Cupboard Carrot and Rice Noodle Soup

I made this on the day of a snowstorm because I really didn't feel like going grocery shopping. So I looked at what I had and gave it a try!



2 carrots chopped
1 onion chopped
1 rib of celery chopped
2 cups of chicken broth
2 cups of water
a handful of fresh parsley chopped
half bag of rice noodles
kosher salt and pepper to taste
dash of coriander (optional)
juice of half a lemon
olive oil
clove of garlic peeled
2 slices of sandwich bread


In a soup pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add onion and carrot and cook until softened about 15 minutes. Add broth, water, salt, pepper, and coriander. Bring to a simmer, add rice noodles and cook for 3 or 4 more minutes.

Meanwhile, toast the bread. When toasted and hot, rub the bread with the clove of garlic. Chop into crouton sized pieces.

When noodles are done, remove from heat and stir in the handful of fresh parsley and squeeze in your lemon juice. Top with your toasty garlic croutons.

This made 3 bowls of soup for me, but you can downsize or make more if you need to. Soup is extremely versatile and easy to make.
You could also add chicken if you have some left over. I did that the next day for lunch!

Enjoy!

Peanut Noodle Salad

This recipe is inspired by my favorite dish at The Fresh Side in Amherst, MA, which I never seem to get to anymore. I always got it with their amazing bean curd, but since I have no idea how to make that, I used leftover chicken I made in the crock pot yesterday.

This is a good one for using up veggies you bought on a whim, or frozen veg that never seems to get finished. You can use whatever you want, the following is what I had in the house.....

Peanut Noodle Salad is also my first attempt at a gluten free meal. As far as I know, there is no gluten in this dish.



package of vermicelli rice noodles
a head of lettuce, washed and chopped
juice of a lime
a couple glugs of soy sauce to taste (just bought a gluten free variety to be sure)
a big spoonful of peanut butter
roasted red pepper sliced
3 scallions chopped and whites separated from green tops
a large carrot sliced
2 cloves of garlic finely chopped
a big handful of fresh parsley chopped
a handful of peanuts roughly chopped
a cup of leftover chicken, cut up as desired

Start by cooking the noodles according to package directions. Mine only needed to be boiled for 3 minutes. Save a mug of the noodle water for loosening later.

While the water is coming to a boil, prepare your peanut sauce by adding peanut butter, juice of half the lime, garlic, and soy sauce to a small sauce pan on low heat. Add a little water to thin out the sauce. Once combined and warmed through, you can turn off the heat.

Heat a large pan or wok over medium high heat and add some vegetable oil to cook the whites of scallions and carrots. When they soften after a couple minutes, add roasted red pepper to heat through. Remove from heat and add drained noodles and peanut sauce and mix to combine everything together. You will probably have to add some of your reserved noodle water to get everything combined. The rice noodles tend to be sticky otherwise.

To finish, put a bed of lettuce in a big bowl and top with noodle mixture and the chicken. Garnish with parsley, greens of scallions, and peanuts. Squeeze juice of the other half of lime over the top.

Enjoy!!!

Carbonara

This is a recipe from Rachael Ray that I have been making for years. I have always made it with regular bacon because I was too cheap to buy pancetta, but I finally broke down and bought a chunk of it. It was $10! I would not normally buy food that's so expensive, but I cut it into four chunks and froze three for future use. Totally worth it.

This dish is basically like eating bacon, egg, and cheese with pasta for dinner. It satisfies every craving, I promise. My only advice is to go easy on added salt, because the meat and cheese are already high in salt. In fact, I wouldn't add any, especially if you are using pancetta. Also, I browned the pancetta much longer than two minutes because I like my bacon well done. It was more like 15 minutes on medium heat.

A couple other tips:

*Add the garlic with only a couple minutes to go, because burnt garlic ruins a dish.
*Reserve a mug of pasta cooking liquid to loosen dish if necessary.
*Be prepared to work quickly when putting it together at the end.


Enjoy!

Carbonara

Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

1 pound pasta, such as spaghetti or rigatoni

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil (enough to coat bottom of pan)

1/4 pound pancetta (Italian bacon), chopped

1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

5 to 6 cloves garlic, chopped

1/2 cup dry white wine

2 large egg yolks

Freshly grated Romano cheese

Handful of finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley, for garnish
Directions:
1. Put a large saucepot of water on to boil. Add a liberal amount of salt and the pasta. Cook to al dente, about 8 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add the olive oil and pancetta. Brown pancetta 2 minutes. Add red pepper flakes and garlic and cook 2 to 3 minutes more. Add wine and stir up all the pan drippings.
3. In a separate bowl, beat yolks, then add 1 large ladleful (about 1/2 cup) of the pasta cooking water. This tempers the eggs and keeps them from scrambling when added to the pasta.
4. Drain pasta well and add it directly to the skillet with pancetta and oil. Pour the egg mixture over the pasta. Toss rapidly to coat the pasta without cooking the egg. Remove pan from heat and add a big handful of cheese, lots of pepper, and a little salt. Continue to toss and turn the pasta until it soaks up egg mixture and thickens, 1 to 2 minutes. Garnish with parsley and extra grated Romano.

Read more: Rachael Ray Recipes - Carbonara Recipe by Rachel Ray - Good Housekeeping

Winter Salad

Christmas is over and New Year's is on the way. How about an easy salad with balsamic roasted vegetables to feel better about all those treats you've been having? This takes some time to cook, so it's a good one to make on the weekend and refrigerate for a quick meal during the long work week.

This is my new addiction............



Pick out whatever veggies you want. I used a baseball sized beet, two carrots, an apple, two small whole onions, and Brussels sprouts. I also had some leftover chicken breast I wanted to use up.
Try to use veg that is on sale or in season to make this affordable.

Beets take a long time to cook (but are so worth it), so start out by peeling and chopping them to your desired shape. Add some olive oil to coat, and salt and pepper. Mix it all together. Bake them in a 425 degree oven for about 45 minutes. The goal is to get them soft and sweet and caramelized. After they are pretty much cooked, you can add your other veg, depending on how long they take to cook. For example, carrots take longer than apples to cook. It doesn't have to be perfect, and you will learn by trial and error how long they take to be done. Just test them out with a fork to see how far along they are.

For the chicken, I sliced it up, seasoned with salt and pepper, added to the veg, mixed it all together, and cooked for at least 15 minutes to ensure it is done.

When everything looks nicely caramelized and tender, douse it all with a few turns of balsamic vinegar, mix together to coat the veg and chicken, and roast for another 10 minutes, or until it has mostly evaporated. This makes everything taste a hundred times better!!!!

Let everything cool down a bit before topping your favorite greens with the veg and chicken mixture.

You may need a little dressing on your greens so here's how to make a simple balsamic vinaigrette:

In a small bowl, add some balsamic vinegar. Season with salt and pepper. Whisk in the same amount of olive oil as balsamic. It's as easy as that!

Toss desired amount into your greens and mix up with your hands to ensure every leaf gets a coating.

Enjoy!

Just wanted to show off my Kako

Tis the Season! Overnight Coffee Cake

It's the week before Christmas, a wonderful time if you can take a few minutes to breathe and take it all in. Well, I have the perfect recipe to relax with! Overnight Coffee Cake. My friend Kathie found it online a few years ago and it's a hit!

I tried something new this year- mini muffin coffee cakes. They are bite size deliciousness. It only took 20 minutes to cook, instead of the 30-35 minutes the original recipe calls for. It was just a little more of a pain to grease and flour the muffin tins.

I've also done these in mini loaves as gifts. It's a very versatile recipe and makes plenty of servings for your eating pleasure.

Enjoy!!

Overnight Coffee Cake

2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar, divided
3/4 cup (1 & 1/2 sticks) butter, melted
1 cup milk
2 large eggs
1/2 cup chopped pecans

1. Coat a 9" x 13" baking dish with nonstick cooking spray (or crisco), then flour. In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, sugar, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, the butter, milk, and eggs. Beat until well combined; pour into baking dish, cover, and chill for at least 8 hours, or overnight.

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees

3. In a small bowl, combine the remaining 1/2 cup brown sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon with the pecans. Sprinkle over the chilled batter and bake for 30-35 minutes, or until a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cut and serve warm.

I hope you all have a Merry Christmas..........................

Butternut Squash and Artichokes with Shells

I found this dish on the back of the Barilla pasta box and added some nice additions! It's easy, cheap, and healthy. I found it was a good way to use up some veggies I had in the house that otherwise would've gone to waste. How much do you throw away each week? I hate wasting food, especially since it is so expensive lately. This time of year, butternut squash is about 35 cents a pound, so take advantage.
Basically, this is cooked vegetables with pasta. So easy.
A lot of these ingredients are fresh and unprocessed which makes it incredibly healthy during this season of indulgence. Enjoy!

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Ingredients:

olive oil, kosher salt, pepper
small onion chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
can of quartered artichokes
one small butternut squash, peeled and diced
one small broccoli floret, chopped (optional, had some left over that was steamed)
roasted red pepper, sliced (optional, i happened to have some handy)
one pound of box of pasta, preferably medium shells
handful of fresh parsley chopped
handful of parmesan cheese

Put a large pot of water on to boil the pasta.

Put squash in a large baking dish and sprinkle with salt and pepper and lightly coat with olive oil.
Bake for about 20 minutes or until it is just tender.

While it is cooking, heat the largest skillet you have over medium heat. Add olive oil to just coat the bottom of pan and add onions. Saute them for about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, drain the artichokes from their liquid and prepare the other veggies if using.

When onions are soft enough for you, add artichokes, broccoli, peppers and cooked butternut squash and mix all together. Heat through over medium heat while the pasta is cooking.

IMPORTANT! Reserve a coffee mug full of the starchy pasta cooking water!!

When pasta is cooked, drain it and add it to the veggie mixture. Add the chopped parsley and the  cheese. Take off of the heat, mix together, and add some of the reserved pasta water to your desired consistency. If you don't do this,  the pasta will soak up all the juices from veggies and it will get dry.

Serve with warm bread.............mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.............................