What I'm cooking

It's that time of year when cooking becomes lighter. There's just something about warmer weather that makes me want to not do as much on the dinner/cooking front as I do during the dark, cold months of winter. (It's also that time of year when my husband offers to grill something, which is also a popular activity for me, since all I have to do is say stuff like, "How long before I should pour the salad out of the bag?" But I digress.) We've also made a commitment around here to do more vegetarian meals. So this is our go-to, super-duper easy dinner that we make pretty often once Daylight Saving Time kicks in. It's easy, delicious, and nutritious. And clean-up afterward is a breeze. 


Goat Cheese Arugula (or Spinach) Pasta

  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 1/2 head of garlic
  • ½ teaspoon of salt
  • 1 container grape tomatoes, halved
  • 2 cups coarsely chopped arugula (or spinach)
  • 5 ounces goat cheese (or, handily, 1/2 of a Costco Kirkland brand goat cheese tube)
  • 8 ounces of your favorite pasta
 
  1. Cook favorite pasta according to package instructions. After you get that going...
  2. Heat olive oil in deep skillet and saute garlic over medium heat until soft and fragrant, about 5 minutes.
  3. Add tomatoes and cook until you can smoosh them down well, about 10 minutes.
  4. Add arugula and cook until wilted, about 5 minutes.
  5. Add goat cheese and cook until fully melted. If necessary, add a little pasta water to make it creamy.
  6. Add in pasta and combine until fully heated.
  7. Enjoy!
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What I'm reading

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Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone

Benjamin Stevenson

Okay, total disclaimer: I have just started reading this. As in, I read the prologue this morning to make sure I wanted to read it next, and it sucked me right in, so tonight, this baby is  officially my Book of the Week.

From the inside cover flap: "Knives Out and Clue meet Agatha Christie and The Thursday Murder Club." I mean, come on. How do I resist a description like? Especially considering the fact that the only TV subscription I kept while purging all my TV subscriptions at the beginning of the year is Acorn?

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go pop some popcorn and get started.


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What I'm watching

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Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries
Acorn

The world is a dang scary place right now. (Oh, don't get me started.) And when the world gets scary, I need escapism and lots of it. But I also need comfort. The kind of comfort that comes with revisiting old friends. And it doesn't hurt if there's lots of humor and style included. And velvet. Lots and lots of velvet. Thank god there's "Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries."

If you haven't seen this show yet, you must. Talk about escape. Based on books by Australian writer Kerry Greenwood, it takes place in 1920s Melbourne and is chock full of mayhem and mystery. In addition to being a joy to look at (seriously, so much velvet), it has some of the most wonderful characters I've ever met. (Hel-loo, Detective Jack Robinson with the dreamiest voice ever.) It's been so much fun going back to revisit. For like, um, the fourth time. It's just that good.

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What I'm listening to



Old Pier One CD - "Latin Breeze"

Summer is just around the corner, which means bringing out my "warm" music. This collection isn't actually available anymore for retail sale, but if you can find it online, I highly recommend.





Green Day - "American Idiot"

Like I said above, the world is a scary place right now. This is getting a lot of play.






Caro Emerald - "The Shocking Miss Emerald"

Another revisit with an old friend. I just love Caro.








The Go-Go's [sic] - "Talk Show"

I was slammed by a wave of nostalgia the other day, and this album brings back such good memories for the time I was nostalgic for. (As an aside, the [sic] is there because the band incorporates an apostrophe in their name that doesn't sit well with the punctuation geek in me. Hmpf.)