Meatballs W/ Mushrooms & Green Peppers
When I took out the ground beef for dinner last night, I knew I wanted to make meatballs out of it but didn’t really want to cook another pasta dish. Yah know, like spaghetti and meatballs. We just had the cod fish and penne with asparagus the other night so another pasta night was really not an option. Who said you have to have pasta with meatballs anyway? Meatballs sub sounded good but I didn’t have the bread for it.
So what to do, what to do, tick tock tick tock, you’re husband is going to school in an hour or so, start cooking for dinner. That was my mindset in the kitchen yesterday. I finally made the decision to make large meatballs big enough to serve as main entree. I added sliced green peppers and mushrooms for an added texture and flavor.
Chicken Alfredo Pizza In 2 Variations
This is chicken alfredo pizza in 2 variations. One side has spinach, mushrooms, tomatoes and mozzarella cheese while the other one has cheddar cheese. They are both sufficient pizzas that didn’t need all that fancy dough flipping in the air. Although that would be really fun of course.
INGREDIENTS:
2 packs of pizza dough mixes
1 jar of Alfredo sauce
3 boneless chicken breasts, cubed
2 cups of fresh baby spinach
3-4 small button mushrooms, sliced
1 tomato, diced
shredded mozzarella cheese
shredded cheddar cheese
Italian seasoning
dried oregano
dried basil
salt & pepper
olive oil
Preheat the oven to 355°
Make the pizza dough according to the packet instructions.
Heat a non-stick pan then drizzle olive oil. Sauté the cubed chicken. Let it cook until tender. Season with dried basil, dried oregano, Italian seasoning, plus salt and pepper.
Brush a pizza pan with olive oil. Work the pizza dough around to form a round shape. Poke the dough generously with a fork. Stick it in the oven for 5 minutes. (Per pizza packet instruction)
After 5 minutes, take the dough out. Spread the Alfredo sauce evenly around the dough. You won’t use the whole jar. Store the leftover in the fridge. Place evenly the cooked chicken on top of the sauce. In one half, put sliced mushrooms, spinach, tomatoes, then generously top with shredded mozzarella cheese. On the other half, generously top it with shredded cheddar cheese.
Bake it in the oven for 25-30 minutes or until the dough is golden brown and the cheese has melted.
Looking good, eh?
Who says home-made pizzas are boring. They’re probably the best ones coz you could put ANYTHING you want as toppings. If you want tomato based sauce with these toppings then go for it!
Penne With Tuna Fish & Spinach
Here’s one way I get my kids to eat their vegetables, add it in a pasta dish. Even though my son went through a phase of being a fan of Popeye The Sailor Man years ago, he never really liked spinach. The 1st time he tried it because he wanted to eat what makes Popeye strong, his face was just priceless. From then on, it’s a fight to get him to eat spinach. The only time he and I don’t have an argument about eating the spinach on his plate is when it’s incorporated in a pasta dish like chicken-spinach lasagna and this penne with tuna fish dish.
INGREDIENTS:
a box of penne pasta, cooked al dente
2 cans of tuna fish, drained
1 bag of fresh spinach
3 cloves of garlic, chopped finely
1/2 medium onion, chopped finely
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can of milk (use the can of mushroom soup)
sprinkle of dried basil
sprinkle of dried oregano
salt & pepper to taste
a little bit of olive oil
Cook the pasta, according to the box.
In a nonstick pan, heat up olive oil. Sauté garlic and onion. Stir in the tuna fish. Cook for about 3 minutes, then add the cream of mushroom soup, milk, dried basil, and dried oregano. Stir, then let it cook for a bit.
Add the fresh spinach into the mix. Stir gently then let it cook until spinach is wilted. Drain the water off of the cooked pasta.
Pour the tuna and spinach mixture into the pot of pasta, season with salt and pepper. Stir to incorporate the pasta with the sauce
Generously sprinkle ground parmesan cheese on top. Serve with garlic bread.
Penne Alfredo & Capers
This Penne Alfredo is a very simple and easy to make pasta dish with a bit of kick thanks to the capers.
INGREDIENTS :
a box of penne pasta, cooked al dente
1 jar of Alfredo sauce
half a jar of water
half-a pound of ground beef
half a handful of capers, chopped finely
Italian seasoning
salt and pepper
a few more capers for garnish
Cook the pasta, al dente.
Brown the ground beef. Discard the fat form the meat. Add the Alfredo sauce. Pour water on the Alfredo sauce jar. Cover and shake to incorporate all the remaining sauce from the jar with the water. Pour it onto the beef and sauce mixture.
Season with Italian seasoning, salt and pepper. Stir in the chopped capers. Cover the pan and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Once plated, just add a few more capers on top as garnish and more flavoring.
—-originally posted at old Blisstree underb5media—–
Baked Spaghetti W/ Mushrooms
A simple twist to the usual spaghetti dinner is by adding shredded cheese, maybe slices of mushrooms, put the whole thing in a casserole dish, top with more cheese and VOILA, you’ll get a delicious baked spaghetti. It’s really quite simple.
Spinach-Ricotta Stuffed Jumbo Shells
Pasta dishes are great options for “meatless nights”. Doing the latter is actually a good practice in living green. I learned that from a guy on Oprah during her Earth Day show. I was happy to learn that my family is actually doing things that could save the planet earth. However little they are, they still matter.
Here’s a pasta dish that I hope you’d love and include in your own “meatless nights” days.
Chicken-Spinach Lasagna
People are surprised when I tell them one of my favorite dishes is lasagna. I’m guessing being Asian has something to do with it. I try not to make lasagna often though because as much as I love it, it’s a heavy meal and takes a lot of work. Well, for a busy mom like me anyway.
I alternate making 2 kinds of lasagna. The ground beef with spinach, tomato sauce and cheddar cheese and my “white” lasagna which consists of chicken, alfredo sauce and mozzarella cheese. For today, let me show you how I make the “white” chicken-spinach lasagna.
MUSSELS & MUSHROOMS PASTA ALFREDO
I had another pack of frozen mussels from the Baked Mussels that I made last Christmas that needed to be cooked before it goes bad so I cooked them in Alfredo sauce with mushrooms for the Angel hair pasta.
