.suzanne's spaghetti.

I was in Seattle this summer for most of July with the girls. When we got back, I went right to work helping my friend plan and cater her son's wedding reception. Four days before the reception, I got a call from my sister telling me my oldest brother passed away. He was diagnosed with stage 4 kidney cancer at the end of July (just days before I came home from my vacation) and we thought he would have more time. Apparently we were wrong.

When I got back to New York from this latest trip to Seattle, we were running low on funds and my husband put me on a pretty strict grocery budget. I'm not used to budgeting! One meal that's very economical and something we all love to eat is spaghetti. If you've never made your own spaghetti sauce, you really should try because it's EASY and usually tastes a whole lot better than what you get in a pre-made jar. Here's what you need.

1 large can tomato puree
2 cans petite diced tomatoes
1 lb hamburger
2-3 italian sausage links, removed from the casing
1 small onion
2 cloves garlic
1 cup mushrooms, sliced
salt, pepper, and sugar
extra virgin olive oil
herbs (oregano, marjoram, basil)

When I make my sauce, I let it simmer all day long. This is one of the times I pull out my crock pot because I love for all of the flavors to merry together. You can't get that in an hour or two.

I use tomato puree versus tomato sauce because it's slightly thicker. I don't like watery spaghetti sauce! This helps to cut down on the liquid.

In a skillet, heat a little drizzle of olive oil. Brown the hamburger and sausage and break it into fine pieces by chopping it up with the blade of a spatula. When the meat is almost cooked through, add the garlic, onion, and mushrooms. Season with salt and pepper. When the aroma from the garlic and onion intensifies, dump it all into your crock pot.

Add the tomato puree, diced tomato, some salt, pepper, and about 1/2 tsp sugar. If you don't have fresh herbs, it's okay! I use a lot of herbs to season my sauce so dump in a generous amount of basil and oregano, then a little marjoram. Marjoram is a sister to oregano and has a gentle sweet flavor that is a great compliment to the sauce.

My oldest sister, Ronda, likes to add a splash of burgundy to her spaghetti sauce. I don't normally have burgundy on hand, but if you do, add a little!

Turn your crock pot on and let this cook all day long. Serve over cooked spaghetti noodles and top with some fresh grated parmesan cheese. We love spaghetti with fresh homemade french bread and a vegetable packed garden salad.

(NOTE: I usually have a lot of sauce leftover so I put it in a ziploc and freeze. This way, I have extra sauce for the future for a quick meal, or to make lasagna with.)

Next time you're looking for a cost efficient meal that your whole family will love, don't open a jar. Make this sauce and you'll save on the pocketbook and put smiles on your family's faces!

Printable version:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AZ-Z_fQXybIkZGcydmZqcW1fMTY5Zmd3YmtraHE&hl=en

.huevos a la flamenca.

Back in June, I stole Jim away for Father's Day to St. Augustine, Florida. We had a wonderful, spontaneous family trip with the girls seeing the sights, and tasting the local flavor.

One of the restaurants we went to was La Pentola. A quaint, upscale restaurant down on Charlotte Street. We stopped in for brunch and I ordered Huevos a la Flamenca, or Spanish Eggs. I had never had them before and was a little surprised by what I got. Surprised in the sense that they were delicious!

I'm a fan of huevos rancheros which is the mexican version.. these have spicy chorizo sausage and ham in the dish too. YUM! Oh and you could easily put seafood in this dish too (crab or shrimp) to make it authentic to the coastal spanish villages.

When I came home, I went in search of a recipe to make for my family. I found one that looked great, bookmarked it, and then forgot about it. We aren't always big breakfast eaters, but Jim's been on leave for his job search and before he flew off to New York this morning, I made these for him.

These only take 15-20 minutes to bake. If you're in a hurry in the morning, make the tomato sauce the night before, and chop all of the meat ahead of time. That way all you have to do is crack some eggs, and throw it in the oven. This recipe is great for you low-carb dieters out there too. So try it and enjoy!


Remove the seeds and ribbing from one jalapeno (you can keep some of the seeds/ribbing if you want more heat) and then dice the pepper finely.


Mince 1 clove garlic.


Chop 3 green onion.


Finely chop some green bell pepper. I chopped about 1/4 cup.


Dice 1/2 cup ham.


This is chorizo sausage. It's a Spanish/Portugese sausage that gets its red color from dried smoked red pepper. It's really flavorful. You can find it down the ethnic aisle in your grocery store. You could use fresh, but traditional requires a smoked sausage.


Dice up that chorizo. (1/4 cup)

Before we start making the tomato sauce/salsa, turn your oven to 200* and put the dish you plan on using into the oven. You want to heat up the dish, whether it's a baker, or ramekins to help speed the poaching process along.


Heat a little olive oil in a skillet and add the garlic, jalapeno, and green bell pepper. Saute for a minute.


It's amazing how different the lighting in my kitchen varies from one side to the other. Sorry for the bad picture! Add the green onion. Again, saute for another minute.


Pop open a can of diced tomatoes. Add those directly to the skillet.


Season with salt and pepper then let this cook for a minute, bringing the tomatoes to temp.


Remove the baker from the oven and pour the tomato sauce/salsa in. Turn the oven up to 350*.


Dump in the ham.


Then add the chorizo.

Break in 8 eggs.

Season the top with salt and pepper, and a few remaining slices of green onion.

Put the dish back into the oven (at 350* and bake 15-20 minutes. If the egg whites aren't cooked through, keep it in there. I didn't catch mine in time and the yolks did get a little overcooked. You want them still very soft or even slightly runny.

Serve immediately with some fresh fruit and crusty bread.


Printable version:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dg2vfjqm_117kcf24jdz

.roasted tomato and steak soup.

I love soup. I can eat it year round. My mom makes great soup and I seem to have always struggled with it up until the past few years. Not sure why. This is one I created one day.. I usually make a roasted tomato soup but I a little flank steak to use up and thought it would work really well together. It was great and even better the next day!


Begin by taking 5-6 vine-ripened tomatoes. Cut them in quarters and remove the seeds and gooey stuff. You want to use really good tomatoes for this soup. Don't use beefsteak. If you can find organic ones or buy them at a farmers market, even better!


Put the tomatoes in a baker with a couple cloves of garlic, a little sea salt, pepper, oregano, and a tiny sprinkle of rosemary.


Drizzle lightly with extra virgin olive oil.

Stir everything around to coat the tomatoes with the seasonings and oil. Put in a 350* oven for 30 minutes.


Pull the tomatoes from the oven. They will be nice and soft and very very fragrant. YUM!


Spoon 2/3 of the tomatoes into a blender. Make sure you put the garlic in the blender too.


Puree until smooth.


Remove the skin from the other tomatoes and chop up. Set aside.


Peel and chop 1-2 carrots.


Chop 3 celery stalks.


Dice a small onion. I used red, but only because I had one in the fridge that needed to be used up. Use whatever kind of onion you like.


Cut 1 lb flank steak into small pieces.

Flank steak is really good to use in this because it's so tender. I highly recommending using this over any other kind of cut.


Heat a little olive oil in a soup pot. Add the steak and 1 bay leaf. Cook over medium to medium high heat.


When the meat has just started browning, add the vegetables. If you want, peel and cut up some white or yukon gold potatoes and add them at this stage too. I'm trying to cut back on carbs and omitted them from my soup.


After the vegetables and meat have cooked for awhile, add 5-6 cups chicken stock.


Add 1 can great northern beans. Do not drain these before hand. Dump everything in. Dump one whole can of kernel corn into the pot too -- juice and all. This will give the soup a lot more flavor.

****I did add some frozen green beans at this stage too, but didn't get a picture of it.


Add the tomato/garlic puree.


And lastly, add the chopped tomatoes.

Season well with salt and pepper. If you want to make this more like a minestrone soup, you can add some pasta to the pot as well. Lower the heat and cover the pot with a lid. Allow this to simmer on the stove for about an hour, if not longer. You could even transfer this to a crock pot and let cook all day while you're at work. Delicious!

To serve, ladle into a bowl and top with some fresh grated parmesan or asiago cheese (I used the latter). Delicious! Enjoy!

Printable version:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dg2vfjqm_104gk8jhcfn

.chicken parmesan.

Do you ever have those nights when everything you had planned for dinner goes wrong and you wind up going out to eat? Well, I was having one of those nights. One of the major ingredients I was going to use for a dish went bad so it sent me scrambling. I had some leftover italian sausage links in the fridge, and I had french bread just aching to be garlic'd up and toasted. Love me some garlic toast!





The original dish called for chicken, so I thought I would make chicken parmesan, and do a whole italian dinner plate thing.





If you've never made your own marinara, you really should try. It can be made in half hour and is perfect as the topper for your chicken. Let me show you how.








Dice a little onion, chop some parsley, and mince some garlic.








Dice up some roma (or plum) tomato. Make sure you remove all the gooey seeds first.








You're going to need a can of tomato sauce and tomato paste.








Heat some olive oil in a skillet. Saute up the onion, garlic, and tomato for a minute.








Very blurry picture, but pour in a little white wine to keep the onion and garlic from burning.








Add the whole can of tomato sauce, and only half the can of tomato paste. If you buy the small small can of paste, you can put the whole thing in.








Add your parsley, salt, pepper, a dash of sugar, and some crushed fennel seed (just crush them in your hand as you put them in the pan).





Lower the heat to simmer and let it sit for 20-30 minutes.








Take your chicken breasts and put them on cornstarch dusted saran wrap. Put a little cornstarch on top of the chicken, then put another length of saran on top. Pound with a mallet or heavy skillet until the breasts are slightly flattened.








In one dish, put an egg and whisk with a fork. In another, put some herbed breadcrumbs. Now if you actually plan ahead of time, leave some bread out to dry overnight and use the cheese grater to crumb the bread (or use a food processor). Fresh crumbs are so much better than the boxed kind you get at the store.



Dredge each chicken breast in the egg.

Then put into the breadcrumbs to coat completely.

Voila. Coated chicken breasts.

Heat a little olive oil in a skillet and sear both sides of the chicken about 3-4 minutes on each side until golden brown.


Pull from the pan and put in a baking dish. Top with the marinara and some grated mozzarella cheese. Pop in a 350* for 20 minutes.



Printable version:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dg2vfjqm_101dcjphwdh