melted smoosh

if you haven't yet had the immense pleasure of watching a KitchenAid pasta extruder attachment in action, let me tell you -- it's surpassed only by the gustatory delight of eating the homemade pasta that results. in this case, bucatini tossed with a plethora of sauteed vegetables and coated in a homemade cream sauce. and what better to serve as a palate cleanser than homemade lemon basil sorbet? nothing. that's what.  bucatini with vegetables and cream sauce made up by our very own selves! 12 oz bucatini, cooked and drained 1/2  of a large  onion , chopped 8 oz sliced mushrooms 1 cup cooked corn, cut from cob 1 cup green beans, trimmed 1 bell pepper, sliced 3 shallots, minced 1 TBSP minced garlic 1/2 TBSP crushed red pepper flakes 3 TBSP butter 3 TBSP flour 2 cups milk, room temperature 1 cup nonfat Greek yogurt 1/2 TBSP salt 1/2 TBSP pepper Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a medium skillet. Saute onion, garlic and shallots for 5 minutes, or...

i can not believe we are already into August! this summer feels like it's just barely begun. and this weekend promises to be chock full of adventure with Mom, Dad & Kira in town, so i'm sure it will fly by all too quickly. some highlights of the last few weeks: --this honest reflection on family trips from one of my favourite bloggers .  everything she writes resonates with me. i love imagining the vacations we'll take in the future, everything from staying in the cabins at Lake Raystown to a beach vacay or two to going back to Germany as often as we can. -- fluffernutter chip ice cream . yes. this may even overshadow my recent obsession with salted caramel.  photo from Jessica at How Sweet Eats -- yet another glimpse into the future. if our future includes lots of babies, which i hope it will.  -- will i ever tire of permutations on the buffalo chicken motif? i think not. thank you to Mountain Mama Cooks for this incredible recipe for buffalo chick...

   bump watch: i still feel like this varies by the day (and the clothes!). there's no doubt that something is going on in the belly region, but sometimes it can be hard to tell if it's a food baby or an actual baby. all the women in my hypnobabies class are between 1-3 weeks ahead of me and they all have the cutest, round bumps! all in good time i suppose! sweet pea:  according to What to Expect, baby is still  the size of an eggplant, just a bigger one at two pounds and over 9 inches long from crown-to-rump (aka head-to-butt). this week's big accomplishment is opening those eyes! i think the bebe in the illustration below looks like he's plotting some mischief, perhaps a harbinger of things to come. baby's brain is also developed enough to respond to sounds with increased activity and pulse.  image credit from  What to Expect When You're Expecting best moment:  my first Hypnobabies class last week! i absolutely love...

   bump watch:  there's no hiding it now! we're flying through the second trimester and the bump seems to be growing by the day.  sweet pea: is the size of an eggplant, weighing in at 1 1/2 pounds and 9 inches long! the craziest thing about the past week has been feeling arms and legs going at the same time -- a veritable dance party! sweetpea's nostrils are starting to open, and the lungs are starting to produce surfactant (the key to reducing surface tension on the alveoli so the lungs can properly expand). annnnnnd all of this means that baby has now reached The Age of Viability -- the point at which a baby has at least a 50% chance of surviving when born. i'd like to wait for much better odds, thank you very much!  image credit from  What to Expect When You're Expecting best moment: getting our third (and probably final!) look at Sweetpea via ultrasound last week! this was a follow-up ultrasound to our anatomy scan, whe...

we had a little hiatus from an official CSA night earlier this month with various travel plans and vacations, and last week's dinner turned into quite the adventure due to unexpected power outages. thankfully, Amy saved the day with her working electricity and we concocted a delicious Mexican meal! not the most appetizing food photo i've ever taken in my life, but trust me, it was yummy. beef & bean burrito skillet dinner adapted from deep south dish 2 tablespoons  of  olive oil 1/2  of a large  onion , chopped 2 tablespoons  of  chopped jalapeno 1 pound  of  ground beef 1 teaspoon  of  kosher salt 8 turns  of the  pepper  grinder 1 tablespoon  of  chili powder 1/2 teaspoon  of  cumin 1/2 teaspoon of  garlic powder 1/4 teaspoon  of  Cajun seasoning 1/2 teaspoon   oregano 1 packet  of  Sazon seasoning 1 cup  of  beef stock 1 cup ...

TGIF!!! it's been quite the week, spending time with friends who are back in Pittsburgh for a much-anticipated visit, attending a phenomenal organ recital, getting our hummus on at Aladdin's , trying to tame the wild beast that is our yard in summertime, and a little more time spent in the kitchen since our dishwasher is on the fritz. i think washing dishes may actually be one of my favourite household tasks. something about the warm water and physically scrubbing away the ick. back in the day, i'd crack open one of mom's red hymnals, slide it into her clear plastic cookbook holder behind the sink so it would be safe from any splashes, and sing and sing and sing. sadly, i have neither the red hymnal nor the cookbook holder, so Kaiser and the cats will be spared my lusty rendition of "And Can It Be." (my chains fell off, myyyy heart was free-ee-ee, I ro-o-ose, went fo-o-orth, and fo-o-ol-lowed Thee!) ANYWAY.  -- my all-time favourite thing about this week w...

with the scorching temps Pittsburgh has been rocking this week, it just seems appropriate to kick up the heat on our palates as well. this recipe is a great clean-out-the-fridge supper, since you can toss all manner of veggies into it and they all absorb the sassy Cajun spice. the original recipe came from Cooking Light, and while i do recommend andouille sausage for an authentic bayou flavor, i happened to have a pound of ground beef leftover from a previous recipe and substituted it with very satisfactory results. the original recipe calls for rotisserie chicken, but i much prefer to slice 3 chicken breasts in half and cook in about 1 cup of chicken broth over medium heat for about 15 minutes, then dice.  chicken and sausage jambalaya adapted from cooking light Yield: 8 servings (about 1 1/4 c. per serving) Prep Time: 10 minutes Cook Time: 35 minutes Ingredients 1 TBSP canola oil 12 oz smoked sausage, halved lengthwise and sliced (can substitute 1 lb groun...