Category: Entrees

Pasta with Squash-Sausage-Sage Sauce

Recipe here.

This was easy-peasy, very low-fat and quite tasty.

I made a few substitutions to the original recipe:

For Vegetarian Girl, I left out the sausage, of course.

I used linguini that I had on hand, rather than make my own pasta.

I deglazed the pan with 1/4 cup of white wine, rather than the specified chicken stock, just to add more flavor and a bit of acid to balance out the rich flavors of the cheese and squash.

This was a great, filling rainy-night dinner.

Thai Noodle Salad with Sautéed Tofu

From April 2008 Cooking Light magazine.  Recipe here. This was REALLY good and very easy.  It tasted a lot like a spring roll, only without the wrapper.  The only thing to be aware of is that the tofu has to marinate for 2 hours before cooking, so be forewarned that, although the hands-on time investment is pretty small, this is not a recipe that can be thrown together at the last minute. I cut the amount of chili-garlic paste in the dressing down from 3 Tbsp to 2 Tbsp (and didn’t even use all of the dressing) and it was still pretty spicy.  Definitely still edible, but if your kids/family are spice-sensitive, I’d cut it back even more.  If you love the hot stuff, this is definitely your kind of dish.  Hubby LOVED it.  It would be great with some chopped peanuts sprinkled over the top of it.  Chopped cucumber would be a nice addition, too.

Chickpea Pasta with Almonds and Parmesan

From January 2008 Real Simple magazine.  Recipe here.

This was quite good and was ridiculously fast and easy.

A one-pan pasta meal?  Unheard of!

I used spaghetti instead of vermicelli, because I already had some.  It took a little longer than 6 minutes to cook, but not much more.  The reduced stock makes a tasty, glaze-y sort of sauce.

The crushed red pepper adds a bit of a kick, so if your family/kids are particularly heat sensitive, feel free to cut back a bit.  Those that like more spice can always add more at the table, although the amount of heat wasn’t too much for my kids at their current ages, it might have been “too spicy, Mom!!!” when they were younger.

We, of course, used vegetable stock to accommodate the Veggie Girl, but I will say that, although this pasta was very nice, it would have been MUCH better with chicken stock instead.  If you’re a carnivore, a bit of cooked, crumbled bacon on top would have been pretty fabulous, too.  We served it with salad topped with balsamic vinaigrette and garlic croutons.

Acorn Squash Lasagna with Bechamel Sauce

Recipe here.

This lasagna was OUTSTANDING.  I will definitely be making it again.  Boy hasn’t historically been a big fan of lasagna, because he’s not wild about tomato sauce (although he’s getting MUCH more open-minded lately,) but he loved this mellow, rich sauce.  It was SO good.  My only criticism is that I don’t really care for the “no bake” noodles.  They just never seem to reach the right texture; they’re always still just a bit too chewy.  It all depends upon the consistency of your sauce and how much available liquid there is for the noodles to absorb, so maybe I overcooked my sauce and it was too thickened for the noodles to cook in, but, either way, I will be using “regular” noodles when I make this again.

Even with the chewy noodles, though, this was fantastic.

Mini Veggie Potpies with Hats, Homemade Poultry Seasoning

Mini Veggie Potpies with Hats from The Family Fun Cookbook

(This cookbook  is, by the way, a GREAT cookbook for families with young kids or for kids who are just beginning to cook on their own.  The recipes are simple and universally appealing and there are lots of great, helpful tips and photos.  I have used this cookbook for years and we are only just now beginning to “outgrow” it, and my kids are 12 and 14.  I believe that there is a new, updated version of this book coming soon.)

1 small onion, chopped

1 Tbsp. vegetable oil

1 1-pound package frozen mixed vegetables, such as peas, carrots, green beans and lima beans

1 10-ounce box frozen corn

1/2 red bell pepper, diced (optional)

2 10-ounce packages frozen puff pastry shells

Sauce:

2 cups water

1/2 cup cashew nuts

1 Tbsp poultry seasoning*

2 Tbsp flour

2 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp brewer’s yeast (optional)

In a large skillet, saute the onion in the oil until transparent.  Add all the vegetables and cook until heated through.  Set the pan aside and cover.

Bake the pastry shells according to the package directions while you prepare the sauce.  In a blender or food processor, blend 1 cup of the water with the cashews until creamy.  Add the remaining water and ingredients, process until smooth, and pour the liquid into a heavy saucepan.  Cook on medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until the sauce thickens, about 15 to 18 minutes.

Add the sauce to the vegetable medley, mix thoroughly, and spoon into hollowed-out pastry shells.  Use the crispy shell tops as “hats” for the vegetables.  Serve immediately.  Serves 6.

*Poultry Seasoning:

1 1/2 tsp dried thyme leaves

1 tsp dried rubbed sage leaves

1 tsp dried marjoram leaves

1/2 tsp dried rosemary

1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

1 small pinch nutmeg

These were quite yummy and surprisingly easy.  Girl just ate this for her meal, but I added some sliced, grilled chicken for the Carni-boys.  Gently flatten a boneless, skinless chicken breast with a flat mallet.  Coat chicken with a VERY light layer of canola or olive oil (just a few drops) and then sprinkle/rub with a very generous coat of Baby Bam seasoning.  Grill until cooked through.  Allow to cool, off the heat/grill, for a few moments, then slice and serve.

Spaghetti with Roasted Cauliflower with Bacon Herbed Breadcrumbs

Recipe here.

This was REALLY delicious.  To adapt for Vegetarian Girl, I just set aside a few of the breadcrumbs without bacon for her to use.  I also added the parsley to the pasta, rather than to the breadcrumbs.

This made a HUGE amount of pasta.  We ate this for dinner one night and lunch another and then I still had a bit left over that I froze for Hubby to have for lunch sometime in the future.  There’s not a lot of cauliflower in each portion, because it cooks down so much as it roasts, so if you want more veggies and not so much pasta, I would use more (double?) the amount of cauliflower or add some other veggies (thawed frozen peas?  chopped fresh spinach?)

Acorn Squash Stuffed with Orzo in a Sage Brown Butter Sauce

Adapted from this recipe on Herbivoracious.

2 changes:

I couldn’t find Delicata squash right now (I suspect it’s not in season until the weather gets a bit warmer,) so I used acorn squash, instead, and baked it before stuffing at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes.

I pan-toasted the orzo before boiling it.

This was really delicious, although a bit time-consuming (and dirty pan-intensive.)  Surprisingly, all four of us liked it (even Hubby, who normally detests ANY dried fruit.)

Roasted Vegetable Couscous with Chickpeas and Onion-Pine Nut Topping

From January 2009 Cooking Light.  Recipe here.

Another Girl-friendly vegetarian meal.  I clipped this one out of Cooking Light magazine about a year ago and the kids plucked it from my recipes files at last week’s “family meeting/menu planning session.”  I was worried that they were just tired and eager to get the meeting over with and weren’t being too careful about their choices.  I was worried that I would spend an hour cooking it and they wouldn’t like it.  Hubby doesn’t like raisins.  Boy isn’t wild about large amounts of onins and Girl isn’t a fan of too-exotic spices.  But…my fears were unfounded.  They all liked this and it also proved to be much quicker and easier than the recipe, at first glance, would seem.  After cooking this, I read some of the reviews of the recipe on Cooking Light’s website (Duh!  I should be doing that FIRST, right?) and I agree with most of what’s written there, namely:

Don’t skip the onion topping.  In fact, consider making extra.  It adds a TON of flavor.

Add a bit more ras el hanout spice to the veggies before roasting. (FYI – if you have a hard time finding Ras el Hanout, try CostPlus World Market.  It is possible to make your own, but most recipes call for some pretty exotic ingredients that you’re not likely to use for anything else…best, in my opinion, to buy it, if possible.)

I highly recommend this recipe and I suspect that it’s one that will hold its own as leftovers (probably will even freeze well, although I’m going to test that theory, as I made a larger-than-called-for batch and we have quite a bit left over.)

Hubby and I will be happily devouring some of the leftovers for lunch tomorrow.

Coriander-Crusted Pork Tenderloin, Sweet and Spicy Roasted Vegetables, Brown Rice with Walnuts and Golden Raisins

Coriander-Crusted Pork Tenderloin recipe link

Sweet and Spicy Roasted Vegetables recipe link

Brown Rice with Walnuts and Golden Raisins recipe link

Wow!  This whole menu is from Dec’09/Jan’10 Fine Cooking magazine and it was OUTSTANDING.  The kids loved the veggies and rice and the pork was really amazing.  It was definitely the standout of the meal.  The crust on the outside was a TINY bit too spicy for Boy, but he just cut the edges off and ate the “middle.”  Hubby and I loved the crusty edges.  Yum.

Fine Cooking’s website can be a bit persnickety, as it is a mostly-subscription site, but try these links and see what happens.  If all else fails, you can try googling the recipe name and see if someone else (who is less afraid of copyright attorneys than I am) has typed in it.

Oh, also?  This meal was really quick, easy and well thought-out.  The fact that the veggies and pork cook at the same temp was really helpful.  It’s a very simply executed meal, in terms of juggling all three dishes easily at the same time.

(Vegetarian Girl just ate the rice and veggies.)