Easy, healthy pasta for a week night quick dinner.

Are you looking for a quick nutritious dinner in a hurry?
You'll need a jar of marinara sauce or your favorite pasta sauce.  Frozen meat balls or any meat you have.. Any type of dry whole grain pasta. Any vegetables you have on hand in your fridge.  Some cheese and off you go.

I chopped up 1 onion, 1 red bell pepper and some mushrooms. 

 Saute them in a large skillet in some olive oil,  until tender.

 Toss in a bag of baby spinach or any green vegetable, like broccoli or zucchini.  I just wilted the spinach very quickly.

 Add the jar of marinara sauce

 Meanwhile I had boiled a large pot of water and cooked the pasta for 10 mins. And drained.

These are my home made, pre cooked, meat balls that I had in the freezer to spare.  They were thawed in the microwave.

 Mix it all together in a baking dish. Heat the oven to 350 oF.

 Top with cheese.  I had freshly grated parmigiana, but mozzarella would be great also.

Bake for about 15 - 30 mins until heated through and cheese melts.  And serve.
If you don't want to melt the cheese, and the meat balls are already hot, then you can serve immediately and skip the time in the oven.  Should be plenty for 4 - 6 people. 

You could make this with ground beef, sausage, or any left over cooked chicken.
The variations are endless.  The idea is to look into your fridge and just use what you have.

Blogging from Mexico this time

HAM AND BEANS

I'm enjoying myself this week.  (Someone else is cooking for me).  I'm teaching in Bible School in Rosarito Mexico.  So I'm expecting lots of beans to eat and plenty of rice and tortillas too.

Before I left my home in California I cooked up a pot of Ham and Beans for my husband.  This is a recipe his Mom made for him, all throughout his childhood in Illinois..  We had bought a ham on sale right before Easter. I had carved most of it up and frozen it for a later date.  But here's what we did with the ham bone, which still had lots of meat on it.  I soaked 2 cups of great northern beans overnight in 6 cups of water.  Drained the  water in the morning and added 6 new cups of water.  Added the ham bone, a couple of bay leaves, one onion and simmered it all for an hour and a half.  And there you have it.  It didn't need any extra salt.  Oh so yummy comfort food.  I think I'm in that  kind of mood with the weird rainy weather we've had.

Chicken and Dumplings for a rainy day

Chicken and Dumplings is probably one of those comfort foods that remind you of your grandmother.  John (my husband) grew up in the Midwest USA and his Mom used to make a version of this for him.  My recipe is quite different to hers, in that my dumplings are light and fluffy and hers were more like a rolled noodle.  Also, I include lots of vegetables like you'd find in a chicken pot pie.

Today, is a rainy day complete with thunder and lightening......that's pretty rare for Los Angeles, so it inspired me to cook up some yummy comfort food for my husband. 

 Here's the view from my office window.

CHICKEN AND DUMPLINGS
1 whole chicken
1 onion for the stock and 1 onion for the soup
8 cloves of garlic for the stock
2 carrots for the stock
and 2 carrots for the soup
bunch of celery tops for the stock, and 2 celery stalks for the  soup
1/2 bag of frozen peas for the soup
1/4 c parsley, chopped
salt and pepper
6 - 8 c water

Start by boiling the chicken, carrots, onion, carrot, celery tops, garlic and water, for the stock. Reduce temperature to simmer  once the liquid starts to boil, add salt and pepper and cook for one hour.
Turn off the heat and remove the chicken to a large plate to cool.  Then once you can handle touching the chicken, remove and discard the skin and bones.
I used an immersion blender to puree the cooked vegetables and combine them with the stock.

 Now to the pot add the additional two carrots, two celery stalks, one onion chopped and bring back up to a simmer for about 10 mins. 

 The chicken should be ready to add back in.

Along with the frozen peas and parsley

 Bring back up to a simmer

Now prepare the dumplings:
1 c flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 c milk
1 egg
2 Tbsp oil
1/4 c chopped parsley
Mix all together in a bowl until just moistened. It will look very wet. Drop by spoon fulls into simmering stew and cover for 10 mins.  (Don't remove the lid)  Make sure the temperature is on low, and it won't burn.

This made enough for about 4 - 6 people.

Moroccan Burgers

MOROCCAN BURGERS

This is a yummy recipe that I've tried before with ground lamb, but today I did it will ground beef.  It was so good!  Moroccan cuisine is pretty new to me.  I guess its a combination of sweet and spicy that makes it so good.  This version is pretty mellow in flavor.  You may want to double the spices to give it more punch. 

You'll need:
1 lb Ground Beef ( lamb, turkey, pork or chicken would work as well)
1/3 dried apricots, chopped  (or1/3 c apricot jam)
2 Tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp coriander
 (sweet chili sauce  or hot pepper jelly for topping)

Assemble all your spices and mix with the ground meat.

 Form into patties or meat balls.

Grill for 5 mins on each side.

Serve on hamburger buns or alone with a side.

Top with sweet chili sauce or hot pepper jelly

Now for the recipe for the side dish of green beans, onions and tomatoes.
You'll need:
1 onion
bunch of fresh or frozen green beans
2 tomatoes or can of chopped tomatoes
salt and pepper
butter and olive oil

 

Start by slicing the onion and frying it in a little oil and butter

 Let them cook for about 5 mins on a medium heat, turning frequently until a nice caramel color.

Meanwhile snap the ends off the fresh green beans, and blanch them in boiling water, then add to the  frying pan with the onions, and stir fry for about 3 mins.  Add the salt and pepper

 Next add the canned tomatoes and heat through, or the fresh tomatoes until just warmed. Then serve.

You can add fresh garlic, or garlic powder to the beans as well.  Balsamic vinegar would go well with it also.

Easter Morning Breakfast

Easter morning breakfast.
                                            Parsnip, zucchini, carrot Frittata
                                                                   and Bacon, cheese, scallion scones.

To make this yummy Frittata you'll need:

1 Zucchini, washed and  grated
1 Carrot, peeled and grated
1 Parsnip, peeled and grated
2 green onions, chopped
Olive oil to coat the pan
2 - 3 eggs
1/3 c cheese grated
1 Tbsp flour
2 Tbsp Parsley, chopped
Salt and Pepper

In a frying pan, saute the vegetables until tender.  About 5 mins.
 Meanwhile Preheat the oven to 350 oF
In a shallow greased, baking pan, spread the cooled vegetables to cover the bottom of the pan.
Cover with 1/3 c of grated cheese (I used Gruyere)
In a bowl mix 2 - 3 eggs & 2 Tbsp flour.
 Pour the egg mixture over the vegetables and cheese.  Top with 2 Tbsp of chopped parsley.

 Bake for 12 mins.  Cool and serve in squares.

Using the same recipe for Cheese Scones in a previous post, I just substituted 1 cup of whole wheat flour for white flour, and added 1 green onion chopped, and 1/3 cup of crumbled bacon pieces, and used Gruyere cheese instead of sharp cheddar.  These were so good.  I froze the leftovers and am eating them for breakfast for the next few days.

 Easter morning breakfast.  Parsnip, zucchini, carrot Frittata and Bacon, cheese, scallion scones.

 Parsnips are delicious, yet rarely eaten vegetable. They are sweet and have a flavor all their own.  They go really well with their cousin, carrots.  I have always loved  boiled carrots and parsnips mashed together and served with salt and butter.  Mmmmm Yummm!!!  So that's the secret ingredient of the day on my blog.  Give parsnips a try.  You'll be so happy you did.

In my previous post I served parsnips, roasted.  That really brings their flavor to a whole new level.

Roast Lamb

ROAST LAMB 

Roast Lamb represents so many  great memories for me, of my childhood,  growing up in New Zealand.   It was the classic Sunday dinner after church.  My Mom would throw it in the oven and it would be all ready by the time we got home.  We'd always invite a few extra people home with us, to share the meal.  So for me this is the ultimate comfort food.  Nowadays the only time we eat it is Christmas and Easter, because its so expensive.  So I savor these special occasions, as it brings back so many great memories.  These days I'm the one cooking the roast and my parents are the guests at my table.

Roasting anything is always an easy way to make great food for guests with hardly any effort.  You aren't rushing around at the last... all the prep is done in advance and you just carve and serve. Roasting the vegetables along with the meat saves heaps of time as well.  And they taste so good!

Here's what you'll need:

 One  3 - 6 lb leg of lamb (with bone or without bone)
 5 garlic cloves, minced
1 Tbsp  Fresh rosemary leaves chopped
1 Tbsp Fresh Thyme leaves chopped
1 lemon, juiced
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp Salt and  1 tsp pepper

Preheat the oven to 500 oF
Get a large roasting pan and put a wire rack in the bottom
Mix the garlic, rosemary, thyme, lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper in a small bowl.  Then massage into the outside of the roast. 
Place the roast on the rack in the roasting pan. Sprinkle additional salt on the fat.
Cook for 15 mins in the oven on 500 oF, then lower temperature to 400 oF and cook for 45 mins more, then lower temperature to 325 oF and cook for 1 hour more, until meat is done and juices are no longer blood red. 

 I put peeled carrots, parsnips and onion around the meat. And roasted purple potatoes, yams and sweet potatoes in a separate pan with some olive oil and salt.

Remove the roast from the pan and let rest, covered for about 20 mins, before carving.
To make the gravy......Get some of the grease out of the roasting pan with a paper towel, then add
wine and chicken stock to the roasting pan, placed over a burner, and stir and loosen all the crunchy drippings.  Add a slurry of corn starch and water to thicken, stirring until just boiling with a wire whisk. 

 Traditionally, we serve it with mint sauce and gravy, and have peas as the green vegetable.

Thai Fried Rice

THAI FRIED RICE

I want to pay homage to my dear Thai friend and mentor Senuan (See – new- wan) who passed away quite a few years ago.  She lived with us for three years, and she’s the one who taught me everything I know about Thai cooking.  She also helped me learn to speak the Thai language…. because at that time she couldn’t speak any English. We were living in a town called Phanat Nikom, two  hours drive, south of Bangkok.  We were volunteering in a refugee camp for Cambodian, Vietnamese and Lao. We had about 12 others with us, and our team grew to 25 over the years. During those years I did my best to recreate meals for our fellow team members that would remind them of home.   So, I learned to make bread, mayonnaise, yogurt, pickles, jam, tortillas and many other familiar things.  There was no supermarket, just an open market with meat hanging on hooks. No beef, just water buffalo (don’t get me started), whole river fish, pork and whole chickens (with the head and feet still on). Vegetables that I’d never seen before, and plenty of mangos in April and Pineapple all year round.

However Thai cuisine, in my opinion, is the best flavored food in the world… right up there with Mexican food and Italian.   The first day we arrived in Thailand was Christmas day, 1979.  Our meal was Kao Phad (that’s Thai for Fried Rice).  We bought it from a street vendor.  It was delicious, and became our main stay for lunch through the years we lived there.  Bread was very hard to come by, so sandwiches were a rare thing.  If you’ve only ever had take out Fried Rice from an American/Chinese restaurant, you’re missing out.  Here’s what we became addicted to, and have never liked Fried Rice any other way since.  The secret to Thai cooking is something sweet, sour, salty and spicy. 

Start by steaming some Jasmine rice.  I used Jasmine brown rice, from Trader Joes.  I cup of rice yields about 3 cups cooked rice.  Takes 45 mins to cook.  Its key to have warm or hot rice.  If you have leftover rice, reheat it in the microwave first.

Next wisk 2 eggs and fry in a little oil like an omelet.  Turn onto a plate and cut into small chunks.



I had some leftover cooked pork that I cubed, you can use shrimp, chicken, tofu or beef as well.

You'll need some Fish sauce (Nam-Pla), 2 Tbsp sugar, and 1 generous tsp of chopped garlic.

Next cut up an onion in half moons, some carrots and whatever other vegetables you like. I happened to have some pea pods.











  The rice should be ready to go .

Heat up some oil in a wok and start frying the onion for about 2 minutes before adding the other vegetables.

 Now add the carrots, pea pods and garlic and cook until bright in color.

Now its time to add the eggs, meat,  2 Tbsp fish sauce and 2 Tbsp sugar.

 Mix all together and take off the heat.

 Put in a serving dish and garnish with cilantro, green onions, cucumber slices and fresh lemon juice.

                                     

Feel free to add hot spicy peppers to this.  That's something the Thai people can't live without.

THAI FRIED RICE

3- 4 cups cooked  Jasmine  (brown or white) rice

2 eggs, mixed and fried

1 - 2 cups of cooked pork, chicken, shrimp, beef, or tofu

1 onion, sliced into half moons

oil

1 tsp garlic chopped

carrots, pea pods or any other vegetable

 2 Tbsp fish sauce (nam pla)

2 Tbsp sugar

lemon

cilantro

cucumber

green onion

hot peppers

 Again, you don't even need a wok if you use hot rice.  Just fry up the eggs, meat and vegatables, and combine with the hot rice.  You won't need to use that much oil.  The secret to making this taste really Thai, is the sugar, fish sauce and lemon.  Don't even think about using soy sauce!!!!

Let me know how it goes for you.  I've made all kinds of variations of this recipe over the years.
You can add curry powder, pineapple, cranberries, pecans, tomatoes..........the ideas are limitless.
Have fun!!!