Tomato Shrimp Linguine

I've always loved cooking and when I have the time I enjoy making extravagant dishes. However, lately my time is limited and I'm always looking for quick and easy ideas. An added difficulty to these meals is my vast amount of food allergies. Most of the items on my list of allergies are easy to get around, but the trickiest (and the things I miss the most) are eggs, dairy and sesame. 
After watching a video of Anna, from Vivianna Does Makeup, making a shrimp pasta dish I was inspired to create my own. I headed to the store and picked up some ingredients to throw together. The outcome was simple and pretty great. 

Ingredients:
2 tbsp - Olive Oil
2 tsp - Chopped Garlic
2 tsp - Crushed Red Pepper Flakes
3 to 4 cups - Tomatoes
1 box - Linguine
12 - Peeled Shrimp (frozen or fresh)
Sprinkle - Nutritional yeast or parmigiano-reggiano

Something to know about my style of cooking is that I tend to estimate when adding ingredients. I only measure when following a recipe, but for the sake of this blog I will do my best to give measurements although they will be approximate and you should feel free to adjust to your liking. 

Warm olive oil in a large pan

Add garlic stirring often to prevent burning

Stir in crushed garlic

Boil water in large pot

Cook linguine

Add sliced tomatoes to the garlic pepper mixture

Add shrimp and cover until shrimp turns pink

Mix into the pasta and enjoy

This would be the point where I would add a ton of parmigiano-reggiano in the old days (before I knew about my allergies). This time I decided to sprinkle a little bit of nutritional yeast on top to add a slight cheesy flavor. This was the perfect dish to enjoy with a sauteed vegetable or garden salad. I packed it up in containers to take as my lunch for the week. 

Exploring PORTLAND FLEA + FOOD

I decided to brave the heat this past Sunday so I could go out exploring. My friend Lisa and I wanted to check out the Portland Flea + Food event going on behind Rejuvenation on Southeast Salmon and Sixth Street. I have been to Portland Flea back when it did not include the Food part of its title and when it was held at Union/Pine, but this was my first time experiencing the expanded space and vendors. The event is held on the last Sunday of the month April through November. 

Our first stop was at the Pip's Original truck to grab some doughnuts to snack on. This was my first time having one of the highly praised Pip's doughnuts and they more than lived up to the hype. They are made fresh to order and are the perfect bite size (although you do have to order at least a half dozen. Fine, twist my arm). We went with three of the cinnamon sugar and three of the Nutella with sea salt. Both were to die for, but we agreed that the simplicity of the cinnamon sugar made them the best. 

After our quick pick me up we started checking out the adorable shops. Right away some treasures caught my eye. Mainly the necklaces from This Fine Day, the adorable cut out cactuses from Scout & Whistle and the wide assortment of products distributed at Made Here PDX.

After awhile our friend Wendy joined us with her adorable samoyed puppy, Yuri. While we grabbed food from Koi Fusion and Bunk Sandwiches we got to experience the crazy amount of people that squealed every time they saw Yuri and the four questions that everyone asked -  What type of dog is it? How old is it? What's his name? Can I pet him?

Yuri was desperate for shade so we went to check out the quaint little florist shop called Anna Mara, located on the loading dock of Rejuvenation. 

When we had thoroughly explored the event and were near heat exhaustion we left to find a place to grab a drink and some shade. 

It was so much fun checking out this Portland scene and I look forward to going a few more times this Summer (and maybe buying one of those funky little cactuses I saw).

Monthly Reads : May

Bestseller shelf at Powell's City of Books on Burnside

Reading is something that always comes in waves for me. I go through phases where I read obsessively and then forget all about reading for months on end. Recently I made a decision to get myself back into the habit of reading on a regular basis. I joined a book club that a friend started and this kicked off my new reading frenzy. 

I have a slight problem where I love to own the books that I read so I've been dumping a fair amount of dollars into purchasing books lately. I also like to buy my books locally so I've been spending many hours wandering the aisles of Powell's (more on my happy place another time). 

Because I have been jumping back on the reading bandwagon I went through quite a few books last month. Here is a quick review of my random assortment of literature. 

Damned by Chuck Palahniuk

I've always been a fan of Chuck Palahniuk. For one thing he is a Portland native. For another he is an amazing author who really steps outside of the box. This book REALLY steps outside of the box. My book club read this as our May read and many people were not able to make it through it. I however found it slightly fascinating. It is dark and funny and full of descriptive gore. I would suggest you give it a read if you are not easily offended and you want to experience something peculiar. 

An Abundance of Katherines by John Green

Oh John Green, how I love everything you do! He really can do no wrong. Whether you are a fan of Young Adult Fiction or not I suggest you read everything that he has written. This was a quick read which I started and finished during a 7 hour car ride.

Jewels of Allah by Nina Ansary

This was another book club choice and was a departure from my usual reading. It was incredibly educational and I now have a better understanding of the history of women in Iran. This was a slightly more difficult book for me to get through as it was fairly text bookish but I felt far more informed after finishing it. 

Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

Another one from the YA category (a preference of mine). This was such a fun book to read. A little mystery, a little history, a little love story. I couldn't put it down. I have seen this book around for a long time but finally made the push to read it after finding out that it is being made into a movie directed by Tim Burton. This is the first in a series of three books and I'm looking forward to getting my hands on the next two. 

I'll Give You The Sun by Jandy Nelson

And finally, I'll Give You The Sun was recommended by my friend Sarah. She and I like to share book recommendations and often pass books back and forth. This is one of those books that seeps deep down into my core and pulls me into the story. I have a tendency to get book hangovers and this one required an Advil and a bloody mary once I reached the last page. I was utterly engrossed in this book and stayed up way too late too many nights in a row to finish it. I'll Give You The Sun was definitely my favorite read of the month and I look forward to reading more books by Jandy Nelson. 

Aisle at Powell's City of Books

I'm well into my June reading and I look forward to sharing my next set of favorites. I hope that I can keep up my pace and continue to choose reading before bed rather than watching television. We shall see how it goes.