Italian Marinara sauce

I learned how to make basic marinara sauce the other day.

It was much more simple and different than I would of thought.

To be honest, I didn't really give it that much thought until I saw it being made.

When I make spaghetti sauce, I usually start with dicing onions and sauteing them

while adding diced peppers, celery, mushrooms etc... thinking the more veggies the healthier right?

While adding more veggies is way healthier of course...

when it comes to basic marinara sauce- it is quite the opposite.

You start off with a can of tomatoes, it can be stewed whole tomatoes, diced or crushed like

the ones I used. You still want to add your onion, carrots and celery but you don't actually 

dice or chop them up. Wash and just cut them in half so they fit in your pot.

One onion, 2 carrots and 2-3 celery stalks.

Throw the veggies into your pot whole...  (technically cut in half) along with the can of tomatoes,
a bay leaf or 2, a sprinkle of black pepper and some whole or smashed garlic. I decided to go with 3.

            

         

Let the sauce have a boiling party for about 30 minutes. Once the sauce has bubbled,
take the veggies out with a tong or wooden spoon.  That's pretty much it!
Carrots are a sweet vegetable and onions are typically on the sweet side
as well so they really help take out the acidity from the tomatoes.
If you taste the sauce in the first 10 minutes or so and then taste it again
after 30 or more minutes- You will certainly taste the difference in the
slight tartness and it becoming less acidic.

          

 

I took some shredded cheese I had in the frig  and mixed it with the linguine that
I pre-boiled and set aside.

Mixing the cheese with the pasta allows the sauce to stick better and mix better if you are
tossing the sauce with the pasta rather than just adding the sauce on top of your chosen pasta.

Voila! Linguine with home-made marinara sauce.  (Those are chicken sausages with spinach
and mozzarella.)  I like to rip up basil leaves with anything tomato and on the bottom right is just
potato bread fried in a pan with a little butter, then sliced into long strips.

Personal Mini Apple Pie

Apple pie is commonly known as the all-American dessert.

We can make pies in many different ways but a new favorite is

the personal and mini pie.  

You know about double-duty and triple duty... BUT!---

the muffin pan has a record for the many things it can make, bake, store and hold.

The newest is making mini little pies in the muffin pan.  

What's nice about the mini pie isn't JUST the fact that they are cute.

They are easier to eat, store (if you have any left over that is!)

I think we all have a muffin pan also which makes it easy. 

(even the single guys have a muffin pan) ---right?

Ingredients:

fruit for pie (depends on the type of pie you're making)

(I choose 2 small apples for this small batch

1 pie crust - already made pie crust (makes 5 mini pies)

butter (to saute apples (fruit) in on the pan)

milk to brush onto pies

Start with dicing 1 large or 2 small apples and saute them in a pan on medium high heat with butter

It's easiest if you have your filling cooked and ready to go.

Add a sprinkle of cinnamon (optional)

Take the Pillsbury or whatever brand all-ready made pie crust and cut them out
with a cookie cutter, (you will need 2 circles for every mini pie- top and bottom)

or the lid of a jar works really well. (Just keep in mind-
you want the circle to be able to fill the muffin tin.

 Spray some oil on your pan and place your pie crust in the pan.

After you've placed your apple filling in, take your second little circle pie crust and place on top of the cooked apple. (You can cut other little shapes with a mini cookie/fruit cutter to place on top if desired)
Heavily brush some milk or equivalent. (I used almond milk for this batch)

Cook in the oven on 375 for about 35-40 minutes or until golden brown.
It's best to lay the muffin tin in the middle rack so the bottom and top have even distribution of heat.

 I will say... these were quite tasty!  On to blueberry and blackberry next!

Hwa, a childhood friend of mine, gave me the idea of making mini pum-pples after the original "Pumpple"....
One of these weekends,  I'll have to try the mini Pumpple or Blupple.
Actually it would be Van-pple...? If it was a single layer of vanilla cake and apple pie.
You get what I'm saying though right!?

Sweet Mini Pies!

Grilled Cheese Spinach Sandwich

The other night, after a busy, busy day- I was in the mood for grilled cheese and upon taking
the cheese out, I realized I had a lot of spinach in the frig.  So, I had an Ah-ha moment
and decided to make grilled cheese spinach sandwiches.

Take some bread, and just make grilled cheese on the pan.

Slap a slice or 2 of cheese on the bread. Followed by adding chopped spinach on the cheese

and to keep it in place, just add another slice of cheese. It's really easy right!?

Carefully flip the sandwich over- (I like to add butter on the bread before flipping it over)

Soba Noodle Salad

Soba Noodles are thin grayish noodles that are made from buckwheat.
Ok. Cool, but what the heck is buckwheat... exactly?

No, no, not the kid named "Buckwheat" from "The Little Rascals" from waaay back in the day.
Buckwheat is a plant, strangely NOT in the wheat family tho!   You would think it was in the
wheat family right!?  Nev-er assume! It's actually closer and in the same family as rhubarb and sorrels- which kind of look like spinach more than a grain. Buckwheat is more of a green plant rather than a grain and therefore it isn't used in cereals like the way almost every other grain is.
The noodles are made from the dark seeds. The flowers of the plant look like this.

Japanese buckwheat is always wrapped in bundles like it is in the picture below.

Soba noodle salad can be made as an entree or a side salad.

Ingredients:
Soba Noodles 
     (2 bundles is a good amount for 3 people for an entree 
     or a side salad for maybe 4-5 people)
Grapes (maybe 1/4 cup or 2 or 3 branches of the whole bunch)
Salad tomatoes (10-15 tomatoes) 
2-3 leafs of Romaine lettuce

Ingredients for sauce:  
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 TBSP of Rice or Balsamic Vinegar
Sesame oil -(drizzle - about 1/2 TBSP)
1-2 TBSP of Agave or any sweetener (grate in an apple)
1 TBSP of hot pepper paste (more for desired level of spiciness)
Sesame Seeds (roasted is best and you want a heavy sprinkle)

The best step to start with is probably boiling some water to cook the noodles.

It's usually best and easiest to make the sauce first in most recipes.
Measure and make the sauce/dressing and set it aside so that it is ready to pour or mix in.
If you haven't put the noodles in the hot water- now is a great time to do so. 

I started by cutting the grapes and tomatoes.

Here is a neat, double duty trick. You want to slice your tomatoes and grapes in half.
Now, you can take a pairing knife and cut each one individually or.... kind of recycle your
take-out food container lids.  You will need 2.  Simply lay one down and place your tomatoes
on it and then top it with the 2nd lid. While slightly pressing down to hold the tomato- lid
sandwich,  take a large knife and slice away!

Ta-Da!  You cut them all half in a matter of seconds.

Now, do the same with the grapes!  Make your grape lid sandwich and then slice away!

By the way... you can use any type of grapes... grapes that are seedless will work best of course!

Take 2-3 stems of romaine lettuce and cut them into long slivers almost like the way cabbage

looks for coleslaw. Combine the noodles, tomatoes, lettuce and grapes into a large bowl.

Add in your already made sauce/dressing  little by little as you use tongs or your hand with
one of those handy plastic throw away gloves.

Hard boiled eggs are another option to adding to the Soba Noodle Salad.
This noodle salad is good to have as an entree or a small side salad with a good steak.

Fast Maryland Crab Cakes

When I think of crabs, I think of the shore and summer.
Even though it isn't summer just yet-
I wanted to make some crab cakes at home.

This is a pretty quick and easy way to make them at home.

Ingredients:
1 egg
2.5 TBSP of mayonnaise
1.5 teaspoons of Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon of Old Bay seasoning
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1 stalk of celery diced up finely
2 TBSP finely chopped parsley (maybe 6-8 stems)
1 pound- (ish) of crab meat
1.5 cup of Panko bread crumbs
drizzle of oil (any oil is fine)

I mixed all these ingredients in a bowl, stirred them, formed them into
little patties and fried them.   You could also lay them on a pan and bake them
on 400 until each side gets brown.
I recommend frying them in a pan on the stove though!

A squeeze of lemon makes seafood even better including these crab cakes!

Linguine Nests

Wow, can we say normal-food  food rut? Sometimes I wonder...
why can't I just eat food normally like everyone else.
Why do I always want to try to make it from scratch or in a different way?

I guess it keeps it interesting and fun?!!! or I'm very weird!

So keeping up with my cultivate and change it up rut theme-
I decided to make Chicken Parmesan the other night and decided to make
linguine nests. I made the pasta noodles (linguine) literally shaped into bird's nests!

This is great because it uses your muffin/cupcake pans as double duty which is
always a bonus when you can use an item or appliance for multiple things.

So simply boil some pasta and strain it.

 I also took one egg and beat the sucker up, I mean the egg.

I filled the muffin tins with linguine and then brushed the beaten egg on top with a brush. You want the
egg to be on and in there to help the pasta form/bake better but at the same time you don't want the egg to cook separately on top of the noodles so make sure the egg is brushed on rather than a little puddle on top.

 Like this picture... you can't even see the egg but the whole egg is mixed in there
with the linguine nests.

After it was in the oven on broil for about 10 minutes, I took the pan out and added
a little bit of shredded mozzarella and the heat of the nests melted the cheese right away
while sitting on the counter.

It definitely helped my pasta norm-rut. They really did look like little nests.
I added a little marinara sauce and it was a good Italian food night!

I think next time I will add some roasted garlic pieces in between the pasta
when it goes into the muffin tin.

Crescent rolls are SO last year.

Whether it's Pillsbury or a generic brand, we've all seen, had, made, eaten, loved the crescent rolls.
I got tired and bored of the crescent shaped roll just like the plain ole edamames.

I had a "seven years" moment a few weeks ago while making apple pie with my momma.
I added star shaped pieces to cover the apple pie rather than using a pie top/crust.

With that same idea I have since evolved the crescent roll into that same buttery tasting rolls
but into a larger loaf but bite size at the same time. Kind of ironic, I know, larger loaf but bite size?

Let me show you!
Take the can of crescent dough and open it. (Opening THAT CAN will be the hardest part of these rolls)

You'll notice that they are cut into triangles ready to roll into crescents. Ignore the pre-cut lines and
just roll them into quick little balls. I've found that each triangle gives 3 perfect size little balls.

The next part is the BE CREATIVE and cultivating part. Simply make it your own by adding
whatever you like. I usually make it with a sprinkle of garlic powder and drop a handful of
shredded Parmesan cheese. This time around,  I had a ridiculous amount of chives in
the refrigerator so I decided to add a little chopped up chives into the little balls.
You literally add the rolled balls into an oven safe dish and throw your
seasonings/cheese/herbs/whatever on top.
Bake it in the oven for about 15 or so minutes on about 350.

About 15 or so minutes later.... TA-DA!  Warm, browned little balls into one larger roll/loaf.
These are so people friendly and share-able as you can very easily pull each little ball piece off.
It's almost impossible to have any left-over.

You can get even more creative by cutting them out with little cookie cutters. 

reativity can be endless along with things to put in it... 

shredded Gouda, pepper jack, craisins, herbs, roasted garlic pieces,

slivered nuts, cooked, diced apples....