Seafood Spaghetti

Okay, I promise this meal is AMAZING even if the picture isn't very good quality. I had two hungry guys (Paul and our friend Rick) trying to eat and they were in no mood to wait for me to make a pretty dish of food for a picture.

I was going to retake the picture the next day, but there were NO leftovers! A great clue to how delicious this meal is... :)

This recipe came from my Aunt Roxanne. Once upon a time, our family ate dinner at their house. She made this fantastic meal and our family begged my mom to get the recipe. My mom made it occasionally and then I made sure to get the recipe from her when I left home for college and married life. I LOVE this meal and Paul is a big fan as well. Apparently, Rick is as well, as he told me: "I must be over from now on whenever you make this for dinner..." Yay for compliments on making fantastic meals! :)

What I love: there is no sauce for this spaghetti and yet it still tastes great! The seafood and feta cheese mixed together are also delicious.

Seafood Spaghetti

Ingredients:
*1/2 onion, chopped
*olive oil
*1-2 cloves garlic, minced
*1 bag of cooked shrimp, with the tails taken off
*1 package of imitation crab legs, chopped
*1 package of scallops (optional)
*1 package of feta cheese with tomato and basil
*1 package of frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
*1 package of spaghetti
*dill weed
*salt
*Parmesan cheese

Directions:
1) In a large pan, saute garlic and onion in olive oil. When tender, add shrimp and scallops (optional), salt and dill weed (2 pinches).
2) Drain and thaw spinach. Squeeze out all of the water. Add the spinach to the pan. Add the crab and some of the feta cheese.
3) Boil noodles according to the box. Drain. Return to pot and add the shrimp mixture.
4) Put on plates, top with parmesan and additional feta and salt. Enjoy!

Comments:
*Seafood can be expensive. To avoid making an expensive meal, I keep my eye on seafood prices every time that I go grocery shopping. Whenever something is on sale that goes in this meal, I get it. For example, last week, shrimp was 'buy one get one free' so I have shrimp stocked up for the next time that I make this meal. *I only add scallops every other time that I make this meal. Paul does not care for them very much but I LOVE them. This is our compromise. It tastes great with or without them.

Meatless Tacos

I once took a history graduate class on "The History of Food". In this class, the professor brought some kind of historical dish every week for us to try. When we were learning about the history of the tortilla in Mexico, the professor brought tortillas, black beans, cilantro, and green onions to class. I didn't think I would like it because (1) It seemed like odd ingredients for tacos (2) There were so few ingredients (3) I had never had cilantro before and family members (and Paul) had always told me that it was disgusting.

However, I tried it anyway and I fell in love with that simple-ingredient meal! I loved it so much that I started making it for dinner. However, as previously mentioned, Paul is not fond of cilantro. He doesn't really complain about meals, but I knew something needed to be done to make us both happy. I found a "Meatless Taco" recipe on allrecipes.com that was also very simple. I then combined the two ideas and soon came up with my own meatless taco recipe.

My recipe for meatless tacos is SO good! So light and refreshing! Optionally spicy! So healthy! It is a bit more complex than my previous meals, but only because there are more parts. The fun thing about this meal is that you can add other items or exclude items depending on your taste preferences. That is what is fun about tacos! :)

I hope you enjoy my Meatless taco recipe. If you have a meatless taco recipe that you use and feel like sharing, please email it to me!

Ingredients:
*tortilla shells
*shredded cheese or warm queso (your choice)
*1 can of black beans, drained and rinsed
*salsa (optional)
*sour cream (optional)
*my "greens mix" (see recipe and picture below)
*my guacamole (see recipe and picture below)

Directions:
(1) Warm up tortilla shells. Put on toppings of choice. Enjoy!


My "Greens Mix" recipe:

Ingredients:
*spinach leaves, chopped
*6-8 green onions, chopped
*cilantro, chopped (add as much as you desire)
*1 fresh jalapeno pepper, diced really small (optional)


Directions:
(1) Add all these greens together and mix thoroughly. Depending on your preference, add more or less spinach to the ratio. I like a spicy greens mix, so I add 1 jalapeno pepper. If it is too spicy, I add more spinach, etc. This "greens mix" makes a great, pretty, crunchy, healthy, perfect addition to tacos!


My Guacamole recipe:

Ingredients:
*5 avocados
*1/2 white onion, chopped
*4 roma tomatoes, seeded and chopped
*1 clove garlic, minced
*lime juice
*1 dollop of sour cream
*1/3 packet of guacamole spicy spices (in mexican aisle of most grocery stores)


Directions:
(1) Cut avocados in half. Gently press a sharp knife into center of avocado pit and twist. This should easily detach the pit. After removing the pit, use a small spoon and "gut" the avocado halves. Add all the avocado to a large bowl. Add the white onion, garlic, and lime juice (a few drops at first...you can always add more later). Use a vegetable masher and mash these ingredients to a smooth consistency.
(2) Add the chopped tomatoes to the mix. Mash together, but leave tomatoes chunky.
(3) Add the dollop of sour cream, spice packet (about 1/3 of a packet), additional lime juice if needed. Mix together and taste test. Too bland? Add more spice packet, lime juice, and/or garlic. Too bold? Add more sour cream. Perfect? Eat quickly before the husband devours it all. ;)

Tomato Basil Soup

Ah yes, time for another soup recipe! :)

I have been craving simple soups with salads on the side lately. And this soup fit my desires perfectly, since there are only 6 ingredients! My stomach and mind have been SO happy since I made this soup! I don't think that I will ever be able to make Campbell's tomato soup in a can ever again after making this healthy soup!

Paul and I got our protein for the day by having spinach salad topped with hard boiled eggs, etc. After the salad, we ate this soup and they really go perfect together! This soup made enough for 8 servings and I was sad when we finally finished it off. I got the recipe from allrecipes.com but I changed some things to make it taste better (in my opinion).

What I love: The fresh taste, the creamy texture, the fresh basil, the crusty bread dipped into the amazing soup...mmm...

Tomato Basil Soup

Ingredients:
*2 cans (28 ounces each) crushed tomatoes
*18-20 ounces of chicken broth
*18-ish fresh basil leaves, minced
*3 tsp. of sugar
*1.5 - 2 cups of whipping cream *OR* half and half
*6 tbsp. butter
*optional spices such as: pepper, paprika, salt, etc.

Directions:
1) In a large pot, bring the tomatoes and broth to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 10 minutes.
2) Add basil and sugar. Let it simmer for a few more minutes. Reduce heat to low, stir in cream and butter. Cook until butter is melted. Add spices of your choice.
3) Enjoy with salad (optional) and bread (optional)!

Comments:
*Make sure to really mince the basil! I chopped into long strips, but while eating the soup, I kept wishing that the basil had been minced into smaller pieces. I will be doing that in the future.

*Make sure to let the sugar simmer into the soup for more than a few minutes. The sugar stops the tomatoes from tasting too acidic. I made the mistake of adding the sugar and then adding the rest of the ingredients and then eating it. The first day, the soup was WAY too acidic tasting, and I didn't want to eat it anymore. The next day, the soup had "settled" and it was amazing from then on. So if your soup is tasting too acidic, let it simmer some more and think about adding some more sugar.

*The comments on allrecipes.com for this recipe suggested that if you use fresh canned tomatoes, the acidic taste isn't an issue. So if you use fresh canned tomatoes, you might not need to use as much sugar in your soup. Keep that in mind! (Note to self: grow my own tomatoes someday and then can them!)

*I think that the next time I make this soup, I will use one can of crushed tomatoes and one can of diced tomatoes so that my soup has more texture. If anyone does this, let me know if it tastes as good as I imagine!

Vegetarian Baked Pasta

When pasta is on sale at the store, but you are sick of eating just normal 'pasta and sauce', what do you do? I decided that the solution to this problem was to make a lasagna-type pasta bake. It was a great idea! :)

This was the first time that I used this recipe, and I will be using it again! It was SO good. While it was more time-consuming than just 'pasta with sauce', it made up for it by tasting delicious and making plenty of food. We ate this for three days straight, and there was STILL leftovers, so I froze them for later. I will make this recipe the next time we have guests over for dinner, because I know that it will feed everyone there. Makes 8-10 servings.

What I love: The distinct, unique twist of using gorgonzola cheese made this meal amazing and NOT boring tasting! Also, the portobello mushrooms combined with that type of cheese was heavenly.

Ingredients:
*1 pound of penne pasta
*olive oil
*8 ounces of portobello mushrooms, sliced
*dried basil
*oregano
*1-2 cloves garlic, minced
*2 roma tomatoes, seeded and chopped
*1 (28 ounce) jar of spaghetti sauce
*shredded mozzarella cheese (approx. 4-5 cups)
*5-6 ounces of crumbled gorgonzola cheese

Directions:
1) Boil lightly salted water in large pot, then add pasta and cook until al dente (approx. 8 min.), then drain. Pour ice cold water over the pasta to stop it from cooking more. Set aside.
2) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat a 9 x 13 pan with spray.
3) Heat olive oil in large skillet. Add mushrooms and cook for 2 minutes. Add basil, oregano, and garlic and cook for another minute. Add tomatoes and spaghetti sauce, stir and heat just until warm.
4) Pour some of the sauce mixture on the bottom of the 9 x 13 pan until bottom is just covered. Combine remaining sauce and pasta together in the large pot. Place one-third of the pasta/sauce in the pan. Top with approx. 1 cup of mozzarella cheese and then with half of the gorgonzola cheese. Repeat for a second layer.  Put the final layer of noodles in the pan and top with remaining 2-ish cups of mozzarella cheese.
5) Bake for 35-40 minutes or until cheese is browned. Serve and enjoy!

Comments:
*I strongly recommend using portobello mushrooms and not 'normal' mushrooms. The texture of portobello makes people think that there is meat in this recipe. It is also the best tasting mushroom with gorgonzola.

*I found an 8 ounce container of sliced baby portobello mushrooms at the store. It was perfect for this recipe! If you can find something like that, use it. Otherwise, sliced normal-sized portobello mushrooms into long, thin strips or chop up in whatever size you like.

*The next time I make this, I am thinking that I will use white wine instead of olive oil to saute the mushrooms. I think that sounds really good...if anyone tries it that way, let me know what you think!

Tomato Basil English Muffins

I have always hated the idea of eating the same, boring meal every day. For example, I don't know how people eat cereal for breakfast every day for their whole lives. I also don't understand how people eat sandwiches for lunch every day.

Before discovering this Tomato Basil English Muffin recipe, I always thought that people who ate the same thing every day were boring drones with boring, common personalities. Don't take offense. I have changed my mind. After eating this meal, I have realized that as long as you LOVE eating something, you can eat it every day and not get sick of it!

I have been eating this meal for lunch almost every day for an entire year. That is a record for me! I still can't believe that I can eat this so much and I don't get sick of it. It is the most delicious lunch I have ever had. So I shall share the recipe with you. In the summer, when tomatoes and basil are fresh and meals are light, Paul and I also eat this for dinner. In addition, I found this recipe in a Taste of Home appetizer booklet, so you can also make this as an appetizer for a party. Therefore, not only is it delicious, but it is also a very versatile recipe. :)

What I love: Tomatoes, cheese, and basil = a happy stomach every single day!

Ingredients:
*English muffins, sliced and toasted (2-3 slices per person makes a perfect sized lunch)
*miracle whip
*roma tomatoes, sliced (1 tomato = four slices of english muffin covered)
*fresh basil (preferable) sliced into strips, or dried basil
*garlic salt
*cayenne pepper (optional)
*shredded mozarella cheese

Directions:
1) Heat oven to 350 degrees. Toast English muffin slices.
2) Spread miracle whip on each English muffin slice. Sprinkle each slice with fresh basil (or dried), garlic salt, and cayenne pepper (optional).
3) Top each spiced English muffin slice with tomatoes (approx. 3-4 slices of tomato each)
4) Top with cheese and put in over for approx. 10 minutes or until cheese is melted.
5) Enjoy!


Comments:
*I put cayenne pepper on mine because I love the spicy addition to this meal. Paul, however, does not care for the spiciness, so I hardly put any cayenne pepper on his muffin slices when we eat this for lunch on the weekends. It is up to you, depending on your enjoyment of spice. It is good both ways.

*Nothing compares to this meal when it comes to using fresh basil. However, since basil is expensive in the winter, I make do with the dried stuff and it tastes fine that way as well. If basil is in season, use the fresh stuff for this meal! I guarantee you will get hooked to this like I did if you use fresh!

*I have a strong preference for sourdough english muffins for this recipe. If you can find them in your local grocery store, try them out!