Weekday Homemade Fresh Tomato Sauce

My father in law brought us a bunch of fresh tomatoes, that I wanted to use to make sauce.  Unfortunately, I wasn't sure they would make it to the weekend and needed a sauce that was weekday appropriate to whip up after work.  My other homemade tomato sauce recipe requires 4 hours of simmering, so that was definitely out! I perused a bunch of recipes from different websites, and combined them into the following.  It took about 2.5 hours all in, and tasted fresh and delicious!

Ingredients:
10 large tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 medium onions, diced
1 large green bell pepper, diced
1/4 cup basil, chopped
1 teaspoon salt
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 carrots, peeled
1/4 cup red wine (I used a Cabernet Sauvignon)
1 tablespoon tomato paste
parmesan cheese to serve on top

Directions:

1)  Peel and seed tomatoes, while this is a messy process, its actually quite easy.  I wash them, and use a knife to cut s superficial X at the bottom, just through the skin, and core each one.  Then boil them in batches of 2-3 for about 45-60 seconds, until the skin begins to peel, then remove them with a slotted spoon and place them in an ice water bath for a few minutes, until cool.  At this point, the skin should peel right off.  I then just squeeze the tomato, with the core hole pointing down and the seeds fall right out!  I did roughly chop all of the tomatoes to be sure there weren't any huge pieces.

2) Heat olive oil over medium heat in Dutch oven.  Add diced green pepper and onion, cook 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

3) Add basil, salt and garlic.  Cook an additional 3-5 minutes, stirring frequently, until the onions are translucent.  I typically don't cook garlic for this long, to avoid burning it, but there are so many ingredients cooking in the pot that it came out perfectly. 

4) Add red wine, scraping brown bits off bottom of pot.

5) Add tomatoes and carrots, bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 1 hour, covered.  By adding the carrots, it takes care of acidity, without having to add sugar to the sauce.

6) Add tomato paste, and simmer uncovered for 1 additional hour.  I actually used a frozen cube of tomato paste...I rarely use a whole can when I open one, so I measure out tablespoon increments, place them in ice cube trays and then I always have premeasured tomato paste on hand.

7) Enjoy!!!  We served the sauce over bow tie pasta noodles and my Homemade Turkey Meatballs, with some freshly grated parmesan cheese on top.

Spicy Chicken Tortilla Soup

Oddly enough, on a hot summer day, my husband and I were both craving soup!  I have been wanting to try and make a chicken tortilla soup of some fashion for quite some time, so using Cooking Light's recipe for Chicken-Tortilla Soup as a guide, I went to work!  For some of the ingredients, I used what I had on hand, for example the Rotel tomatoes...It came out spicier than I had expected, but incredible!!  We both loved this one and I added it right to my recipe binder.

Ingredients:
1/2 Tbsp (7.5mL) EVOO
2 quarts homemade chicken stock
2 cloves garlic, minced, 1 cup onion, chopped
2 cups cooked, shredded chicken
1 cup frozen corn
1/4 cup white wine (I had Chardonnay in the pantry)
1 jalapeno, minced
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp chili powder
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1, 10oz can Rotel Chunky Tomatoes with Chilies
1, 10oz can reduced fat, reduced sodium tomato soup (I use Campbells for all cooking)
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Garnish Ideas: Avocado, Tortilla or Corn Chips, Sour Cream, Mexican 4-cheese Shredded cheese

Directions:
1)  Heat EVOO in Dutch oven, over medium-high heat.  Add onion and sauté for 2 minutes.  Add garlic and cook 30 seconds-1 minute, until fragrant.

2)  Add white wine, scraping any brown bits from the onions.

3)  Add remaining ingredients.  Bring to a boil, the reduce and simmer for 1 hour.

4) Garnish with whatever you'd like-I did avocado cubes, tortilla chips and some Mexican 4-cheese shredded, my husband also added some sour cream.

5) Enjoy! But beware, it is a bit spicy!

Zucchini "Pasta" (even without a fancy spiralizer)

I keep seeing beautiful zucchini "pastas" on Pinterest, and most of them are either stiff strips from a mandolin, or pasta noodle looking items from a spiralizer.  I already have a mandolin, so I decided to see what I could do with what I have on hand.  I put the zucchini through the thin strip blades on my mandolin, sautéed it in some garlic olive oil to try and slightly soften the zucchini, without making it too soft.  It worked!  Below is my recipe for Zucchini Pasta, served alongside Spicy Tilapia (minus the pineapple relish) from a previous post and Gina's phenomenal Skinny Basil Pesto. 

I would definitely advise prepping everything, and having it ready to go.  Once you start to cook the fish and zucchini, they are both done in less than 5 minutes.  This meal actually got a "best dinner ever" review from my husband so I think it all came together pretty nicely :-)

Zucchini "Pasta"

Ingredients:
2 medium zucchini
1/2 Tbsp ~7.5mL garlic olive oil, I use Stonewall Kitchen's Roasted Garlic Oil
Fresh ground black pepper/salt to taste

Directions:
1)  Julienne zucchini, I used the skinny blades on my mandolin and went down the length of the zucchini.  I did not peel them, as I like the mixed light and dark green colors.

2)  Heat olive oil over medium heat.  Add pasta, salt and pepper. Cook 1 minute, stirring frequently.

3)  Cook an additional 2 minutes, or until pliable, and softened to your preference.

4)  Remove heat, toss with Skinny Basil Pesto, and top with additional grated parm.

Skinny Basil Pesto, from Skinny Taste

Ingredients:
1 cup basil
1 clove garlic
1/4 cup grated parmesan
salt & pepper to taste
2 1/2 tbsp olive oil

Directions:
1)  In a food processor pulse basil, garlic, parmesan cheese, salt and pepper until smooth. Slowly add the olive oil while pulsing.

Spicy Tilapia

Ingredients:
2 teaspoons canola oil

1 teaspoon Cajun seasoning

¼ teaspoon kosher salt

4, 6 ounce tilapia fillets

 

Directions:

1)  Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Combine Cajun seasoning, salt and Cajun seasoning in a small bowl.  Sprinkle fish evenly with pepper mixture. Add fish to pan, cook 2-3 minutes each side, or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork.

Finally Tried Quinoa!

I have been hearing about quinoa for months, and finally decided to jump on the bandwagon and give it a try...I found a delicious looking recipe on Pinterest (of course), from Damn Delicious and gave it a shot.  It was a success!  Even my husband liked it, who had been not so excited to try Quinoa.  Here is the original One Pan Mexican Quinoa that they invented, and below is my version, with a couple of minor adaptations.

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 jalapeno, minced
1 cup quinoa
1 cup reduced fat, low sodium, chicken broth
1 (15 oz) can black beans, drained and rinsed
3 tomatoes, diced
1 cup frozen corn, thawed
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon cumin
freshly ground sea salt and black pepper, to taste
1 avocado, diced
juice of 1 lime

Directions:

1) Heat olive oil in large skillet, over medium-high heat.  Add garlic and jalapeno, cook 1 minute, stirring frequently.

2) Stir in quinoa, chicken broth, beans, tomatoes, corn, chili powder and cumin.  Season with salt and pepper.  Cover, reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes, until quinoa is cooked through.

3) Remove from heat.  Stir in lime juice and avocado.  Serve and enjoy!

Spring has finally sprung!

Well, after a very long winter in New England, we are finally enjoying some warmer weather, which means its veggie gardening time!  I still haven't committed to a spot to make a permanent garden in our yard, so this is my second year of container gardening. 

I planted lettuce and sugar snap peas about 2 weeks ago and already we had a full salad of lettuce last night with dinner. I planted Boston lettuce and a Bistro mix, and both have taken off like crazy! I have had to bring them in most nights (and some days) when it was below 40, but they are loving life so far!!

The snap peas are growing slowly, but steadily... Although getting them to climb their bamboo posts is harder than I expected- unruly little tendrils!

Here's a couple of pics of the plants, and the amount of lettuce we cut last night!! Can't wait for Memorial Day weekend to plant all of my other veggies!!

Tomato Florentine Soup

While I love Tomato Soup, I feel like Tomato Bisques and Creamy Tomato Soups tend to be a bit heavy to have for than one meal, and I strive for dishes to make at home that provide plenty of leftovers!  This Cooking Light Tomato Florentine Soup was easy to make, delicious and light enough to not mind eating it for a few days in a row.   I followed their recipe pretty closely, with the exception of adding the salt and pepper earlier, and changing the cheese to shredded mozzarella, for a more Italian feel.

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 1/4 cups finely chopped onion

2/3 cup chopped celery

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 cup water

2 (14-ounce) cans fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth

1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes, undrained

1 (8-ounce) can no salt-added tomato sauce

2/3 cup uncooked small seashell pasta

2 cups bagged prewashed spinach

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/8 teaspoon salt

shredded mozzarella cheese to top

 

Directions:

 

1) Heat oil in a small Dutch oven over medium heat. Add onion and celery; cook 7 minutes or until tender, stirring frequently. Stir in garlic; cook 1 minute.

 

2) Add water, broth, tomatoes, and tomato sauce.

 

3) Bring to a simmer; cook 25 minutes, stirring occasionally.

 

4) Stir in pasta, pepper and salt; cook 8 minutes. Add spinach; cook 2 minutes or until spinach wilts and pasta is done.

 

5) Serve and top with shredded mozzarella.

A True One Pot Wonder

This recipe has been pinned on my Pinterest "Recipes To Try" board forever and I recently had the guts to try it! Wow, Amanda from The Wholesome Dish has created a delicious One Pot Wonder Chicken Lo Mein!!  This dish was easy to make, delicious and while I had my suspicions, actually all cooked in one large pot, exactly as described.  I can assure you that mine did not look as beautiful as Amanda's when I put everything into the pot, but it definitely ended up resembling like her finished product.  Warning, it does have a bit of spice to it!

Ingredients:

½ lb. boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into small chunks

12 oz. whole wheat linguini or fettuccini, broken in half

4 medium carrots, peeled and cut in thin 3 inch long strips

1 medium red bell pepper, cut in thin 3 inch long strips

1 bunch green onions, white part sliced and green part cut in 3 inch long strips

4 cloves garlic, minced

¼ cup soy sauce

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon corn starch

1 tablespoon sugar

½ teaspoon red pepper flakes

4 cups chicken or vegetable broth

½ cup water  **I did add a little extra water to cover the pasta, because I did not read the directions closely and put the pasta on top of the ingredient pile...Oops!

2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil

 

Directions:

 

1) Add the chicken, then the pasta, then the remaining ingredients to a large stockpot and cover. Bring to a boil. Stir and reduce to a simmer. Cook covered for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Cook until most of the liquid is gone and the chicken is cooked through.

Skinny Taste Turkey Stuffed Peppers

First, I must say, I highly recommend following Gina's Skinny Taste Blog, everything I have ever made has been incredibly flavorful, easy to make and delicious!  I love the concept of stuffed peppers, but when I have made them in the past, they have just been bland and not something I would make again.  A friend advised me to try Gina's Turkey Stuffed Peppers, and as always, they were amazing. We will never try another stuffed pepper recipe again.  Since finding this gem, we have made them several times, and they have been perfect each time. My only changes from Gina's recipe, were to use hot turkey sausage, instead of the lean, chopped turkey meat in her recipe, and we used rice pilaf as that is what was available in our pantry that day!

Ingredients:

6 hot turkey sausages

1 garlic, minced
1/4 onion, minced
1 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro or parsley
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp cumin powder
3 large sweet red bell peppers, washed
1 cup fat free chicken broth
1/4 cup tomato sauce
1 1/2 cups cooked rice pilaf
Olive oil spray
1/4 cup reduced fat shredded cheese


Directions:

1) Heat oven to 400°. Spray a little olive oil spray in a medium size saute pan and heat on a medium flame.

2)  Add onion and garlic to the pan. Sauté about 2 minutes and add ground turkey.

3) Season with salt and garlic powder, and cumin and brown meat for several minutes until meat is completely cooked through.

4) Add 1/4 cup of tomato sauce and 1/2 cup of chicken broth, mix well and simmer on low for about 5 minutes. Combine cooked rice and meat together.

5) Cut the bell peppers in half lengthwise, and remove all seeds. Place in a baking dish.

6) Spoon the meat mixture into each pepper half and fill it with as much as you can. Place all stuffed pepper halves on the baking dish and pour the remainder of the chicken broth on the bottom of the pan.

7) Cover tight with aluminum foil and bake for about 35 minutes. Top with shredded cheddar cheese and enjoy.

  

Margarita Cupcakes with Tequila-Lime Frosting

My mom loves margaritas, so for her birthday, I took on the challenge of making margarita cupcakes.  I looked at tons of recipes on Pinterest, and ended up finding Just A Pinch Recipes, and their perfect version of Margarita Cupcakes with Tequila-Lime Frosting.  I followed this recipe to the letter, as I am not brave enough to adapt baking recipes, and the cupcakes were Incredible!!! You could absolutely taste the tequila, lime and salt, and it truly tasted like a margarita!

Margarita Cupcakes

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cups butter, unsalted softened

1 cup sugar

2 eggs at room temp.

zest and juice of 1 1/2 limes

2 Tbsp tequila

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup buttermilk

 

To Brush Cupcakes:

1 to 2 Tbsp tequila

 

Directions:

 

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line a standard muffin tin with paper liners; set aside.

 

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt; set aside.

 

3. In an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat the butter and sugar together until pale, light, and fluffy (about 5 minutes).

 

4. Reduce the mixer speed to medium and add the eggs one at at time, mixing thoroughly after each addition.

 

5. Scrape the sides of the bowl and add the lime zest, lime juice, vanilla extract and tequila. Mix until combined. (The mixture may start to look curdled at this point, but don’t worry, it will all come back together, power on!)

 

6. Reduce the mixer speed low. Add the dry ingredients in three batches, alternating with the buttermilk in two batches. Mix only until just incorporated, using a rubber spatula to give it one last mix by hand.

 

7. Divide the batter between the muffin cups. Bake for approximately 25 minutes or until just slightly golden and a skewer shows only moist crumbs attached, rotating the pan at the halfway point.

 

8. Allow cupcakes to cool for 5 to 10 minutes, and then remove to a cooling rack.

 

9. Brush the tops of the cupcakes with the 1 to 2 tablespoons of tequila. Set the cupcakes aside to cool completely before frosting them.

 

 

Tequila-Lime Frosting

 

Ingredients:

 

1 cup butter, unsalted (room temp.)

2 3/4 cups powdered sugar

1 Tbsp lime juice

2 Tbsp tequila

pinch of course salt

 

Directions:

 

1) Whip the butter on medium-high speed of an electric mixer using the whisk attachment for 5 minutes.

 

2) Reduce the speed to medium-low, and gradually add the powdered sugar, mixing and scraping the sides of the bowl until all is incorporated. Give it a mix on medium speed for about 30 seconds.

 

3) Add the lime juice, tequila and salt mix on medium-high speed until incorporated and fluffy. If the frosting appears a bit too soft, add some additional sugar, one spoonful at a time until desired consistency is reached.

 

4) Frost cupcakes and garnish, with lime zest, a pinch of salt and a lime wedge.  I also added a straw, to complete the margarita look :-)

Crock Pot Red Chili

As you may have noticed, I have been doing a bunch of tidying up on the blog, editing recipes to reflect direct links to their origins, and making it a bit more user friendly. All of the things you may not have time for, until you are snowed in for the day! I figured I should keep going and add some new recipes to the blog, as it has certainly been awhile!!

Superbowl Sunday my husband was requesting chili, and so away I went recipe-hunting! I perused my Fix-It and Forget-It Lightly Slow Cooker cookbook and ended up taking parts from a few recipes to make the perfect chili for our home.

Ingredients:

16oz can kidney beans, drained
14.5oz can low-sodium diced tomatoes
4oz can diced green chilis, drained
1 pound ground turkey
1 yellow onion, diced
1 green pepper, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups frozen corn
15oz can low-sodium tomato sauce
2 cups low sodium chicken broth
1/2 Tbsp chili powder
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Directions:

1) Heat sauté pan over med-high heat.  Add olive oil and turkey.  Brown turkey, adding fresh cracked black pepper as desired.

2) Combine all ingredients in slow cooker and stir.

3) Cover and cook on low heat for 8 hours.

Mac and Cheese

As a long time Kraft Mac and Cheese addict, I am a huge critic of my favorite meal! I have been trying to find a lower fat and calorie version for awhile and stumbled upon 'Stovetop Mac and Cheese' on myrecipes.com, from the May 2007 Cooking Light Magazine. As we know, most of my recipes are from Cooking Light, so I gave it a try and over the past few attempts, I have improved and I believe, perfected the recipe!

Ingredients:
16oz uncooked pasta (we have tried a few, my husband's favorite is small shells)
2 cups fat free milk
4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 cups shredded, reduced-fat cheddar cheese
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Directions:

1)  Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Drain.

2)  Combine milk and flour in a medium saucepan (I have had great luck with a nonstick 2 quart pan), stirring with a whisk.  Cook over medium heat until thick, stirring constantly, this has been taking me around 5-7 minutes. Per the online recipe, using 1% milk, it takes 2 minutes, but it definitely longer with fat free milk.

3) Add cheese, salt and pepper, stirring with a whisk until smooth.  Add pasta and toss to coat. Let stand 4 minutes.

*The Cooking Light version of this recipe also provides directions to make your own breadcrumbs and apply them over the mac and cheese, but I really don't think it needs it so I have not been utilizing that portion of the recipe.

**We served our Mac and Cheese with steamed broccoli and the Crispy Pork Medallions from an earlier post for a fantastic meal!!

Beef Barley Soup

Now that its getting a bit brisk outside, I have been craving soups! This has become a go to in our house on Sundays-makes a bunch for lunches, easy ingredients and prep and you can watch football while it cooks!! This was adapted from Beef-Barley Soup by Cooking Light.

Ingredients:
Cooking spray (we use olive oil spray)
1 lb stew beef, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 1/2 cups thinly sliced carrot
1 1/2 cups thinly sliced celery
2/3 cup diced onion
2-3 garlic cloves, minced
1-2 cups water
32oz fat-free, less-sodium beef broth (I use College Inn, as I do for chicken broth as well)
1 bay leaf
2/3 cup uncooked pearl barley
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Directions:

1) Heat a Dutch oven over medium-high heat.  Coat with cooking spray. Add beef to pan, cook 4 minutes, stirring frequently to brown on all sides.

2) Remove beef from pan using slotted spoon, leaving beef juices in pan. Add carrot, celery, onion and garlic  Cook 4-6 minutes, stirring frequently, until liquid almost evaporates.

3) Add beef, beef broth, bay leaf and water to increase liquid volume to desired liking.

4) Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Cover, reduce heat and simmer 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally.

5) Stir in pearl barley, black pepper and salt. Continue to simmer 40 minutes, or until pearl barley is tender.

6) Remove bay leaf, serve and Enjoy!