Dinner Last Week #2

Oh my gosh friends.  Getting sick right before Christmas is no bueno.  I had a great quick and easy Christmas dessert to share but it will have to wait until next year!!  Anyway, I bring you another edition of Dinner Last Week.....except that it is really from the week before last.  Last week consisted of lots of soup, then Christmas food and chocolate, this is more interesting, trust.

MONDAY - Him: Pasta Her: Salad

Nicholas wanted pasta and I wanted salad so we made both.  Here is how it went down:

Via

Pasta
1 1/2 cups penne noodles, boiled and drained
1/8 cup red onion, sliced
2 mini bell peppers, sliced
1/8 cup frozen peas
1 tbsp. olive oil
2 tbsp. truffle infused olive oil (I found this at Trader Joe's)

Boil pasta.
Saute onion and pepper in olive oil until tender.  Set aside.
Once pasta is done, drain and add to pan with onions and peppers.
Add the frozen peas.
On medium-high heat toss the pasta and veggies in truffle oil until peas are done.
Serve with grated Parmesan.

Salad
1 cup fresh spinach, washed and torn
1 cup fresh arugula, washed and torn
1/8 cup chopped cauliflower
1/8 cup frozen corn
1/8 cup frozen peas
1/8 cup red onion, sliced
2 mini bell peppers, sliced

Wash and tear lettuce into serving bowl.
Add cauliflower, corn and peas to a microwave safe dish.  Cover the bottom in water.  Place the lid over the top but don't close it (if Tupperware) microwave until veggies are thoroughly steamed and drain water.
Saute onion and pepper in olive oil until tender.  Set aside. (I actually did all of the onion and pepper together, for the pasta & the salad, then split it up.
Serve all warm veggies over lettuce - IMO warm veggies are best on a spinach/arugula salad.
For the dressing I mixed some of the truffle oil with white wine vinegar, salt & pepper.

We ate this with bread of course.

TUESDAY - Pho

We both woke up at 3 a.m. feeling crappy, blerg.  By 7 a.m. I knew I was going to make spicy soup for dinner.
Enter Pho.

Via Gimme Some Oven

I pinned this recipe awhile ago.  A lot of the pho recipes I was seeing seemed difficult, but this was one I could handle.  I stopped at the store on the way home and bought cilantro, limes, ginger, jalapeno and bean sprouts. Everything else I had.

I also cut the recipe in half.  Instead of using raw steak, I cut up some left-over tri-tip and threw it in the soup bowl right before we serve it.  I also used some skinny egg noodles instead of pho rice noodles.  I threw my noodles in the broth for a few minutes before serving.

End result, this was ready within an hour and was really good.  We felt better the next day!  Except that I had left-overs for lunch and left them on my counter.  FAIL.

WEDNESDAY - 36 Handles

We ran out to do some last minute Christmas shopping and stopped for a beer and grub at 36 Handles.  The bartender Gabe knows his business.  Go say hi.

THURSDAY - Crock Pot Chicken Tacos

Crock-pot chicken tacos!  I would love to share the whole thing but it's so dang easy and good I'm going to feature it soon.  Taco Thursday is a staple in our house.

FRIDAY - Akebono

Another night out!  This is really not normal, but its the holiday season and busy gets ahead of cooking.  We had Winter Spiral at Levi's school.

We made a mad dash to pick up The Munchkin and we all ate sushi at Akebono.  We had been here before for noodles but let me just say their sushi is legit.  It was very good and fresh.  It makes me happy that Levi likes sushi!

That is all.  Now that Christmas is over and we are well, cooking has started back up in our house again.  The next Dinner this week should contain more recipes!  P.S.  Last night we had The Pioneer Woman's Spinach Salad with Warm Bacon dressing, it was tasty!

Happy Almost New Year!
TCW