"The strands of spaghetti were vital, almost alive in my mouth, and the olive oil was singing with flavor. It was hard to imagine that four simple ingredients [olive oil, pasta, garlic and cheese] could marry so perfectly."
Ruth Reichl
I decided to not share the cauliflower soup recipe I made the day before yesterday. I wasted an entire head of cauliflower, a few potatoes, and more. Lots of time out the window. Tasteless and I don't think any amount of additions could have done much to remedy it!
My daughter made homemade hash browns and they were so delicious! We ate plates of them for lunch...
She just grated some peeled potatoes and added eggs, flour and salt and then pan friend them on a butter greased cast iron skillet. Oh, yeah. She also added chopped onions!
Yesterday, we had four pizzas using crust from mixes bec/ we were in a big hurry. I made a pepperoni and one with a sun dried tomato sauce, mozzarella, extra sharp cheddar, green peppers, onions and garlic. Brandy made one with green peppers and then topped after it was cooling with fresh basil leaves. Lauren made a "peace pizza" rectangle a different sauce on each side and a peace symbol in the middle made up of chopped green peppers. It was cool and I might be able to get the picture from her cell phone somehow and share it.
Today, we had vegetarian spaghetti and I was surprised by how well loved it was by all ages. I made angel hair pasta and while it boiled .... I sauteed chopped vidalia onions in some olive oil and about a tablespoon of butter. I removed that from the skillet and added zucchini triangles and salted them. As soon as they were partially cooked, I added a few cloves of finely chopped garlic and let it saute for a few minutes before adding to the pot the pasta had been in. I added the onions and some commercial sauce along with a can of chopped portabello mushrooms. We ate with shredded extra sharp cheddar, garlic whole wheat bread (Lauren made) and iced tea (Brandy made) and I added several slices of lemon to mine.
Emily (4 year old grandgirl) went wild for a lemon slice and her 2-year old brother (grandboy:) asked over and over for an apple. . . that is what he called the lemon. Smile.
Braxton ended up wanting lemon in his lemonade so the kids should have a citrus splash of nutrition for the day:)
We flopped two pans of brownies (don't try adding caramel bits thinking they will melt ... they don't!) but savored some hot, fresh coffee while we talked and the children played.
Showing posts with label spaghetti. Show all posts
Showing posts with label spaghetti. Show all posts
Friday, July 16, 2010
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Gathering As We Go . . . .
I am gathering little notes I’ve jotted down over the past few months to remind me of posts I wanted to share and/or articles I’m working on. I need to add more info to some of these so I can recall events, recipes, and reviews a little more clearly!
The following meals were on a day a few weeks ago when our grown kids and their families came to eat with us. We all talked, laughed, ate and just enjoyed being together so it was wonderful.
Here was our dinner:
Spaghetti sauce
I thawed some venison and added it to a cast iron skilled with some organic olive oil drizzled into it. I let the meat cook with some chopped onions and green peppers on medium fire so it would cook evenly and give me time to keep breaking it up because I like it better that way.
When the meat was cooked all the way, I added spaghetti marinara sauce from a jar, tomato sauce, tomato paste and enough water to make it the consistency I wanted.
I stirred in some Italian seasoning blend, parsley, sea salt and freshly ground pepper.
Meanwhile, I had a skilled of diced zucchini sautéing in another cast iron skillet and spaghetti boiling in another pot. Garlic toast got crispy and fragrant in the oven and when the pasta was drained… everything was grabbed from the kitchen and taken hot to the table.
We topped our spaghetti and meat sauce with the zucchini and it was delicious!
If I remember correctly, we also had a huge bowl of salad with this meal as we do as often as we possibly can!
Later that night, long after the dinner mess was cleaned and visiting had been going on for another three or four hours, I made a “snack” from the left overs in our meal.
I pulled the leftover pasta, and tossed it in a skillet where I had already sautéed some chopped onion in olive oil. It went in with some of the l/over zucchini. As soon as it got hot, I added heavy cream and kept heating on a low to medium heat until it was how I wanted it. Right before taking it off the heat, I added 2 T. of pesto from a jar I got at Sam’s and tossed in some freshly shredded parmesan. I took it off the heat and grated some more parmesan over the top. It was SO delicious!
The following meals were on a day a few weeks ago when our grown kids and their families came to eat with us. We all talked, laughed, ate and just enjoyed being together so it was wonderful.
Here was our dinner:
Spaghetti sauce
I thawed some venison and added it to a cast iron skilled with some organic olive oil drizzled into it. I let the meat cook with some chopped onions and green peppers on medium fire so it would cook evenly and give me time to keep breaking it up because I like it better that way.
When the meat was cooked all the way, I added spaghetti marinara sauce from a jar, tomato sauce, tomato paste and enough water to make it the consistency I wanted.
I stirred in some Italian seasoning blend, parsley, sea salt and freshly ground pepper.
Meanwhile, I had a skilled of diced zucchini sautéing in another cast iron skillet and spaghetti boiling in another pot. Garlic toast got crispy and fragrant in the oven and when the pasta was drained… everything was grabbed from the kitchen and taken hot to the table.
We topped our spaghetti and meat sauce with the zucchini and it was delicious!
If I remember correctly, we also had a huge bowl of salad with this meal as we do as often as we possibly can!
Later that night, long after the dinner mess was cleaned and visiting had been going on for another three or four hours, I made a “snack” from the left overs in our meal.
I pulled the leftover pasta, and tossed it in a skillet where I had already sautéed some chopped onion in olive oil. It went in with some of the l/over zucchini. As soon as it got hot, I added heavy cream and kept heating on a low to medium heat until it was how I wanted it. Right before taking it off the heat, I added 2 T. of pesto from a jar I got at Sam’s and tossed in some freshly shredded parmesan. I took it off the heat and grated some more parmesan over the top. It was SO delicious!
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