Currently Browsing: pasta
Jan 10, 2012
Posted by Jennifer on Jan 10, 2012 in a day in the life of me!, chicken, Dinner Idea, eggs, general ideas, kid friendly, pasta, potluck, sauces | 0 comments
In our Christmas box from my brother’s family – I received some deluxe food items – almost all of which we’ve already eaten. I got this:
This pesto is AWESOME!
This pesto is made with almonds and peppers and is delish. A little goes a long way, so you don’t have to use that much to add flavor to what you are making. Last week I made lunch with it a few times.
I used a cooked potato, mixed veggies, green onions, peppers, a scrambled egg and added some of the pesto and a leftover Target Chicken sausage – cut up. It was super filling and yummy!
Filling lunch!
But onto the RIck Bayless sauces! You can now buy in the grocery store some of his signature sauces. To be honest I wasn’t quite sure how it would taste – but was pleasantly surprised that these tasted so good! Definitely worth it to check out. I got the taco sauce and the enchilada sauce.
With the enchilada sauce I cut up some chicken, added a bag of frozen peppers from Trader Joe’s and cooked that until it was done. In a separate pot, I cooked up some orzo and drained that. I added the orzo to the chicken and peppers and used 1 packet of the enchilada sauce. Dinner was done in less than 30 minutes and there was no leftovers – so I consider that a hit!
Orzo, peppers, chicken and enchilada sauce
So thanks to my brother Charlie and his family for giving us such great gifts in our Christmas basket this year – we really loved everything!
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And on the Team in Training front, my husband and I went to the kick-off at Eduardo’s pizza in Skokie, IL on Saturday. Basically it’s a getting to know you, meet the coaches, go for a short 30 minute run, come back, eat pizza (nice!) and then we had a clinic about what to wear when it’s cold outside and layering from 2 men from Fleet Feet running store in Chicago. Although who needs that advice now since today is going to be in the 50′s again! Winter hasn’t really come yet this year – which is fine with me! 
We got some stuff too – 2 new Team in Training shirts, the white one is for being alumni since this is my 4th event with the Team. We got water bottles and reps from FRS which is a company that has sports drinks for athletes, so we got to take some samples of that too.
The loot we got at the kick off!
It was a great time – we saw some team members from when we did our last event back in 2007 – and met Doug a patient honoree who is battling lymphoma – but also raising money and running events with Team in Training – I always get choked up meeting people like that.
So, our fundraising page is open for donations – no donation is too small – it all adds up!
Have a great day everyone!
Dec 29, 2011
Posted by Jennifer on Dec 29, 2011 in Dinner Idea, kid friendly, pasta | 0 comments
Normally when I start cooking I almost always start with a recipe. That way I know at least it will turn out OK and I will adjust when necessary. I wish I was more of a home chef that just throws stuff in a skillet and it all comes out perfect.
Well, I had an idea of a recipe today that in my head sounded amazing, and I just went with my instincts. How did it turn out? Fabulous!
This recipe serves 7 servings
1 package Jennie-O Turkey Kielbasa
1 package egg noodles
1 tablespoon butter
juice of 1 lemon
5 oz. fresh shrimp
5 green onions, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
salt and pepper to taste
2 1/2 cups chicken stock, divided
1/4 cup all purpose flour
zest of 1 lemon
4 tablespoons fresh parsley
1/2 cup shredded Asiago Cheese
In a large pot, bring water to a boil and cook egg noodles according to directions, drain and return to the pot.
In a large skillet, add the 1 tablespoon butter, the garlic and green onions and cook for about 2-3 minutes. Add 2 cups of chicken stock. In a small bowl add the 1/2 cup of extra chicken stock with 1/4 cup flour and stir. This is going to help thicken the sauce. Add that to the skillet and cook on medium heat for 3-4 minutes until thickened. Add the shrimp, the cut up turkey kielbasa, the juice and zest of 1 lemon and add the parsley. Heat until the shrimp and turkey kielbasa is heated through.
You can sprinkle some more Asiago cheese on top before serving.
I entered the calories in www.caloriecount.com and for each serving it’s only:
Nutrition Facts
Serving Size 246 g
Amount Per Serving
Calories 240Calories from Fat 77
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 8.5g13%
Saturated Fat 4.2g21%
Trans Fat 0.0g
Cholesterol 83mg28%
Sodium 674mg28%
Total Carbohydrates 22.9g8%
Dietary Fiber 1.3g5%
Sugars 2.0g
Protein 20.0g
Vitamin A 9% • Vitamin C 15%
Calcium 11% • Iron 13%
I loved the sauce the best, it was lemony, but enough sauce so the dish wasn’t dry. I will definitely make this again and for my family of 5 – no leftovers! So I always take that as a good sign
Are you more comfortable cooking with a recipe – or do you just throw things together that sound good??
And – my husband wrote a great post about our Team in Training for the marathon and half marathon we are doing the end of April – it talks about where the money we raise goes for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Check out his post HERE to learn more about that.
And if you can spare any amount – no matter how small, our Team in Training Donation Page is HERE.
Sep 12, 2011
Posted by Jennifer on Sep 12, 2011 in chicken, crock pot recipes, Dinner Idea, pasta, soup | 4 comments
Earlier this week, I made a few things with soy chorizo. It was so good, but by the end of the week, I still had half a tube left and wasn’t sure if I could freeze it, so I decided to make a soup with it! I just used things I had leftover at the end of the week, and you can do the same thing.
Ingredients I used:
1/2 tube of Soy chorizo
1 chicken breast (mine was frozen)
3 large carrots. sliced
2 baby green peppers
1 jalapeno – seeds removed, and chopped
2 stalks celery, diced
2 stalks green onions (white and green part) chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 can black beans, rinsed
1/2 cup uncooked macaroni
fresh cilantro
6 cups water with 6 tsp. chicken broth
Directions:
In a large pot add the chorizo and cook for several minutes, breaking up the pieces. Next I took the green pepper and jalapeno pepper and added 6 cups of water with 6 tsp. chicken stock mix into a blender and blended that altogether.
I poured that liquid mixture into the pot with the chorizo. Next I added the frozen chicken breast, it was pretty big, so I just added the one. Bring the broth to a boil, then simmer for about 20 minutes until the chicken is done. I took the chicken out of the broth, shredded it with 2 forks, then added it back to the broth.
The vegetables come next WITH the 1/2 cup of elbow macaroni, add the rest of the veggies into the pot and cook on low for another 20 minutes or so until the veggies are tender and the pasta is done.
I actually didn’t put any other seasonings into it because the seasonings from the soy chorizo gave the broth such great flavor I didn’t think it needed anything else!
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On another note, I wanted to let you know of my blogger friend Amie of The Healthy Apple. She and Silvana Nardone have launched a new online magazine called Easy Eats. If you have to follow a gluten free or restricted diet, this magazine is for you! Check it out when you get a moment.
Sep 3, 2011
Posted by Jennifer on Sep 3, 2011 in a day in the life of me!, general ideas, pasta, potluck, sauces, vegetables | 7 comments
Hi everyone! It’s been a super busy week and I haven’t had time to post new stuff! The first few weeks of school are always hectic, keeping track of 3 kids at 3 different schools – making sure what things they have going on, it’s crazy!
But, one highlight this week – my baby is in 4th grade and do you know what that means?? She gets to decide if she wants to play an instrument.
They had an assembly at school, she came home and declared she wanted to play the saxophone!
We went to the open house and she tried some instruments…
She tried the cello:
And in the end….she went with the CELLO! Great job Claire!
So now on to my fire roasted tomato sauce. I make pasta every week, because its cheap and feeds a big family. Having 2 teenage boys I count them as 2 servings, and my husband will most likely have 2 servings, so even though I have a family of 5, I cook for a family of 8!
I do the majority of my shopping at Aldi .
When I was there over the weekend, I noticed they had fire roasted tomatoes for only .89 cents a can!
So I decided my sauce this week would be with that.
Fire Roasted Tomato Sauce
1 28 oz. can of tomato sauce
2 cans fire roasted tomatoes
1/2 green pepper
1 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
2 baby orange peppers
1/2 large white onion
5 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon oregano
splash of Worcestershire sauce
2 links Italian sausage, casing removed
I almost always add just a little meat to my sauce. Not a ton. 1/2 pound of ground beef, or ground chicken, or a few links of Italian sausage.
Directions:
In a cast iron skillet, add a little olive oil and add the Italian sausage. Break it up and cook until browned on all sides.
Meanwhile in a large blender. I add everything else. All the veggies, the cans of fire roasted tomatoes, the tomato sauce and spices. Blend until its all smooth.
By the way, this is a great sauce to make towards the end of the week, just throw in veggies left over in your fridge, no one will know what you put in there! I’ve even been known to add fresh spinach into the mix, but make sure you don’t put too much or else the sauce will be green and then the jig is up – your family will know you crammed healthy stuff in the sauce!
Add the pureed sauce into the skillet with the Italian sausage and cook for about 20 minutes on low/medium heat.
That night I made bow tie pasta. The sauce was delicious, kind of smokey from the fire roasted potatoes. Everyone had seconds.
And lastly – what do you think of the new layout for Slim-Shoppin??? After almost 4 years of the same look, it was time for a FRESH look!
There are a lot of things I am still learning about this template, it’s got a lot of bells and whistles, so I will be tweaking things here and there. The one thing I did notice is it takes a few seconds for the page to upload everything, so please be patient with that
OK, time to enjoy the weekend. My niece is getting married tomorrow so we’ll be seeing lots of family we haven’t seen in a while, so I am looking forward to that.
Have a great weekend!
Aug 13, 2011
Posted by Jennifer on Aug 13, 2011 in chicken, Dinner Idea, general ideas, party food!, pasta, potluck, Side dish | 2 comments
Last weekend I used McCormick’s chipotle marinade to make grilled potatoes. which turned out great.
I didn’t really plan my dinners that much this week, I knew I just had things on hand to put something together. One night this week as soon as I walked in the door, my kids ran up to me and said like they normally do “What’s for dinner?”
I said “something with chicken!” I took 3 chicken breasts out of the freezer, defrosted them and cut them into chunks.
In a large skillet coated with a little olive oil, I started browning the chicken. I was looking in my pantry and saw the chipotle seasoning mix and decided to add that to the chicken.
I was thinking about what to make as a side dish, when I saw I had spiral pasta and was thinking if I could make a sauce, add the chicken and cooked pasta?
Once the chicken was almost cooked through, I added 1 cup of chicken stock and 1 cup of skim milk mixed with 1/4 cup of flour to thicken the sauce. Cook for a few minutes and then add the cooked pasta – reserving some of the pasta water if you want to thin out the sauce.
The result? YUM! No leftovers of this meal, which I always consider a success! Sprinkle with shredded cheddar cheese if you want.
If I had green onions, I think adding some chopped green onions on top and maybe a little bit of crumbled bacon would have made this even more deluxe!
Ingredients:
3 chicken breasts, trimmed of all fat and cut into chunks
1 tb. olive oil
1 packet McCormick seasoning (chipotle)
1 cup chicken broth
1 cup skim milk
1/4 cup flour
1 box spiral pasta
cheddar cheese to sprinkle on top
salt and pepper to taste
The seasoning is spicy – but it is less spicy making the sauce. My kids liked the heat, but it wasn’t too much where they couldn’t eat it.
Who loves watermelon? It’s my favorite summer fruit. Look at how pretty this melon was when I opened it up!
Have a great weekend? What are your plans?
*I just found a new blog – meet Rachel – she’s lost 85 pounds – check out her weight loss story and before and after pics here!! Great job Rachel!!
