Congratulation goes out to the Foodbuzz nominees! I forgot to mention that the other day. The nominees are very deserving. Good work!
Also, thank you goes out to Fine Cooking for the wonderful comments about my blog and again many thanks for the free online member subscription! I’m loving it! **Update: stopped loving it due to technical/website issues, a nasty member and her comments and overall difficulty maneuvering the site
I must have been sleeping but this weekend, in town, is a Fall Festival. There’s a chance of snow…I hope it passes. Along with this festival is the Sue Perry Memorial Walk for Animals in Rice County Minnesota. I was not aware of this and I wish I had been because I could’ve created a page to collect donations this past week. I saw that donations were above $5,000 for the event so far. You can donate here. I am on that.
I wish our apartment allowed pets; I would probably take in at least 4 (more if we had a larger space). Then again, I don’t want to be cruel, as this is a small apartment with a large amount of stairs and no backyard or running area/grass nearby. I have a lot of love to give though. There is also a pet adoption in the afternoon; I always stop by those just to see the sweeties. Did you know that it’s about $25-30 per month to support an animal in a shelter? I donate money when I can but shelters usually welcome sheets, food, toys, etc. so keep that in mind for the furry friends in your local shelter.
On to the food! Last night I wasn’t in a cooking mood so I made a simple 12 to 15 minute meal of Mezze Penne in a Brown Butter and Spinach Pesto Sauce.
Penne in a Brown Butter-Spinach Pesto Sauce
Spinach Pesto
Makes enough pesto to serve 4
Ingredients:
3-4 tbsp toasted pine nuts (toast in pan until fragrant on low/med. heat)
1 clove of garlic
1-1/2 cups fresh spinach
¼ cup basil
salt/pepper
1-2 tbsp parmesan
1 tsp capers, crushed-optional
1 tsp lemon juice-optional
¼ -1/2 cup olive oil
8-12 ounces pasta (enough for 4 servings)
3-5 tbsp butter (depends on the amount of butter you’d like)
Begin to cook pasta as directed and have butter in a frying pan waiting to become brown butter. While pasta is cooking, in a food processor, place all the pesto ingredients and pulse until you get a smooth pesto consistency. Notice how bright green and beautiful it is? When the pasta is done cooking and draining, place butter over medium heat and swirl the pan. Watch very closely as it can turn rather quickly and will continue to cook another minute or so off of the heat. When it starts to change to a very light brown, take it off the heat and add the pasta to the butter pan, then place in a serving dish. You can either add a dollop to the top of the pasta of pesto or mix it in. Shave some parmesan over the top and you’ve got yourself a meal. This is such a fast meal for those times you don’t feel like doing much or don’t have much time plus it’s easy to add some toasted bread or vegetables.