tomatoes in winter: who knew?

I can probably count on one hand the number of tomatoes I buy in the months between November and June. They just aren’t that good! And when tomatoes aren’t good, they REALLY aren’t good.

However, I ran across this slow-roasted tomato recipe in November’s Cooking Light and became immediately intrigued. I’d heard of roasting tomatoes before, and I’d roasted cherry tomatoes with green onions in the summertime (excellent, by the way), but never regular tomatoes.

I decided to half the recipe and pair it with meatloaf bolognese the other night, and Andrew was blown away by both!

You must make these immediately. Seriously, I cannot stress this enough. Less than five minutes of prep, seven (yes, 7) hours in a 200 degree oven and wha-lah! Beautiful, sweet, juicy roasted tomatoes that are an excellent side dish, or an amazing tomato sauce after a few seconds in a blender. In fact, that’s up next: (more) homemade pizza with pureed roasted tomatoes.

Happy Thursday!

in shock

Here’s another recipe I’ve had in my ‘to-make’ binder for like, A YEAR.

Cooking Light’s Butternut Squash and Bacon Pasta. I mean, come on. Does it get batter than that? While it isn’t cheesy, it appeared just creamy enough that I thought Andrew might not love it. Or even like it.

Nonetheless, I had exactly the amount of butternut squash leftover for half the recipe and decided to go for it. It does have a couple different steps, but none are all that complicated. I sprinkled my half of the top with gruyere and popped it in the oven. Twenty-some minutes later, we were enjoying this:

It was pretty darn good! Not only did Andrew have seconds; he had THIRDS. Seriously. I almost fell off my chair.

I might have to count it as our ‘Meatless Monday’ dish this week, as it looks like we’re going to need to do leftovers (stromboli or meatloaf–both full of meat) tomorrow and might do a fish-fry on Friday… I mean,the whole thing only had one slice of bacon in it. That’s not the same as having meat as an entree, right? (Not ideal, but that’s what I’m telling myself.)

super healthy Super Bowl

How ’bout that game!? Only in New Orleans…

Anyway, I hosted our family for the event because I had a neat idea: only healthy food! I’m working on self-control when it comes to eating, but it’s also nice to have healthy options, too.

First, I need to brag on Andrew: he vacuumed AND mopped our living room that morning in anticipation of our guests. I love him.

Andrew’s dad suggested homemade pizzas, and I ran with it.

I set out a prep station and then got the appetizers ready:

Chips and salsa and Cooking Light’s Hot Artichoke Dip with triscuits. Andrew’s mom brought a veggie tray.

I made a pepperoni and banana pepper Stromboli:

What is the difference between a calzone and Stromboli, anyway?

I made a sausage and bell pepper and red onion pizza with red sauce:

And I tried to mimic Pasquale’s white pizza, with onion and tomato and a pesto-olive oil sauce:

All of the crusts were a 50/50 white and wheat mix from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes A Day.

For dessert, we had angel food cake with fruit:

And I made a lightened chocolate pudding from Ellie Krieger:

It tasted better than it looked, I promise! And everything is better with a little cool-whip…

Overall, I think we all enjoyed our lighter football-game fare. At least I’m pumped for healthy eating the rest of the week 🙂