something new for dinner

I am a big food porn addict. I like to watch cooking shows. I check cookbooks out from the library. And I get cooking magazines. Oh, do I get cooking magazines. Bon Appetit. Fine Cooking. Cooking Light. And I'm about to add a new one...Eating Well.

But, as part of my new healthy eating plan, I've decided to make a radical departure from past protocol and actually cook things from the magazines, or at least from the healthier ones. So now, when I make my weekly menu plan, I'm going to pick a new recipe to try. Maybe something with a new grain, or hidden vegetables. Whatever. Just something different. I've invited Emily to leaf through them, too, and to make requests. Did I tell you that, somehow, she has opened up to trying new foods, and even new vegetables?!? Recent additions have included quinoa, shrimp, salmon (or at least a salmon burger), salad, mango, and pears. Her request for next week's menu was Asian Salt & Pepper Shrimp from Eating Well. Cool, huh?

Anyway, I made the recipe below for dinner tonight. It's from this month's Cooking Light. It was so good. And I don't even really like roasted red peppers! Although now I wonder if I really do, if it's just those slimy wet things in a jar that I hate. We pretty much did everything but lick the bowl. I served it with sautéed shrimp on top -- I just heated a bit of olive oil in a nonstick pan and tossed in a pound of shrimp with garlic, lemon zest, parsley, salt, and pepper. Also, don't believe them about the 8 ounces of pasta. There's at least enough sauce for a pound. I used whole wheat fusilli, and that was good; I wouldn't like it with long pasta. It would be good with spinach chopped in or, if you weren't eating with Andrew and Emily, with lots of hot pepper flakes.