what's cooking wednesdays

i miss the old fresca cans.

now that our fiscal year has come to a close, i am actually getting home for work from a decent hour and, as such, i have been a cooking fiend these past two weeks. so lucky for you, this week you get not one, not two, but three recipes for WCW. i know....try to control your overflowing excitement.

first up, a recipe i stole from one of my FAVORITE design gurus, the darling eddie ross. i have a borderline manic obsession with him and as soon as i saw his no-fail sangria recipe in july's country living, i knew i had to make it for fourth of july festivities. i used a $5 bottle of sutter home sav blanc {you're pouring soda into it, people....this is no time to be a snob}, about 60% of a 2-liter of fresca, and garnished with green apples, white peaches, and strawberries. combined in a lovely green hand-blown glass pitcher and chilled in the fridge for an hour or two....HEAVENLY. i had five or six two glasses on my own, and despite the tons of libations at the party, the sangria was the first to go.

next up, my impromptu pea pesto pasta salad {say that five times fast...}. some of my best meals {and, coincidentally, some of my worst} come from standing in front of the fridge trying to get rid of whatever's in there. sunday this meant penne pasta, store-bought pesto, half a package of frozen peas {thawed, natch}, and the crumbled remains of a block of feta. a little sea salt and freshly ground pepper, toss it all together, let refrigerate. this delicious and summery salad has been my lunch all week. so easy, so yummy.

last, dinner last night, another product of my attempts to clean out the fridge/freezer/pantry. i had grits and frozen pork chops i needed to get rid of. i entered 'pork chop' on the recipe finder on cooking light and voila! smothered pork chops with cheddar grits. i gave this recipe my own little spin. i cooked the onions separately, carmelizing them with a pinch of sugar and herbs de provence. the grits i cook to paula deen's specifications {30 minutes, instead of 5}. put it all together on a plate and i had a gourmet southern dinner on the table on a tuesday night in an hour.

so there you have it....what i've been up to in the kitchen lately. enjoy!