Today at 5:00 PM, I will draw a name from a hat for a winner from all the comments given on Tuesday’s post – my own Ode to Trader Joe’s –  and that winner will be announced on tomorrow’s post. I’m using up the last of those Trader Joe ingredients, left from the sandwich, for this pasta. I spent $20.58 last Sunday (weekend shopping – yuck!) and made 3 full meals for a total of 14 servings. Even if you add in the few things I already had on hand; couple tablespoons olive oil, 1/2 cup white wine, parmesan, spaghetti…  that still comes to less than $2 per serving! Plus, all three dishes fit into the “Easy-Breezy” category – that cannot be beat!

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Two of the most “frequently asked questions” I get when I’m entertaining or teaching a cooking class, “Do you eat like this every night!?”… and… “What kind of things do you make for weeknight dinners?”  The answers: “No, I only eat like this when I’m entertaining or teaching a class.” and “The sort of things I make for weeknight dinners are dishes that come together without having to make a special trip to the grocery store!”

This pasta is exactly that sort of dish. If you were to drop by my house and look in my fridge, you’d always find things like fresh spinach, romaine or mixed greens, basil, citrus, and bell peppers. And my freezer is never without IQF (individually quick frozen) shrimp, scallops, and chicken breasts. The pantry is stocked to the brim; a variety of pastas, jars of olives, artichokes, sun-dried tomatoes, capers, and the list goes on. When your kitchen is stocked in this way, the possibilities are endless and you’re always able to make a meal without the trip to the store.

I know exactly what you’re saying to yourself now…”Sure, the possibilities are endless… for you, because you can just ‘make up a recipe’ without a cookbook.” And that is true, but I’m going to turn you on to a website where you can just plug in the one or the ten ingredients you have on hand and magically dozens of recipes will appear so that you can make with what you have!  In fact, I went there and put in all the ingredients from this pasta recipe and it came up with 88 different recipes for me!  Sounds awesome, doesn’t it!?! CLICK HERE for that link. Next, be ready to cook that way, by going to my Basic Pantry  (just CLICK HERE) and stock up, so you can create something new “at the drop of a dime” too.

P.S. This pasta is a great vegetarian dish, just leave out the shrimp!

P.S.S. The live TV shoot yesterday went swimmingly, if you would like to view it, go to the “In The News” page up at the top-left of this page and choose the Valley Dish - Ravioli Lasagna post.

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Happy New Year, wishing you and yours a happy, healthy, prosperous 2010! To start the year out on a yummy note, why not combine two Italian favorites? This is a quick and easy lasagna, no boiling of noodles or making of a time-consuming homemade sauce. Just purchase the various items for the layers and go to town assembling a big old pan of goodness. To change to a vegetarian dish, substitute diced or sliced zucchini, yellow crookneck squash, and/or bell peppers for the sausage. Sauté the veggies in an additional tablespoon olive oil and proceed as directed.

When it comes to nutmeg, there is no comparison between freshly ground and the already ground stuff you’ll find in the spice aisle. Purchase the whole nutmegs and use any of the tools above to grind it fresh whenever you need it.

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Do you know anyone who doesn’t like lasagna? I certainly don’t! It’s right up there with hamburgers, spaghetti, and mac and cheese for the all-time family favorites. All those classics have been posted here already, it is now lasagna’s turn.

Toasted and skinned hazelnuts are used in the pesto. To learn how to do this procedure, either go to the Tip Index at the left and look under “Hazelnuts” or click on this link.
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When my kids were little, like a lot of kids, they would ask for “basghetti”  for dinner all the time.  I would brown up some ground beef, onion, and garlic then season the meat mixture and add a couple cans of tomatoes, then toss in cooked spaghetti noodles and call it a day.  As they got older, they would request it with meatballs. Being a good Irish girl, I wasn’t exactly an expert at Italian meatballs, so I would try to brown the ground beef orbs in a frying pan. Inevitably the result was a broken up mess of over or undercooked meat that did not resemble balls of any sort. Finally I got wise and decided to bake them instead, and voila, perfect meatballs! Over the years, I’ve perfected the recipe to it’s current state and my grown kids still ask for it by its name – ” can we have basghetti, please!” We have house-guests this week, one of them is a darling 4 1/2-year old named Zada.  Zada is the daughter of my long-time (24+ years) friend, Nancy, more on Nancy and Zada in the days to come.
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Ramen and Broccoli Salad – there are so many versions of this salad around, that I was wondering if I should even post my take on it. But after looking at some of the others, I decided mine did have something unique – the dressing.  Most of the others call for between 3/4 to one full cup of oil and between 1/2 to 3/4 cup of sugar.  That’s a whole lot of fat and calories ruining a big bowl of healthy vegetables!  This still isn’t a diet worthy recipe; what with the bacon, mayo, and the sodium in the ramen flavor packet, but an improvement just the same. Add cooked shrimp, grilled flank steak, or shredded chicken to easily make it into a main course salad.
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I hope you had a relaxing Labor Day Weekend! Part of mine was spent in the desert sun and the other in the cool pines of Flagstaff. I returned Connor to school and on the drive back this morning, I was trying to decide about dinner. Cruising up and down the winding mountains between there and here I was thinking about my kids and about my pregnancies (of all things!) Expecting was wonderful, but pregnancy itself, for me, was not! Let’s just say (without getting too graphic) that I knew I was pregnant, both times, because I was suddenly so ill. There was no “morning sickness” for me… more like “every-single-waking-moment sickness, for the full 9 months!” Amazing that I gave it a second try and had Connor! But of course, I thank God everyday that I did! So anyhow, what does that have to do with Beef Stroganoff? Well it was one of the few things I absolutely craved, and wasn’t sickened by the smell of, and was somehow able to keep down, at least for a while. Understandably, I made it at least twice a week. Somehow my darling Marissa claims that she can’t stand it. But I would dare her to not love this version. Back then I used stew meat and white mushrooms. I believe my gourmet daughter would appreciate the beef tenderloin and the wild mushrooms here.  For the wild mushrooms, I use 1 1/2 ounces shiitake (the most affordable) and only 1/2 ounce mix of other varieties. Instead of sour cream, I love to use really great Greek yogurt. It’s hard to find anything better than Fage brand, even their non-fat (0%) is amazingly delicious, and best of all, you can find it at Trader Joe’s! So enjoy, pregnant or not!

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Ingredients for Green Chile Macaroni

Connor is coming home for the Labor Day weekend this afternoon. I texted him earlier this morning and asked what he would like for dinner… strangely enough he said, “rotisserie chicken and good mac and cheese.” The reason I say “strange” is because one of his most basic “college foods” is Easy Mac – so it is the last thing I’d ever guess he would want. But of course, he did say “Good” mac and cheese and that means one thing – Robert McGrath’s Green Chile Macaroni. This is the best mac and cheese you can imagine! Robert is one of my favorite chefs and honestly one of my favorite people. His cookbook, American Western Cooking has this and so many other amazingly delicious recipes. I’m writing the recipe just as it appears in the book, but I generally use only 1/4 cup heavy cream plus 1/2 cup fat-free half-and-half. And Connor really likes to have breadcrumbs on top of his mac and cheese. If you do too, just melt 1 tablespoon butter with 1 tablespoon olive oil in a small skillet, add 1 peeled and minced garlic clove and 1/2 cup dried bread crumbs or panko and sauté until crumbs are browned. Sprinkle on top of just before serving.

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