I’ve posted a number of tomato sauce recipes here on the blog before (See here, here, and here), however, I think this recipe is one of the basic recipes that every new cook should learn to make and perfect. Keep in mind that there is not really any right or wrong way to make tomato sauce. Every family has their own “traditional” recipe with its own unique flavors but the recipe in this post is meant to be a base outline of a from-scratch tomato sauce….
Chips or veggies with dip is quite possibly the easiest appetizer possible and it is always a crowd pleaser. Who doesn’t like a simple serve yourself finger food? I mean really?…
I’m starting to feel my age. Not in the sense that I feel feeble and tired, though I’m pretty tired of this shoulder injury, but I’m feeling it on an intellectual/emotional level. We’ve got summer interns in the office now and nothing makes you feel old like having a couple cocky young things almost 10 years younger than you hanging around. I mean really, I was one of the youngest people in the office until last week, my whole life ahead of me and all that, now looking at them I almost feel bad because they have so much to learn and suddenly they are looking at me like I know it all.
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It should be that time of year when our thoughts are swarming with spring gardens and summer pools, but unfortunately for us in the northeast the weather (namely the polar vortex) has had other plans.
Now I’m usually a lover of the snow, I mean any excuse to curl up with a book and a cup of tea is a good thing in my view, but snow and freezing temps this time of year mean that my garlic, and early spring flowers are taking a beating. I’m not pleased about it. Not to mention the hiking plans that ended when it started to hail.
Moving on from disappointing weather I decided to spend most of the weekend crafting and baking all sorts of treats (many of which you will see coming up on Plum Deluxe soon enough). I was craving something that reminded me of spring or summer so I dug through my canned goods and came up with this pesto/dip recipe. It’s a little thicker that a typical pesto but that’s one of the things I like about it. It’s a perfect spread for toast or sandwiches, but also a great dip on crackers, chips or veggies. Versatile recipes man they are the thing.
I actually made this for the first time back near new years, where served as a dip it was a hit. It was also a pretty big winner on this sandwich (pictured below). This time around it went on toast with some melted Swiss cheese because that’s what was in the house. I’m thinking an experiment with puff pastry is in order next.
These last few weeks of beautiful weather has really excited me to get outside and spend some time in my gardens and finishing house projects. I mean it was 70 the other day and it was the beginning of March?! Usually we are still buried under piles of snow here in March so this is really weird. Unfortunately one of the side effects of spend so much time breathing in the fresh spring air is that I’ve kind of put cooking on the back burner for a while. It’s that weird time of year when the spring veggies and herbs haven’t quite made their appearance yet and I’m totally not in the mood for more soup so there have been a lot of tossed together last minute dinners lately. What can I say even I just don’t have it in me sometimes to cook a four course meal every night. I’d much rather be drinking wine by our new fire pit (more on that soon), I mean if we are being honest here.
This recipe is one that just keeps popping up in our household, and with good reason, since it’s one of my favorites. I love it because I always have everything for it on hand, it’s super easy to whip up for lunch or dinner and it’s pretty darn healthy too. I also really love that I can swap out ingredients for whatever I have at the time; for example I have used broccoli rabbe, kale, and collard greens instead of spinach. I have also changed the type of beans and even mixed them because I had leftover to use in the fridge.
While this recipe can easily serve four if you are interested in making it go further serving it with a side or pasta or rice is also a great option.
