#Pasta with Prosciutto, Cherry Tomatoes, and Parmesan by @Denise Swanson

As I may have mentioned (a few hundred times) my husband and I LOVE pasta so I am always on the lookout for a quick, healthy pasta dish.

This one is all about the contrasting textures. There are crispy bits of prosciutto, crunchy squash, and blistered cherry tomatoes.

Ingredients

8 ounces uncooked penne or rotini (I use a low carb brand)

 3 tablespoons olive oil, divided

1 ounce thinly sliced prosciutto, coarsely chopped

 1 cup chopped onion

  1 medium zucchini, quartered lengthwise and sliced

3 cups multicolored cherry tomatoes, halved

8 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

 1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper

1/2 teaspoon salt

 2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar

 Dried Parsley

Cook pasta according to package directions; drain.

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add prosciutto; cook 3 minutes or until crisp. Remove prosciutto from pan. 

Add remaining 2 tablespoons oil to pan. Add onion, garlic, and pepper; sauté 4 minutes.

Add zucchini; cook 1 minute. 

Add tomatoes and salt; cook 3 minutes. 

Stir in pasta and vinegar; cook 30 seconds. Remove pan from heat; stir in parsley and 1 ounce cheese. 

Divide pasta mixture among 4 bowls; top with prosciutto and remaining 1 ounce cheese.

OUT NOW:  A CALL TO CHARMS (FIRST IN THE FOREVER CHARMED MYSTERY SERIES)

A Call to Charms

 AMAZON

BN

KOBO

Chocolate, men, and magic. Who can turn down that inheritance?

     If life had gone as she planned, Lexie Green would have been teaching English at a prestigious university, not persuading spoiled, rich women to buy overpriced clothes they didn’t need and often looked ridiculous wearing. Can you say electric yellow see-through skirts and Torn jeans with unfinished hems?    

     Still, although this isn’t the life Lexie would have chosen, all is going well. At least until Lexie is fired and her deranged ex-boyfriend tries to kidnap her.

     Deciding that it’s better to accept a mysterious inheritance from a great aunt she’s never heard of rather than end up kept in a cage as her ex’s pet poodle, Lexie packs up and heads to Kansas. So, what if she has to go by a new name and live in a town that she can’t find on a map?

     Unfortunately, once she arrives in her new hometown, everyone there seems just a tad off-kilter and Lexie’s cousin insists that the citizens are magical. At least there are a couple of hot guys hanging around for eye candy.

     Even though Lexie doesn’t believe the nonsense about her being the Ravenscraft Shield, she does believe her father was murdered—a father she never knew existed, and she investigates his death.

     Too bad, whoever killed her father, now wants Lexie dead as well.    

***

COMING DECEMBER 19 IN THE WELCOME BACK TO SCUMBLE RIVER SERIES

AMAZON

There's something fishy just below the surface of Scumble River...

School psychologist Skye Denison-Boyd is getting ready to return to work from her maternity leave and hoping for a peaceful year in her job as a school psychologist. But when an elderly woman disappears on her first day back and a disgruntled parent threatens to sue the school, Skye realizes that her return will be anything but quiet.

When the parent suing Skye's school is found dead and with the missing woman's case is still unsolved, Skye suspects the crimes are somehow linked. With her chief of police husband, Wally, at her side, Skye dives into the investigations. But as tensions rise and Skye and Wally's suspect list lengthens, they start to wonder whether a member of their own tight-knit community could be behind it all...

Enjoy the occasional romance?

AMAZON    BARNES AND NOBLE   KOBO

Take one dedicated wildlife veterinarian who treats her animals as if they were her babies, add an impossibly handsome nightclub manager who’s determined to open the hottest spot in Las Vegas, and what do you have? A sweet, sexy romance that proves that no matter how much a man and woman may snarl at the idea of a relationship, love always wins.

* * *

Marco Thorne was hired by Club Wilde’s owner to open up the newest, most outrageous venue yet. He is absolutely certain that he can handle all the competition Las Vegas has to offer until his overbearing boss contracts with Lions and Tigers and More sanctuary to have live exotic animals present in the jungle-themed club. Still, he has no choice but to go along with his boss’s idiotic scheme, even if he thinks it’s the worst idea he’s ever heard.

Dr. Sage DeSantis’s entire life is devoted to keeping the animals under her care in the sanctuary healthy and happy. After the sanctuary’s owner announces that he’s renting out some of Sage’s babies to Club Wilde, she’s sickened that they will once again be exploited.

When Marco and Sage meet, the chemistry between them nearly knocks them off their feet. Although they both have experiences in their past that make them leery of love, and Sage is determined to guard her heart, Marco is all in. But will Marco be able to convince Sage to give them a chance?

* * *

Publisher’s warning: This book contains sensual consummated love scenes.

Series description:

Second in Denise Swanson’s new Delicious contemporary romance series. All books are complete with no cliffhangers and a guaranteed HEA!

Sinfully Delicious is available now!

Undeniably Delicious is coming in 2019!

For more information, please visit www.DeniseSwanson.com
Catch up with me on FACEBOOK! 

One Pan Chicken Breast Dinner

Where is the quinoa, please? I'm certain I bought it but I don't see it anywhere. Don't you hate it when that happens? So the interesting quinoa recipe that I found will have to be another week. In the meantime, I tried this one pan dinner by Jaime Oliver.

I have to admit that this is the way I like to eat. Quick, easy, fresh ingredients with a simple sauce. Elegant in its simplicity, colorful, and even healthy. I was drawn in originally because of the way he cut the chicken breast. Instead of pounding it (which I never like to do), he makes two slices in the thick portion so that it cooks as fast as the thinner end. I never saw anyone do that before and had to try.

My concern was that it would be easy to overcook the chicken. Chicken breasts are a staple in my life so I know there's nothing worse than dried out chicken. It turned out fine but don't walk away and ignore it. The chicken cooks quickly. I suspect I didn't have the heat up quite high enough. Start at medium high and turn it down if necessary.

I used thin stalks of asparagus. If you find that your asparagus isn't cooked enough for your taste, remove the chicken to a plate when it's done and let the asparagus cook a few minutes more.

There's bacon in the recipe, which was interesting to me. You're supposed to place a piece of raw bacon over each piece of chicken after it's browned. Now, I happened to have leftover bacon, so I cheated a little and used two slightly undercooked pieces. I also added a teaspoon of bacon grease to make up for the loss of that flavor. In the end, my bacon just became soft. So the raw bacon would probably fare better.

The recipe also calls for basil leaves. It's not quite that season here yet, so I substituted a fine herb blend. Remember to watch the chicken so it doesn't dry out. Oh, and we're carb people so I served it with rice.

One Pan Chicken Breast Dinner

by Jaime Oliver

olive oil
2 chicken breasts
salt and pepper
2 slices raw bacon
asparagus (two handfuls)
16 cherry tomatoes
12 Kalamata olives
a few basil leaves or 1/2 teaspoon of fine herbs
1/4 cup white wine
1 tablespoon butter

Heat a drizzle of olive oil in a large pan at medium high. Slice the thick ends of the chicken breasts into three roughly equal pieces so they will cook as fast as the thin ends. Salt and pepper the meat. Brown on one side, 2-3 minutes.

Flip the chicken breasts with tongs and lay the raw bacon on top of the breasts. Add the asparagus, tomatoes, herbs, and olives. When the bottom side is browned, flip the breasts again so that the bacon is underneath the chicken breasts. The bacon should crisp up. Flip again, moving the veggies around so that they cook.

Pour the white wine in the pan, scraping up any bits of bacon. Remove from heat and place the chicken on plates. Add the butter and swirl the pan to incorporate it into the sauce. Plate the veggies and pour the sauce over top of the chicken.

Slice the thick ends into three equal parts so they cook as fast as the thin part!

After browning, place raw bacon on top of the chicken. (Mine was cooked.)

Add the asparagus, olives, tomatoes, and herbs and . . .

. . . flip the chicken so the bacon crisps underneath it.

Flip back and add white wine.

Drizzle with the sauce.

So colorful!

Gazpacho

by Guest Vicki Lane

“The tomato vines, heavy with fruit, were sagging on their baling twine supports. Their lower leaves, spotted and rusty with incipient blight, would have to be clipped and burned, but the upper parts of the vines were continuing to put out tender new growth and star-like yellow blossoms. Elizabeth began to fill her plastic milk crate with the long, firm San Marzanos and Romas that would form the basis of herb-rich sauces to be stored in the freezer, as well as providing leathery oven-dried tomatoes bursting with the concentrated flavor of summer. There was a small basket for the tiny grape tomatoes whose seeds a cousin had brought from France – first choice for a tossed salad or eating out of hand.

Finally, there were the enormous slicing tomatoes – the aristocracy of the garden – deep crimson Brandywine, dark Cherokee, Black Krim, and a bright yellow nameless beauty whose seeds had come from Miss Birdie, a little bland in taste, perhaps, but so gorgeous in company with the others. Elizabeth laid these giants carefully in her big willow basket, envisioning a cobalt blue platter heaped with rounds of red and yellow interposed with slices of creamy fresh mozzarella, the whole glistening with generous amounts of olive oil, a prudent sprinkling of balsamic vinegar, shining crystals of sea salt, and fragrant ribbons of fresh green basil.”

This passage from my novel Art’s Blood inspired a reader in Hawaii to email me and accuse me of writing tomato porn – and causing her to lust after tomatoes that she had no hope of obtaining. 

Just now, as I write this in the first week of September, we are drowning in a sea of tomatoes. I have been canning and roasting and freezing and trying to use those luscious tomatoes in every way possible, all too aware that really good fresh tomatoes will soon be but a memory.

Gazpacho is a wonderful way to take advantage of this bounty. One can be very purist and chop everything by hand but then one wouldn’t make Gazpacho nearly so often – the processor turns this into fast food. My recipe is based on Classic Chunky Gazpacho from Sam at My Carolina Kitchen but I take some liberties. I also don’t actually measure – but I have a pretty good feel for what makes a tablespoon.

Begin by filling the food processor with cut up red tomatoes and whirring them till soupy – not pureed but not chunky either. Then pour this batch into a big container and fill the processor with more cut up tomatoes which you process into chunks. (I use a mix of tomatoes for this run – Green Zebras which are ripe and bright green, some yellows, some more reds – whatever’s ripe.)

Add this second batch of tomatoes to the container then use the processor to grind up two peeled cucumbers. Add to tomato mix. Repeat with onion and garlic – we like our gazpacho with lots more than Sam’s recipe calls for – I used one large onion and four large garlic cloves.) Finally, process till chopped, a bell pepper, green or red, or, if you like heat and I do, two or three jalapenos.

Stir all the veggies together, add the juice of a lemon, about four tablespoons each of olive oil and red wine vinegar or sherry vinegar (I used homemade herb vinegar,) salt and pepper to taste, and a dollop of hot sauce (again, to taste. I like Sriracha hot sauce.)

Serve very cold. Embellishments such as garlicky croutons or a bit of sour cream are nice but unnecessary.

Here’re some more ways to have fun with tomatoes – or maters, as we call them in my neck of the woods.

Quintessential Summer Sandwich    

Salad Caprese

Stromboli

Je Ne Sais Quoi Sandwich

Vicki Lane is the author The Day of Small Things and of the Elizabeth Goodweather Appalachian Mysteries which include Signs in the Blood, Art's Blood, Old Wounds, Anthony-nominated In A Dark Season, and Under the Skin (coming from Bantam Dell 10/18.) Vicki draws her inspiration from the rural western NC county where she and her family have lived on a mountainside farm since 1975. Please visit Vicki at her daily blog, her website or go HERE to learn more about Under the Skin.

Penne with Roasted Tomatoes and Basil

Remember how I was complaining last week about how busy I was?

Yeah, right.  I had no idea what the future held ...

I really didn't think I would get this post together in time, but here's the thing:  no matter how busy you are, you have to eat.  Or, at least, I do.  (I'm not one of those people who "forgets" lunch ....)

Anywho, after my Friday classes ended, I hauled my behind into my little Scion and shuffled off to the Kroger, desperate as much for dinner as for something to make for the blog.  And, lo, cherry tomatoes were on sale.

Salvation!

Notice the healthy basil in the midst of the weeds and dead leaves ... thank you, Mother Nature

Despite the wicked heat and drought, we have been enjoying a bumper crop of volunteer basil in our earth boxes.  (I actually planted some last year but was too lazy this spring ... thankfully, Mother Nature had my back.)  Fresh basil + cherry tomatoes + exhausted Wendy = Penne with Roasted Tomatoes and Basil.

This is a recipe based on one from Cooks Illustrated.  The beautiful thing is that you can make it all year long (even sketchy cherry tomatoes will taste delish after they've been roasted).  The even more beautiful thing about this recipe is that the sauce makes itself in the oven.  So throw the tomatoes in the oven, boil the pasta, mix ... and voila!

So keep an eye out for those sale tomatoes (or hit your local farmer's market), and take an evening off without sacrificing your dinner.

Penne with Roasted Tomatoes and Basil

1 pound penne

2 lbs. cherry or grape tomatoes
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 c. olive oil
1 tsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt (+ 1 Tbs. for pasta water)
1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper
1 Tbs. balsamic vinegar
1/4 c. chopped fresh basil

shredded parmesan, to taste


Preheat oven to 350.

Halve the tomatoes.  Toss gently with oil, sugar, 1/2 tsp. salt, red pepper, garlic, and balsamic vinegar.  Spread the tomatoes on a large rimmed baking sheet, and roast 35 to 40 minutes (until tomatoes shrivel a bit, but don't let them turn to mush).

After

Before

Meanwhile, cook pasta in salted water according to package direction.  Drain pasta.  Return to pot.  Scrape the cooked tomatoes and juices into the pot, sprinkle with the basil, and toss gently.

Serve topped with parmesan.

~~~~~~

Wendy is the author of the Mysteries a la Mode. Visit her on the web or on Facebook.