Triple Tomato Sauce Pasta

Mom posted this a while back ... I'm re posting it because it had kinda gotten lost.
I just tried it tonight ... here's my photo.
It's delicious.
AND
SUPER EASY to make !
Try it ....

Here is a super easy recipe I tried last evening. It was yummy! It took only the time needed to cook the pasta. A side caesar salad and dinner was ready!

Penne with Triple Tomato Sauce

Ingredients
1 pound penne
2 medium tomatoes (5 ounces each), cut into 1-inch dice
4 oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, drained
2 tablespoons tomato paste (I had half a can, so used it all...then needed an extra drizzle of olive oil to make the blender whirl it all)
4 large basil leaves
1 garlic clove (I of course used more!)
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
Directions

In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook the penne until al dente.
Meanwhile, in a blender, combine the diced tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes, tomato paste, basil, garlic and olive oil. Puree until smooth. Drain the pasta, put it back into the hot pan. Pour the sauce over it, add the salt and pepper, and toss well to coat. Serve the pasta piping hot. (If you are going to serve it in a bowl, I'd suggest heating the bowl in the oven first.)

I grated lots of fresh romano cheese to lavishly sprinkle on as it was the only protein of the meal. Good call, I thought!

http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/august-2007-penne-with-triple-tomato-sauce This is the site where I found the recipe...I'll visit there again!

My Menu - Bonnie - 14 February 2011

Menu Plan Monday is hosted by Laura at I'm an Organizing Junkie

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY ... although, every day is Valentines Day at my house ! :)

Sunday
I'm going to try making Pad Thai by myself.
(The recipe I posted was from when I watched a friend make it.)
I'm going to add prawns ! MMMM !!

Monday
My Mom posted this one a while back ...
this will be the first time I've tried it.
Penne with Triple Tomato Salad
Simple Side Salad

Tuesday

Tuna Mac

Wednesday
Spaghetti Bolognaise

Thursday
This is one that Andrea posted a while back ...
Can't wait to try it !!
Grilled Fish Sandwich

Friday
Un-Planned

Saturday
Birthday Party !

Yummmy Yummmmy Almondy Tart !!

So, a while back, when we were still trying to eat totally unprocessed, I made this.
It's a combination of a few recipes ...

I started by making a pastry base that I had made for the ganache. I did it in a quiche dish so it was a bit 'taller' than the base you see pictured (that's from the ganache !)

For the pastry base:
240g good whole wheat flour, I sift mine
160g butter
Pinch of salt

To make the dough ... this was so easy !! Put the flour, butter and a pinch of salt in a food processor and blend until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs. Add 1-2 teaspoons cold water and blend again until the dough just comes together. Tip out onto a lightly floured board or clean bench and form dough into a disc, enclose in cling film and refrigerate for 30 minutes. (if you do it too much longer than that it gets really hard to roll out ...) Roll pastry out to the size of whatever tart pan (or pans) you are using ~ I used a glass quiche dish ... actually, I used a tart pan but then the bottom popped out and the side of the pan burned me and I dropped it and lost the sides of my pastry so I transferred the half cooked pastry to a quiche dish !! ....poke the base with a fork, then place back in the fridge to rest for about 20 minutes.

Preheat oven to 180C/350F ... bake pastry for about 15 minutes (until golden). Remove from oven and reduce the heat ... 170C/325F

For the inside of the tart:
350g almond meal (or you could process almonds to make your own)
300g butter
100g brown sugar
3 eggs, lightly beaten

6 TBLS strawberry jam. Make sure it is a nice one ! I use St. Dalfour exclusively. It's more expensive than normal jam but we don't eat it very often so I think it balances out in the end !

For the topping:
Sliced almonds to sprinkle on the top
500ml creme fraiche

Mix butter and sugar til light and creamy. Add almond meal and eggs and fold until completely combined. It should be smooth. Stick it in the fridge to firm up. Cover the bottom of the pastry with jam. Pour in your almond mixture. Sprinkle your sliced almonds on the top.

Bake for about 40 minutes. It should be firm on the outside but soft in the middle.

Let cool and serve with creme fraiche.

Meat for Burgers

So ... we have been working for years on our meat patties that
we use to make burgers. Rory has pretty well perfected them
now ! Every time we make burgers and I post about it, I
refer you to the first post I did when we were first
starting out, the photos leave lots to be desired.
I keep thinking, I need to do another post
but I always forget to take a photo of
the patty itself ! As you can see, I
still haven't done that. This is
last nights burger, that
is a combo of the
Bohemian
and
Pioneer

Delicious, I might add !

Here we go ... how we make our meat patties for the Cheese & Burger Society Burgers we have tried ...

500g (1lb) mince (ground beef)
1 small onion, very finely diced
3 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tbls chopped parsley, oregano, chives, basil ... or whatever herbs you like
1 large egg
1 and 1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
2 teaspoons seeded mustard
1/2 cup fresh breadcrumbs (just put a couple of slices of bread ... I use the ends ... into your food processor ... process for a few minutes and voila ... bread crumbs !!)

Combine all ingredients.
Make into patties.
Cook.
We cook ours on the BBQ ...

menu plan monday // Khrista 02.07.11

Being lazy today and just scanning in my handwritten plan for this week. ;)
I moved two meals from last week to this week:
Veggie Lasagna & Ash-e Reshteh
I ended up having stuff to make a yummy Wild Rice & Celery Root soup so we had that one night, and we ate out one night. ;)
Veggie Lasagna is in the slow cooker right now. It's the first time I've made a lasagna in a slow cooker. I'm hoping it turns out o.k.

Have any of you tried lasagna in a slow cooker?

(I am mostly worried about the eggs in the cheese mixture not cooking fully.)

Parmesan Crusted Baked Zucchini Sticks

Another recipe from my favorite cooking blog ... I modified mine just a little bit.

1 cup panko bread crumbs
1 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
2 teaspoons fresh oregano, chopped
500g zucchini sticks
salt and pepper to taste
1 egg (lightly beaten)

Mix the bread crumbs, paremesan and oregano in a bowl. Salt and Pepper the Zucchini. Dip the zucchini in the egg and then cover with bread crumbs. Place the zucchini on a baking sheet in a single layer. Bake in a preheated 425F/220C oven until golden brown, about 20-25 minutes.

The end.

We dipped them in ranch.

My Menu - Bonnie - 7 February 2011

Menu Plan Monday is hosted by Laura at I'm an Organizing Junkie

Sunday
Buffalo Boneless Wings

Parmesan Crusted Baked Zucchini Sticks

Corn on the Cob

Monday
Meat Lovers Pizza
(bacon, peperoni, red onion on a tomato base topped with mozarella)

Funky Lime Pizza

Veggie Pizza



Experimental Buffalo Boneless Chicken Pizza ... IT WAS AMAZING !
(recipe coming soon)



Tuesday
Spaghetti Bolognaise ... out of the freezer !

Wednesday
Going to a party.
I'm taking soft pretzels ...

Thursday
green salad
sour dough bread

Friday
either burgers with the neighbors
or sushi with friends to celebrate a happy birthday

Saturday
unplanned so far

Alia's baking for this week ...

On the first day of school, the teacher explained that the kids have a behavioral chart ~ a bee hive with bees ~ each bee has one of the kids names on it. If they behave, the bee stays in the hive. If their bee stays in the hive from Monday - Thursday, they had the choice of a piece of candy or a sticker. I signed a note saying I did not want Alia to have the candy. Then I told Alia that each Thursday when she brought her sticker home, I'd let her choose something to bake and we'd bake it on the weekend. The first week she made Cinnamon Sugar Donut Muffins.

This week she made these little chocolate fairy cakes.
They were delicious. I'll post the recipe soon.

Wombok Salad

This is adapted from the recipe on the back of the packet of Fried Noodles

1 wombok (chinese cabbage)
6 spring onions
100 g lightly roasted slivered almonds
1 pack (100g) Fried Noodles

1/4 cup vinegar
1/4 cup sugar
1 Tablespoon soy sauce
2 teaspoons sesame oil
1/2 cup olive oil

Throw all the dressing ingredients together. Microwave for a minute or two ... not too hot. Just to help the sugar dissolve.

Chop the cabbage and onions and toss with rest of ingredients. I sometimes add sliced snow peas too, when I have them.

Top with dressing. YUM YUM YUM !!!

menu plan monday // Khrista 01.31.11

Links to some of the recipes:

Chili

Broiled Salmon with Herb Mustard Glaze  
Spinach Lentil Soup

Ash-e-Reshteh inspired by THIS post

Veggie Lasagna

My Menu - 31 January 2011

We've been on a real salad kick around here. Last week we had salad almost every night ! It was wonderful !!

So ... last night I put this on facebook ... "i am wanting to make a cool refreshing salad for dinner tonight. anyone got any ideas ? quickly ... i am heading to the store soon !!" I got some great responses ! I ended up making black bean salsa and guacamole. I let them sit in the fridge while we had drinks with the neighbors and watched the kids play at the park, when we came in, we just melted a bit of cheese on some corn chips, in the microwave, it literally took seconds. Then topped those with the salsa, guac, sour cream and black olives. It so hit the spot !!

BUT ... I got so many other cool salad responses on my post and I'm going to try them this week. Some of them we've had before and I was happy for the reminder ! Some of them are new ...

Sunday

Just me and the kids tonight ... I'm eating WOMBOK salad as I type !
I'll post the recipe tomorrow !!

Monday

THE Salad !
This is so yum and makes a bunch.
It will feed us dinner and a few days lunches, at least !

Tuesday

Michelle's Salad
Lettuce
Tomatoes
Cucumber
Sweet onion, sliced into rings
Hard boiled eggs, sliced
Boiled red potatoes, sliced
Avocado, cut into small chunks
Carrots and/or celery, if you like
Green olives, if you like
Salt to taste, preferably sea salt
Toss it all with Italian dressing; let sit in fridge for a couple of hours for flavors to blend
Top with shredded cheese just before serving, if you like
Nice and cool, and the eggs and potatoes make it filling enough for a meal.
John and I have this at least once a week during the summer. :-)

I'm going to try making this Italian dressing.

Wednesday

Teresa's Salad

I top greens (any lettuce you prefer) with a mix of white sweet corn, black beans, tomatoes, green chilies, cilantro, green onion, splash of lime juice, salt and pepper to taste. I put a drizzle of creamy ranch or any you prefer, I also love to add leftover grilled chicken to make it a filling dinner. Love the fresh taste!! Oh, can also top with avocado and tortilla chips.

Thursday

Khrista's Salad Bar

we also like to do "salad bar" at our house in the summer...just ALL kinds of stuff on greens...beans (garbanzo, black, kidney) sprouts, tomatoes, carrots, celery, sunflower seeds, broccoli, red cabbage, butter beans, mushrooms, peppers...etc. you get the picture. ;)

and i will have the ingredients for jamie's broccoli salad out as well ...

Friday

I've sort of stopped planning Friday dinners. They are pretty relaxed ... sort of a casual thing. We almost always have drinks with our neighbors and stay outside til well after dark ... sometimes we will all order dinner in, sometimes we all run in and throw something together to share and sometimes we come in late and just eat by ourselves. You never can tell. It's spontaneous and fun and I like it !!

**

Menu Plan Monday is hosted by Laura at I'm an Organizing Junkie

The Pioneer

I can't believe I haven't posted this yet.

Another from the Cheese and Burger Society site ...

Swiss Cheese
Beef Patty (cheese and burger did two ... we only did one)
Sautéed Mushrooms
Caramelized Onions ... this was not part of the recipe but we decided they would be a good addition !!
Rosemary, fresh
Bacon, cooked
Garlic Aioli - homemade with this recipe and check out my video tutorial to see how easy it is !
Lettuce, I like ice berg
Sesame Seed Bun

Very simply ... make your burgers. We always BBQ ours. Top with cheese (while still on the BBQ) While the burgers are cooking, caramelize your onions, cook your bacon and sautee your mushooms. While those are cooking, get the rest of your stuff ready. Make the Aoili, pull apart the lettuce, grab a few sprigs of rosemary from the garden.

Once everything is cooked, you just need to assemble, serve and figure out how to fit that big ole burger into your mouth ! You'll be glad you did though ... this is ONE TASTY BURGER !!

menu plan monday // Khrista 01.24.11

Some old favorites and meals I have most of the ingredients for this week. 

Have a great week! :)

::::::::

Menu Plan Monday is hosted by Laura at I'm an Organizing Junkie

My Menu - 24 January 2011

FINALLY !! I have made a menu !
I went with all stuff that I've made before.
It IS the first week back to school and getting back into routine
so I thought I'd make it easy on myself !

Here's the plan ...

Sunday
Asian Chicken Salad

Monday
Amazing Caesar Salad

Tuesday
Toasted Ham and Cheese Sandwiches

Wednesday
Steak Cobb Salad

Thursday
Garlic Chicken Pasta (Crock Pot)

Friday
Either Leftovers or Burgers ....
Will see how the week goes !

**

Menu Plan Monday is hosted by Laura at I'm an Organizing Junkie

Menu Plan Fail #2 ?!

"Routine ..."

"Routine ..."

"Where are you, Routine ??"

We are now in the last week of summer holidays.



The kids go back on Monday.
I am so looking forward to getting back into a good routine !

Maybe then I'll actually get a menu planned again !!

Here's hoping .....

menu plan monday // Khrista 01.17.11

Links to Recipes:

Ecuadorian Quinoa Vegetable Soup

Black Bean & Sweet Potato Chili

Lemon Spaghetti

Menu Plan Monday is hosted by Laura at I'm an Organizing Junkie

do {you} subscribe ?

two things.

1. i was in google reader today and i noticed that we have hit 100 subscribers to the beans blog ! along with the 25 who follow in blogger ... we have 125 people who subscribe to this blog ! that is INSANE !! i mean ... it's not on par with the pioneer woman who has 62,331 subscribers but close enough ! i just find it hard to believe that there are that many people who like our little old blog enough to subscribe to it ! i wonder ... do you subscribe ? i'd love to know how many of those 125 subscribers actually read each post ? this is a little test ... if you read this, would you just say g'day in the comments ?! that would be cool !

2. today i went to the camera shop to buy a remote for my camera. i got one. a really cool one. i also asked about their photography classes. i got to talking with the guy who runs the classes and at one point mentioned that i love to take photos of food. he asked me for my card. i was like 'what?' he asked again and i said 'i'm not a professional' he asked me if i wanted to be. long story short, i'm sending him some photos of food to see what he thinks ... he told me to think about my hourly rate too ... BIZARRE !!

so ... would you please do me a favor ? i need to pick like 6 - 12 good photos to send to him. if you are reading this and you think ... 'oh, i love that one photo of .......' would you please let me know which one it is ? i'd love a bit of feedback before i make my final choice on which ones to send !

that is all !

thank you

and good night.

Menu Plan Fail

Totally failed at making a menu plan.

Floods have been happening only an hour away from here and I've been a bit preoccupied. I wasn't sure it they would end up down here so the other day, during a break in the rain, I ran up to the grocery store and just grabbed a few things. So ... we'll be eating those up. Just making up recipes and trying to use what we have on hand.

We've been trying out some of the recipes others have posted here at the beans blog.
I can recommend a couple of them !
The Lemon Garlic Shrimp were freaking delicious !
They are basically a heart attack in a bowl but they taste amazing !
We went the whole hog and had a loaf of bread to sop up
those amazingly flavored juices !!

Also tried the lemondoodles.
Actually, we did snickerdoodles, lemondoodles and we made orangedodles as well.
Made the orange ones according to the lemon ones recipe ... just substituted orange, of course.
They were amazing.
We have some dough left over ... I'm going to bake those puppies up for dessert tonight.

Speaking of tonight ... we are trying Asian Chicken Salad for dinner !

Going to go cook it now ...

I'll let you know what I think ! I'm pretty sure I already know ...

It looks and sounds so good.

Pumpkin Salad

Whipped this little beauty up for dinner tonight.

Whole little potatoes onto a baking sheet, covered in olive oil ... on a hot oven (200 C) ... I think they took about an hour to bake. When they came out of the oven, I sprinkled with a chunky salt.

Chopped up some pumpkin, cooked it coated in olive oil in the other half of the baking tray I used to make the roasted cauliflower. Took about 45 minutes ... in the same oven as the potatoes. I turned it down to about 180 when I put the pumpkin/cauliflower in.

The salad was spinach, rocket, pine nuts, avocado, feta cheese, & red onion. Then the pumpkin. Then some nice balsamic vinegar. And then some crunchy fried noodles.

Easy peasy. Done. Delicious.

menu plan monday // Khrista 01.10.11

I am pressed for time today, but if you'd like more info on any of these recipes, leave a comment! :)

Menu Plan Monday is hosted by Laura at I'm an Organizing Junkie

Asian Chicken Salad

This is an easy and tasty chicken salad that our family has made for years.
My mom always called it Asian Chicken Salad, though we aren't exactly sure what is Asian about it..

For 4 servings::

One head cabbage
3-4 chicken breast

For the topping:
1 package ramen noodles (maybe this is where the asian part comes in?)
About 1/4 cup sesame seeds and 1/4 cup chopped(or slivered) almonds

For the salad dressing:
1/2 cup Vegetable Oil (I tried OO once and it wasn't nearly as good.)
2 1/2 Tablespoons Sugar
1 teaspoon Salt
3 Tablespoons Rice Vinegar
1/2 teaspoon Pepper

Thinly chop the cabbage and throw into a big bowl.

Chop Chicken into bite size pieces. Flour and fry until crispy, seasoning with garlic salt and pepper.

Heat about 1 tablespoon butter and 1 tablespoon olive oil in a skillet and brown the sesame seeds and almonds along with the broken up ramen noodles.

While your chicken and nuts are frying to a nice golden brown, mix up your dressing.

Let the chicken cool and drain on some paper towels.

Next, pour the dressing onto the cabbage and mix thoroughly.

Dish the salad and top with chicken, sesame seeds, almonds and ramen.

Coming from a family of meat and potato dinners, I can say this salad certainly stands on its own feet as a main dish.