Mom's Meat Sauce

Most people will probably think this is too sweet and it's sacrilege but it's a taste of childhood for my sibs and me. And man did we ever love our ketchup. This is definitely one way to have your kid have spaghetti and meat sauce if they love ketchup the way K does and the way my sis and I did as kids.

We used to have this as "sloppy joes" with buns, or with rice or with spaghetti (our fave way to eat it). I introduced this sauce to K last night and he had a healthy portion of it. Any way I can get him to have any meat, I'm happy. :)


Mom's Meat Sauce
(serves 4-5)

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs lean ground beef
• 1 10 3/4 oz (305g) can condensed tomato soup
• 1/2 - 3/4 cup ketchup
• 1/2 - 1 Tbsp sugar
• Salt, to taste

Directions:

1. Heat up a large pot (or in my mom's case, a wok) over medium high heat. When pot is hot, add beef and cook until no longer pink. Season with a pinch of salt.
2. Once meat is cooked, stir in tomato soup, 1/2 cup of ketchup and a 1/2 tablespoon of sugar. Mix well until sauce is hot and bubbly. Taste and season with more ketchup, sugar and/or salt, if needed.
3. Serve over spaghetti, rice or use as a "sloppy Joe" filling.

Summertime Orzo

I love orzo in the summer. I can stuff so much veggies in it and it'll taste refreshing. Even though I'm having pasta. WAHAHAHA.

This is a pretty awesome dish. A little goes a long way and you can serve it with any grilled protein or any pan fried fish fillet. We had it with pan fried halibut the other night. Darn yummy.


Summertime Orzo
(serves 4-6)

Ingredients:

• 2 cups dry orzo
• 1 cup snap peas, sliced on a bias
• 1 bell pepper, finely diced
• 2 cups mushrooms, sliced
• 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1/2 medium onion, finely diced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• Salt & pepper, to taste
• 1 Tbsp canola oil
• Herb butter (optional)

Directions:

1. Bring a medium pot of salted water to boil. Cook orzo until al dente. Drain.
2. Heat up a skillet over medium high heat. Add oil. Once it's shimmery, add mushrooms and cook until they start getting some colour. Add onion, bell pepper and garlic. Cook for a minute or so until the onion starts to soften and garlic is fragrant.
3. Toss in peas and tomatoes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
4. Mix in orzo until well combined. Add more salt and pepper if needed. 
5. Serve with grilled protein and top with a pat of herb butter.

Chicken Florentine Penne Casserole

I have not made a chicken florentine in a LONG time. The last time I made it, I really loved it and swore I'd make it again. Well, I never did. It was just too much work. Lazy much? Totally. =\

Well, I'm totally craving the flavours again, so I made this concoction. I wasn't sure if there'd be enough milk to cook the pasta properly without drying out anything. OMG how happy was I when it came out perfectly. I gotta give credit to the mushrooms and spinach though. I'm sure they helped in it. :D

You can make this vegetarian or into a side dish by just not adding the chicken. Or you can sub with firm tofu.


Chicken Florentine Penne Casserole
(serves 6)

Ingredients:

• 3 1/2 cups dry penne pasta
• 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cubed
• 1 300g frozen chopped spinach, defrosted and drained
• 1 lb mushrooms, sliced
• 2 1/4 cups whole milk
• 2/3 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
• 1 284ml can cream of mushroom soup
• 1 Tbsp dry Italian seasoning
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1/3 cup butter, melted
• 1 1/4 cup Panko breadcrumbs

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375F.
2. In a large mixing bowl, mix together milk, cheese, mushroom soup, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper until the mixture is no longer clumpy. Mix in chicken breasts, penne, spinach and mushrooms. 
3. Transfer mixture into a  2 1/2 quart casserole dish. Set aside.
4. In a small bowl, mix melted butter and Panko breadcrumbs. Sprinkle on top of the casserole. Tightly cover the casserole with a greased aluminum foil.
5. Bake for 45 minutes. Remove the aluminum foil and bake for another 10 minutes, uncovered, to crisp up the breadcrumbs.
6. Serve with a light salad and/or soup.

Smoked Sausage, Tomatoes & Mushrooms Penne

I haven't really wanted to cook pasta for a while. It's mainly cuz now I'm in this frame of mind where I feel like it's a chore to dirty another pot and strainer JUST to cook pasta and sometimes it takes longer for the pasta to cook than it does for me to make the sauce. Weird and probably very lazy, since it's almost the same as just making rice for any other dishes. HAH.

Regardless, I had the ingredients to make a pretty easy pasta dinner, so I made myself do it! I'm glad I did though. It was pretty good. :)

Surprisingly it wasn't that filling though. I ended up having to have some leftover lasagna as an "after dinner snack". Lol. Maybe I just needed to have a bigger portion. :P


Smoked Sausage, Tomatoes & Mushrooms Penne
(serves 4)

Ingredients:

• 3 cups dry penne pasta
• 1/2 lb mushrooms, sliced
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 3 smoked Italian sausages, sliced
• 2 medium tomatoes, chopped
• 1 red chili pepper, diced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 Tbsp canola oil
• 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
• Salt & pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. In a medium to large pot, cook pasta in boiling salted water until al dente.
2. In a large skillet, heat up oil over medium high heat. Add in mushrooms and cook until they start to get some colour.
3. Toss in onions, chili pepper and sausage. Cook until onions soften and sausage starts getting browned at the edges. 
4. Add tomatoes and garlic. Use the tomato juice that secretes out to help scrape off any brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Season with salt and pepper.
5. When pasta is cooked, drain, reserving 1/2 cup of pasta water.
6. Toss in cooked pasta and stir in Parmesan cheese. If the pasta gets dry, add a little pasta water to loosen up.
7. Serve with a side salad and soup.

Ham & Peas Pasta

This can be a pretty soupy pasta, which is pretty nice. I just tend not to make it very soupy for K cuz I don't want him making too much of a mess. Plus he's not really that fond of drinking any soups after having pasta. But he loves soupy noodles. What the heck?! O.o

You can always add more or less water. Season it more or less to your liking. Don't like peas? Then don't add them! The green onions do give a nice fresh taste though so I wouldn't leave that out. Unless your toddler doesn't like green onions. Mind you, most toddlers don't like peas either but K loves both peas and green onions. I try to lure him to eat more of the pasta and ham by putting the peas and green onions toward the back of the spoon so he has to eat a full spoonful before he can get to the peas and green onions. Devious? I think so! But totally required...

My mom used to make this for us all the time as kids. It's one of the easiest things to make in the mornings for breakfast before school. Good for leftover ham too. :D


Ham & Peas Pasta
(makes ~2 toddler meals)

Ingredients:

• 1 cup dry macaroni, small shell or any small pasta
• 1 slices of ham, finely diced
• 1/2 cup frozen peas
• 1 small stalk green onion, finely diced
• Salt, to taste
• 1/2 pinch chicken bouillon (optional)
• Water

Directions:

1. In a small pot, bring 3 cups of salted water to boil. Add in dry pasta, ham and chicken bouillon, if using. Simmer until pasta is to the texture your toddler likes.
2. Turn off heat and stir in peas and green onions. Taste. Add more water if you want it more soupy and adjust seasoning if needed.
3. Cool to room temperature and serve.

Andouille Sausage and Linguine

Pasta pasta. I always used to have lots of pasta. It was one of the easiest things to make for dinner after work. Somehow I just stopped making pasta and eating more rice. Meh. Rice is pretty darn awesome. I can eat it all day every day. As long as there's something to eat with it of course.

Well I had andouille sausage and no clue what to do with it. Brain fart. So I went with my old stand by when it comes to a quick pasta dinner.


Andouille Sausage and Linguine
(serves 3-4)

Ingredients:

• 1 lb linguine
• 2 Andouille sausage links, sliced
• 4 bacon slices, chopped
• 1 bell pepper, cut into strips
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tsp red chili flakes
• Salt & pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. Boil salted water in a pot and cook linguine while you get the rest of the dish ready. Make sure linguine is cooked just under al dente.
2. In a large skillet, cook bacon. Transfer bacon pieces to a towel lined bowl or plate. Set aside.
3. Toss in sausage, onions, bell peppers, garlic and chili flakes. Cook until sausage is golden brown and veggies are tender.
4. Using tongs, transfer just under al dente linguine from pot to skillet. Stir in bacon pieces, salt and pepper and mix well. If the pasta seems dry, just add a bit of pasta water to loosen things up.
5. Serve with a side salad and/or soup.

Cheddar Mac & Cheese

I'm sorry, but Hubby and I don't really eat mac and cheese. We did need another side dish to go with the ham for Hubby's birthday dinner so I went with this! It was a lot more liquidy after I made it, but it sat for a few minutes before everyone started eating so that's why it looks so much more stiff.

It's pretty good. Very rich says my Sis. Meh. That's what mac and cheese is supposed to be, right? Lol. Who knows. I'm the type who would rather eat the Kraft kind in a box than ones made from scratch. Blasphemy (is what most people would say but I don't care)!


Cheddar Mac & Cheese
(serves 6-8)

Ingredients:

• 4 cups dry macaroni pasta
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/4 cup all purpose flour
• 3 cups whole milk
• 5 cups cheddar cheese, grated (or more if you want)
• 1 1/2 tsp salt (more to taste, if needed)
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• 1 tsp mustard powder

Directions:

1. In a large pot, cook macaroni in salted water until al dente and drain.
2. In a separate large pot or dutch oven, melt butter on medium low heat. When butter has melted, whisk in flour to make a paste. Sprinkle in nutmeg and mustard powder. Cook until fragrant, about 2 minutes or so.
3. Slowly pour milk in a bit at a time while whisking constantly to break up any lumps. Add salt and pepper. Whisk until smooth and mixture has thicken (sauce will leave a trail when you dip a spoon in to drizzle sauce on top of the sauce in the pot). Reduce heat to low.
4. Stir in cheese and mix until all the cheese has melted. Season with more salt and pepper if needed.
5. Pour in the cooked macaroni and mix until every piece is well coated. Add more milk if it's too dry.
6. Serve immediately if you like it very creamy, or let it sit for a few minutes, if you like it less creamy.

Whole Wheat Ricotta Gnocchi with Garlic Brown Butter Sauce

So normally with gnocchi you'd use regular all purpose flour, right? Well, I decided to use whole wheat instead. It's just more convenient for me. Simply because I chose to pour my whole wheat flour in a big container and left the all purpose in the large bag to encourage me to use more whole wheat and less all purpose. I guess that plan worked. :)

Anywho, I read about this new technique for making gnocchi. It looked so cool so I just had to try it. I made it with a brown butter sauce. It was crazy soft. Maybe a little too soft because I had to handle the little guys super gentle and some of them would still break off a little in the water and when I cooked them in the sauce. Oh well. Maybe I'll try regular all purpose flour next time and see how it goes. But maybe it also has to do with the fact that I don't have a food processor and just used a whisk and hand blender. :O

Hubby and I definitely agreed that if I'm going to make this next time with the brown butter sauce, I'm going to have to mix in some crab or lobster chunks.


Whole Wheat Ricotta Gnocchi with Garlic Brown Butter Sauce
(serves 4)

Ingredients:

• 1 large egg
• 2 cups ricotta
• Pinch of salt & more
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 6 Tbsps butter
• 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• Pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
2. Bring a large pot of salted water to boil.
3. In a medium bowl, beat egg, pinch of salt and ricotta until creamy. Add in the flour and mix until just incorporated. Scoop the mixture into a Ziploc or pastry bag. If using a Ziploc bag, cut a small hole about the size of your finger in diameter.
4. Use a paring knife to cut off gnocchi pieces directly over the boiling salted water while squeezing the pastry/Ziploc bag. Cook until the gnocchi floats to the top. 
5. When cooked, use a slotted spoon to scoop out gnocchi onto the parchment lined baking sheet. Set aside while you work on your sauce.
6. In a large sauce pan, melt butter on medium heat and let brown. Keep an eye on it so it doesn't burn. As soon as the butter starts going brown, turn down the heat to low and add the olive oil, garlic, salt & pepper to taste. Stir until the garlic is fragrant. 
7. Toss in gnocchi in the sauce until well coated. Serve as a side with a salad and some sort of protein or by itself.

Cheesy Pasta Bake

Pasta used to be a main staple in our household. And then it wasn't. I'm not entirely sure what happened. But the other night we had baked pasta. God do I ever miss that. The cheesy oozy goodness is just to DIE FOR! Disclaimer: I didn't have enough cheese at home - just a little less than 2 cups. That's why the picture doesn't show all the ooey gooey goodness of some baked melty cheese.

I used to use ricotta but about 2 years ago, I decided to sub ricotta for cottage for more protein. It makes me feel better (read: healthier) when I have so much cheese everywhere. :P

Have I ever told you how much I love my dutch oven? I love it. I love it a lot. I don't even use oil when I brown meat anymore because it doesn't even stick! And I'm going to use some sort of liquid to deglaze anyway, so there's really very little point to add it. :D


Cheesy Pasta Bake
(serves 6-8)

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 - 2 lbs lean ground beef (or a little under 1 lb of each lean ground beef and lean ground pork)
• 1 medium onion, chopped 
• 3 garlic cloves, minced 
• 1/2 tsp red chili flakes 
• 1 Tbsp dried Italian herbs 
• 3 bay leaves 
• 1 796ml (28oz) can of crushed tomatoes
• 1/2 can water
• 1 500g tub of cottage cheese
• 3 cups grated cheddar cheese, divided
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided
• 1 lb uncooked short pasta (eg., penne, rotini, bowtie, etc.)
• 1 pkg of frozen chopped spinach, defrosted & drained (optional)
• 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375F.
2. Heat up the oil (optional) in a large dutch oven or pot on medium high heat. Brown the meat. Season with salt and pepper.
3. Once the meat is almost all browned, add onions. Cook until translucent. Stir in garlic and cook until fragrant. Stir in chili flakes, Italian herbs and bay leaves.
4. Pour in the can of crushed tomatoes. Fill the can halfway with water and add to the sauce. Stir to combine and lower heat to simmer for 10 minutes, covered.
5. In the meantime, combine the cottage cheese, 2 cups of cheddar cheese, 1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese and spinach (optional) in a large mixing bowl. Stir in the pasta until all the pasta pieces are coated with the cheese mixture.
6. Ladle half of sauce on the bottom of a 9x13 pan. Pour the pasta and cheese mixture over the sauce, spreading it out evenly. Ladle remaining sauce over the pasta, making sure that the tops are all coated with sauce. Sprinkle on the remaining cheddar cheese and then top with the remaining Parmesan cheese.
7. Cover the dish with aluminum foil and bake for 45-60 minutes, or until everything is all bubbly and gooey.
8. Serve with a side of garlic toast and a side salad.

I'm not sure about anyone else, but I always oil the side of the aluminum foil that's going to touch the cheese. This ensures that I won't lose most of it to the foil. Sometimes it gets the dish's handles all oily but MEH! It saves that precious cheese! :D

The pasta will cook with all the steam and extra water we put into the sauce. I wouldn't worry. This is how I make all my baked pastas because I'm too lazy to cook the pasta first. I mean...it'd mean I have more things to wash and I'd have to spend more time in front of the stove. Now who would wanna do that? Right? Not me, that's for sure! :P

Update: I froze half of this in the freezer the last time I made it and then baked it from frozen. Make sure you bake it for an extra half hour or your pasta will only be half baked.