Pasta with Pecan and Broccoli Pesto

Pecan and Broccoli Pesto? Yes, and it was quite tasty!

Following all the Christmas food this week, I was craving Chinese food. Then I was sick of that tonight and wasn't feeling well enough to go grocery shopping, so I had to come up with something to make out of what we had available at home. I knew I was going to make some type of pasta dish, and I didn't have much meat available to use (I found out after I started cooking that we had bacon...I'll use that tomorrow).

We have lots of pecans right now, so that I was going to put those in there somehow, and we have lots of frozen broccoli. I had one lemon left, plenty of cheese, and some pasta.  I did my usual scanning over recipes online with some of these ingredients and came up with the pesto.  Since I didn't use a whole lot of broccoli, we weren't really able to tell it was there.  I roasted the pecans before adding them to the pesto mixture, and the nuttiness of the dish was divine and very filling.  Whole wheat pasta of some sort would have paired nicely, but I was all out of it.  The bucatini I used is like a thick spaghetti with a hole through the middle. It is the closest thing I've found to Pici, a traditional Tuscan pasta, while grocery shopping.

I had a few frozen shrimp left (pre-cooked...I should really pay more attention to labels these days), so I heated some butter in a pan and tossed the thawed, pre-cooked shrimp for a minute or so and served those with the pasta. The sweetness of the shrimp went nicely with the nutty pasta. This dish may seem a little complicated, but it came together rather quickly. My husband approved; however, my two-year-old son wouldn't even try it. He settled for Chef Boyardee. *sigh*


Ingredients:

Pecans (I used whole pecans...from my freezer)
Pasta of your choice (I used Bucatini...from Giada Laurentis' brand at Target)

Extra Virgin olive oil 

1-3 canned anchovies in oil (omit these if they totally gross you out, but I urge you to give them a try)
Red pepper flakes (as many to satisfy your desired heat level)
Salt and black pepper to taste
1-2 cups broccoli florets (I used frozen)
1-2 tablespoons garlic, minced 
Pecorino or Parmesan cheese, grated (I used Pecorino, but I was torn as to which to use)

Juice from 1/2 to 1 whole lemon

Zest of one whole lemon


Directions:

1.  Place your pecans on a pan (I line mine with foil) and toast them in the oven or toaster oven for about 10 minutes on low heat (about 200-250 degrees F).

2.  Bring a pot of water to boil for your pasta. Cook the pasta according to the package directions.

3. While the pecans are toasting and the pasta is cooking, make the pesto.  Heat a few 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil in a medium-large non-stick pan over medium to medium-high heat.  Add the anchovies and stir until they break down into the oil.  Add red pepper flakes (I added just a tiny bit at this stage, because I served this to my two-year-old.  My husband and I topped off our pasta with an extra sprinkle or two right before we ate it), black pepper, and some salt and reduce heat to medium-low.  Add the garlic and the broccoli and cook for 2-3 minutes (longer if your broccoli is still frozen...I thawed mine first).

4. Zest your lemon and place the zest aside.  Using a blender, food processor, etc... blend the broccoli/garlic/anchovy mixture with 3/4 of your toasted pecans, juice of half the lemon, cheese and more olive oil as needed to aid the blending process.  Set the pesto aside.

5. Chop the remaining pecans into small pieces and set aside.

6. When the pasta is finished cooking, use a coffee cup or some other heat-safe container to scoop out some of the starchy cooking liquid. Set this aside and drain the pasta.

7. Heat the pan you cooked the broccoli mixture in to medium-low heat, and then add the pasta, pesto (as much as you think you need...I had some left over), some of the starchy pasta water, and a little more lemon juice. Mix well. 

8. Turn off the heat and add the lemon zest. Toss, and then taste to see if you need to add more salt or pepper. 

9.  Before serving, sprinkle the pasta with the reserved pecans you chopped (I like a little crunchiness to my dishes sometimes).

I served this with shrimp, but I think this would be lovely alongside some type of grilled while fish, such as Tilapia or Grouper.

I actually forgot to add the cheese to the pesto at first, and the pesto tasted pretty good without it.  So, this would make a nice vegan pasta dish as well.

Two-year Vintage Train Photo Shoot

For Luke's two-year photos, I decided to go with a vintage-style shoot. My photographer (Amanda Campbell of Chasing Daylight Photography) suggested this great train station, and I couldn't be more thrilled with the results. We did a vintage-style little man birthday party for him too (sneak peek coming soon), so I was able to use some of the clothing and props for the shoot and the party.

I inherited this valet from my paternal grandfather.

I love shopping at thrift store and antique stores, so I had a blast gathering up the clothing for the shoot. Luke's little green outfit was found at a thrift store for $5. I found the shoes at a consignment sale for $2. I bought the cute black hat new at The Children's Place. My husband's outfit, save for the shoes, which he already owned, came from a thrift store. He is a little embarrassed by the whole ensemble, but I think he looks amazing and sexy. I think I did good with the sizing. Those pants fit him so well. He is embarrassed by the hat too, but I think ya'll will agree it looks great on him.

 

I found my dress at our local Dillard's clearance store (I go there first for dresses) for under $20. It was originally $155. I found the hat at a thrift store, the tights at Target, and I splurged on the shoes. They were $50 at TJ Maxx (but hey, I can wear those with lots of things, right?).

Cloud Gazing with Daddy

Pointing up at the clouds

I had to share these great pictures of my two handsome men. My husband came home early from work today, and he and Luke spent some time together outside playing. Luke thought laying beside Daddy outside was really something. He kept laughing and looking up at Lee and smiling.

You might notice the red on Luke's shirt. That is paint from our apple printing project (see previous post). Luke had a very fun-filled day today.

Apple Fun for Toddlers

Apple lacing card

Apple activities and units have been popping up on my Pinterest home page in the last couple of weeks, so I decided to create some materials and do some activities with Luke.  Luke had a play date with three other toddlers today (ages 22 mos., 2 years, and 3 years), so I threw a few apple activities into the mix. They had fun, and I felt like Supermom. Haven't felt like Supermom in a while, so that was very nice.  The mom who hosted the play date made some homemade applesauce, and that was a big hit with everyone and a wonderful way to end our apple-themed morning.  In a not-so-related-note, she also had homemade ketchup from her own homegrown tomatoes (maybe I don't feel like Supermom).  The ketchup was awesome. I must get the recipe and make some.  I'll be sure to share when I do.

I started by making a large felt tree and a felt board as the support.  For the felt board, I simply wrapped white felt around one of my old canvasses and attached it to the back of the canvas with a staple gun. Amazingly, Hancock fabrics had a sale on felt when I went to buy it. Yay!

To make the tree, I just went to cutting.  I didn't make a template or draw my design on the felt (although I have used chalk on darker felt once before to draw objects before cutting them out). As this project was meant for young ones, I tried not to worry too much about perfection.  I'm amazed that everything is still in good condition after its first use with four toddlers.

Tree in progress

I cut out the tree trunk, and then I began cutting cloud-like shapes out of dark green felt for the top of the tree.  I cut one large piece for the top as well, but I liked the idea of the kiddos being able to create the tree themselves and make it different each time. I am quite pleased with the results.  This tree can be an apple tree, pear tree, orange tree, etc...

Completed felt tree

Then I needed some apples.  I found an apple image online and created red, yellow, and green apples for the tree.  I printed them, cut them out, laminated them, and then I attached  Velcro stickers to the backs so they would stick to the felt tree.  I also created a cute little apple basket.

Apple tree
(large piece of green felt used here instead of the smaller pieces)

This morning I let the kiddos help me put the tree on the felt board and attach the apples.  I did some songs and chants about apples as they played.  We worked on color recognition as we put all of the red apples in the basket. We talked about how some apples are sweet and some apples are sour. We also did some counting with the apples.  Here are some of the songs and chants I used:


I'm a Little Apple
(to the tune of I'm a Little Teapot)

I'm a little apple, short and round.
I make a munchy, crunchy sound.
If you bite into me you will see...
I'm delicious as can be!

I sang the above song to the kiddos as we began our "lesson". I showed them a real apple as I sang the song. It can be found here along with some other activities.

Here are two chants that I threw in as they were building the tree:

Apples Juicy

Apples juicy, apples round.
On the tree or on the ground.
Apples yellow, apples red.
Apple pie and juice and bread.
Apples crunchy, apples sweet.
Apples are so good to eat!

As I said the above chant, I pointed to the apples "on the tree" and those "on the ground".  I also pointed to the "apples yellow" and "apples red." This chant, along with some other apple activities, can be found here.

This next chant can be found here along with some printables.

Apples, Apples

Apples, apples, one, two, three.
Apples for you, apples for me.
Apples big, apples small.
Apple trees tiny, apple trees tall.
Apples sour, apples sweet.
Apples, apples are nice to eat!

As I sang this next song, I placed apples one at a time onto the tree.

Ten Little Apples

One little, two little, three little apples,
Four little, five little, six little apples,
Seven little, eight little, nine little apples, 
Ten little apples in an apple tree.

Apple prints

This afternoon once we got home, Luke and I made some apple prints. I cut open the apple and showed him the seeds inside, and then we painted them and stamped them on white poster board. This activity was a big hit with Luke. He is really into painting right now. We used washable kid paint, so I just got out the garden house and washed us and everything around us down a bit when we were finished.

Luke also got his first lacing card today. I don't know if it will be noticeable to anyone else, but he has such a look of concentration on his face in the picture below. Today is the first time I have seen that look on his face.

Concentrating really hard on his apple lacing card

As part of our apple fun today, the kiddos also got to play with a real basket and some large, red pom poms.  I threw these in with Luke's John Deer tractor/farm set and just let the kids play. Luke had fun with this once we were home as well.

He loves his vehicles

Below are some free printables that I created in case you want to do some of these activities with your little ones.

Apples for the tree and a basket ( I cut mine out, laminated them, and then I attached Velcro stickers to the backs):

And an apple for a lacing card (I cut mine out, laminated it, and then I used a hole puncher to add holes around the outside edge of the apple):

The original apple image I used can be found here.