Giada for Target

I was doing a target run today and saw my beloved Giada's adorable cookware line. I love her show and am always dreaming of ways to crash her pad while she's filming Giada at Home. However unsuccessful, i decided the closest I would get to eating her food is, well, never. Unless it came in a jar. Wait a second ...



Ta-da! For just $2.99 a pop, you can pretend she's cooking for you. Or better yet, WITH you. Fun times! I dug out my bag of frozen giant shrimp from Trader Joe's around $10 and my trusty Barilla thick spaghetti $1 and off I went!




My three le creuset babies going to work! I love them so much I use them for EVERYTHING! In the orange we got the water boiling the pasta, the blue has the shrimp sautéing with butter and garlic, and finally in the yellow I sweated an onion and sliced mushrooms before adding the magic Tomato and Basil Sauce. I like to cook the shrimp separately because I don't want them to overcook in the sauce and get all rubbery and gross.




When the shrimp were done (only takes a minute, when they are pink and curled) I took them out of the pan and used some of the tomato sauce to deglaze the bits of garlic and yummy shrimp juices and added it back to the yellow pot. I learned this in cooking class and I realized it really does make a difference in flavor!



Finished! Giada helped me with dinner, can't you tell? It's a shame I didn't have any Parmigiano-Reggiano in the fridge cause then it would really be a Giada masterpiece. Buon appetito!

Dominos New Pizza

Today was the classic case of see it, get it, eat it. Jason and i spent a lazy sunday watching football and the new Dominos pizza commercial came on. they said they revamped the whole thing and created a better crust, better sauce and an all new cheese mix. really? we decided to put it to the test. $5.99 for a medium 2-topping pizza, you really cant pass it up. the only catch is you have to order two. done.

j's : pepperoni, sausage, mushroom. normal cheese, normal sauce.

mine: ham, pineapple, diced tomato. easy cheese, extra sauce.

MMM.

the only real difference i could taste was the crust cause it was garlicky (yum). but the sauce was really tasty. i dont know how different it is from the old one, but the new one is pretty dang good.

Grilled Cheese Sandwiches with Prosciutto & Simple Meatball Spaghetti

who knew martha had sold food at costco?  she has a whole line of pre-made food like desserts and spreads and even meatballs.  i got these meatballs originally thinking i was going to make some kind of skewer or appetizer but decided to throw them in our last minute meal instead.  it worked out great cause they are pre-cooked and they have a lemony taste to them which was good with the simple trader joes marinara that i used.  instead of garlic bread i decided on grilled cheese with yummy prosciutto.  i sliced up some tillamook sharp cheddar and put it on orowheat buttermilk bread and layed down the prosciutto.  

my dad gave me this square grill pan and i never knew what it was for until the grilled cheese .. it was perfect despite the fact that it got real hot real fast and burned up my 'wiches :(

i was surprised this meal turned out so yum cause it was the first time i didnt follow a recipe and i actually enjoyed the art of cooking. and by art i mean throwing things together and heating it up. heh heh heh