Corn Pesto with Bacon, Tomatoes and Asparagus

Hmm…yeah, so about this blog. It’s obviously been neglected lately. I have lots of excuses. I’ve been perpetually sick due to the little carrier monkeys (AKA 6th graders) I spend my days with. I’ve been going to happy hour more than is prudent. I’ve been fixing up my place. It all takes time, ya know?

But I did make this pasta with corn pesto and I want to share it with you because it is really, really good. It’s based on this recipe from epicurious. In my mind pestos are green but apparently epicurious considers anything blended up with olive oil pesto and, since they’re the food experts, I’ll take their word for it.

In my version, bacon is browned until it’s crispy and then corn and onions are caramelized in the bacon fat. Everything gets pureed with lots of parmesan, broth and olive oil. Sautéed grape tomatoes and asparagus are stirred in at the end. The bacon and cheese are salty, the corn and onions are sweet and the tomatoes are tangy and just a little acidic.

 

Ingredients:

1 lb of pasta (capatavi is my favorite, but use what you like)

6 slices of bacon, cut into 1/2” pieces

1 medium onion, diced

4 cups of corn, from frozen that’s been thawed or from 5-6 fresh ears

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1 tsp salt

3/4 tsp pepper

2 cups grape tomatoes

1 bunch asparagus, tough ends trimmed and cut into 1” pieces

1/2 cup grated parmesan

2 Tbs olive oil

1/4 – 1/2 cup vegetable or chicken broth

Directions:

Cook pasta according to directions on package. Drain.

Meanwhile, cook bacon in a large skillet over medium heat until brown and crispy. Remove from pan to a paper towel to drain. Discard all but 1 tablespoon of the bacon fat.

Add onion to pan. Cook until translucent. Add corn, garlic, pepper and salt. Cook until corn is tender and onions are golden. Place corn mixture in a bowl and set aside.

Add a bit of olive oil to the skillet and increase heat to medium high. Cook tomatoes and asparagus until tomatoes are softened and asparagus is bright green. Remove from heat.

Place 3/4 of the corn mixture and parmesan into a food processor. Pulse a few times. With food processor going, slowing drizzle in olive oil. Drizzle in broth until pesto reaches the desired thickness and is smooth and creamy.

Add bacon, pesto and remaining corn mixture back into the skillet with the vegetables. Stir in pasta. Serve with additional parmesan.

Chocolate Caramel Pretzels

These are all over Blogland right now, but if you haven’t seen them yet here’s a quick and easy recipe. They take maybe 5 minutes to prep and another 5 minutes to heat them up and then top them with pecans. They travel well and they are delicious.

Ingredients:

A  bag of Rolos (about 50 candies)

50 small square pretzels

50 pecan halves

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.

Spread pretzels out in a single layer on sheet pan. Unwrap Rolos and place one, wide side down, on each pretzel.

Bake pretzels for 3-4 minutes until the chocolate barely starts to melt.

Press a pecan into each Rolo and let them cool. That’s it!

Toasted Pumpkin Seeds Three Ways

If you’ve been carving some of these:

Then maybe you should make some of these:

Cinnamon Sugar

1 cup pumpkin seeds

1 egg white

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp clove

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp ginger

 

Salt and Pepper

1 cup pumpkin seeds

1 egg white

1 tsp freshly ground pepper

1 tsp coarse sea salt

 

BBQ

1 cup pumpkin seeds

1 egg white

3 Tbs brown sugar

1 Tbs chili powder

1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp cayenne

1/4 tsp onion powder

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add a few tablespoons of salt. Boil pumpkins seeds for 10 minutes – similar to pasta. Drain seeds and let cool a bit. 

In a small bowl, beat egg white until slightly frothy. Beat in spices. Mix in seeds until well coated.

Drain excess egg mixture off of seeds and spread onto parchment.

Bake Cinnamon Sugar seeds for 12-15 minutes (careful, these burn fast) and Salt & Pepper and BBQ for 17-20 minutes until crispy and barely browned.

Quick and Easy Thank You Postcards

I’m horrible about writing thank you cards. It’s not that I’m ungrateful but making, writing and sending a stack of cards can take a LONG time. So I opted for the quick version – a postcard with a stamped sentiment on the front and a short note on the back. You don’t even have to stuff it in an envelope if you don’t want to.

If you would like to whip up some postcards of your own, you will need: coordinating scrap paper, a postcard size rectangle of cardstock, sentiment stamp, ink, a square of cardstock for the stamp, a square for the border and adhesive.

Tear a strip of paper that is a little over half of the width of the postcard. Adhere it to the bottom half of the card and trim the edges.

Tear a strip of coordinating paper that is about 1” wide. Adhere it over the torn edge of the other paper. Stamp and mount the sentiment. Attach it to the card with adhesive. I turned my cards horizontal but you could also keep them vertical.

Here is a “Thinking of You” version: