Christmas Pasta!

I went to Thorndon New World yesterday on a city-wide mission for Fry's Peppermint Cream chocolate and a chocolate-covered Kendal Mint Cake.  I didn't manage to find either of those, but I found something even cooler!  German (I think...?) Christmas-themed pasta!  I haven't cooked it yet, but it looks pretty yummyyy.  Only cost me (dad) $6.49!  Not too bad considering it's an import; they had to put an English label on the back because the one on the packet is in another language.  The whole pack is meant to serve 4 people with half a serving left for the next day, and each serving is only around 209 calories (857kj) or so by itself, and the recommended meal serving size is usually 400-450 calories depending on your daily needs!  Can't wait to try it, and will let you know when I do.  There's another picture of it after the break.

10-minute Lunch



I don't know what cheese that was, but it was delicious!  Got it from La Bella Italia in Petone.

Easy 10 Minute Lunch



What I used:

40g white macaroni elbows

half a small can of lite tuna

two generous handfuls of baby spinach

A couple bits of your favourite cheese

5 cherry tomatoes

Method:

Cook macaroni according to packet instructions (usually about 8 to 10 minutes)

0When pasta is al dente, mix tuna, spinach and cherry tomatoes and stir through until warm

Pour the pasta on the plate and put your cheese on top or mix it through!

That was today's lunch.  Very delicious, very quick, and only a little bit unhealthy.

Seafood Pasta with Grilled Vegetables

Usually when I cook, the only people that I do it for are myself and my parents.  You won't find any hard core, full course dinner menus on this blog, or fancy desserts.  I like to stick to recipes, which usually just come right out of my head as I see the food in front of me, that are easy to make, and even easier to reproduce.  Sometimes I might take pictures of the food if I plate it up, but usually things in my house are served family style, just put on dishes on the table so you can serve yourself.

This is just a quickly thrown together 'recipe'- I use the term loosely, considering I literally just threw things together as it came to me- from tonight's dinner.


Seafood Pasta with Grilled Vegetables
(Serves 3)

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup vermicelli (usually about 1/3 of an average pasta packet)
12 scallops (remove the roe if you don't like to eat it, it won't make a difference)
15 raw king prawns (shelled and deveined, tails off)
1 jar of Bertolli Basilico pasta sauce
1/4 cup chopped basil leaf
1 tbsp lemon juice (plus extra to taste)
6 stalks asparagus
2 small zucchini
Olive Oil
Salt to taste

Method:

1. Fill a large pot 3/4s full (about 1 litre) with water and put 1 tspn salt in and the lemon juice, leave to boil
2. Heat a large pan to medium-high heat, add small amount of olive oil to your liking
3. Blanche asparagus in the boiling water for one minute; remove with tongs (do not drain the water) and put in chilled or iced water; put pasta in water to boil for 6-7 minutes or until al dente
4. Cook scallops in pan until golden on each side and firm; remove then place in oven to warm.
5. Cook prawns in pan until pink and heated through; remove then place in oven to warm
6. Third the zucchini and cook in same pan as the seafood, and fry until golden on each side
7. Remove pasta from the boil and drain; stir through the pasta sauce until coated.
8. Place pasta on a plate and portion the seafood over the top, serving the asparagus and zucchini on the side.

I chose to serve the elements seperately, to make it easier to get portions correct, but you can stir the seafood through the pasta if that's what you choose.  Season with a little salt and pepper to taste, and some lemon juice then enjoy with a chilled glass of Monteith's Radler Bier, a light and fruity lager with lemony citrus notes that complement the flavour of the meal.

This Blog.

My name is Allie, and I am writing a blog of many categories.  I am 19, going on mid-life crisis age, halfway through a Diploma in Beauty Therapy, and an occasional home cook- by no means could I ever call myself a chef, but I certainly worship food.  There's 103 kilos of me to prove it.  I'm constantly switching between bleached beach blonde and bottle brunette; so much so, I can never tell if it's regrowth coming through of if the colour is just fading.  I have a makeup blog, Unbranded Girl, and now I've decided that I got bored of vainly posting photos of myself on the internet waiting for someone to go "you look so pretty today!" and am now going to do a blog which should contain at least one post of the following:

1. My kickass recipes from home
2. Reviews of beauty products or treatments
3. Things to do in Wellington (including the wider Wellington area and a little beyond, up to the end of the Kapiti Coast)
4. Some feedback on films, perhaps..
5. Sometimes things to do outside of Wellington
6. Reviews of the rare few times I go out for dinner

That's the plan for the blog, and I just hope this time I can stick to it!