I made this salad a few weeks ago to take to a friends 4th of July barbeque (I’m really late, I know). I love basil, it is so tasty. I’ve got three plants growing in my back yard and I have more than I know what to do with!
I’ve always wanted to make my own pesto, and now I finally have enough fresh basil to do so! The recipe consists of a creamy buttermilk based dressing with garlic and pesto, mixed with noodles, fresh veggies and real mozzarella cheese chunks. Its really easy and really tasty.
I came up with this recipe by taking bits and pieces from all over the internet, and mixing in some of my own tastes! It has quite a few steps, but that’s only because I made my own pesto, but its relatively simple.
Ingredients
Dressing:
1 large garlic clove, minced
1/3 cup mayonnaise
1/3 cup sour cream
1/3 cup buttermilk
1 tablespoons rice vinegar
Pesto:
(or use 1 cup pre-made jarred pesto)
(this part is from simply recipes)
2 cups fresh basil leaves, packed
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan-Reggiano or Romano cheese
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/3 cup pine nuts or chopped walnuts
3 medium sized garlic cloves, minced
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Salad:
1 cup grape or cherry tomatoes, halved
1 cup green beans
1 cup chopped zucchini (about one squash)
(if you prefer different veggies, use whatever you want!)
1/2 cup shredded fresh Parmesan cheese
1 big ball of fresh mozzarella, cubed (or a bunch of the little balls, shredded if that’s all you’ve got!)
16 oz your choices of pasta (I used fusilli, but was seriously contemplating some bowtie)
Boil the pasta according to the box directions, drain, and allow to cool.
Mix together the buttermilk, sour cream, mayonnaise and garlic, set aside to let those flavors meld.
Prepare the pesto.
Combine the basil in with the pine nuts, pulse a few times in a food processor. Add the garlic, pulse a few times more.
Slowly add the olive oil in a constant stream while the food processor is on. Stop to scrape down the sides of the food processor with a rubber spatula. Add the grated cheese and pulse again until blended. Add a pinch of salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.
Set aside.
If you don’t like crispy veggies, lightly steam the zucchini and green beans. Don’t let them turn to mush though, it’ll just make the salad a mess
Toss together the pasta, and other salad ingredients, reserving a handful of Parmesan, mozzarella and tomatoes to top the salad.
Just before serving mix together everything but the reserved ingredients. Top the salad with the reserved ingredients and a few whole basil leaves to make everything look pretty.
I’ve never had carbonara before tonight. I’d look at it on menus in restaurants or in recipe books and be like ew gross, bacon and pasta? Nasty man, nasty.
Ends up its really tasty. Not the healthiest thing, but damn tasty.
I came up with this recipe by going through a few cookbooks and websites and combining everything I think will be tasty together. That and I fine tuned it to what I had in my kitchen.
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon canola oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed
3-4 slices of bacon, diced
2 eggs
1/2 cup shredded parmesean
1 tsp basil
1 tsp parsley
1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper
1/2 a box of fettuccine
water to cook the fettuccine
1 cup chopped broccoli
1/4 – 1/2 cup of boiling noodle water
Boil the noodles following the directions on the package. Approximately 5 minutes before the noodles are done, add the chopped broccoli.
Crush and finely chop the garlic. Add oil to a pan and lightly cook the garlic. Do not let it burn! It’ll be nasty if you do. Remove all the garlic you can (you don’t want it to burn while you’re cooking the bacon).
Add the bacon and cook until crispy. Drain reserving 1-2 tablespoons of bacon grease.
Whisk the eggs, cheese, herbs and pepper together. Slowly add the boiling noodle water, whisking as you do so that the eggs do not curdle. Add the bacon.
When the noodles are done cooking, drain and place in a large bowl. Pour over the warm egg mixture and toss immediately.
Reheat the pan with the bacon grease (if not still warm) and add the noodles and cook slightly until the egg mixture is thickened and everything is heated through.
Its one of my favorite vegetable dishes, and really easy to make. Almost as easy as opening a can, but better.
When its tomato season again I plan on making this with fresh tomatos. As part of the natural food diet I’m on, I’m trying to eat more locally and seasonally (not saying I am able to do this all the time, but I’m trying).
Ingredients:
1-2 small zucchini (or more if you have many)
1 can of plain tomato sauce
1 can diced tomatoes (plain)
olive oil
basil
oregano
garlic
Clean and slice the zucchini into chunks. Slice the zucchini longways, then again if needed, then into small slices. Half or quarter circle chunks are a good size depending on the diameter of the zucchini.
Heat a few tablespoons of oil in a pan and add the zucchini. Saute until tender.
Next add the tomato sauce and diced tomatoes.
The tomatoes I used already had garlic, oregano, and basil in them. Normally I use plain diced tomatoes, and they usually aren’t organic. This is just what my parents had in their pantry, so its what I used.
At this point, add some garlic powder, oregano and basil to flavor.
Stir and cook until the tomato flavor is saturated throughout the dish.
This recipe is easily customizable to your tastes. If you like crunchier vegetables, only sauté the zucchini for a moment or two.
If you don’t like the tomato chunks, leave out the diced tomatoes and only use the sauce. You can also add chopped garlic and onion before adding the zucchini to the sauce, or add whatever seasonings you want.
The other night my roommate had a hankering for tuna casserole. I couldn’t bring myself to make a cream of whatever soup monstrosity, especially since we’re trying to eat less processed food.
I surfed the internet, and consulted casserole recipe books and came up with this tasty, mild flavored, creamy, cheesy, and sort of healthy recipe.
Ingredients:
12-16 oz of dried pasta (penne, farfarelle, macaroni, whatever you have)
2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
3 tbsp flour
2 cups chicken broth
1 cup heavy cream
1 tsp dried parsley
1/2 tsp dried sage
1 cup chopped carrots
1 cup peas
1 cup green beans
(or 3 cups total of mixed vegetables chopped into small pieces)
2 6-oz cans of tuna, drained
2 cups cheddar cheese
1 cup breadcrumbs
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Cook the pasta according to the directions on the box.
Cook the carrots slightly to soften them. Also cook the peas and/or the green beans if needed. They will cook a little bit, but if they are frozen or fresh, warm them up a little. (This is a good recipe for leftover vegetables.)
Melt the butter in the olive oil on low.
Cook the chopped onion in the butter/olive oil mix until soft and translucent.
Add the flour to the cooked onions and stir quickly. Stir the mixture until the flour has been coated and forms a paste on the onions.
Add 1/2 a cup of the chicken broth and stir thoroughly. It should be thick with no lumps but the onions. Slowly add the rest of the chicken broth, and the cup of cream, about 1/2 a cup at a time, stirring after each addition until combined.
When all the liquid has been added slowly add 1 cup of cheese, about 1/4 of a cup at a time. Stir the mixture until all of the cheese is melted before adding more.
Add a few spices like parsely and sage if you want to.
In a really big bowl, place the cooked pasta, vegetables, and tuna.
Pour the cream sauce over the whole thing and mix well.
Pour everything into an oven safe casserole dish. Mix together the remaining 1 cup of cheese and breadcrumbs, and sprinkle evelnly over the entire dish.
Bake in a 350 degree F oven for 10-15 minutes until the cheese is melted and everything is bubbly and hot.
I’m told that when I was a baby/toddler my grandfather used to give me whole onions to just munch on like you would an apple. I’m not as fond of onions now as I was then.
Whenever I order something like a hamburger or sandwich, I very strictly specify no onions. I can’t stand the things, most of the time they’re little crunchy chunks of strong taste that usually just mess up whatever I’m eating. If they aren’t crunchy then they’re long and stringy.
The first time I made cucumber salad I left the onions out because I thought they were gross. The resulting salad was even worse though.
One thing that does include onions that I love, and don’t even mind eating the onions in, is french onion soup. I’ll admit, the only reason I ate it in the first place was the the melted cheese on top. Then I found out french onion soup, doesn’t taste like onions.
Up until this point I had been dining on soup from restaurants. The canned stuff was just disgusting and my mom’s was just lacking.
I’m still working on perfecting on my personal recipe every time I make it, but this is what I have so far:
Ingredients:
1 large spanish onion (I prefer this to a yellow or sweet onion)
3 tbsp butter
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
3 tbsp flour
4 cups beef broth (or vegetable)
pepper
1/2 tsp ground sage
For toasty cheese topping:
1 slice of toasted bread cubed or sliced (your preference)
1-2 slices of swiss cheese, or shredded, (or mozzarella, or gruyere)
Peel and slice the onion very thinly. If you don’t want long stringy pieces of onion cut the slice in half.
Melt the butter in the olive oil on low heat in a large soup pot, making sure it doesn’t burn. Add the onions and stir to coat.
Cook the onions on low heat until translucent and soft.
Add the salt and sugar, stir.
Bring the heat up to medium, medium-high heat, and cook until a deep golden brown throughout. Stir frequently making sure that they cook, but not burn. At this point they’ve broken down, and only partially still look like onions.
When they are cooked, turn the heat down again to low and stir in 3 tablespoons of flour. Stir with the onions until the onions are coated and the mixture is paste-like. If the flour is not sticking, add another tablespoon of butter. Cook another minute or two so that the flour browns.
Add about 1 cup of the beef broth and mix well. It should be a thick consistency without any lumps but the onions.
Add the rest of the beef broth and stir to combine.
Season to taste with salt, pepper, and sage.
Allow to simmer for approximately 1 hour.
Serve as is, with cheese topping:
Toast some bread in a toaster, or brush with olive oil and brown under a broiler.
Pour the soup into am oven/broiler proof dish, top with the toasted bread and sprinkle with cheese (or place a slice of cheese over the entire dish).
Broil or bake at 400 degrees F until the cheese is melty and tasty.
My dad actually bought a nice piece of meat all on his own! Ok, so the only reason he got it was because he was on sale. It’s still a nice roast.
http://www.wannagreenbean.com/textpattern/index.php?event=article&step=edit&ID=45
Txp › Wanna Green Bean › Delicious Herbed Standing Rib Roast
Honestly I have never heard of a standing rib roast before, let alone cook one. So I searched the internet and found a recipe to start from. It involved trimming the fat, coating it with tasty garlic and herbs, putting the fat back on, and roasting it to tasty goodness.
If you can get past the cost of the meat, it is a really meal to try sometime.
Ingredients:
1 head of garlic (yes the whole thing)
olive oil
salt
freshly ground black pepper
Fresh Rosemary
Fresh Thyme
1 standing rib roast of beef (about 4-5 pounds)
1 1/2 cups red wine, plus 1 more cup if making au jus, optional
1/2 cup beef stock, plus 2 more cups if making au jus, optional
Before I start cooking I usually like to gather all the ingredients, so if I don’t have something, I can find a suitable substitute, or run out and buy the ingredient.
With the recipe I had found used red wine in both roasting, and in the au jus (tasty meat juice for dipping). I looked to see what my parents had for red wine and all I could find was this:
I don’t know if you can make that out or not, but its a 1987 vintage. This isn’t quite the type of wine that gets better with age either. They say, if it doesn’t taste good, don’t cook with it, and this stuff was close to turning into vinegar, so I had to run out to get some.
I’m not a big fan of red wine. I just don’t like it that much, to drink at least, food with wine in it is fine. I know almost nothing about wine either, just that I like Barefoot’s white zinfandel so I thought one of their red wines couldn’t be too bad, so I picked up their cabernet sauvignon.
Roasting Garlic
When I roasted my garlic I had just gotten done baking something so the oven was already at 350 degrees F.
Slice the top of the garlic off exposing the cloves inside. Tear off a piece of foil and set the garlic in the center of it. Drizzle a little bit of olive oil over the garlic head, and sprinkle with pepper.
Fold up the edges of the foil and twist at the top to make a foil wrapped garlic head package.
Set the garlic in the oven and let it cook at 350 degrees F for twenty minutes.
At this point, this is where I ran to the store to get a new bottle of wine, so I turned the oven off, without opening it, I left the garlic in the oven for about another 45 minutes to an hour, until I got home. When it is done roasting, the cloves should be a golden translucent color and your abode should smell tasty.
Back to the roast
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.
When the garlic has cooled, remove the cloves from their skin. Place them in a bowl and mash with a fork until almost smooth. Add a little bit of salt and pepper.
Next prepare the fresh herbs. Remove the little leaves from both the rosemary and thyme stems. Chop the herbs slightly, you should have a tablespoon or two of each.
Add the herbs to the garlic and mix well.
As for the meat carefully trim the layer of fat off the top of the roast in one piece.
Spread the herb/garlic mixture across the top of the roast where you just removed the fat.
Place the fat you saved back over the roast ontop of the tasty herbness. In the instructions I was following, it said to tie the roast back up with some kitchen string.
I didn’t do this, but I think you should.
While cooking, the fat on the roast curled up, moved, and went all over, making a mess of the oven. Don’t be lazy like me, and tie the thing up, lol.
Mix together 1 1/2 cups of the wine with 1/2 cup of beef stock. Place the roast into a roasting pan and add the wine/stock mix to the bottom of the pan.
Roast for 20 minutes.
Without opening the oven, reduce the heat to 350 degrees F and continue to roast until the roast is as cooked as you like it, about 18-22 minutes per pound for rare, and 22 minutes for medium.
Let the roast stand for five minutes before carving.
You can serve it with de-fatted pan juices, or make some au jus to go along with it (they’re almost the same thing).
Au Jus
Place the roasting pan on the stove (or do your best to scrape out the tasty bits out of the pan) over medium-high heat. Add 1 cup of red wine, and scrape the browned bits on the bottom of the pan with a spoon. Add 2 cups of beef stock and season with salt and pepper. Cook until the liquid is reduced by half. Strain the sauce and de-fat if needed. Serve.
So, potato soup is boring and white looking, with maybe little bits and pieces in it. But the taste is much more exciting.
I started with a basic Potato Leek Soup from Simply Recipes and modified it a little to fit my taste, ending up with a tasty smooth simple potato soup.
Ingredients:
3 large leeks
2 Tbsp butter
2 cups water
2 cups chicken broth (or veggie broth)
4 medium to large sized potatoes
Salt & Pepper
Start with three leeks:
Trim the leafy bits and the hairy bits from them:
(Dude! They took my hair off!)
Slice them lengthwise:
(Wow, man! Look at your insides!)
Then chop them all to pieces, and rinse them well in a colander:
(Well this sucks.)
Melt the butter in a really big soup pot:
Add the leeks and cook on low for 10 minutes. DO NOTLETTHEMBURN OR BROWN! They’ll taste gross if you do.
While those are cooking, peel and chop the potatoes into about 1/2 inch pieces (or smaller if you want them to cook faster):
(Dude, you’re nekkid. Yeah man so are you!)
Add them to the leeks and add the water and broth:
Cook for 20 Minutes. The soup is almost done when the potatoes are easily pierced with a fork, and the mix looks kinda goupy:
Now comes the tricky part.
If you have a stick blender you can stick in the pot to blend up some of the potatoes, this is the easiest way.
If you don’t very very carefully, pour out half of the soup. Put that into a blender and blend until smooth. CAREFULLY! This stuff is hot hot hot!
Add the blended mixture back into the other half still in the pot and stir to combine.
Carefully do a taste test without burning your tongue. Add salt and pepper as needed until you like how it tastes. There are other things you can add to it like hot sauce, marjoram, or other spices, but I like things like this to be simple.
My friend and I have spent over half a year renovating a house to live in. Its an old house, over 100 years old. The plaster was falling down and everything was painted bright blue and ugly pink/brown/orange. It wasn’t even awesomely kitchy in tacky 1970 colors, it was just downright ugly.
I would post the pictures directly here but the Realtor is a friend of mine, and she seemed doubtful when my roommate said he’d take it. We plan on having her over once its done completely and hope she doesn’t have a heart attack at 23. So if you’re my house selling friend, don’t look yet! Everyone else click on through.
The plaster from all walls except for one closet was torn down (now that was fun), and this is what the kitchen looked like (and thats after cleaning it up a bit). The kitchen along with the rest of the house has improved greatly. The kitchen is so big I almost don’t know what to do with myself.
Except cook.
The only problem is that we hadn’t done any real grocery shopping since well, I don’t even remember. All we had were little bits and pieces that had made it through packing, storage, and then floating around the house for a while. I realized though, that we did have enough for a quick stir fry like meal.
Start by thawing about 1/2 to 1 pound of chicken (whatever kind of chicken you may have) or if you’re vegetarian – tofu, meat substitute or whatever you’ve got.
When you are done using the microwave for thawing (or if you don’t have to thaw the meat at all) cook some boxed rice according to the package’s microwave instruction (this is gourmet cooking we’re doing here).
If you have enough cookware, feel free to cook the rice on the stove. I couldn’t find my saucepan, but I could find a large microwave safe bowl, so that’s how I made it.
Cut the chicken into bite sized pieces and lightly shake on some soy sauce.
Heat up a large skillet with a little bit of oil in it (or skip the oil if you don’t have any).
Cook the chicken until cooked through and tasty and golden (or not if you prefer that sort of thing).
Add the frozen vegetables. Yes add them frozen, we’re lazy here people. Use however many vegetables you want. I used a box of Asian teriyaki vegetables, and 1/3 a bag of green beans. Add about 1/4-1/2 a cup of water to help steam the veggies.
Normally this is where I would cover the food to let the steam help thaw out and cook the veggies, but I have no idea where the lid is. I was just happy to find this pan. So if you have a lid, stick it on. Stir occasionally to break up the veggies as they thaw.
When the veggies have separated, its time to add some sauce.
We had some bottled sweet and sour sauce and some soy sauce, so I poured some on. I contemplated using some oriental sesame chicken marinade we had on hand too, but there was already teriyaki sauce in some of the frozen vegetables.
There was still alot of water left in the pan so I decided to thicken it, But then I realized we didn’t have any cornstarch. So I used a few spoonfuls of flour instead, and it actually didn’t turn out too badly.
Spoon out some of the cooking water into a bowl and then whisk in the thickening agent with a fork. Make sure its as smooth as possible before adding it back to the food, otherwise there will be lumps.
Take the rice out of the microwave and laugh at the smiley face the seasonings made as it was cooking, and contemplate selling it on ebay along with mary on toast.
Cook the stir fry for a few more minutes until things thicken up a bit and you’re done!
The other day an internet friend who recently took a trip to New York City posted a link to a recipe for some macaroni and cheese she had at S’Mac.
I love mozzarella, especially fresh mozzarella. Before when I’ve tried to make macaroni and cheese using it, it left the foodstuffs chewy and lacking in tasty cheese flavor, not to mention overly stringy. This recipe uses muenster cheese to help smooth it out as well as starting with a simple bechamel sauce.
This recipe also includes basil, my most favorite herb ever. You can never have too much basil.
This tasty dish even got the thumbs up from my dad.
The original recipe is here. I increased ingredients and modified the order of instructions a bit because of the amount of cheese I had to buy, and why not make extra? You can never have too much mac and cheese (or basil)!
Here’s the recipe with my modifications:
2/3 lb elbow macaroni (yield: 4 cups cooked)
1 1/4 cups whole milk
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
6 oz fresh Mozzarella cheese, diced
3 oz Muenster cheese, shredded
3 oz Pecorino Romano cheese, shredded
kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper
dried basil leaves
2 plum tomatoes
Fresh basil leaves, cut into thin ribbons
1 garlic bulb
3/4 cup fresh Parmesan cheese
olive oil
Start with roasting the garlic and tomatoes.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Slice the top of the garlic bulb off, exposing the tops of the garlic cloves. Brush the bulb with olive oil and wrap in aluminum foil.
Slice the tomatoes in half lengthwise. Toss with a little olive oil, salt, pepper, and dried basil. Place skin side down on a baking sheet covered in olive oil.
Roast the tomatoes for 25 minutes until the skin slides off, and the garlic 30 minutes until the cloves are soft and can be squeezed out of the skin.
While the garlic and tomatoes are roasting bring a pot of water to a boil and cook the macaroni to al dente, about 8-10 minutes. Drain and set aside in a large mixing bowl.
Slice the mozzarella into uniform sized cubes and shred the other cheeses if needed. Also slice the basil at this time and set aside.
Bring the milk to a boil (I used the microwave).
Melt the butter in a medium, heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium-high heat. Lower the heat and whisk in the flour, cooking 3-4 minutes making sure the mixture doesn’t brown.
Slowly add the hot milk, whisking constantly.
Add the cheeses except for the 3/4 cups of parmesan, stirring frequently until the cheeses are melted and the sauce is slightly thickened. Season with salt and pepper.
Peel the skins off the cooled tomatoes and chop into 1/4 inch pieces. The garlic should be easily squeezed from the skin. It should be golden and translucent and smell oh-so-good. I chopped it a little as well since it was still pretty solid.
Turn off the heat and stir the tomatoes, basil and garlic into the cheese mixture.
Pour the cheese mixture over the macaroni and stir to thoroughly combine, pour into a baking dish.
Top with the 3/4 cups of parmesan and breadcrumbs.
Bake 10-15 minutes until golden brown and tasty.
I topped it with some leftover sliced basil to make it look all pretty.
4 oz wide rice noodles
hotwater
1 lime halfved
2 tbsp fish sauce
1 tsp garlic powder
pinch red pepper flakes
1 1/2 tsp soy sauce
2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp peanut oil
1/4 c cilantro chopped
1 egg
1/4 c unsalted peanuts
1 c bean sprouts
Soak the noodles in hot water in the medium mixing bowl while you make the sauce and scramble the egg.
Squeeze the juice from the lime into a small mixing bowl. Dig out any seeds with your fingers and discard the seeds. Add the fish sauce, garlic powder, red pepper flakes, soy sauce, sugar, and the peanut oil to the lime juice. Beat with a fork to combine.
Scramble the egg in the skillet over medium heat. When the eggs are solid drain the water off the noodles and add them to the skillet.
Add the sauce, the peanuts, and the bean sprouts to the skillet. Stir everything together with the tongs, and cook until its all warm.
Turn off the stove, take the skillet off the burner, and transfer your super fly ad thai to serving plates with tongs. Sprinkle with cilantro.
1 1/2 cups chopped bell peppers
1 1/2 cups chopped broccoli florets
1 cup shredded carrots
1/2 cup diced radishes
1/2 cup Orange-Oregano Dressing or Creamy Dill Ranch Dressing
1 tablespoon minced red onion
Place bell peppers, broccoli, carrots, radishes, dressing and onion in a medium bowl. Toss to coat. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
NUTRITIONINFORMATION: Per serving: 64 calories; 2 g fat (0 g sat, 1 g mono); 0 mg cholesterol; 10 g carbohydrate; 2 g protein; 3 g fiber; 198 mg sodium; 371 mg potassium.
Nutrition bonus: Vitamin C (240% daily value), Vitamin A (140% dv).
4 stalks celery, trimmed and cut in half crosswise
2 tablespoons cider, pear, raspberry or other fruit vinegar
2 tablespoons honey
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 ripe pears, preferably red Bartlett or Anjou, diced
1 cup finely diced white Cheddar cheese
1/2 cup chopped pecans, toasted (see Tip)
Freshly ground pepper to taste
6 large leaves butterhead or other lettuce
1. Soak celery in a bowl of ice water for 15 minutes. Drain and pat dry. Cut into 1/2-inch pieces.
2. Whisk vinegar, honey and salt in a large bowl until blended. Add pears; gently stir to coat. Add the celery, cheese and pecans; stir to combine. Season with pepper. Divide the lettuce leaves among 6 plates and top with a portion of salad. Serve at room temperature or chilled.
2 6-oz cans chunk light tuna, drained
1 15-oz can small white beans, cannellini or great northern
10 cherry tomatoes
4 scallions, trimmed and sliced
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
2 tbsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp salt
ground pepper to taste
Combine tuna, beans, tomatoes, scallions, oil, juice salt and pepper in a medium bowl. Stir gently. Refrigerate until reado to serve.
This turns out just like the canned stuff, but its not.
1-2 small zucchini
1 can of plain tomato sauce
1 can tomato sauce with tomato bits (stewed tomatoes, canned tomatoes)
oil
basil
oregano
garlic
Wash the zucchini and cut it up into small pieces, slice longways slice that piece in half then cut into little triangular pieces.
Add a small amount of oil to the pan and sautee the zucchini until just tender.
Pour in the tomato sauce and add the sauce with the bits in it. If using whole canned tomatoes, squish them in your hand (or cut them into smaller pieces with a knife) before adding.
Add some basil. I use about a table spoon of basil and a teaspoon of oregano because I loooove basil.
Crush a garlic clove or two (to your liking) and add to the sauce. You can also add it when sauteeing the zucchini, but I have a tendancy to burn it when I do that then it just tastes gross. If you dont have fresh garlic go ahead and use some powdered garlic to your taste. Fresher is better.
Let everything simmer and mellow out for a while. If I’m makingthis for dinner I usually start it first so it can simmer while I’m cooking everything else.
This is sort of like alfredo sauce, but not. Its really good and really creamy
1 8oz Package of Cream Cheese
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp Dried Basil
2 tbsp Dried Parsley
1 tsp Garlic Powder or 1 garlic clove chopped
1/4 c Grated Parmesean Cheese
1/4 c Olive Oil
1/4 c Boiling Water
Melt the butter in a saucepan at low and add the basil and parsley, dont let the butter burn.
Cut the cream cheese into smaller chunks and add to the butter herb mix.
When the cream cheese begins to melt add the olive oil.
Then add the Parmesean cheese and garlic powder. You can adjust any of the herbs or parmesean cheese to your taste. (Although adding a large amount of parmesean cheese makes it a little stringy).
When everything is incorporated and beginning to come together (its ok if things are still lumpy and separated), add the boiling water. This is an important step, without it everything stays separated and is gross (I know this from expirience). Stir at low heat until everything is blended and creamy.
Serve over noodles of your choice.
While cooking or after refrigerating the sauce it may separate. If it separates during cooking you may have it too hot or too cold, adjust the temperature until it blends together again, dont worry. If it separates in the refridgerator, just warm the sauce again slowly stirring occasionally (like 10-15 seconds in the micro, stir, repeat) until blended together again.
This is a really tasty and easy dinner. If you forget about marinating the steak until the last minute, dont worry let it marinate while you cut up the pepper and drain the pineapple, instead of cooking it while you do those things. Its also a good way to use the steak that has been in your freezer for a while or if you cant afford expensive stuff.
1-2 lb steak (doesn’t have to be expensive)
1 Can Chunk or Tidbit Pineapple
1 Green Pepper
Soy Sauce
Cornstarch
1 c White Rice
Slice the steak into thin strips cutting against the grain.
Place the steak into a large bowl and add soy sauce until the steak is pretty much covered.
Let the steak marinate 1-2 hours (or overnight if you really like
soy sauce).
Cook the rice (I’m assuming you know how to do this).
Heat a large pan and add the steak and sauce from the bowl.
While the steak is cooking wash and cut the pepper into bite sized pieces.
Cook until almost all of the pink is gone.
Add the pepper and cook until almost tender.
Drain the pineapple juice from the can reserving it in a bowl.
Add about 1 tbsp of cornstarch to the juice and mix well.
Add the juice to the steak and pepper.
When the sauce has thickened slightly add the pineapple and heat just long enough to warm.
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The other day an internet friend who recently took a trip to New York City posted a link to a recipe for some macaroni and cheese she had at 
