Zoodles Marinara

My brother & I made zucchini noodle pasta with our new julienne peeler I got from Cooks Exchange! My brother made the spinach marinara sauce while i made the "zoodles" (zucchini noodles). He will probably be the one to post the step by step stuff, but as for me, I'm content with just posting the gist of it.

It was almost vegan... until we added the parmesan cheese and we used leftover wagyu beef fat from yesterday's dinner instead of olive oil. It's not entirely good-for-you, but using zucchini noodles is a great way of cutting down the carbs from regular pasta noodles.

Main lesson learned that I want to share: saute the zoodles first separately to get rid of the excess liquid before combining with the sauce because we ended up having a very soupy dish. It was still good, but it watered down the sauce.

Also, for the core of the zucchini which I don't end up turning into zoodles, I chopped and blended them along with cucumber, orange, mangoes, spinach stems, ginger, and peppermint for a refreshing shake!

Tomato-Spinach with Brie Cheese Pasta

When some of my Italian friends have left the country, they left behind some things in our fridge that they couldnt take with them. One of these things were 1) this big wheel of President Brie Cheese that I didn't want to see go to waste 2) Leftover fusilli good for 1 hungry person.

I searched for recipes online on what I could do, and I found this video on youtube where the sauce ingredients were only olive oil, fresh diced tomatoes, garlic oregano, and brie cheese.

I didn't have oregano or any kind of herbs, so I ended up putting spinach instead (for greens). A friend suggested I should have put tuna so it has some protein in it... which I did later on for a salad with brie cheese (the salad didnt turn out very well).

Ingredients (good for 1 hungry person)
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 clove of garlic chopped but not too small
- 1/2 cup of diced tomatoes (or more)
- 2 handfuls of fresh spinach
- a big tablespoon chunk of brie cheese
- cooked leftover pasta good enough for one!

Steps:
1) Saute the tomatoes and garlic first in olive oil
2) Dump in the cheese and wait for it to go all melty
3) Put in the spinach (although in hindsight, I should have put the spinach first so they'd wilt further before I burn the cheese).
4) Put in the cooked pasta!

5) Then just eat off the pan. Saves time cleaning dishes. Yum.

Poached Eggs on Top of Bacon-fat Toasted Bread

Kind of difficult to write an entry now on my phone... but i wanted to post my food pics here of the poached eggs, ham, salsa, amaranth, and bacon-fat toasted bread (unhealthy, I know).

As for the salsa I made, I made a jar-ful of it and ill be eating it throughout the week. I'm trying out some efficiency strategies these week to cut down on time required. :)

Potluck and Quick Easy Tomato Cream Soup Recipe

Porkchops, Tomato Cream Soup, Wine, Whoppers, Havannets for Dinner

My friends and i got together for a "potluck". Chux made barbecue porkchops and brought red wine. Lance brought Hershey's Whoppers Ice Cream. Debbie brought Havannas all the way from Argentina! I made Tomato Cream Soup. :D We watched Friends with Benefits after (Mila Kunis and Justin Timberlake).

So here I am - sharing the quick and easy recipe for tomato cream soup! It's quick, easy... this is the shortcuts and cheats version. It's not exactly healthy since I just used bouillon cubes (high sodium) instead of chicken stock, but I needed something quick.

Ingredients (Serves 4-6):

• 3 cups of water
• 1 chicken bouillion cube (or more, if you feel like it)
• 1 big can of tomatoes (sometimes i use diced, sometimes whole - i prefer whole)
• 2 cloves of garlic and 1 small onion chopped
• 1 pack of all purpose cream
• a teaspoon of dried rosemary (or anything you feel like adding, maybe basil)
• freshly ground black pepper and extra virgin olive oil at the end
• Croutons (my friends requested for croutons but I didn't have any)

How to:

1. Dissolve the bouillon cubes with the water in a soup pot and let it boil in medium heat
2. Add the canned tomatoes in with rosemary and the chopped onions and garlic. Let it simmer for 5 minutes.
3. Turn off the heat and wait for it to cool a bit. Add the cream in and mix.
4. When it's not boiling-hot anymore, transfer it to a blender but only up to half of the blender at a time to prevent it from spilling when you blend. Transfer the blended soup into a soup bowl.
5. Once everything is blended, it's ready to be transferred into the smaller bowls.
6. Add black pepper and a little bit of extra virgin olive oil on top. If someone requested for croutons, add it as well. :)

UPDATE!!! [Nov 18] Here's an even better recipe for the Tomato Soup, but it would take a lot more effort than this one. http://myhobbycollection.blogspot.com/2012/11/italian-cooking-spree-we-made-chunky.html