Did I Mention I LOVE Sorrisos?

I've mentioned Sorrisos pasta sauce before, but dude...COOK WITH IT. I cooked a lean pork tenderloin in a bottle of Sorrisos Spicy Red Pepper sauce and it was off the hook! I added red onion and baby bella mushrooms and let it go 8 hours. I found a couple half-finished bags of spinach and whole wheat noodles and served the pork on top. I topped it with some chopped fresh flat leaf parsley and blam! Easiest thing in the world.

Salmon with Red Wine "Butter" Sauce

Excuse the bad photo, but I took it with my cell phone because I was in a hurry.

The other night I made a killer dish. I found some amazing salmon fillets and tampered with a recipe I found in Women's Health magazine.

1 shallot, finely sliced
1/2ish of red wine (remember, don't cook with something you wouldn't drink)
1.5 second pour of balsamic vinegar
Fake butter spread
pepper

Make a reduction. (Bring sauce to a low boil and reduce heat and let it go. It'll become almost like a syrup.) After it's reduced, add a couple pats of "butter" so the sauce gets a nice little shine to it. Grill salmon fillets skin side down first until desired temperature and flash boil asparagus. Plate the salmon and drizzle the reduction over it and top with asparagus.

It's a win! Salmon is full of omega 3's and vitamin D, the asparagus is great for your heart and is a natural diuretic and the red wine is loaded with antioxidants.

I used to use Smart Balance but I didn't like to cook with it. There's something about it that makes it watery when you saute with it. While I was at my favorite store in the world, I came across Earth Balance and let me just say...it is like butter. The texture and creaminess is there. Amazing stuff!

Brown Rice Pasta Casserole Thing

Cold days deserve a warm, filling pasta dish. Especially for Jesse because he's out working in the snow!
I had a bunch of vegetables I needed to use up, so I threw them into a casserole. Jesse loved this and so did I. This is something that would be awesome with fake meat. The sauce is awesome! I buy like, 20 jars of it at a time.
Now, brown rice pasta. We love it! It's soft but not mushy and it tastes just like that crap white pasta, but it's good for you!

Once again, I didn't write down what I did, sorry. I know I quartered fresh brussel sprouts, used carrots, a half bag of fresh spinach, yellow onion, garlic and umm...I think that's it. No, I added paprika because I add paprika to everything.
After I cooked everything, I combined it all with the cooked brown rice pasta and the sauce. I spread it into a huge casserole dish and sprinkled a little organic Parmesan to give it a crust. I baked it at 350 until it was warmed and then put it beneath the broiler for a few minutes for the crust effect.
I served it with a green salad and the "Alpha Omega" salad I found at Open Harvest- kamut, cranberries, bell peppers, carrots, red onion, extra virgin olive oil, red wine vinegar.

It was one of those pasta dishes you almost feel guilty for eating because it's so good. It was so tasty.

Chicken with Sun Dried Tomatoes, Spinach, Artichoke Hearts and Dijon Pan Sauce

I'm posting this one because it's healthy and I didn't use anything weird that people may be afraid to try. And it's almost as easy as making a sandwich.

5-7 julienned sun dried tomatoes
can of quartered artichoke hearts
half a bag of fresh spinach
2 chicken breasts flattened and marinated in any garlic-herb seasoning (you can even buy a bottle of it)

Warm a bit of extra virgin olive oil in a medium saute pan. Add chicken breasts (really important you flatten them to about 1/4 - 1/2 inch thick) and saute a couple minutes on each side until a little browned and almost done.

Add sun dried tomatoes, artichoke hearts, fresh spinach and the juice of half a lemon to the pan and cook until spinach begins to wilt.

Pan Sauce:
Move the chicken and veg to the sides of the pan and add about a tablespoon of Smart Balance (or butter, if you must) and about the same amount of dijon mustard right in the middle of the pan. If you are unfamiliar with pan sauces, PLEASE don't ever use yellow mustard in something like this because it will end up tasting like a hot dog. Break down the butter and dijon and add chicken stock. I don't know how much! I never measure! I'm guessing about 1/2 cup. Let reduce and thicken and add a splash more until you have amount of sauce you want.

Plate pretty and eat. Oh, the temp you want to use is in the middle of medium and medium high. Enjoy!

Spinach Pesto with Shrimp

This one goes out to Teri Dorman!

1 cup loosely packed spinach (fresh)
1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted
2 cloves garlic

1 pound organic shrimp, tails off and de-veined
nearly an entire box of organic whole wheat angel hair pasta (Get the Full Circle brand)

Toast the pine nuts in a small saute pan for a few minutes, until fragrant. Combine spinach, nuts and garlic into a food processor and process until finely chopped. Stream in 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil until well blended. Transfer to a bowl and stir in 3 tbsp freshly grated Parmesan cheese and season with salt and pepper.

Coat shrimp with olive oil and salt and pepper. Saute over near high heat until cooked, about 2-3 minutes.
Toss with freshly sauteed shrimp with enough pesto to coat. Add to a bowl of hot whole wheat organic angel hair pasta to coat each strand. Eat the entire dish. It's really that good. If Maximus eats it, you know it's a winner.

The Best Salad Dressing I've Ever Had

I created the perfect balance of flavors! Here's what I piled into my food processor:
1/4 cup agave nectar
1/4 cup + 1 tbsp dijon mustard
1/4 cup Italian red wine vinegar
2 large cloves of minced garlic
Sea salt
Freshly cracked pepper
...then I streamed in extra virgin olive oil. I probably used close to 2/3 cup.

*remember, I'm trying to write down measurements, so this is pretty close.