Taco Spaghetti

So yeah, it's been a long time since I've posted. No excuses, oh wait, I have four of them...ages 7, 5, 3, and 1! Anyway, this is one of their new faves. Oh, and you can freeze it!

Taco Spaghetti

1 can corn, drained

1, 4-oz can diced green chiles

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 cup salsa

2 cups grated cheddar, divided

1 lb thin spaghetti

1 lb lean hamburger
1 small onion, chopped

1 pkg taco seasoning

2 oz. cream cheese, cut into cubes

lettuce, tomato, avocado, sour cream, and olives for serving

Preheat oven to 350.

In a large bowl combine corn, chiles, beans, salsa and 1 C cheddar, set aside.

Cook spaghetti until al dente according to package directions. Meanwhile brown hamburger and onion, drain. Stir in taco seasoning and 1 C water, simmer 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in cream cheese until melted and distributed.

Add meat mixture and cooked spaghetti to corn mixture and stir well. Transfer to a large baking dish or two 8x8 baking dishes. Top with remaining 1 C cheddar. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes or until heated through. Serve topped with lettuce, tomato, avocado, sour cream and/or olives.

It's also yummy with crunchy tortilla strips or crumbled corn chips.

Creamy Pasta with Ham and Broccoli

I really love cooking. When my cooking mags come in the mail I get really excited and generally read them from cover to cover. Recently I took a copy of one to a youth activity which I needed to attend but in which didn't want to participate. (Turns out 29 isn't a good age to learn how to roller skate.) Some of the kids laughed as they skated by and saw that I was reading up on different kinds of oil and their uses.

Recently my zeal for the kitchen has fizzled. It's probably a product of the long winter. I love being a mom and staying home but the longer the winter lasts the more the walls look like prison cells and the children behave like inmates. Sometimes even the warden wants out of prison. My point is, even though I love cooking, it feels like a chore at times.

To assuage the feeling of working in the kitchen, I've attached myself to simple recipes that yield delicious results, like this one. It has only 5 ingredients: broccoli, ham, noodles, cream cheese and water.

Start by oven-roasting some broccoli.
Then chop up some deli ham.

Cook some noodles until al dente and save some of the pasta water.

Mix the pasta water with the cream cheese.

Then stir it all together.

And that's it. Simple enough, huh? Go here to see the full recipe from Everyday Food.

Q and A

Anonymous said...
Do you ever cook with Pesto? If so do you make your own or buy it? Where in the grocery store do you typically find it?

Well, Anonymous, I have to admit I don't cook often with pesto. I've had it on pizza (Thai Chicken) but that's about it. I have only made it once, using the following recipe from the March 2009 issue of Everyday Food. It was pretty good, but my kids didn't like it - it was a little hot - so I don't know how often it will be reappearing on our dinner table. The second recipe is one a friend sent me in a recipe exchange, although I've not yet tried it. I know you can purchase pesto, I'm guessing in the pasta aisle or possibly refrigerated near the cheeses. My readers will correct me if I'm wrong, so be sure to check back in the comments. Hope this helps!

Fettucine with parsely pesto and walnuts
coarse salt and ground pepper
3/4 pound fettucine
2 cups packed fresh Parsley
1/4 cups walnuts, plus more chopped for serving
1/4 cup grated Parmesan, plus more for serving
1 garlic clove
1 Tbs fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup olive oil
5 ounces baby spinach

1. In a lrge pot of boiling salted water, cook past unil al dente. Reserve 1/2 cup pasta water; drain pasta, and return to pot.
2. In a food processor, puree parsley, walnuts, Parmesan, garlic, lemon juice, and 2 tablespoons water until a paste forms. With machine running, add oil in a thin stream; process until very smooth, about 1 minutes. Season pesto with salt and pepper.
3. To pasta in pot, add pesto, 1/4 cup pasta water, and spinach; toss to combine. This with pasta water as needed. Serves sprinkled with Parmesan and walnuts.

Homemade Pesto - from the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup chopped walnuts and/or pinenuts
2 cups firmly packed fresh basil leaves
1/4 cup grated Parmesan or Romano cheese
4 cloves garlic, peeled and quartered (or about 1 tbs of canned garlic)
1/4 teaspoon salt
black pepper (to taste)

In a food processor or blender combine oil, nuts, basil, cheese, garlic, and salt. Cover and process or blend until nearly smooth, stopping and scraping sides as necessary. Add pepper to taste. If you're not serving the pesto immediately, divide it into 3 portions. Place each potion in a small airtight container and chill for 1 to 2 days or freeze up to 3 months.

Note. For 6 side-dish servings, cook 6 ounces dried pasta, such as farfalle, linguine, etc, according to package instructions. Toss with one portion (1/4 cup) of the pesto.

Stroganoff

I love this recipe. It comes together easily and has great flavor. I know a lot of people use steak strips for stroganoff but I grew up with ground beef. Another twist on this recipe is the addition of tomato paste.

In a large skillet, saute 2 Tbs butter, 1 chopped onion and 1 small can of mushrooms, drained. Once onions are clear, remove from pan and set aside.

In the same pan, brown 1 lb ground beef. Drain. Stir in 2 Tbs flour.To the meat, add 2 cups water, 2 cubes beef bouillon (or 2 cups beef broth), and 2 Tbs tomato paste. Return onions and mushrooms to pan.

Let your daughter lick the tomato paste can. Make sure she really digs in. :)

Stir it all together, it will look like this. Bring it to a boil; reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes.

While your sauce is simmering set some water on to boil for some egg noodles.

(Yes, I took a picture of a boiling pot of water. What's worse, I took several and chose the best one. Apparently I can be more boring!)

After it is done simmering, remove from heat and add 1/2 cup sour cream.

Stir and serve immediately!

So, just to recap:

Stroganoff

1 sm can sliced mushrooms

1 onion, chopped

2 Tbs butter

1 lb ground beef

2 Tbs flour

2 c water

2 cubes beef bouillon

2 Tbs tomato paste

1/2 c sour cream

cooked egg noodles for serving

Saute onions and mushrooms in butter, set aside. Brown beef in same pan, drain. Add flour and stir with meat. Add water, bouillon and tomato paste. Stir well. Return onions and mushrooms to pan. Bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes. Remove from heat, stir in sour cream. Serve immediately.

Crock Pot Chicken Alfredo

This is a very simple recipe that yields delicious results. However, it may not be for the health conscious. I make it because my kids are twigs and could stand to gain a few pounds...and because I really like it! Here's what you do: Place 2-4 chicken breasts, 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter and 1 package dry Italian dressing mix in a crock pot. Cook on low 4 hours or until chicken is no longer pink in center. Remove th chicken from the pot. It will look yummy like this. Slice the chicken or chop it into chunks. What's left in the crock pot will look kind of yucky, like this. I use a fork to skim the fat chunks out of the base.

Add one can of cream of chicken soup to the mixture. Then fill the soup can 1/2 full (or is it 1/2 empty?) of water, stir it around to get that final bit of soup out and pour that in as well.

Now take an 8 oz block of cream cheese and whisk it in until there are no lumps.

There, now we have our alfredo sauce! Looks yummy, huh?

Usually I stir the chicken back into the sauce and then just spoon it over linguine. Last night I opted for a more aesthetic presentation by placing strips of chicken over a bed of pasta and then spooning the sauce on top.