Busy busy busy!

Hi friends!  Hope you all are doing well :-)  Sorry I've been m.i.a the last couple of weeks, it's been so busy over here.  I definitely need to figure out a schedule to get my blogging in on a regular basis instead of squeezing it in whenever I can. Which obviously is not working! Lols  We're thinking of moving, staying in southern Cali, but possibly somewhere with a better school system and easer access to the freeway since the hubs is all over SoCal for work.  Plus ya'll know San Diego is not a cheap city to live in so it looks like we will be heading a lil farther away from San Diego but within an hour and a half away.   So we've been house hunting on top of all the parties and activities.  The summer has begun! wooohooo

So you all know I've been loving Chrissy Teigen's cookbook.  I have to add to that she LIKED my cacio e pepe pic on instagram since I tagged her.  I know it's silly to be giddy over that but hey, the lil things excite me and I thought that was very cool!  Anyways, I've made a couple recipes from the cookbook so far with yesterday's lemony cacio e pepe being the third.  I usually put a healthy spin on recipes I find.  But this time I decided to just keep it the same and enjoy the carbs, fat and sat. lols  Let me say, it was well worth it and you gotta be naughty once in awhile!  Enjoy! xo





Lemony Cacio E Pepe

Ingredients:
kosher salt
12 ounces dried spaghetti (I used gluten free since my hubs is doing gluten free)
1/4 pound (about 3/4 cup) pancetta or bacon finely diced (I used prosciutto since that's what I had)
1/4 extra virgin olive oil
3 TBS (about 4 big cloves) minced garlic
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper, plus more to taste
1 tsp red pepper flakes, plus more to taste
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1 1/2 cups freely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, plus more for serving
3 cups baby arugula

Directions:
1. In a large pot of heavily salted boiling water, cook the spaghetti to al dente according to the package directions.  Reserve 1 cup of the pasta water (it comes in handy), then drain the pasta.

2. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, cook the pancetta/bacon over medium-high heat until crisped, 7-9 minutes.  Add the olive oil, then add the garlic, red pepper flakes, and black pepper and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.

3.  Add the lemon juice to the skillet, then toss in the drained pasta and toss to coat.  Add the Parm and toss, adding the pasta water, a couple of tablespoons at a time, just to help the cheese coat the pasta.  Add the arugula and toss until it wilts, about 1 minute.  Season to taste with additional salt, lots of black pepper and red pepper flakes.  Serve with more Parm.

Note:  For a healthier dish, substitute pancetta/bacon/prosciutto with shrimp, chicken or omit the meat all together.  Instead of noodles, replace with spiraled zucchini- zoodles.