Day 2 - The Summary

So how 'bout that kid of mine, eh? He wants to get right in and write a few words. It's obvious his love for food and how he thinks it's pretty cool we can make pasta from scratch w/o a pasta maker (pasta makers are old hat for this wee one, he does that all the time). I wanted to show you can make something pretty great even when you don't have any special equipment and the food budget is tight.

Trofie is a Ligurian gnocchi I had the first time when Henry's Mum and I were in Vernazza on the Cinque Terra about a dozen years ago. It is traditionally served with pesto, the local accompaniment to pasta. As Henry wrote the pasta is named for the shape and I believe (feel free to correct me if you speak Italian) it means "little worms". It is very simple, about 2 C unbleached white flour and just shy of a cup of water. If you have a food processor or mixer you can use that to mix and knead or otherwise just mix it until you can no longer mix with a spoon and then knead in the flour until a fairly stiff dough is had. I let it rest for about 30 minutes and then just roll it into little works between my palms while catching up on food shows or the news. It is best to lay the worms out on muslin as is shown in Henry's photo.

Tonight we boiled it quickly in a large pot of salted rapidly boiling water for a few minutes and then tossed it in a cream sauce with garlic and lemon thyme (Henry's choice and I dare say it was a very fine choice) and fresh ground black pepper.Homemade pasta in garlicky herbed cream sauce...DONE!

Breakfast was a hash of russet potatoes with onions and Canadian bacon with an over easy egg for me, Henry chose an apple as he doesn't eat a lot of breakfast and lunch at school is @ 11:00 anyway. I really missed my Tabasco sauce this morning but it wasn't part of budget so...

Lunch consisted of a chicken sandwich with fresh lemon chive aioli on homemade baguette along with an apple for me and chicken sandwich with barbecue sauce and another apple for Henry. This was made from the grilled thighs and wings from Monday night's grilling and was delicious!

We spent the afternoon in the garden and doing some clean up in the front yard so we were pretty hungry when we came in. I put a new baguette in the oven and rolled the trofie while watching a recorded episode of Gordon Ramsey's F Word on BBC and Henry updated you all before sitting down to a rich yummy dinner. We have enough dough left over for another batch and 1/2 made enough for us tonight.

For sweets tonight, it will be more oatmeal peanut butter chocolate chip cookies and fresh strawberries. I made the cookies more budget friendly by using this recipe -

Oatmeal Peanut Butter Chocolate Chips (Budget Friendly Version)

• 2/3 C Peanut Butter, freshly ground
• 3 Tablespoons Canola oil
• 1 Egg
• 1/2 C Sugar (I used evaporated cane sugar)

Beat together until well combined and fluffy

• 1/4 teaspoon Salt
• 2 C Rolled Oats
• 1/2 C Unbleached white flour
• 2/3 C Chocolate Chips

Spoon onto a parchment lined baking sheet and squish with the bottom of a glass

Bake for 12 minutes @ 350F

Oatmeal Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies ("Real" Version)

• 1/4 C Butter, softened
• 1/2 C Peanut Butter, freshly ground
• 3/4 C Brown Sugar
• 1 Egg

Beat together until well combined and fluffy

• 1/2 teaspoon Vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda
• 2 C Rolled Oats
• 3/4 C Whole Wheat Flour
• 3/4 C Chocolate chips

Squish onto parchment lined baking sheet with the bottom of a glass

Bake for 12 minutes @ 350F

While the budget version are fine, they just miss a bit of je ne sais quois w/o the butter, vanilla, whole wheat flour and baking soda

Anyway, that wraps up day 2, keep those cards and letters coming

Hasta