Weekly Food Challenge

I didn't have a grand plan to spend most of the day cooking Italian fare, but that's what ended up happening. Since I wasn't going to Trader Joe's this week - I made my own cranberry-pistachio biscotti for dipping into coffee in the mornings, using this recipe. I tasted some of the edge bits before the second baking and the flavor on them is fabulous. The only changes to the recipe is subbing 3/4 cup whole wheat flour for part of the white and using orange-flavored dried cranberries - interestingly enough from the last Trader Joe's trip - which they are YUMMY.

The next thing I made were some zucchini basil muffins - using this recipe - since with my new workplace, it's going to be easiest to pack bento-style lunches that don't necessarily need to be refrigerated and have plenty of grabbable foods. I'll have to say they turned out merely ok - they seem to be missing something but I can't quite put my finger on what. Maybe some cracked black pepper or mixing in some of the parmesan instead of only sprinkling it on top. 

The last thing I made was a no-recipe-needed pasta dinner for one. I cooked up some orecchiette pasta in one small pan while I prepped the rest of the ingredients and cooked them in a saute pan. Then when the pasta was mostly done, I drained it and dumped it in the saute pan to soak up the liquid. Note to those who haven't used orecchiette before - it takes longer than usual to cook. Most dried pastas are good at about 8-9 minutes but I am very glad I looked at the packaging because it did take the full 13 minutes to get to mostly al-dente.

( Some pictures of the day's work )