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Foodie Friday--Pasta with Vegetables & Goat Cheese

Another recipe of my own this week. Tender baked vegetables with the zing of balsamic vinegar served with pasta and dotted with soft, fresh white goat cheese.... great comfort food for cold weather!  This is a very basic recipe.  Use your favorite vegetables, herbs and pasta.  Dinner's on the table in 30 minutes!

Pasta with Balsamic Roasted Vegetables & Goat Cheese -- serves 4 to 6

2 fennel bulbs, cut into wedges
4 large plum tomatoes, roughly chopped
1 small box of mushrooms, quartered
1 small red onion, cut into thin wedges
1 can artichoke hearts, rinsed, drained & cut into quarters
2 fat cloves of garlic, chopped
Olive oil
Balsamic vinegar
Freshly ground sea salt and black pepper
Fresh or dried basil and/or thyme
1 small package of soft, fresh goat cheese

Pasta--shape or type of choice, enough for 4 to 6 servings, fusili or penne is ideal

Pre-heat oven to 400*F/200*C.  Line a baking pan with foil or parchment paper (nice for easy clean up).  Place vegetables, garlic and herbs in pan.  Drizzle with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, add salt & pepper, toss to coat. Bake vegetables for about 20 minutes, until tender.  Towards the end of baking time for the vegetables, cook pasta al dente, drain and keep warm.  Add the balsamic baked vegetables, and juices from the pan, to the pasta and stir to coat the pasta with the "sauce" and get nice mix of vegetables with the pasta.  Serve immediately while warm.  Dot each serving with pieces of the goat cheese.  Enjoy!

Wishing all you dear family & friends a wonderful weekend ahead!  Eat, drink and be merry!  :o)

P.S. A bowl of beautiful grapes awaits for dessert at my other place, A Certain Slant of Light.

Shop Update...and a SALE!

Firstly, I'd like to thank everyone for all the sweet, cozy comments left on my previous post.  So lovely of you all to stop by our house...if only virtually!  And speaking of comments, I must apologize a bit for being slow to respond to comments, questions, emails, visiting, etc. this week.  The hours seem to be breezing by at the moment, and the days seem to be breezing by at the moment and full to bursting.  Our trip to the USA is  but a little over four weeks away, and there is so much to do... I have to-do lists for the to-do lists--LOL!  But I appreciate all your comments so much.  And I try to get around to see you all as often as I can.

Why so slow this week?  Well, I've been preparing for a sale at my shop.  Beginning today,Thursday, and  lasting through Sunday--November 12th to the 15th--I'm having a four day Buy One Get One Half Price Sale!  Please see my shop announcement (gray-ish box at the top of the page of my shop) for complete details on the sale.  And as an extra note, December 11th will be last day I can take orders from my shop and guarantee delivery for Christmas, and get packages sent off before leaving on our trip.

I've been creating a lot of new jewelry and accessories... These are some of the last new items for the shop for this year.  Here's a tiny sampler:

Hope that all of you are having a wonderful week so far!  I'll be back tomorrow with a recipe for Foodie Friday.  And there's now usually always something new to see at my other place, A Certain Slant of Light.   Wishing you all a Happy Day! :o)

 

Scenes from an Interior...

Soft pink and cream roses graced our weekend with their beauty.

We had a lovely dinner with Dear Husband's parents visiting us during this past weekend, Father's Day weekend. A glimpse of our table/dining room... The window/wood trim having been newly painted in this room.  The wallpaper is very old... but we painted over it! 

Our house is 100+ years old.  We've lived here for four years now.  And all during this time we've been fixing and eliminating decades worth of time-warped decorating, paint colors--LOTS of "cosmetic" refreshment!  It seems we've been painting, fixing and updating for years and years now--LOL!  Our most recent project has been painting and wallpapering an odd, small hallway off the little fireplace/cozy room that leads to the bathroom--shown below. Sorry no before-after photos.  Just after.  This tiny space was once dingy gray-painted doors, mustard yellow wallpaper and brown wood trim--horror!  Now we've painted the doors and all wood trim crisp white and the new wallpaper is a delicate cream.  Looking for a picture or art for the wall in the hall... You can see a bit of brown wood trim along the ceiling in the bathroom. This will soon be painted white!

I've shown a few interior photos before, but it's been while... A view from the fireplace/cozy room into the living room. It was a difficult room to decorate and organize furniture in, but it is a bright, pretty room now since we've painted in there too.

The dining room, again, below.  It is my favorite room on the first floor.

There are still a few interior projects and painting to do yet.  But we won't be digging into much more of that until after the New Year. So a break for now!

Thank you for visiting... I wish you all could gather round our table for real... But this will have to do for now!   Please join me here again later in the week for some shop news/updates and another Foodie Friday. Wishing you all a great week! :o)

P.S. For another look at these pink roses, stop by my other place, A Certain Slant of Light.

Ode to Autumn Cake--Foodie Friday

I created this spice cake recipe as a little homage to the autumn season. It is very nicely spiced, and very easy to make.  The hint of lemon in the light frosting creates a lovely counterpoint to the spices. For variation, add chopped nuts and/or raisins to the cake batter. This cake would make a beautiful dessert for parties and holidays in autumn and winter.

Buttermilk Spice Cake with Creamy Lemon Frosting --makes one 8-inch cake, 8-10 servings

For the cake:

1/3 cup butter, melted
1 2/3 cups buttermilk
2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 tablespoon baking soda
3 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp ground cardamom

Creamy Lemon Frosting: 1/4 cup butter--softened, 3 ounces cream cheese--softened, 2 cups confectioner's sugar, 1 tsp lemon juice, 1-2 tablespoons milk or water, if needed to make frosting more easily spreadable

Walnut halves/large pieces--optional, for garnish

Pre-heat oven to 200*C/400*F, lightly butter and dust with flour an 8-inch cake pan.  Blend the butter and buttermilk.  Add the remaining ingredients, blend well.  Pour cake batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until cake tests done.  Cool cake on a wire rack for 10-15 minutes before turning the cake out of the pan to continue cooling on the rack. Once cake is cooled frost and decorate as desired.  For the Creamy Lemon Frosting, beat the butter and cream cheese until creamy.  Add the confectioner's sugar and lemon juice, adding a little milk or water if necessary, then spread on cooled cake.

November is the month of gratitude and Thanksgiving. Around blogland there are a lot of different and fun ways to join in daily on expressing one's gratitude.  I'd like to join in on them all!  But realistically, right now I can't post daily... But to share a little extra with all of you, join me here each Friday during November and I'll dish up a good recipe--Foodie Friday!  It's a busy time of year for many, and food a lovely way to come together and share in the busy days.

This weekend is Father's Day weekend here in Norway.  We'll be having Dear Husband's parents over for dinner.  It will be good to share our table, enjoy good food and catch up. 

With much cooking, cleaning and all sorts happening here, I may not be online much this weekend... So I will look forward to seeing you early next week.  Wishing all you dear family & friends a wonderful weekend ahead!  Eat, drink and be merry!  :o)

P.S. If you've not stopped by lately, all this week at my other place, A Certain Slant of Light, I've been posting photos...little autumnal tributes...