Tim's Famous Spaghetti Sauce

Now, I realize everyone and their brother has a recipe for homemade spaghetti sauce.  So, yeah for all of us!  But I grew up with divorced parents, which means, when my parents were cooking, it was after a long day at work and there ain't no time for peeling and roasting tomatoes when you have two small kids telling you how "staaaaarving" they are.

My dad, Tim, always did some unique sprucing up of his spaghetti sauce.  Why am I sharing this?  Not because it's miraculous by any means, but because I have continued to use his "recipe" throughout my entire cooking life and I think it's a good balance between homemade and tolerable on a weeknight.

My dad would start with meat (usually ground beef), add onions and garlic, and then the canned spaghetti sauce from the store.  Then, after it got hot, he added in sliced mushrooms and chopped zucchini.   For himself (not us kids), he often added Tabasco sauce for a little added heat.

I pretty much do the same kind of thing now although usually using ground turkey, sometimes adding in additional veggies like bell peppers or broccoli.  I usually add some Italian seasoning to my meat too (along with the garlic and pre-chopped onions).  Another favorite trick is to add lots of fresh chopped basil or even easier, dump in some pesto (Costco has the best price on pesto by FAR).  I also like to add a little hot pepper flakes or Tabasco but watch this if I'm serving to kids. I NEVER skip the fresh sliced mushrooms and zucchinni - sooooo good!

So feel free to get creative with your spaghetti sauce without feeling like you have to make the whole thing from scratch.  And you just HAVE to try adding the fresh sliced mushrooms and chopped zucchini. :)

30 Second Balsamic Dressing

I got this recipe years ago (1999), from a dinner out on Long Lake.  I absolutely freaked out over the balsamic salad dressing - come to find out the recipe could NOT be easier. We've been making it ever since and it is Emma's all time favorite dressing.

Ingredients:

• 1/4 c balsamic vinegar
• 3 T water
• 1/2 c  olive oil
• 1 packet of Good Seasons Italian Dressing Mix

***I make a lower fat version substituting 1/4 c of the olive oil for additional water.

Directions:

• Shake until well blended

You can refrigerate this dressing for up to a month.  The ingredients will separate when refrigerated.  To reuse, let dressing stand at room temperature about 1 hour and then shake just before serving.

Leftovers? Make Paninis!

Sometimes we don't have big enough appetites or enough meals in a day to eat up all of the delicious food from dinner club.  Bummer?  No way!  We like to invite over friends to help us enjoy the extras and MAKE PANINIS!

We had several chicken breasts prepared two different ways: Hawaiian chicken and Roast chicken with fennel seed and sauteed bell peppers/onions.  In the refrigerator we found a variety of sliced and crumbled cheeses, teriyaki sauce, pineapple slices, tomatoes, and Italian dressing.  We'd purchased freshly sliced sour dough bread and were ready to roll out the panini grill.  A couple of us enjoyed a Hawaiian style panini with chicken breast, grilled pineapple (right on the panini press:), teriyaki sauce, colby/jack cheese and sliced tomato.  I made my sandwich with roast fennel chicken breast, mozzarella cheese, peppers, onions and sliced tomatoes.  This is an easy and tasty way to enjoy leftovers!

Roast Chicken with Balsamic Bell Pepers

Ingredients

* 3/4 teaspoon salt, divided

* 3/4 teaspoon fennel seeds, crushed (I couldn't find crushed seeds, so I just used the whole ones)

* 1/2 teaspoon black pepper, divided

* 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

* 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano

* 4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts

* 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided

* Cooking spray

* 2 cups thinly sliced red bell pepper

* 1 cup thinly sliced yellow bell pepper

* 1/2 cup thinly sliced shallots (about 1 large)

* 1 1/2 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary (I used dried)

* 1 cup fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth

* 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 450°.

2. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Combine 1/2 teaspoon salt, fennel seeds, 1/4 teaspoon black pepper, garlic powder, and oregano. Brush chicken with 1 1/2 teaspoons oil; sprinkle spice rub over chicken. (I just brushed the chicken with olive oil and sprinkled all of the spices on both sides. I didn't measure them out.)

Add 1 1/2 teaspoons oil to pan. Add chicken; cook 3 minutes or until browned. Turn chicken over; cook 1 minute. Arrange chicken in an 11 x 7–inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Bake at 450° for 40 minutes or until done.

3. Heat remaining olive oil over medium-high heat. Add bell peppers, shallots, and rosemary; sauté 3 minutes. Stir in broth, scraping pan to loosen browned bits. Reduce heat; simmer 5 minutes. Increase heat to medium-high. Stir in vinegar, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper; cook 3 minutes, stirring frequently. Serve bell pepper mixture over chicken.

I served this dish with rosemary baby red mashed potatoes. I don't really have a recipe. I just added in milk, salt, pepper, garlic powder, light sour cream, shredded Parmesan cheese, and rosemary to taste. :)

Recipe from Cooking Light

Hawaiian Chicken, Rice & Salsa

Pineapple/Mango Salsa:  My own recipe


1 fresh mango, diced
1 fresh pineapple, diced
2 medium tomatoes, diced
1/2 white onion, minced
1 yellow bell pepper, minced
1/8 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

Combine all ingredients and chill until ready to serve with chicken and rice.

Chicken: 

The Hawaiian Chicken recipe was adapted from Cooking Light magazine.  The recipe below is tripled from the original recipe and I added a few ingredients to make it tastier.  12 servings as is.

3/4 cup pineapple/orange juice
6 tablespoons ketchup
6 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
4.5 teaspoons minced, peeled ginger
3 tablespoons minced garlic
12 skinless, boneless chicken breasts, halved
cooking spray
2.25 teaspoons salt
3/4 teaspoon pepper

Rice:

6 cups Jasmine rice
7 cups liquid (4 cups of water and 3 cups pineapple/orange juice)
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

Combine first 5 ingredients for chicken recipe.  Reserve 3/4 cup marinade and refrigerate; place remaining marinade in a gallon-size Ziploc bag.  Add chicken breasts to bag and seal.  Chill 4 hours or overnight.

Prepare rice when 45 minutes before dinner remains.  Combine 6 cups Jasmine rice with water and pineapple/orange juice (7 cups total liquid) in rice cooker.

Heat grill to medium-high heat.  Coat grill with cooking spray.  Remove chicken from bag; discard marinade in bag.  Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper.  Add chicken to grill; baste with reserved marinade.  Cook 6 minutes.  Turn chicken over; baste with reserved marinade.  Cook another 6 minutes. Note: I made this on my indoor panini grill and it only took 6 minutes for the halved chicken breasts!

When rice is finished in cooker, combine with 1/2 teaspoon salt and stir in cilantro. 

Here is a very handy tip: if you aren't going to use all of your cilantro (or other herbs) at one time, place cilantro, stems side down, in a small vase of cold water.  This method can help your herbs last up to one week and it looks pretty on the kitchen counter too!

No More Crying Over Onions

Here are two of my favorite tips for doing one of my LEAST favorite things in the kitchen... chopping onions. Blech... my eyes are watering at just the mention of it.

My first tip is something I heard from my friend Carla, tried myself (admittedly skeptical) and quickly appreciated and loved... cutting onions with swim goggles on.

As crazy as this sounds, it actually works. Not like makes you cry less, but no crying at all!  You look like a complete dork, but practicality wins out over fashion here.  This is not a glamor blog, it's a cooking blog, so have at it!

My second tip is something that I came about by total chance.  NO ONE had better confess that they knew about these before now because we might not be friends if you knew of such miracles and didn't share with me.

Ready for this tip that will change the way you look at spaghetti sauce (and many other recipes with chopped onions) forever?  Wait for it...

Hint... you'll find it here:

Please let me introduce you to Mrs. Fabulous herself (obviously these are female)....

FROZEN PRE-CHOPPED ONIONS!

Well hellooooooo, lovah! Do you die?  I DIE!  If onions could feel gratitude, I would kiss them all with big loving, slobbery smooches to show my appreciation.

They save so much time and hassle, it's ri.dic.u.lous.  I keep them stocked up in my freezer and cook with them all the time.  You add them frozen to recipes, so no thawing time needed.

It's okay to fall in love at first sight... I did too.

Thai Chili

Ingredients

• 2 chicken breasts, chopped into bite-sized pieces*
• 3T red curry paste (2T reserved)
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 4 cups vegetable stock (found next to the chicken stock)
• 1/2 cup bulgar wheat (found in the bulk isle)
• 2 cups sweet potato/yam, peeled and chopped into bite-sized pieces
• 1 medium raw green bell pepper, chopped (1 c)
• 3 cups dark red kidney beans, drained
• 1/2 cup coconut milk
• 2 cups pureed tomatoes
• Fresh ground black pepper to taste
• 3 green onions, thinly sliced (1 reserved for garnish)

 

Directions

1. Cook chicken with 1T of curry until fully cooked (use small amount of olive oil to keep from sticking if needed)
2. In a 4 qt. stock pot, combine curry paste, cumin and bit of broth.  Whisk until the curry paste is smooth and no longer in clumps.
3. Add remaining broth, bulgur, sweet potato/yam and bell pepper and bring to boil.
4. Turn down to medium low, cover tightly and cook for 10 minutes.
5. Then, add beans, coconut milk, tomato puree, and chicken. Stir
6. Cook uncovered for 7 minutes until bulgar is tender and chili is thick
7. Stir in 2 sliced green onions and black pepper and serve garnished with reserved green onion.

*For a vegan version of this recipe, omit chicken.

This recipe was adapted from the Clean Eating magazine - I added chicken and additional curry paste amongst a few other slight modifications.  Even with the added curry, I would still say it's very low on the spicy scale (only 1-2 stars).  It's very healthy (could go low-sodium vegetable broth and low fat coconut milk for added health benefits) and the flavors are delicious.  I was surprised at how easy it was to make... and fast!  I had never cooked with bulgar before and really like the texture.  Hubby gave it two thumbs up, although we are all Thai food lovers and enjoy the curry flavor.  Definitely a repeat recipe for us!  This recipe makes about 10 cups of finished soup, so I doubled for dinner club.