That Spaghetti Tomato Thingy

I kinda made this up, so I don't have a name for it.  I'm sure there is one; I just don't know what it is.  So when hubby asks what's for dinner, it's "That Spaghetti Tomato Thingy."  It's met with rave reviews every time I make it.

Ingredients:

Spaghetti

Tomatoes (I use whatever's available in the garden.  When tomato season is done, I'll probably buy Romas.)

Basil leaves (Also from the garden; I assume you could use dried stuff, but never have for this dish.)

Butter (or margarine; I use the light stuff to save calories)

evoo (extra virgin olive oil for you non-Rachel Ray fans)

Salt & Pepper

Parmesan Cheese

Directions:

Cook spaghetti.  I do about 4 servings for my family.

While pasta is boiling, dice your tomatoes and slice your basil leaves.  For my family I use about 2-3 roma tomato's and 2 or 3 basil leaves, depending on the size.

Put a little evoo in a small frying pan.  After it heats up, add the tomatoes.  Salt and pepper to taste.  Sautee until soft but not mushy.  Add the basil for the last minute.

Drain the spaghetti and put it back in the pot.  Add the tomatoes and basil.  Add some butter and evoo for flavor.  I do about 2 tablespoons butter and 2 tablespoons evoo to mine. 

Serve sprinkled with parmesan cheese.

Cabbage and Straw

This is an adaptation by Rachel Ray of an old Italian comfort food called pizzocheri.  It's more a winter food; kind of makes you want to unbuckle your belt and put your feet up a la thanksgiving dinner.  It's not winter, though.  It's summer in Southern California.  But at the last second I was feeding two missionaries from our church (two 19-year old boys who ride their bikes all day and have huge appetites) and I needed something that was easy and made a lot.  Plus, this uses the rest of the cabbage from the teriyaki chicken recipe. 

p.s. I sliced my finger today while peeling the potatoes. Please forgive any typing errors.

Ingredients:

Salt

2 Idaho potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch dice

1 pound fettuccine or papardelle pasta (I usually use spaghetti)
1 small head cabbage, cored and thinly sliced  (I use 1/2 a head; or whatever's leftover after teriyaki night)
1 stick butter
3 to 4 cloves garlic, cracked from skin and halved
16 sage leaves; 6 left whole, 10 thinly sliced (I only use about 4 whole; I'm not a huge sage fan)
1 tsp black pepper
1 to 1 1/2 cups grated Romano (I have used plain Kraft Parmesan in the green shaker and have liked it just fine.)

Directions:

Bring a large pot of water to a boil and salt it.  (Now, when I first made this recipe, I tried to use the large pot on the right.  It wasn't big enough.  Try something closer to the large pot on the left.  And please excuse the state of my stove.)

Add the potatoes and cook 7 minutes.  Add the pasta and cook 2 minutes, then stir in the cabbage and cook 5 minutes longer.

While the potatoes and pasta cook, melt the butter in a large, deep skillet over medium heat and add garlic and 6 whole sage leaves.  (Four for me, then no sliced ones.)  Cook 3 to 4 minutes; remove the garlic and whole leaves (reserve the leaves for garnish), then add the sliced leaves and the black pepper.  Just before draining the pasta and cabbage, add 2 ladles of starchy cooking water to the skillet.

Drain the potatoes, pasta, and cabbage and add to butter and sage.  (While I have a large skillet, it's not big enough for all the pasta.  I throw everything back in the big pot.)  Toss to combine with sage butter, adding in lots of cheese as you work.  Toss 1 to 2 minutes to form a cheesy butter coating on the pasta and cabbage.  Then adjust salt and serve.  Use reserved whole leaves to garnish the pasta.

And there you have it.  One huge pot of carbalicious yumminess.  This is usually enough to feed my family for 2 nights.  Tonight, with 2 extra mouths, it was just the right amount.

Italian Meatloaf

Here is another D.D. recipe. I was curious about it since it has bacon on top. I thought that was a cool touch. It was a very different type of meatloaf, but it was alright. I think I prefer my regular meatloaf, but it was a nice deviation.

Ingredients
1 cup Italian-style breadcrumbs (I only had plain ones, so I added some italian seasonings to mine.)
1/2 cup nonfat milk
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 onion, finely chopped
2 celery stalks, finely chopped
1 lb ground turkey
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/2 cup carrot puree
1/4 cup ketchup
1 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1 cup bottled tomato sauce
4 slices turkey bacon

Preheat the oven to 350. Coat a 9x5 inch loaf pan with cooking spray. In a large bowl, soak the breadcrumbs in milk. Coat a nonstick skillet with cooking spray and set it over medium-high heat. When the skillet is hot, add the oil. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, 7 to 10 minutes. Add the celery and cook 3 to 4 minutes longer. Scrape the mixture into the bowl with the breadcrumbs. Add the turkey, Parmesan, carrot puree, ketchup, salt, and pepper, and stir to combine. Turn the mixture into the loaf pan and smooth the top. Spread tomato sauce over the meatloaf and lay the strips of bacon on top. Bake until the center of the meatloaf is no longer pink and the bacon begins to brown, 45 to 50 minutes. Cut into slices and serve.

I think I probably could've cooked mine longer. Whenever I make turkey meatloaf, it always has to cook longer than the directions indicate. And even though this recipe is already taking into account that it's turkey, not beef, I think it still could've cooked longer. It pretty much fell apart when I took it out of the pan. It was cooked thoroughly, and wasn't pink, but I think it could've crisped up a bit. It also had a lot of juice, which kept it from getting crisper and firm. The overall taste was good though. And I think bacon on top is a nice twist.

Waffled Pizza Dippers

This was fun. I did it more for a child-food experiment. Joseph ate them pretty easily, although he didn't really dip them, which for me is the whole point. Anyway, it was a success and they were pretty good.

Ingredients
7 oz. (1 ¾ cups) shredded mozzarella cheese
¼ cup shredded Parmesan cheese (1 oz.)
½ tsp dried basil leaves
½ tsp dried oregano leaves
2 cans crescent dinner rolls
1 jar pizza sauce
32 small slices pepperoni

Heat waffle maker on medium-high setting. In medium bowl, mix both cheese, basil and oregano; set aside. In 1 ½ quart saucepan, heat pizza sauce over low heat, stirring occasionally, until hot. Place in small serving bowl. Unroll both cans of dough onto work surface. Separate each crosswise, making 4 rectangles; firmly press perforations to seal. Place 1 dough rectangle on bottom surface of heated waffle maker, being careful not to open up perforations. Quickly sprinkle 1 cup cheese mixture evenly on top of dough. Place 16 slices of pepperoni evenly over cheese mixture. Top with another dough rectangle; close waffle maker. Bake 2 to 3 minutes or until sandwich is golden brown. With pancake turner, remove from waffle maker; cool before cutting. Serve with warm sauce.

I didn't get the amount of cheese or pepperoni listed in the recipe, but used it all more or less. It definitely needs the sauce. At least for me, being used to pizza. Joseph ate it without, which I didn't find as good. But for a version of pizza, it is very easy to eat hands on and I'm sure kids would enjoy the fun waffle-ness of it. And for "homemade pizza" it is pretty easy. I'm sure you could easily alter the ingredients a touch to add other toppings, like canadian bacon, mushrooms or olives.

Tortellini in Brodo

Or as Emeril taught me, Tortellini in Soup. So super yummy! I loved this recipe!

Ingredients
2 tbsp olive oil
1 ½ onions, chopped
¾ cup chopped celery
¾ cup chopped carrots
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1/8 tsp crushed red pepper
8 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth
9 oz. fresh cheese filled tortellini
2 tbsp minced parsley
Salt, to taste if necessary
½ cup finely grated Parmesan cheese
Heat a large saucepan over high heat. Add the olive oil and, when hot, add the onion, celery, and carrots. Saute until soft, about four minutes. Add the garlic, italian seasoning, and crushed red pepper and saute for 2 more minutes. Add the chicken broth and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce the heat to medium-low, and simmer for 20 minutes. Add the tortellini and cook for 5 minutes (or longer if pasta directs). The pasta should be al dente. Stir in the parsley, taste, and adjust the seasoning if necessary. Remove from heat and ladle into soup bowls. Garnish each bowl with 1 tbsp cheese. Serve.

The big odd looking white sections (not the noodles) are the Parmesan cheese. Then there are also a few non-organic items in there (two orange, one white). They're plastic ice cubes. They cool the food down without watering it down. I forgot about the picture before I put them in.

Pizza #2

So we did pizza again last night. It came out awesome! When I made the crust last time, I made 2. I precooked the second one and then froze it. (Like the directions say, without adding the toppings for the second bake) It worked out great. I also made sure to add some flax seed to my sauce for added fiber! The sauce was also leftover from last time. The recipe I shared makes 2 pizza's worth.  On this pizza we had pepperoni, mozzarella, sauteed green pepper, onion and garlic. We also had a few chicken tenders in BBQ sauce that we put in the pan too. I thought it might be weird having pizza sauce with BBQ chicken, but it was great. Oh yeah, we also had a few strips of bacon chopped up as well. Add some canned olives and mushrooms, and we had a monster pizza! It was really good!

Goulash

We were out and about yesterday and so I made dinner in a bit of a rush. We ended up having goulash and some yummy seasoned cheese bread. I didn't think I would want noodles or anything, but in the end it was a great dinner. Here are my last minute creations.

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups elbow macaroni
approx. 15 oz. tomato sauce
approx. 3 oz. tomato paste
1 - 1/2 tsp basil, oregano, parsley, garlic powder, onion powder

This recipe is adjusted because I used half a can of tomato sauce and half a can of tomato paste in an other recipe. Just use the can size that is closest to those amounts. Boil the noodles and drain. Add the tomato sauce ingredients and heat thoroughly. Combine sauce with noodles and serve warm.

If you're feeling adventurous, you can add 1/4 cup of flax seed to this for added fiber.

Pizza!

Oh yes. Yesterday was mom's night out, so that also equals pizza night. Last night's pizza ended up being some firsts for us too, which was fun. I used this simple pizza dough recipe:

Ingredients

1 package yeast
2 ¾ cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 cup warm water
1 ½ tbsp olive oil

Dissolve yeast in water, add oil. Mix flour and salt; add yeast mixture. Mix till well blended. Kneed about 10 minutes. Place dough in greased bowl. Cover and let rise until double in size, about 2 hours. Punch down. Shape crust. Bake at 500 for 12 minutes.

I like to put a layer of shortening on my pizza pan and then sprinkle corn meal on it. This keeps the crust from burning and sticking.

My husband thinks it's totally sketchy and scary that it bakes at 500, but it only takes 12 minutes versus 20-30, and the crust doesn't burn! You just have to watch out for steam when you open the oven door.
 

I like to use part wheat flour, part white flour. I couldn't remember the ratio I used to use because it has been a long time, so I used 1 1/2 cups white flour and 1 1/4 cup wheat flour. It's a little wheaty, but we didn't mind it too much. I also like to pre-bake the dough about 8 minutes, then add the toppings and bake for a remaining 4-5 minutes.

This pizza was pretty plain for our standards. Had I not been rushed, it probably would've been a super supreme pizza with pepperoni, canadian bacon, mushrooms, olives, pineapple, and green or red peppers. Maybe even some onion. But I was rushed, so we got what was already prepared to go on the pizza.

The other surprise with pizza last night was I didn't have any pre-prepared pizza sauce! I was not happy when I realized this. So I went online and looked up homemade pizza sauce, hoping to find something I had ingredients for.  This is the recipe I ended up using:

Ingredients

2 cloves fresh garlic
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon sugar (reduces acidity)
1-16 ounce can of tomato sauce
1/2 of a 6-ounce can of tomato paste
2 tablespoons olive oil
salt to taste

Mince the 2 large cloves of fresh garlic. Saute the garlic in 2 tablespoons of olive oil (until lightly brown) Add the tomato sauce and paste and all the ingredients. Stir and heat until the sauce comes to a boil and then put a lid on your pot and turn it off. Let your pizza sauce cool and it is ready to use.

Since this recipe is more or less exactly what I do for spaghetti sauce (minus the ground beef of course) I added a few ingredients from another recipe I wanted to use but didn't have all the stuff for. I added Italian seasoning and pepper flakes. The pepper flakes gave it a real kick. We liked it.  And as usual, I added a bit more seasoning than it called for (except for salt. I didn't add any).  I would also recommend adding about 1/4 cup of flax seed to this recipe. It won't change the taste but it will give you a good dose of fiber!