Pasta with Two Tomatoes

Saturday's dinner, Pasta with Two Tomatoes, is prettier than the meals I ate tonight and last night. Both were good, but brownish, monotone and ugly. I decided not to subject you to that.

And not only was Saturday's meal not bad looking, it tasted pretty great, too! It was really fresh tasting with all the tomatoes. It wasn't very sauce like, so if you prefer actual sauce with your pasta this isn't for you. If you like chunks of tomato with a little olive oil and cheese, this is more your speed. The only problem with it was my mozzarella melted. But that could be my fault rather than the recipe's.

Last night I had a vegetable stir fry from Food and Wine, but I used shredded carrots instead of the cabbage, increased the vegetable broth, and decreased the oil drastically. I served it over brown rice with a couple of steamed chicken pot stickers I found in the back of my freezer. It was really good. It was still good today as leftovers and was really points-friendly despite the amount of cashews if you decrease the oil down to 1 tbsp. If you're using a nonstick pan with cooking spray you don't need a bunch of oil, especially with the sesame oil to add so much flavor.

Tonight's dinner was less successful — grilled portabellas with bulgur salad. I wanted to like it so badly.. and it wasn't awful.. it was pretty good, really. It was so involved I ended up losing patience midway through and slapped the rest together. So I can't blame the recipe for much. I did cut WAY back on the oil and tried to compensate a little with some vegetable broth, so my vinaigrette didn't come out so vinegar-y.

But 5 minutes for cooking bulgur? What planet are they on? That's definitely not long enough. At least the roasted asparagus I had on the side was good. I eat it once a week and I haven't tired of it yet!

All right — off to watch Jon and Kate Plus 8. It looks like it's going to be a bit of a train wreck this season, but I can't help but watch. That's probably what TLC is banking on.

Night!