Happy Friday folks!! Man oh Man I feel like this week was the length of a month! I’m so behind with my blogging world, I was so ahead for so long then my second surgery sent me into a whirlwind, but I’m here! Even if it is me typing the night before (so unlike me!) I actually cooked my first real dinner in over two weeks last night! Never thought I’d get sick of casseroles, sandwiches and take out but I am!
So another Feature upon us! I’m super excited to introduce you to Julie over at The Texan New Yorker. She is a fellow #SundaySupper friend of mine who has some pretty amazing dishes on her site. She also has a list of her 200 Culinary Goals, I value this, goals are a great thing to have and Julie has plenty of them, and has also crossed off plenty too! Someday when my kids are older I am going to have a goal list to Julie! Anywho let’s get to know this fabulous lady shall we. She was born and raised in Dallas, Texas but then about 8 years ago she went off to New York! Living in Newark, NJ, Long Island and Queens.
Julie started her blog to document her journey from being a picky eater with no food conscious to a big girl who loves cooking, adventurous eating and actually caring where food comes from. When Julie was in her mid-twenties she decided that making an effort to learn how to cook and to stop being a picky eater was a goal she needed to reach to become more healthy. She bought cookbooks upon cookbooks, watched Food Network and literally just dove in head first! (love that about her because that’s what I did too!) Julie will always love and cherish Texan cuisine, and still makes it often but she has made this blog to document her culinary journey herself, maturing into a healthy woman and finding the courage for her to just be her! Since being in the great melting pot of New York as she puts it, it has really introduced her to many different ethnic dishes that she has brought into her own kitchen. How great is this girl!?? Another blogger friend that has some fantastic pictures that will just have your mouth watering before you even scroll down to the ingredients!
Let’s talk food! I picked out so many of Julie’s dishes that I wanted to make, lets talk about a few before I share with you which one I did end up making! A recipe that comes from Julie’s childhood called Fried Summer Squash with a Horse Radish Dipping Sauce. We have a deep fryer, we don’t ever use it, it screams I’M SO UNHEALTHY at me whenever I look at it, but this summer I’m attempting this dish as a go a head and cheat it’s worth it dish! I’d love to try her Scallion Biscuits because well she had me at Scallions never mind Biscuits! I almost made her Meat & Spinach Stuffed Shells because well I love stuffed shells but I’m trying to eat better these days, though the spinach would have been good right??!! Another one I almost made was her Sloppy Joe Pot Pie, how awesome does that sound! I need to make this ASAP! On a sweeter note, I loved the sound of her Apple Pecan Cheesecake Cupcakes!! Yummy!!
OK OK…onto what I did make, this one caught my eyes for a few reasons, one because I love experimenting with different sauces these days, two because I’ve never roasted my own peppers before (I know I know) and three because I knew I could get my daughter to eat it and I did!!! So I made Julie’s Roasted Red Pepper & Goat Cheese Pasta Alfredo!
OMG I can’t even say enough about this. Julie was spot on when she said roasting peppers would make your house smell amazing because it did, and I can NOT wait to roast some peppers on the grill this summer and make this again!
I ended up using my immerse blender because it made sense to me that it would be the easiest. Also because I’ll use it whenever I can! It worked perfectly!
It was the perfect bit of sweet and even my mom said it smelt and looked amazing and she hates goat cheese! I wish I had fresh parsley because I bet it would have made it even better but I never have fresh herbs because I buy them and before I can even use half of them, they are bad, hence why I need to grow a herb garden in my back yard!
I even had enough leftover to freeze and then I used it again in a simple pasta/kielbasa dish a few weeks later! My daughters dish is the one on the right above and she loved it!
Thank you so much Julie for allowing me to feature you and your blog, it’s been so fun getting to know you!! So everyone, trust me, now is your time to go and check out Julie’s recipes. Connect with Julie in other ways here:
That looks INCREDIBLE! I love every single ingredient you have put in there! I am so jealous you have already got to enjoy that! As an elite long distance runner I have tried just about every pasta dish there is, but not this one! Going straight to the top of the list! Yes PLEASE!!!!
It was awesome Tina! You will LOVE it! Make double and freeze some! Thanks so much for stopping by.
Thank you so, so much for featuring my blog Tammi! This is just too kind, I love it. I’m so glad you enjoyed the pasta, that’s one of our faves too. THANK YOU again!!