Worlds Best Italian Meat Sauce!

A romantic dinner for two doesn't have to be an expensive evening out. You can make a great meal for the one you love at home. And to all you guys out there trying to impress that girl you like, nothing is more impressive than a well cooked meal.

Start by making this amazing sauce:

1 cup chopped onions
1 pound ground beef
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 (28 oz) can crushed tomatoes
1 (6 oz) can of tomato paste
1/4 cup fresh chopped parsley
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon dried crushed basil
1 teaspoon dried crushed oregano
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning ( I used Mrs. Dash)

In a large pot combine onions, beef, and garlic;cook till meat is browned and onions are tender. Skim off the excess fat; and add remaining ingredients and 2 cups of water.

Bring to a boil then lower heat and simmer uncovered 3 hours or until sauce is thick, stir occasionally. Remove from heat, remove bay leaf and serve over warm pasta. I know 3 hours sounds like a lot of time, but you don't have to watch it just be home so the house doesn't burn down or anything crazy.

Cooking whole wheat pasta:
Fill a large pot with water and about a tablespoon of salt. Bring water to a boil and add 2-3 cups of whole wheat pasta. Cook till al dente, there should be a slight resistance to the pasta when you bite into it.

Garlic Bread:
French baguette (bread)
clove of garlic
butter

Cut baguette in half and place on cookie sheet. Place in the oven under the broiler and toast bread. Cut clove in half then rub against the toasted crusty bread. Then spread a thin layer of butter over bread and then cut the bread into pieces.


Arrange the whole wheat pasta on the plate and top with the meat sauce, place bread on the side and arrange a small salad on the side of the plate ( I just use the pre-washed stuff from the store). Eat and enjoy!

Chicken Noodle Soup

I was feeling kinda sickly today so I made some chicken noodle soup. The can stuff is ok in a pinch but when you or your loved one feels really lousy its time to break out the bigs guns, Homemade Chicken Noodles.

Ingredients:

1 chicken breast
2-4 carrots cleaned and chopped
2 stalks of celery cleaned and chopped
1 tps garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp celery salt
1/4 tsp cracked black pepper
14 0z chicken broth
2cups water
3-5 cups dry egg noodles ( I like a lot of noodles with little broth so I add a lot of them)

Boil chicken, water, chicken broth, garlic powder, onion powder, celery salt, until chicken is cooked. Remove chicken and shred into bite size pieces and add back to the pot. Then add carrots and celery, cook till tender. Then add noodles and when they are soft add the black pepper and serve.

Asparagus !!!!!

The first time I tried asparagus I was 14 and my French club went to the Refactory. The Refactory is a beautiful French Restaurant in Columbus. It was the first time I had ever experienced fine dinning, and it was amazing! I had among other things a side of white asparagus in a cream sauce and it was delicious. Now that my lactose intolerance has become so severe that I can't eat any dairy products I have not been able to eat asparagus, because it always seems to be in a yummy cream sauce. Last night I decided to try and make asparagus without cream sauce, and it turned out to be really good.

Ingredients:

1/2 pound fresh asparagus (asparagus usually comes in 1 pound bundles but I was only making enough for two so I only used a 1/2 a pound)

Tablespoon Olive Oil (or Canola Oil depending on what you have)

1 to 2 cloves minced garlic ( I love garlic so I use two but for more mild flavor use 1)

1/8 teaspoon salt and fresh cracked black pepper

Dash of Italian seasoning ( I used Mrs. Dash, but what ever you have on hand will work)


Give the asparagus a good wash under the tap and then trim off the not so tender part of the stalk. The easiest way to do this is to grab the asparagus below the tip with on hand and at the stalk end with the other hand. Give it a gentle bend making the asparagus into an arch until the bottom snaps off. Place the large top piece in a 8x8 glass baking dish and continue till all the asparagus is cleaned and trimmed. You can throw away/ compost the small tough ends of the asparagus or save them to make a vegetable stock later.

Drizzle the oil over the asparagus, add garlic, salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning. Using your hands rub the oil, garlic, and spices all over the asparagus until coated.

Put in a 350 degree oven for 10 to 12 minutes. You want the asparagus to be fork tender but not mushy and over done. It should be tender enough to skewer with a fork but still have a crunch or crispness when you bit into it.

Serve along side with meats, poultry dishes, or a vegetarian meal.

LEEK AND THYME SOUP

This recipe should really be called Potato Leek Soup. No matter what you call it it tastes great! I was really excited to try this recipe because its in one of my favorite Irish cook books.

Ingredients:
2 pounds leeks
1 pounds baking potatoes (I used two large baking potatoes, which ended up being closer to 2 lbs)
1/2 cup butter (non dairy soy margarine for us lactose free people.)
2 large sprigs of thyme
1 and 1/2 cups low-fat milk ( I used my Lactaid Milk because it is lactose free)
Salt and ground pepper and thyme to garnish. ( I put in about 1 table spoon of salt in the pot with the leeks and potatoes and then used salt on top of each portion)
Large bowl 1/2 full of water

Step one: Trim your leeks cutting away the tough top leaves. Then cut leeks into think slices. then place leeks in the bowl of water. This is the easiest way I have found to clean out all the grit in the leek layers. Just swish them around until they look clean. The dirt will fall to the bottom of the bowl. Then drain the leeks.

Step two: Peal and chop potatoes into 1 inch cubes, and dry on a paper towel.

Step three: Melt butter in a large sauce pan and then add leeks and thyme cover and cook for 4 minutes or until tender. Then add potatoes and just enough water to cover the top of the veggies. Re-cover and cook over low heat for 30 minutes.

Step four: Stir in milk and add seasoning (about 1 table spoon sea salt and a few grinds of pepper) cover and simmer for another 30 minutes.

Step five: Remove thyme stems (the leave will have fallen off into the soup) and serve.

I added a little more salt at the table as well as pepper. This would also be great with some soy cheese or bacon bits if you go for that sort of thing, anything you would put on mashed potatoes would be great in this soup. This makes about 4 servings, my boy friend and I skimmed off most of the broth and ate the veggies, and it only made 3 servings. This would make a great soup for lunch in the winter. Being that its full of potatoes like a chowder I find it to be very filling. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

A veggie burger full of flavor!

Chickpea burgers

Ingredients
Makes 20

410g tin chickpeas, drained and rinsed (about a 15 oz can)

410g tin red kidney beans, drained and rinsed (about a 15 oz can)

1 carrot, trimmed, peeled and finely grated

1 small onion, peeled and finely grated

50g sunflower seeds ( 3 and 1/2 table spoons, I use the shelled sunflower seeds)

2 tbsp tahini, drained of any excess oil before measuring (you can find this in the peanut butter area of the store )

1 garlic clove, peeled and chopped

1 handful chopped fresh coriander

1 tbsp wheat-free vegetable bouillon powder (you really need this or it really bland)

You should also add Salt and pepper to taste. Paprika would also be great to spice things up.

Method

Preheat oven to 220°C/Gas 7. 428° F

Place all the ingredients in a food processor and blend for 5-10 seconds, until the mixture is fairly coarse (you can use a hand-held blender). Push the mixture down with a spatula and blend for a further 10 seconds.

Remove the blades from the processor, wet your hands under the cold water tap and shape the mixture into 20 small balls. I made them the size of a meatball and then flattened them a bit into patties. This only made about 8 balls.

Line a large baking tray with greaseproof paper. Place the balls on the tray and flatten slightly with the back of the spoon.

Bake for 15-18 minutes until lightly coloured. I cooked them on one side for 10 minutes then flipped them over and cooked the other side for another 10 minutes. They are not the most firm so be careful when you take them off the baking tray and place them on the bun, lettus wrap, or tortilla. Remove from the oven and allow to rest. Serve with sweet potato wedges and a crunchy raw salad of mangetout, radishes, grated carrot, sliced celery and fennel dressed with a squeeze of lemon juice.

Easy Shepherd's Pie

As an Irish girl I can't help but love Shepherd's Pie! Its great you just throwing in what veggies you have on hand with mashed potatoes and lamb. Its just a great dinner to share with the family as the weather starts to cool. Now in the current economy you might not be able to buy lamb because it is more expensive than beef, but thats fine because beef tastes great in place of lamb. I will tell you though this is not really a "Shepherd's Pie" its called a cottage pie. But most Americans don't know the difference so we will just call it Shepherd's Pie.

Easy Shepherd's Pie Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 lbs ground round beef (I use 1/2 lbs of beef in an 8x8 baking dish, for 4 people. If you use all the beef use a 9x13 baking dish)
• 1 onion chopped
• 1-2 cups vegetables - chopped carrots, corn, peas
  
• 1 1/2 - 2 lbs potatoes (3 big ones)
• 8 tablespoons butter (1 stick)
  
• 1/2 cup beef broth
  
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• Salt, pepper, other seasonings of choice

Method

1 Peel and quarter potatoes, boil in salted water until tender (about 20 minutes).

2 While the potatoes are cooking, melt 4 Tablespoons butter (1/2 a stick) in large frying pan.

3 Sauté onions in butter until tender over medium heat (10 mins) (I can't eat dairy products due to my food allergy so I use olive oil or vegan margarines.). If you are adding vegetables, add them according to cooking time. Put any carrots in with the onions. Add corn or peas either at the end of the cooking of the onions, or after the meat has initially cooked ( I over load on the veggies because I cut back on the beef. you can use other veggies if you like. I used the holly food trinity onions, carrots, and celery. And at the very end I add frozen peas because they cook very fast.).

4 Add ground beef and sauté until no longer pink (I personally use less beef because I'm only cooking for three, and if you uses an 8x8 baking dish you can get away with 1/2 lbs of beef). Add salt and pepper. Add worcesterchire sauce (I didn't have this when I first made this recipe so I subbed 1 teaspoon of soy sauce and two dashes of hot sauce, and I think it tasted better thanWorcestershire sauce) . Add half a cup of beef broth and cook, uncovered, over low heat for 10 minutes, adding more beef broth as necessary to keep moist (Freeze the other half of the broth can or rest of the broth you don't use.).

5 Mash potatoes in bowl with remainder of butter, season to taste. Spread mashed potatoes over the meat mix in the baking dish. Then place the baking dish under the broiler until the potatoes get golden on top.

Happy Vegetarian Day!

Not all my dishes are vegan or vegetarian but they are the easiest to work with since they do not usually contain milk ingredients. And since today is World Vegetarian Day I thought Dinner should be sans meat, and I have been looking forward to trying quinoa. Quinoa is one of those "new" super foods everyones been talking about recently. I say "new" because its new to the American supper market, but it was a staple in the Inca diet... So its not so new to the world. Its know as a super food because it beats all grains when it comes to its protein content. I got the following nutritional info from wikipedia.org Quinoa's "protein content is very high (12%–18%), making it a healthy choice for vegetarians and vegans. Unlike wheat or rice (which are low in lysine), quinoa contains a balanced set of essential amino acids for humans, making it an unusually complete protein source.^[5] It is a good source of dietary fiber and phosphorus and is high in magnesium and iron. Quinoa is gluten free and considered easy to digest. " But enough about nutrition lets get to the recipe!

Quinoa and Black Beans

INGREDIENTS (Nutrition)

• 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
• 1 onion, chopped (I think a red onion would taste best)
  
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
• 3/4 cup uncooked quinoa
• 1 1/2 cups vegetable broth
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 cup frozen corn kernels
• 2 (15 ounce) cans black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

DIRECTIONS

1. Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the onion and garlic, and saute until lightly browned.
2. Mix quinoa into the saucepan and cover with vegetable broth. Season with cumin, cayenne pepper, salt, and pepper. Bring the mixture to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes,
3. Stir frozen corn into the saucepan, and continue to simmer about 5 minutes until heated through. Mix in the black beans and cilantro.

This turned out amazing! I think that it would be great if you used Chicken broth instead of the vegetable broth. I think I will also be using a red onion next time instead of the yellow one I had on hand. Its also important that you wash the quinoa because it has a bitter outer coating, and make sure there are no non-quinoa items or you might have a split pea soup chipped tooth. I am also considering other vegetables I can add to the dish perhaps some jalapeños or bell peppers.

I hope you enjoy this as much as I did. Till my next non dairy kitchen adventure good bye