nothing more than play in all the greenness and drying out by the fire telling tales and singing along to really awful music. Which is pretty much what I did for three days straight while I was there. I made a few good friends there and have kept in touch with them since, ironically running into them in a few different towns all over Scotland for the week afterward when I was still in the country.
I don’t know what it is that draws me to wanting to go off the grid in Ireland, Scotland or England. Maybe it’s one too many period movies that I’ve watched, one too many British romantic comedies starring Hugh Grant, or all those movie involving Ireland. Or maybe it definitely is all of those. Either way, I still dream of one day doing it even if it’s just for a little while. It probably won’t be romantic, I’ll probably be very lonely and I’ll probably wonder what the hell was wrong with myself but you never know.
What about you? Any crazy, fantastical ideas? Come on, I can’t be the only one!
My parents and I have a rocky relationship. That’s not to say it’s bad–because it’s not. At all. We have a very good relationship and I’m very close with both of them, speaking to them on the phone (whether by text or call) at least once a day. However, like any parent-child relationship, ours is full of lots of bumps that mainly consist of arguing, hurt feelings and impatience with each other.
Spend a ton of time in a car on mountain roads with a control freak of a mother who has worry issues and you’ve got a dangerous combination. At one point during the drive to Breck I remember telling my mother that if she yelled at me while I drove one more time, I would bring them back to Boulder. Of course I wouldn’t do that, but I was so frustrated at that point that I snapped at her. It shut her up but she only sulked for a good half hour more. Which, if you know my mother, is worse than yelling. Somethings were inherited. I’m just saying.
There was a dinner where my dad stormed out on me and my mom because of a silly quable my mom and I were having but that turned into the two of us having a great dinner of laughter, gossip and chitchat. And while my father did not speak to us the rest of the night when he finally met back up with us by our car, we enjoyed watching TV together and had one of our better nights together (at least for my mom and I!).
This is how the relationship with my family goes. My mother nags, my father gets frustrated with my mom and I, I don’t like being told what to do (and when my brother is around, he’s more stubborn than a mule. Or my mom and me put together, if that’s possible) and it makes for a feisty mix.
I love my family, we’re always laughing the loudest, we drink far too much and eat far too much too. We love each other just as intensely as we fight and when we say our goodbye-for-a-whiles we all cry. Bad habit that dates back to, what I’m told, the great grandmothers on both sides of the family. (I personally cannot see my German g-grandmothers who look like they could have pulled a plow, crying over anything. They probably pulled their babies out of their bodies themselves. That was a disgusting mental image, I’m sorry.) We have a lot of bad habits, including pestering each other to death, but they’re my family.
As much as I hate to cook, I learned how to cook from my mom and if I say so myself, I’m pretty damn good because of her. I learned how to hang pictures on the wall and how to paint an edge from my dad (granted, I like doing NEITHER of these). I don’t understand numbers like my dad does at all and I cannot spend hours in the kitchen like my mom can. But I can do the silent treatment exactly like my mom can and fake my way around the kitchen really well.
When my parents came to visit me they hung things on my walls, they fixed things around the apartment and made me meals to freeze. My mom took me shopping for clothes, shoes and food. My dad hammered, painted, and did tall-person things like putting the turkey roaster, that I will never be able to get down, on top of my cabinets. We took long drives in the country and I made them pull over every five feet so I could take pictures of it all. They don’t understand my photography pursuits, I don’t understand their desire to renovate every bathroom they come across. (Even as a designer!) This is how we live, in constant understanding and at the same time, not understanding. At the end of the day, they’re my greatest support system.
What’s your relationship like with your parents?
For the past week my parents have been in town which means that I have cheated a whole ton on this being Vegan thing. In fact, I basically put it aside and let myself eat what I wanted–lamb, grilled cheese, clams, ice cream. I’m hopping on the bandwagon once again with a freezer full of bean soup my mother made and a fridge full of vegetables so don’t you worry, I will still be posting up recipes in the next few weeks!
I will say that the grilled cheese and tomato that I had was SO worth the crime of not being vegan for a few days. God, I miss cheese.
While I did cheat a little, overall I was pretty good. The only times I had problems were in rural Colorado at a roadside cafe that served a variety of meat sandwiches and that was pretty much it. I had an egg, cheese and ham sandwich on an everything bagel (another one of those I’m-never-going-to-regret-that-choice) at one place, a turkey, avocado and bacon wrap at another. While in Breck I stuck to trout with green beans and mashed potatoes and here in Boulder I tried staying in the fish family, only straying once for the pork at Salt. It was honey and rosemary encrusted! With creamy polenta with parmesan! And ratatouille! How could I say no?! (Oh, I guess I could since I’m playing vegan. Whatever. My parents were in town!)
Before they arrived and I was still attempting this vegan thing, I made a second delicious recipe from Vegan Yum Yum: a Roasted Cauliflower and Wilted Spinach Pasta Salad. It was SO tasty and super easy to make–it even got my coworker’s stamp of approval when he tried a bite. I’m not usually a huge fan of cauliflower but really loved how it was prepared in the oven. I’ve never had it roasted and I don’t think I’ll ever make it another way!
I’m sorry, I don’t have a picture for you all because I apparently ate it so fast I couldn’t get the camera out in time. I am enclosing the recipe for your enjoyment. If you do make it, please let me know how it turned out and if you liked it (like Sally did with the last one)!
Roasted Cauliflower and Wilted Spinach Salad
Servings: 4 (I probably squeezed 6 out of it)
Ingredients:
1 head cauliflower, chopped into bite sized pieces
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 tbsp dried herbs (I used oregano and thyme, can also use basil, and marjoram)
1/2 tsp kosher salt
Black pepper to taste
3 cups penne pasta (I used farfalle)
4 cups baby spinach
1/2 cup oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, cut into strips (I used regular tomatoes and it worked fine)
1 tbsp balsamic vinaigrette (or more)
Steps:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees and put a pot of water on to boil
2. Place the cauliflower in a baking pan in one layr. Add the olive oil, dried herbs, salt and pepper and toss with the cauliflower until coated. Roast for 20-30 minutes until just beginning to brown and fork-tender, but not mushy. Turn the oven to broil and broil for 1-3 minutes until nicely colored.
3. Cook the pasta then drain and rinse in cool water. Toss with a small amount of olive oil to prevent sticking if not using immediately.
4. Place the spinach in a large bowl. Dump the hot cauliflower on top of the spinach and gently toss. Set aside and let the heat from the cauliflower wilt the spinach. Add the pasta on top.
5. Add the tomatoes and toss well. Add more olive oil if needed. Season to taste with more salt and pepper. (It says to add the balsamic at this stage but unless you are serving the entire thing at once, I would hold off and add it to individual servings.)
Bon Appetit!
