Birthday Spaghetti

My son's 2nd Birthday was on April 1st and his favorite meal seems to be spaghetti so I made extra special sauce in the crock pot all day long. To a regular jar of sauce, I added 1 lb lean ground turkey, 1 C chopped baby carrots, 1 C baby spinach, and 1 C chopped mushrooms. Just before serving, I used my immersion blender to better disguise all of those veggies :).

With this, we had garlic toast and birthday cake for dessert...but no salad because that was practically in the sauce!

Spaghetti Night

Tuesday has become Spaghetti night in our house and we skipped it last night so Spaghetti hit the table tonight. In the spirit of full disclosure, I want to note that I had leftover sauce and noodles in my refrigerator from a meal that we recently had with our guests so I used both for leftovers. I will give the instructions to duplicate my normal sauce and the ingredients were on the shopping list so you should be all set.

If you are happy with the amount of veggies in your jarred marinara sauce, I say go with it. I, however; like to add other veggies to disguise them in the sauce. Carrots, zucchini, mushrooms, and onions are a few of my favorites but feel free to add other squash or broccoli even. I use an immersion blender to puree it all together. Sometimes I add meat and other times I don't. Tonight's sauce had turkey meat in it. I have turkey sausage for home made ravioli and some of that could have been used tonight if I didn't have this sauce already on hand. You can even take that sausage out of the casing and make tiny meatballs for your sauce. YUMMY! Boil your noodles and top with the sauce. Serve and be happy that you were able to sneak in a lot of veggies tonight. Beware, too much green stuff makes it a bit more obvious.

Mushroom Risotto

Tonight's meal of Mushroom Risotto is also a technique dish that can easily be altered to accommodate tastes and pantry supplies. For example, sometimes I use frozen peas instead of spinach. Surprisingly, my oldest (just days away from 4 years old) ate a whole bowl, spinach and all! If you are worried about the lacking meat in this meal, worry not! Protein can be found in unusual places, like the spinach (bringing 2g. per serving here). The Rice itself has nearly 6g. per serving and the stock has 1g. per cup and we have a total of 4 cups in this recipe. Finally, the pine nuts have 4g of protein for 1/4 cup. Not to mention the cheese! So, if you want to make this a vegetarian meal, you can swap the chicken stock for vegetable stock without worrying about adding any protein.

Ingredients
1 T Extra Virgin Olive Oil
4 oz Mixed Mushrooms (I use an Exotic Mix with Crimini - a.k.a. Baby Bellas, Shiitake, and Oyster) roughly chopped
1 T Chopped Garlic
1 Small Onion, Chopped
1 1/2 C Arborio Rice
32 oz Chicken Broth
2 C Water
Salt and Pepper to taste
2 heaping hand fulls of Baby Spinach
1/4 C toasted Pine Nuts
Finely Grated Parmesan Cheese - for topping each serving

Directions
Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Saute the onions, mushrooms, and garlic until the mushrooms are soft and the onions are transparent. Add the rice and one cup of the stock. Stir the rice and cook until the liquid is absorbed then add another cup. Continue to stir the rice and add the liquid one cup at a time until the stock and the water are fully absorbed. This process will take about 30 minutes.

As you stir, the liquid will thicken from the starch being released from the rice. This creates a creamy consistency without the use of any dairy. Don't be tempted to raise the temperature. The idea is to let the rice absorb the liquid, not to let it evaporate. There are better ways to get a facial. While you are adding the liquid, taste it and add the salt and pepper. It is important to add the seasoning before all of the liquid is absorbed. It is hard to add flavor after the rice is done.

If you think the rice is done, taste it. You will know it needs more time if you feel thirsty. It is done when the rice is soft and melts away in your mouth...perfect. Once it is done, add the spinach and stir until it cooks down. Finish it off with the pine nuts, stirring them into the rice and top each serving with a sprinkling of cheese. Serve with warm crusty bread and butter.

Pantry and Refrigerator Soup (starring leftover Chicken Stroganoff)

Since I haven't made it to the store for this pay period, I decided to use the items that I had on hand to put together some Pantry and Refrigerator Soup.

I always have a large resealable container of Chicken Stock on hand and try to keep at least one packet of generic soup mix. Today, my only option was Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup. I buy these types of things when they are one sale or being discontinued. They last for a long time and are a big help when it comes to making a meal without going to the store. Alas, today I am using my last container of stock and my last packet of soup mix. You will see these items on my shopping list tomorrow! Finally, my pantry always flows forth with a variety of rices. Today, I am adding Brown Basmati to the Wild Rice already in the mix.

As for the refrigerator/freezer: my best friend was visiting last week and she made a delicious Crockpot full of Chicken Stroganoff (you will see this recipe sometime in the future). It was yummy with chicken bits, chicken gravy, delicious flavorings and aromatics, and cream cheese and made for a great item to add to my Creamy Chicken and Rice Soup. I also keep a bag of frozen peas and a bag of frozen corn on hand for additions to soups and casseroles and to be eaten as side dishes too.

Please don't restrict yourself to this recipe, though it is delicious and may reappear one week in the future after a meal of Chicken Stroganoff. I want you to see what I did with what I had on hand and translate this to what you have in your pantry. If all you have in your pantry is a can of pumpkin puree and some chicken stock you will still be able to make soup (think: pumpkin puree, chicken stock, minced onion, and some milk, add some mashed potatoes if you have them to thicken it up and serve in a bread bowl - yum). I am not sure I can help if you only have cherry pie filling, though.

SO, here you go; Tonight's Pantry and Refrigerator Soup: Chicken and Rice Chowder

Ingredients:
1 32oz container of Chicken Broth.
3 Cups Water
1 packet of Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup Mix
1.5 Cups Leftover Chicken Stroganoff
.5 Cup Brown Basmati Rice
1 Cup Frozen Corn
1 Cup Frozen Peas

Instructions:
Add all ingredients to a stock pot and simmer on low for 2 hours. Serve with grilled cheese on bread or inside tortillas (a.k.a. cheese quesadillas)

Note from the Mom:
My children still aren't interested in eating soup, stews, chili, or chowder despite my attempts to get them to drink with a straw or eat with fun spoons. As a result, I hold aside the peas and corn and serve them as a side to thier grilled cheese sandwiches. My little guy gets the lactose free cheese on his sandwich.