Baked Pasta with Meat Sauce

Earlier today, I was browsing the Cooking Light recipes on myrecipes.com in search of something that wouldn't be too bad for me and would utilize something that was on sale at Publix this week.  I came across this recipe, and I decided to give it a go...with some alterations of course!  The tomato sauce that they have got mixed reviews, and it called for wine.  Usually, I'd be all about the wine, but I'm doing a 15 Day Challenge with a friend of mine from work which means no booze for me for 15 days!  Instead, I made my Old School Spaghetti Sauce.  This time around, I added a 1 teaspoon of dried basil (out of fresh) and 1/4 teaspoon of crushed red pepper to the sauce.  For my pasta, instead of using rigatoni, I went with whole wheat penne since they didn't have whole wheat rigatoni.  I was good and didn't go all crazy with the cheese either!  I liked that the recipe mixed the cheese in the pasta as well as had some on top of it.  I normally don't do that and overkill it with the cheese on top.  I also made sure to have a 1 cup serving size as to keep the calories under control, too.  It turned out to be the perfect size, too. 

Here's what I did...

Baked Pasta with Old School Spaghetti Sauce

Ingredients

Old School Spaghetti Sauce

2 1/2 cups uncooked pasta

1 1/2 cup part skim milk mozzarella cheese, shredded

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

2 tablespoons shredded cheddar cheese

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350F.

While cooking the Old School Spaghetti Sauce, heat water for the pasta (I season my water with garlic powder and salt).  Add the pasta when the water is boiling and cook it for 7 minutes even thought the box says 9 minutes.  You want to undercook it because it will continue to cook while it is baking.  Combine the sauce, the pasta, and 1 cup of the mozzarella cheese in a 9 x 13 baking dish. Top with the remaining cheeses. Bake in oven for 20 minutes or until it is cooked thoroughly.

Serving size = 1 cup!

Enjoy!

NCLEX Dinner ala Carte

So tonight I went over to my friend Kelly's house after a long day of work and NCLEX studying.  She was making dinner, and unfortunately, I had Chinese food before I came over.  She was preparing a dish from Cooking Light with some Brussels sprouts on the side.  I had a sample of it because the main course involved mushrooms (and you know how I miss mushrooms since Rick doesn't like them!).  It was so good that I had to share it here!

Here's the recipe!

Steak Tips with Peppered Mushroom Gravy 

Ingredients

• 2  cups  uncooked egg noodles
• Cooking spray
• 1  pound  top sirloin steak, cut into 3/4-inch pieces
• 1  tablespoon  butter
• 2  tablespoons  finely chopped shallots
• 1  (8-ounce) package presliced baby bella mushrooms
• 1  teaspoon  minced garlic
• 1  tablespoon  low-sodium soy sauce
• 3  tablespoons  all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2  cups  fat-free, less-sodium beef broth
• 1/2  teaspoon  black pepper
• 1/4  teaspoon  salt
• 3  fresh thyme sprigs
• 1  teaspoon  fresh thyme leaves (optional

Directions

Cook noodles according to package directions, omitting salt and fat; drain.

While noodles cook, heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add steak; sauté 5 minutes, browning on all sides. Remove from pan; cover.

Melt butter in pan over medium-high heat. Add shallots and mushrooms; sauté 4 minutes. Add garlic; sauté 30 seconds. Stir in soy sauce. Sprinkle flour over mushroom mixture; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Gradually add broth, stirring constantly. Add pepper, salt, and thyme sprigs. Bring to a boil; cook 2 minutes or until thickened. Return beef to pan; cook 1 minute or until thoroughly heated. Discard thyme sprigs. Garnish with thyme leaves, if desired.

Kelly's Brussels Sprouts

Ingredients

2 1/2 lbs Brussels sprouts

olive oil

sea salt

pepper

Spice Island Garlic and Herb Blend

Directions

Preheat oven to 400F. Soak whole brussels sprouts for 20 minutes in cold water.

Drain and rinse Brussels sprouts.  Half Brussels sprouts.  Tossed until well coated in olive oil.  Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and garlic and herbs to taste. Roast in the oven for 20-25 minutes.  If desired, you can add Parmesean cheese.

POM Wonderful Slow Cooker Beef!

Technically, we made it on Saturday, but how could I resist when it's so cold outside!!!  Rick and I were looking for something to do that was, as he put it "a day long process." Publix has their chuck roast on sale this week so I hit the internet in search of something different to make.

Around the holidays, the people at POM Wonderful were awesome enough to send me a case of their yummy pomegranate juice, and while I have been using it to cocktails, I've been wondering what it would be like to cook with it! Is it bad that I feel a little guilty for using it for drinks?  The juice is really good for you as it is loaded with antioxidants which we all need during this time of the year when a yucky cold is lurking around the corner.  I personally am a fan of POM juice + vodka + a little bit of Sprite Zero, but hey, that's me.  Anyway, in order to do something a wee bit more productive with the juice (though I do like it with just the Sprite Zero, too), I went searching and came across the blog, A Year of Slow Cooking.  The original recipe had raisins in it, but I'm not a huge raisin fan so I left them out.  The end result was awesome!  Rick called it a "gem." 


For a side, I decided to use some of the leftover fontina cheese for a polenta that's a combo of several recipes.  Unfortunately, it didn't turn out as well as I had hoped so I've opted not to post what I did.  We baked it, but it never got the consistency that I was hoping for.  If I do it again, I'd follow one of the recipes direction of refrigerating it before baking.

Beef in Pomegranate Sauce

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 yellow onion, sliced
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon herbes de Provence
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 pounds beef roast 

5 garlic cloves, minced
1 (14-ounce) can fire-roasted crushed tomatoes
1 cup unsweetened pomegranate juice
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons maple syrup

Directions

Coat the bottom of the crockpot with olive oil.  Add onion and stir to coat them with the olive oil.  

Mix the spices together in a small bowl, and then rub the meat on all side with it. Add garlic, tomatoes, pomegranate juice, vinegar, and syrup.  Stir to mix together.  

Cover and cook on low for 8 hours or on high for 4-5. 

Taco Tuesday Night!

This weekend, I was craving tacos.  I didn't want anything fancy, just straight out of the Old El Paso Box type of taco.  I don't think that I've ever made them myself as an adult, but I do have fond memories of them from my childhood.  When I mentioned it to Rick on Saturday night, he surprised me with baby back ribs so tacos got postponed until last night.  Even though I had told him about my box taco plan, Rick said that he knew that I'd probably end up doing something different.  Of course, he was right...well, sort of.

When I stopped by Publix on my way home from work yesterday, I picked up an onion to cook with the ground beef that Rick was bring over and pre-shredded lettuce.  As I was headed toward the aisle with the Mexican food products, I passed the seafood counter and noticed that snow crab legs were on sale.  An idea popped into my head!  What about crab tacos???  Sounded yummy to me!  I ended up getting just one cluster so that we could have one "special" taco and the rest would be the normal ones.  Obviously, Rick knows me very well!  I decided to grab a lime to go with the crab legs and opted for the half hard tacos and half soft taco combo box. 

I didn't tell Rick about my surprise special tacos until he came over for dinner.  I had also gotten some of that evil cheese dip that is like the dip they serve in Mexican restaurants so that we could have a pre-meal snack while I made dinner.

We were pleasantly surprised by the results of my crab tacos and I am including the recipe here.  I got 2 small, soft tacos out of one cluster so if you are wanting to do more, I'd use that as the guide (or dosage calculation for those nursing students out there ;) ).  I used dried cilantro instead of fresh because I was afraid that it would go bad over the holidays.  I'm not including the box taco recipe since they come on the box!  Enjoy!

Crab Soft Tacos
Ingredients
1 cluster snow crab legs (1 cluster makes 2 small soft tacos)
Juice of 1/2 lime
1/2 teaspooon dried cilantro
Garlic powder
Shredded lettuce
Salsa of your choice
Soft taco shells
Light sour cream

Directions
Cook crab legs in boiling water until cooked.  Remove crab meat from shells and place in bowl.  Add a dash of garlic powder, lime juice, and cilantro.  Mix together and drain excess lime juice.

Place desired amount of lettuce in the middle of the soft taco shell.  Top with half of crab mixture, salsa and sour cream.  Fold taco and enjoy!

Crock Pot Wednesdays: Slow Cooker Italian Beef

With the cold weather and an invitation from Debbie at Dining with Debbie to participate in Crock Pot Wednesdays, I decided on Friday to break out my crock pot and make something to share.  I haven't used in my crock pot in forever, and with the cold weather and extra time on my hands now that I've graduated, it was the perfect opportunity to try out a new recipe.  I decided to search petitchef.com for something new to create.  I came across this recipe that is an adaptation from a recipe on allrecipes.com for Slow Cooker Italian Beef.  It sounded good, and I had most of the ingredients here at home (minus the chuck roast of course).  I made a couple of changes to it, and I was really pleased with the final result!  Rick called it "awesome!"  I hope that you enjoy it, too!

Slow Cooker Italian Beef
Ingredients
1 can low sodium beef broth
1 1/2 cup water
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried basil

1 teaspoon dried parsley

1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon of Italian Seasoning (I used McCormick's Italian Grinder)
1 bay leaf
1 package of Good Seasoning Italian Salad Dressing mix
1 3 lb chuck roast
1 chopped green pepper
1 chopped sweet onion



Directions
Combine all ingredients except for the green pepper and onion in the crock pot and cook on low for 10-12 hours or high for 4-5 hours.  When there is one hour left, add the green pepper and onion to the crock pot.

To make sandwiches:
Additional Ingredients

Hoagie Rolls

Provolone Cheese slices

Dijon Mustard

Directions
Preheat broiler.  Cut hoagie rolls in half and place Dijon mustard and cheese on one side of the roll and the meat on the other.  Place in the broiler until cheese is bubbling (around 4 minutes).

While the Rick's away, the mushrooms will play!

Well, sort of anyway!!!

As I've lamented here before, Rick is not a fan of mushrooms, and since he is out of town this weekend, I decided that my meal tonight would include mushrooms. For some reason, I was craving Korean Beef. Maybe it was the fact that I was in West Ashley yesterday but wasn't there around dinner time so that I could swing by Red Orchid. Ever since Rick and I went there with Nick and his girlfriend, Haley, I have occasional longings for their Korean Beef. Unfortunately for me, that is quite a drive for food so I've been trying my best to duplicate their dish! This version is somewhat similar to bulgogi. Honestly, I pretty much just use it for the sauce/marinade.

Tonight, I had to do something that I've never done before: I had to toast sesame seeds. Unfortunately for me, Publix does not sell toasted ones. It was actually pretty simple to do. I just preheated my oven to 325F, put them in a small cast iron skillet, and toasted them until they were a golden brown. The total time was around 18 minutes. In the picture of the meal that I posted, I think I got a little bit carried away with them, though!

Of course, I had to tinker with the sauce a bit. On its own, it is a wee-bit salty (even when I use low sodium soy sauce). To cut that a bit, I added 2 tablespoons of Mirin (which can be purchased at the grocery store near the soy sauce). Since I didn't have any fresh ginger, I used ground (and 1/4 tsp = 1 tsp fresh). I also doubled the amount of garlic.

In order to save some time, I purchased a little over a pound of pre-sliced, stir-fry beef and marinated that for around 30 minutes or so while the rice cooked. I doubled the marinade so that I could also marinate one chopped green pepper, 1/2 of a sweet onion (also chopped) and 4 oz of sliced mushrooms. I actually halved the marinade and marinated the veggies and the meat separate. I like doing the veggies instead of bothering with the lettuce boats. Use whatever vegetables you'd like!

I stir-fried the veggies in my wok and then added the beef. They would've been good on the grill, but it was damp out after the evening rain. Before serving it, I made another batch of my doctored marinade to serve over the food when I plated it. Delicious!!!


Here is the original recipe:

Korean-Styled Grilled Flank Steak

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons rice vinegar (not seasoned)
• 1 tablespoon grated peeled ginger
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 2 teaspoons Sriracha (Southeast Asian chile sauce)
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons Asian sesame oil
• 1 to 1 1/4 pound flank steak
• 2 scallions, finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds

• Accompaniments: white rice; soft leaf lettuce

Directions

Stir together soy sauce, vinegar, ginger, garlic, Sriracha, sugar, and sesame oil.

Prepare a gas grill for direct-heat cooking over medium-high heat.

Oil grill rack, then grill steak, covered, turning over once, 6 to 8 minutes for medium-rare.

Transfer steak to a cutting board and drizzle with 2 tablespoons sauce, then let stand, uncovered, 5 minutes. Thinly slice steak across the grain. Serve with remaining sauce, scallions, and sesame seeds.

Changes that I made to the marinade

• added 2 tablespoons of Mirin
  
• used low sodium soy sauce
• used two cloves of garlic
• substituted ground ginger for fresh
• doubled it in order to use with vegetables

Other changes:

• Stir-fried 1/2 onion, green pepper (both chopped), and 4 oz of sliced mushrooms
• Also stir-fried meat due to weather
• Used stir-fry meat instead of flank steak
• Made another batch of the sauce/marinade to put over meat

Recipe for toasted sesame seeds:
Preheat oven to 325F.

Place untoasted sesame seeds in a small cast iron skillet, and toasted them in the oven until they were a golden brown. The total time was around 15-20 minutes.

Greek-inspired grillin'

While perusing the latest recipes on epicurious.com this week (yes, I was being bad and doing it during class on Wednesday), I came across a couple of recipes that I thought would be perfect to try. After a quick trip to Publix on the way home from work, I had everything that I needed for an atypical but appetizing grilling experience: steak, roasted red peppers, coriander, and pita bread.

I started marinading the steak, but unfortunately, the weather decided not to cooperate. It started raining. When Rick and I talked on the phone, he said that he wasn't going to be able to come over that night due to his having to do some work at home. I decided that I would just throw the meat on my George Foreman and make a Greek salad as a test-run for our meal. Luckily, the weather cleared up, and Rick called back to say that he wanted to come over! Yay!!! While I waited for Rick to come over, I made bread crumbs out of leftover hamburger buns that were in the refrigerator for the roasted red pepper spread and started soaking bamboo skewers in some water.

I was finishing up the roasted red pepper spread when Rick arrived. I was excited to let him sample a taste of it. We were both pleasantly surprised at the spread, and when I put it in a plastic container to store until dinner time, I swear it looked like something I would buy at Whole Foods.

As I've mentioned before, Rick has expressed interest in taking a more active role in dinner preparation, and I have to admit that it is difficult for me to hand over the reigns. He told me last night that he doesn't like to follow recipes which doesn't make it any easier for me. Baby steps!! He was eager to help and joyfully smashed garlic to make the garlic and oregano oil to brush on the pitas. I decided not to do the feta corn that was part of the menu and do a simple Greek salad instead.

We headed outside to the grill and started off with the pita bread. Rick brushed them with the garlic-oregano oil after I took them off the grill, but of course, I had to brush at least one! As we were grilling them, Rick came up with an excellent idea--grilled pita bread pizzas! Looks like that's what we are going to be doing on Friday. He's going to bring over the toppings (a surprise) so we'll see what happens!

The meal turned out wonderfully! Th roasted red pepper and walnut spread was delicious with both the pita and the meat. It was also wonderful on the pita "sandwiches" with the leftover beef that I had for lunch today. Rick's apparently did not make it past 10 am. I promised Rick that I wouldn't quote him this time around because he fears that no one will believe the continued positive reviews of our meals. I'll just say that even though he's not a huge Greek fan, he definitely enjoyed this meal!

Here is the Roasted Red Pepper and Walnut Spread recipe:

yield: Makes about 3 cups
active time: 10 min
total time: 15 min

Ingredients
2 (7-to 8-ounces) jars roasted red peppers, rinsed and drained
1 cup coarse fresh bread crumbs (from a baguette)
1 cup walnuts (4 ounces), toasted
1 tablespoon red-wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/8 teaspoon cayenne
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Preparation
Purée roasted red peppers, bread crumbs, walnuts, vinegar, cumin, cayenne, and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a food processor until almost smooth.
With motor running, add oil in a slow stream, blending until incorporated.

Cooks' notes: •Spread is also delicious with crudites, crackers, or toasts.
•Spread can be made 3 days ahead and chilled. Bring to room temperature before serving.


Changes that I made:

• Used leftover hamburger buns to make the breadcrumbs
• Reduced the recipe by 3/4 due to my purchasing a 12 oz jar of roasted red peppers

The Garlic-Oregano Grilled Pita recipe:
yield: Makes 6 servings
active time: 20 min
total time: 30 min
Ingredients
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 garlic cloves, smashed
2 tablespoons finely chopped oregano
6 (6-to 8-inch) pocketless pita bread rounds
Kosher salt to taste


Preparation
Heat oil in a small heavy skillet over medium heat until it shimmers. Cook garlic, turning once, until pale golden, about 1 minute. Discard garlic and remove skillet from heat, then stir in oregano.

Prepare grill for direct-heat cooking over medium-hot charcoal (medium-high heat for gas); see Grilling Procedure . Oil grill rack. Grill pitas, 3 at a time, covered only if using a gas grill, turning once, until grill marks appear, about 2 minutes total per batch. Transfer to a cutting board and brush both sides with garlic-oregano oil. Cut pitas into wedges. Sprinkle with kosher salt. Serve warm.

Cooks' note: Pitas can be grilled in an oiled hot 2-burner grill pan over medium heat.
Changes that I made: We did 3 pitas only, and I added a little fresh ground black pepper to the oil.
And finally....the Cumin-Scented Beef Kebabs!
yield: Makes 6 servings
active time: 30 min
total time: 2 1/2 hr (includes marinating)
Ingredients
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons finely chopped oregano
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
2 pounds sirloin flap steak or flatiron steak, cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces
Equipment: 12 (12-inch) skewers, soaked in water 30 minutes if wooden
Accompaniment: roasted red pepper and walnut spread

Preparation
Stir together oil, oregano, garlic, spices, and 1 teaspoon salt in a bowl, then toss with beef. Marinate, chilled, at least 2 hours.
Prepare grill for direct-heat cooking over medium-hot charcoal (high heat for gas); see Grilling Procedure . Thread about 4 pieces of beef onto each skewer, leaving small spaces between pieces, then transfer to a tray.
Oil grill rack, then grill beef, covered only if using a gas grill, turning, until browned but still pink inside, 4 to 5 minutes.

Cooks' notes: •Beef can be marinated up to 8 hours.•Kebabs can be broiled on an oiled broiler pan about 3 inches from heat.

Changes I made: I used 1 pound of plain ole sirloin because there were just two of us (and of course, I cooked mine rare).