Kale & Mushroom Pumpkin Pasta

I love to stock up with tons of pumpkin during the fall.  Its not something thats easily available all throughout the year and so I make up for it when October and November roll around.  I probably have about 20 cans right now in my cupboard, uh a little too much?  nah what am I thinking you can never have too much of a good thing, and it dosen't hurt that it's healthy for you.  I usually use pumpkin in sweet dishes but being infected with the sickness and all (common cold) and not having much of a sweet tooth tonight...shocker I know.  I wanted too use up some of those 20 cans of pumpkin and I thought why not make a yummy creamy pumpkin sauce for pasta.  It was really easy and fast to make and you can use it for not only pasta but it would be great over ravioli or perhaps even rice.

Kale & Mushroom Pumpkin Pasta
Oishii Treat Original

Ingredients

10-13 ounce box of penne pasta
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
1/4 cup red onion diced small
1 cup sliced mushrooms
2 cups kale (ribs removed, washed and tear apart into bite sized pieces)
3/4 cups pumpkin puree
3/4 cups vegetable broth
1/2 cup half and half
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
pepper
salt
1 cup white cheddar cheese shredded

Directions

- In a large sauté pan on medium high heat add you butter and let it melt
- Add your diced onion and garlic cooking for 2 minutes
- Add in the sliced mushrooms, stir around and cook for another 2 minutes
- Add in your kale stirring for about 2 minutes until in starts to wilt
- In a large pot of boiling water cook your pasta according to package directions
- In the large pan mix in the pumpkin, broth, half and half, basil and parsley. stir until completely combined
- Reduce the heat to medium low and cook the sauce while the pasta is cooking, about 10 minutes.
- Drain your past and add it back to the pot, add in your sauce and 1/2 cup of your shredded cheese and mix well.
- serve it up and if you like top with a little more cheese

I also linked up to a few new link parties over at Seven Alive, Mom on Time Out, Practically Functional, Two Yellow Birds Decor, Live Laugh

Asparagus & Mushroom Risotto

Well it only took 3 glasses of wine but the risotto is finally done.  pheww but now I am diffidently buzzed and things are looking a little blurry lol.  I love risotto, yes it takes time to cook, but the end result is always worth it.
njdwuegt......This is how I should be typing right now, thank goodness for spell check =)

I'm getting nervous theres only a few days left before I leave for tech school.  I still haven't packed and we are going camping a day before I leave......I'm such a procrastinator.
By the way this risotto is great for any diet! if your dairy free, gluten free, vegan or vegetarian you can't go wrong with simple ingredients like rice, veggies and broth.

Asparagus & Mushroom Risotto
Adapted from Cleangreensimple.com

Yields 4-6 servings

Ingredients
1 White Onion diced
4-6 cloves garlic
About 1 - 1 1/2 cups Asparagus chopped into 1-2 inch pieces. remove the woody part of the stock
1 Cup diced mushrooms, your favorite kind
1 tsp dried Thyme
1 tsp salt
1/2 Cup white wine
1 Cup Brown Basmati rice
32 oz Vegetable Broth
2 cups spinach either chopped or whole
1/4 tsp Onion Powder
2 tsp Lemon Juice


Directions
Heat a large pot or saute pan over medium heat, spray with cooking spray like Pam. Add onions, garlic and asparagus, stir occasionally until soft about 2-3 min.  Add mushrooms, salt, thyme and white wine. stir until soften another 2-3 min.  Add rice and stir till the rice is coated and its starts to make popping sounds. Add broth 1/2 cup at a time, stir well and let the rice soak up the broth before adding more. usually took about 5 minutes each time I add in some broth.
Once your on your last 1/2 cup of broth add the spinach, onion powder and lemon juice stir till spinach is wilted. Add salt and more lemon juice if needed

 *note* before you add the spinach if your rice still isn't completely soft to your liking either add more broth 1/2 cup at a time or water until the rice is nice and soft. I had to use a lot more broth than the original recipe called for, could be cause I was using brown rice instead of Arborio.

Portobello Mushroom Chili

Today was the untimely death of my blender.  It was a complete and innocent accident, honest I swear! I woke up with the soul intentions of making myself a healthy smoothie at 4am before work. Even though its a pain in the ass to make a smoothie, since I have to use a wooden spoon to mash down the the ingredients to get close enough to the blades. Yes I won't lie I've been irritated with my blender for awhile now, but I didn't have murderous intentions at 4am.

I had set it down on the counter and went to retrive a container from the top cabinet when I closed the door, my elbow came down on the blender knocking it off the counter smashing it into a million pieces onto the kitchen floor.  Truthfully though the minute it happen the first thing the popped into my head was...YES I can order a new blender! YAY lol plus since it was truly a mistake, because who would want shards of glass all over their floor at 4 in the morning? I was happy to know I can finally order a new and much better blender.

So I barely had time to clean it up before having to go to work to wear a gas mask for over 2 straight hours!  oh yeah, for 2 hours we were sucking plastic just sitting, sweating and miserable. It's really gross when you start becoming so hot that your breath is fogging up your mask and there is condensation building up on the inside..nasty.

oh yeah thats me in the gear and all. Sweating up a storm in my office 

Luckily I was looking forward to my crock pot mushroom chili. I couldn't eat take out anymore and had to bring out the crock pot and slow cook this chili the day before while I was at work for 12 hours.  There was nothing like coming home last night and immediately smelling the delicious aroma from the elevator door. Plus I had a great lunch to take to work today.  Though I had to wait till my gas mask was off the eat it =)


Portobello Mushroom Chili
Adapted From Allrecipes.com submitted by the gourmetguy
Cook Time: 8-12 hours in a Crock Pot

Ingredients
2 Yellow Onions diced
2 cloves garlic minced
1 Tablespoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 1/2 pounds portobello mushrooms, cut into 1/2 inch pieces (or your favorite mushrooms)
1 (28 ounce) can of intalian style diced tomatoes
2 cans of Red kidney beans
salt to taste
1/2 teaspoon pepper

Directions
Add all the ingredients into your crock pot, stir to mix everything up and set on low for 8-12 hours. 8 is plenty of time, but it can slow cook longer depending when you get off work.

I also haven't had the proper time to truly say thank you to Maggie at Kitchie Coo she had passed on the Kreativ blogger and Sunshine award to me last week and I just now had the time to sit down and express how honored and excited I was to find that she would think of me. Thank you Maggie =)
By the way I love her blog so much, there is always a tasty recipe I'm drooling over every time I visit her page.

For the Sunshine award I'm supposed to answer the questions below and pass it on to 10 other bloggers and for the Kreativ blogger award I'm supposed to give a random fact about myself.

1. Favorite Color-  It use to be blue but now its purple
2. Favorite Animal- Wolf
3. Favorite Number- 12 thats been my favorite number since I was in grade school
4. Favorite non-alcoholic drink- Funny its the same as Maggie at Kitchie coo, seltzer water
5. Prefer Facebook or Twitter- Facebook, I have no idea how to use my Japanese cell phone
6. My Passion- Traveling and food. I like that in the military I've visited countries that I probably would have never seen in my life if I didn't enlist.
7. Prefer getting or giving presents- I love giving presents to family and friends. I like making gift baskets during the holidays that are customized for each person.
8. Favorite Pattern- um tie dye? not really
9. Favorite day of the week- Friday, can't wait to get out of work and start the weekend
10. Favorite Flower- Lilac I love the color and the scent

Random Fact about me
I cannot manipulate my fingers to make the Live long and Prosper sign like Spock does in Star Trek lol.


I would like to pass this wonderful award package onto these 10 great bloggers.

Tess at Slow Cooking Kitchen, Kit from I lost in Austen, Richard at What's Cooking at Richards?, CJ Food Stories, Kaitlin at The Garden Grazer, Eating with Zombies , Annie What's Annie Making?, Jessica at A Kitchen Addiction , Becca at Keep Guessing, Dawyne No Ideas