Oh, My Love for EVOO

While admittedly not the hugest fan of Rachael Ray (she acts all sweet and adorable on TV, and then every interviewer I've read about, talked to or heard had an interaction with swears she's not unlike a Class-5 hurricane: demanding, belligerent and exhausting to keep up with. While some might see this as a good thing, I wonder how she can survive herself), I am definitely a huge fan of EVOO. Especially when it's coming from my mister (olive oil, that is, not boyfriend...but we'll get to that).

Years ago I received, as a Christmas present, a rather cheap olive oil mister. It's basically just a little spray bottle you fill with olive oil, you can get them on the cheap or the more expensive side. Either way, you shouldn't be paying more than $25 for one, in my opinion. I absolutely love it & have used mine ever since; I NEVER pour oil into the pan directly anymore, instead I grab my mister (sprayer, gadget, whatever).

A recent move, a new-ish relationship and a lot of quirky decisions in between (like working for/with my boyfriend, who is also now my landlord) required I pack up my life and head home. For the past decade I'd been working solidly on making Boulder, Colorado my home and for the past five-ish months that work has come undone. Without a job or any open prospects, with the knowledge that my boyfriend needed an office manager--a job I was only too familiar with--as well as general help, without knowing where next month's rent was coming from, I caved: called my landlord, made a truce on my lease, and started packing. It was a tough choice: leaving a place I'd been desperate to call "home" forever for a place I vowed, upon leaving for college, never to return to, was difficult. There were a lot of tears, a lot of margaritas and glasses of wine with friends I'd only see here and there, and a lot of boxes and packing tape. (Again, something we'll revisit.)

In the chaos of the move my mister has been misplaced (wah!) but my love for olive oil has not. Paired with my boyfriend's recent--and extremely determined, inspiring--decision to lose weight I use olive oil in everything we make. Cold-pressed extra-virgin olive oil is a great source of healthy fats and cholesterol-lowering compounds. It's no wonder the Mediterranean diet works so well...for so many! Even my boyfriend's wonderful 3-year old son loves it...when he came home recently from an afternoon with his grandparents I was having a quick-and-easy dinner I call "Dondi pasta" or "fried pasta" (recipe below) and, after asking if we could "share" it (meaning: he gets most of it) I let him start picking oily, garlicky noodles out of my bowl. After putting him to bed, of course, I had to get another serving...but hey, nothing wrong with turning kids on to healthy foods early!

Dondi Pasta or "Fried" Pasta
Ingredients:
-1 box pasta (I like to use tricolor rotini, whole grain or 50/50 whole grain and regular pastas)
-2-5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
-garlic cloves, minced, to taste (we love garlic so I use 4-6 cloves)
-1-2 tablespoons dried Italian seasoning or dried basil, oregano, rosemary, thyme & parsley

-1-2 tablespoons (to taste) crushed red pepper flakes
-Parmesan, Romano,

To make:
-Boil pasta in sufficient amount of salted water until done or very nearly done. Drain and set aside.
-In the meantime, pour olive oil into a wide skillet set to medium low-to-medium. Once oil is heated add garlic, spices and crushed red pepper flakes. Keep them moving in the skillet so as not to burn the garlic, spices or red pepper flakes
-After garlic and spices become fragrant, add drained pasta and keep it moving in the pan! Get the pasta, garlic, spices and red pepper flakes as blended with the pasta (this is why I like the rotini!) as possible for serving
-Serve with Parmesan and other hard Italian cheeses, grated, to taste. I like to put out the cheeses and a hand grater so everyone can make this dish their own.

Enjoy!