Last night’s dinner was good n’ green!

I made roasted yukon gold potatoes to go with a couple of Trader Joe’s chicken and turkey pesto sausages on a bed of the most delicious creamy green pea and parmesan mash.

I loved this combination! Each bite of sausage or potato slathered with a bit of the green pea mash tasted so fresh and springy.

Sausage and potatoes can become a heavy meal easily, but these sausages were very lean and the potatoes were only lightly oiled. The bright green flavor of the peas cut through the richness well and complimented the basil pesto flavor in the sausage.

I snuck a few cloves of garlic in with the roasting potatoes to use in the green pea mash. That’s a great trick, the garlic flavors the potatoes and then gets pureed into the mash. No waste and no extra roasting dishes.

Here’s how I made it…

Creamy green pea and parmesan mash

This bright mash of fresh green peas, sweet roasted garlic, and salty parmesan cheese is a fresh accompaniment to richer dishes.

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 10 minutes

Yield: About a cup

Ingredients

• 1 cup frozen green peas
• 1/3 cup fresh grated parmesan cheese
• 1 tbsp. sour cream
• 3 cloves roasted garlic
• 1 tsp. olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste

Cooking Directions

1. Heat frozen peas until boiling, drain and add to food processor.
2. Add everything but the olive oil and pulse to combine, scraping the sides once or twice.
3. Drizzle in olive oil while processor is running to fully incorporate.

I have made this mash before with a piece of pan-fried salmon. The sweet flavors of the fresh fish and ripe green peas paired wonderfully together.

This also makes for a great dip to serve with crostini at a party. Just drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt for a classy presentation.

Spring may be over, but the freshness of peas can be enjoyed any time with this simple side dish!

What is your favorite green vegetable?

July 17, 2011 Alayna Discussion, Recipes 3 comments

Lots to do today. I have a couple of blog changes planned, I hope I can finish some of them so I can actually make the updates today. Very excited.

Breakfast was a gargantuan banana topped with maple Wallaby yogurt and Lovegrown apple walnut granola.

I made a really tasty dinner last night. Normally I suck at making pastas but this one turned out pretty great. Whole wheat tagliatelle with roast turkey, burst tomatoes, and peas.

Yesterday afternoon I roasted two turkey breasts with the skin on to retain juiciness. I just rubbed them with olive oil and salt and put them in the oven on a parchment-lined baking sheet for 40 minutes at 400 degrees. When they’d had time to cool, I removed the skin and pulled the turkey apart into shreds with my hands.

To make the sauce, I sauteed 6 large cherry tomatoes and a few cloves of chopped garlic in olive oil. I pricked the tomatoes with a knife so they wouldn’t explode and added about a half cup of prepared tomato sauce and a small dollop of cream cheese. When the tomatoes were blistered and splitting, I crushed them with the back of a spoon and grated over some parmesan. I just tossed in some of the shredded turkey and added boiled pasta and peas for an easy dish.

First task of the day: Photo shoot for a new blog header image! Gotta get it while the lighting’s good.

June 21, 2011 Alayna Discussion 2 comments

This morning musing is coming to you a little late. After a whole week of not sleeping very well I finally crashed out last night and slept in this morning. I feel so much more alert now!

Brefkast of a nanner topped with Justin’s chocolate almond butter. I can never bring myself to buy a whole jar of Justin’s nut butter. I mean it’s really good, but I’m not sure if it’s $10 good. And yet I’m sure with how many of these little packets I’ve bought I could have spent less on a jar for the same amount.

I’ve been shaking things up with dinner lately. For the past few months I’ve been kind of uninspired to make new dinners so we’ve been having a lot of the same stuff every week.

Last night I made a pork tenderloin with garlicky smashed yukon gold potatoes and a sour cream and mushroom sauce.

So good.

I’ve found the best way to cook a pork tenderloin is to season it and sear it in a pan with olive oil then wrap it in an aluminum foil packet and bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. I then let it rest for 5 minutes before slicing it up.

The mushroom sauce is easy too. I just saute the shrooms with some scallions in the same pan I cooked the pork in. Then I add salt, pepper, and the leftover juices from inside the foil packet that the pork cooked in. When it’s all cooked down and saucy, I stir in a little dollop of sour cream to make it creamy.

I also threw a few garlic cloves in with the pork while it was cooking so that I could use them to smash into the potatoes. Good stuff.

We both crashed out with one of these afterwards…

Decatur is now allowing the sale of growlers, which is practically the best news I’ve heard all year.

We picked up a growler full of Fuller’s Pale Ale from Ale Yeah!, a local craft beer purveyor, and chilled out with Netflix.

This weekend stands to be pretty chill.

June 18, 2011 Alayna Discussion 5 comments