My non-dairy version of Ryan’s Bolognese Sauce

When I first read this recipe, I just had t try it. I love pasta and more than that I love meaty tomato sauces on my pasta. The only think I changed was to substitute soy milk for the milk, so that my son could eat it. Of course, I made up for it by putting a little bit of extra parmesan on mine:)

Of course, the Pioneer Woman's pictures are a lot better than mine, but here it goes.

Grate the carrots and dice the red onion:

Get out your olive oil, tomatoes, tomato paste, garlic and beef:
Heat the oil in a Dutch oven:
Saute the carrots and onions:
Mince the garlic:
Yes, I followed the recipe as best as I could…
Time for the beef:
Time to get the spices ready:



Another well for the tomato paste:
In goes the garlic:
You can never go wrong with a little wine:
I loved that the recipe calls for Worcestershire Sauce:
Whole Tomatoes:
And now the (soy)milk:
I served it with spaghetti and lots of cheese for me:

I really do love this recipe and whenever I feel like a meaty pasta sauce, this is the one I make. Everybody at our house just loves it.

Enjoy!

Amy’s Zucchini Penne

My dear friend Amy is always eager to share her recipes with me and I am more than happy to try them out. This is one of them. It's a light summer-dish that is easy to make. What's not to love?!?

Here are the ingredients:

2 Tbsp. EVOO
1lbs. Shrimp
2-3 Yellow Squash, diced
2 Zucchini, diced
3 cloves Garlic
¼ cup Lemon juice
1 tsp. Dried Basil
1 tsp. Dried Oregano
¼ tsp. Pepper & Salt.

Dice the squash:

In my case I had to thaw the shrimp:

Mince some garlic:

And here are the rest of the ingredients:

Start by sauteing the squash:

Add the shrimp:

Hmmmm…..

Add the juice and the spices:

Again hmmmmm…..

And serve it all over the cooked Penne:

This is just too yummy to not make again.

Thanks Amy for sharing!

Quick Pasta Salad

So this is a quick little salad. it goes well with some grilled chicken or, on a rainy day, you can sautee some cut up chicken and some Italian seasoning.

Here are the basic ingredients. I used half a box of pasta (any will do), a jar of sliced mushrooms, drained; half a large jar of roasted peppers and half a large jar of artichoke hearts, sliced. Reserve the liquid of the last two jars.
Add the vegies to a bowl. If you want more you can use the whole jars:
I added some Italian Seasoning:

Stirred it and added some of the reserved liquid from the jarred artickoke hearts and roasted peppers:
Overall it turned out ok, but I like a little bit more bite, so I ended up adding some Kraft Zesty Italian dressing, which I also used to marinate the chicken breats before grilling them.
Sorry no pictures of that:)

My new favorite Tomato Sauce

This is another great recipe from my favorite cookbook. it's the simple red sauce, and simple it is!
At first I was a little scared, as the recipe calls for fresh tomatoes, meaning you have to blanch and peel them, but it's not as hard as I thought.

Wash the tomtatoes:

Chop garlic and add it to olive oil in large pot. Don't heat until tomtatoes are done:
Add the tomtatoes to a pot of boiling water and boil for about 1 minute and a half. Note, that it will take a while for the water to boil again. Once the tomtato skins start spliting open, they're done:
Let them cool some:
Peel them and cut them into smaller pieces:
Sautee the garlic and add the tomatoes. The recipe calls for a few other ingredients, like sugar, which you add at this time too:
At the end add chopped basil and that's it:
Serve with spaghetti:
And don't forget the parmesan (only if you can eat dairy):
Our little one enjoyed each bite, without the cheese:
I have made this sauce several time since then. I love it. It's so yummy in the warmer months and pureed it was great to use for my meat loaf.

Did I say that I love this recipe?

Orzo with Asparagus. Mushrooms and Chicken

So, this is one of my own creations. I usually use about a cup of Orzo and two cups of liquid, some of it wine and some it broth, depending on what I have. Then I use half a bundle of asparagus, cut into 1/2 inch pieces; a little box of mushrooms, sliced and a few garlic cloves; chopped. I have started buying the chicken tenders (about 1 lb.) because then I don't have to cut as much, but chicken breasts work too. For the finishing touch I use freshly grated parmesan.

Below are the vegies:
Heat the garlic in some olive oil:
Wash and dry the chicken tenders:
Cut them into 1 inch pieces or whatever size you like and sautee them:
Measure the orzo and get the wine ready:
Once the chicken is fully cooked, ad the mushrooms and asparagus and sautee them for a few minutes:
Hmmm:
Add the orzo:
And stir it some:
Add the liquid and cover, reduce heat to low and let it cook for about 20 minutes or until the liquid has desolved. Stir occasionally:
Serve with some parmesan and enjoy: