Pineapple Bell Pasta

Okay, so I'm back from my hiatus. I haven't been able to update due to the lack of internet at the new apartment. Speaking of which... check out my awesome new kitchen. Although this picture hardly does it any justice. It is very gigantic and we just love having a kitchen with all the appliances, like a dishwasher! Hooray for dishwashers.
We also had to get some new kitchen accessories including new dishes and mugs and an awesome new knife set. Oh my goodness I love my new knives!! We got a great set on sale at J.C. Penney's. I can't believe how much I love the new apartment in general, but a having a kitchen to love is so important, especially for someone who loves to cook.

And now on to the food. I've cooked three meals that are blog worthy so far in the new place, but I couldn't find my camera, so two of them will have to wait until I load the photo from my phone.

Today's dinner menu is a combination of pork, pineapple, bell pepper, and pasta. I like to call Pineapple Bell pasta. The reason for the name will become apparent after I break down the ingredients.

2 boneless pork loins
1 can pineapple chunks
1/3 box campanelle pasta
1 bell pepper, any color
1 bottle of hawaiian marinade

It is a pretty simple ingredient list, and the "Bell" in the dish name does double duty because there are bell peppers and campanelle pasta. Campanelle translated from Italian to English means little bells or trumpet flowers which are in the shape of bells. This type of pasta is one of my favorite types of pasta because it maintains its texture and looks very pretty on a plate.

How to make it:

1. Place the defrosted pork loins in a plastic container with a lid. Coat them completely with the marinade and add a little more sauce than you think is necessary. Place the container in the refrigerator for approximately forty-five minutes.

2. When the meat is done marinating remove it from the fridge and put the water on to boil to prepare for making the pasta. (You may add olive oil and/or salt to the water) Once the water is boiling poor the pasta into the water and let it cook for around ten minutes or until al dente.

3. While the pasta is boiling, cook the pork in a frying pain, turning it often. The marinade will caramelize on the pork. When the pork is almost done cooking (about 7 or 8 minutes on medium heat), add 1/2 of the can of pineapple chunks and chopped bell pepper to the
pan as well as half the pineapple juice.

4. When the pasta is fully cooked, drain the pasta and then add it to the pan to coat it in the pineapple juice and marinade mixture that has become the sauce.

5. Plate. Serve. Enjoy your Pineapple Bell pasta!

Here are some pictures so that you can see what the finished product should look like.



How do you like our new dishes? Pretty aren't they?
This dish can also be made with chicken, and also with the meat chopped up so that it can cook faster. I can also recommend adding fresh basil leaves as well as fresh ground pepper.

I hope you enjoy this dish as it is a household favorite around here.

Until next time happy experimenting and enjoy what you eat!

Experiment #2

So I am moving on Friday and so I am trying to finish all of my food so that I don't have too much to carry to the new apartment. I especially need to finish the food in the freezer and the refrigerator so that it doesn't go bad on the trip across town. So last night I made a pretty delicious concoction in the form of a garlic bread burger.

I took four slices of frozen cheesy garlic bread (the kind in slices) and baked them according to the instructions on the box.

I also had two frozen burger patties in the freezer which I grilled on my handy George Foreman Grill. I love my George Foreman and probably use it 80% of the time that I cook with meat. So I grilled up my burgers and put them on the Garlic bread as a bun. Delicious!! Next time I make this treat it will also include some other fixins... Here are some of the ideas I came up with.

Italian burger = Garlic Bread, Burger, and Tomato sauce.

Or also adding traditional burger toppings like tomatoes, lettuce, onions, etc.

Using the garlic bread was a great choice because we didn't have any traditional burger buns, and I'm not sure that I will be able to feed my boyfriend another burger on a regular bun.

Until next time, happy experimenting and enjoy what you eat!



These photos and recipes are my own and if you sell them, that is stealing!

The inspiration

Okay, so welcome to my blog. I've been harboring a dream for the last year of creating my own cook book. Last week, I finally decided that the best way to get started and to archive my ideas would be to start this blog. So I figure the best way to get started would be to list a little bit about what kind of foods I love and where this blog will be headed.

Last summer my desire for creating a cook book came into being. I was living in Italy in a small town called Perugia. It is right in the middle of Italy and is absolutely packed with delicious foods. I loved everything about Perugia and I especially loved the new Italian foods that I had never had before in the United States. Most Americans see Italian food as pasta with tomato sauce and garlic bread and pizza. That is far from the truth and modern Italian food is just that: Modern. Italian cooks put new twists on traditional Italian food. Since my return from Italy last year I have been inspired to make small changes to simple recipes. This is of course what Emeril Lagasse calls, "kicking it up a notch." I find inspiration in every trip to the grocery store and at every place that I go out to eat. This blog will be focused on the creative foods that I create and the wonderful things that I get to eat when I dine out.

I finally decided to start the blog last week when I created a delicious, decadent, and somewhat nutritious dessert. I'm not quite sure what I want to call it. Maybe summer fruit shortcake. It is one of the more creative things that I have come up with in the dessert category. In order to make it I bought shortcake shells at the grocery store along with fresh raspberries, bing cherries, and peaches, and then a chocolate bar of 70% cocoa (I prefer Lindt). The first step was to start melting the chocolate. I only used half of the chocolate bar and melted it slowly over a double boiler. While the chocolate melted I took the raspberries and mashed them up in order to create a fresh jam, my raspberries were already quite sweet so I didn't add sugar, but if you want something a little sweeter, now would be the time to add sugar. I let these set while I peeled and sliced the peaches and then poached them in Captain Morgan's Rum for about 5 minutes. The rum adds an extra level of sweetness to the peaches as well as softens them so that they are tastier. While I did this, I made my boyfriend half and pit the cherries. At this point all of the
ingredients were ready to be assembled. I spread the raspberries onto the shortcake shells and then arranged the sliced peaches and cherries over the top. I then took a spoon and drizzled the chocolate over the top of each one. The final product was light and delicious and a great dessert choice for a summer evening when you don't want to heat up the house with baking. We also paired ours with a nice cheap "champagne." (I use quotes because I can't afford the stuff from France). Check out some photos I took.




Until next time, happy experimenting and enjoy what you eat!

These photos and recipes are my own, so please be aware that selling them is stealing!