Brown rice pasta with pesto

I'm trying to change the way we eat... it's been pretty good so far. Today, I made brown rice pasta for the first time. It's really delicious and much healthier to eat that wheat pasta. I included some of Trader Joe's "Chickenless chicken strips", mushrooms, sun dried tomatoes, and broccoli.

Ingredients:

3 garlic cloves

1/3 cup pine nuts

3 cups of fresh basil leaves

1/3 cup olive oil

1/3 cup parmesan cheese

salt to taste

1 cup heavy cream or half & half

1 cup of chopped broccoli

1/2 cup of sundried tomatoes

1/2 cup of sliced mushrooms

1 lb package of brown rice pasta of your choice

-boil pasta according to package instructions and reserve about 2 cups of pasta water.

-In your food processor, combine garlic and pine nuts, pulse a few times. Add basil and pulse, then slowly start to drizzle in the olive oil while the food processor is on, add the cheese and a bit of salt, pulse to combine.

-In the pot you intent to combine everything in, heat a couple of tablespoons of olive oil, add mushrooms and saute for a few minutes, then add broccoli and sundried tomatoes. Add pesto mixture, and then add a cup of heavy cream. Add about a cup of the pasta water.

-Bring mixture to boil, then add pasta and chickenless chicken. Heat through and serve!

Enjoy with some freshly ground black pepper and an extra sprinkle of parmesan cheese.

Chocolate covered dates

8 Large Majdool dates

6 cubes of 72% dark chocolate (I use the one pound chocolate bar from Trader Joe's)

16 roasted almonds

shredded coconut for decoration

-Melt the chocolate in a double boiler

-Meanwhile, slice dates open, remove pits, and place two almonds inside. Squeeze date closed.

-When chocolate has melted, let stand for 5 minutes then start rolling dates in it... coat dates with chocolate and sprinkle with some coconut.

-Place dates on parchment paper and freeze for about an hour before serving

enjoy

Oven Baked Haddock

1.5 pounds of haddock fillets (I get the wild kind from Costco)

1/2 cup milk

1 tsp salt

for the coating combine:

1/2 cup of plain bread crumbs

1 tsp thyme

1/4 cup parmesan cheese

1/4 cup melted butter

-preheat oven to 500 degrees

-wash the fish in cool water, dry with paper towels

-combine milk and salt, dip fillet into milk mixture, then into bread crumbs mixture

-lay onto greased cookie sheet or any baking pan of your choice

-drizzle melted butter onto coated fish fillets

-place in oven and bake on top rack for 15 minutes or until desired "doneness" is reached

I usually make mashed potatoes next to this and some sautéed baby spinach, steamed broccoli, or grilled asparagus

enjoy! :)