Easy Vegetarian Spaghetti Sauce

I made up this easy and tasty vegetarian spaghetti sauce because I had some soy beef crumbles in my freezer and I needed the space.  I used Bucatini noodles because I had them and they looked fun (they're like hollow spaghetti, or as I prefer to think of them -- the Twizzlers of pasta).

This dish was $0.50 at a swap meet.  It makes me feel like a Jetson.

Ingredients

• 3 14.5 oz cans no salt added diced tomatoes
• 1 12 oz bag Morning Star crumbled soy meat
• 1 c red wine
• 1 diced red onion
• 2-3 cloves garlic
• fresh fennel, to taste (I had this off of a fennel bulb I bought for roasted veggies -- nothing went to waste!)
• dried basil, to taste
• fresh black pepper, to taste
• 2T olive oil
  
  In soup pot heat 2T olive oil. Add onion and garlic until caramelized. Add 1/4 c red wine to de-glaze. Cook until most of the liquid has cooked off. Add tomatoes, soy meat, remaining wine, herbs (reserve some of the fennel for garnish), and pepper. Add water if needed to thin sauce. Simmer until thickened, about half an hour. Serve with your favorite noodle and fresh fennel garnish. Leftovers can be frozen for even quicker meals at a later date.
  
  Calories 130.0 Total Fat 5.4 g Saturated Fat 0.8 g Polyunsaturated Fat 1.9 g Monounsaturated Fat 2.7 g Cholesterol 0.0 mg Sodium 177.8 mg Potassium 121.2 mg Total Carbohydrate 10.0 g Dietary Fiber 3.3 g Sugars 4.2 g Protein 8.7 g
  
  P.S. If you want a hilarious read about noodles you check this out.  My favorite part is, "i'm typing this with a noodle!!!!  I needed two noodles to get the exclamation points."  Clearly Brenton was taking this assignment very seriously.

Cooking Without Boarders, or Recipes

Tonight's dinner recipe developed as it cooked.  The beginning idea was that I had a pork loin roast in the fridge that needed to be used.

The original recipe is here.  The only part that remains is the pork and the mustard.  I didn't even cook it the same way...I've always had trouble with authority, even if it was a just a recipe.

When you're making meat dishes you're usually supposed to merinade them at least overnight.  This was last minute for me so there was minimal preparation.

Take your pork loin and put it on a greased baking sheet.  I took mustard (I had lavender-infused mustard...couldn't pass it up) and added some fat free pear-ginger salad dressing I had in the fridge.  Then I added 5-6 sprigs of fresh thyme (leaves only) and some fresh ground black pepper.  Spread it on your roast and bake for 40ish minutes -- longer if your roast is still cold (mine was).  If you're concerned about microscopic critters and meat temperature (I'm not) you should cook it until the internal temperature reaches 160 degrees fahrenheit.  Allow the meat to rest before cutting.

I also roasted brussle sprouts.  Roasted them for about 20 minutes with the roast.  Took them out, added some sliced almonds ("hey, I have almonds in the freezer...what happens if I add them?") and roasted them for another 10-15 minutes, or until they look caramelized.

I didn't take pictures, but trust me, you'll want to try both of these recipes out.

Recipes...We Don't Need No Stinking Recipes...

I always tell myself that I'll follow the recipe the first time I make something.  Somehow that never happens.  It's not always intentional.  Sometimes, through lack of preparation and forethought, I don't have the right ingredients so I have to improvise.  Then sometimes I just don't like what the recipe says to do.  I'm a know-it-all like that.

I made beef stew yesterday.  The original recipe is here.  I read it.  Twice.  Somehow I ended up with no turnip/rutabega/potato and chicken broth instead of beef broth.  So I just added extra onions, peas, and carrots.  And the recipe didn't call for garlic.  Whazzupwitdat?  So I added garlic.  It was REALLY good.  Emily slept on my couch while I made it.  She tasted it and can vouch for the yumminess.  I had it for lunch today and it was just as good reheated.

I also am currently making granola. 

The original recipe is here.  The recipe I made is this: 

3 cups oats 

1/2 cup pecan pieces (I had almonds but the pecans were already open)

3 tablespoons whole flaxseeds (I actually had flax seeds...?)

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 

1/2 teaspoon ground cardimum

1 packet vanilla Carnation Instant Breakfast 

2 tablespoons molasses 

3 tablespoons honey

1 cup water 

4 tablespoons dried cranberries  

3 tablespoons raisins 

Turns out Walmart doesn't carry wheat germ and I had to go there since I needed toilet paper and a trash can.

Then this recipe I made up all (mostly) on my own.   I like fish and I love lemons, but there has got to be another way to cook fish other than with lemons.  So, I baked sole filets seasoned with paprika and fresh ground black pepper.  Then I quartered tomatoes and put them around the filets, seasoned them with salt and pepper and drizzled the whole sheet with oilve oil.  Then I baked them at 375 for about 15 minutes.  

When the fish was done I pulled it off the sheet, smashed the tomatoes down, added some red pepper flakes (not enough to melt your face off, but just enough to add flavor) and put them back in for about another 7-10 minutes until the tomatoes were roasty, smushy, and delicious.

 

While this was going on I also made mashed cauliflower -- recipe here and I totally followed it!!  Mashed cauliflower is supposed to be a substitute for mashed potatoes, and if you didn't know you probably wouldn't know.  But I also am a huge fan of cauliflower in all forms so I just like it for tastiness!  

After that was all done I made a salad with olive oil, vinegar, and feta cheese (I had some in the fridge...?).  When all was said and done this is what I ended up with:

I'm not sure which was better, the fish, the tomatoes, or the cauliflower.  And the Blue Moon was pretty tasty too.  ;)  I came home and walked after work so I earned a beer.

Deep Cleaning

Today I deep cleaned 75% of my apartment -- the 75% that hadn't been cleaned in a couple of months.  Hey, if you can't see the dirt it's not dirty, right?  Having grown up on a farm I'm firmly convinced that my concept of "dirty" and "clean" are vastly different from the rest of the civilized world.  Compared to cow poop, a little dust and grit where the carpet meets the molding isn't even worth considering.  But today I got out the crevice tool and went to town.  And I mopped.  And I dusted.  And I feel good.  and more civilized.  Now if you could have Perkins bring the Bentley 'round to the portico we'll go into town for High Tea.

I also made dinner, which is going to also make a couple of lunches for the week.  I made lemon shrimp with brown rice and steamed veggies.  I struggle with enjoying shrimp.  They're like little curly, gummy, fleshy fingers.  And if they aren't shelled and deveined I can't even look at them.  Gag me.  But I persist, partially because I know they're good for you and partially because I refuse to be a picky eater.

For the rice I just cooked it per the box.  When I make brown rice I usually add some parsley or chicken bullion or something just to give it a little flavor on its own.  I've found this good, instant, salt free chicken bullion, HerbOX, so that's what I used today.

For the shrimp, I defrosted the shrimp (they defrost so quickly!) and sauteed them with garlic powder, corriander, and the juice of a lemon.  Then I thickened it with corn starch.  And added some more lemon juice.  Confession: I love lemons. 

For the steamed veggies I used my favorite new discovery, Best Choice frozen steamable veggies.  Healthy AND lazy?  Sign me up!

It was very tasty and I recommend it for your kitchen and palate.  So the next time you're looking for a quick meal pull out the shrimp!  If you can enjoy them now that I've described them as "curly, gummy, fleshy fingers"...

Tasty Tasty Inspiration

Inspired by Emmy in the Making and hungry with no time to shop I made a delicious salad with what I already had in the fridge:

There was a lone chicken tenderloin piece, but it didn't make it into the salad.  I was too hungry.

Spinach, cremini mushrooms, kalamata olives, carrots, feta cheese and a home made vinaigrette dressing.  It was a tasty salad, but the most exciting part was the dressing.

Light olive oil, white wine vinegar, red paper flakes, and cilantro paste.  I like my vinaigrette heavier on the vinegar side than the oil side, but you can do whatever tickles your taste buds.  The cilantro is what made the whole entire salad.  Herbs in a tube are the best thing since sliced bread.  Never before has appearing to know what you're doing in the kitchen been easier!

Yes, that's me giving it a thumbs up.

When Life Gives You Lemons...

So...the garden...

The help I was promised has never materialized and nothing has been watered so that there's anything still growing in this heat is amazing.  There are lots of melons (really no surprise there given all that we planted) and tomatoes.  The melons aren't quite ready to harvest yet, but the tomatoes are!

I love tomatoes.  They're one of the top ten best things about summer.  (In case you're wondering, #1 best thing about summer is round hay bales, and the #2 best thing is the 4th of July.)

Since I had fresh produce it was pretty much mandatory that I make something with it for lunch.  I just happened to notice there was fresh basil in the window sill and then I found part of a fresh mozzarella ball in the fridge.  Kismet?  Add a little butter and some heat and you get a very yummy. summery sandwich.

**full disclosure**  I burned one side of the sandwich so I scraped off the black and photographed the opposing side.

This is definitely going to be a summer lunch staple.  I don't think it would work as well with store bought tomatoes, aka red cardboard.

Pretend to be Surprised

Goodness Gracious Great Balls of Fire Batman!  That's a lot of jam!

I went and bought jars this morning and a few more peaches because I wasn't sure if we had quite enough.  Turns out the extra peaches were unnecessary...  Three batches of jam later: 

This doesn't include the 6 jars of freezer jam -- pint size jars.

The recipe I read said to put in 8 cups of sugar.  I'm not convinced that I read it correctly.  I did not use that much sugar.  For every 16 cups of peach mush I used slightly less than 3 cups of sugar.  It's really tasty, with just a little bit of tartness in the aftertaste.

YUMMY!  We didn't nibble while we cooked, but it took great restraint.

Tamara was great help and loaned me her kitchen, extra pair of hands, and pots/pans/utensils/etc.  Neither of us had ever canned before (well, not since we were kids anyway) so I had to call Mom to verify some of what we were doing -- thanks Mom!

We didn't add any spices, but you could have added cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, ginger, etc.  We also talked about adding chili flakes and doing a chutney kind of jam.  In the end I decided that the first go around should probably be less experimental, but next time...

 
I also ended up buying a waterbath canner and assorted supplies so I'm ready to can any time.  Tamara will be canning most of her garden produce so we're planning on getting together again to do that.

So let's see, cost:
* $15 for peaches on Thursday
* $4 for peaches this morning
* $20 for jars
* $1 for sugar
* $25 for reusable supplies (canner, funnel, hot jar lifter, etc.)

So that's roughly $1.30 per jar of jam.  Not too shabby.

All in all it was a lot of sweaty work, but very satisfying.  Especially hearing the sweet music of the jars sealing -- ping, ping, ping! 

Next time I'm going to bring some facial mud though -- seems like a good idea to put it on while my pores are waaaaay open.

Who feels like chicken tonight, like chicken tonight?

Not me!  Tonight I made stuffed peppers.  And they were kick-you-in-the-teeth good.

Sautee ground turkey with fajita spices.  Cook brown rice per box instructions.  Once the rice is cooked add chopped onions and green chiles and whatever additional spices you want to add.  Add the turkey.  Add enough tomato sauce to make the rice mixture moist.  Bake at 375 degrees until the pepper is cooked through.  Add more tomato sauce on the top if needed.  Put cheese and chili powder on top and broil until cheese is melty and delicious.  I also cooked two more tomatoes and another chili when I baked the peppers. 


It was waaaaaaay yummy!

Roadhouse

What a waste of a movie.  Sheesh...

So I'm at home today.  Mom is altering a dress for me (Why is it that my behind and my chest aren't the same size -- WHY?!) and I'm supposed to garden with Dad.  Beans and corn here we come!

I made dinner tonight:

It's a baked sweet potato.  For toppings I made a Mexican chicken goulosh:
1 can chicken
2/3 can corn
1/2 large onion, sliced thin
3-4T tomato paste
cumin to taste
cinnamon to taste
water, enough to thin concoction to desired thickness
shredded cabbage
sour cream (I used light ranch dressing because that's what we had)

It was pretty tasty, if I do say so myself.

The other thing I did today was play with the puppies -- they're getting so cute!

This is the boy.  Name apparently TBD.  I thought we had settled on Boxcar Willie, but there's vacillating again.

I drove to Halltown last night.  It was surprisingly pleasant.

Martha Knows Al

I went home yesterday after work to finish up the planting of hilled fruits.  Kristen came with, both for moral support and because gardening is fun!  Plus Tuesday nights are our get together nights.

We planted 5 hills of pumpkins and 14 hills of various kinds of squash (butternut, patty pan, spaghetti, zucchini, etc.).  All told, including the watermelon I planted on Saturday, we have 24 hills planted.  If you figure 4 plants per hill and two fruits per plant we're talking a hundred melons.  Even if you cut it down to two plants per hill...sheesh...  Dad said, "Well that's not even enough for sharing."

Kristen was a big help though.  I was in charge of the cutting of the carpet (don't ask...) because it's a horrible job and because Kristen can't be trusted with sharp objects.  She bleeds and I laugh -- it's a bad combo.  Anyway, on Saturday I was cutting circles in the carpet.  Dad suggested yesterday that it might be easier to cut squares, until Kristen said, "Just cut an X -- then you're only making two cuts."  GENIUS!

Even with that it took us 2+ hours.  We were finishing by the light of the moon (through the clouds).  It's a good thing the seeds were white otherwise we'd never have been able to see them.

I still have to plant corn and beans this weekend.  Anybody want to sign up now for a share of the crop?

In other news, I made a delicious dinner tonight:

It's "Greek Chicken".  Basically chicken, kalamata olives, grape tomatoes, mint, and feta cheese -- YUM!  I got the recipe from here.  Martha knows al.  Heh, I'm leaving that typo.  But seriously, Martha really does know all.  She even knows what you did last summer.

And yes, I use paper plates and plastic forks.  Don't judge me.  When you come over I'll get out the real dishes.