Sunday Suppers: PASTA PIE. That's Amore~

I hate grocery shopping. I hate it as much as I despise bra and jean shopping. All three leave me very confused and sweaty! When I find a bra that fits well, I'll buy two or three. I'll alternate between two pairs of jeans until they wear out to the point that I'm walking around campus unaware that there's a tear in the bum and my sexy granny panties are on display. True story. I'd wear leggings more often but they make me gassy.

So, the dogre usually leaves me at home. If I join him, I tend to drag my feet, grab at cheese loaves, and complain within 5 minutes of entering the store.  Also, I have a problem with big, open space: they make me want to go poop. Take me to Loblaws, Winners, or a library and the urge will hit me. I spent 15 minutes looking for pork chops today, chanting to myself, "I don't need to poop, I don't need to poop, I don't need to poop!" More on that next week (pork chops, not bowel movements).

Tonight's dinner, the Noble Pig's Pasta Pie, with changes. Into the meat sauce went the zucchini, onion and cayenne pepper. Actually, calling it meat sauce would be a stretch. It was more like soup! Was I not suppose to add the whole content of the tomato can? Should I have drained it first? Lots of confusion - I ended up draining the pot and adding tomato sauce. One other thing, my rigatoni was too narrow. Attempting to stuff each tube with meat: fail. No matter, all that cheese made it glorious! My guests (the dogre and finnigan) were impressed. Made me feel like a superstar. To make the mozzarella so awesome, I set the oven to broil for the last 3 minutes, browning it just so. Mmmm- Take a looksies. I love cheese...Love, love love~ If you're also a cheese-lover, you need to click the images for a closeup. You'll heart will skip a beat.

For appetizers (meant to accompany the pasta but we were too hungry to wait) we had bocconcini, tomatoes, and baby arugula, drizzled with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and black pepper (oh whoops, forgot to add black pepper).

 





Onto dessert. Last night I had a hankering for a Kitchen workout. I knew we had super ripe raspberries in the fridge and lots of rolled oats so I googled a recipe. Can I just say, I love how spontaneous this was, and the fact that I already had the ingredients, unplanned. I'm a domestic superstar, really.  Raspberry oatmeal squares. Looks nothing like the photo on the website and I only used 3/4 cup of raspberry jam, but it's still tasty! Didn't end up using the raspberries. Poor, neglected raspberries...

...Or maybe not! They went into the iced water, along with lemon slices and clementine. I'm a superstar, remember? Did you think I'd serve plain water? How insulting. I like to drink lemon water when I'm sitting at home, in my flannel pants and frosh week tee (from 2003). Makes me feel classy.

Next week: Nigella's Crunchy Pork Chops with Cathy's Roasted Potatoes!