Asian inspired noodles

I got this recipe from the Food Network. I had everything in the house to make it already. It's so tasty...tastes like Thai Noodles with Peanut Sauce...the kids love it! I like it way too much! I've made it twice in the last week. Here's a link to the recipe: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/melissa-darabian/sesame-and-peanut-noodles-recipe/index.html

I added leftover chicken and made it a meal!

Basque Beans

Beans with sausages....so easy and so good. Start by dicing 2 onions throw them in the pan with some olive oil. Add 2 red bell peppers (or green or any color you have on hand) diced. Add sausage (this will flavor the beans...so choose...you can make them spicy with a hot sausage or mild with an italian sausage). I usually add a package of sausages, like Johnsonville italian sausage. Add 4 cloves of garlic, diced. Add 3 cans of garbanzo beans, liquid and all. Add 1 can of tomato sauce and then fill the can with water and dump that in, too. Cook on low heat for at least 4 hours. You can easily make these in the slow cooker. A friend of mine makes hers by putting the whole pot in the oven at 250 over night. Either way, slow, low cook them so all the flavors can marry.These beans are so flavorful and delicious! Here they are as they are about to start cooking.

Mushrooms....Portobello mushrooms

I love mushrooms. I especially love mushrooms, now that I'm trying to lose some weight. They are hearty and tasty and filling. My favorite way to eat these portobello mushrooms are on the grill. But, it's not exactly grilling weather, so my second favorite is teriyaki mushrooms.

A lot of people don't know what to do with these babies, so I'll tell you....first, you turn them over and pop off the stem. Then, use a tablespoon to scrape out the black stuff that is underneath. When the black stuff is all scraped out, it will look like the picture on the right. Then, I chop them up and throw them in a pan, with a little water on the bottom (so as the pan gets hot, the mushrooms don't burn). I want to cook them, not burn them.

I leave them in the pan at medium heat for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. If there is any liquid left over, I drain that out. Then I throw on about a tablespoon of teriyaki baste and glaze. This is important....use the glaze, not just teryaki sauce. The glaze will coat the mushrooms and stick to them.

That's it. Now they are ready to eat. They are scrumptious. Don't believe me? Try it yourself!

Spaghetti the easy way....

So, the kids don't like cabbage (their loss) so I needed something quick and easy to serve them for dinner tonight and I decided that spaghetti would be it. I'm not into making sauces for them (they don't appreciate the work or have the decerning palate to appreciate the nuances in flavor from a home made sauce), so I just "juice up" the sauce. For me, that means, use a jarred sauce, heat it for one minute in the microwave in a bowl and then add a heaping tablespoon of sour cream. It makes the sauce nice and creamy and they love it. Then I finish with some parm cheese...so here's what the kids had for dinner:

Sweet and Sour Red Cabbage

I love sweet and sour.....and I'm trying to shed some weight, so sweet and sour chicken is out. So I decided to get my sweet and sour by making some sweet and sour cabbage. It's delicious and a one pot meal, not to mention low in calories, so it meets my criterea. Now, believe it or not, I add sausage to my cabbage and that's ok, because one sausage is about 280 calories and since the onions and cabbage are practically no calories, it balances out.

This is what I do....in a pan, pour 1-2 tbsp of olive oil. Add one whole onion, diced. Let the onion sweat a bit then add 2 tsp. sugar. Add one sausage (I used Johnsonville sweet sausage, cut the casing off and cut it into small bits. ) let the sausage cook with the onion a bit, while you shred the cabbage.

Add the shredded cabbage....I used about a quarter of a cabbage. At the same time, I add about 1/3 a cup of water. I'll add more later, if it seems to be too dry. Then I add a couple of shakes of balsamic vinegar. (Sorry, can't be more specific, that's how I measure.) I'll taste later and add a bit more, if it seems too sweet. Let the cabbage cook, in an uncovered pan, stirring occasionally, for about 20-25 minutes. If you hear it sizzling, you've got a dry pan, add a bit of water, maybe a quarter cup and continue cooking. Give it a taste....if it's too sweet, add another shake of vinegar.

Here's the finished product:

It's really quite good and final calorie count is around 320, which isn't bad for a dinner.