Pasta Fagioli

The running joke in our house, as I think I've mentioned before, is how ridiculous it is to spend money on a bowl of pasta fagioli in a restaurant. It's a peasant dish. However, I remember being pleasantly surprised when I joined some colleagues for lunch at the Olive Garden a few years ago and enjoying how different their version was.

I've recently started following A Busy Mom's Slow Cooker Adventures. I need more crock pot recipes. We are running about town at least two to three nights a week, not arriving back until just when dinner should be served, so I need something quick and ready made. And because I have such a debilitating allergy to salt preservatives (for example, MSG),  ready made has to mean "ready in the crock pot. I found this pasta fagioli recipe on her site, and it was amazing. I agree that it makes A TON. We had some to freeze and some to pack up for lunches. The only thing I changed was the bouillon. I can't use it because of the allergy. However, I do use a gluten-free vegetarian bouillon powder in its place often. Oh, and I also used canned beans, because I didn't have the time to soak and drain the beans.

You need:

1 lb. ground beef, seasoned with salt and pepper and cooked

4 cups beef broth or 4 bouillon cubes

3 (14.5 oz.) cans garlic and onion diced tomatos

2 cups water

1 (29 oz) can tomato sauce

3/4 cups dry red kidney beans, soaked overnight, drained and rinsed

3/4 cups dry Northern beans, soaked overnight, drained and rinsed

1 tsp. garlic powder

1 tsp. onion powder

2 tsp. Italian seasoning

salt and pepper to taste

1 1/2 cups chopped carrots

2 cups chopped zucchini, peeled too

1 red onion, chopped
1 1/2 cups pasta (I used ditalini)
Parmesan cheese for garnish

Combine all ingredients, stir,  and cook on LOW for 8-10 hours.  

About 45 minutes before serving, add the pasta.  Serve with a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese.

 

Spanish Chicken and Rice

I'm always looking for a Sunday dinner that makes extra so I have plenty of one-dish, warm and easy lunches for during the week. I'm also looking for ones that I don't mind eating at 9:55 in the morning, when I have my lunch period. This Sunday, M was at the fire hall for a meeting for over three hours, so not only did the recipe have to be made up primarily from things I already had at home, but it had to be put together with two kids running amok around me. This recipe, from an old issue of Real Simple magazine, took only 40 minutes from start to finish and was a hit with the A. I'm sure that C would have loved it, too, if he wasn't too busy being sick from the dreaded stomach virus that is running through his toddler class at school.

You need:

1 tbsp. olive oil
1 # boneless chicken breasts, cut into chunks
1 medium onion, sliced
1 bell pepper, sliced
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 c. dry white wine (or water)
1 28-oz. can of diced tomatoes, including liquid
1 c. rice
1 c. frozen peas
salt and pepper

Heat the oil in a large dutch oven. Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Cook chicken, about 2 minutes on each side, until golden brown. Add the onion and bell pepper, stirring often, until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and continue stirring, about one more minute. Add the wine, tomatoes, rice, 1/2 tsp. salt and 1/4 tsp pepper and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, covered for 20 minutes. Stir in the peas and cook about two minutes more. Serve immediately.

Pesto and Spinach Lasagne

I've been fairly successful with my new plan to eliminate food waste through better menu planning. This week was week two of the two-week cycle of meal planning, so over 75% of my ingredients had to be already in the fridge or in the pantry. Each month, Wegmans releases an issue in the Nature's Marketplace section of the store, a small magazine/newsletter of sorts that includes healthy living ideas and recipes. There was a great article about the variety of ways one can make a lasagne, other than your standard meat and pasta version, and all three were created with healthy living, lots of veggies, and short preparation in mind. A LOVES lasagne, but a standard lasagne is a cumbersome process. This one was significantly easier and took only 35 minutes of prep time. And because I had most of the ingredients in the pantry or the freezer, the only thing I had to purchase was the ricotta cheese. It was significantly lighter than a regular lasagne and much tastier! It was a hit!

You need:

2 c. part-skim ricotta cheese
1 egg
1 c. Parmesan cheese (plus extra for sprinkling)
2 small boxes of chopped, frozen spinach (thawed)
1 c. pesto*
1 box no-boil lasagne noodles
2 c. pasta sauce

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix together the ricotta and 1 c. Parmesan cheese. Add the egg. In a small bowl, blend the spinach (squeezed dry) and pesto. Spread the pasta sauce in a baking dish. Add a layer of noodles. Top with half of the cheese mixture. Top with half of the spinach mixture. Repeat. End with noodles and sauce. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and bake for 35 minutes.

* Pesto can be pricey to purchase ready-made. In the summer, homemade pasta is a breeze, but because herbs are also pricey in the winter, I stock up on Simply Organics pesto mixes. They are easy to prepare and allow me to add pesto to a variety of recipes at half the price.

Love in the Kitchen - Resolutions for 2013

For as long as we've been married, M and I have sat down during our lunch of lentil soup to write and share our resolutions. A and C join us as well, although C's resolutions so far have been ones we all work together in writing as we hope he, too, has a prosperous year filled with new challenges. This year, I've also decided to add a few resolutions here, to ensure an even more prosperous year in the belly - a year full of wonderful recipes and special memories. Here they are:

1. Eat more, waste less

I'm not talking about adding additional calories here. I'm taking about eliminating as much food waste as possible. The one downside to my love of cooking and trying new recipes is that I often pack my shopping cart full of exciting ingredients, but if I don't use them all up, they end up in the trash. When I think about the sheer amount of waste that I'm contributing to, I feel embarrassed, to say the very least. As a result, I'm going to plan out two full weeks (rather than just one) of menus to make sure that every herb, vegetable, and block of cheese is used to the fulled. If you don't pre-plan your meals already, I suggest you consider it, even if you only plan out the weekdays. I've been using this template from Real Simple magazine for years.

2. More meatless meals

I'm sure you've heard the idea that you should go meatless for at least one day a week. Not only is it healthier, but it's also more carbon footprint-friendly. It's time to make a conscious effort to find more fish and vegetarian recipes to ensure the kids are getting the protein and nutrients they need, the taste they'll enjoy, and reducing their carbon footprint along the way.

3. Love my crockpot

Our schedule has gotten a bit crazy. A has a pretty busy week of after school activities, and as a result, some nights are a struggle to get meals on the table. However, my list of crock pot recipes is few and far between, mostly because the recipes I seem to find remind me of the fat and calorie laden recipes of the 1950s, with little taste and boring ingredients. I recently stumbled upon this blog, and I plan on trying at least two of these recipes a week.

That's it for now. Let's see if I can do it!