mangia mangia (vol. 1)

such a simple thing, having fresh herbs just happily waiting on the terrace, but it's made such a difference in our meals! i planted basil and cilantro last month, and (knock on wood) they are still growing! i thought that once the nighttime temperatures dropped into the upper 50s, they might give up the ghost, but they're still reaching heavenward. and they taste so much better than the storebought herbs.

i took this picture a few weeks ago when i thought for sure my luck wouldn't hold out and they'd all die.
 now the planter is overflowing with stalwart plants! 

 i mean, fresh is always better, but sometimes you can't tell much of a difference. these flavors just explode in your mouth! and so i've been trying to incorporate them into our meals as much as possible. here's what we've been eating lately:

first up, we have this chicken caprese sandwich. i stumbled across these ground chicken patties which actually contained only ground chicken, egg and breadcrumbs (thank you, Italy!). then i just slathered some mayo and pesto on a toasted bun, fried the chicken patties in some olive oil, topped with fresh mozzarella, a tomato slice, and fresh basil. it was so easy and i felt like a goddess. 

i've made this shrimp scampi gnocchi twice in the past month. the recipe is from one of my favourite cooking blogs, Damn Delicious, and her recipes never disappoint! the girls devour this. when i manage not to overcook the gnocchi, they melt like little pillows of delight on your tongue. 

i'm missing my grill pan and my Instant Pot terribly, but i'm so grateful for the huge crockpot they left in the apartment! it's much fancier than the one i have back home (for example, this one has a built-in timer and shut-off feature). this red wine beef ragu has been in the rotation for years, and that homegrown basil took it up several notches.

we ate the leftovers for lunch the next day. Greta is proving herself quite adept at grating fresh Parmesan over everything in sight. 

at home, we eat some kind of Mexican-inspired dish at least once a week. by the time i found the ingredients for these Easy Cheesy Enchiladas with Mexican Crema, i was practically dreaming about enchiladas or taco salad or fajitas. (we're still in a Thai/Chinese food drought ... must find sesame oil and chili-garlic paste post-haste!) anyway, these enchiladas have been a stand-by for years. despite lots of Google searching, i can't for the life of me find the blog where i originally found the recipe, so i'm just linking to my google doc for now. anyway, i couldn't find enchilada sauce or green chiles, so i just mixed some salsa with chicken broth (!) and called it good. (i have since learned that enchilada sauce is literally the easiest thing in the world to make, proven by the fact that i made it just last night, and it was delicious. but two weeks ago, i was still living in sauce-less darkness.) i found sour cream at Castroni, the specialty grocery store, although it was in a tiny shelf-stable tube and wasn't quite the same consistency as fresh sour cream. and my own Todi's sells tortillas and cheddar cheese slices (i just draped them over top and they melted quite nicely!). 

these Meatball Melties are another staple in our meal rotation.  you basically make burger patties out of a meatball recipe, melt provolone cheese on top, and serve topped with diced tomatoes. in the past, i would often skip the basil because they taste delicious without it. but now, it's Basilfest 2018 all up in here, and it doesn't show any signs of stopping!

(i probably just jinxed myself and my herbs will be withered and dead tomorrow.)