Spaghetti Night...in 20 minutes!

Mondays are not fundays...can we just all agree on that? Today is the Monday following Spring Break which has made it even more of a challenge. We spent a week moving a a leisurely pace, caring less about bedtimes and schedules and more about fun. I liked it. The laid-back schedule fits me. I'm told I'd fit in well in Europe...anyone want to take me there? I'd like to go to Portugal or Italy or Greece or...well, I digress.

My point up there was that Monday nights are not usually the greatest cooking nights. We're tired and we're rushed and it's Monday for heaven's sake!!! So, tonight...comfort food in 20 minutes. It's spaghetti night in our household!

Here's the deal...I'm a spaghetti snob. My mom is a great cook and an Italian woman so I sort of have been spoiled when it comes to good tomato sauces in life. I remember as a kid harvesting tomatoes out of our massive vegetable garden and my mom stewing them to freeze them so she could use them for sauce throughout the year. Yum is really all I can say. As a result, I don't like jarred spaghetti sauces. They just don't taste that great to me. I'll occasionally use one and doctor the heck out of it with my spice cabinet, but it always leaves me wanting.

I have a great marinara recipe, Lindrusso's Magnificent Marinara - and I'll be sharing that soon when I make a huge batch - but it's a longer process than a Monday night allows. So, spaghetti in 20 minutes and not out of a Prego jar? Simple. Good. Healthy.

I start by browing ground beef. I use 91% lean grass-fed, antibiotic-free, hormone-free sirloin. We don't need extra hormones in this house, that's for sure! Plus, it tastes better.

Once it's browned, I drain it. Even though I use a leaner beef, I like to get the excess grease out where I can.

In the same pot I just browned the ground beef, I toss in diced onions, shortly followed by some chopped fresh tomatoes and garlic...you know the drill, cook until everthing is happy - maybe 5 minutes. By the way, you should start your pasta water at this point....it takes some time to get it to a good rolling boil.

I like to add my spices at this point. Y'all know I love Penzey's so it's no surprise that I use Penzey's Tuscan Sunset as my Italian seasoning of choice. It's salt free so you can salt to your taste instead of someone else's. =) I also add some crushed red pepper when the weeone's not looking...it's amazing how she only thinks foods are spicy if she SEES the spicy ingredients being added!

Next, 1 can of Muir Glen Organic Tomato Sauce (it's just pureed tomatoes really) and some tomato paste as well. Mix them up...

Then for that great depth of flavor that makes spaghetti sauce sing...add some red wine. I add about 1/2 - 3/4 cup. I use a reasonable table red - nothing fancy, but something I would drink.

You should have boiling water by now to add your pasta to and it just takes a few minutes to get that cooked through.

If you've got a weeone - spaghetti night MUST, I repeat MUST include garlic bread. We just use sandwich bread with butter and garlic powder and toss it under the broiler.

Voila! Dinner is served....in 20 minutes. Take THAT Rachel Ray! ;D

It's all because of the weeone...

Many posts could probably start out with that title, but this is most definitely accurate for this post. I haven't been cooking. There. I said it. We've been eating sandwiches and in restaurants and I've been generally very blah about food as of late. I guess we all get a moment, right? But today the weeone isn't feeling well. She's a bit under the weather, or she's hoodwinked us all again and just wants an evening tucked away in my bed watching tv and being doted on. Either are serious possibilities.

Anyway, when I arrived home from work her sad little eyes looked up at me and said, "Momma," yep, she calls me Momma and I hate it although secretly love it, "you haven't cooked for me in a long time. What's for dinner?". That's a guilt trip that will get you to do just about anything, right? So I busted out a soup recipe that I love. It's called Tomato-Tortilla soup, but I really think it's just a tomato soup that has some Mexican flair to it. It's yummy, quick and easy and despite the fact that it's not cold in H-town anymore, I'm making it.

So, like most good food, you start out with onion, garlic and cumin. =) Yep...my own version of the trinity!

Add in the chicken stock (by the way, I LOVE when you need exactly 4 cups of chicken stock. That's the exact amount that comes in a carton. I believe all soup recipes should be built around the inclusion of 4 cups of stock!), tomatoes, oregano, jalapeno and boil then simmer.

After all the work is done, you add some fresh lime juice, puree and voila! You've got a great tomato soup!

I got this new immersion blender for my birthday - thanks, Mom!- and I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it! It makes recipes like this a snap! If you're a soup fan and you don't have one....RUN, do not walk, and go invest a little $ into this little friend.

So...here's the final product...YUM!

Tomato-Tortilla Soup

by Ellie Krieger

Ingredients

• 2 (6-inch) corn tortillas
• 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon canola oil
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 small onion, chopped (about 1 cup)
• 3 cloves garlic, minced (about 1 tablespoon)
• 1 small jalapeno pepper, seeded and finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 3/4 teaspoon dried oregano
• 4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 2 (14.5-ounce) cans no salt added diced tomatoes. with juice
• 1/4 cup fresh lime juice
• 1/4 cup reduced-fat sour cream
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro leaves

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Brush both sides of each tortilla with oil, using 1 tablespoon of the oil. Cut the tortillas in half, then cut each half into 1/4-inch wide strips. Arrange the strips on a baking sheet, sprinkle with the salt, and bake until crisp and golden, about 12 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside.

Heat the remaining 1 teaspoons of oil in a large heavy skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until onion is soft and translucent. Add the garlic, jalapeno, cumin, and oregano and cook for 1 minute more. Add the broth and tomatoes, bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer for about 10 minutes. Stir in lime juice.

Remove the pan from the heat and puree with an immersion blender or in 2 batches in a regular blender until the soup lightens in color but chunks of tomato remain, about 30 seconds. Serve the soup topped with the tortilla strips, a dollop of sour cream, and a sprinkle of cilantro.

Per Serving:

Calories 270; Total Fat 10g (Sat Fat 2g, Mono Fat 3.5g, Poly Fat 2g); Protein 9g; Carb 36g; Fiber 4g; Cholesterol 8mg; Sodium 335mg

Some things bear repeating...

One of my favorite recipes is an Ellie Krieger recipe for Baked Shrimp with tomatoes and feta. I've posted it before, though it's been a long time. Last weekend when my parents had just come in from a very long drive back from Arizona, I thought I'd dust this one off and put it to good use over a bed of orzo. yum.

You do the the bulk of the cooking on the stovetop - the usual array of onions, garlic, tomatoes, etc. Then when you add the shrimp and feta, you pop it into the oven to finish it off. It can be served solo, but I found it to be especially good piled atop a bed of orzo.

Baked Shrimp with Tomatoes and Feta

Ellie Krieger, The Food You Crave

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 (14.5-ounce) cans of no-salt-added diced tomatoes, with their juices
1/4 cup finely minced fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 tablespoon finely minced fresh dill
1 tsp dried oregano
pinch of red pepper flakes
handful of kalamata olives
1 1/4 pounds medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2/3 cup crumbled feta cheese (about 3 ounces)

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Heat the oil in an oven proof skillet over a medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring, until softened, about 3 minutes, then add the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add the tomatoes and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and let simmer for about 5 minutes, until the tomato juices thicken.

Remove from the heat. Stir in the parsley, dill, dried oregano and shrimp and season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle the feta over the top. Bake until the shrimp are cooked through and cheese melts, about 12 minutes.

Serve with orzo or pasta.

The Pistachio Project

If there's one thing we love at house number 1211, it's pistachios. It's true. In this house, we can pound pistachios. Whether we're eating them already shelled or peeling while snacking during a game or during happy hour, pistachios disappear quickly in my house. The weeone loves them and she loves nothing more than to spend some quality time with Pap (my dad) eating pistachios. It's their bonding time.

So when I suggested to the weeone that we crust chicken nuggets with ground pistachios, her little eyes looked like saucers and joyful anticipation spread across her face along with her toothy grin. Game on.

So I ground some pistachios in the food processor. I contemplated adding some breadcrumbs or other filler, but decided I'd rather have a chicken nugget that was not fully coated than have one that was coated and subpar. Can't have subpar nuggets, you know.

Then two boneless skinless chicken breasts were cut into sizeable nuggets, dredged through egg and then rolled in the pistachio crumbs. I sprayed my favorite old baking stone with some Pam and tossed the nuggets on board. With the oven set to 425, I let them slide into the heat ready to bake like a high school girl on Spring Break. Do you remember those days? We would lay in the sun for HOURS...scorching ourselves silly. When I look 65 when I'm 45, remind me that it's my own darn fault!

Anyway, while the nuggets were baking, I sliced some grape tomatoes and set them aside, and boiled some angel hair pasta. I also melted some light butter, added a bit of 2% milk and cream cheese and Penzey's Brady Street Cheese Sprinkle to make a garlicky, cheese, yummy, albeit thin sauce. I'm a total sucker for Brady St...it's soooo good on soooo many things. I buy it by the truckload. I love it sprinkled on veggies, popcorn, just about anything really!

So, that's how this one dish dinner came to be. Some angel hair with halved grape tomatoes topped with a garlicky cheesy sauce and piled high with pistachio-crusted chicken nuggets.

The weeone and I thought we'd died and gone to heaven!

Pistachio Crusted Chicken Nuggets

1/2 cup pistachios, ground in the food processor

16 oz boneless skinless chicken breasts

1/2 cup egg substitute or egg whites or whole eggs

cooking spray

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Cut the chicken into sizeable nuggets. Dip each nugget into the eggs then roll in pistachios until covered. Place on a stone or baking sheet and bake for about 20 minutes or until cooked through, flipping half way.

Nutritional Info ( 4 oz serving )- Cal 211, Fat 8g (1g Sat, 2g Polyunsat, 3.3g Monounsat), Chol 55g, Sod 221mg, Potassium 150mg, Carb 4.2g, Fiber 1.5g, Sugar 1.5g, Pro 33.5g

If you need me....Try the cookbook section

It's true that I read a lot. A LOT. Since I got my Kindle I think I read even more. But the one kind of book that I won't turn to the Kindle for is a cookbook. I suppose that one day there will be a good electronic device to replace a cookbook, but so far, nothing beats the real thing. But the thing about cookbooks is that they're sort of addictive, at least for me. One is not enough. Ten is not enough. Heavens, I'm not sure how many I have, but it's certainly not enough!

Even though I love to buy, peruse, and collect cookbooks, I don't really use all of them for cooking. I suppose that I might turn to a particular one at a particular time...a seafood book for a seafood dinner, etc. Generally, though, I have 5 or 6 cookbooks that are my go-to books. They're by authors I trust and include flavors and ingredients that I generally like.

The cookbooks that I use on a regular basis share a few traits that makes them ideal for my cooking life. They all include healthy recipes using primarily fresh ingredients. The recipes are generally ones that are straightforward, use simple cooking methods and are not day-long projects. I like recipes that are easy to get on the dinner table in a short amount of time.

On any given given day you'll likely find one of these great cookbooks open on my kitchen counter while I'm sauteeing away at the stove - So check them out at your local library, bookstore or online...

Ellie Krieger, The Food You Crave

Ellie Krieger, So Easy

Baton Rouge, LA Junior League, River Road Recipes

Pam Anderson, The Perfect Recipe for Losing Weight & Eating Great

Rachel Ray, The Big Orange Book

A first recipe from the Steamy Kitchen -

I am a fan of the Steamy Kitchen website. Jaden Hair (@steamykitchen on Twitter) makes good food. She makes amazing food. The girl can cook. So when her cookbook, The Steamy Kitchen Cookbook, came out last year - I wanted it. In a big way. My mother happily obliged my want by gifting it to me at Christmas. I was ecstatic when I opened it. For those of you who don't know, I love cookbooks. Not just to cook from - I love to read them. I will lay in bed at night and read a cookbook as if it was John Grisham's latest novel. I know, I know, I'm odd. But I'm pretty sure we established that many, many posts ago.

So here's the thing - I swear that in another life I was Asian. I love Asian food of all kinds and am quite ambitious when trying new things. Don't ask me to try something in an Indian restaurant - I just won't. But in an Asian restaurant I'll try anything. So when I got the Steamy Kitchen Cookbook - I was excited. But I was also terrified. You see, I'm an okay cook. Give me a recipe and I can generally follow it. But every Asian recipe I've tried.....FAIL. Big time.

I.can't.cook.Asian.food.

I don't know why. Maybe it's stage fright? Maybe it's a self-fulfilling prophesy at this point. Whatever it is....it is. And now I had this new shiny, pretty cookbook and I was scared.

So it took me a little while to get the courage up to try anything. And when I finally decided last week to cook from it, I thought I should start with a simple thing. I should start with Fried Rice. So I did. And here's what happened....

So I like crustaceans, we know this, so the peel and devein shrimp thing was familiar territory and helped me get over my gametime nerves. Plus, I like the creepy slimy feel of raw shrimp. YES! I know I'm odd.

Cooking Shrimpfor Fried Rice - I can do this...I can do this...I can do this...I can do this....

Scrambling eggs? Okay...I'm getting into a groove now! What's so scary about cooking Asian food???

I didn't have leftover, refrigerated rice...uh oh. What if that is key? What if the trick is all about the leftover rice? What if fresh rice is a dealbreaker? I'm going to need a lot of Vodka if I'm going to cook my way through this book!

You put 'em all together and you shake it all around - that's what it's all about! Recipes that I can sing to are good. See, I told you I could do this! And you doubted me? Silly people.

Seeing is believing! Tasting is....well, believing! I did it! This was scrumptious! The weeone loved it, so did I. Not to mention, that I'm thoroughly impressed with my mad Asian cooking skillz now! cheers!

Perfect Shrimp Fried Rice Recipe

The Steamy Kitchen Cookbook

Serves 4

8 ounces small uncooked shrimp, shelled and deveined 1/4 teaspoon salt (or 1/2 tsp kosher salt) freshly ground black pepper 1/2 teaspoon cornstarch 2 tablespoons cooking oil (divided) 3 eggs, beaten in a small bowl 2 stalks scallion or green onion, minced 4 cups previously cooked leftover rice, grains separated well 3/4 cup frozen carrots and peas, defrosted 1 tablespoon soy sauce (use gluten-free soy sauce if you are making a gluten-free version) 1 teaspoon sesame oil

In a bowl, toss the shrimp with the salt, pepper and cornstarch. Let the shrimp marinate for 10 minutes at room temperature. Heat a wok or large sauté pan on high heat. When the pan is hot enough for a bead of water to instantly sizzle and evaporate, add only 1 tablespoon of the cooking oil and swirl to coat pan.

Now add the shrimp, quickly spreading out around the pan so that they are not overlapping. Let the shrimp fry, untouched for 30 seconds. Flip over and let the other side fry for 30 seconds, or until about 80% cooked through. Remove the shrimp from the pan onto a plate, leaving as much oil in the pan as possible.

Turn the heat to medium and let the pan heat up again. Pour in the eggs, stirring in a quick motion to break up and scramble the eggs. When the eggs are almost cooked through (they should still be slightly runny in the middle), dish out of the frying pan onto the same plate as the cooked shrimp.

Use a paper towel to wipe the same wok or sauté pan clean (no need to wash) and return to high heat with the remaining 1 tablespoon of cooking oil, swirling to coat. When the oil is very hot, add the green onions and stir fry until fragrant, about 15 seconds. Add in the rice and stir well to mix in the green onions throughout. Spread the rice all around the wok surface area and let the rice heat up, untouched until you hear the bottoms of the grains sizzle, about 1-2 minutes. Use the spatula to toss the rice, again spreading the rice out over the surface of wok or pan

Drizzle the soy sauce all around the rice and toss. Add the peas and carrots, the cooked eggs, shrimp and sesame oil, tossing to mix the rice evenly with all of the ingredients. Let everything heat back up again, until the rice grains are so hot they practically dance! Taste and add an additional 1 teaspoon of soy sauce if needed.

The Lost Art of the Menu -

I think that women used to plan out menus for the week. I think they made a menu and from that sprung a grocery list. And once they had a menu and list, they could make several different things for dinner each night. They had choices. I don't think this is a process that happens very often anymore. I don't think we plan menus - at least not most of my friends.

It seems that it's easier to go to the store and get the "regular" list of things....laundry detergent, peanut butter, grapes, milk, vodka...oh, wait, you can't get that at the grocery store! Anyway, you probably know exactly what I'm talking about. Then each afternoon there's a panic - "What shoudl I make for dinner?!?! What do I have to make for dinner?!?!" I did the very same thing.

When I started blogging about new recipes and food we liked, I got a bit more organized about menu planning AND grocery shopping. And guess what? I spend less money when I plan it all out in advance. Amazing, huh?

So, I thought I'd share what I do. When I first started menu planning I thought it would take forever and be a pain in the arse. However, what I've found is that even though I need 30 minutes to plan the week's menu and make the grocery list - it saves me the time hassle involved in the "what's for dinner" panic and saves me from falling back on eating out so much!

I have about 6 cookbooks that I like to find recipes from. You may prefer to find them online, or from magazines, or from blogs (which I think is a great source as well)! I sit down at the kitchen table with all the resources that I want to use and spend about 15 minutes flipping, turning, surfing - looking for 5 recipes. Once I find the 5, I write them on an index card that I put on my refrigerator - that way I have an easy list to refer to each day as to what I have the ingredients to make.

After I have my recipes, I make my list. I make my grocery list in my iPhone using the GroceryIQ app - it's fabu!- but you can make your list in whatever way you're comfortable, but I scan the recipes for dulplicate ingredients and list out everything I need to make my 5 meals (don't forget side items if you didn't put them on your menu). After the menu ingredients are on my list, I walk the house once to see what else I need (kitchen staples, bathroom stuff, snacks, lunch items for the weeone, etc) and I'm ready to hit the grocery store.

Now I have the list of dinner possibilities AND the ingredients all ready to simplify my weekday nights. It takes some time to get into the groove of menu planning, but I think you'll love it once you do it and hopefully it will make your life a little, itsy-bit easier during your chaotic week!