Pasta and sausage in spicy cream sauce

This is an easy weeknight pasta you can do with leftover sausage... or even chicken or probably fish too. I'd previously made beer brats and since the package comes with 5 sausages, and my fiancee and I typically only eat 3 between us, I made up this pasta to use up the rest of the sausages. 

Ingredients:

2 cooked sausages (I used Beer Brats), chopped

1/2 fresh tomato, chopped

1 large or 2 small jalapenos, chopped

3/4 box Tri-Color Penne pasta (about 8 or 9 oz)

3/4 cup of heavy cream, or half and half

1 tablespoon Old Bay Seasoning

Salt to taste

Directions:

Cook pasta in salted, boiling water till tender. Drain.

In a  hot skillet, add a bit of butter or olive oil and fry the jalapeno and tomato for a few minutes. Add in the sausage, fry a few minutes in the pan to get a bit crispy on the edges. 

Stir in the pasta, cream and seasoning. Simmer on medium heat 5 more minutes. Pasta should absorb a lot of the cream but should leave a bit of sauce in the pan too. 

Taste and add salt if needed.

Baby's Breakfast

Served in a Hello Kitty bento side container, with apple slices.

 

That WTH is this face.

Today I discovered two things. 1. You can feed babies Cream of Wheat! and 2. My son hates it. 
Which, in hindsight, were both kind of obvious things. Then, I got smart and added a little Strawberry Jam and he couldn't get enough! 
Here is a simple, microwave method to make this yummy cereal, including add in's suggested by my friends.

Ingredients:

(baby-sized serving)

2 tablespoons Cream of Wheat (found in the cereal asile)

3/4 cup milk

Directions: Combine ingredients in a (baby sized) microwavable bowl. Microwave for 30 seconds, stir, microwave 30 more seconds, stir... until it gets as solid as you like. I like mine the consistency of oatmeal, but some prefer it more liquidy, like porridge.

Add-ins:

Try one or a combination of these

1-2 teaspoons of sugar

1-2 teaspoons of butter

1-2 teaspoons of your favorite jam or jelly

dash of vanilla

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tablespoon cream (or your favorite flavored coffee creamer)

1 tablespoon of hot cocoa

1 squirt of chocolate syrup

Whiskey Spiked Banana Bread

What to do with super ripe bananas? Well obviously banana bread.
Tastes better every day. And it makes amazing French toast.

I tried to find a good recipe where I can use what I had on hand. I usually do something with sour cream, to make that lovely creamy, tenderness. To my surprise, I found this recipe just as good, if not better. And I didnt have to go to the store!

This one is based off of Jacked-up Banana Bread from Smitten Kitchen but I used whiskey instead of rum.

Whiskey Spiked Banana Bread

Ingredients:
3 ripe bananas
1/3 cup salted, sweetcream butter, room temperature (or microwave 10 seconds)
3/4 cupbrown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon mexican vanilla
1 tablespoon (ish) Jameson Whiskey
1 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 1/2 cups flour

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350.
In a stand mixer (or in a bowl), quickly beat together banana and butter until mixed but chunky.
Add in remaining ingredients, except flour, mix.
Fold in flour.
Batter should have chunks of banana and butter and other ooey goodness.
Pour batter into prepared pan (I line mine with parchment for easy removal), bake for 1 hour or until knife or toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Tips:
Add in toasted walnuts and/or chocolate chips.

Yummy Ramen

There's so many ways to make ramen dishes. This is the one I use pretty often at home, though sometimes I'll change it up and add kimchee or do a fried egg instead of soft boiled or whatever seems good at the time. Oh, and bacon. 

Ingredients: 

1 package dried ramen, chicken flavor 
2 eggs 
furikake (japanese rice seasoning) 
sriracha (rooster sauce, or chili sauce) 
1 slice american sandwich cheese (dont knock it till ya try it!) 


 Directions:
 Bring water to boil in a small pot, add in noodles and crack in eggs.
 Gently stir the noodles to avoid popping the egg yolks. 
Let cook until noodles are soft and eggs are softboiled. Alternately, pop the yolks and stir gently to scramble it into the noodles. 
In a bowl, sprinkle in the chicken flavor seasoning.
 Add noodles and egg. 
Add in as much water as you like in your ramen.
 Top with furikake, sriracha and a slice of cheese (in that order, so the cheese melts on top). Eat!

Simple cucumber salad

There are probably millions of different combinations of pickle type recipes. It's all up to personal taste and what you have on hand.
This one is so simple and refreshing. It's tangy and spicy with a hint of sweet.  I like to add jalapeño peppers. You could use onion and garlic for a more savory flavor.

Ingredients:
1 cucumber, peeled and sliced
1 small jalapeño, chopped
(Remove pith and seeds for less heat, optional)
4 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
3 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon sugar

Mix everything together in a small container with lid. Shake. Refrigerate at least an hour. Keeps for weeks.

Serve as a side dish or in a sandwich or as topping for a salad.

Carrot Noodles

Thats right! Embrace the weirdness, this is happening. 

Most everyone i know enjoys carrots cooked in honey. A wonderful side dish! This is pretty much the same, only you shave the carrot in strips with a vegetable peeler. (Or be fancy and use a mandolin)

Pile the strips into a saucepan, add 2-3 tablespoons of honey and 2-3 tablespoons of water.

Cook on low, stirring occasionally to coat, until carrots are limp and noodly, 3-5 min. Add a pinch of salt (or two-three turns of the salt grinder). 

Serve warm.

Gorgeous! 

-———————

There are probably loads of different ways to use strips of carrot. Two come to mind:

Use as "noodles". Cook them in milk instead of honey (gets rid of the bitter carrotty flavor), drain. Pour a tomato or cream based sauce over. Yum! Vegan/vegetarian.

Alternately, you could spray oil on (sprinkle a little salt) and roast them in the oven to make carrot "chips" or "fries". 

Buffalo Chicken!!!

This one's easy. Just toss the chicken pieces (drumsticks, here; great with any cut of chicken) with 2-3 tablespoons of the seasoning in a gallon size ziplock baggie. Shake to thoroughly coat. 

Bake in 350 degree F oven for 30-45 min till nicely browned and done in the middle.

 OR let "marinate" in the baggie in your fridge up to 24 hours, until ready to cook. Sure, you could freeze them too, just make sure to thaw before cooking.

Whip up some sides and you got dinner!

I used Buffalo Wild Wings' Buffalo Rub (pictured above) It was about $5, bought at the restaurant. 

Single-Serving Packets of Joy

Freezer cooking. Its all the rage these days with home cooks. Something restaurants have been doing instinctively for years. Nonetheless, its a fantastic way to eat cheaply, healthy and most importantly EASY.

This post is about tonights venture with freezer cooking. I made two simple types of meals: marinated meat and steam packets. 

For the meat- i literally poured half a bottle of salad dressing (italian or soy sesame vinegarettes) in a gallon size ziplock freezer bag along with a couple of  chicken thigh quarters. Thaw and Bake these at 350 in the oven for 40-45 minutes. Or dump frozen in a slow cooker for 4-6 hours on low. Add some sides and you got dinner for two.

Each of these is two portions of chicken.

I also did some good-ol steam packets. Not a new concept but one that doesn't seem to be used by the home chef all that much. Don't know why, it's super simple! 

Step 1: Make a square of foil big enough for your ingredients. I did about a 12x10piece  of foil, for one serving. Place on 1 serving of chicken. My coupon friend and i went shopping today and she introduced me to an insanely good deal on chicken breast. Its thin cut, but the price per pound was cheaper then even buying whole breast! I'm in awe of this lady's money saving skills!

Anyway...uhhh tangent. Do this with fish too! Its marvelous! 

Step 2: Add frozen veg and seasoning. U can use fresh veg too, here, its all getting frozen anyway. I used a big handful of frozen California Blend that i got at walmart for like 7-8$. I had a Mediterranean seasoning blend that i sprinkled over all. Whatever you have is good though any kind of seasoning blend or, if you want to be fancy, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, parsley, basil, thyme, oregano, mustard powder... I think thats whats all in the one I used. 

Two 1/2" ish pieces of butter... Because.. Butter! Yeesss you can use olive oil too, you yuppies!! 

Step 3: Fold... Freeze. I fold mine like a (badly) wrapped present. Doesn't matter how you fold it, so long as you make sure the juices stay in the packet. Placing in a gallon size ziplock baggie makes em last longer jn the freezer, keeps it from getting burn. Highly advise doing this unless you know youre using it in the next day or two.

Step 4: Cook.  Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes, until chicken is cooked through. 

If youre doing fish, pop it in the 350 degree oven for 25-30 min till fish is opaque and flakes easily with fork.

Serve with rice or garlic bread, or try slicing it and serving with pasta+some fancy cheese. Nom. 

Fish Dinner

 

 Fish Dinner

When I want to make something quick and light, I typically turn to salad or fish. Tonight, it's fish! The whole dinner probably takes about 30 minutes from start to finish, including thawing the fish.

Actually, it takes longer to get the 5-year-old to eat her veggies than it does to prepare this!

 

 Served 2 and a half 

(2 Adults, 1 5-year-old)

Ingredients 

5 peices of Tilapia, thawed* (or fresh, if you're lucky enough to get a hold of it)

2 cups frozen mixed vegetables (I used California Blend) 

1-2 tsp Goya's Sazonador Total seasoning blend

2 tablespoons butter

1 tsp olive oil

1 loaf of french bread, sliced in half

2-4 cloves of garlic, chopped or minced

1 tablespoon chopped parsely

1/4 cup butter

Place frozen veggies in a small skillet over medium heat, add 1 tsp Goya seasoning and 1 tbsp butter. Cover and cook about 10 minutes, till veggies are soft and water is cooked off.

Meanwhile, heat a nonstick skillet to medium/medium-high, heat 1 tbsp butter with the olive oil until hot enough to sizzle when you add a drop of water. Add fish, sprinkle Goya seasoning over. Cook about 5-7 minutes per side, until fish is opaque and flakes easily with a fork, and gets little crispy bits on the edges (thats my fav part!). 

Mix 1/4 cup butter with garlic and parsley, spread over bread halves. Place under hot broiler for 5 or 6 minutes until bread crisps and butter melts. Watch closely, it burns fast! Slice as soon as its cool enough to handle. 

Serve fish, veggies and bread all together, family style. <3 Nom.

*To thaw the fish, simply plug your sink and fill about 1/4 way with room temperature tap water. Add the fish packets in. It'll be thawed in less than 10 minutes.  You could also do this in a large bowl or container.

Adventures in Pasta!!

I'm really excited about this!! I've been wanting to experiment with pasta for quite a while now - lets just say being a proficient pasta-maker is on my bucket list. I can see myself at the farmers market with bags of home made pastas in simple, elegant flavors, ready for customers to gobble them up... someday! For now, I must put on my science goggles and get down to the task of mastering pasta.

For Christmas, my fiancee bought me a 5qt Kitchenaid Mixer... I will likely make an entire post, later, harping on the awesomeness that is Kitchenaid. For now, I'll just throw out that other mixers really don't stand a chance, when it comes to home use. And its awesome. And its PINK!! :) I love you, Jeremy!

Right, so: Pasta... As it turns out, the stuff is pretty foolproof. You really don't need any special ingredients, being a food item with very rustic basics, you can use whatever you have on hand. 

For the last several days, I've been planning my debut into the world of pasta, looking for decent looking recipes. I shouldn't be surprised that the best one I've found so far has been from Mario Batalli. Good old Mario <3 He is my Italian hero.
This recipe has but two ingredients. It makes a pasta that is chewy and rich, since its just flour and egg. And did I mention you can't screw it up?

Mario's Basic Pasta
makes about 4 servings
 
Ingredients:
3 or 4 eggs
1.5 cups of all-purpose flour (or 10 oz)

1. Dump everything into your (fancy-schmancy-awesome) Kitchenaid mixer, starting with 3 eggs. If it looks dry after you start to mix, add the fourth yolk. If still dry, add the white also. I only used 3 eggs.
(Click here for by hand instructions).
2. Mix everything together until combined, then attach the Dough Hook and mix on medium speed for 15-20 minutes. Cover with plastic wrap, let it sit for 30 minutes.
Tip: I use a large plastic ziplock bag to cover my dough - cut one side and across the bottom to open it up. I can wash it over and over, and it saves me on plastic wrap. 
3. Roll out with your (fancy-schmancy-awesome) Kitchenaid pasta rolling set.
 I used the wide pasta setting to make a fettuccine type noodle. (see picture below)

To cook fresh pasta: drop into salted, boiling, water. Cook 1-2 minutes until tender. Top with your favorite sauce.  

Here are two of my favorite, simple, pasta sauces. They take minutes to make and are delicious!

Basic Tomato Sauce:
1 14.5oz can of diced or stewed tomatoes (with Basil, Garlic and Oregano)
- Open can, heat up, pour over pasta

Roasted Garlic and Olive Oil Sauce:
2-3 tablespoons of olive oil (+1tbsp butter, for richer sauce, optional)
3-4 cloves of garlic, chopped
- Heat oil in a skillet. Add garlic. Fry until garlic browns, 3-4 minutes. Pour over pasta.

I have no qualms mentioning that I am a bit of a food snob... So I recommend using freshly grated Parmesan, never that snowy mess that passes for Parmesan at cheap pizza joints (smells like old socks). Use fresh, quality, ingredients whenever possible, of course - especially since you are using very few ingredients, you want them to stand out on their own and say hello :)

Easy Pancit

If you know anything about Pancit, you know its pretty easy to make.So calling this Easy Pancit is almost redundant, but this is my delicious method!

Really Big Pot

Really Big Bowl

My secret method to this dish basically involves a Really Big Pot and a Really Big Bowl. Rice sticks cook very quickly, (you can soften them just with warm water alone), so boiling flavorful stock and then dumping everything together works well since everything cooks quickly. Just let it sit a few minutes until the noodles absorb the stock and, voila! Pancit!!

 Ingredients:
4 cups water
4 bullion cubes (or omit the water and use chicken stock)
4 boneless skinless chicken thighs, sliced thin
1/2 bag of jumbo shrimp (optional)
1/2 package of rice sticks, torn in half
1/2 an onion, diced
4 or 5 cloves of garlic, chopped roughly
2-3 tablespoons soy sauce
1-2 teaspoons (a few glugs) of fish sauce
1 small bag of frozen stir fry veggies
1/3 of a small cabbage, shredded
2ish tablespoons of sesame oil (or vegetable oil)

Vegetarian: Just don't use chicken/shrimp, and use vegetable stock instead of chicken stock.



1. Make the stock: Heat a Really Big Pot on high with the 4 cups of water/stock. Add in half the onion, half the garlic, all of the sliced chicken, fish sauce and soy sauce. Let it boil while you prepare the veggies.

2. Cook the veggies: Heat a skillet on high (or if you're lucky enough to have a nice wok, heat that baby up), dump in the frozen veggies.
 Note: as soon as you add the frozen veggies to the pan, it will cool down considerably, thus a very hot pan is appropriate to keep veggies from getting soggy.
Once the veggies start to cook (are mostly-not-frozen anymore), add in sesame oil, cabbage and remaining garlic and onion. Stir fry the until they start to crisp or char just a tiny bit on the edges.
Remove veggies to Really Big Bowl.
 If you're using shrimp, go ahead and cook them real quick while the pan is still hot. I like to use a tablespoon or two of butter for flavor, but you can use oil or just a nonstick pan, too. It takes maybe two minutes per side, until they turn pink and curl up and get a nice crispy edge on them. Add those to the bowl.

3. Bringing it all together:  Add the dry rice sticks to the pot of hot liquid. Wait a minute or so, then carefully stir the noodles into the stock until they soften. Let cook for two or three minutes, stir often and dont let them stick to the bottom!
Here is the fun part. It can be a little messy so be careful (this is why we use a Really Big pot and bowl)... Dump everything in the Really Big Bowl and mix together with a couple of forks or chopsticks. The noodles may not mix very well with everything else, but be sure and stir it all thouroughly. The mixture will be a bit soupy.
Put a towel or something on the top of the bowl to cover and prevent all the heat escaping. Wait 5 or 10 minutes, then stir it all up once more before serving; the rice noodles will absorb all the tasty water and its ready to eat!

If you wanna be fancy, serve this with lemon wedges :)