Presto Pasta Nights #173 Round-Up

Hosting Presto Pasta Nights, originally created by Ruth, was a joy this week. What a wonderful collection of savory pasta dishes we cooked up! Without further ago, here is our creative carb feast:

Jennifer from Cook, Eat, Play, Repeat cooked a simple, yet delicious Spaghetti with Lemon, Garlic and Thyme Mushrooms.

Allie from Yum in Tum created a masterpiece while cleaning up her freezer and pantry: Three Sisters Stuff Shells

Stash from The Spamwise Chronicles brought us two recipes this week: The first was a simple, decadent pasta dish titled Cacio e Pepe, but better known as Penne with Manouri Cheese, Fried Breadcrumbs and Garlic.

Stash’s second submission was a lovely, fluffy ricotta gnocchi dressed up cherry tomatoes and mushrooms: Ricotta Gnocchi with Sungold Cherry Tomatoes and Shiitake Mushrooms

Tigerfish from teczcape – an escape to food created a simple dish for 2 which was a Vegetarian Stir-Fry Noodles with Bok Choy, Shiitake Mushrooms and Bell Peppers. It doesn’t sound weird to me at all!

Kristin from Holy Cannoli Recipes substituted gnocchi with tortellini to create a healthy, filling meal: Tortellini with Swiss Chard and White Beans.

Katie from Thyme for Cooking was perplexed by her half-yellow, half-green zucchinis but ended up making a Cobb Pasta Salad with ham, runner beans, bell pepper, cherry tomatoes, avocado, cheese and hard-boiled eggs.

Nic from Lemon and Cheese figured out a creative way to use up her basil and bacon: Bacon, Pea and Basil Macaroni. I am currently on the look-out for basil recipes, so this is a great idea!

Joanne from Eats Well With Others made a Middle Eastern meal with mini fritter sandwiches: zucchini fritters were filled with an eggplant couscous salad a cinnamon-cumin dressing. It looks scrumptious!

Sandra from Gesund Geniessen looked into her fridge and pantry and whipped together an awesome meal with Chinese vermicelli with shrimp and broccoli.

Giz from Equal Opportunity Kitchen continues to experiment with kale and brings us a comforting bowl of Kale and Hungarian Sausage Pasta.

Pam from Sidewalk Shoes created a lovely, easy, weekday meal: Orzo with Roasted Shrimp and Tomatoes… and Garlic with Feta and Fresh Basil.

Theresa from The Food Hunter explores Mario Batali’s new cookbook, Molto Gusto, and shares an easy, yummy, healthy weeknight meal: Penne Alla Primavera.

Looking for a way to combine dill with roasted chickpeas, I made a lovely orzo salad with pan-fried chickpeas, lemon and dill.

How could I refuse a “damn delicious” pasta from Anna at Morsels & Musings: Orecchiette w Peas, Lemon & Crème Fraîche

It was a pleasure to host Presto Pasta Nights this week. I am inspired by so many people who looked into their fridge, freezer or pantry and whipped together such tasty, healthy and creative meals. I encourage everyone to submit their pasta dish from next week to Daphne at More Than Words.

Announcing Presto Pasta Nights #173

It is my pleasure to host this week’s edition of Presto Pasta Nights. This is a blogging event featuring what everyone’s cooking up with pasta this week, be it in a salad, soup, a side or main dish. Share your creative carbs!

To participate, blog about your pasta dish between now and July 22, mention and link to Presto Pasta Nights, as well as my site The Taste Space. Email me your link and photograph at saveur11 AT yahoo DOT ca as well as Ruth at ruth AT 4everykitchen DOT com. The deadline for Friday’s round-up post is Thursday, July 22.

I look forward to seeing this week’s feast.

Announcing Tried & Tasted for July 2010

It is my pleasure to host Tried & Tasted (T&T) this month. T&T, originally created by Zlamushka, is now hosted by Lakshmi at Kitchen Chronicles and the logo is designed by Ksenia. It is a blog event to discover new blogs, as a new blog is introduced every month and people are encouraged to try these recipes and comment on how they worked.  I know I constantly find inspiration from other bloggers, so it is my pleasure to introduce our featured blog this month: Veg Inspirations by Usha.

Usha has chronicled her adventures in vegetarian food since 2008 and focuses on healthy, tasty food. Healthy food doesn’t have to be boring or bland! Inspired by her mother, grandmother and mother-n-law, she has a multitude of recipes, including many vegan dishes. There are so many tasty recipes, I don’t know where to start. Take a look at Usha’s recipes, and report back about your meals.

The rules for T&T are simple:

1. Cook any recipe (new or old) from “Veg Inspirations” and blog about it. Stay as true to the original recipe as possible. Therefore there is no need for re-posting it, simply link to the original post
2. There is no time-frame for the original recipe. It can be as old as my grand-mother or as fresh as a mung bean sprout.
3. Have you cooked from “Veg Inspirations” before? As this event is all about tasting and reflecting on the taste, older posts are also welcome. Simply link to this post and mention T&T event.
4. Link your post to this page (Use of logo is welcome) and to the original recipe page, so that you can avoid the copyright problems.
5. Non-bloggers are welcome to share their recipes too. Simply email your name, feedback and the picture of the recipe.
6. Send an email to saveur11 AT yahoo DOT ca by August 10, 2010, with the following details:

• Your Name
• Name of the blog
• Name of the recipe
• URL of the post
• URL of the Original post
• Picture of the recipe

I look forward to seeing our inspirations based off Veg Inspirations!

Round-Up: Weekend Herb Blogging #231

I was fortunate to host Weekend Herb Blogging this week, in which food bloggers share their recipes featuring any herb, fruit, vegetable, nut, grain, seed, flower or plant. It was initially created by Kalyn but now hosted by Haalo.

Without further ado, here are our yummy submissions this week:

A tantalizing sandwich layering  roasted eggplant, zucchini, tomato, mushrooms

and Halloumi cheese with a balsamic and honey dressing.

Vegetable and Halloumi Club Sandwich

Katerina at Culinary Flavours

Athens, Greece

****

Bananas (or traditionally plantains) are dredged in brown sugar, wrapped tightly

in an egg roll wrapper and fried until golden and crispy. How sweet this sounds!

Turon (Philippine Banana Spring Roll)

TS and JS at eatingclub vancouver

Vancouver, BC, Canada

*****

A hot miso broth  is whisked into eggs and topped with wakame and shiitake

mushrooms to create a milky breakfast soup perfect for any time of day.

Breakfast Miso Soup

Anna from Morsels & Musings

Sydney, Australia

****

Sambuca-laced raw almond and hazelnut cookies from Tuscany

go the extra mile.

Cantuccini (Typical Tuscan Cookies)

Cinzia from Cindystar

Lake Garda, Italy

****

Fresh quince gets poached in a sugary syrup for 6 hours or more

and exudes its wonderful aroma.

Slow Poached Quince

Haalo of Cook (Almost) Anything at Least Once

****

Chopped nira, bamboo shoots and dried shiitake mushrooms are the secret

ingredients to perfect Japanese spring roll gluttony.

The Best Japanese Vegetarian Spring Rolls

Janet at Taste Space

Toronto, Canada

Thank you again for all who participated. Next week, Lynne from Cafe Lynnylu will be hosting Weekend Herb Blogging #232.