Garlic Breath!

This pasta was something. It was so soft and velvety. Amazing. Of course that's because it contains half a cup of olive oil and six tablespoons of butter but it was worth it. I'm sure you could get away with cutting back on some of the oil and butter. It was a nice change from sauce straight out of the jar: different taste, different texture, even better as left overs! I used a roasted veggie sauce and would definitely double the mushrooms next time. I loved the garlic flavor but it's not a date night recipe!

Garlic Mushroom Pasta

(Pinterest find! From Country Cleaver)

Ingredients:
9 cloves of garlic, finely minced
1/2 cup olive oil
1 pound dried pasta
6 tablespoons butter
15 ounce jar of sauce
8 ounces baby portabella mushrooms, sliced (I would double this!)
Directions:
1. Combine olive oil and garlic in a medium pot. Bring to a boil then turn to low and simmer for 30 minutes.

2. Cook pasta

3. Add a little bit of olive oil to a skillet and cook mushrooms.

4. Combine pasta and mushrooms in the same pot.

5. Add butter to garlic oil and stir to melt. Stir in pasta sauce and mix well.

6. Add garlic sauce to mushroom pasta and toss to coat!

Easy Appetizer

Pita Chips

(Adapted from allrecipes.com)

Ingredients:

Pitas

Olive Oil

Desired Seasonings (such as pepper, garlic, and basil)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees

2. Cut the pitas into quarters or eighths using a pizza cutter, then separate the triangles. Divide them up into two piles, thinner and thicker slices.

3. Mix olive oil and seasoning.

4. Place one group of slices on a baking sheet and brush with olive oil mixture

5. Bake for approximately 7 minutes.

6. Repeat with second batch.

It’s not necessary to divide the triangles before baking but I like too because the thinner ones bake more quickly. I would recommend keeping an eye on them the whole time as they can burn very quickly. I used ¼ cup olive oil with ¼ teaspoon black pepper, ¼ teaspoon dried basil, and ½ teaspoon garlic powder the first time I made these. The second time I used Pino’s Press Tuscan Herb Olive Oil and sprinkled some red pepper flakes on some of them for a little kick. Feder's Fresh has the most amazing pitas that I can't get enough of and have been using for this recipe, delicious!

Pico de Gallo (Salsa Fresca)

From Everyday Food Magazine

Ingredients:

2 medium Tomatoes

1 small Onion

1 Jalapeno

1 garlic clove, minced

1 tablespoon lime juice

Cilantro leaves for garnish

Directions:

1. Chop everything up and let it sit for at least 15 minutes, add the cilantro before serving.

I made this using the left over produce I had from the Turkey Chili so it wasn’t a full batch. I was lacking the jalapeno and cilantro and had to substitute lemon juice for lime but it still yummy! Just not spicy.