Dinner in a Flash January 27, 2012
Posted by cirellih in Dinner, Food, Planning.Tags: Fast meals, Pasta, Tomato Sauce, Zucchini
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Sometimes dinner needs to be ready quickly. So for all those people who claim that they just don’t have time to make anything, pfft is all I have to say to them.
I give you the wonder food: pasta. Really. Dinner in 8 minutes. What other food can boast that?
Pasta goes with everything! It can hold most anything that you put on it. Goes next to most meals. Can be a filling meal on its own. It really is a wonder food! One of the things I like to keep in my freezer is meatballs. This is apparently not as easy in Colorado as it is in Upstate New York where everything is Italian, but I’ve managed to find them if I look hard enough.
So tonight, I made my own tomato sauce, cooked pasta, heated meatballs, steamed zucchini and baked garlic bread… all in under 10 minutes. Impressed? I was!
Badda bing, baddah boom, yous got a delicious home-cooked meal in minutes. It hit the spot and was crammed with veggies. You can’t get much better than that after a long week!
Training and Rigatoni January 15, 2012
Posted by cirellih in Dinner.Tags: Broccoli, Chicken Sausage, Dog Training, Pasta, Rigatoni
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Having a puppy is lots of fun, but certainly hard work! We’ve enrolled Oliver in training classes. He passed puppy class with flying colors, and now we’ve moved on to the intermediate level. Difficult tasks, like heeling and staying while lying down. It’s frustrating for him sometimes, but it will certainly be worth it in the end!
After our grueling training session… Oliver would have called it grueling anyway, I settled in to cook dinner before an evening of Downton Abbey. For tonight, I decided upon a pasta dish. The wonderful thing about pasta is that it can hold a whole host of other ingredients.
There were several ingredients I had that needed to be used: broccoli, garlic, and spinach and feta chicken sausages. I sauteed the sausages with garlic and olive oil. Mixed the pasta and broccoli together, and added in sausage slices and olive oil. So incredibly easy, and so delicious!
Now that dinner is done, Chris and I are ready to settle in for Masterpiece Theater beside the fire. Quite the perfect end to the evening.
Gnot Your Average Gnocchi June 7, 2011
Posted by cirellih in Dinner, Food.Tags: Gnocci, Handmade, Pasta
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Today I tried my hand at making pasta! This was venturing into the unknown… but incredibly fun! I decided to start out on my pasta adventures with gnocchi. I can’t tell you how fun they are to make! As an added bonus, there were only four ingredients involved!
- 4 russet potatoes
- 2 1/4 cups of flour
- 1 beaten egg
- pinch of salt
They’re even ingredients that you usually have on hand. How can you beat that?
The making of the gnocchi wasn’t too difficult:
Boil the potatoes in their skins until tender. Once they are no longer too hot to handle the skin just slides off. I used a cheese grater to shred the potatoes. The recipe called for a potato ricer, but I am not in possession of one of those. Next, mix in the flour, egg and salt. Knead the ingredients together until you have a workable dough. I had to add in a bit more flour as my dough was a little sticky.
Next, divide the dough into smaller balls. Roll out the dough into 3/4 inch logs. Cut the logs at inch long intervals.
After the pieces have been cut, use a fork against the working surface to make impressions in the gnocchi dough. One side should have a finger print, the other tine marks.
They all just look so cute and happy! Makes me want to eat the right away. When you’re ready to eat them, just put them in boiling water until they float. So easy!
Not bad for my first try, eh?
Edit: Upon eating my pasta, I would highly suggest salting the water. They needed a little more oomph, so maybe that would have helped a bit.
Take Me Out to the Ball Game! April 17, 2011
Posted by cirellih in Dinner, Family, Food.Tags: Artichoke, Baseball, Basil, Pasta, Rockies, Shrimp, Tomato
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My first baseball game of the season.
Rockies vs. Cubs. What a great game to start with.
I will admit that I am not the biggest baseball fan. But I do love going to games. It is so much easier to get into the game when you can cheer on the players, clap when they need some help, and sing a good round of ‘Take Me Out to the Ball Game.’
It makes it even better when the Rockies win 9 to 5!!!
When we got back to Boulder, Chris found twenty dollars in his pocket so we decided to make a night of it.
Hubby took me to Pasta Jay’s on Pearl Street. What a delicious meal! It was sort of warm enough to sit outside, so we did. It definitely reminded me of our visit to Rome a few years ago.
I had Pasta Carolena which was shrimp and artichoke hearts in a tomato and sweet basil sauce. Absolutely scrumptious. Artichoke hearts are just about one of my favorite foods, so I gravitate towards anything on a menu that includes them. I was certainly not disappointed this time!
South of the Boarder Pasta February 9, 2011
Posted by cirellih in Food, Health, Weight Watchers.Tags: Cilantro, Dinner, Lime, Pasta, Peppers
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Today was certainly a busy day. Meetings with teachers to learn about lesson planning techniques. Working with my class on math and CSAP preparations. Taking kids home in nasty snowy conditions. Definitely cause for a relaxing evening with a quick dinner and a few episodes of ‘North and South’. Perfect way to unwind after a long day.
South of the Boarder Pasta:
- Left over broiled chicken
- 1 yellow pepper
- 1 green pepper
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- Juice of 1 lime
- 3 tbsp. cilantro
- 1/2 tsp sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 1/3 cups of uncooked penne
- Cook the penne according to the box instructions.
- Meanwhile, sautee the peppers and chicken in the olive oil.
- Combine the lime juice, cilantro, sugar and salt in a large bowl.
- When the pasta is finished, drain and toss with the cilantro-lime mixture and the peppers and chicken.
- Serve while still warm.
The combination of the sweet and sour is delicious. The original recipe from Weight Watchers called to make this a cold pasta salad, but on a cold winter night like this one a warm dish was a must.
Healthy Heath 