I was kind of scared about this weeks BSI choice – I am not that familiar with artichokes at all!   Have you ever had marinated artichoke hearts?  OMG, so delicious – just by themselves!  So while I was going to do one dish for two different contests (the second being 5-Star Foodies pasta makeover) I decided to make two different dishes.

First up – artichoke pasta!  So simple really!  And total credit goes to Tony – he came up with this one! 😀

Biz’s Artichoke Pasta

  • 3 cups flour
  • 2 eggs
  • 8 ounces marinated artichoke hearts, drained

Yep – that’s it!  I decided this was six servings, so each serving comes in at 266 calories, 2.1 fat, 51 carbs, 3.7 fiber and 9.6 protein.

drain the artichokes, but make sure to reserve the liquid for your pasta sauce
pulse until dough forms into a ball - about 1 minute 😀
I absolutely love the feel of this dough - can you see the bits of artichoke in the dough?
I used my Atlas hand roller to roll out the dough
It takes about 10 times through to get the right texture
I used the fettucine attachment

I separated the strands before putting in hot, salted water.

ready for the water! it only takes about 2-3 minutes to cook
cooked!

For the sauce I started with this can of tomatoes:

I heated up 1 teaspoon olive oil and browned some minced garlic – about a tablespoon.  Then I added the tomatoes and cooked for about 30 minutes.  I removed from heat, added 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning, salt and pepper and 1/2 cup fat free half and half – I wanted the pasta to stand out so I went with a light sauce.

it was a delicious lunch!

So for my BSI entry, I decided to use 1/6th of the dough to make pizza!  I wasn’t sure if the dough would work since it’s got eggs in it, but wow, did it come out great!!

I rolled out the dough and cooked the dough blind for about 5 minutes at 425 degrees.

For the sauce I used this – about a heaping tablespoon – a little of this goes a long way!  I can’t wait to toss it in some pasta!

Then topped it with 2 ounces of fresh mozzarella:

Bake an additional 8 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and browned.

Holy yum is this a delicious pizza!  The oil from the jarred pesto kind of melted into the dough, making the outside really crispy, but the inside was super tender.

So who knew that pasta dough could become pizza dough??!!

Reason 1,061 I love Tony! He made me sauerkraut!  Tony made dinner last night – he saw a recipe where you cook ribs in a dutch oven covered in sauerkraut and cooked with white wine.  It simmered in the oven for about 5 hours at 220 degrees.  I cannot express how good this sauerkraut was!  It was so flavorful from the ribs!  About an hour before coming out of the oven, we added diced red potatoes:

Look at how delicious this looks!!

Since I am the only one who likes sauerkraut, I am going to try to make a sausage/kraut soup with the leftovers!

He then finished the ribs off on the grill – my barbecue sauce was bottled mustard/vinegar sauce – a perfect compliment to the sauerkraut!

I got to look at our pretty lawn while grilling – it looks great Tony!  Whenever I try to cut the grass, it never turns out as good and it takes me 5 times as long!  I am kind of scared to go fast on the riding mower for some reason!

My dinner plate:

Thanks for dinner Tony - it was delicious!

I have lots of inspiration this week for my meal plan!  Check these out!

What’s on your menu this week?

Enjoy your Sunday!  Looks like a pretty day in Chicagoland! 😀