Angel Hair Pasta with Italian Sausage and Heirloom Tomatoes

I always try to make a nice Sunday night dinner.  Lately I have been making pasta on Sunday night.

Ingredients:

8 ounces of angel hair pasta

1 pound of Italian sausage, cut into 1/4" slices

1/4 cup olive oil, plus extra for drizzling

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 cup minced fresh basil

2 cups heirloom cherry tomatoes, cut in half

2/3 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese

Directions:

Cook the pasta according to the package directions.

Put 1/4 cup of olive oil in a large nonstick skillet and sauté the sausage slices for 5 minutes.

I bought the sausage at Trader Joe's.

After the sausage has cooked for five minutes, add the garlic, basil, tomato slices and salt and pepper to taste.

Add the parmesan to the tomato mixture.

Drain the pasta and add to the tomato skillet. Drizzle some olive oil and toss the pasta with the tomato and sausage mixture.

This is such a quick meal! I usually serve with a green salad and breadsticks.

Mother's Day Dinner Menu

I hope that everyone has a wonderful Mother's Day! I am hosting a Mother's Day dinner at my home. I  will make everything fresh and from scratch. And I am hoping that I will remember to take some pictures!

Appetizers:

Olive Tapenade with Toasted Baguette Slices

Chicken Salad Tartlets with Fresh Herbs

Dinner:

Spinach Salad with Pears, Pomegranate Seeds and Crumbled Feta

Fireman's Pasta Casserole

Chicken with Fresh Herbs and Cream Cheese Wrapped with Bacon


Dessert:

Vanilla Cake

Root beer Float Pie


Party Favors:

Mom Sachets

Fresh Flower Bouquets in Tin Cans

Beef Stew

I feel like a loser because I never posted any crafts or recipes for Easter this year. However, I did post quite a few Easter crafts and baked goods on my Instagram account ROOMMOM27_TERESA_STEELE. Follow me I post a lot of fun ideas!

 So since it has been chilly in the evenings I have experimented with a few different Beef Stew recipes and I found this recipe the most flavorful and quite easy to make. This Beef Stew is adapted from an epicurious recipe. And the recipe uses beer instead of red wine.

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 pounds cubed stew meat — cut into 1" pieces

1 medium onion,  finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

12 ounces of beer

4  1/2 cups beef broth

2 tablespoons tomato paste

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1 1/2 teaspoons of sugar

1/2 teaspoon dried basil

3 large russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1" cubes

4 large carrots, peeled and sliced

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

finely chopped parsley 


Directions:

Heat the olive oil in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Working in 2 batches brown the meat on all sides for about six minutes a batch. Remove the meat from the pot and place on a plate.

Add the onion to the pot.

Cook the onion, stirring until softened for about 3 minutes. Also add the garlic and cook stirring for an additional minute.

Pour the beer, beef broth, tomato paste, Worcestershire, sugar, dried basil, salt and pepper to taste into the pot.

Return the beef to the pot, simmer until the meat is tender for about 2 hours. Stir in the potatoes and carrots and  simmer until the vegetables are tender and the meat is very tender about 40 additional minutes.

Remove one cup of liquid from the pot and slowly whisk in the flour. Stir the flour broth back into the pot. Reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes. 

Sprinkle with parsley.

While the soup was simmering I threw together a green salad. Sadly I do not have a picture of my salad. But a bowl of Beef Stew is perfect with a salad and some crusty bread.

Yum - I love Beef Stew on chilly evenings. With this recipe I always have leftovers for the next evening. 

Backyard BBQ Photos

Okay - last week we had some friends over for a Backyard BBQ! Unfortunately the only pictures I took were of the table with candles and flowers and a few appetizers.  I get caught up in conversations and giving my husband the kabobs to grill.

I love eating dinner outside.

I have been making olive tapenade all summer - my husband loves olives! 

I serve the olive tapenade with toasted baguette slices.

The other appetizer I always serve is hummus with celery and warm naan. My husband also loves hummus. 

I wish I had additional photos! Maybe next time!

Backyard BBQ Menu

Tomorrow we have some friends coming over for a backyard BBQ.  So here is my easy and make ahead menu! I will try to remember to take some photos tomorrow!

Appetizers:

olive tapenade (made a few hours ago)

hummus (store bought)

Dinner:

spinach strawberry salad (will make dressing in the morning)

chicken and vegetable kabobs (chicken is marinating in fridge)

twice baked potatoes (did the first step a few hours ago)

Dessert:

key lime pie (will make in the morning)

watermelon cake (if I have time)

Beverages:

beer, wine, ice tea, soda

We are going out in a little bit - but if we get home early enough I might even make the salad dressing and key lime pie later on tonight.

Fingers crossed that I can post some pics!

Lobster Mac & Cheese

I hardly ever make Macaroni and Cheese. If I do I make it from scratch. My kids have never had Kraft Macaroni and Cheese out of the blue box at my house. Perhaps they have had it at a friend's house. There have been times when I bought the Trader Joe's frozen Mac and Cheese - when we have a lot of sports (games and practices).

A side note - I made this while I watched Roger Federer win Bernard Tomic in three sets at the Australian Open after Tomic talked about how he could  beat Roger. Please dude - don't talk smack about Roger - it made you look like an idiot. Now that I got that off my chest I can start the recipe!

Ingredients:

8 ounces of elbow macaroni

2 cups whole milk

4 tablespoons butter

1/4 cup flour

2 cups freshly grated Gruyere cheese

1 cup freshly grated cheddar cheese

1 1/2 cups cooked Lobster meat, finely chopped

3/4 cup Panko bread crumbs

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Boil the elbow macaroni al  dente according to the package directions. Drain well and set aside.

Heat the milk on low in a small saucepan.

In a large pot melt 3 tablespoons of butter and add the flour to the melted butter. Stir until the mixture is thick. Add the warm milk and stir until the mixture has thickened.

Remove the pot from the heat and add the Gruyere and cheddar. Stir until the cheese is melted. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Now stir in the elbow macaroni and lobster.

Spoon the mixture into individual ramekins. I was able to get 5 ramekins of the mixture. Each of my ramekins holds about 1 1/2 cups of the macaroni mixture. Place your ramekins on a cookie sheet.

Melt the remaining tablespoon of butter and add the bread crumbs to the melted butter. Stir to combine and spoon the bread crumbs over the tops of the ramekins.

Bake for 25 minutes until the sauce is bubbly and the top of mixture is nice and brown.

Serve piping hot and accompany with a green salad.

Chinese Chicken Salad for Sunday Night Dinner

Using a large square plate - I quickly made a Chinese Chicken Salad. On a layer of Romaine lettuce I added small rows of diced avocado, shredded carrots, green onions, chopped red bell peppers, chicken, mandarin oranges and crispy chow mein noodles. In the middle of the salad is a small bowl of Asian Sesame Salad dressing.

Here is a close up of the rows of fresh veggies. Is one of your New Year's Resolutions to eat more vegetables?

I always try to eat "clean" in January. I feel a little yucky after all of the holiday food and goodies.

An Easy Risotto Recipe

I have made Risotto twice over the Christmas break. This is a super easy recipe and once you master a basic Risotto recipe you can experiment with different flavor combinations. It is always a challenge for me to take pictures when I am trying to get dinner on the table. So I only have two photos!

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons butter plus 1 tablespoon

1 medium white or yellow onion, finely chopped

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 cup Arborio rice

1/2 cup dry white wine

3 1/2 cups low sodium chicken broth

1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

2 tablespoons of fresh basil, finely chopped

1 cup leftover chicken breasts, roughly chopped (optional)

Directions:

Melt 3 tablespoons of butter in a medium sized pot over medium heat.

Add the onion, salt and pepper to the melted butter. Stir constantly for about 5 to 7 minutes. Until the onions are really soft.

Add the rice and cook for another 2 minutes. Continue stirring. Pour the wine into the pan and let the mixture simmer until the wine is absorbed.

Add 2 cups of the chicken broth. Continue stirring until the mixture is absorbed (about 8 to 10 minutes).

Now add the rest of the chicken broth (1 1/2 cups) and continue stirring until the liquid is absorbed (about 7 to 9 minutes).

Stir in the additional tablespoon of butter, Parmesan cheese and chopped chicken. Sprinkle with the chopped basil and serve.

I always serve Risotto with a green salad. I bought the Arborio rice, chicken broth and Parmesan wedge at Trader Joe's.

Taco Pie

A very easy casserole to make. It is actually faster to make then making everyone tacos with bowls of toppings. Plus all the toppings bowls take up so much room in the dishwasher!

Ingredients:

1 9-inch pie crust, frozen or homemade
1 can refried beans, 16 ounce
1 1b. lean ground beef
1/2 cup salsa
1 small can of chopped green chili's
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 cup crushed tortilla chips
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
2 cups shredded lettuce
1 large tomato. diced

Optional Toppings:

green onions
cilantro
sour cream
1 small can of sliced olives, drained
avocado slices

Directions:

Bake your pie crust according to your directions.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spread 1/2 can of refried beans inside the baked pie shell. Use the rest of the can for a 7-layer dip.

In a large skillet start to brown the lean ground beef. Once the meat is brown,  drain the fat and add the onions, salsa and green chili's. Mix throughly on low heat for a few minutes and then add to the pie shell on top of the refried beans.

Now sprinkle the mixture with the crumbled tortilla chips.

The last step before placing the pie in the oven is to cover the top with shredded cheddar cheese.

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until the cheese is nice and bubbly.  While the Taco Pie is baking you can wash and chop the tomato, lettuce, green onions and cilantro. Drain the olives.

Once the Taco pie is fully baked - let it sit for about five minutes before you start to add the toppings.

At the very end I add a small helping of sour cream and some avocado slices.

You can get make this dish from start to finish in about 40 minutes.  It is delicious!

What's For Dinner? Kabobs!

I make kabobs a lot - you can make them in the morning - go to the beach and come home to an already made dinner.  First I soak wooden skewers in water. Then I cut the meat into small chunks and wash the cherry tomatoes. This week I was able to buy both organic chicken and organic cherry tomatoes. You can grill them in about 10 -15 minutes. Serve with rice and a salad.

Sometimes I make kabobs with beef, peppers, pineapple chunks, red onion pieces etc. Mostly, it's whatever I find at the produce store that looks really fresh and I always favor organic whenever possible.

So for tonight's kabobs - I drizzled with organic olive oil and organic honey. Then I sprinkled with a little garlic salt and some fresh basil.  I would like to say that I am sorry in advance for my photography skills - I will eventually become a better photographer! Let's face facts - I can't get any worse!

Grill the kabobs for 12 - 15 minutes. This is a great dish to make for summer BBQ's because you can make them them in advance and they grill quickly.

Don't these look wonderful?