Dinner

Healthier Pasta Bolognese

March 5, 2012 by Marci Leave a Comment

It’s still been important for me to keep cooking as long as we feel like it, even just a couple days each week. I have a feeling that with the move, hospital stay, and first while at home after the baby that there won’t be many home cooked meals. So might as well keep at it while we can! I do hope to get back into cooking dinner and maybe planning some meals in advance eventually.

(pardon the iPhone photos on this post)

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For Oscar Sunday, we always cook dinner in and always watch the show. It’s Jeffrey’s favorite awards show! We picked another Ina Garten recipe from one of her cookbooks and made a couple of substitutions–we used ground turkey instead of ground sirloin, and we used 2% milk instead of buying cream just to throw the rest out. We also used a box of fusilli pasta I had in the pantry instead of buying another new box.

And served with a simple salad of fresh vegetables.

We reallly liked this recipe–Jeffrey especially. It was basically pasta with meat sauce, but the sauce was very flavorful and rich from the red wine used. It was also pretty simple–the meat and sauce cook in the same pan, and the noodles are added in when cooked.

And Jeffrey came up with a funny rhyme I wanted to share–”Tomato paste, what a waste.” The recipe called for 2T and then the rest of the can is wasted. I need to find a squeeze tube and see how long those will last.

Don’t let the “bolognese” name scare you, it was just pasta with meat sauce.

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Pasta Bolognese

Recipe by Ina Garten

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons good olive oil, plus extra to cook the pasta
1 pound lean ground sirloin (we subbed 85% lean ground turkey)
4 teaspoons minced garlic (4 cloves)
1 tablespoon dried oregano
¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1¼ cups dry red wine, divided
1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes, preferably San Marzano
2 tablespoons tomato paste
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
¾ pound dried pasta, such as orecchiette or small shells (we used fusilli)
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
¼ cup chopped fresh basil leaves, lightly packed
¼ cup heavy cream (we subbed milk we already have)
½ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese, plus extra for serving

Instructions:

Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large (12-inch) skillet over medium-high heat. Add the ground meat and cook, crumbling the meat with a wooden spoon, for 5 to 7 minutes, until the meat has lost its pink color and has started to brown.
Stir in the garlic, oregano, and red pepper flakes and cook for 1 more minute.
Pour 1 cup of the wine into the skillet and stir to scrape up any browned bits.
Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, 1 tablespoon salt, and 1½ teaspoons pepper, stirring until combined. Bring to a boil, lower the heat, and simmer for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil, add a tablespoon of salt, a splash of oil, and the pasta, and cook according to the directions on the box.
While the pasta cooks, finish the sauce. Add the nutmeg, basil, cream, and the remaining ¼ cup wine to the sauce and simmer for 8 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally until thickened.
When the pasta is cooked, drain and pour into a large serving bowl. Add the sauce and ½ cup Parmesan and toss well. Serve hot with Parmesan on the side.

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Healthier Pasta Bolognese

Prep time: 10 mins

Cook time: 30 mins

Total time: 40 mins

Serves: 4

Ingredients

2 tablespoons good olive oil, plus extra to cook the pasta
1 pound lean ground sirloin (we subbed 85% lean ground turkey)
4 teaspoons minced garlic (4 cloves)
1 tablespoon dried oregano
¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1¼ cups dry red wine, divided
1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes, preferably San Marzano
2 tablespoons tomato paste
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
¾ pound dried pasta, such as orecchiette or small shells (we used fusilli)
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
¼ cup chopped fresh basil leaves, lightly packed
¼ cup heavy cream (we subbed milk we already have)
½ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese, plus extra for serving

Instructions

Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large (12-inch) skillet over medium-high heat. Add the ground meat and cook, crumbling the meat with a wooden spoon, for 5 to 7 minutes, until the meat has lost its pink color and has started to brown.
Stir in the garlic, oregano, and red pepper flakes and cook for 1 more minute.
Pour 1 cup of the wine into the skillet and stir to scrape up any browned bits.
Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, 1 tablespoon salt, and 1½ teaspoons pepper, stirring until combined. Bring to a boil, lower the heat, and simmer for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil, add a tablespoon of salt, a splash of oil, and the pasta, and cook according to the directions on the box.
While the pasta cooks, finish the sauce. Add the nutmeg, basil, cream, and the remaining ¼ cup wine to the sauce and simmer for 8 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally until thickened.
When the pasta is cooked, drain and pour into a large serving bowl. Add the sauce and ½ cup Parmesan and toss well. Serve hot with Parmesan on the side.

Filed Under: Dinner · Tagged With: Dinner, turkey

Enchiladas Times Two

February 20, 2012 by Marci Leave a Comment

Recently, we hosted a dinner for our neighbors at our house. We live in a group of six townhomes and we have become friends with everyone in the nearly four years we’ve lived here. From time to time, we get together for brunch or dinner. It’s so small town of us. Since we are moving away, we decided to host everyone for one more dinner together. We decided to do a fiesta potluck, and we were responsible for the main course. I chose two kinds of enchiladas–chicken and veggie.

We had never made enchiladas in our house before. It always seems like you need more than two people at home to make these. And it seems so cheesy and saucy. Regardless, it was on our list of things we want to make.

I found the chicken enchilada recipe on Eat Live Run, one of my go-to food blogs when I’m looking for something to please a crowd. We decided to double it, assuming people might eat two each and we had 8 guests. Knowing I wanted to have a vegetarian option too, I made a second dish of vegetarian enchiladas from a Martha Stewart recipe.

(Chicken pictured above, veggie pictured below before cooking)

The chicken recipe used a canned enchilada sauce as the topping, and the veggie one used a homemade sauce. Both recipes ended up making huge enchiladas and we had about 2/3 of each recipe leftover! It was also interesting that one topped it with cheese on the very top layer, and the other had sauce on top of cheese.

Both recipes were pretty labor intensive. I don’t have a lot of energy or patience to stand on my feet for a long time, so Jeffrey helped a lot. It was extra work to make two separate recipes with no overlap, and our kitchen was quite a mess! It worked out fine, and we ended up with three casserole dishes in the oven baking for about the same amount of time.

I tried both, and really liked them both. I ended up taking the veggie ones for lunch twice that next week, and we gave away some leftovers to the neighbors. Just beware that it makes a whole lot.

Below is our final table setting for a dinner party at this house!

We had salad, rice and beans to go with it. Cheesy and saucy, just like I remembered enchiladas to be. And there is one of our final kitchen adventures before baby and before moving! Not many days left!

Filed Under: Dinner · Tagged With: Dinner

Savory Oatmeal

February 13, 2012 by Marci 2 Comments

Happy Monday, I’m still here, but the cooking has gotten a little less impressive. We hosted our neighbors last night for a potluck dinner and made two kinds of enchiladas–veggie and chicken. I’ll post those as soon as I sit down to upload pictures.

It is getting much harder to grocery shop, unload groceries, cook, clean, serve, clean, etc. You try doing your daily chores with a large kettlebell strapped to your stomach! Luckily, my husband is the sous chef on the weekends and enjoys cooking too. There would definitely be less homemade food on Sunday nights without his help!

One thing on my “to cook” list for a long time has been savory oatmeal for dinner. This is basically treating raw oats like any other grain used for dinner–rice, quinoa, pasta, etc. Instead of adding milk and sweet ingredients, you add vegetables and spices. It sounded easy and interesting, and like a simple dinner for one!

Savory Oats

Serves 1

Ingredients:

1/2 C old-fashioned oats
1 C water
dashes of salt, pepper, garlic powder, paprika
1 fried egg on top (cooked separately)
handful of raw spinach

Instructions:

Bring water to a simmer in a small sauce pan.
Add oats and whisk.
Add spices and keep whisking.
Stir in spinach and stir to wilt
Top with egg and more salt and pepper.

I cooked my egg so it wasn’t very runny since you can’t eat runny eggs while pregnant, but an over-easy egg would have been gooey and great too. Other toppings if you plan ahead could be avocado or cheese whisked in, also sounds really good.

I liked that this was super simple and different. You can modify the spices to your liking, but I liked pairing oats with savory ones.

Have you ever tried oats for dinner like this?

Filed Under: Dinner · Tagged With: Dinner, Oatmeal

Beef and Barley Soup

February 8, 2012 by Marci Leave a Comment

I am unsure of how to make Beef and Barley soup look presentable, but we really liked this soup no matter how it looks in photos. We watched an episode of Barefoot Contessa where Ina was making this soup for a firehouse. She actually used oxtails as her beef and then didn’t serve the soup with the meat. We thought that was kind of strange, so we used stew meat and definitely served it in the bowl.

The recipe was a good Sunday soup since it sits for a while and involves a lot of veggie chopping. It was a very well-rounded meal with a meat protein, barley and lots of vegetables. A win for a one-pot dinner!

Here are some step by step pictures with the recipe below.

1. Browning meat in a cast iron skillet.

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2. Chopping veggies to add to soup.

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3. Simmering the beef, broth and veggies together.

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4. Barley cooks separately until water is absorbed, then added to soup pot.

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Beef and Barley Soup

By Ina Garten

Ingredients

(below is her recipe that feeds probably 10 people. We roughly cut it down, especially in the broth doing about 6 cups. Otherwise, do about the same.)

1 tablespoon good olive oil
2 pounds stew meat (that’s really what it’s called)
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 cups chopped leeks, white and light green parts (2 leeks)
2 cups (1/2-inch) diced carrots (4 carrots)
1 cup chopped yellow onion
1 cup (1/2-inch) diced celery (2 stalks)
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 sprigs fresh thyme leaves
3 bay leaves
10 cups canned beef broth
1 cup pearled barley

Directions

Heat the olive oil in a large pot or Dutch oven, such as Le Creuset. Add the beef, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper and cook over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes until browned all over. Remove the meat with a slotted spoon and reserve.
Add the leeks, carrots, onion, celery, and garlic to the fat in the pot and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes, until the vegetables start to brown. Tie the thyme sprigs together with kitchen string and add to the pot along with the bay leaves. Return the meat to the pot and add the broth, 1 teaspoon of salt, and 1 teaspoon of pepper. Raise the heat and bring to a boil. Lower the heat, cover, and simmer for 1 hour. Discard the thyme bundle and the bay leaves, and skim off the fat.
Meanwhile, bring 4 cups of water to a boil and add the barley. Simmer uncovered for 30 minutes, drain, and set aside.
When the soup is ready, add the barley and cook the soup for another 15 or 20 minutes, until the barley is tender. Depending on the saltiness of the stock, the soup might need another teaspoon of salt and some pepper.

Beef and Barley Soup

Prep time: 30 mins

Cook time: 2 hours

Total time: 2 hours 30 mins

Ingredients

Beef and Barley Soup
By Ina Garten
below is her recipe that feeds probably 10 people. We roughly cut it down, especially in the broth doing about 6 cups. Otherwise, do about the same.)
1 tablespoon good olive oil
2 pounds stew meat (that’s really what it’s called)
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 cups chopped leeks, white and light green parts (2 leeks)
2 cups (1/2-inch) diced carrots (4 carrots)
1 cup chopped yellow onion
1 cup (1/2-inch) diced celery (2 stalks)
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 sprigs fresh thyme leaves
3 bay leaves
10 cups canned beef broth
1 cup pearled barley

Instructions

Directions
Heat the olive oil in a large pot or Dutch oven, such as Le Creuset. Add the beef, 1 teaspoon salt, and ½ teaspoon pepper and cook over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes until browned all over. Remove the meat with a slotted spoon and reserve.
Add the leeks, carrots, onion, celery, and garlic to the fat in the pot and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes, until the vegetables start to brown. Tie the thyme sprigs together with kitchen string and add to the pot along with the bay leaves. Return the meat to the pot and add the broth, 1 teaspoon of salt, and 1 teaspoon of pepper. Raise the heat and bring to a boil. Lower the heat, cover, and simmer for 1 hour. Discard the thyme bundle and the bay leaves, and skim off the fat.
Meanwhile, bring 4 cups of water to a boil and add the barley. Simmer uncovered for 30 minutes, drain, and set aside.
When the soup is ready, add the barley and cook the soup for another 15 or 20 minutes, until the barley is tender. Depending on the saltiness of the stock, the soup might need another teaspoon of salt and some pepper.

Filed Under: Dinner · Tagged With: Dinner, Soups

Homemade Veggie Burgers

January 25, 2012 by Marci Leave a Comment

Trying to make a veggie burger from scratch has been on my to-cook list for months. I pulled a recipe at least six months ago and have been telling myself I need to make it probably since then. The problem is that it’s a food processor recipe, and sometimes, cleaning that thing takes the fun out of using it!

I finally wrote down what I needed to buy, made hummus so the food processor was already dirty, and got to work on the burgers last Sunday.

The recipe made 9 small-ish burgers, and I plan to eat some this week and freeze them to take for lunches.

I really liked the texture and spices, and am very glad I finally tried them! No need to buy the frozen version when homemade is so much better, and you can freeze them to use one at a time. Really, these made my lunches so much better!

While this may look like a long ingredient list, it’s actually a lot of pantry items and spices that you might already have as a kitchen staple.

I also had one for dinner with sauteed veggies and some rice.

Homemade Veggie Burgers

Ingredients:

1 clove garlic
1/2 white onion
1 egg
1 C old-fashioned oats, processed into flour
1.5 C bread crumbs
1 C carrots
1 C black beans, rinsed and mashed
1/4 C parsley
1/3 C cashews (or any nut like almonds, pecans, etc)
1/3 C sunflower seeds
1 T EVOO
1 T soy sauce
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

Instructions:

In a food processor, pulse together carrots, garlic, onion. Add about 3/4 C of the black beans and pulse again. You want the consistency to be mashed but not mushed.
In a mixing bowl, add the remaining 1/4 C unblended black beans.
Remove food from processor and add to a mixing bowl.
Add almonds and sunflower seeds and pulse to a fine chop. Add to mixing bowl.
Add oats to the processor and grind to a flour. Add to mixing bowl with bread crumbs.
In mixing bowl, stir to combine, then add egg, EVOO, soy sauce, and all spices.
Stir to combine.
The mixture should hold together in your hand when you try to squeeze it. Before you try to add water, form a burger and see if it holds. I thought mine might need more liquid, but it held together as a burger, so I didn’t add anything.
Form mixture into patties and lay on a baking sheet lined with a Silpat or cooking spray.
Bake at 350* for about 22 minutes, flipping halfway through.
Remove when burgers are starting to brown.

Homemade Veggie Burgers

Prep time: 15 mins

Cook time: 22 mins

Total time: 37 mins

Ingredients

Homemade Veggie Burgers
1 clove garlic
½ white onion
1 egg
1 C old-fashioned oats, processed into flour
1.5 C bread crumbs
1 C carrots
1 C black beans, rinsed and mashed
¼ C parsley
⅓ C cashews (or any nut like almonds, pecans, etc)
⅓ C sunflower seeds
1 T EVOO
1 T soy sauce
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp oregano
½ tsp pepper
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp cayenne pepper

Instructions

In a food processor, pulse together carrots, garlic, onion. Add about ¾ C of the black beans and pulse again. You want the consistency to be mashed but not mushed.
In a mixing bowl, add the remaining ¼ C unblended black beans.
Remove food from processor and add to a mixing bowl.
Add almonds and sunflower seeds and pulse to a fine chop. Add to mixing bowl.
Add oats to the processor and grind to a flour. Add to mixing bowl with bread crumbs.
In mixing bowl, stir to combine, then add egg, EVOO, soy sauce, and all spices.
Stir to combine.
The mixture should hold together in your hand when you try to squeeze it. Before you try to add water, form a burger and see if it holds. I thought mine might need more liquid, but it held together as a burger, so I didn’t add anything.
Form mixture into patties and lay on a baking sheet lined with a Silpat or cooking spray.
Bake at 350* for about 22 minutes, flipping halfway through.
Remove when burgers are starting to brown.

Filed Under: Dinner, Lunch, Recipes, Vegetarian · Tagged With: Dinner, Lunch, Recipes, vegetables, vegetarian

We Tried Chicken Again

January 23, 2012 by Marci Leave a Comment

If you are like our house, you are always looking for a better way to cook chicken. I am not much of a fan of the bird, but Jeffrey desperately wants us to figure out how to cook good chicken.

Last month’s issue of Cooking Light had 25 chicken recipes as its cover story, and he picked this recipe for Chicken Piccata for us to try. Lucky for me, he did most of the work. I just took the pictures and went to the grocery store.

We served our chicken with roasted vegetables. I really liked roasting potatoes and asparagus together because it took care of the veggie and starch part of the dish.

The chicken turned out pretty, and I think it was a recipe worth keeping to make again. We saved it for leftovers but didn’t eat any of it, but Jeffrey said he approved and really liked it.

Chicken Piccata

(by Cooking Light)

4 (6-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
2 ounces all-purpose flour, divided (about 1/2 cup)
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 1/2 tablespoons butter, divided
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1/4 cup finely chopped shallots
4 medium garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1/2 cup dry white wine
3/4 cup fat-free, lower-sodium chicken broth, divided
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 1/2 tablespoons drained capers
3 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Instructions:

Place each chicken breast half between 2 sheets of heavy-duty plastic wrap; pound to 1/2-inch thickness using a meat mallet or small heavy skillet.
Place 1 teaspoon flour in a small bowl, and place remaining flour in a shallow dish. Sprinkle both sides of chicken evenly with salt and pepper. Dredge chicken in flour in shallow dish; shake off excess.
Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add 1 tablespoon oil to pan; swirl to coat. Add chicken to pan; sauté 4 minutes on each side or until done. Remove chicken from pan; keep warm.
Heat remaining 1 tablespoon oil in pan; swirl to coat. Add shallots to pan; sauté 3 minutes, stirring frequently.
Add garlic; sauté 1 minute, stirring constantly.
Add wine; bring to a boil, scraping pan to loosen browned bits.
Cook until liquid almost evaporates, stirring occasionally.
Add 1/4 cup broth to reserved 1 teaspoon flour; stir until smooth.
Add remaining 1/2 cup broth to pan; bring to a boil. Cook until reduced by half (about 5 minutes).
Stir in flour mixture; cook 1 minute or until slightly thick, stirring frequently.
Remove from heat; stir in remaining 1 1/2 tablespoons butter, juice, and capers.
Place 1 chicken breast half on each of 4 plates; top each serving with about 2 tablespoons sauce. Sprinkle each serving with about 2 teaspoons parsley.

We Tried Chicken Again

Prep time: 30 mins

Cook time: 30 mins

Total time: 1 hour

Ingredients

4 (6-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
2 ounces all-purpose flour, divided (about ½ cup)
½ teaspoon kosher salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2½ tablespoons butter, divided
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
¼ cup finely chopped shallots
4 medium garlic cloves, thinly sliced
½ cup dry white wine
¾ cup fat-free, lower-sodium chicken broth, divided
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1½ tablespoons drained capers
3 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Instructions

Place each chicken breast half between 2 sheets of heavy-duty plastic wrap; pound to ½-inch thickness using a meat mallet or small heavy skillet.
Place 1 teaspoon flour in a small bowl, and place remaining flour in a shallow dish. Sprinkle both sides of chicken evenly with salt and pepper. Dredge chicken in flour in shallow dish; shake off excess.
Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add 1 tablespoon oil to pan; swirl to coat. Add chicken to pan; sauté 4 minutes on each side or until done. Remove chicken from pan; keep warm.
Heat remaining 1 tablespoon oil in pan; swirl to coat. Add shallots to pan; sauté 3 minutes, stirring frequently.
Add garlic; sauté 1 minute, stirring constantly.
Add wine; bring to a boil, scraping pan to loosen browned bits.
Cook until liquid almost evaporates, stirring occasionally.
Add ¼ cup broth to reserved 1 teaspoon flour; stir until smooth.
Add remaining ½ cup broth to pan; bring to a boil. Cook until reduced by half (about 5 minutes).
Stir in flour mixture; cook 1 minute or until slightly thick, stirring frequently.
Remove from heat; stir in remaining 1½ tablespoons butter, juice, and capers.
Place 1 chicken breast half on each of 4 plates; top each serving with about 2 tablespoons sauce. Sprinkle each serving with about 2 teaspoons parsley.

Filed Under: Dinner · Tagged With: Dinner

Hearty Minestrone Soup

January 4, 2012 by Marci 1 Comment

Here’s another easy weeknight meal. We made this on Monday night after our weekend away. A hearty soup is a great way to get back to eating your veggies and not eat something so rich and gluttonous after the holidays. We love our soups.

I found this recipe on the Whole Foods iPhone app in the car on the way home. I changed out some veggies to suit what we like, and served it with mini cornbread muffins that I made real quick. If it were just for me, I would have added mushrooms and some squash, but that’s a no-go for the other one eating.

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The recipe called for chickpeas and cannellini beans, but Jeffrey doesn’t like beans so I left that out and just used the chickpeas. It gave the soup a nice crunch to go with the other softer veggies. I also left out cabbage and replaced with more carrots and celery. And I love fusilli in soups.

We thought the soup was very thick and tomato-ey. I didn’t mind and like thick soups, but Jeffrey would have used less tomato or more broth. However, 6 cups of broth and 28 ounces of tomatoes makes a lot of soup! There was lots leftover. A great soup for freezing too! On the second night, I added some water to thin it out and it helped a lot. Do that.

Hearty Minestrone Soup

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
6 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
1/4 cup tomato paste
1/4 cup chopped parsley
1 tablespoon chopped basil (subbed rosemary)
2 large stalks of celery, sliced
2 medium carrots, peeled and chopped
1 dried bay leaf
1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes, with their liquid
1 cup canned chickpeas, drained
1 cup dried fusilli pasta
Salt and pepper to taste
3/4 to 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

In a large stockpot, heat oil over medium high heat.
Add garlic and onions and cook until translucent.
Add broth, tomato paste, parsley, basil, celery, carrots, bay leaf, and tomatoes with their juice and cook for 30 to 40 minutes, until vegetables are tender.
Add chickpeas, pasta, and simmer for another 20 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
Ladle soup into bowls and serve with Parmesan cheese sprinkled over the top.

To go with the soup, I made a half batch of cornbread mini muffins. If you have cornmeal in your pantry, you probably have everything else you need–flour, egg, milk, oil. I amped it up by adding some frozen corn kernels, rosemary that we used for the soup, and some cayenne to give it a slight kick. A half batch made about 16 mini muffins–good to last a few days or take for lunch too!

As you can see, I love it when meals last a little while.

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Hearty Minestrone Soup

Prep time: 20 mins

Cook time: 60 mins

Total time: 1 hour 20 mins

Ingredients

Hearty Minestrone Soup
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
6 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
¼ cup tomato paste
¼ cup chopped parsley
1 tablespoon chopped basil (subbed rosemary)
2 large stalks of celery, sliced
2 medium carrots, peeled and chopped
1 dried bay leaf
1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes, with their liquid
1 cup canned chickpeas, drained
1 cup dried fusilli pasta
Salt and pepper to taste
¾ to 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Instructions

In a large stockpot, heat oil over medium high heat.
Add garlic and onions and cook until translucent.
Add broth, tomato paste, parsley, basil, celery, carrots, bay leaf, and tomatoes with their juice and cook for 30 to 40 minutes, until vegetables are tender.
Add chickpeas, pasta, and simmer for another 20 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
Ladle soup into bowls and serve with Parmesan cheese sprinkled over the top.

Filed Under: Dinner, Recipes · Tagged With: Dinner, Soups, vegetables

Easy Weeknight Dinner

January 3, 2012 by Marci Leave a Comment

It’s always my goal to have a few dinners during the week made at home. It seems healthier, I can use all the foods in our fridge, freezer and pantry, and it’s cost efficient. I also like the idea of getting in a habit of cooking dinner during the week.

On this particular night, we were probably going to pick something up. We couldn’t agree on anything we both wanted and we were just back from one trip and about to leave for another = not much food in the house.

Jeffrey ended up working late and I was in my pajamas and didn’t want to go anywhere, so I put together a dinner at home. I really like the challenge of making dinner from what I have. Although many times I’ll make a messy salad of leftovers or eggs and a bagel, sometimes I can actually put something decent together.

The only trick of being able to make something without a plan is having good things in your house already. I keep veggies in the freezer, bought a pack of tortellini probably two weeks ago that we never made, and had spices and other staples in either the fridge shelves or pantry. Might as well use what you have! Then you get to buy new things.

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Veggies & Tortellini

Ingredients:

(this is what I used, but as you’ll see, you can use anything you have.)

from the freezer: edamame, broccoli, corn kernels
from the pantry: black olives, flavored salt (thanks sis!), pepper, red pepper flakes, olive oil
from the fridge: sun dried tomatoes, tortellini, grated parmesan cheese (the lazy kind in a tube)

Instructions:

Cook pasta according to package (7-9 minutes in boiling water)
In a skillet, combine frozen vegetables plus a bit of water (I used 1/2 cup). Let cook until water absorbs. Add other vegetables and spices. Cook until soft, flavor to taste.
Drain pasta and add into vegetables. Stir to combine.

What’s your easy weeknight dinner?

Filed Under: Dinner · Tagged With: Dinner

Sausage Stuffing

November 16, 2011 by Marci Leave a Comment

Here is another Thanksgiving recipe. New to our kitchen for this year! I wanted to try making a stuffing, but thinking of the ingredients that we both eat is a little limiting. I also wanted it to be substantial enough to eat as a meal. I searched some magazines and online and found this sausage one with vegetables we both like such as carrots, fennel and onion, and even had some delicious seasonal apples.

The recipe I found made a whole side dish for Thanksgiving, so I cut the recipe down. I really liked using the Italian sausage. I went to the meat counter at Whole Foods and the butcher knew what I wanted, and took the casings off for me so it was easier to break apart.

Jeffrey commented that he wished the pieces of everything were smaller, so spend more time chopping. I didn’t mind it as bigger pieces. He really liked the dish and it was his kind of flavors. Very savory and filling.

The cooking process was pretty straightforward and clean. I started cooking something on the stove, then dumped it in a mixing bowl. Then more on the stove, then into the mixing bowl. And repeated about four times before going all together in the oven.

Sausage Stuffing

(This is the full recipe from myrecipes.com. I halved the recipe (except where noted) and put it in a smaller dish for cooking.

Ingredients:

12 ounces sourdough bread, cut into 1/2-inch cubes (I used a little under 1/2 loaf)
Cooking spray
9 ounces Italian sausage, uncooked (I used about 3/4 pound)
5 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
4 cups chopped onion
1 1/4 cups sliced fennel bulb
1 1/4 cups chopped carrot
2 tablespoons chopped fresh sage
1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds, crushed (didn’t use)
5 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, divided
3 cups chopped Golden Delicious apple
2 teaspoons sugar
1 1/2 cups fat-free, lower-sodium chicken broth
2 large eggs

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 400°.
Arrange bread cubes in a single layer on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Bake at 400° for 16 minutes or until golden, stirring after 8 minutes. Place in a large bowl.
Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Remove casings from sausage. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add sausage to pan; cook 8 minutes or until browned, stirring to crumble. Add sausage to bread.
Return pan to medium-high heat. Add 3 teaspoons oil to pan; swirl to coat. Add onion and next 5 ingredients (through garlic). Add 1/4 teaspoon pepper; sauté 8 minutes or until vegetables are tender, stirring occasionally. Add vegetables to sausage mixture.
Return pan to medium-high heat. Add remaining 2 teaspoons oil to pan; swirl to coat. Add apple and sugar; sauté 5 minutes or until apple caramelizes, stirring occasionally. Add to the sausage mixture.
Combine broth and eggs in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk. Add broth mixture and remaining 1/4 teaspoon pepper to sausage mixture; toss well to combine.
Spoon sausage mixture into a 13 x 9-inch glass or ceramic baking dish coated with cooking spray. Cover with foil. Bake at 400° for 20 minutes. Uncover dish; bake at 400° for 20 minutes or until browned and crisp.

I made this on a weekday and the start chopping to on the table process was about 90 minutes. We served it with roasted asparagus (on a baking sheet, same temperature as the stuffing, with salt, pepper, EVOO and paprika), and leftover cranberry sauce. A very hearty dinner for a weekday in our house!

Sausage Stuffing

Ingredients

Sausage Stuffing
This is the full recipe from myrecipes.com. I halved the recipe (except where noted) and put it in a smaller dish for cooking.
12 ounces sourdough bread, cut into ½-inch cubes (I used a little under ½ loaf)
Cooking spray
9 ounces Italian sausage, uncooked (I used about ¾ pound)
5 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
4 cups chopped onion
1¼ cups sliced fennel bulb
1¼ cups chopped carrot
2 tablespoons chopped fresh sage
½ teaspoon fennel seeds, crushed (didn’t use)
5 garlic cloves, minced
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, divided
3 cups chopped Golden Delicious apple
2 teaspoons sugar
1½ cups fat-free, lower-sodium chicken broth
2 large eggs

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400°.
Arrange bread cubes in a single layer on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Bake at 400° for 16 minutes or until golden, stirring after 8 minutes. Place in a large bowl.
Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Remove casings from sausage. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add sausage to pan; cook 8 minutes or until browned, stirring to crumble. Add sausage to bread.
Return pan to medium-high heat. Add 3 teaspoons oil to pan; swirl to coat. Add onion and next 5 ingredients (through garlic). Add ¼ teaspoon pepper; sauté 8 minutes or until vegetables are tender, stirring occasionally. Add vegetables to sausage mixture.
Return pan to medium-high heat. Add remaining 2 teaspoons oil to pan; swirl to coat. Add apple and sugar; sauté 5 minutes or until apple caramelizes, stirring occasionally. Add to the sausage mixture.
Combine broth and eggs in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk. Add broth mixture and remaining ¼ teaspoon pepper to sausage mixture; toss well to combine.
Spoon sausage mixture into a 13 x 9-inch glass or ceramic baking dish coated with cooking spray. Cover with foil. Bake at 400° for 20 minutes. Uncover dish; bake at 400° for 20 minutes or until browned and crisp.

Filed Under: Dinner, Recipes · Tagged With: Dinner, Thanksgiving

Apple Cranberry Sauce

November 14, 2011 by Marci 3 Comments

This week, I have a few Thanksgiving themed recipes to share. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of the whole year. I love spending time with family, I love that the weather is getting cooler, and I love the food better than any other holiday of eating.

Probably my very favorite Thanksgiving dish is cranberry sauce. In the last few years, I’ve been enjoying the flavors for the whole month of November, and this year was no exception. I tried a different recipe for cranberry sauce this year, one I read in Cooking Light and then made some changes to it. The one I made last year and in year’s past is great too! It has a lot of fruity flavors like apricot and orange. But wanted to try this one this year, which has a lot of apples.

Apple Cranberry Sauce

Ingredients:

1 bag (12 oz) fresh cranberries
3 apples, I used Granny Smith, peeled and chopped
1/2 C maple syrup
1/2 C white sugar
1/2 C brown sugar
1 bay leaf
1 C Apple juice or apple sider
3/4 C Apple cider vinegar
1/4 C lemon juice
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 C Dried apricots, chopped

Instructions:

Add everything to a pot and bring to a boil.
Reduce to a simmer and let cook until cranberries start to pop and bubble. Remove bay leaf.
Serve hot or cold. Keeps in the refrigerator 4-5 days.

What I loved about the sauce was the bites of apple, and apricots and the pops of cranberries. While refrigerated, it gets thick and delicious. From the original Cooking Light recipe, I added the sugars and apricots because I like my cranberry sauce sweet.

To go with the sauce, we made cheddar chicken fingers from How Sweet Eats. I am trying to like chicken better and wondered if I just don’t know how to make good chicken, so we followed a recipe that looked delicious and hoped we liked it. Jeffrey thought it was great, I thought it tasted like chicken. And also took poor pictures of it, sorry. The link’s pictures make it look much better!

Easy to make, smelled good, nice concept of soaking in buttermilk and dunking in bread crumbs and cheese, but I still can’t get over the chicken. Bluggghhh is what I say to chicken.

Filed Under: Dinner, Recipes · Tagged With: chicken, Dinner, Holidays, Thanksgiving

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