I almost let this one pass me by, but my sister nudged me, emailing to ask if I’d seen Smitten Kitchen’s latest recipe. I had seen it, but it seemed like a lot of steps. And I am not that good at rolling out my own dough. So here’s the secret when you have a cooking project that seems complex – find a few (preferably hungry) people and tackle it together. Yes, it took 4 of us to put this all together and then clean up while it was in the oven, but doesn’t that make it all the more special?

When I sat down to enjoy this meal, it felt familiar. Then I realized that it was similar to another polenta dish I made. However, this recipe calls for a log of polenta, rather than making your own. And actually, it doesn’t call for zucchini at all, but I didn’t have 5 cups of slices mushrooms, so I added a zucchini. I think just about any combination of vegetables would work here.

I had never cooked pizzas on the grill before, but they turned out great! I started with Trader Joe’s whole wheat pizza dough, cut into portions and stretched out fairly thin. First, you cook the dough on the grill until the bottom is browned, then flip, and add the toppings. This one has a drizzle of olive oil, scallions, tomatoes, basil, mozzarella, and Parmesan. Then, you cook until the cheese is melted and the bottom of the pizza is browned. A perfect crispy thin crust pizza!

After an especially long day, I could have eaten the lemony goat cheese right out of the mixing bowl for dinner and been happy. Instead, I went ahead and made a pizza, inspired by this recipe from Smitten Kitchen. It was just as good as I expected, and still a very quick meal to prepare.

4 oz. whole wheat pizza dough, spread into a circle
1 – 1 1/2 oz. goat cheese
1 T lemon juice
Salt
Pepper
1/2 yellow squash, thinly sliced
4 leaves fresh basil

Mix goat cheese, lemon juice, salt, and pepper in a small bowl, and spread on pizza dough. Place zucchini slices on cheese mixture, and top with basil and a dash of black pepper. Bake at 425 for 15 minutes.

The original recipe for Peanut Sesame Noodles is from SmittenKitchen, and while it looked fabulous, I wanted to see if I could lighten it up a bit, mostly by reducing the amount of peanut butter and increasing the vegetables. I used red wine vinegar only because I had run out of rice vinegar, although I am not sure it made a big difference.

The sauce was perhaps thinner than intended, and just at the edge of my spice tolerance, but I liked the dish overall. The next day it was even better. It’s nice to have a cool dish for hot summer days – now we just need more hot summer days!

8 oz. whole wheat linguini, cooked, drained, and rinsed in cold water
2 c. chopped broccoli, steamed for 2 minutes
2 medium carrots, peeled and chopped
1 cucumber, peeled and chopped
1 c. tofu, chopped
1/2 c. chopped scallion

Dressing:
1/4 c. crunchy peanut butter
1/4 c. soy sauce
1/4 c. warm water
1 T chopped peeled fresh ginger
1 t minced garlic
2 T red wine vinegar
1 1/2 t Asian toasted sesame oil
1 T honey
1 t chili paste

Place salad ingredients in a large bowl. Mix dressing ingredients and blend in a food processor. Toss salad with dressing.

This recipe was fantastic! The pork chops were great on their own, but the chutney really made the dish unique. I had never used fresh rhubarb before, and was surprised at how stringy it was as I chopped the stalks into pieces. But after simmering in the pot, the rhubarb cooked down nicely.

This recipe is one of my Mom’s favorites because you can throw it together pretty quickly, and she often has the ingredients on hand. I like it too, and the leftovers are great for lunches. You can use other shapes of pasta, but the sauce really clings well to the fusilli.