speedy meal

Tonight it's going to be a super speedy meal--not because I'm pressed for time, but because I'm uncharacteristically not in the mood to spend much time in the kitchen. The warm-ish weather also has me thinking about my future vegetable garden and that means I should probably use up the pesto I made last summer, much of which is still sitting in its little frozen cubes in the freezer (if you've never frozen pesto before, it does OK in the freezer, though it gets a little muddy colored when it is defrosted. I freeze it in ice cube trays and then pop out the solid cubes and put them in ziplock bags.) I also have some "idiot's salad", that is to say, pre-washed over-priced baby greens and some asparagus that should be used. So the menu stands at pasta with asparagus and pesto and salad with whatever accompaniments can be dug out of the fridge (I think there are some beets and feta in there that haven't gone bad yet but will have to give them the sniff test before using...)

Report from last night: the collards with tomatoes were terrific and super easy; I just added 1/2 C canned diced tomatoes (Muir Glenn) and a bit of salt and pepper to a big bunch of collards and cooked them up till tender. Nice to know I can have collards without having to manhandle a smoked pig foot.

And thanks to Ami's recommendation, I took the comfort food up a notch by making a batch of this month's Cook's Illustrated Ultimate Oatmeal Cookies. They were packed with toasted pecans, dried cherries and chocolate chips and were a big hit.