In my attempts to make this look yummy, I went overboard with the asparagus. I can see that now. But know those cheesy and ever-so-creamy scallion grits under there were to die for.

I haven’t quite gotten my multi-tasking swagger back, so Joe had to stir the grits while I blanched the asparagus.  Let me tell you the secret to some delicious and ever-so-creamy grits.  If you have never had good grits, or you swear you hate them, pay attention.

Cook the grits on the stove with some milk.  I used 2% because we’re out of half and half.  But they were still creamy as ever.  I used to work at little restaurant semi-chain in college that served a great brunch.  I always envied the Sunday brunchers because I never got a Sunday off, and the eggs benedict and jalapeno cheese grits were amazing.  One Sunday, after complaining that I would never be able to really order some of those grits, one of the head cooks told me something I will never forget.  He was a seriously cool dude who had run on some hard times in his life.  But he wouldn’t hurt a fly, and he was super nice to me.  And boy did he have some great stories.  One involved a video tape he found on the side of the road…but that is another story for another time.

This is about grits.  So he tells me, “Look, you could totally make those at home.  It’s not the jalapeno cheese that makes those grits so good, it’s the half and half we use instead of water.”  I don’t know whatever happened to that dude…but he was one of the most genuinely nice guys I had ever met at the tender age of 19.  Heck, I sure do hope he’s doing well somewhere.

So this is what you’ll need:

• 1/2 cup of 5 minute grits
• 2 cups 2% (or whole) milk
• 3-4  chopped green onions/scallions
• 1/4 cup shredded mexican or cheddar/jack cheese blend
• salt and pepper
• one bunch of asparagus
• a lemon

This is what you do:

1. Start out with 1.5 cups of milk.  Boil your milk in a small pot.  Don’t let it burn on the bottom–be pretty careful with this.
2. Throw in your grits and stir continuously.  Don’t walk away or they will burn. (This is a good job for a boy.)
3. Reduce heat as soon as the grits start to thicken up…maybe 1 minute.
4. Throw in your scallions and salt.  Add a little pepper at this point, too, if you like it.  Not too much, though, because you want this to stay more of a delicately creamy flavor.
5. While your boy is stirring, boil some water on another eye in a medium pot.  Add some salt to the water.
6. Get your washed asparagus and break them in half.  Now, they don’t have to be super perfectly broken in half.  Each piece of asparagus will be different.  This breaking them is easier than trying to find where the asparagus gets tough.  The breaking point on each piece will do that for you.  So grasp one end with one hand, and the other end with your other hand.  Bend very quickly, and each piece will break at the perfect point.  Does that make sense?
7. Your grits may need that extra 1/2 cup of milk right about this time, so go ahead and do that.
8. Throw the asparagus in the boiling water for maybe 60 seconds.  You want them to get super duper bright green and then take them out immediately.  IMMEDIATELY.
9. Dust with salt, and squeeze some lemon on them.  Toss.
10. Add the cheese to your grits until it’s all melted in.  They should be done at this point.  They will be super thick.
11. Plate up the grits and top with your asparagus.  Zest some of that lemon you used on top.

Voila!  Now tell me if you still hate grits.  =)

The slices of black olives and sun-dried tomatoes perfectly accent the creamy goat cheese, fresh basil, and artichoke hearts.

Homemade pizza is a standard at my house. I have a special place in my heart for pizza because my husband charmed me by making a few during our very first dates together. It was a rainy, cold day just like most of the days this week. So we stayed in, he made a pizza for me, and I introduced him to Lost. Making him my Lost buddy was incredibly selfish of me, but that is another story for another time. =)

Allow yourself an hour since this dough needs to rise. Of course you can buy a pizza dough at the store if you want something quick, but this recipe makes 2 medium pizzas. You can make one and save it for later in the week like I did.

Pizza Dough

1 cup hot water (just really hot from tap works fine)
1 packet active dry yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup vegetable
3 cups all purpose (or bread) flour (NOT SELF RISING)

• Add the above ingredients, one at a time and stir, until you get to the flour.
• Add 2 cups of the flour and mix it in.
• Gradually start adding 1/4 cup at a time until the dough mixture gets perfect. Sometimes it takes exactly 3 cups, sometimes a little less, so just evaluate the consistency as you go along until the dough mixture gets perfect- “not too sticky, not too flaky” as Joe says.

Hearty Goat Cheese (if you please!) Pizza

The “if you please!” part of this comes from Joe’s grandma, Mim. She treats her little doggy, Little Man, to a piece of cheese every afternoon at 5:30 p.m. And he WILL get mad if she forgets.

I added the following ingredients, starting with the sauce, and working my way up to the shredded cheese topping.

Enjoy!

• Classico Roasted Red Pepper Alfredo sauce (or a tomato-based sauce if you don’t have this on hand)
• fresh chopped basil
• goat cheese, 2-3 inches of a roll, crumbled OR 1 cup crumbles
• artichoke hearts, quartered (easy to find in a can near the pickles and olives)
• sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
• jumbo black olives, sliced
• shredded mozzarella

Look at all the squashy texture and crunchy panko bread crumbs that are dynamically set off by the creamy cheese sauce.

I bought this awesome spaghetti squash after reading a couple of posts over at D is for Delicate. A previous roommate of mine made stuff with spaghetti squash. It was always weird to me. Heck, still is. I mean, how does it create noodles like that?! I realize that the point of spaghetti squash is to go the low carb way, but I put panko bread crumbs on it anyway. What the hell, right?

I bought a load of some sort of cheese a while back at Costco. I cannot for the life of me remember what it is, and I’m real bad about labeling stuff I stick in the freezer. We’re not big on leftovers at my house, so we don’t freeze most stuff unless it’s veggies. This tendency to hate leftovers is probably what got me started with experimenting with vegetarian meals in the first place. And it gives me the desire to cook small amounts in the easiest ways possible. I originally started making this cheese sauce after watching an episode of Barefoot Contessa. She made cauliflower gratin, which I have learned is just anything with cheese and bread crumbs on top. This cheese sauce, as it turns out, is pretty standard across the board as cheese sauces go. Also, why do folks call casseroles bakes? Like Cheesy Tuna Bake or Cheesy Spaghetti Squash Bake? I think it’s a casserole if it’s in my pyrex dish. How ’bout you?

Cheesy Spaghetti Squash Casserole

1 spaghetti squash, halved and baked at 375 for about an hour, noodled out and ready to go
2 tbsp butter
3 tbsp all purpose flour
2 cups hot milk
salt
pepper
1/4 tsp. nutmeg1/2 cup (or one big handful) of gruyere, shredded
1/2 cup of parmesan, shredded
panko bread crumbs

• This cheese sauce can kind of scare you if you don’t have the faith. Trust me that it will be good.
• Spray your 8×8 pyrex with oil and throw in that squash
• Melt the butter in a stainless steel pan on low to medium heat–you’re going to be whisking and you don’t want to unearth the nonstick cancer-causing coating. I’m going to take this opportunity to suggest you invest in stainless steel, even if it’s just one pan. It truly is the best.
• Gradually whisk in one tbsp of flour at a time. And keep up the faith. It’s going to look pasty.
  

  don't worry--the butter and flour will look like this

• Keep whisking and let the mixture slightly get a golden brown. I mean very slightly.
• Add the hot milk slowly and keep whisking. It will be lumpy for a minute.
• Bring this to a boil, and keep on whisking. It’ll thicken really quickly so DO NOT walk away for a second.
• Once you can tell it has thickened (and it isn’t lumpy anymore) and it is bubbling like a maniac, take it off the heat entirely.
• Add salt and pepper to your taste and that nutmeg.
• Continue whisking and add in the first hand full of cheese
• Continue whisking and add in the second hand full of cheese
• Once it is all incorporated, pour over the squash
• Top with the bread crumbs
• Cover with aluminum foil and bake at 375 for 20-30 minutes
• Uncover as it starts to get brown around the edges
• Put it back in the oven to get that gorgeous golden brown on top
  

  bake until the cheesy sauce starts to brown around the edges

Twede's Cafe, the famous cafe from Twin Peaks where Agent Cooper enjoys the coffee and cherry pie.

After a long week at work, my husband and I bummed out on the couch for the better half of the afternoon watching the first episode of Twin Peaks.  We recently visited some of the places where they filmed.  We took a belated honeymoon because neither of our work schedules matched up until October 3-10.  We flew out to Seattle because we both had always wanted to go.  Most people didn’t really seem as psyched as us to be going out to the west coast.  Joe’s sister-in-law, Linda, told me about this luxurious Salish Lodge in Snoqualmie Falls which is about 25 minutes east of  Seattle in the Cascade Mountains.   I remember Linda telling me something about Twin Peaks, and I remember mentioning it to Joe to justify the pretty expensive digs of Salish Lodge since he is a huge fan of the short series.  I completely forgot about all of this…until we were driving through North Bend, another little town near Snoqualmie Falls, and we saw Twede’s Cafe and “Home of TWIN PEAKS Cherry Pie.”  Well, we had to stop, of course.  They have quite the coffee, cherry pie, and an incredible burger menu.

Did I mention that the trees and mountains in this part of the country are HUGE?  Apparently, Agent Dale Cooper (The sexy Kyle MacLachlan) was a big fan of these douglas firs as well since he mentions it at least twice in the pilot episode of Twin Peaks.  David Lynch directed the early 90′s series, and I have to say that it really lives up to his classic style although not nearly as “out there” as say, maybe, Inland Empire.

The Salish Lodge has a slightly eerie feeling, reminiscent of The Shining. The lodge and the beautiful Snoqualmie Falls are some of the first shots of the pilot episode of Twin Peaks.

One of the first scenes in the series is of the beautiful Snoqualmie waterfall.  Salish Lodge is located smack-dab next to it.  And, I want to take a moment to say that this lodge is amazing.  The entire place smells like rosemary, and the crackling fireplaces are amazing.  The rooms are spacious, and they even have a pillow menu with, oh yes, lavender pillows.   The quiet and romantic Attic Lounge overlooks the mountains and the sunset.

Seeing the lodge on the eerie television series cemented my thoughts from the sunny days we spent there.  It slightly reminds me of the lodge in The Shining.  Don’t get me wrong–the place isn’t scary.  Walking the halls just gives one the feeling of that type of lodgy movie thing.

Oh, and Northbend proved to be pretty famous as well, housing the famous cafe where Agent Cooper proclaims that the coffee is “Damn fine!”  He also has a sweet tooth for cherry pie.   It’s cold out there, and one can gather this easily from the screen shots.  Seeing all those places that we actually visited made me crave something warm and delicious.  And Twin Peaks Lasagna was born.  Joe proclaimed it was “Damn fine lasagna!”

After a day of watching Twin Peaks, Joe and I enjoy a cold weather inspired vegetarian lasagna.

Twin Peaks Lasagna

2 tbsp. EVOO
1 cup mushrooms, finely chopped
half a large onion, chopped
1 cup Morningstar Farms® Meal Starters™ Grillers® Recipe Crumbles™
1/4 cup chardonnay, eyeball it
2 cloves garlic, minced
freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup  kalamata olives, finely chopped
1 jar Prego Traditional tomato sauce
1/2 cup water
4 Creamette Oven Ready Lasagna noodles
shredded mozzarella and parmesan
dried basil

• on medium heat, saute mushrooms, onions, and crumbles in EVOO until onions are golden brown
• poor in the chardonnay and scrape delicious stuck-on bits off pan (only if you’re using stainless steel!)
• add the garlic and simmer for about 5-10 minutes until bubbly and reduced
• add pepper and olives
• cook for another 2-3 minutes
• add prego and cook for another 5 minutes
• rinse the prego jar with the half cup water and pour into pot
• spoon mixture into 8×8 glass baking dish
• place 2 noodles , side by side, on top of this bottom layer
• spoon another layer of sauce mixture
• add liberal layer of parmesan and mozzarella, enough to fully cover sauce
• add another 2 noodles
• top with remaining sauce
• top sauce with liberal layer of parmesan and mozzarella
• sprinkle 1/4 tsp of dried basil on top of cheese
• cover with aluminum foil and bake at 350 for 30 minutes
• uncover and let stand in oven for another 5 minutes

After the lasagna has cooked (shown here), remove the cover and cook until cheese is nice and golden brown.

4 servings; perfect for a couple