teacher by day - chef by night
Pasta: go to & quick and easy. There are so many ways to do pasta, but so often we find ourselves going to the same recipes. No no no – not this time! I pulled out my Pasta and Sauces cookbook from the Prevention Magazine’s Quick …
Stuffed Shells and Manicotti were not and Italian food that I grew up with (or had ever made before this year), probably because they are not as easy as most other pastas. With just a little bit of time (assemble the night before – the way you would lasagna) you can have the awesome flavors you want with the beautiful presentation you crave!
I have said it before & I will say it again… soup is one of those things that you can just play with and can’t really mess it up too badly! Pasta Fagioli is a soup that has beans, tomato, & pasta – but once you have those basics, you can pretty much play around to get what you like! We are currently experiencing Snow Day #3 in the past three weeks: so you probably have [most of] what you need to make this soup and enjoy it (maybe even by lunch!) This was the perfect (snow day #2) meal to enjoy with my no-knead bread after playing out in the snow!
I made this soup with some crumbled sausage, but feel free to make a vegetarian version. It is a good healthy soup: hearty and filling but not loaded with cream or fats (yes, I know it has pasta: but we need starch and pasta does not have to be the enemy)! Get off the computer (or maybe look at some other recipes first if this one doesn’t seem ‘perfect’ for you), get in the kitchen and enjoy this tasty soup (reminds me of an even tasty version of that popular Italian restaurant) today
Ingredients:
Directions:
When I found out that my custodian (who is wonderful and amazing) got a deer last month I so graciously offered to take some meat off of his hands if he ran out of room in his freezer. A few weeks later he walked into …
I was trying to plan dinner for the other night & wanted to do something with the ricotta I had in the fridge (it was on great sale a week or so ago & with coupon had to buy two containers)! I also knew that …
This week was the start of fall – but I think that someone forgot to tell the temperatures & atmosphere and all of those things that! Since fall is here, winter squash is starting to go on sale & I just couldn’t resist. I have had it sitting on the counter for a few days and when one of my best friends said she finally could squeeze time in to see me (its rough only living a few miles away & never having free time at the same time!) I decided to get inspired by this great recipe from Simply Recipes (another great resource for anything in the kitchen when you are low on ideas or inspiration or know how or whatever!)
I modified it a bit (so I didn’t have to stop at the store on the way home) and of course didn’t measure – but my version (while in the middle of my annual “back to school” cold and not having much of any sense of smell and dulled tastebuds (but still got a thumbs up from Jess) was…
Heat Olive Oil, saute onions & garlic until opaque, deglaze pan with some red wine. Add in the diced butternut squash (I pre-roasted mine in the toaster oven – cut side down with water in the bottom of the pan for just a bit for about 30 minutes) & about 1/2 cup of chicken stock (I use water & the powdered kind). Let that simmer for about 10 minutes, then start gently mashing it up. Add in the rest of your ingredients & start the pasta water. Once you put the pasta in (I would love to try this next time using whole wheat pasta for an even more ‘hearty/healthy” fall meal) give the sauce another taste test & do any last minute doctoring. Serve it up & grate some fresh parmesan (I go cheap and try to always keep some from the “regular” cheese aisle in the fridge – wrapped in tin foil it seems to do pretty well for quite a while!)
Bring on the cooler temps & fall cooking!