Roasted Veggies and Penne

I finally tried a recipe with goat cheese and it was amazing! How did I not know about goat cheese?  I thought it tasted like cream cheese but a little tangier. This recipe is adapted from Giada DeLaurentis. The flavors are very distinct and it is easy to make. My taste testers were split on this recipe, but the majority loved it!
Ingredients:
1 butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut into 3/4 inch cubes
1 onion or 2 shallots, diced
olive oil (to mist the above ingredients)
Kosher salt and coarsely ground black pepper
12 oz box of penne pasta (I used organic)
7 ounces goat cheese (I used 2 - 3.5 ounce packages - see picture below)
1/2 cup fresh basil leaves, cut into small pieces
Let's put it all together:
Preheat oven to 400F. Line a baking pan (or large cookie sheet 11x15) with parchment paper. Using an oil mister or your hands, lightly mist olive oil over the squash and shallots (or onions). Mix them around with your hands a little and spread the veggies in a single layer on the baking pan. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Bake 45 minutes until the veggies are cooked then set them aside to cool a little.
Boil your penne pasta in a large pot of salted (using Kosher salt) water. Cook the pasta so it is still a little firm when you bite into it. Mine took about 10 minutes. I did not drain my pasta but used a slatted spoon to remove the pasta from the pan. Place the goat cheese in a large glass serving bowl, then spoon the pasta over the goat cheese, the cheese will start to melt. Start adding some pasta water, I used a little more than a cup. Stir the pasta and goat cheese with a spatula or wooden spoon. It should turn into a creamy sauce, then add your baked veggies and the basil. Gently stir to mix and season with salt and pepper to taste. That's it! Enjoy!

Love and peace,
~ Simply Tammi

Baked Zucchini

If you have some garden tomatoes and zucchini, try this simple and delicious recipe that you can use as a side dish or an entree. I made it gluten-free but you could use regular bread crumbs instead of gluten-free crumbs.
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups grated mozzarella cheese
1/2 tsp oregano
fresh basil - chopped (I used about 1/4 cup)
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 small to medium size zucchinis, sliced
3 tomatoes, sliced (I used beefsteak tomatoes)
4 T butter
1 small shallot, chopped
2/3 cup gluten-free cornflake crumbs (or regular bread crumbs)
Putting it together:

• Preheat oven to 350F. 
• Use a large bowl and mix together the cheese, herbs, and garlic.
• Grease a round casserole pan or you could use a square pan (I used a little olive oil). Use about 1/2 of your zucchini slices and cover the bottom of your pan with them. Sprinkle the top with your some of the cheese mixture, use about a third of it.
• Slice the tomatoes and place them over the zucchini and cheese, then sprinkle more of the cheese mixture on the tomatoes.
• Add the rest of the zucchini slices, tomato slices, and a little more cheese mixture. You are done with that part for a few minutes.
• Melt the butter in a small pan and add the shallot. Cook for 5-7 minutes on medium heat. Stir in the cornflake or bread crumbs.
• Remove from the stove and cover the zucchini mixture with the crumbs.
• Cover and bake 30 minutes.
• Uncover, grate about 1/3 cup parmesan cheese (or your cheese choice) over the top and bake another 25 minutes.

 * Day 2 - I added a grilled, sliced (on the diagonal) chicken breast and re-heated the casserole. It was simply delicious!

 Love and peace,
~ Simply Tammi

Quinoa Salad

So the other day I was strolling through the grocery store and one of the food samples was Quinoa Salad. I knew it was my lucky day, usually it seems they strategically place the greasy, cardboard-looking frozen pizza in my way! (maybe it's good pizza - I don't know, I've never tried it...but anyway). The store chef told me he used a little olive oil, some fresh veggies and some pepper. So I tried his version and of course I added a few more herbs, because I like them!
Ingredients:
1 cup quinoa (this is uncooked)
1/2 medium cucumber, diced
2 medium tomatoes, diced
1 carrot, sliced into small pieces
1 small shallot, diced
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 T olive oil
black pepper to taste

I included some steps for cooking the quinoa from the savvyvegetarian.com . It's helpful if you this is your first time using quinoa. 

1. Soak the quinoa in warm water for 5 min in a 2 quart pot. Soaking helps quinoa to cook evenly. taste.
2. Rinse the quinoa into a small screen mesh strainer.
3. Drain well and transfer back to the cooking pot, add 1 1/2 cups water & 1/4 tsp salt.
4. Cover and bring to a boil, then turn the heat down.
5. Simmer for 15 minutes.
6. Remove quinoa from heat and let let sit five minutes with the cover on.
7. Pour into a medium size bowl and put in the refrigerator to cool (about an hour).
8. After it has cooled take it out of the refrigerator and stir in your veggies. 
9. Add the olive oil and seasonings and stir in together.

You can serve it right away or cool it in the refrigerator, covered, for a couple of hours before serving. It's great the next day if you let it sit in the refrigerator overnight, the flavors really soak in. So if you haven't quinoa before - try it now! It's gluten-free, healthy and so yummy!

Love and peace,
~ Simply Tammi

Cinnamon Sugar Kettle Corn

We're preparing for camping at the Lifelight Festival in a few weeks and I feel like one of the kids - I can hardly wait!! I am busy trying out new recipes for some (well somewhat) healthy snacks. Of course, I'll stock up on fruit and veggies granola bars but we will want some special snacks too! After paying $4.00 for a bag of organic popcorn at the store, I decided to splurge and buy a popcorn air popper last week and save some money in the long run. I must be honest, normally kettle corn is not my favorite use of popcorn but the cinnamon sugar kettle corn from the store turned that around for me. Welcome to my first experiment making cinnamon sugar kettle corn. It was everything I thought it would be and I have many taste testers that agreed with me.
I used organic ingredients but use what you like. I calculated the calories - 70 calories per cup if you follow the recipe.
Just a few simple steps:
1/2 cup popcorn (about 14 cups of air popped popcorn - 2 very large bowls)
3 T butter
1 tsp cinnamon
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 tsp sea salt
about a tablespoon of water
Melt the butter in a small pan over low heat. Add the sugar, salt, cinnamon, and water. Stir until the sugar has dissolved, make sure you keep your heat low so it doesn't burn. Just before it starts to boil, it will start expanding, remove from the heat and pour over the popcorn. I used 2 large bowls and stirred the half of the mixture in each bowl and stirred it with my Pampered Chef spatula to coat the popcorn. Once the popcorn is coated, spread it over 2 large cookie sheets covered with parchment paper. Bake in a 300F oven for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven, let it cool, break it up a little, and start snacking! 

Love and peace,
~ Simply Tammi