Started off this past weekend with a bang (food wise).
I had a long Lunch at Slanted Door with co-workers:
Today’s Lunch:
Turkey Pesto Sandwich with Parmesan Cheese
Take your leftover pesto:
Spread a LOT of it on two pieces of sourdough toast:
Top each slice with a little bit of parmesan cheese:
Roll up some slices of turkey and put that on top:
Place one slice on top of the other slice:
Cut in half (or not) and EAT:
Whenever I make pesto, I always try to make a huge batch. Because there’s nothing more disappointing than eating pasta that doesn’t have enough sauce on it!
If you don’t have a food processor, a blender works fine. If you don’t have either- hope your knife skills are excellent!
Ingredients were all from Trader Joes:
Chop up a few cloves of garlic (I used 3 for this batch)
Now add the basil. Make sure to leave off the stems. You can see I left one on! Woops!
Make sure to scrap down the sides…
Now, start adding your olive oil.
I added a little over 1/4 cup of the oil to get the consistency I wanted.
I tossed in a handful of pine nuts (they’re even better when toasted)
I added 1 fresh squeezed lemon to the mix (prevents discoloration)
A dash of cayenne pepper for spice.
Some fresh ground pepper to even out the flavor….
Now put about 4 heaping tablespoons of Parmesan cheese. (Skip this part if you’re vegan)
The cheese is in place of salt. It adds a LOT of flavor. Mix that all up!
Now we have some pesto!
When I made dinner the other night, I added some of the pesto to my shrimp (with red pepper & olive oil) to make jazz them up before grilling:
I put those on skewers (4 to a skewer-except 1 had 5!)
I grilled them on high heat for about 2-3 minutes per side!
I think this weekend I’m going to have a slice of bread toast with pesto on it. Stay tuned.
This weekend was chilly.
I spent time on my computer with a slice of buttery toast and a cup of coffee.
Yes, it is a Halloween mug. Yes, I know it’s December.
I did some landscaping in the backyard:
The weather kept changing on me:
I soaked in all the beautiful colors of the fallen leaves:
I made a very yummy rustic/savory tart with carrots, sweet potatoes, bacon, goat cheese, red onion, rosemary & butternut squash:
I watched Gilmore Girls with Whitney. I think we got in 6 or 7 episodes!
I made more mushroom soup.
I drank a lot of coffee.
I got my hair colored.
I went to the library & got some cookbooks to admire.
I did some glittering.
We bought our Christmas tree & did some decorating.
Oh! I finally did the dishes:
Now it’s time to watch some Dexter. I hope you all had a good weekend too!
Phew! That was a quite a project I got myself into! I just wanted to thank all of you who stopped by & commented. You kept me going! It makes me thrilled to hear from other Trader Joe’s lovers out there! And thanks to you, I have some new items from Trader Joe’s in my pantry right now! Thanks for the recommendations!! I’ll let you know how it goes.
For those of you who wondered if I will be continuing this—-FEAR NOT, I will be posting more Trader Joe’s Favorites/Concoctions. The frequency might not be as great….but for now my goal is to post a few items/favs per week! So look out!
Thanks once again! Hope you have a wonderful weekend!
-Tracy
Favorite Trader Joe’s Item #30: Couscous
Cook couscous according to directions.
I doubled the recipe so that we could have leftovers for the next few days.
Let’s begin with the recipe……
Chop 1 red onion:
Drain & rinse 1 can of garbanzo beans:
Chop up some little tomatoes, sun dried tomatoes (half of the TJ’s jar), two handfuls of basil, 2 lemons & 1 jar of marinated artichokes:
Open 1 package of crumbled feta:
Mix those ingredients with the Cous-Cous.
Make sure to add some Extra-Virgin Olive Oil.
Squeeze the lemons on top & mix. Add salt & pepper to taste.
Serve in a bowl:
Dig in with a fork or spoon:
It’s pretty good with grilled sausage on top:
Now you have a tasty meal & a few leftovers to last you a few days. The end.