Vegetable Marzetti

I set out to make something I thought the kids would eat, since we're all just getting our appetites back and have tender tummies. When I started eating it I realised it was pretty much Marzetti but with veges instead of meat.

I cooked the pasta and then stirred the sauce through. To make the sauce I literally just put all these ingredients in a pan: can of tomatoes, diced onion, crushed garlic, salt, pepper, peas, grated carrot, chicken stock cube (so technically not vegetarian), tomato paste, water. I let that reduce down for a bit then added cheese.

It was great. But would probably be nicer if you took the time to saute onions and garlic and be thoughtful about your other ingredients as well. But as it was, chucking it all in worked pretty well too.

Bean Salad 2

Too many cookies during the day again today made me feel like something light. I ended up having poor mans bean salad - a can of four bean mix with dressing of equal parts vegetable oil, white vinegar and sugar. Missing chickpeas, corn kernels, chopped, blanched, fresh green beans, diced capsicum.

So if you want the REAL, family recipe bean salad, then put it all in. It's a winner!

Cookies and Vegetable Curry

Seriously. I ate so much dough and so many straight out of the oven (you know, "testing") I decided to eat a full dozen (or so) and make it a meal.

But I fed the kids something decent. This DELICIOUS vegetable curry. When I ate it earlier today for lunch I kept hoping that the next chunk would be chicken, even though I knew it wasn't. But it was good. My base sauce: a can of tomatoes, coconut cream, cashew milk (made by blending cashews in water. I don't know if other people do it, but I know that's how you make almond milk so I gave it a shot), regular milk. Then a ton of spices that I'll never be able to replicate, but it was good. Yummo! So glad there's leftovers!

Tomato and Basil Spaghetti 4

Good ol' trusty. I had wholemeal, everyone else regular. Lately I overcook my wholemeal spaghetti by about two minutes over what the packet says. It's way better that way I reckon.

Mexican Spiced Tomato Soup and rice

I whipped up some Mexican Spiced Tomato Soup tonight. I cooked it in a large frypan, so that the simmering time was shorter. Worked a charm! I also suggest that out of 6 cups of stock you actually use 4 cups of water and 2 of stock. I only ever use stock cubes, so really I'm saying use 6 cups of water and only 2 stock cubes, I don't know what real stock would be like. And make sure your cubes are dissolved before pouring it in!

Lentils and rice is a full protein, so here you go! A well rounded meal! (Especially if your rice is brown, yum yum.)

An enormous salad

It was a hot day today. I didn't feel like (or have the time to, after lounging in the sun) make a big dinner. So the kids got sausages and chips from the freezer, with carrot and cheese sticks and fruit for dessert. And I had an enormous salad. It was perfect for the weather today.

Peas and Pasta

After looking through recipes online I conglomerated them and made peas and pasta tonight. Really it was a lot like midnight spaghetti with a can of peas thrown in and slightly mashed. It was alright. Nat and I ate ours with wholemeal penne...

and the kids had theirs with lasagne.

It looks gross, I know, but it wasn't too bad. Won't be doing it again any time soon though.

Homemade Kumara Chips and Veges

Nat had a big lunch today and so didn't need a big dinner. And I hadn't even thought about what to make and all of a sudden it was 4:30pm. So we just had something light.

I made kumara chips by slicing the kumara thinly, tossing in olive oil, salt and pepper, and baking them flat on a cookie sheet just till cooked but still soft (some were crispy). Then rice, salad, and peas and corn.

Tomato and Basil Spaghetti 3

Nat made some spaghetti sauce earlier in the day today so that he could take his dinner to work with him (working a night shift). He also used the rest of the spaghetti.

So the kids had macaroni with their spaghetti sauce. Another empty packet.

I had mine over brown rice.

It was nice enough, but you really need to make sure you've got enough sauce to flavour it otherwise it's too boring.

Mexican Spiced Tomato Soup

I've posted about this soup before on my other blog here. Pretty much, it's delicious and goes great with quesadillas. The recipe is also here, credits to the cook.

*Not fully vegetarian as it uses beef stock. I'm sure you could substitute it out though.

Tomato and Basil Spaghetti 2

Spaghetti for the boys.

I boiled veges to stir the sauce through for me. It was gross.

Stir Fry with chick peas and parsnip crisps

I attempted parsnip crisps tonight. Sliced as thin as possible, olive oil, salt and pepper, baked then grilled. I think it's a winner idea, they tasted delicious, but I didn't quite get them crisp enough to be called crisps. I'm going to try again tomorrow.

Then I made a stir fry, with plenty of veges. Cooking oil in the pan, shallot and garlic next, when translucent all the other veges in. I used carrot, brocolli, mushrooms, cabbage and celery. Put in some soy sauce and sesame seeds to taste. Stir that for a bit then add cooked chickpeas and tons of peanuts. They give a nice crunch. And add some chilli, I used flakes, if you want. I added it near the end because chilli gets hotter as it's cooked and I didn't want it too hot.

Then I put the stir fry on the parsnip (not) crisps. The only thing I would have changed is I added a bit too much soy sauce so it was really dark, and cooked it for too long because I was waiting for my crisps. So it got a bit droopy. You could always add more or less veges, and rice or crispy noodles would be great.

Spaghetti

Got home at about 5pm tonight after staying at my parents for the week. Needless to say I needed another quick one. Tonight we had spaghetti with sauce straight from the jar, Charlie and Bella Swan style.

Alfabeto and Cheese

Like macaroni and cheese only...

Well there's one way to make dinner five times longer than it needs to be.

Midnight Spaghetti 2

Just the same as the first time, but at least this time I followed Erika's presentation advice. Check out this photo.

Cheese, Tomato and Spinach Quiche

I went to a cooking group this morning and came home with this. It made a lovely dinner served with salad and fresh home made bread rolls. I get excited thinking about all the possibilities of fillings for my soon to be made quiches.

Creamy Tomato Pasta Bake

I used this recipe for creamy tomato pasta sauce, didn't drain the tomatoes and added an extra can of water to make it a pasta bake. And I added frozen mixed veges to try and make it healthier, mistakenly thinking they would be sufficiently disguised in the finished dish. I ended up picking them all out of my 2 year olds dinner so that he would eat it anyway. Oh and I wouldn't recommend the recipe through the link. Not the best. For a pasta bake anyway. I guess it might be okay on top of fettuccine like the recipe calls for.

Quick Gnocchi with Tomato & Basil Sauce

After Rachel commented that she'd had Gnocchi with Gorgonzola sauce, I looked up what gnocchi is and decided to make some. We had some friends over for dinner, one of which has had plenty of gnocchi and she said that mine stacked up against the rest well for a first time making it. Our other guest said he thought it was good whether or not it was my first time. But I don't think he's had much gnocchi experience, so he might have just been complementing his host.

I used this recipe, which uses instant potato flakes, to save time. I used fresh crushed garlic instead of powder and fresh basil instead of dried parsley. I don't know if I'll ever try this recipe, which starts with potatoes, but I did use a lot of the technique described in that recipe, and so I think it's a useful read.

Here you can see (clockwise from 1 o'clock, amongst other things) gnocchi that has been cut and curled, rolled out in a "snake" waiting to be cut, and still in chunks waiting to be rolled out.

We ate the gnocchi with the tomato and basil sauce that we normally have with spaghetti, because one of our guests wasn't too keen on cheesy sauces.

I curled most of the gnocchi but my friend said she didn't remember the gnocchi she's had being curled, so cooked some without curling as well. They're mixed on the plate here. I didn't really notice too much of a difference, so in the future I'll probably curl them for fun if I have the time, and eat without curling when I need this meal a little quicker.

We had salad as a side, which was actually really nice to eat with the gnocchi because it gave it a bit more texture, and the Paul Newman Balsamic Vinaigrette was appreciated of course too.

Tomato and Basil Spaghetti

1 400g can of chopped tomatoes (Italian are best)

1/3 cup Olive oil

6 cloves of garlic

25+ basil leaves

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Optional - Up to 1 cup Shrimp/Prawns (if using we normally have 2-4 prawns each)

Chop or crush the garlic and add everything to a saucepan.

Cook on medium heat for at least 15 minutes, stirring often to prevent sticking and burning.

Meanwhile cook enough spaghetti pasta for your needs according to the packet directions. If adding shrimp/prawns put cooked shrimp/prawns in with sauce for about 2-3 minutes. When pasta is cooked spoon into the saucepan and stir to coat. (Or strain pasta and return to pot, then add sauce, if your saucepan isn't big enough).

Serve topped with grated parmesan cheese.

Hints: Measurements can be altered to suit your taste. We like to chop our garlic very coarsely, as we find it delicious after it's been infused with the tomato and basil flavours at the end of cooking. But lately I just crush it to save time. Excess sauce can be reserved for up to 2 days covered in the fridge, and needs only to be heated to simmering then added to cook pasta, alternatively you can serve more sauce with less pasta for a very strongly flavoured dish. We mostly use this sauce for 2 1/2 servings of pasta (2 adults one child) but have used it for up to 6 adult servings. We usually use all the basil leaves off of one of the small $2 plants that you can buy from the supermarket.