Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Tasty Tuesday: Zucchini Alfredo with Fettuccine

My last blog had a weekly feature known as "Tasty Tuesday."  I posted recipes I made at home in an effort to try new recipes more frequently and become a better cook.  I don't want this blog to be a carbon copy of that one (there's a reason I stopped updating it, after all), but I did want to continue the "Tasty Tuesday" segments.

Here's the thing ... I'm not an amazing chef.  I'm also not an amazing photographer.  I'm being very upfront here because I don't want anyone reading this to think I imagine myself to be this super awesome food blogger.  I promise that as much as I'd love to be one, I know I'm just not cut out for it.  The best food bloggers come up with tons of creative recipes and then take stunning photographs of their beautifully plated food.  Let me tell you something ... That won't be happening here.  Sure, I'll tweak a lot of recipes (and, in some cases, I'll make some pretty significant changes), but I won't be coming up with original recipes that often.  That's not to say that I never will ... It just won't be a frequent thing.

In addition, I won't be posting gorgeous pictures of my food.  I may get lucky with a decent shot now and then, but let's be real ... I don't own a fancy camera and, as I said before, I'm not a great photographer (which is probably why I can't justify buying a fancy camera right now).  I'll post pictures ... They just won't be anything like the gorgeous shots you'd see on, say, The Pioneer Woman or Cooking Classy.  Sorry to disappoint.

Despite my shortcomings, I like to share the things I make (and the occasional really amazing meal at a restaurant).  It's fun for me to try new recipes, and who knows?  Maybe I'll inspire someone else to start trying new recipes as well.

I actually posted this recipe on my previous blog, but I wanted to share it here as well.  Why?  Because it's fucking delicious, that's why.

Seriously, though, I'd never attempted to make a homemade alfredo sauce before trying this one, so I was pretty proud of the finished product.  I actually found this recipe while looking for creative ways to use up 4 oz. of leftover cream cheese.  I'll admit that the idea of putting cream cheese in alfredo sauce at first seemed a little ... Gross.

I'm really glad I didn't skip over this recipe, though.  I decided to use the basics of the original and then make a ton of changes.  And, at the risk of sounding like a total douche, I took a good idea and made it great.  The sauce turned out wonderfully (though I might consider using just a little less garlic next time).  This is definitely a recipe I'll be making again.  I'll probably also continue playing around with the basic alfredo sauce recipe in the future to try to come up with some interesting variations.

Zucchini
Zucchini Alfredo with Fettuccine



























Zucchini Alfredo with Fettuccine

Adapted from a recipe on allrecipes.com.

Ingredient List:
  • 2 zucchini, diced
  • 1 white onion, diced
  • 4 cloves garlic (or, if you're lazy like me, the equivalent of jarred, pre-minced garlic)
  • 2 tbsp low fat margarine or butter (I used low fat margarine)
  • 1 cup heavy whipping cream
  • 4 oz. cream cheese
  • 2 cups shredded Parmesan cheese
  • 1/4 cup white cooking wine
  • 1 tsp dried basil
  • 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
  • 2 tsp black pepper
  • 2 tsp garlic salt
  • 1 package fettuccine noodles

Instructions:

1.  Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.

2.  Melt the margarine or butter in a medium skillet.  Add the garlic and cook for approximately 30 seconds, or until fragrant.

3.  Add the diced zucchini and onion to the skillet and sauté with the butter and garlic for approximately 10 minutes, or until some of the moisture has evaporated.  (I found that even after 10 minutes there was still a considerable amount of moisture, so I strained the contents of the skillet in a colander to avoid adding too much water to the sauce.  I highly recommend this step if it looks at all watery to you!)

4.  Pour the heavy whipping cream into a second large skillet, then add the cream cheese.  Cook over medium heat, stirring until the cream cheese is melted.

5.  Add the Parmesan cheese to the cream cheese mixture.  Stir until mixed well and melted.

6.  Mix in the strained zucchini, onion, and garlic, stirring until well blended.

7.  Season the sauce with basil, crushed red pepper flakes, black pepper, and garlic salt.

8.  Pour in the white cooking wine.  Stir until mixed well.

9.  Allow the sauce to simmer on the lowest heat setting while adding the fettuccine noodles to the pot of boiling water.  Cook according to package directions until al dente and drain.

10.  Pour the sauce over the drained noodles, tossing several times until the noodles are completely coated.

We paired this meal with a simple green salad and wine.  I highly recommend a Reisling (my favorite type of white wine), as it seemed to compliment the flavors in this dish quite well.

Monday, April 28, 2014

Playlist: April 2014

I love music.  Maybe I didn’t stress that enough.  I fucking love music.

I also love sharing music I enjoy with other people.  And this works both ways … In fact, some of my favorite bands (including several on this playlist) were brought to my attention by friends.  If you’re my friend and we like at least some of the same music, I expect you to share new discoveries with me.  Don’t worry … I always return the favor.

Anyway, I’ve decided that I’d like to start sharing playlists on Divulge and Indulge each month.  I realize this is only my second post on this blog, but I just really felt like making a playlist today … So that’s what you get.

There really isn’t a theme for this particular playlist, though these songs do have a couple of things in common:


1.  I’ve been listening to each of these songs a lot lately.  For whatever reason, I can’t seem to get enough of them right now.

2.  We’re finally starting to move toward spring weather (though I’m a fan of cold weather, I’m completely over the below zero temperatures and 30-40 mph gusts of wind!), so I find myself opening the sunroof and blasting loud music on my drive home from work each day.  The songs on this playlist are just some of the songs I enjoy blasting in the car.  (And yes, I’m that girl who is totally rocking out in her car without shame.)


I really wanted to embed my Grooveshark playlist directly into this post, but after several failed attempts, I decided I'd just have to link it.

Click on the link below to listen to this playlist.
Click on the link below to listen to this playlist.

Sunday, April 27, 2014

Third Time's the Charm?

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I hope you'll find something that interests you here!
I know it looks like I'm a newbie blogger.  This is my first post on this site, after all.

Truth?  This is my third blogging attempt.

I feel like I should probably be embarrassed that I keep starting over, but I’m not.  Not really.
I started my first blog when I was in the early stages of wedding planning.  I had this 
great idea that sharing things as we went along would somehow make the craziness and stress seem a little less daunting.  It didn’t.  I was a busy person before I got engaged.  After getting engaged, my life became much more hectic.  (And we weren’t even a DIY kind of couple!)  So that blog died just as quickly as it began.

Several months later, I decided to try my hand at blogging once again.  I made a schedule for posting so I’d never have any trouble coming up with ideas.  Unfortunately, there were a couple of issues with that.  The first (and probably most obvious) issue was the fact that scheduling specific topics on specific days did not rid me of the dreaded writer’s block.  A strict schedule also kind of made me crazy.  I felt like I had to post something every day.  It’s not even like I needed to keep a ton of followers interested and engaged.  I think I had … 42?  (I should probably be embarrassed about that, but again I’m not.  Not really.)  I kept up with that blog for about 8 months, but then trying to post every day just became too much.  Blogging became a chore for me, and that completely defeated the purpose.  I started blogging because I wanted to share thoughts, ideas, recipes, and opinions.  I also started blogging because I’ve always loved writing.  And, note to self: If a hobby starts to feel like a chore, you’re doing it wrong.

Anyway, I’m looking forward to round three.  This time I’m going to give myself more creative freedom.  I may still have a couple of days that are designated for specific types of posts (like recipes, for example), but for the most part I’d like to just write when I want about whatever I want.

And, hey, maybe someone will actually want to read it.  Maybe I’ll have more than 42 followers.  Stranger things have happened.