Penne with Peas and Homemade Ricotta

A month or so ago I found out I would be spending almost a week at home with just the dogs for company. I love to be home alone, but nearly a week would be quite lonely. I did what any girl would do: call their best girlfriend. That's my little sister Cindy, and she readily agreed to entertain me for the weekend in the way of shopping. I wanted her company for dinner too, so I offered to make dinner, dessert, and teach her how to make it at all at home. She agreed to that too! Yea! Last night we had this delicious pasta dish with peas and ricotta and to make it really special we made out own ricotta cheese too. So good!!! Here is the recipe for homemade ricotta.

Spinach Pesto

When Ryan and I started dating, I found a recipe that looked great for dinner. The recipe called for arugula pesto and I had never eaten, seen, or heard of pesto before. Imagine my surprise when I got home with all the ingredients and the recipe said to blend it all together. I couldn't possibly blend the beautiful green bunch of arugula! What a waste! I also didn't think I really needed Pine nuts so I didn't buy them. I had to call Ryan and ask him about Pine nuts. Being the cultured man that he is, he had a jar at home he could bring over.
I have since learned a bit about pesto- mostly when Ryan had a huge basil crop and we made enough pesto to share with friends, family, and still freeze some to use over the next year. You can make pesto with basil, arugula, spinach, tarragon, even sun-dried tomatoes (I believe that's the French version and it's called Pistou), and use any nut you like or have available. There are many ways to make pesto and just as many ways to enjoy it!

Spring Zucchini Pasta

Spring is here and with it comes zucchini- lots and lots of zucchini. Yea! I started a handful of zucchini seeds indoors this year and with any luck we will have a vegetable and herb garden outside by next weekend. I can't wait until I'm flooded with zucchini as it is one of my favorite vegetables: it is inexpensive, easy to find, and so versatile! This recipe is one way we used the zucchini from our recent delivery from Timber Creek Farms. We had leftover chicken which bumped up the heartiness of this dish. Ryan said, "this is a 'love it' dinner" and proceeded to have TWO enourmous plates of it. Also, it's a one pot dish! The only downside of this recipe is that we didn't have leftovers... bummer!