5 pro tips when making homemade pasta

Whether you call it pasta or noodles, doing it fresh not only tastes better, but it's healthier for you. Once you know how quick and simple it is to make your own pasta, you’ll be ashamed you ever bought the store-variety. With just four ingredients and 20 minutes, you can whip up a truly home-cooked meal that is sure to impress the guests and show them who the real foodie is.

homemade thin crust pizza + pesto + potato + manchego

It's one of those rare days in San Diego where the clouds congregate low and heavy in the sky, and they choke the air with their presence. They cried. Last week I made this awesome Manchego and Marcona Almond Pesto, which you should definitely check out, but I was beginning to get tired of the ol' pesto on bread or mixed into pasta. After hours of scribbling ideas into a notepad, ripping them out, and missing the trash bin, I decided what I needed was to whip up a batch of fresh pizza dough. 

I love making pizza, even making and kneading my own dough, but what I love most about making pizza is figuring out what to put on it. In the past I've tried Alfredo and Scampi, Sloppy Joe's, even a Quintuple Meat (Pepperoni, Ham, Bacon, Brisket, and Sausage) Pizza. This time I wanted to make something simple, simple but elegant, and I don't think it gets any simpler nor elegant than Pesto, Potato, and Manchego. Plus you won't guess how easy making your own pizza dough can be.

churro balls - at a theater near you

Today's blogpost is basically an excuse for me to fry up dough and eat it all by myself in a corner of my kitchen. I know, it's a chowfectionary sin not to share, so I did throw one to the squirrel in my backyard if you were wondering. Little creep's been eyeballing me all day. But seriously this chow-fection could not be simpler to make, plus at the end of it you get this nice bowl of cinnamon sugar...which you can throw away, he said as he cleaned the bowl with his tongue. 

There are so many reasons why you should make these churros. 

a) as professional as they look, they are also delicious

b) they are easy

c) and you'll gain some serious culinary street cred after you serve this to your guests