Best Marinara Sauce...PERIOD (and EXCLAMATION POINT)

Lately I've been missing my good friend Jasmine. She was my first REAL friend in college we were roommates. I haven't seen her since November! That's insane so I decided it was well past time for us to hang out and catch up. If you know me there is only one way for this to happen...with food. Or, better yet, over food.

I put together this menu just for that occation:
Chicken Parmigiana
Fresh Baked Italian Bread
and
Pasta Primavera

Do you see a theme? (HINT it's all Italian)

Now for the Chicken Parmigiana I need a really good marinara sauce. I thought it was time to give up on buying jars of pasta sauce and start making my own. I figured it couldn't be too hard and it's WAY cheaper. I used
1 28-ounce can of whole peeled tomatoes
1 6-ounce can of Tomato paste
about 5 whole basil leaves
1 1/2 teaspoon of dried oregano
1 tablespoon of white sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
pinch red pepper flakes
1 clove garlic, minced
1 avocado
2 stalks celery, chopped
1/3 cup finely diced onion
a few leftover pieces of yellow squash

I put all of these in a blender and pureed it for a few minutes. I added a little more pepper to taste pulsing after each addition.
Next I let it simmer for about 35 mins. to bring out the flavor of the basil and cook the vegetables to perfection.


To sum it up this is the Best Marinara Sauce...Period (and EXCLAMATION POINT).
By the way that's now the official name of the sauce. Best Marinara sauce or BMSPaEP for short
(I'll post the other recipes after I make them)

DaSha's Test Kitchen

So, I've been giving some serious thought to starting my own test kitchen before I open my restaurant in the distant future. It's just a way for me to test out my new recipes. Once I feel inspired to create a mini masterpiece I'm the only one who knows what it tastes like. I need other people to honestly give me their opinion of my food I do a good enough job but I am kind of bias you know.
I'm not fishing for complements, though they are nice, what I really NEED is constructive criticism. You don't have to be a foodie just someone who likes food with little to no dietary restrictions like food allergies preferably.
I really want to test my food on willing participants before I serve it to unknowing dinner party guests. That being said I will have the "test days" on separate days from the dinner parties, most likely according to my volunteer 's preferences.

On to the search for the perfect guinea pigs!             

Before My Flight

So I just got back from visiting my family in Chicago. I fly standby so I pack a big enough lunch to last me hours. I decided it was best to pack one that I could eat hot or cold...so why not a sandwich. If you know me just a sandwich is never just a sandwich. I make my own bread now, never store bought. So I tried my hand at focaccia bread. It was rather simple and pretty flavorful. I'll try infusing garlic and rosmary into the dough next time. For the filling I sauteed so chicken breast with black pepper and a few peices of red and green bell pepper and added a piece of cabbage and a bit of cheddar cheese. The sandwich spread was a mixture of equal parts Dijon Mustard and Mirale Whip (or Mayo) with half rosmary. It was by far the tastiest sandwich I ever made.

the finished bread   open faced sandwiches

the finished product

The sandwiches were so tender I cut them with a plastic knife!

I also made tiny sugar cookies that I put in a pringles can and cinnamon rolls. I made the cookies mainly for the person who drove me to the airport at 5 in the morning. and half of the cinnamon rolls were left at home for my roommate.