I love a light, colorful, summery meal!

I made this yummy recipe from Cooking Light last week. It made so much that Todd and I ate it for lunch and supper for a few days. It tastes light, but it’s hearty.

We’re not big meat eaters. We like meat and don’t have any reason why we don’t eat it a lot other than the fact that our grocery bill is cheaper if we don’t eat it. So if we’re not eating meat, we like to eat something with black beans or mushrooms.

This recipe is loaded with yummy vegetables and I am just a sucker for pasta. I modified it a little bit to fit my tastes, but here’s the original recipe. (It also tastes great reheated)

I love how colorful it is! And the best part is that there are only 338 calories per serving.

Ingredients

3 cups (8 ounces) uncooked farfalle (bow tie pasta)
2 cups Roasted Vegetables (recipe below)
1 cup frozen petite green peas, thawed
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/4 cup (1 1/2 ounces) thinly shaved fresh Parmesan cheese

Preparation

1. Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Drain and keep warm.
2. Combine pasta, Roasted Vegetables, and peas in a large bowl. Top with parsley and cheese.

Roasted Vegetables

1 (8-ounce) package baby portobello mushrooms, halved
2 cups grape or cherry tomatoes
1 red onion, sliced
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 475°.
2. Combine first 6 ingredients in a bowl; toss well to coat. Arrange mushroom mixture in a single layer on a jelly-roll pan.
3. Bake at 475° for 15 minutes; turn vegetables over. Bake an additional 7 minutes or until vegetables are tender and lightly browned.

Do y’all have any great summer recipes to share?

I am often asked about this recipe that I talk about so often. It’s one of the most common searches that brings people to this blog. But I realized I never actually gave it its own post so you could easily find it.

I made Bow Tie Fiesta (from the Junior League of Columbia cookbook) for two friends this week. It’s such a great meal to take to a family because it’s kid-friendly, husband-friendly, and just undeniably delicious. It is one of Todd’s favorite dishes and it is just so easy to make. It freezes well and reheats well for leftovers. Todd actually swears that it’s better the second day.

This morning, I took Bow Tie Fiesta, a spinach/strawberry/goat cheese salad, and a Butterfinger pie to two families. I like to package things in disposable containers so they don’t have to worry about returning them. I used some of my personalized labels to write the date that it was prepared and any heating or reheating instructions.

I fixed another batch for us to eat at home. Todd gets annoyed when I make yummy meals and take them to others out of the house, but fix turkey sandwiches for us. So I made some Bow Tie Fiesta for him, too. (Did I mention that my picky toddler eats it, too?)

The original recipe calls for black olives and jalapeños, but I omit both of those every time because I just don’t love either ingredient.

And, no, I have no idea how many calories are in each serving. This is one of my “free meals.”

Bow Tie Fiesta

Source: Down By The Water from the Junior League of Columbia

Ingredients

8 ounces bow tie pasta
1 pound ground beef
½ onion, chopped
½ green bell pepper, chopped
1 (15-ounce) can tomato sauce
1 tablespoon chili powder
Salt to taste
1 cup sour cream
1 cup salsa
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

Directions

Cook the pasta using package directions and cooking for 7 minutes; drain. Brown the beef in a skillet, stirring until crumbly; drain. Add the onion and green pepper and mix well. Cook until the onion is tender, stirring constantly. Stir in the tomato sauce, chili powder, and salt. Combine the pasta, ground beef mixture, sour cream, salsa, black olives, jalapenos, and tomato in a bowl and mix well. Spoon into a 9×11-inch or 9×9-inch baking dish. Sprinkle with the cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 30 minutes or until brown and bubbly. Yield: 8 servings

sometimes the yummiest dishes look the least appetizing in photos

*Hey, friends! Today, I’m welcoming my very first guest blogger. Because I’m heading out of town, and because she’s so flippin’ awesome, I asked my (real-life) friend, Crist, to write a guest post on whatever she wanted to write about. Crist and I have known each other for about five years, but have become better friends in the last couple of years. She is my gym buddy and she took the really fun photography class with me. And both of these things were her idea, so I owe her. So she’s posting on my blog. She shares a cooking blog with her friend Christina, and this blog has the cutest title ever. Be sure to add The Dough Will Rise Again to your Reader.

When Erin asked me to do this guest post, she specifically told me that I “have to be funny,” and I thought to myself — crap, I’m only funny when I’m snarky and most of that’s not fit for public consumption! That said, I’m Crist and I’m the idiot Erin’s been going to early morning jazzercise classes with. (Bless her heart.) I’m also a Master Shopping Enabler, hater of most pop culture and movies, and a lover of all things internet/technology-related. I started a blog in 2004 to chronicle my life, but lost my mojo in 2009. In late 2011, I brought my genius back to the masses with The Dough Will Rise Again, a cooking blog I co-author with my imaginary-turned-real-life best friend, Christina.

My culinary skills have evolved greatly over the last 10 years. From throwing some chicken tenders in a skillet and dousing them in a little buffalo sauce and declaring that supper, to hosting my in-law Christmas dinner this past year – I’ve come a really long way. There have been many bumps over the years, and a couple of nights we’ve dumped my hard work in the trash and opted for scrambled eggs. There’s nothing I hate worse than spending a fortune on ingredients and a couple hours in the kitchen only to have the dish turn out just “eh.” But for all the things I’ve mastered — risotto, actually making chicken delicious, a 14-layer chocolate cake for heavens sakes — one thing laughs at me every single time I attempt it. And it’s embarrassing for all involved.

Y’all, I can’t make grits.
I’m a born and bred South Carolinian who’s loved and appreciated grits for as long as I can remember, and yet. The creamy, decedent perfection alludes me every time. Mine are always grainy and not properly seasoned — no matter how much time I spend or how much salt I add, it never seems to be enough. A friend and I were discussing this one day, and she proclaimed, “making grits is a man thing, Crist.” And she’s right. Fortunately, I married a man who can cook most every Southern delicacy; from perfect butterbeans to country fried steak to boston butts, the boy knows his way around a tub of Crisco. And best of all, his grits are perfection… which is likely his heavy handed seasoning, use of a quart of cream, and a lot of butter, along with the patience of Job.

And so, I’ve accepted my lot in life, and just focus on the grits accompaniments. In that spirit, I want to share with you the shrimp and grits we made a couple of weekends ago. It was simplistic and yet complex – I think the vinegar and brown sugar is a great addition to the tomatoes. Mine never quite got as thick as I imagine the recipe writer wanted it to be, but we decided it was as thick as we would want it. For the love, don’t leave off the bacon. And none of that microwave, pre-cooked bacon, y’all. Besides, if you microwave your bacon, what grease do you plan to cook your onions and garlic with? Hmm?

Southern Cheese Grits with Shrimp and Tomato Conserve
via Natalie Dupree’s Shrimp and Grits Cookbook

4 tbsp butter, divided
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
4 cups cooked grits, cooked with milk
2 pounds shrimp, peeled and deveined
½ pound bacon, cooked crisp and crumbled, grease reserved
1 medium onion, chopped
2 tbsp chopped garlic
1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes
¼ cider vinegar1/3 cup brown sugar

Add 2 tablespoons butter and cheese to hot grits.

Heat remaining butter in a large-heavy bottomed frying pan and saute the shrimp quickly, until they turn pink. Remove shrimp with a slotted spoon and set aside.

To make the conserve, add the onion and garlic to the buttered pan with bacon grease and cook until soft, about 4 minutes. Add the tomatoes, vinegar and brown sugar and simmer for 20-25 minutes, or until the sauce is thick and jam-like. Remove from heat and stir in shrimp.

Serve over the hot grits. Top with crumbled bacon.