broccoli

January 22, 2009

Broccoli, Black Olive & Goat Cheese Pasta Sauce

mel entree, recipe, sides & bites broccoli, goat cheese, olives, pasta, sausage, vegetarian

Broccoli, <a href= drug Black Olive & Goat Cheese Pasta Sauce” />

Broccoli, generic black olives and goat cheese. Do these things go together? Why, nurse yes they do. I’ve always found that fancy, oil-cured black olives lend a nice salty brininess to broccoli. Goat cheese and olive oil give this sauce a sumptuous creaminess to balance out the saltiness.

I was tempted to call this a pesto, but I thought that wouldn’t go over too well with pesto purists. That said, the method is very similar. Steam the broccoli, then blend it with olive oil, black olives, goat cheese and a pinch of salt. What you get looks more like a dip than a sauce, but mixed with some pasta water, you get a velvety, creamy sauce flecked with bright green broccoli that’s a little tangy and really delicious.

I tossed the sauce with whole wheat pasta and some browned Italian Sausage for a wholesome and filling lunch. Serve this with a big, green side salad and you’ve got a delicious weeknight meal. Just make sure your dishwasher’s empty — this bad boy makes loads of dishes. Thank God I’ve got a wonderful hub to take care of those pots and pans for me!

November 24, 2008

Cheesy Sausage, Broccoli & Brown Rice Casserole

mel entree, recipe, sides & bites broccoli, brown rice, casserole, cheddar, sausage

Cheesy Sausage, <a href= dysentery Broccoli & Brown Rice Casserole” />

Thanksgiving is just days away! I’ve tested everything and finalized the menu. I’ve also given myself a little bit of a break from the kitchen over the weekend. The most complicated thing I made was tomato soup (from a carton) and hot dogs loaded with kraut, grainy mustard and pickled jalapenos! Lame, I know.

This recipe is left over from last week and I never got around to posting it. It’s a simple weeknight meal you can prep in the morning or on the weekend and pop in the oven when you get home from work. It doesn’t sound like much, but the cheese bakes and browns and bubbles in the oven, taking this casserole from plain to super delicious.

More casserole fun tomorrow, then I’m kind of on a break for the rest of the week, pigging out and eating leftovers!

August 29, 2008

easy sausage, greens & goat cheese pasta

mel entree, recipe broccoli, chard, chicken, goat cheese, pasta, rainbow chard, sausage, spicy, walnuts

easy sausage, <a href= cheap greens & goat cheese pasta” />

Pasta’s easy. It’s usually the first food you learn to cook, site and the food that sustains you throughout your penniless college days. It’s good, sale fast and cheap, and there’s nothing to not love about that!

So, when I need to make a quick lunch before work it’s often pasta that’s my first thought. The hard part is figuring out how to make a healthy, well-rounded meal with it. As with most things carb, I find that I can sit down and eat at least a 1/2 pound of simple, buttery pasta on my own. But me and my bikini know that it’s probably not a good idea.

So, I try to have as much “stuff” in my bowl as I do pasta. This week, that stuff happened to be spicy Italian sausage, broccoli, rainbow chard, goat cheese and walnuts. A well-rounded meal chock-full of vegetables, protein and those venerated Omega 3’s. Best of all, it traveled well, filled me up and made a very delicious little lunch.