Roasted red pepper pasta

Sun dried tomatoes overwhelm me.
Too salty? Too chewy? Too much like olives? (dirty little salt bombs)
Who knows.
But next to them on the Mediterranean shelf at the market are roasted red peppers...shiny, sweet and beautiful jarred roasted red peppers.
Pair that up with some herbed VT Butter and Cheese co. Chèvre and you have yourself a tasty delight.
I jazzed this pasta dish up tonight with some sautéed veggie Lightlife bacon.
Ella loved it, Bannon devoured it, and the house smells great.
Here are the details:
Boil up 3/4 package of spaghetti according to package directions
Sauté one package chopped veg bacon
Remove from pan, set aside
In same pan, sauté one medium chopped yellow onion in 1TB butter and 1TB olive oil
Add 3-5 cloves minced garlic
Add 3-4 large chopped roasted red peppers
Sauté until softened and fragrant
Add two or so cups whole milk or half and half- whatever you prefer
Add one package- regular size log of herbed chèvre to sauté pan
Stir until combined
Season with sea salt and black pepper
Place pan contents into mixing bowl
Purée with an immersion blender
Place back into sauté pan and add bacon
Add spaghetti to pan
Stir and toss to coat
Add Parmesan Reggiano
Serve and enjoy!
Mangia!
xoxo
SAHC

Hard Boiled Beauties

Me and e and r had some friends over and colored some eggs.
It was awesome.
Boiled up a bunch of water.
Put 1 tsp of distilled white vinegar in each cup with drops of food coloring to make every color of the rainbow.
Add 1/2 C boiling water to each cup of color/vinegar mix.
My mama friend brought over two dozen brown eggs. White ones are hard to find where we live.
Turns out, the brown ones turned out gorgeous.
Used a tea diffuser to dunk and scoop the eggs.
Who needs one of those kits?
Chances are, you have everything you need right in your kitchen already.
We used a white crayon and did some fun doodles before dipping.
Each egg took 1-5 minutes per dye cup.
Longer dipping time equals more intense color.
Have fun!
Hoppy Easter!
xo
Ann

Hot. Fudge. Pie.

I made another pie. What a surprise.
It's amazing what nursing a kid full time does to your appetite for sweets.
The moment I weaned e, I stopped baking altogether. AND I was pregnant at the time! Never had a sweet tooth before and I'm praying it will go away when r weans. Alas, we shall see.
So, here we are, after an epic fail on trying to get r to sleep in his crib, in his room, in his own, last night.
He. Nursed. All. Night.
Just to punish me.
Which brings us to my voracious appetite for something cocoa-tastic today.
After an especially stimulating playgroup with e & r, we came home and I decided to whip up something wholesome. So I made hot fudge pie.
Don't worry, I didn't share it with the kids.
Preheat oven to 350
Melt 4oz of butter with 1 1/2 squares of unsweetened baking chocolate
Beat two eggs
Add 3/4 C sugar to eggs, stir well
Add butter chocolate melty goodness to sugary eggs
Add 2 TB milk
Add 1 tsp vanilla extract
Add 1/4 C all purpose flour
Stir ever so gently
Pour into buttered ceramic or glass pie dish
Bake for 20-25 minutes
Hide from children.
Enjoy.

Peanut Butter & Jelly Pie

Ask my two and a half year old what she wants to eat, and you'll typically get one of five answers:
Mac & Cheese
Pancakes
Waffles
Butter Jelly (peanut butter & jelly)
Oatmeal raisin cookies

After coming home from a particularly energetic playgroup, we were famished! We polished off a couple of peanut butter shortbread cookies, but it left us wanting more. I asked e what she wanted and she said 'butter jelly'.I kind of felt like a pie, hence, the peanut butter & jelly pie, with a twist.

Preheat oven to 350.
I used a store bought crust. Go ahead and judge me. I'm cool with that.
Par bake your crust until golden.
Let cool.

Soften one package of cream cheese and 1/2 cup of peanut butter (I use maranatha natural organic creamy) in a bowl together for 25-30 seconds in microwave, or allow to soften to room temp. I have two tiny kids and very little time to dilly dally, so I nuked it.
Add about 1/4-1/2 cup of confectioners sugar to bowl of PB and cream cheese. Whip with mixer until smooth and sweet to taste. I add gradually so it's not over sweetened.
Heat double boiler.
Add one bag of semi sweet or milk chocolate chips, melt until smooth, stirring frequently. Add a few TB of Nutella if you're feeling sassy.
Slice up about 4-6 large strawberries.
Gently spread peanut butter cream cheese mix into pie crust.
Layer sliced berries on top.
Carefully smooth melted chocolate on top and allow to cool.
Stick a few toothpicks into our and let those keep foil off of melted chocolate.
Refrigerate until chocolate hardens.
Slice and serve.
It wouldn't be the worst thing in the world to add a dollop of whipped cream to this either. Just saying.
Store (unlikely) leftovers in fridge.
xoxo
Ann

I Hope You're Happy

So, after a few years, and more than a few prods from friends, I've finally decided to start a blog. I hope to post as much as two little ones will allow me. Mostly about food, drinks, little ones, and what happens when you give food and drinks to little ones. I've been cooking both recreationally and professionally for almost 20 years now. All vegetarian, all the time. I'm raising two kids vegetarian as well. At least for the time being...more on that later. I should note that I'm married to a very patient and very adventurous omnivore.
So, yeah, I'll post recipes, pics, carbonation disasters and culinary triumphs. All for your delight and amusement.
Thanks for the poke, Liz...your bangs are hot.
xoxo
Ann