Tortellini Market Salad with Pesto

I made this salad for a sunset dinner with a friend on a lazy Sunday after a weekend of eating pizza for dinner (okay maybe we had the rest of it for breakfast too!) You will feel good eating this salad because it's fresh, healthy and colorful. The dressing / pesto recipes here are enough for about 4 dinner sized salads, but I will leave the rest of the amounts up to your personal tastes and preferences.

Ingredients

Pesto
1/4 cup packed basil leaves
1/4 cup packed Italian parsley
2 T pine nuts
1 T chopped shallot
2 T lemon juice
3 T olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Dressing
2 t chopped basil leaves
4 t red wine vinegar
3 t olive oil

Salad
2 cups organic red leaf lettuce, washed and chopped
2 cups mache lettuce*
2 cups baby lettuce blend
shelled English peas, cooked and set to room temperature
thin sliced radishes
thin sliced English cucumber
thin sliced red onions
cooked asparagus tips (I forgot to add these but it was my intention)
avocado slices
fresh cheese tortellini, cooked and drained
toasted pine nuts
crumbled farmer's cheese or queso blanco (in the Mexican food cold aisle of the market)
salt and pepper to taste

Directions
Add pesto ingredients to a food processor and blend until smooth. You may need to add more oil or lemon depending on the thickness you desire. Let set up to a day in the refrigerator.

Blend dressing ingredients together and let set out.

Let lettuce crisp up by washing and setting in the refrigerator covered with a wet paper towel. When you are ready to serve, toss the lettuce in a large bowl with the other vegetables and dressing. Plate salad onto individual plates and add tortellini, pine nuts and cheese to each individually. Drizzle each plate with pesto and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

*I have a new obsession with mache lettuce, which is slowly gaining popularity in America. It tastes nutty, is a rich green color and has a delicate texture. High in vitamins A, B and C, it is known to fight stress and fatigue. It also has a third more iron in it than spinach! I haven't seen mache in many grocery stores as of yet, but I have found it in the bagged lettuce area at Trader Joe's.

Thank you Narineh for taking lovely pictures of the meal! You should check out her blog Traditionally Modern Designs for more (and other great design, home, food, etc. stuff!)

Green Veggie Alfredo Pasta

Garret's mom used to make him fettuccine Alfredo a lot growing up, so in our earlier dating years, when eating on a college budget, I tried making him fettuccine Alfredo for the first time. My mom taught me to make Alfredo sauce from a roux and needless to say, the fettuccine turned out more like paste than pasta. He ate it anyway, but has since taught me "his" way of making the sauce, which is unexpectedly from cream cheese. I haven't tried making it the roux way since; this is great and much easier.


















Ingredients:
two handfuls green beans, trimmed
one bunch spinach
2 - 4 servings noodle pasta
1 tsp canola butter
8 ounces light cream cheese
1 clove garlic, crushed
3 T milk
1/4 c Parmesan cheese, plus some for topping
1/8 cup toasted pepitas
1/8 cup manzanilla olives
salt and pepper and red pepper flakes to taste

Directions:
Bring a two pots of water to a boil. In one, blanche the green beans and set them aside, then steam the spinach in the same pot and set aside also. Boil pasta according to directions.

In the meantime, add butter, garlic and cream cheese to a sauce pan. Stirring with a whisk, add milk and Parmesan and stir until smooth. You may need to add more milk as it cooks.

Drain pasta and toss with sauce, vegetables and remaining ingredients.

I have been using Trader Joe's Multigrain Pasta with Flax. It has a really nice taste and texture as well as adding extra nutrients and protein. I'm usually not a fan of wheat pasta, but this stuff is GOOD!

Fresh Braised Greens and Lentils over Toast

I have been sick for a few days now and I decided I needed some fresh air tonight so I walked down to SLO's Farmer's Market. (For all the people who know what a gem this is- you're jealous right now). Tonight I found a lady who had these amazing baskets of fresh greens for salads, stir fry, you name it. I ended up getting a mix of them that consisted of chard, kale, pea shoots, broccoli rabe, etc. and created this for dinner. BTW- I got all this below for less than $11!


















Ingredients
splash olive oil
2 garlic cloves, smashed
1/2 red onion, diced
2 handfuls fresh greens
1/2 cup dried lentils
1/2 cup vegetable broth
1 t balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup diced stewed tomatoes
1/2 t whole seed mustard
1/4 cup dry red wine
salt and pepper to taste

fancy bread cut into slices
Parmesan for sprinkling


















Directions
Add olive oil through greens to a hot pan and sautee. Add lentils through wine and let cook covered until lentils set up, about 30 minutes or longer.

Meanwhile, slice bread and place in oven at 400 degrees to toast.

Serve lentils over toast and sprinkle with cheese.

I purchased my bread from House of Bread. It was Basil Parmesan Bread which had a swirl of cheese and herbs inside. I discovered tonight that they have "day olds" on sale for $2.50 which is still much cheaper and more value than much of anything you can get at the grocery store. Tonight we definitely "ate local." This amount was just enough to feed two people along with a little salad and wine. Tonight I recommend Bishop's Peak Rock Solid Red.