2 very good pastas

 this hasn't been the best summer for eating exciting foods - work kicked my ass in july, its been so so hot and smoky and funds are low, so there have been some fend for yourself nights, and lots of bits and pieces from the fridge and freezer nights.  but i did make 2 very good pastas lately, and here they are.

first is onion and bacon pasta - fry a package of bacon until crisp, and remove the bacon from the pan.  drain off most of the fat from the pan, then add 2-3 thinly sliced onions and cook slowly over medium-low heat until soft but not brown.  season with salt and pepper.  meanwhile cook some noodles!  when the pasta is  almost done, add a cup of chicken broth or pasta water to the onions and bring to a simmer.  when the pasta IS done, drain and add to the pan along with the bacon.  toss together, add some cheese and it's ready.

oh this zucchini pasta was so good.  i grated a couple of medium zucchinis and sauteed them in some olive oil until starting to slightly brown.  i stirred in a few minced garlic cloves and seasoned with salt and pepper.  when it was looking delicious i added a cup of broth - i used chicken - and let it simmer for a few minutes.  cook your pasta and drain, and add to the sauce.  add in some cheese and enjoy.

what i ate - pesto pasta with chicken and fresh tomatos

 

Sunday and Monday and Thursday dinners

 

We were reminiscing with The Grandpa one night about the Millarville farmers market just outside Calgary, that we went to regularly when we lived there, and I (of course) remembered the food concession that was run by the locals - coffee, pancakes and sausages, and back bacon on a bun sandwiches with fried onions.  It was so good.

We've made the sandwiches ourselves a number of times since we moved away, but the ones this Sunday were probably the best we've ever had.  The Mister made the onions and bacon and I'm pretty sure his secret was way more butter than I would ever use, but they were so dang good.

The next night to combat all that butter I made a healthy(ish) spinach and pasta dish - Creamy Spinach Orzo.  Easy and delicious - even the kids ate it without complaint!

Cooking every day is bloody exhausting, so we went simple for Thursday - beef stew in the crockpot.  This recipe is a winner every time.

mac and cheese

 We made a really good mac and cheese a while back, and when the craving hit us again a couple of weeks ago, wouldn't you know that of course we couldn't find the darn thing.

I did a fast internet search and settled on Baked Macaroni and Cheese from Trisha Yearwood.

 It's easy and uses basic ingredients so it could be a good weeknight supper, which it was for us.  I of course had to sample it before it went into the over to bake, and I would say that I think I liked it more unbaked - it was a bit more creamy.  Maybe some extra sauce would keep it creamy in the oven?  Will have to test that theory out.

cacio e pepe

 

Last week I reaaaaaaaaaaaaaally wanted to make my chicken tetrazzini recipe for dinner, but The Mister was kind of meh about it, so why bother going through all that trouble if he's going to be on the side of the kids and not be into what's for dinner?

But I still wanted pasta, and I'd recently changed my Featured Post to the very delicious Pasta with Butter and Myzithra cheese, so I thought I might make that.  But there was no myzithra at the store, so I bought some pecorino instead and made some lovely Cacio e Pepe.

Chrissy Teigen's Pad Thai Carbonara

 When I got the cookbook Cravings 2 a couple of years ago, the first recipe I wanted to try was the Pad Thai Carbonara, but I was sure my picky family would hate it, so I didn't make it.

And then when I cooked from it for Cookbook Cleanup, again I didn't make the Carbonara, even though I really wanted to.

And then I was just like, screw it!  I want to try this!  So I made it, and I loved it.

Humongous shocker - the kids refused to eat it, but The Mister and I quite enjoyed it.

If you look closely at the picture you can see the sauce is not too smooth - I think my heat was too high and I cooked the sauce a bit too long - I am paranoid about making sure raw eggs in sauces are fully cooked, even though I will eat handfuls of raw cookie dough that contains egg when I make cookies.  I can't explain it. 
 

Recipe from the internet - pad thai carbonara

bruschetta pasta salad

 

I mentioned how hot is was the last week of June, with a heat wave pushing us over 40'C every day.  It sucked!  We ate a lot of sandwiches that week.  I wanted to make a cold pasta salad and remembered a very very good pasta I'd made years ago with a no cook make ahead sauce, bruschetta pasta from 2000 and freaking SIX, when I did my ABC's of food posts.  This was from G is for Garlic!  

I thought briefly, a year or so ago, about doing another set of ABC's.....but it seems like a lot of work.  Too much work.  Or maybe not?  Maybe fun?  No.  Too much?  Hmmmmm....

ANYWAY this is a delicious and easy pasta dish, hot or cold.  You could really throw lots of different things in it; we added some chopped cucumber and bell pepper to it the next day when our fridge died and we trying to use up whatever we could before it went bad in the heat.

It's a lovely summer time dish, give it a try.

First a bunch of jumbled thoughts and then stuff I cooked last week

We are still here, still doing ok.  I hope you are too.

We started homeschooling this week, which is a lot of work.  For me.  More than I expected, and I did not find a good balance this week between doing my own work and dealing with the kids.

If I still drank, I would have had many many large drinks this week.

We don't get out for as many walks as I'd hoped, between me trying to get in a full days work at my desk in the basement and the quite uncooperative weather.  We had a beautiful weekend a few weekends back that made met think Spring had arrived, but since then Mother Nature has treated us to a long spell of cold temperatures, cloudy days, SO MUCH WIND, and then yesterday a full on snowstorm that deposited quite a bit of snow on our driveway. 

We ignored it, but it isn't melting and I feel like we are going to have to shovel but shoveling in April seems so wrong.

I am eating way too much food, especially early in the morning before anyone gets up.  I guess I am looking for comfort somewhere since there seems to be very little in the world right now.  I watch and read too much news and get myself upset and worried and head for the kitchen.  I'm putting on more weight which upsets me but at the same time I can't seem to muster up too much emotion to care.  I feel numb, I guess?  Every day I tell myself today is a new day but I fall into the same patterns as the days before.  Perhaps today will be different?

I just wrote out a post for the last book I finished reading - Untamed by Glennon Doyle, and one line I wrote is :

....I resurrect myself every day, in every moment that I allow myself to feel and become.  It's my daily reminder to let myself burn to ashes and rise, new.

So maybe today can be different.

Hmmmm, what else.  We've been watching a lot of movies lately, especially the Jumanji's - both the original with Robin Williams and the remake, and last night we watched the new one, the third one I guess it is.  I didn't get to hear or see a lot of it as the kids talk and fight and stand in front of me to stare at me, but what I did see what pretty cute and we laughed and I got teary at the end, and I'll have to watch it again to see what else I missed.

I have not been watching any shows for me lately - once I get The Girl to bed I try to stay away for a bit to do one last ill-advised scroll through the social medias before I get all bummed out and try to sleep, BUT 2 shows that I started and want to get back to are Anne With An E  - we tried to watch this with the kids but The Girl isn't old enough to be interested and it didn't have enough guns or action scenes for The Boy and Wynona Earp, which I started watching in February when I got a gross stomach bug and was awake all night so I watched a bunch of episodes all night and Tim Rozon is deeeeeeeelightful to listen to (and look at).

ANYHOW

I started following Ina Garten on Instagram last week and she posted a link to her Weeknight Bolognese sauce which I had all the ingredients for (except the wine) and it was very delicious and 3 out of 4 of us liked it and the little one ate all of her noodles that didn't have any sauce touching them.

I have not had rice balls since I posted this THIRTEEN YEARS AGO so it was time! 

I made leftover cheesy bacon rice croquettes with leftover ham instead of bacon and knew why I hadn't made them since having kids - neither kid liked them.  The Mister and I did, and they were super easy, but it might be another 13 years before I get to make them again.

 

We love Coolio's cookbook, and especially his banana bread, but this is the first time I've made it into muffins.  So good.  And peeking from the back there is Spicy Applesauce Cake from Homesick Texan.  It was AMAZING.  I omitted the chile powder and the nuts and everyone was crazy for it.  A good Sunday Dinner dessert.

Well, if you made it to the end of this your rewards are my thanks and all these delicious recipes you should try.  And also this thought that we should all keep with us today, and maybe all of the days - 

butternut squash orzo

I made this squash orzo risotto one Sunday last month and it was so delicious and pretty that I wanted to try to get a good photo - and the sun was so strong so I took the dish out to the back porch in the sunshine, snapped a couple of pictures that I didn't crop the rugs bits out of, and stood and enjoyed the warm February air.

Spring is almost here, and I can't wait!

Cajun Chicken Pasta

I needed a fast weeknight dinner and found it with this One Pot Cajun Chicken Pasta, and as an unexpected bonus, everyone liked it!

I used two vessels instead of one - don't tell! - a pot for the pasta and a pan to cook the chicken while the pasta was cooking to speed up the dish and get everyone where they needed to be after dinner.

It was fast and delicious and this will become a regular dish.

Recipe:  One-Pot Cajun Chicken Pasta

My Mom's Tomato Basil Pasta, for the first time in a long time

I bought some absolutely beautiful tomatos earlier this month at the farmers market; the kind that smell and taste like a tomato should, and make the best tomato sandwiches.

We got home at 5:00 on the first Friday of the school year and I had successfully avoided taking the easy route and picking up pizza or burgers - yay! - and stuck with my plan of a quick pasta dish.  I didn't want to do a jarred pasta sauce, and I was leaning towards just a butter and Parm topping when I spotted the tomatos on the counter.  At first I thought I would just chop some up and add them raw to my and The Mister's bowl of noodles, but then I thought why not?  and did a slightly different version of my Mom's Tomato Basil Pasta. 

 While my noodles were cooking, I melted a lump of butter - probably 2-3 TB - in a pan over medium low heat.  

When it was bubbling, I grated in 5 big cloves of garlic, and stirred them around.  

Before they started to brown, I added 3 tomatos, sliced thinly.  They were so nice and juicy that I omitted the stock and wine from my mom's recipe, and just let the tomatos cook down.  

Right before the pasta was ready I scooped out some of the pasta water from the pot and added about 1/2 a cup to the tomato sauce, and then stirred in some fresh basil, thinly sliced.

I drained the pasta, added it back to the pot, and then poured the sauce in and added a small handful of Parmesan cheese.  

I let it sit for a few minutes and then plated it up.

We ate our pasta with some fruit and raw veg on the side in the living room, watching Amazing Race Canada.  A perfect Friday night.

Creamy Baked Beefaroni

This was another easy to make ahead meal that I found in my newly organized binder of recipes.  I written many times before about all my notebooks and binders and at times boxes full of recipes I'd copied out of books, torn from magazines, been given by different people....When I was working on organizing my newly moved office area I sat down and went through the papers yet again, pulling out what I knew I would never use and trying to organize the keepers before sticking them all in a binder.  They all fit in one binder!  Now this does bring me a bit of satisfaction, but I also have a huge amount of recipes bookmarked on my computer and saved in Pinterest.  I guess I need to sort those out too.

Anywhoo - this Beefaroni is a homemade version of that beefy cheesy classic.  A bit more time consuming as it contains 2 sauces you make separately and then mix together, but it was so delicious so it was worth it.  This might not be the most appealing recipe in Summer, but save it - you'll want this in the cooler months.  Or soon, if Summer keeps rolling this way...

Recipe here - Creamy Baked Beefaroni

Skillet dinner

I hit a home run with this recent quick and easy dinner, and dinner prep that night was even quicker and easier because I made it in advance! 

I found a freezer bag with a half pound of ground pork and half pound of ground beef so I popped over to Pinterest to see what I could find, and quickly found a recipe 

for an Italian beef and rice recipe.

The recipe suggested pasta instead of rice to mix things up a bit and I had some small pasta shapes to use up, so I chose these sweet little stars.  I mean, come on!

Now, they are small and visually got lost in the dish, but that was ok because it was super awesome.

The grownups added a bit of heat to our bowls.  So good.

This is a recipe I will try again - with rice, a bigger pasta, some different veg - there are endless possibilites.  

Recipe here - Italian Beef Rice Skillet

Cajun Linguine

We've got some heavy stuff happening in our family right now and things are not smooth sailing. The days are long and busy and most nights it is late when I get home and everyone is waiting for me and dinner still has to be made before we can talk and catch up, and before you know it, it's time for bed and no one wants to go but me, because I am so damn tired all the time.....and it feels like I've only been home for 10 minutes and the day is over. 

 It's tough. It's draining. It fills me with mom-guilt.

 I continually struggle to find fast meals that everyone will eat - which is 

a nearly impossible challenge! 

We don't have a lot of fridge space, so I can't make much in advance. 

My preferred solution would be to order in each night, but my teeny 

bank account won't let that happen. 

I try to spend some time online on the weekend mornings looking for easy fast meals - and here is  the most delicious pasta I found on Pinterest - Cajun Linguine!

I went a little off recipe - used fresh garlic, chicken broth instead of wine,  subbed all half and half for the heavy cream/light cream combo, and eased up on the cajun spice for my weenie kids.

It was delicious and fast and comforting.  Exactly what I needed.

Things with tomatos

Our garden is complete crap this year, as usual.  It is wickedly hot here, very dry, and the smoke from the forest fires has kept us hidden inside for what feels like most of the summer.

We got a few thumb sized tomatos off our plant before it shriveled up into brown twigs, but nothing worth getting excited about.  My parents, on the other hand, are having a booming tomato crop.  We have been graciously helping them out to make sure none of them go to waste.

Here's some of the stuff we've made -

First, because it was one of the best - Avocado Feta Crack Dip which was wicked goooooood.  We ate it as a salad.  I could eat this every day and not get tired of it.  Our was too hideous to take a photo of it as I was not a gentle mixer, but it tasted damn fine.

 We also tried, as part of my cookbook purge on Instagram, Spaghetti Con Salsa Fresca from The Urban Vegan.  Big hit.

I have a few recipes written out from Move Over Santa, Ruby's Doin Christmas! by Ruby Ann Boxcar; and let me tell you that this is a really, really, REALLY good dish.  If only the price of bacon wasn't so ridiculous, I would buy more corn and bacon and make it again today.

Faye Faye's Fried Christmas Corn Dish Delight

altered slightly from Move Over, Santa - Ruby's Doin Christmas!

6 strips of bacon

1/2 small onion, diced finely

1/2 red bell pepper, chopped finely

kernels off of 6 ears of corn

1 large tomato, diced

salt

pepper

Chop bacon into small pieces and fry over medium heat until crisp.  Removed to a plate.  Add the onion and bell pepper to the bacon fat and cook until softened and just starting to brown.  Add the corn and tomato and cook until hot.  Season to taste.  Stir in the bacon and eat!

I am really considering trying the Soda Cracker Pie from the book- basically egg whites, sugar and cracker crumbs.  Has anyone tried it before!  Yes/no?

I made Gwyneth Paltrow's roasted salsa out of her last book It's All Easy.

Our oven is on the fritz so i nearly burned the veggies, but I just pulled off the worst bits and it was fine.  (As I wrote this I suddenly remembered that when I cooked some tomatos from another one of her books, I nearly burned them too.....whoa - 5 years ago!)

The Kids don't like spicy food much, so I left out the peppers.  It was good! 

This one was amazing too.   God, I love when tomatos are in season! We all loved this  

basil spaghetti with cheesy broiled tomatoes.

We are nowhere near done - I have an enormous tub of tomatos sitting on the counter, and there are more ripening in The Grandparents garden as we speak.  I need to find some more recipes asap.

One Pot Pasta

I'm falling back in love with one pot pasta dishes. Well, not that I ever fell OUT of love, but more that I forget how delicious they can be.

This one is even easier, as you use cheese tortellini, which need only a few moments to cook.  Yay!

Check out the recipe here. 

The recipe calls for using meatballs and I had planned to do it, but was running short 

on time, so I just cooked the ground beef as is.  And I liked it.  

The second time I made it I subbed in a jar of premade sauce and 

some water for the crushed tomatos. 

This is a super recipe that you can play around with, and with the cooler weather here (sad face) it makes a fast comforting meal.

Chicken Casserole

We had my parents over for Sunday dinner, and I was totally craving my Mom's chicken tetrazzini, but I was feeling a bit "meh" about cream of mushroom soup.  I know, what is up with that????

Anyhoo, I found the perfect solution in this creamy chicken spaghetti casserole.

It was super simple to make and the chopped up olives sounded - and were - so delicious.

A new family favorite for weekend dinners.

PS - my posts are embarrassingly short because I try to write when the kids are asleep or occupied.  Guess how often that lasts more than 5 minutes?

Winging it - Lasagne Rolls

I was trying to use up a bunch of leftovers we had after a family visit, but I just 

had little bits of this and that - some shredded roasted chicken, 

about a cup of pasta sauce, a few slices of Gruyere cheese - not 

really enough of everything to make much of a meal for us. I didn't want to have 

to crack open another jar of pasta sauce to make a full meal.
I was trying to get rid of all the leftovers, not add new ones quite yet.

 What about trying something new - lasagne rolls? 

 Could I stretch the ingredients out far enough? 

Yes.  Yes I could.

I chopped up the chicken and cheese and added some mozzarella and a baggie of frozen spinach.

The great thing about the frozen spinach in the baggies for a meal like this is, when you take the baggie out of the freezer, quickly - before the spinach starts to thaw - crush the baggie in your hands.

This will crumble the spinach into little shards so you won't have to chop it.

Then I boiled 6 lasagne noodles and ran them under cold water to cool them down.

 Next!  The pasta sauce wasn't going to go far enough so I thinned it with a few spoons of water 

and then spooned a thin layer in the bottom of a shallow baking dish.

I divided the chicken mixture between the noodles and spread it out to cover the whole noodle, then rolled them up and placed them seam side down in the baking dish.

The rest of the sauce was drizzled over the top, and then topped with a bit more shredded mozza.

I baked them at 350' for about 25 minutes, until the rolls were 

heated through and the cheese was melted.

We all really liked these - especially The Boy, shockingly enough.  He even requested 

the leftover roll be saved for his dinner the next night!  

Lasagne rolls were way easier than I expected them to be.  

The Mister is a big pasta fan, so we'll have to try some other variations soon.

Smackdown - Sneaky Mac n Cheese

Sneaky food is everywhere these days - avocado in chocolate mousse, prunes in cake, oats in smoothies, pureed veggies in EVERYTHING. 

And I have nothing against sneaky food, especially since my lovely child becomes more and more picky each day. 

Sneak away, my friends, sneak away. (Foodwise, that is. Behave yourselves!) 

Here's our 2 competitors 

Food Networks Mac n Cheese with secret ingredient cauliflower 

vs 

The Sweet Potato Chronicle's Sweet Potato Mac n Cheese

In the Food Network's corner is mac and cheese that was served as a side dish with bbq chicken in the Jan/Feb 2014 issue.  Cauliflower is cooked until soft in milk, then pureed, and cheese is stirred in.  Sauce done.  Add your cooked noodles, a splash of pasta cooking water, stir, and serve.

I enjoy Food Network magazine and have cooked some good dishes out of some issues.  Regardless of the outcome, I'll be adding this to my list of go to recipes.

Over in the SPC's corner is Sweet Potato Mac and Cheese.  This is a more traditional m&c - a traditional white sauce that has cheese and mashed sweet potato stirred in, and peas are added to the pasta cooking water for the final minutes of cooking.  

This book and I do not get along - I had a high number of iffy/failures from the book.  But this recipe produces a smooth and delicious mac and cheese, with bonus peas.

This was another toughie - these were both excellent recipes that I would make again and again.

The verdict?

Mac and cheese with cauliflower, from Food Network.

I love how simple but flavorful the sauce is - no roux, no flour - and the creaminess the cauliflower adds.  The sweet potato mac is also delicious, and also a must try.

Recipes

Food Network Mac and Cheese

Sweet Potato Chronicles Sweet Potato Mac and Cheese

Angel Hair Pasta with Peas and Bacon

I saw this recipe online in the late summer/early fall when Michael Symon's newest book was being promoted.

I love, love, love, peas and pasta together. Just a great combination. 

We tried out the recipe and I was very happy with the dish. 

My only quibble with the recipe is the measly cup of peas. Not enough!  I upped it by about half a cup, and next time will up it again.  But the flavors of the peas, bacon and mint were just terrific.

Recipe: Angel hair pasta with pancetta and peas