Beef Tortellini with Tomato & Chives - A Dressed-Up Assemblage

Making a pasta dish now-a-days isn't really cooking, unless you make your own sauces, or your own pasta, or your own meat or vegetable features, or any combination therein. Throwing pasta in water and heating up a bottled sauce to combine with pre-grated cheese is more a simple undertsanding in "assemblage".
It is a short cut, a piece of cake, I get it. I do it myself, sometimes. As a recent graduate, I am familiar with the need, absolutely.

But! There is something to be said for the making of - as above listed - components, if not all of it.
Besides the relaxing, break-and-breath-from-your-business-day mood of working with your food stuffs from scratch, and the fulfillment that comes from having a relationship with the food you ingest, there are major flavor benefits from, say, whipping up a red sauce on your own.

Anyways, this is certainly one of those "assemblage" pasta dinners, so be warned.

Nevertheless, there are ways in which one can freshen the assemblage up, enliven the taste buds, and contribute a creative flare to the classic pre-made sauce and pasta.
I try for a good quality pasta.
I get a good sauce that can serve as a base to additional themes of flavor.
I choose a vegetable or protein theme to make from scratch.
And fresh herbs always make packaged food go far.

A recent approach:
Beef Tortellini with Grape Tomatoes & Chives

Beef Tortellini with Grape Tomatoes & Chives, Caya 2013.

 This is a pasta dish that can be enjoyed at room temperature on a Spring or early Summer, as well!

Late Spring Baby Kale and Green Onion Salad - With Avocado Dressing

My favorite color is green, and frankly, ingesting it feels just as delightfully satisfying as looking at or working with the color, to my mind.
Slightly spicy, with a nice bite, and greenly sweet, it is a delicious super food worth incorporating into one's diet.
I dress it simply with a hearty bunch of chopped green onion, or scallion, and serve it with either a homemade (real) maply syrup dressing, or (for the monochromatic theme and power food properties) a creamy avocado dressing.

Mound this green goodness high on your plate and savor the scrummy sensations!

(Please contact me for the full recipe[s]):

Late Spring Baby Kale and Green Onion Salad with Avocado Dressing, Caya 2013.

Mini Spicy Grilled Cheese Sandwiches on Baguette

I don't know exactly how I came to the notion of trying this the other night, but the notion came, and I did.

The experience was quick, easy, and finger-food-esque fun, but I think a little less time in the cast-iron skillet, meaning slightly less of a dark crisp on the baguette slices, would be better next time.
I quite prefer my grilled cheese with a browned, crispy toastiness, but the thing to remember with using a well made baguette bread is that, while the interior is wonderfully soft and does well with turning almost melty from a buttery pan, the exterior crunch only intensifies. So be aware and be brief with your pan-frying as you make them.

I wanted spice, so I used a good pepper-jack cheese and thin slices of tomato for the filling.

Butter is the key, and not too little of it, either.

And with some attention to turning the little bundles with a fork, they come out quite tasty. Pile them on a plate and pick away, napkin on hand.

Mini Pepper Jack and Tomato Grilled Cheese on Baguette, Caya 2013.

Black Bean Pico de Gallo Salad

Sometimes a fresh, raw scramble of bright summer flavors is the way to go to complete a meal, or enliven the tastes for a snack.

I quite simply just threw this together in a mixing bowl with a spoon and five minutes to spare. I didn't even put it in a different bowl to serve it.
Just plonk it down on the table for dishing out mounding spoonfuls with a finger-food main dish, like mini-grilled cheese sandwiches! Incredibly easy, tasty, gratifying.

(Please contact me for the full recipe):

Black Bean Pico de Gallo Salad, Caya 2013.

Enjoy immediately or chilled as a left-over from the fridge. Try for a picnic!

Breakfast Polenta with Fresh Raspberries, Toasted Almonds, and Maple - Italian Genius

Not too long ago I posted about the trip to my parent's home up in New York state for the winter holidays, and coming away with inspiring, fresh, wholesome foods from their kitchen, I have played a bit with what was enjoyed there.

Here is my recreation of my mother's warming, creamy, unconventional breakfast polenta approach!

My version:

Breakfast Polenta with Raspberries, Almonds, Maple, and Coconut Almond milk:
*Real maple is key

Creamy Polenta with Raspberries, Toasted Almonds, *Real Maple Syrup, and Coconut Almond Milk, Caya 2013.

My mother's Polenta:

With fresh Blueberries, Almonds, and Maple:

Easiest unconventional cereal start to the day, ever!