Sara’s Gorgonzola Pasta

I often make dinner by throwing together whatever I have on hand, but a few years ago I set out to make a meal out of my favorite flavors: bleu cheese, mushrooms, fresh basil, and crushed red pepper. There are quite a few directions for these flavors, tossing them on a salad or making a rice dish. But since I’m working on week 2 of gluten-free living, I thought I could share a pasta dish with you and live vicariously while you all make and enjoy this dish.

Sara’s Gorgonzola Pasta

Prep time: 15 minutes
Serves 2-4 Depending on appetites

1/4 Red Onion – Minced
1 TBSP Garlic – Minced
2 C Mushrooms – Sliced
2 Small Zucchini – Sliced
4 TBSP Olive Oil
1/2 lb Green Beans – Blanched
1 tsp Sea Salt
1/2 tsp Fresh Ground Pepper
1/4 Cup Fresh Basil – Chopped
1/2 lb Cooked Pasta (I like Penne!)
1/4 lb Gorgonzola Cheese – Crumbled
1/4 tsp Crushed Red Pepper (You can use a pinch or none at all if you’re not up for the spice.)

Heat 2 TBSPs of OLIVE OIL over medium heat in a large pan and sauté ONIONS and CRUSHED RED PEPPER for 3-5 minutes. Add GARLIC and ZUCCHINI, sauté for another 2 minutes.

Push the veggies to the side of the pan, add additional 2 TBSPs of OLIVE OIL and sauté the MUSHROOMS until cooked. Add GREEN BEANS, SALT, and PEPPER, heat through.

Remove from heat, toss with PASTA, BASIL, and GORGONZOLA. Serve with an additional sprinkle of Gorgonzola and basil for garnish.

This dish is super easy, fast, and especially handy if you have left over pasta on hand. If you have to cook your pasta first, your prep time will bump up to 30 minutes, still very fast for a complete meal! I hope you enjoy this tasty pasta while I wallow away on my gluten-free regimen… Stay tuned for more about gluten-free eating. Next week, I’ll be blogging away over on An Army of Ermas and I’m sure I’ll be bringing some new recipes to my Hero Complex readers as well!

Thanks for reading,

~Sara

Manic Monday Meals

Manic Monday Meals

I’m starting a weekly feature called Manic Monday Meals. If Monday in your house looks anything like mine, I’m sorry. The sloppy dismount of the Monday alarm clock, the whirl of coats, jackets, and scarves as you bustle out the door, wondering if there’s cash left in your kid’s lunch account because you left the lunchbox on the kitchen table. Work, family, laundry, cleaning. And after all that, you have to worry about dinner. Never mind lunch, you missed it. Well, worry no more! I’m going to post a meal a week, something easy, made from ingredients your should already have in your fridge and pantry.

This week, we’re going to do a variation on Vichyssoise. Don’t let the big fancy French word scare you, it’s just potato soup. Sometimes it’s served pureed and cold, but my version isn’t classic, so foodies? Turn away in horror as I bastardize this classic French dish. It's going to be chunky, hot, and tasty. No, that's not what she said.

Sara’s Potato Leek Soup

3 TBSP Olive Oil
6-8 strips of Bacon - cubed
4 C Potatoes - cubed
4C Spinach - uncooked or 10oz pack of Frozen Spinach
1 large Leek – thinly sliced or 1 Onion - diced
6 C Stock
2C Water
2 cloves of Garlic - minced
Salt/Pepper to taste
Sharp cheddar for garnish if you have it

A few notes before I give you some guidelines: I’m not a stickler for any of these ingredients. If you have kale instead of spinach, it works great as an additional texture in this soup. If you’re stocked up on carrots or parsnips and fresh out of potatoes, give that a go. Really, any mix of root veggies can work in the place of the potatoes. If you don’t have stock or don’t keep it on hand, use water and bullion cubes. I won’t tell! Here we go!


Heat the OLIVE OIL over medium heat. Add cubed BACON and render. Using a slotted spoon, remove bacon cubes from the pan, but leave all the good stuff behind. Save this crispy deliciousness to garnish your soup.

Sauté the LEEK/ONION in the rendered fat and oil until translucent, about 4 minutes. Add minced GARLIC and sauté for an additional minute.

Add POTATOES, STOCK, and WATER to the pan and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook until potatoes are soft, about 15 minutes.

Just before serving, stir SPINACH into soup and bring back up to temperature. Taste for seasoning and add SALT and pepper as needed. Serve and garnish with crispy bacon and a little sharp cheddar if you’d like.

And that’s it! In less than 30 minutes, you’ll have a hearty and delicious soup that your family will love. At least they should, I mean, who doesn’t love a pot of potatoes? And all that iron rich spinach you’re sneaking in there? They’ll never even notice it swirling in little ribbons of green amongst the crisp pieces of bacon and gooey cheese that you’ve tossed on top.

Hope this recipe makes your Manic Monday a little easier! Enjoy!

Thanks for reading,

Sara