Pasta Arribiata!

Okay, I've been meaning to post this forever.....Anyway, this is our favorite summer-time meal, especially if you have lots of parsley growing in your garden as I do. It is yummy, yummy, yummy and extra easy! Enjoy. Sorry the picture is NO good, but I never claimed to be a photographer. In case you're wondering, the drink is Crystal Light Raspberry Lemonade--also a favorite at our house!


Pasta Arrabiata

¼ c. olive oil
6 cloves fresh garlic, diced
2 cans diced tomatoes
sea salt to taste
½ tsp. crushed red peppers
1-2 cups chopped Italian parsley
Fresh grated parmesan cheese
1 lb. penne pasta

1. Sauté garlic in oil until golden (not brown) add tomatoes and simmer till thickens (about 15 minutes). While simmering, add salt and red peppers.
2. Cook pasta, add to sauce and let sit three minutes
3. Stir in chopped parsley and sprinkle with parmesan cheese. Serve immediately.

Menu Plan

Over at Simple Mom today she posted her ENITRE menu plan for the month of August! Incredible! I guess I know what I'll be making this month.

See you in September!

summer pasta and grilled veggies

Last night I made this pasta dish just kind of on the fly. It's super easy and you can use whatever you have in the house. This is what I did:

boil 1 pound of pasta (I found these cute "sun" shaped pastas in a local grocery store

grill one or more chicken breasts

toss veggies of choice with olive oil, salt, and pepper (I used zucchini, asparagus, and tomatoes)

grill those veggies

cut up the chicken breast

toss all together with a little balsamic salad dressing

top with a little shredded cheese of your liking

My 5 yr old ate the pasta plain (I pulled out some for her before I added the dressing), the chicken, and asparagus. It was a healthy meal all around!

Enjoy :)

Tilapia, shrimp, & green beans

This is for all of you who love the Costco frozen food section and for all of you who are not fortunate to live by a Costco, yet make fun of us who buy EVERYTHING there. This meal takes about 10 minutes!



First I pulled out a Tilapia Fillet and rubbed olive oil over it and seasoned with Mrs. Dash . Bake this for 10 minutes @ 425 degrees. While this is cooking, pull out the frozen shrimp and defrost in cool water. Next, grab your frozen green beans and a couple of garlic cloves (Costco fresh foods) and saute in a little olive oil adding salt and pepper to taste. My kids will actually eat this up!

Ratatouille

I got this recipe off Rachael Ray's website, it was fun to make and something different. It turned out better and wasn't as time consuming as I expected it to be!

This is the dish Remy whipped up in the hit movie Ratatouille! In order to make this one look as beautiful as it did on screen, look for veggies that are about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. If you have one available and are feeling extra fancy, use a mandoline to slice the vegetables, but don't sweat it if you don't have one, your knife will work just fine.

Ingredients
· 2 tablespoons EVOO – Extra Virgin Olive Oil, plus additional for drizzling
· 1 medium onion, chopped
· 3 to 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped or grated
· 2 jarred whole roasted red peppers, chopped
· 1 small (8-ounce) can tomato sauce
· Salt and ground black pepper
· 2 small yellow squash, thinly sliced
· 2 small green squash, thinly sliced
· 2 small eggplant, thinly sliced
· 2 to 3 small Yukon Gold potatoes or a handful of baby Yukon gold potatoes, thinly sliced
· 3 to 4 sprigs thyme, leaves removed


Preparation
Preheat oven to 425ºF.
Place a large skillet over medium-high heat with 2 turns of the pan of EVOO, about 2 tablespoons. Add the onion, garlic and roasted peppers to the pan and cook until the onions begin to get tender, 4-5 minutes.

Set up a food processor or blender and add the contents of the pan to the machine. Add in the tomato sauce and puree everything up (it should be about the consistency of thin tomato sauce). Season with salt and pepper and pour it out into the bottom of a casserole dish or sauté pan.
Swirl your dish around so that the bottom is evenly coated with sauce then arrange your veggies on top in a spiral pattern, alternating each veggie type, until you've filled the pan (like he did in the movie!).

Sprinkle the thyme leaves over the top along with some salt, pepper, and a drizzle of EVOO. Cut a piece of parchment paper (I used tin foil) into a round the size of the pan (if you're not feeling artsy-craftsy, you can also use a square sheet of paper: Cut four slits in from the corners towards the center of the sheet – this will lay over the top of the dish just fine too). Lay it over the top and place the whole pan into the oven. Bake the ratatouille until the veggies are tender, about 45 minutes. Yields: 4-6 servings

Serve the ratatouille with some crusty bread alongside.

BBQ Chicken Salad

Okay, I know, I started this blog and I am just barely posting a dinner recipe. Sorry, but I am sure enjoying all of your ideas! This is brought to you by Jessica. She's been here visiting this week and we made this for dinner one night. It's her spin-off of restaurant BBQ chicken salads and I tell ya, it's better than the ones I've had! She shot this picture too.

Here's the ingredients and you can add as little or lot of each as you prefer...

Lettuce

Chicken

Corn

Black beans

Avocados

Tomatoes

Tortilla chips (crumbled)

Dressing: Add a little bbq sauce to ranch dressing. Ours ended up kind of pinkish but just keep adding until you like the taste-SO YUMMY!

We served it with a sliced baguette and oil and balsamic vinegar.

Chilcken & Salmon Duet with Mushroom & Asparagus Risotto and Vegetables

Don't be intimidated at all by the name of this meal! I wanted to come up with a fancy name for the fun of it. Here's the story . . . we got doubly lucky tonight because my sister and brother-in-law called and wanted to come over to (1) play with the kids, and (2) cook us dinner. How could you turn down an offer like that! So I didn't actually cook tonight, but this dinner was so delicious and pretty that I had to take a picture of it and share it. My sister calls it one of her 'semi-homemade' meals. It looked easy enough to cook that even I will have to try it myself one of these days.

INGREDIENTS (so simple!):
1 pkg Trader Joe's Fire Roasted Vegetables (or any other store brand pre-packaged veggies)
1 pkg Trader Joe's Mushroom & Asparagus Risotto (or another store brand risotto)
Chicken breast fillets
salmon fillet
salt & pepper
garlic powder
thyme

DIRECTIONS:
(1) Prepare the vegetables per package instructions.
(2) Prepare the risotto per package instructions.
(3) CHICKEN: Season chicken breast fillets on both sides with salt & pepper. Season only one side of the fillet with garlic powder. Cook on a non-stick griddle, careful not to overcook chicken and make too dry and tough.
(4) SALMON: Prepare the same way as the chicken . . . season whole salmon fillet with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Sprinkle with thyme. Cook on a non-stick griddle until moist and flaky. Cut into serving portions.
(5) PLATING: Spoon a generous mound of risotto in the middle of the plate. Place chicken breast down one side of the risotto and salmon on the other. Arrange the veggies around the plate.

Bon apetit!