Sugar & Spice by Celeste

It's been an exciting week for my little food blog.  It officially reached 1,000 Facebook fans, and I'm excited to celebrate with a great giveaway for a lucky blog reader! I love you guys so much, that I'm giving away an autographed copy of " Tasia's Table: Cooking With the Artisan Cheesemaker at Belle Chevre ." If you've never heard of this wonderful little fromagerie in Elkmont, Alabama, you'll definitely want to keep reading .  Their artisan chevre cheeses are award-winning and absolutely delicious.  Belle Chevre has been featured on NBC's The Today Show, and the following magazines:  Southern Living, O! Oprah, Southern Lady, Health, Traditional Home, Real Simple, Better Homes & Gardens, Cooking with Paula Deen, and Cooking Light to name a few. Belle Chevre is owned by Tasia Malakasis, an uber-talented, former marketing executive whose passion for food carried her all the way from NYC to Belle Chevre.  Her brand-new cookbook i...

Let's face it...While leftovers make for a fast and easy dinner, they can be very boring.  So, I love dishes that allow you to take the leftovers and create a delicious yet different dinner on the 2nd night.  This recipe is a fantastic example. I took the remaining orecchiette pasta and spinach pesto from this Chicken with Spinach Pesto and whipped up this easy weeknight dinner for two.  It makes for an easy-peasy dinner that's filled with flavor (not to mention - Popeye would be so proud of all that spinach!). You simply cook some orecchiette pasta and stir in spinach pesto, baked chicken, and diced tomatoes.  It pairs perfectly with a loaf of crusty French bread and a glass of pinot noir. Easy meals like this are the theme around our house lately.  We are in the process of doing some minor renovations to our home, which has turned out to be a lot of fun, yet a time-consuming process.  So far, we've installed a beautiful cream-colored subway tile...

Why haven't I ever thought of making pesto with something other than basil before?  Sure, basil pesto is nothing short of vibrantly green deliciousness, but lots of fresh basil can be somewhat elusive if not in season (at least around here). I found this recipe for Chicken with Arugula Pesto in the September 2012 issue of Food Network Magazine in the weeknight cooking section.  It caught my eye with its fresh ingredients, so I added it to my next shopping list.   Once at my local grocery store, arugula was nowhere to be found, and I didn't really feel like searching all over town for it.  So, I got to thinking...Why not use baby spinach instead?  Baby spinach is readily available all year long, easy to find and cheaper than basil.  It sounded like a winner to me. And a winner it was, indeed.  The pesto tasted great, especially with the addition of the toasted almonds.  They added a great depth of flavor...Don't skip the toa...