First up, Sarah from What Smells So Good? submits "Hush - Hush Lasagna (or Lasagne)".  I love her story behind creating this delicious dish.

Shaheen from Allotment2Kitchen is next with a yummy Balsamic Infused Red Chard Pasta.  I found it interesting she noted the pasta had some briny overtones once the Balsamic vinegar was added to the red chard.  I bet it was delicious!

As I was driving home from work yesterday I realized (a) it had been a very long day, (b) I was very tired, and (c) I hadn't taken anything out for dinner.  I seriously thought about ordering pizza but I knew that I had little cash in my wallet (I don't usually carry much at all), and I hate paying for meals out with anything but cash (okay, I'm weird that way).   I remembered a recipe I read in this month's Eating Well magazine that I had bought the stuff for this week and decided to give it a try (with a few modifications, of course!).

Here's the original recipe.  I think I'm going to definitely have to keep a bag of frozen shrimp in the freezer from now on - it went together very quickly and the results were outstanding.  My biggest changes were to use frozen gnocchi instead of the shelf stable type, garlic instead of shallots, butter instead of olive oil, and an addition of some white wine (omitting the chicken broth).  Yikes, looks like I really changed things!

I was surprised at the richness of the sauce that the little bit of butter and white wine made with the creaminess of the gnocchi.  Try it - I'm sure you'll love it too!

Gnocchi with Shrimp and Asparagus
(modified from Eating Well Magazine)

• 1 pound frozen gnocchi
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 4 garlic cloves, sliced
• 1 pound raw shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 1 bunch asparagus, trimmed and cut into 3 inch pieces
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1/2 cup white wine
• juice from 1/2 lemon
• Parmesan cheese, to serve

1. Cook the gnocchi as directed on the package.
2. Heat butter in a large skillet over medium heat.  Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 2 minutes.  Add in the shrimp and asparagus along with the salt and pepper and cook until the shrimp is pink and cooked, about 5 or 6 minutes if frozen, 3 to 4 minutes if defrosted.
3. Add in the wine, lemon juice and gnocchi and toss to coat.  Heat through.
4. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese to serve.

Yes, this week Presto Pasta Nights is again being hosted here on Cook.  Craft.  Enjoy.  I'll have my pasta post in later today or tomorrow but I wanted to let everyone know I can't wait to see what delicious creations we all come up with.

Even if you've never participated before, we'd love to have you!  Here's the info:

All you have to do is write about a pasta, share the recipe, mention Presto Pasta Nights and Cook. Craft Enjoy (with links) .  Send your entries to  desertmemories (at) hotmail (dot) com and cc ruth (at) 4everykitchen (dot) com by Thursday to make it into Friday's roundup.

We (and I in general) are big gamers.  While I can't stand most of the mainstream games out there (Monopoly, Life, Payday, etc.), I'm big on tabletop and card gaming - especially games that are relatively quick to play.  While I used to be able to sit for 8+ hours playing D&D, the older I get the more other things happen to call at me and I just can't do it often anymore.

For a while we were playing MtG (Magic: The Gathering), Spite & Malice, and Uno but those got a little stale. We hadn't found any good games in a while but on an off chance, I found an awesome one for Liam's birthday.

Quarriors. (Said in a loud, booming voice) The best way to describe it is from the game's website: 

• A unique blend of strategy and chance featuring a revolutionary dice building game mechanic!
• As a Quarrior - a mighty mystical warrior - only you have the power to capture dangerous quarry from the untamed wilds!
• But your rivals plot against you! They will send their own Creatures and Spells to destroy your Quarry before you can deliver them to Empress Quiana and claim your reward! Summon your Creatures and protect them from your foes and you will earn Glory for yourself.
• The first player to earn enough Glory will be hailed as the Champion of the Empress.

Granted it took about 45 minutes for me to read and understand the rules but once we had those down it's been really fun to play.  I'd recommend setting up and starting the game as you read the rules because just reading them doesn't make a whole lot of sense.  Once we started playing, however, all the pieces fit together.

The box recommends ages 14 and up, but Liam has absolutely no problem playing (though he's grown up on tabletop games).  I'd recommend 9 and up depending upon their gaming ability.  One of the nicest things is that it's not just a skill game - it relies quite a bit on luck so everyone has a bad game once in a while. (Always nice when you play with younger kids - I refuse to let them win but it's disheartening to them when they don't win at least once in a while.)

I have three other new-to-us games to review, but I'll save those for another day.

As you can probably guess this week hasn't been the most awesome for cooking.  My goal was just to make sure we had some healthy things on our plate - and I think for the most part I succeeded.  Last week, however, I tried something new - pupusas.

Honestly don't ask me what possessed me to make them.  (Oh, don't know what they are?  From Wikipedia: "A pupusa (Spanish pronunciation: [puˈpusa], from Pipil pupusaw) is a traditional Salvadoran dish made of thick, hand-made corn tortilla (made using masa de maíz, a maize flour dough used in Latin American cuisine)" that is usually stuffed with cheese or a mixture of cheese and a ground meat paste.)

I opted to just make cheese pupusas and they came out really good.  The cheese I used was Panela, which is a slightly salty crumbly cheese, but I think I'd recommend using a cheese that melts a little better.  The dough was very easy to work with, though, and making the pupusas took virtually no time.  If you're going to make them, they taste wonderful warm but once they cooled they were very dry so I'd recommend having something to dip them in.

Queso Pupusas

• 3 cups masa harina
• 2 cups warm water
• 1 - 1 1/2 cups shredded cheese

Mix together the masa and water until a moist, firm dough forms.  You want to make sure that when you form it into small balls that it's not too dry and doesn't crack.

Preheat a skillet to 350 degrees.

With the dough, make balls roughly golf ball size.  Make an indentation with your thumb and put a small amount of the cheese in.  Seal the cheese inside the dough and then flatten the ball into a circle about 5 inches in diameter. 

Cook each pupusas on the skillet for about 3 or 4 minutes per side until lightly golden. 

While the spice cards are on the expensive side ($1 each), I justified it with the fact that the back of the card has the recipe with spice amounts so you can recreate it without again buying the card.  (A tip from one of the commenters on my original post.)  Included in the spices were minced garlic, marjoram leaves, ground mustard, basil leaves, oregano leaves and coarse black pepper.

I served it with baked kale (still Liam's favorite!), corn, and a potato knish.  How was it?  Really, really good.  Liam ate absolutely everything on his plate and then was asking for more.  (Honestly I probably could have eaten another filet as well.  It was delicious.)   All in all I'd say give those spice cards a try if you see one that looks good - the two so far we've had have both been winners.

PPN is proof that pasta is one of those things that has endless possibilities.  Looking through my "pasta" tag, I have 88 entries (89 now with this post!).   There's beef, pork, chicken, and seafood.  Meatless.  Cold salads.  The one thing I have noticed is I make a lot of Carbonara.  And this week's PPN submission is yet another variation.  This time using a pasta I found at Wegman's called Riccioli.

(See those red lines in the picture?  That's what I was complaining about ... sigh ... I have since retired that camera and will be using a different, albeit larger one.  I'll miss my little Panasonic.)

I just love the creaminess of the eggs with the Romano cheese.  Yum... I'm thinking we'll need to have this again soon ...

This week's PPN is hosted by the lovely Simona of Briciole.  Thanks so much, Simona, for hosting this week!  I can't wait to see what everyone else comes up with.

Riccioli Carbonara

• Riccioli pasta (1 pound package)
• 6 strips bacon, diced
• Parmesan or Romano cheese (about 1 - 1 1/2 cups grated)
• 3 eggs
• Salt and Pepper

1. Cook the Riccioli pasta as directed on the package.  You'll need a little of the pasta water so don't dump it all out when it's done.
2. In a frypan, fry the bacon until crisp.  Drain and set aside.
3. Beat the eggs with the cheese.  When the pasta is almost done cooking, add in a ladle of the boiling pasta water and whisk to combine.
4. Drain the pasta, reserving another ladle full of the boiling pasta water and then toss with the egg mixture (in the pot you cooked your pasta in) and extra ladle of water.
5. Toss to combine and cook, stirring constantly until the sauce gets a silky texture (about 2 minutes at most).  Season with the salt and pepper to taste.

So, how's everyone's April been?  This past Saturday was Travis' 20th birthday and unfortunately he's still in Texas at school so we didn't get to do anything exciting together.  I plan a cake for him when he gets comes home for a visit so we'll be doing a semi-birthday celebration then.  I'm so proud of all the hard work he's put forth in college and love the adult he's become.

April's also been an interesting month for me because I decided I'm going back to school in the fall.   A couple months ago I talked about some "life changing decisions" I was wrestling with and this is it.  After much consideration I decided I'm not happy with my career path and since I'm the only one that can do something about it, I'm going to.  All things went into motion and I was accepted to Marywood University.

I'm both nervous and excited about going (the big nervous being I haven't been in college in, oh, longer than most of the people I'll be going to college with have been alive!) but I think I'll do fine once things get started.   The most humerous thing to me is that when I started college after high school my major was Aerospace Engineering - and now my major is Graphic Design.   It's amazing how your life changes with what you want to be when you "grow up" once you actually do.

I think I'm going to prove to myself that I can be who I want and I am worth it.  A Facebook friend posted this to her wall last week, and this is definitely my new attitude toward life:

Have a wonderful week everyone! 

My grandparents both passed away many years ago - my grandmother on Christmas Eve of 1986 and my grandfather shortly after the 4th of July, 1990.  Growing up I have many, many fond memories of them - especially my grandfather whom I loved more than anything. 

My grandfather and grandmother at their wedding

They were a wonderful couple - through everything in all their time together loved each other with all their hearts

My grandfather on the left, his brother on the right, 1990

This morning was one of those mornings that I had a warm flashback of something my grandfather would make for me, and then let me make him when I lived with him the last year of his life.  Simple, but to me, comforting, a bagel with sharp cheddar, tomatoes and a little butter.

Doesn't look like much, but to me it brings my whole childhood back - and gives me pause to think of my grandparents fondly.  And in turn, share that love with you.

Are there foods that bring you back in time?

First, let me apologize for this photo.  It screams BROWN and that wasn't my intention.  I have a white plate that I like to use for plating but for some reason I just grabbed our regular bowls.  New plating dishes need to be in my future.  Really.

Because I can't leave well enough alone, I changed a few things - doubling the sauce and adding more hot sauce (in the form of Sriracha), more than halving the amount of meat she used, and changing the vegetables a bit to what I had in the house.  All in all I'm not sure I'd make it again without some more tweaking - I think I'd recommend adding some chili paste with garlic to the sauce (my favorite Asian condiment) and amping up the veggies some more.  But, it's a good catch all meal - and definitely healthier than take out.

This week PPN is hosted by Juli of Pictures of all my Princesses.  Head on over there tomorrow for the full round up.

Everything Lo Mein
(modified from Rachael Ray)

• 1/3 cup hoisin sauce
• 1/3 cup tamari
• 1/3 cup water
• 3 tablespoons hot sauce

• 1 pound spaghetti
• Salt
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 chicken breasts, thinly sliced into strips
• 1 pork chop, thinly sliced into strips
• Black pepper
• 2 teaspoons ground coriander
• 2 inches fresh ginger, chopped or grated
• 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 6 scallions, cut into 3-inch lengths then sliced lengthwise
• 1/2 pound mixed mushrooms, chopped
• 1 small can sliced water chestnuts
• 2 cups fresh bean sprouts
• 2 handfuls frozen edamame

Mix together sauce ingredients and reserve.

Bring pasta water to a boil, salt water and cook spaghetti to al dente.  About 2 minutes before the spaghetti is done, throw in the frozen edamame to cook.

Season the meat with salt, pepper and coriander. Heat the remaining vegetable oil then add meat and stir-fry until cooked through.  Remove from pan.  Add the  ginger, garlic and veggies (except bean sprouts) and stir-fry veggies 2 minutes, then add the meat back into the pan.  Add pasta and bean sprouts to skillet and pour sauce over and toss to combine.

Shelby from The Life & Loves of Grumpy's Honeybunch brings us a great Cooking Light adaptation of Shrimp Pad Thai.  Doesn't it look scrumptious?

Tandy, from Lavender and Lime brings us a recipe from Jamie Oliver (love him!), Pasta Al Forno Con Pomodori E Mozzarella.  Sounds like something I need to try.

Next up is Deb from Kahakai Kitchen with a Vegan Baked Macaroni and Cheese.  A trip to the local bookstore and Deb came home with a wonderful Vegan cookbook.  I'm glad she shared this recipe with us!

Mmmmm, more veggies from Heather of girlichef with Pipette con Broccoli.  I just love pasta with vegetables and this one looks so good!

Our next pasta is from Guy in Thailand, A Scientist in the Kitchen with Woonsen and Black Sesame Stir-Fry.  Another vegetarian entree, this one looks just as good as all the rest in our round up!

Joanne from Eats Well With Others brings us a Peanut Noodle Salad with Edamame and Bok Choy.  This is a recipe that she found on Marcus Samuelsson's blog and I'm so glad she shared it with us.

And finally, here's my submission for the week, Sausage, Mushroom and Broccoli Rigatoni. 

Thanks to all that participated this week, as well as all you wonderful readers out there.  If you'd like to participate, it's easy!  Here's all the info you need for next week's event:

PPN #256,  March 23
Host: Juli of Pictures of All My Princesses for the third time  
Send your entries to jules (dot) i (dot) m (at) gmail (dot) com and cc ruth (at) 4everykitchen (dot) com by Thursday March 22
Check back for the roundup on March 23

I came back from Texas with a renewed energy toward cooking healthy (thanks, Frances!) and although our 'fridge was bare, I managed to come up with this gem.  Quick, healthy, and delicious.  Just how I like it.

This weekend I plan to stock up on all the veggies I can get my hand on - salads sound so good now that the weather is warmer.  I have some homemade dressings I'd like to try - and some different toppings.  (And of course, to share with you.)  Last night, though, the pasta had to do so I added onions, garlic, mushrooms and broccoli to some turkey sausage.  Add a little olive oil and some diced mozzarella cheese and there you have it.  If you like things a little spicy, add a few shakes of red pepper flakes - I left those out - but they're always good with pasta (and pizza!)

Sausage, Mushroom and Broccoli Rigatoni

• 1 pound turkey sausage (hot or sweet, your choice)
• 1 onion, diced
• 4 cloves garlic, sliced
• 1 bunch broccoli, each florette cut in half
• 8 ounces mushrooms, sliced
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 box (16 ounces) rigatoni
• 1/2 cup diced mozzarella cheese

1. Place the turkey sausage in a pan covered with water and boil for 5 minutes or until mostly cooked through.  Drain and rinse with cold water to make it easier to handle.  Remove the casing and then slice thinly.  Set aside.
2. Prepare rigatoni as directed on package.  If it finishes before your "sauce" drain and set aside.
3. Heat a pan with 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil and add the onions, garlic and mushrooms.  If it's a little dry, add a little of the pasta water.  Cook until softened and starting to brown.  Add in the broccoli about half way through the cooking time to just cook through.  Remove to a bowl.
4. In the same pan, add in 1 tablespoon olive oil and the cut up sausage.  Cook until browned and cooked through.  Add in the vegetables and a little pasta water and cook until heated through.
5. After the rigatoni is cooked, add it back into the pan you cooked it in and pour the sausage sauce over the top.  Add in 1/2 cup diced mozzarella and stir.  Serve hot.

Make sure to check back tomorrow here for the PPN round up.  I know we have some yummy entries this week!

I think the best part of the trip was finding out how much I love her family - and how much food can bring people together.  Ashley's mom is an awesome cook and I enjoyed tasting her creations - and finding a kindred spirit when it comes to food.  Unfortunately I didn't get any real photos, but here are the ones I took with my iPhone (it's an old 3g - slow, but gets the job done):

View from the plane flying in - Storms above Dallas diverted us to Houston so the plane was 3 hours late.

First thing Travis wanted after his surgery - In N Out

Pot Roast Sandwich with Hummus and Avocado
(I know, sounds weird, but it was really very tasty)

From scratch biscuits with Prickly Pear Jelly - Mmmm

Spinach, Walnut, Apple and Blue Cheese Salad with Pomegranate Vinaigrette

Braised Chicken Thighs over Brown Rice

Fried Egg over Spinach Cream Saute over a Biscuit

Jalapeno Relish

REAL Texas Brisket

More burgers for Travis - this time Whataburger

Now don't forget this Friday I'm hosting Presto Pasta Night!  All you need to do is send your entry to desertmemories (at) hotmail (dot) com and cc ruth (at) 4everykitchen (dot) com by Thursday March 15th.  Then check back for the roundup March 16th right here!

I'm posting this a little early, but next week I'll be the host of Presto Pasta Night!  I really hope you'll be able to join in - I really can't wait to see what everyone comes up with!  All you need to do is send your entry to desertmemories (at) hotmail (dot) com and cc ruth (at) 4everykitchen (dot) com by Thursday March 17th.  Then check back for the roundup March 18th right here!

I'm posting this early because my son who goes to college in Texas is having surgery tomorrow and I'll be there with him until Tuesday.  So... I'll be away from my computer until Wednesday - so don't get concerned if you send me an entry and I don't reply until then.  I'll let everyone know how things are when I get back!