Recipe Corner

I always aimed to cook at home more than eat out but that didn't become a reality until Hew started eating solids. As I made food for him, I started cooking more for us too. My go-to meal at anytime during the week is pasta. Below you'll find my recipe for the basic sauce. I put different twists on it depending on my mood (crushed red pepper & brown sugar or fresh basil/thyme/oregano, etc). Throw in some cooked whole wheat noodles and it's dinner in a snap.

1. Preheat extra virgin olive oil in a large sauce pan over medium-hi heat then add meat of choice. My fav are whichever sausages are on sale at Sprouts b/c they don't need to be seasoned but if you're using plain ground beef/turkey/chicken I would add some S&P to make them a little more interesting. Bacon or prosciutto is always yummy too.
2. Once meat has been brownd (or crisped, depending on what you chose), remove from pan with a slotted spoon leaving the yummy fat/oil in the pan. Reduce heat to medium.
3. Add garlic, onions & any other veggie of your choice (I heart bell peppers). Season with salt & pepper to taste then saute until soft. Note: if you're using the aforementioned sausages from Sprouts, they'll provide more than enough seasoning to the sauce.
4. Add a can of diced tomatoes, a can of tomato sauce and a couple tablespoons of tomate paste.
5. Return the cooked meat back to the pan then stir to combine. Simmer for a few more minutes while you drain the pasta or grate the cheese, etc.

Supper is served!

{All the ingredients are from Costco with the exception of the roma tomatoes used in the green beans}

Another favorite of mine (but still trying to smooth out the recipe execution) are these yummy chicken tenders. They came out a bit dark from the whole wheat flour that I used and could've used a little more salt & pepper. I ran out of honey and put a little too much lemon juice in the honey mustard sauce so it came out a bit runny. Lessons learned for th next time around.

I apologize for the unsolicited cooking post but just wanted to share a peek into my exciting life of domestication. Maybe...just maybe...the next post will be about some of my best cleaning tips...if you're lucky.