Roasted Two Potato Salad with Honey Mustard Vinaigrette

Today was pretty much a big pile of suck. So sucky in fact, that the only reason I didn't bail on cooking dinner altogether was because I had already hard boiled the eggs. I didn't want to waste my efforts on the eggs, so I went ahead and started roasting the potatoes. Once I got to the "chop the hard boiled eggs" step (original recipe found here), I realized that these lovely eggs were most certainly not hard boiled--who knew it was even possible to screw up hard boiling eggs??! Par for the course on this particular day, apparently. I checked the fridge for anything else I could add to jazz up this salad and came upon some feta. The feta actually worked out perfectly and I'll probably skip the eggs next time I make this anyway--finally a success today!

1 lb. red potatoes
1 large sweet potato
2 tablespoons olive oil
Kosher salt
Pepper
1/2 red onion
1/4 cup feta
Salad greens (I used spinach)

Preheat oven to 450. Chop red potatoes into bite sized pieces. Peel sweet potato and then chop into bite sized pieces. Put all potatoes onto rimmed baking sheet and toss with olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast for about 25 minutes. Meanwhile, thinly slice the red onion, then make the dressing. Put spinach, onion and feta in a large bowl. Top with warm potatoes and dressing, then toss and serve.

Honey Mustard Vinaigrette

2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
2 tablespoons olive oil

Combine honey, mustard and vinegar in a small bowl. Stream in olive oil while whisking to combine. Taste and adjust as necessary.

Source: acouplecooks.com

California Rice

I made this waaaaaaaay back while I was pregnant and having a sushi craving. This was quick, easy, cheap and (mostly) satisfied my craving--perfect!

Rice
1/2 avocado, diced
1/2 cucumber, peeled and diced
Sesame seeds
Soy sauce

Cook rice and top it with the avocado, cucumber and a sprinkling of sesame seeds. Add soy sauce to taste. The end.

Pesto Shrimp Pasta

The other night Colin and I found ourselves randomly watching a show called Restaurant: Impossible in which some famed chef goes in to save failing restaurants. We found ourselves totally sucked in to an episode where the troubled restaurant billed itself as a "spaghetti house" and this was the way that the chef made over their spaghetti. I don't totally get how this is a redone spaghetti recipe, other than the pasta shape, but either way it was super easy and delicious. As far as the actual recipe goes, the chef was just kind of describing what he was doing as he whipped this up, so it's not very specific, but you get the idea.

1/2 lb. shrimp, peeled and deveined
Spaghetti (I actually used linguine since that's what I had--same diff)
Olive oil
1/2 onion, diced
Pesto (I used store bought, but I'm sure it would be even better with homemade)
White wine
Heavy cream
Tomato, chopped and seeded
Parsley, minced

First brown onions in a large skillet on medium heat, then remove from pan. Add olive oil to skillet and then add shrimp. Cook until shrimp is just turning opaque, then add in onions and about 2 tablespoons of pesto. Deglaze the pan with a little white wine, then add in a splash or two of heavy cream. Toss with cooked pasta and top with tomatoes and parsley.