The Journey Begins...

Okay.  So, I am sitting here, wondering what the hell I am doing.  I'm doing this (blogging) so I have a place to keep all of my recipe experiments in one place because I am so not good with papers, binders, basically anything to keep myself organized in the kitchen.

The Goal: 
Try to eat healthier and try to get my child to eat healthier.  Okay, so those are actually two goals.  I am aware of this and have no intention of "editing" "The Goal."  Deal with it.

I plan on doing this by researching and trying different recipes.  I will document my successes and failures here so I can have a central repository for the "yums" and the "yucks."

Who am I, you ask?  Oh, you didn't ask?  Shut up and listen, I'm gonna tell you anyway.  I am a busy working mom to an almost three-year-old boy that refuses to eat just about everything we present to him.  If you are a mom and have been through this, you are probably thinking that this is a phase and "he'll outgrow it" or "he'll eat when he's hungry."  Wrong.  I swear my child idolizes Gandhi and is fasting to make my hair prematurely grey.  Mission almost accomplished, little man.  Touche.

My house is a crazy ball of energy at any given moment.  My child not only isn't a good eater, he isn't a good sleeper either.  Then, my dumbass recently thought, "hey, we need a puppy!"  As karma the stars from hell aligned luck would have it, my aunt's beautiful dog was due to have puppies.  So, we packed up and traipsed three hours away to bring home our furry ball of crazy happiness.  That was two months ago.  Piper (the dog) is now 35 pounds and knee high and doesn't show any signs of her growth slowing down.  Please pray for my sanity.  She is the most beautiful dog I have ever seen and we love her dearly.  She is just insanely active, or otherwise known as a puppy.

In my house, I have one hubby, one almost three-year-old boy, one three and a half month old puppy (see above), and a six-year-old psychotic cat whom occasionally turns into an ankle-biting-vampire-bastard.  I'm pretty sure this cat tries to kill me on a daily basis.  But, to be fair, he is a cat.  So, he totally doesn't have that going for him.  He's doomed to walk the earth in a pissed off let's-kill-the-only-person-in-the-world-that-loves-and-feeds-me-despite-my-homicidal-tendencies kind of manner.  You know, a typical cat.  What?  Your cat doesn't try to kill you?

Wow, how did we get so off track?  That was a ride.

Food, oh yeah.  With my goal in mind and my WI-Fi in tow, I went in search of healthy recipes.  Oh yeah, and a disclaimer, I am totally immature.  Sorry in advance.

Entry #1

Bow Tie Pasta

The deets:

Yields: 4 (2-cup) servings

Calories: 315 per serving

Ingredients:

• 4 c. cooked and strained bow tie pasta
• 4 c. halved raw cherry tomatoes
• 1/3 thinly sliced fresh basil (good luck, this is hard as hell to slice up, I almost sacrificed a finger print doing this.  But, on the plus side, I now have one finger perfectly capable of committing a jewel heist.  Just saying.)
• 2 T. capote capers
• 2 T. extra virgin (heh heh) olive oil 
• 3/4 t. salt
• 1/2 t. crushed red pepper
• 1/2 t. ground black pepper
• 2 garlic cloves, minced (I used two T. of minced garlic from a jar, you know, because I'm lazy like that, yo)
• red wine vinegar (or, if you have ADHD while shopping like I do, you can opt for balsamic vinegar because it is apparently super hard to read a standard label)
• mozzarella cheese (optional, as garnish)

What to do (A.K.A., instructions):

1. Throw all ingredients into a bowl and mix.  It's that simple.  

The Scoop:  
Now, I ate the first serving while the pasta was still hot.  Then, I refrigerated it over night and ate it cold the next day for lunch.  Holy pasta, it is WAY better cold!   

This is a dish that I will add to my success column and will also add to my rotation of delish dishes.  Yay me!