Pasta Puttanesca

This is a nice, quick, easy weeknight pasta from Cooking Light. Enjoy!

PASTA PUTTANESCA

Recipe Notes

I can't stand anchovies, so I left them out and no one was any the wiser. So if you would like to skip out on the little fishies too, I don't think your dinner guests would mind!

Nutritional Information (per serving - serves 4)

404 calories - 17.5 g. fat - 13.1 g. protein - 3.9 g. fiber - 51.5 g. carbs

Ingredients

3 tbsp. olive oil

2 garlic cloves, minced

3 anchovy fillets (I left these out)

1-1/2 c. crushed canned tomatoes

3/4 c. pitted kalamata olives, coarsely chopped

1 tbsp. minced fresh parsley

1 tbsp. drained capers (I used more because I really like capers)

1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes

8 oz. uncooked fettuccine

1/4 c. grated Parmesan cheese

Instructions

1. Heat a large, nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Add 2 tbsp. oil and minced garlic.

2. Cook garlic for 30 seconds, then add anchovies. Mash in the pan to form a paste.

3. Stir in tomatoes, olives, parsley, capers, and red pepper flakes. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

4. Bring 6 quarts of water to a boil and add fettuccine (approximately 1/2 of a 16-oz. box). Cook 8 minutes until al dente.

5. Drain pasta, reserving 1/2 c. pasta water.

6. Add pasta and pasta water to tomato sauce. Increase heat.

7. Cook 5 minutes, tossing to combine.

8. Divide pasta among four bowls and top with cheese. Drizzle with remaining 1 tbsp. oil, if desired (I skipped the last of the oil).

Sausage & Cheddar Cheese Strata

My wonderful friend Emily had her bachelorette weekend last weekend down in Seaside, Florida - what a fabulous place it was! We had a beach house, so we cooked most meals, and my contribution was this tasty casserole from The Bride & Groom First and Forever Cookbook. This cookbook is absolutely fabulous - even if you are neither a bride nor a groom, I highly recommend buying this cookbook. There are lots of recipes that serve fewer people (generally 2-4) and there are great basic dinner preparation ideas and party preparation ideas.

SAUSAGE & CHEDDAR CHEESE STRATA

Recipe Notes

I do not recommend skimping on the half-and-half. I had fat free half-and-half available to me last weekend, and while the flavor was good, it was slightly runny. The beauty of this particular breakfast casserole is that it does not require "marinating" over night - therefore, no forethought or preplanning are required. You can whip this up the morning of your breakfast or brunch in less than one hour. Also, the original recipe calls for 24 oz. breakfast sausage and that is a LOT of sausage - I cut the breakfast sausage in half and only used 12 oz.

Ingredients

• 24 oz. ground breakfast sausage (12 oz. regular & 12 oz. hot) - I used only 12 oz. Jimmy Dean reduced fat breakfast sausage


• 4 eggs, beaten


• 2-1/2 c. half and half


• 1 tsp. dried sage


• 3/4 tsp. kosher salt


• 1/4 tsp. ground pepper


• 6 potato bread or soft white bread slices, crusts removed


• 2 c. grated extra-sharp cheddar cheese


• 2 tbsp. chopped fresh chives, flat leaf parsley, or green onions (both white & green parts)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9x13 baking dish with Pam or grease with butter.

2. Heat large skillet over medium-high heat. Add sausage and cook, stirring occasionally, until thoroughly browned (5-7 minutes). Drain sausage and transfer to a paper towel.

3. Whisk together eggs, half-and-half, sage, kosher salt, and pepper.

4. Layer the bread in the prepared baking dish and top with sausage.

5. Pour the egg mixture over the sausage and top with cheese.

6. Bake until the strata is set in the middle, about 30 minutes. Do not overcook. Let cool for 15-20 minutes.

7. Garnish with chives, green onions, or parsley.

Soy-Glazed Salmon with Arugula & Orange Salad

Three words. Easy. Fast. Delicious. This recipe is an adaptation from a Martha Stewart Everyday Food recipe. The original recipe calls for a watercress salad - I personally find watercress difficult to eat and generally gritty, so I subbed baby arugula and it works great. The original recipe can be found (here) if you prefer the watercress salad.

SOY-GLAZED SALMON WITH ARUGULA & ORANGE SALAD

Recipe Notes

Steam some basmati rice in a rice cooker while you prepare the fish and salad - everything is ready just about the exact same time. Couldn't be easier or quicker.

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp. soy sauce


• 4 tsp. honey (divided)


• 2 oranges, peeled and segmented, with juice reserved from membranes


• Salt & pepper to taste


• 1 tsp. rice vinegar


• 1 tbsp. vegetable oil


• 4 salmon fillets, approx. 6 oz. each


• 1 bunch watercress OR several cups of baby arugula (my preference)


• 1/2 small red onion, thinly sliced

Instructions

1. In a small bowl, whisk together soy sauce, 3 tsp. honey, and juice from two segmented oranges to create a glaze. Season with salt and pepper.

2. In a larger bowl, whisk together one tbsp. glaze, remaining tsp. honey, rice vinegar, and oil. Set aside - this will be your salad dressing.

3. Heat broiler with rack 4 inches from heat.

4. Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil. Season salmon with salt and pepper and broil for 5 minutes. I lightly brush on a small amount of glaze before this initial broil - the recipe does not call for this.

5. Remove fish from the oven after 5 minutes and brush with glaze. Broil until opaque throughout, approximately 2-4 minutes more depending on fish thickness. Brush with additional glaze.

6. Add orange segments, watercress OR arugula, and sliced red onion to salad dressing. Toss until coated.

7. Serve fish over white or brown rice with salad.

Sara Nan's Strawberry Cake

This is my Nana's recipe. It is very pink, very strawberry, and very sweet! A great summer cake that starts with a cake mix, so it's not hard to put together.


SARA NAN'S STRAWBERRY CAKE


Recipe Notes
As with just about every other recipe on this blog, my oven ran hot and this cake was done earlier than the suggested time. I suggest watching your cake for the last 10 minutes or so. Also, I could only find whole frozen strawberries, so I mushed them up with a fork and added them to both the cake and the icing early so that they could be broken up into smaller pieces.


Ingredients


- 1 pkg. white cake mix (Nana suggested Betty Crocker)
- 3-oz. package strawberry Jell-O
- 1/2 c. water
- 1/2 c. vegetable oil
- 4 eggs
- 10-oz. package frozen sliced strawberries
- 1 stick butter, softened
- 1 lb. powdered sugar (1 box)


Instructions


1. Thaw strawberries.

2. Mix cake mix, Jell-O, water, oil, and eggs in a large mixing bowl. Beat at a low speed until blended.

3. Add 1/2 package of strawberries and 1/2 strawberry syrup from package.

4. Pour into a greased 9x13 inch pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes.

5. While cake is baking, cream butter and powdered sugar. Drain 1/2 remaining strawberries (1/4 of your original package) and add to the icing. Add enough strawberry syrup to make the icing of spreading consistency.

6. Spread icing over the cooled cake.

Sausage, Tomato, and Arugula Fettuccine

I have decided that I really like fresh pasta, even if it does cost a little bit more. This is one of those "20 Minute Dinner" recipes from Cooking Light that really does take 20 minutes to prepare. A nice bonus with twin 11-month-olds in the house and a hungry husband.

SAUSAGE, TOMATO, AND ARUGULA FETTUCCINE



Recipe Notes

You will find the fresh pasta in the refrigerated section of the grocery store, often by the prepared foods or even by the fresh deli meats and cheeses.


Nutritional Information (per serving - serves 4)

356 calories - 13 g. fat - 39 g. carbs - 20 g. protein - 4 g. fiber


Ingredients

- 9-oz. package refrigerated fettuccine

- 1 tbsp. olive oil

- 6 oz. Italian turkey sausage

- 2 tsp. minced garlic (I used bottled)

- 1 pint cherry tomatoes

- Salt & pepper to taste

- 3 c. baby arugula leaves

- 2 oz. pecorino Romano cheese, shaved


Instructions

1. Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain in a collander over a bowl, reserving 2/3 c. cooking liquid.

2. While pasta cooks, heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Remove casings and add sausage to pan, stirring to crumble until browned.

3. Add garlic and cook for 30 seconds.

4. Add tomatoes and pepper, covering to cook for 2 minutes.

5. Mash tomatoes with the back of a spoon to break them up. Cover pan, reduce heat to low, and cook for 3 minutes.

6. Remove pan from heat and add pasta, pasta water, and arugula.

7. Toss well and top with cheese.

Lipton Onion Roasted Potatoes

Guess where I found this recipe? The back of the Lipton onion soup mix box! I had an extra packet and figured it was worth a try. Corey loved these - we have had them twice since I found the recipe.

LIPTON ONION ROASTED POTATOES

Recipe Notes

Watch your oven - mine took a little bit less time than recommended. Also, I used about half as much vegetable oil as is called for in the recipe. I am not sure how many calories and fat grams that switch saves, but it should be substantial.

Nutritional Information (per serving - serves 4)

360 calories - 18 g. fat - 5 g. protein - 45 g. carbohydrates - 4 g. fiber

Ingredients

• 1 envelope Lipton onion soup mix
• 4 medium all-purpose potatoes (I used peeled russet potatoes), cut into large chunks
• 1/3 c. vegetable oil

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

2. Combine ingredients in a large bowl and transfer to a 9x13 roasting pan (I used half as much vegetable oil as called for in recipe).

3. Bake, stirring occasionally, until potatoes are tender and golden brown (approximately 35 minutes).

4. Lipton also recommends substituting onion soup mix with savory herb and garlic flavor, onion mushroom flavor, or golden onion flavor mix.

Meyer Lemon Chicken Piccata

When I found this recipe in Cooking Light, I was skeptical about the use of Meyer lemons. They have a very different flavor than regular lemons. However, Corey and I loved the flavor and the preparation. I served this with rice and broccoli for an easy dinner. For easy clean-up, steam basmati rice with chicken broth and water in the bottom of a rice cooker while steaming broccoli florets in the steamer basket on top. If you start it at the same time as this chicken dish, it should all finish at about the same time.

MEYER LEMON CHICKEN PICCATA

Recipe Notes

Once again, I highly recommend having your butcher make four chicken cutlets for you out of two chicken breast halves - it will save you a bunch of time. I also used less butter than is called for in the recipe (about 1.5 tbsp. instead of 2) which cut down on the fat and calories but didn't seem to sacrifice flavor.

Nutritional Information (serves 4)

214 calories - 7.3 g. fat - 27.5 g. protein - 8.5 g. carbohydrates - 0.6 g. fiber

Ingredients

• Two 8-oz. boneless, skinless chicken breasts, made into four cutlets
• Salt & fresh ground black pepper
• 1/4 c. all-purpose flour
• 2 tbsp. butter, divided
• 1/3 c. sauv blanc or other crisp white wine (I used vinho verde)
• 1/2 c. fat free chicken broth
• 1/3 c. Meyer lemon juice (from about 3 lemons)
• 2 tbsp. capers, rinsed and drained
• 1/4 c. chopped flat-leaf parsley

Instructions

1. Make the two chicken breasts into cutlets or skip to step 2 if the butcher makes them for you.

2. Sprinkle cutlets with salt and pepper and dredge individually in flour.

3. Melt 1 tbsp. butter in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add two cutlets to pan and saute for two minutes. Turn cutlets over and saute until cooked through. Remove cutlets from pan and repeat with remaining butter and cutlets.

4. Add wine to pan and bring to a boil, scraping pan to loosen browned bits. Cook for 1 minute or until wine almost evaporates.

5. Stir in chicken broth and bring to a boil. Cook until broth is reduced and thickened (about 2 tbsp. of total liquid). Add lemon juice and capers.

6. Serve sauce over chicken, sprinkle with parsley.