Here Comes the Sun

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Summer Time Pasta Salad

with homemade dressing

  

Hey hey! We are quickly creeping up on summer and that brings on more bbq's and other outdoor gatherings which usually involve quite a bit of great summer time grub. It's the time of year for burgers and dogs, bbq chicken, and anything else you can throw on the grill.

Well, to go along with all the delicious bbq food I have an equally delicious pasta salad that is full of fresh veggies and a simple light dressing. I also used whole pasta to make it even healthier, but feel free to use whichever pasta you like best.

The recipe for this dressing is simply delicious and great for a garden salad as well. It's also great to make your own dressing at home because you control the ingredients and avoid added sugars, salts, and preservatives. This will last you up to 90 days in the refrigerator so make a big batch and enjoy! (This recipe is more than enough for one batch of pasta salad)

Happy Almost Summer!!

Summer Time Pasta Salad

Ingredients

• 1 box of whole wheat penne
• 2 bell peppers, which ever colors you prefer
• 1 medium tomato
• 1 cucumber
• 4-5 oz extra sharp white cheddar,
• 1 batch of homemade Italian dressing, recipe follows

Italian Dressing

• 1 cup red wine vinegar (or whichever you prefer)
• 1 1/3 cup olive or canola oil
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1 clove minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 tablespoon onion powder
• 1/2 tablespoon honey
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
• salt and pepper to taste
• Pinch of crushed red pepper (optional)

To make the dressing

Place all ingredients in a large bowl and which until fully combined.
OR
Pour ingredients into large bottle and shake until combined.

Directions

1. Prepare penne as box instructs.
2. While pasta is cooking, chop the vegetables and cheese into small like size pieces.
3. Once pasta is cooked, drain and toss with vegetables and cheese, in a large bowl.
4. Pour about 1/2 of the dressing and stir.
5. Taste and add enough to your liking.
6. Enjoy!

Back From The Dead With an Easy Baked Egg Breakfast!

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Baked Eggs with Feta

Over Roasted Tomatoes

HOLA MI AMIGO'S!!!! I am back and Peace Love & Yumminess is up and running with lots of recipes to share!!!

Now, I know all of you were anxiously checking everyday if I had a new post, sorry for all the nail biting but you need not worry anymore! I am back from trekking the Amazon Forest and sailing through the Caribbean.

Hahaha if only both those statements were true :). I have been M.I.A for several reasons, mainly being out of a computer. I have however been cooking and baking quite a bit and have lots of recipes to catch you guys up on. So why not start with a recipe for the most important meal of the day, breakfast!

This was a pinterest recipe I literally made the morning I found it. It is super easy and quite healthy. I thought it was a great change than the normal morning egg, with layers of delicious flavor.

You will need ramekins for this recipe, although I'm sure you could just make this in casserole form as well. But, that just not as fun as having your own little dish.

When I made this, it was only me eating however I made two dishes. Not sure why, but I did. I enjoyed this dish so much I almost went right back for the second. I stepped back and regained my self control and saved it for lunch with a side salad. To reheat it, I just popped it right back in the oven to warm it up. The egg did cook a little more but still tasted amazing.

The recipe is also in single serving portions, just apply the recipe per ramekin.

Enjoy<3!

& Glad to be back!

Oven Bakes Eggs with Feta

over roasted tomatoes

adapted from For the Love of Cooking

Ingredients

• Cooking spray
• 1/2 tsp olive oil
• Handful of grape tomatoes sliced
• 1/4 tsp basil, dried
• Dash of crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• 2 eggs (I used one because my ramekins are quite small)
• 1 tsp milk
• 1 tsp feta cheese ( I used tomato basil feta to amp up the flavor!)
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and spray  a small ramekin with cooking spray.
2. Toss the sliced tomatoes with the olive oil, basil, crushed red pepper, garlic, salt, and pepper.
3. Pour into each ramekin then place the dishes on a baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes.
4. Remove from the oven then crack the eggs into the dish, then add the milk, feta cheese, and season with salt and pepper.
5. Return to the oven and cook for 13-15 minutes or until the whites set but the yolks are still soft. Remove from the oven and serve with some whole grain toast.

Rainy Day Grub

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Spicy Tomato Soup w/ Cheesy Pesto Flat bread

Hey hey! So, all my 609 friends, who is ready for some nicer weather?! My umbrella and I have gotten much too close lately. If its not raining or drizzling it seems like its just about to at any moment. The humidity is doing wonders on my ever so frizzy hair but other I can't complain about getting to wear boots again! Not that you all care about my hair and wardrobe so I won't bore you with anymore of that.

Instead I'll entice you with some recipes to make for these rainy days that make you just crave good old comfort food.

This soup is a perfect way to lift your spirits and warm your soul! Ok, ok maybe I'm being extreme but it will hit that comfort food craving and heat ya up because it has a great spicy kick to it. I based this recipe off of one from Giada De Larentis.

I love her. I wish she was my neighbor. I'd always be out of sugar  so I could walk on over and be like "Oh hey neighbor, I'm out of sugar can I borrow some?" And she would say "Of course come in Ashley. I've actually been making this glorious dinner and have no one to share it with."

AHHHH I can dream right?

Annnnyyywwaaayyys. This soup tastes great, can be adjusted to your liking and is super simple. To make this she actually mixes chicken broth with a jar of really good marinara sauce. Who would have thought?!

The flat bread is basically pizza dough which I rolled out super thin and baked in the oven on a pizza stone. You can use premade pizza dough, make your own, or even just use some good Italian bread sliced into thin pieces.

Hope you try this one!

I will leave you with some California Sun, I bet it's not raining there!

if you look close enough, you can see me in the spoon!

Spicy Tomato Soup

Serves 4-6

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 carrots peeled and chopped

1 small onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

1 (26-ounce) jar favorite marinara sauce

2 (14-ounce) cans chicken broth 

1/2- 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper

1/2 cup any small pasta

Salt & Pepper to taste

Directions

1. Warm the olive oil in a large soup pot over medium-high heat.
2. Add the carrots, onion, and garlic and saute until soft, about 2 minutes.
3. Add the jar of marinara sauce, chicken broth, red pepper flakes, pasta, salt and pepper.
4. Simmer for 10 minutes. Ladle into bowls and serve.
5. In separate pot bring pasta to a boil for time indicated on box.
6. Keep separate from pasta and add to each bowl rather than the pot of soup. This helps keep the soup at a great consistency with out the pasta soaking up most of the liquid, especially if letting the soup sit or not eating it right away.

Cheesy Pesto Flat bread

Prepared pizza dough

Garlic powder

Salt

1/2 cup Premade or homemade Pesto

1 cup shredded cheese, preferably provolone, mozzarella, or gruyere.

1. Preheat Oven to 400 degrees
2. If you have a pizza stone keep this in the oven while it preheats.
3. Check out how I make homemade Pizza dough  <OR> use premade dough at room temp, and rolled as thin as you can get.
4. Sprinkle dough with garlic powder and Salt.
5. Place on preheated pizza stone, or cookie sheet.
6. Bake for 5-7 minutes and remove from oven.
7. Spread pesto across dough and top with grated cheese.
8. Bake for another 6-7 minutes.
9. Remove and let cool slightly before slicing into pieces.
10. Best when dunked into soup!

MMMM! Stay dry!

Muy Caliente

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Homemade Salsa Fresca

fresh veggies are absolutely beautiful

Chips are salsa are my go to food for everything! I can never get enough as a snack, with a meal, or with a delicious margarita! I'm not a huge fan of potato chips but give me some really good tortilla chips and I am a happy girl! I am actually quite the tortilla chip snob. I'm super picky about what brands and types I prefer to eat. However if the salsa is out of this world I could care less about what kind of chip I am dipping into it.

I eat a ton of salsa and love trying new flavors and different brands. I use it in a lot of different ways.

Its a great way to flavor rice, add some zing to chicken, or even on top of an omelet. The possibilities are endless!!!

Ok maybe I am little too excited about that, but what you should be excited about is how easy it is to make your own fresh salsa. This is defiantly not your mamma's jarred salsa. It is light and fresh with a great kick to it!

You should go ahead and make this next time you have some friends over. Once they try it they are going to say, "MMMMM this salsa is phenomenal, where did you get it?!"

You can simply reply, "Oh I just whipped that up before you got here."

Trust me they will be surprised. Not only because it tastes great but because most people don't usually think to make their own salsa. So it will be a tasty surprise!

Salsa Fresca

Makes about 2 cups.                                                            

2 large fresh ripe tomatoes, seeded and chopped

1/2 large onion, peeled and minced (i prefer red onion)

1/4 teaspoon minced garlic

1  jalapeño pepper, stemmed, seeded, and minced

1/4 cup chopped cilantro leaves

1 tablespoon fresh lime juice or half of one line

Salt and freshly ground pepper.

• Combine all ingredients, taste and adjust seasoning as necessary.
• Let the flavors marry for 15 minutes or so before serving, but serve within a couple of hours.

Try with these tortilla chips, they are my favorite!