Today I made some whole wheat penne pasta with a sauce made from 2 garden fresh tomatoes (thanks Gina), onions, garlic and yellow pepper. All the veggies were chopped into small bits and sauteed in olive oil, then I skinned and chopped the tomatoes and put them into the pot with a generous amount of salt, to flavor them and to help them break down. Then I added 2 heaping tsp of dried italian herbs. I let all of that simmer on low as the water came to a boil in my stock pot for the penne and added a small can of plain tomato sauce (I didn't have enough fresh tomatoes!). I tried the Barilla brand of whole wheat penne for the first time and it was pretty good, if a little starchy tasting. It takes some getting used to whole wheat pastas at first but we have been eating them for years now. When I first made the switch I only served whole wheat pasta under very hearty bolognese sauces because it hid the flavor a bit better, but now we are used to them and I can make a lighter, even primavera style sauce for it. I steamed some fresh green beans and dressed them with butter, salt, pepper and some fresh parmesan and called it a night.
Here's the menu for the week:
Monday: Penne Pasta with sauteed green beans
Tuesday: Slow cooker Chicken Cacciatore over spinach
Wednesday: Cheesy cornmeal waffles and chili
Thursday: Pork loin with mashed potatoes and cooked cinnamon apples
Friday: Fish! From the fish guy!
Saturday: Hamburgers on the grill
Sunday: Lemon roast chicken, salad, and fresh bread
Tuesday night's dinner has to be a slow cooker meal since I will be at a school board meeting and my husband will be coaching our older daughter at softball. I adore slow cookers for that convenience. You don't have to even be home to have a meal ready to go. Maybe I should make Tuesdays a regular slow cooker feature?
Showing posts with label pasta. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pasta. Show all posts
Monday, April 11, 2011
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Chicken Sausage in Red Sauce over Penne Pasta
Tonight's recipe is from my friend K, a super easy week night meal full of flavor and vegetables.
Chicken sausage
1 TB olive oil
1 green bell pepper
1/2 large onion
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
1 can of tomatoes (or tomato sauce)
Italian herbs
1 box of penne pasta
Saute the vegetables in the olive oil, add the chicken sausage (removed from casing). When those items are browned add the can of tomatoes or sauce and about 1 tsp of Italian herbs. Let the sauce simmer. Meanwhile, make the pasta according to package directions. When pasta is done you can add it to the sauce directly and mix together. Can be topped with a bit of grated parmesan cheese. K's tips are to only make 1/2 of a 1 pound box of pasta so that you have equal amounts of sauce and pasta, a little less carby that way and a nice balance of sauce to pasta, and to always add salt to your pasta boiling water.
This can be a one dish meal or you can make a green salad or a nice side of steamed and seasoned zucchini.
Chicken sausage
1 TB olive oil
1 green bell pepper
1/2 large onion
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
1 can of tomatoes (or tomato sauce)
Italian herbs
1 box of penne pasta
Saute the vegetables in the olive oil, add the chicken sausage (removed from casing). When those items are browned add the can of tomatoes or sauce and about 1 tsp of Italian herbs. Let the sauce simmer. Meanwhile, make the pasta according to package directions. When pasta is done you can add it to the sauce directly and mix together. Can be topped with a bit of grated parmesan cheese. K's tips are to only make 1/2 of a 1 pound box of pasta so that you have equal amounts of sauce and pasta, a little less carby that way and a nice balance of sauce to pasta, and to always add salt to your pasta boiling water.
This can be a one dish meal or you can make a green salad or a nice side of steamed and seasoned zucchini.
Friday, March 4, 2011
Fish Fridays: Shrimp Alfredo
Shrimp are wonderful for the busy cook, they are completely done in less than 3 minutes! They are low in saturated fat and are a good source of niacin, iron, phosphorus and zinc, and a very good source of protein, vitamin B12 and selenium. Shrimp is fairly high in cholesterol, but still a great option for a quick dinner.
My tips; always check your shrimp or any other seafood using the Monterrey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch website. They even have a smart-phone app so you can check WHILE you are at the store or restaurant. Always ask where your seafood is coming from, if a restaurant doesn't know or seems cagey about answering that is NOT the place you want to buy seafood, I promise you. When cleaning fresh shrimp, take the shells off from the bottom of the shrimp where the scales part naturally, the legs will come right off too. You can take tails off or leave them for cooking (I prefer to remove them). Take a small sharp paring knife and slice down the top/back of the shrimp and then use the knife tip to lift out the vein. I usually give all of the shrimp a quick blast of cold water in a colander and then dry them with a paper towel before cooking. Then I sprinkle them with a bit of sea salt and a dash of pepper.
I cook shrimp in a heavy bottomed pan over medium high heat; for instance my iron skillet. Make sure you cook in some sort of fat as well, olive oil, butter, bacon grease, something. Once the fish turn pink and curl they are done! Remove them from the heat immediately or they will over cook and become tough. And I don't mean remove the pan from the heat (though you should do that too) I mean get those shrimp out of the pan! They will continue to cook in the residual heat.
I usually prepare the Shrimp Alfredo in this order, prepare the pasta/cook the vegetables, make the alfredo sauce and then cook the shrimp, then I combine all of my ingredients on the plate. Toss together to coat everything with the nice creamy alfredo and you are good to go, maybe add a little garnish of fresh parsley.
My tips; always check your shrimp or any other seafood using the Monterrey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch website. They even have a smart-phone app so you can check WHILE you are at the store or restaurant. Always ask where your seafood is coming from, if a restaurant doesn't know or seems cagey about answering that is NOT the place you want to buy seafood, I promise you. When cleaning fresh shrimp, take the shells off from the bottom of the shrimp where the scales part naturally, the legs will come right off too. You can take tails off or leave them for cooking (I prefer to remove them). Take a small sharp paring knife and slice down the top/back of the shrimp and then use the knife tip to lift out the vein. I usually give all of the shrimp a quick blast of cold water in a colander and then dry them with a paper towel before cooking. Then I sprinkle them with a bit of sea salt and a dash of pepper.
I cook shrimp in a heavy bottomed pan over medium high heat; for instance my iron skillet. Make sure you cook in some sort of fat as well, olive oil, butter, bacon grease, something. Once the fish turn pink and curl they are done! Remove them from the heat immediately or they will over cook and become tough. And I don't mean remove the pan from the heat (though you should do that too) I mean get those shrimp out of the pan! They will continue to cook in the residual heat.
I usually prepare the Shrimp Alfredo in this order, prepare the pasta/cook the vegetables, make the alfredo sauce and then cook the shrimp, then I combine all of my ingredients on the plate. Toss together to coat everything with the nice creamy alfredo and you are good to go, maybe add a little garnish of fresh parsley.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Dinner Decisions: Cheese tortellini in an Improvised Sauce
Yeah, it was sort of unofficially Italian week here at Chez Lost. Spaghetti, pizza, and now tortelloni. This past weekend I went to Costco, or as my kids call it, the Snack Store. We loaded up on necessities as well as a few splurges. For me getting a huge bag of asparagus, bright green stalks of asparagus, counts as a splurge. Normally I am very good about getting everything unpacked and parceled out and planned for, but I due to illness I really dropped the ball this week. I have been very good about using up the lettuce and spinach, since they are the most prone to spoilage, but I only managed to use the asparagus once (and there is plenty more where that came from) and the brussels sprouts remain untouched.
Tonight I used up one package of fresh cheese tortelloni and still have one package left over, I used up just under a pound of ground beef and managed to pack up the rest of it into one pound chunks. I have plans in place for the brussels sprouts for dinner tomorrow and over the weekend and the last of the spinach and lovely fresh mushrooms are going into some fabulous omelets tomorrow.
One of the reasons it was so hard for me to get everything squared away is that my freezer is really tiny. I have a small side by side refrigerator and just ran out of space. Fortunately, a good friend of mine has a spare freezer in her garage and let me bring over the extra package of tortelloni, some bread, and 6 pounds of ground beef over to her house to freeze.
My sauce tonight consisted of onions, mushrooms, chopped spinach, garlic and ground beef with a can of plain tomato sauce. I added Italian Spices to it and let it simmer while I cooked the packaged pasta for 6 minutes. I drained the pasta and added them into the pan with the sauce. Everyone loved it of course and since I chopped the spinach up really finely the kids got a whopping good amount of fiber and Vitamin A plus some iron and calcium. My kids are hit or miss about spinach, sometimes they love it and other times it's like I offered them a plate of raw worms. But anyhow they ate it up without complaint. Other veggies I "hide" in a red sauce include grated zucchini, carrots, summer squash, pureed pumpkin or sweet potato, leeks, or broccoli. Not all at the same time mind you! Just what I have on hand that needs using up quickly. I wouldn't say I'm a "sneaky chef" but I do know that a robust sauce can make a whole bunch of veggies more palatable to kids.
Tonight I used up one package of fresh cheese tortelloni and still have one package left over, I used up just under a pound of ground beef and managed to pack up the rest of it into one pound chunks. I have plans in place for the brussels sprouts for dinner tomorrow and over the weekend and the last of the spinach and lovely fresh mushrooms are going into some fabulous omelets tomorrow.
One of the reasons it was so hard for me to get everything squared away is that my freezer is really tiny. I have a small side by side refrigerator and just ran out of space. Fortunately, a good friend of mine has a spare freezer in her garage and let me bring over the extra package of tortelloni, some bread, and 6 pounds of ground beef over to her house to freeze.
My sauce tonight consisted of onions, mushrooms, chopped spinach, garlic and ground beef with a can of plain tomato sauce. I added Italian Spices to it and let it simmer while I cooked the packaged pasta for 6 minutes. I drained the pasta and added them into the pan with the sauce. Everyone loved it of course and since I chopped the spinach up really finely the kids got a whopping good amount of fiber and Vitamin A plus some iron and calcium. My kids are hit or miss about spinach, sometimes they love it and other times it's like I offered them a plate of raw worms. But anyhow they ate it up without complaint. Other veggies I "hide" in a red sauce include grated zucchini, carrots, summer squash, pureed pumpkin or sweet potato, leeks, or broccoli. Not all at the same time mind you! Just what I have on hand that needs using up quickly. I wouldn't say I'm a "sneaky chef" but I do know that a robust sauce can make a whole bunch of veggies more palatable to kids.
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Carmel? Caramel?
Tonight we had chicken alfredo pasta with steamed carrots and caramelized brussels sprouts. I realized I say "carmel-ized" when properly it is spelled "caramel-ized". But I have seriously never heard anyone say anything but "carmel". do people say, caramelized?? But I digress! The pasta was good. I used a bottle of alfredo sauce my husband bought. Frankly since I figured out how easy it is to make alfredo sauce I haven't used a bottle or a mix, but he saw it and wanted to use it, so it was fine. A good little time saver. We sauteed the lightly seasoned chicken tenderloins in a grill pan and then threw the jar of sauce over it to warm, easy-peasy.
The real treat was the brussels sprouts! First I chopped off the tough stems and removed a few of the outer leaves. Then I put them in a glass bowl and steamed them in the microwave for 3 minutes, just enough time for them to get slightly soft, but keep the bright green color. While they were cooking I started about half of a medium onion, sliced, cooking in a pan with some olive oil. To truly caramelize onions you need to cook them on low heat for about 20 minutes. I was running short on time, so I added a bit of kosher salt to soften the onions and kept them on medium. I also added about a teaspoon of brown sugar to hurry things along. Then I threw the sprouts in then pan too and let them get a good sear while the onions continued to cook. At the end of the cooking time I added several splashes of balsamic vinegar to deglaze the pan and add a bit more sweetness. Then I put the pan in the oven with the oven light on to stay warm while I finished dinner.
I chopped some baby carrots into rounds; this is totally unnecessary. Baby carrots steam just fine the way they are, however my kids sometimes like their food in itty bitty pieces, so this was a kid-friendly concession. Plus, small pieces cook faster, so it was also a time saver. To the carrots I added a sprinkle of kosher salt, 1/2 tsp of sugar and a splash of olive oil. I covered the carrots and cooked them for 6 minutes in the microwave, checking on them and giving them a stir after 3 minutes. You could also add an herb at that point like some fresh dill for instance or perhaps some ginger, but I left them plain.
When they were done the pasta was also done and ready to be strained. The kids loved it. They didn't eat the brussels sprouts (of course) but they each tried a bite, and that is all I ever ask them to do. They each wanted seconds on the carrots and the pasta. All in all a good night. Tomorrow is a busy day, after church I peruse the sales circulars for our local stores and clip any coupons I deem necessary. I am not a coupon queen by any stretch, but on things I know we use all the time, I feel like its silly not to at least grab those. Then I go through and make a really quick menu for the week, trying (though often failing) to keep in mind the eccentricities of our schedule for the following week. Dance class and basketball and PTO nights and all the same stuff that seems to slip my mind more and more thee days. I have to say "Using the calendar" was at the top of my New Year's Resolutions this year. I hate to flake on something just because I didn't plan ahead. But then again, "planning ahead" goes against my very nature... ah, the drama. :)
My husband played in a softball tournament today and the way he is moving I may need to plan a menu of things that are easy to pick up and chew. He went from being a fairly healthy man in his mid-30's to Methuselah in the course of a double-header! He is walking like the Tin Man pre-oil can and is complaining about aches and pains in a way that one expects to hear from an old folk's home. Weekend-Warrior's menu.... hmmm. (I kid because I love! Lord knows you didn't see ME out there chasing down balls and sliding into second base!)
The real treat was the brussels sprouts! First I chopped off the tough stems and removed a few of the outer leaves. Then I put them in a glass bowl and steamed them in the microwave for 3 minutes, just enough time for them to get slightly soft, but keep the bright green color. While they were cooking I started about half of a medium onion, sliced, cooking in a pan with some olive oil. To truly caramelize onions you need to cook them on low heat for about 20 minutes. I was running short on time, so I added a bit of kosher salt to soften the onions and kept them on medium. I also added about a teaspoon of brown sugar to hurry things along. Then I threw the sprouts in then pan too and let them get a good sear while the onions continued to cook. At the end of the cooking time I added several splashes of balsamic vinegar to deglaze the pan and add a bit more sweetness. Then I put the pan in the oven with the oven light on to stay warm while I finished dinner.
I chopped some baby carrots into rounds; this is totally unnecessary. Baby carrots steam just fine the way they are, however my kids sometimes like their food in itty bitty pieces, so this was a kid-friendly concession. Plus, small pieces cook faster, so it was also a time saver. To the carrots I added a sprinkle of kosher salt, 1/2 tsp of sugar and a splash of olive oil. I covered the carrots and cooked them for 6 minutes in the microwave, checking on them and giving them a stir after 3 minutes. You could also add an herb at that point like some fresh dill for instance or perhaps some ginger, but I left them plain.
When they were done the pasta was also done and ready to be strained. The kids loved it. They didn't eat the brussels sprouts (of course) but they each tried a bite, and that is all I ever ask them to do. They each wanted seconds on the carrots and the pasta. All in all a good night. Tomorrow is a busy day, after church I peruse the sales circulars for our local stores and clip any coupons I deem necessary. I am not a coupon queen by any stretch, but on things I know we use all the time, I feel like its silly not to at least grab those. Then I go through and make a really quick menu for the week, trying (though often failing) to keep in mind the eccentricities of our schedule for the following week. Dance class and basketball and PTO nights and all the same stuff that seems to slip my mind more and more thee days. I have to say "Using the calendar" was at the top of my New Year's Resolutions this year. I hate to flake on something just because I didn't plan ahead. But then again, "planning ahead" goes against my very nature... ah, the drama. :)
My husband played in a softball tournament today and the way he is moving I may need to plan a menu of things that are easy to pick up and chew. He went from being a fairly healthy man in his mid-30's to Methuselah in the course of a double-header! He is walking like the Tin Man pre-oil can and is complaining about aches and pains in a way that one expects to hear from an old folk's home. Weekend-Warrior's menu.... hmmm. (I kid because I love! Lord knows you didn't see ME out there chasing down balls and sliding into second base!)
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