Is it beach weather where you live yet (or I guess depending on where you live I should ask pool, lake or picnic weather)? Is our weather finally on the same page across the country?

My family and I started hitting the beach on the weekends early last month. I don’t necessarily wait till the weather warms up to enjoy the beach, I LOVE the beach pretty much all times of the year , every season (fall and early spring might be my favorite), any time of day (early mornings and late afternoons are the most peaceful for me), every weather condition (where I come from we flock to the beach when a hurricane is brewing). I spent most of my life just 10 minutes from the ocean (and was lucky to work at my parents restaurant that was just a few feet from it) and can honestly say that I am my calmest and happiest self near the water. When I lived at home with my family, going to the beach consisted of grabbing a towel, a bottle of water and a book and heading out the door. My hometown beach is small and quaint so parking or finding a quiet spot on the sand was never an issue.

It was and still is my favorite place to be.

These days though, I live close to 45 minutes from the beach. Sadly, we (I) don’t get there as often as I would like. And my “new” beach is not like my old quiet and quaint beach, it’s pretty much the exact opposite. My new beach is a destination beach and there are lots of cars, peoples, hotels, bikes and stuffs going on. It’s a little different. It’s a lot different. But you know what? Once I settle into my chair and see the backsides of my kids running out toward the water, it’s all good. I’m at ease and in a happy place (though sweaty and a little winded after lugging a ridiculous amount of bags, chairs, towels, toys, a cooler and an umbrella, I guess it counts as workout of some sort right?). There is absolutely nothing like that fresh ocean breeze and the subtle sounds of waves crashing, sigh…even if there is a Spring Break USA scene going on behind me.

For fun…last spring, I tweeted a photo of my kids to our weather guy… how excited were we to see it on the afternoon news later that day!

I always pack up a big cooler when going to the beach. We get hungry. It usually consists of lots of sandwiches, fruit, snacks, beverages. On our last beach day, I wanted to eat something a little different. I very quickly and easily put together this mayo-free pasta salad using basic ingredients I pretty much always have on hand. Since there’s no mayo, it’s easy to serve at any outdoor get together you may be planning or having over the next few glorious months of summer!

Enjoy the rest of your week!

Beach Day Macaroni Salad
Recipe created in Aggie’s Kitchen

For the dressing:

1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon mustard
good pinch of salt and pepper

Prepare dressing in an air tight container or glass jar. Add all ingredients to container and shake well for a few seconds until well blended. Taste for salt and pepper.

For the macaroni salad:

1/2 lb whole wheat elbow macaroni, cooked and cooled
2-3 celery stalks, rough chopped
2-3 carrots, rough chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 sweet yellow onion, chopped
1 can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed (I use Bush’s Best Garbanzo Beans)

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Add half of the dressing to the pasta and veggies and toss gently to cover. Taste for salt and pepper and season accordingly. Add more dressing if needed or set aside to add at a later time (if not serving immediately, you may have to redress your salad a bit, the pasta tends to soak in the dressing when it sits in the fridge for a while. I also like just splashing on red wine vinegar on its own to freshen it up.)

More mayo-free pasta salads for you to enjoy:

Pasta Salad with Balsamic Basil Vinaigrette

Easy Mayo-Free Pasta Salad from Delicious Dishings

Shrimp Pasta with Strawberry Champagne Vinaigrette from Mommie Cooks

Spring Orzo Pasta Salad with Asparagus and Artichokes from Food For My Family

Roasted Garlic Pasta Salad with White Beans and Spinach from My Kitchen Addiction

Before I posted one of my most asked for recipes, I had to do a little research on what to call it first. This is what I learned (from Wikipedia):

Marinara sauce is an Italian-American term for a simple tomato sauce with herbs—mostly parsley and basil—but, contrary to its name (which is Italian for “sailor-style”) without anchovies, fish, or seafood. In Italy, marinara refers to a seafood-based sauce or food and does not imply that tomato is either included or excluded.

I have always assumed marinara sauce to be simple, chunky tomato sauce but I never looked up it’s actual definition. My family is from Sicily and to be honest, I don’t really remember referring to our sauce as “marinara” until we opened up our second restaurant in Florida over 20 something years ago. Our sauce was always “sauce” (not gravy either…just sauce).

My sauce, apparently, is a perfect example of what marinara is. It’s simple that’s for sure, and that’s just the way I like it. I’ve always loved tomato-ey sauces, and I have always asked for an extra scoop over the top while my mom or grandpa set up the plates. That little extra sauce made a nice companion to the extra bread I like to consume during our weekly Sunday pasta lunches. Total perfection I tell you. Nothing better than cleaning up your pasta plate with a chunk of bread.

I put together this quick marinara sauce yesterday for our Sunday lunch, served over whole wheat rotini pasta and accompanied with sun-dried tomato chicken sausages, roasted broccoli and some roasted eggplant. Oh, and don’t forget the Parmesan and red pepper flakes.

Simple Marinara Sauce
Recipe created in Aggie’s Kitchen

1 32 oz can crushed tomatoes
1 15 oz can diced tomatoes (Italian style or regular is fine)
1 small onion, minced
2-3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon olive oil
good pinch salt and pepper
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 small handful of fresh basil torn

In a medium sauce pan, heat olive oil over medium heat and add garlic and onion. Saute for a few minutes until onion starts to soften and all becomes fragrant. Add both cans of tomatoes and bring to a simmer. Season with dried oregano, salt and pepper and stir. Let sauce simmer on low for about 20-25 minutes. Taste for salt along the way and adjust. Add fresh torn basil towards end of cooking time. Serve over warm pasta and enjoy.

I think I may have mentioned that I’m drowning in cabbages and salad greens a few times and to a few people over the past few weeks. If you didn’t know, I joined a CSA last month and every Thursday evening the kids and I get in the van and drive over to our pick-up spot to get our share of local farm fresh produce to take home. The process of coming home with two huge bags filled to the rim with veggies (some I don’t always recognize) was a little overwhelming at first, I will openly admit. Since the veggies are literally coming straight from the farm and off of a truck into my hands, I have some work to do when I get home. I start before I leave the house by cleaning my sink well. When I get home with my bags, I open them up and sort through what I have. I fill up my sink with cold water and start cleaning the veggies by cutting off any roots or yellow leaves and letting them soak for a few minutes.

I lay out 2 or 3 clean dish towels on the counter next to the sink where I let everything completely dry for a good hour or two afterwards, before putting it all away in the fridge, either wrapped in dry paper towels or in ziploc bags.

I have to say, 4 weeks in, I’ve got a good system down and it really has become an interesting and delicious experience for my whole family.

(and the scraps are keeping the compost bin entertained and full!)

I will say, joining a CSA isn’t for everyone. If you don’t like to be too adventurous with your cooking, or like to have very planned meals, then it’s probably not something you want to invest in. Though you do have somewhat of an idea of what you will be taking home each week, it’s really not the same as pushing your shopping cart through the produce section of the grocery store with a list. Instead, your CSA bag is basically filled for you by a farmer and filled with whatever nature is growing for you that week. I love the whole concept of it and I really enjoy the surprise of what we take home. But it is a challenge.

My kids think it’s pretty cool too.

Needless to say, I’ve been having to stay on my toes as far as finding recipes and ideas for how to use up all of this wonderful produce. One thing I’ve been getting  a lot of is asian cabbages like napa cabbage and bok choy.

You already saw the Asian Stuffed Cabbages I made for dinner a couple of weeks ago that turned out to be a hit. Here’s another Asian-inspired dish I made recently using up the rest of the cabbages I had in the fridge. A delicious, soba noodle stir fry that fed me at lunch for two days. That’s right, fed me…meaning, my husband and kids never even got to try it. Oops.

I guess that means I have to make it again soon. Soon meaning probably this weekend.

You can find my recipe for Stir Fried Soba Noodles with Napa Cabbage and Bok Choy over on Family Kitchen this week. Enjoy!!

Last weekend, after receiving my little stash of meyer lemons I immediately started playing with some recipes. I made this really flavorful pesto one afternoon with the huge bunch of arugula that was in my last two CSA pickups. I love the peppery bite of arugula and paired up with parmesan cheese and sweet meyer lemon juice, this sauce really brightened up a simple bowl of whole grain pasta.

Now, I have to admit a huge goof on my part. I always add pine nuts when I’m making my traditional basil pesto, and had toasted up some walnuts to add to this arugula pesto. Well, I forgot to add them and didn’t realize it until pasta was tossed and in our bowls ready to eat. So instead, I used the toasted walnuts as a crumbly and crunchy topping for the pasta. It worked. And I would make it exactly the same way next time.

You can find my Meyer Lemon and Arugula Pesto Sauce recipe over at Babble’s Family Kitchen.

And while you’re here, don’t forget to enter into my current giveaway for a chance to win a tote of meyer lemons and a$25 gift certificate to Williams-Sonoma (did I mention I’ll be picking two winners for this one??).

Have a great week!

Christmas Eve is by far my favorite meal of the year. For as long as I can remember, we have pretty much eaten mostly the same few dishes (all seafood) every single Christmas Eve and I wouldn’t have it any other way. It’s a feast I tell you.

I didn’t really ‘know’ this until I was older, but apparently, our Christmas Eve feast is called Feast of the 7 Fishes. For all I knew, growing up, it was just what we did, what we ate on Christmas Eve…I didn’t realize it was such a cultural thing until later on. What I love, especially in food blogging world, is seeing other people celebrating Christmas Eve the same way…similar food, similar traditions. It’s pretty cool.

These pictures on this post were taken a few years back, I can’t believe I am just now blogging about it now. I am shocked it took this long…and that my kids looked like this that year…my babies!!

Sammy was huge into Transformers this year…

Gosh, I just love the belly on that baby girl…

And my sweet grandparents…one of my favorite pictures of them.

Amore!!

And of course the food…

Here we have simple shrimp cooked in lemon and wine …

 Fish Oreganata (this was my contribution a couple years back)

Steamed Mussels with wine and tomatoes (similar to Paula’s recipe here)

Chilled Seafood Salad… (similar to Gina’s Chilled Calamari Salad here)

All seafood…a total feast I tell you.

My absolute favorite is the spaghetti….and the bacala (salted cod fish). I’m going to tell you how we make our spaghetti with breadcrumbs, but I’m going to have to get back to you on the bacala because I need to actually write it down this year while my Nonno is putting it together. It’s basically a stew type dish, baked in the oven…salted cod (rinsed many times), tomatoes, celery, onions, potatoes and olives…baked until bubbly and cooked through. Oh so good with crusty Italian bread sopping up the juices. My mouth is watering thinking of it.

Before going in the oven…

And this spaghetti. We call it Pasta e Muddica. I love saying it and my Nonna always has to correct me because I kinda goof it up sometimes. I love this spaghetti and have NO idea why I don’t make it ever on my own. Why do I eat something I love so much only one night a year? I don’t understand…

The recipe is one of those ‘recipes’ that you just follow lightly, there are no measurements, the ingredients are super simple and just perfect in my opinion.

Sicilian Spaghetti with Breadcrumbs (Pasta e Muddica)

1lb spaghetti
2 – 2 1/2 cups breadcrumbs (homemade would be best for this recipe, but store bought are definitely okay)
1 tin anchovies, coarsely chopped
3-4 garlic cloves, minced
olive oil
Parmesan cheese
red hot pepper flakes (optional)

Cook your spaghetti according to directions, preferably al dente. When cooked, drain and place in large serving bowl, or back in pot. Drizzle a good amount of oil over spaghetti to prevent from sticking.

You will serve your spaghetti in bowls, with additional olive oil and topped with breadcrumb mixture (that can be made ahead of time or while spaghetti is cooking).

To make breadcrumb mixture:

Heat a dry pan over medium-high heat. Add breadcrumbs to hot pan and toast up breadcrumbs till golden brown, careful not to burn.
In a small saucepan, heat a few tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat and add chopped anchovies and garlic. Saute anchovies and garlic for a couple of minutes until anchovies start to melt into the oil and garlic starts to become fragrant. At this time add your breadcrumbs to the anchovies and garlic, with an additional couple of tablespoons of olive oil. Stir together till it becomes crumbly.

Serve your pasta hot into bowls, drizzled with a little olive oil and your breadcrumb topping. Sprinkle grated Parmesan cheese (and red hot pepper flakes if you desire).

Buon appetito!

I shared a few more recipes that I found around the web on Family Kitchen this week in a post about our Italian Christmas Eve Tradition and the Feast of the 7 Fishes…check it out here.

Also on Family Kitchen, a few great roundups if you are still need recipes and ideas for your holiday entertaining:

10 Goat Cheese Appetizers

8 Festive Latke Recipes

Grown Up Jello Shots for your Holiday Parties

12 Puff Pastry Appetizers for Holiday Entertaining

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Does anyone else feel like they are being swallowed up alive by the holidays? Man, it just gets SO busy this time of year. There’s just so much to do…some of it being obvious obligations like work and school, but there’s also so much other fun stuff going on that’s it’s so hard to fit it all in (and when you do then your house looks like a tornado hit it and you’re eating out almost every night). I was talking with a friend this morning and we were both saying how ‘overwhelmed’ was exactly what we didn’t want to be feeling 10 days before Christmas. We have talked the last few weeks about staying ahead of the game, not over committing ourselves, enjoying the moments, taking the time for reflection and family, but here we are…feeling overwhelmed. Sigh.

If you can relate, I’m sorry, but I just don’t know what to tell ya.

I guess all we can do is take a few deep breaths, wrap some gifts to get them off the list and make pasta. Because we all know pasta is the easiest and quickest way to get dinner on the table when you just don’t have it in ya to get dinner on the table.

Seriously…make this pasta. Your kids and husband will gobble it up. And so will you. If you don’t have kids or a husband, then you can have extra. Lucky lucky…

Bowties with Creamy Pumpkin and Parmesan

Recipe from Aggie’s Kitchen

serves 4

1 box whole wheat (or regular) bowtie pasta
2-3 tablespoons butter
3/4 15 oz can pumpkin puree (that’s what I had, but I would not have a problem using whole can next time)
3 tablespoons light sour cream or Greek yogurt
1/4 cup pasta water, reserved
salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
freshly grated Parmesan cheese (lots of it!)

Cook pasta according to directions. When pasta is cooked, set aside 1/4 cup of pasta water before draining pasta. After draining pasta, put back into pot used for cooking.
Add butter, pumpkin, sour cream or Greek yogurt, and pasta water to pot. Gently stir until combined and creamy. Add salt and fresh ground pepper to taste. Serve with a freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

Enjoy!

I like my greens. Swiss chard in particular. I only started eating swiss chard last year and now that I’ve been finding it more often in the produce market I like to shop at, I pretty much cook them up once or twice a week.

In case you didn’t know, greens are good for you…all kinds of good stuff in greens. So go ahead and eat ‘em.

Sometimes I get stumped on how to eat my greens though. I’ve sauteed them in a little olive oil and aleppo pepper and put them on pizza (OMG) and I’ve added them to soups. This time around, I put them in sauce.

I found a recipe in Everyday with Rachael Ray (I love this magazine btw, I always find recipes that I want to make when I buy her mag…good easy recipes!) for Chard with Red Sauce and I made it my own by eliminating the bacon (I know, gasp!!), adding a can of rinsed and drained white beans and serving it over whole wheat pasta.

I could eat bowl after bowl of this pasta. It was so good.

Swiss Card with White Beans in Tomato Sauce over Pasta
Recipe from Aggie’s Kitchen, inspired from Everyday with Rachael Ray magazine

3-4 servings

2 teaspoons olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
3-4 cloves garlic minced
1 bunch swiss chard, shredded
1 28oz can of crushed tomatoes
1 cup of water (added to crushed tomato can to pick up remnant flavor)
1 15 oz can of white beans, drained and rinsed (Bush’s Beans are my favorite!)
a pinch of salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste
red hot pepper flakes, to taste
1/2 box of whole wheat pasta

Prepare pasta according to directions.

While pasta is cooking, in a large saute pan, heat olive oil and begin to saute onion and garlic. Add a pinch of salt and pepper. Cook onions until soft, about 3-4 minutes. Add chard to pan and saute until soft and wilted, about 8-10 minutes. Add can of tomato sauce with additional water to pan. Stir and bring to a simmer. Add can of white beans to sauce and cook for about 2-3 more minutes until sauce is slightly thick and flavors have come together.

Drain pasta and drizzle with a little olive oil. Serve sauce over pasta with red pepper flakes and parmesan cheese.

Pasta makes me happy. It’s what I crave when I’m having an off day or am feeling homesick for my family. Or just in the mood for something good.

Total comfort food.

I shared this big bowl of comfort over at Family Kitchen last week. Here’s the recipe for Pasta with Roasted Vegetables and Tomato Sauce.

Hope you are having a great weekend….

Don’t get all crazy now…that Pea does not belong to me. I know my mom and mom-in-law just got all kinds of excited. They probably aren’t even reading the rest of this right now…

That Pea belongs to a special someone else…someone a group of food blogger buddies are virtually celebrating today with a surprise Baby Shower….SURPRISE Maria!!  Are you feeling the Love?

For those of you who don’t know….Maria and her sweet husband Josh are expecting their 1st baby, a baby boy, and he’s due next month…just around the corner!

Some of you may already know Maria from her delicious blog Two Peas and Their Pod. Maria and I have been friends pretty much since we both started blogging….around the same time in 2008. I love this girl. I have been lucky to have been able to visit with her the last two summers in her part of the country, Salt Lake City, and can’t wait till the next time we have the opportunity to spend time again. Her and Josh are some of the nicest people I’ve ever met and I’m just over the moon excited to see them as parents. Don’t get me all teary now…I just love babies.

Let’s talk about this party instead. And with this party comes lots of cute stuff…and lots of good food.

I decided to bring something I always look for at a party…a good pasta salad. I’ve been making this pasta salad forever and it has always been a hit at get-togethers. What’s special about this salad is the dressing…oh how I love this dressing. It’s simple, its fresh and it goes perfectly with pasta and fresh veggies.

I make this pasta with whole wheat rotini, fresh veggies and chickpeas. The dressing is a perfect blend of balsamic vinegar, olive oil, garlic, dijon and lots of fresh basil. Yep…the basil is what makes this dressing so good.

Pasta Salad with Balsamic Basil Vinaigrette

Recipe from Aggie’s Kitchen

1 box whole wheat rotini pasta (whole wheat is totally optional)
1 pint grape tomatoes, halved
2 cups fresh broccoli florets, cut in small florets
1 small red onion, quartered and sliced thin
1 cup black or kalamata olives, halved
1 can garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained (I prefer Bush’s Beans garbanzos)
good pinch of course salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste
grated Parmesan cheese, for serving

For Dressing:
3/4 cup balsamic vinegar
3/4 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 garlic clove
good pinch of coarse salt and fresh ground pepper
big handful of fresh basil leaves

Cook pasta according to directions.

Place broccoli florets in a colander. When pasta is ready to drain pour over broccoli florets. Drain well and put in large bowl. Set aside and let cool.

In the meantime, make your dressing by adding all ingredients to a blender or food processor. Process ingredients for about 30 seconds until well blended and emulsified.

Add 1/4 of dressing to pasta and broccoli and gently toss. Once combined add the tomatoes, onions, beans and olives to pasta salad along with more dressing. Do not use all of dressing, save some for right before serving because pasta salad will soak up most of dressing and may dry out a bit. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving. Add additional dressing as desired and gently toss salad before serving. Taste for salt and pepper, I usually add a good pinch of both before serving. Serve with bowl of grated Parmesan cheese for garnish.

Enjoy this recipe and all the other crafts and yummy food from the rest of the gang! Stop by and say hi to them and of course Maria!

Maria and Josh…we love you guys and are so looking forward to meeting the third Pea!! Congratulations and Best Wishes!! xoxo

Crafts

Wenderly – Handmade Sweet Pea Cards

Our Best Bites – How To: Make a Diaper Cake Centerpiece

Drinks

Simple Bites – Lemon Balm infused Lemonade

Ingredients, Inc. – Healthy Fruit Punch

Food for My Family – Lemongrass Soda

Heather’s Dish – Mixed Fruit Punch

She Wears Many Hats – Mini Pistachio Smoothies

Georgia Pelligrini – Watermelon Aqua Fresca

Bites

With Style and Grace – Truffle Popcorn

Family Fresh Cooking – Baby Peas & Cheese Frittata

Barbara Bakes – Creamy Orange Fruit Dip and Fruit

Reluctant Entertainer – Nutella Berry Bruschetta

Sweets

Dorie Greenspan – French Lemon Cream Tart

TidyMom – Blue and Chocolate Cake Balls

i am baker – Baby Pea Baby Shower Cake

Brown Eyed Baker – Pavlova

Picky Palate – Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookie Sandwich

What’s Gaby Cooking – Coconut Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing

Cookin’ Canuck – Nutella & Cream Cheese Swirled Blondies

Kevin and Amanda – Baby Blue Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookie Cups

Sweetopia – Decorated Sugar Cookies

Mountain Mama Cooks – Lavender Shortbread Cookies

Sweetapolita – Little Pea Sugar Cookie Pops

Bake at 350 – Petit Fours with fondant pea pods

RecipeGirl – Baby Button Cookies

RecipeBoy – Mud Cups with Gummy Worms

Add a Pinch – Blackberry Tartlets

Dine and Dish – Oven Baked Cinnamon Apples

Vintage Mixer – Mint Chocolate Pudding Shots