Tri Colored Rotini with Sausage and Mixed Veggies

In an effort to start getting back into blogging more I am trying to catch up on some DIY and food posts that have been lacking around these parts. We have focused a lot on our little one, because honestly that's what our life is about right now. Our love for our daughter. But I know that sometimes a little change is good. I am going to try and put together a list of recipe's that are quick and easy for nights when you need a 30 minute meal. Honestly....those have always been my go to, but now with a baby that needs to be fed, bathed and in bed by 8pm this makes our nighttime routine a little harried and I look for quick and easy more often now!

Also, since we are doing a mixture of BLW and natural steam puree's for our little one I wanted to get more fresh ingredients on the menu for us as well. Monkey see monkey do type of idea. We can't expect her to eat healthy if we don't make an effort as well.

With that said, I am Italian by heritage and that means I love PASTA! Not only is it quick, it's also inexpensive and filling. Enter our newest addition to the weekly mix. Tri-Colored Rotini with Sausage and Mixed Veggies. I sent the hubby to the store for the ingredients and either he missed them or our store sucks and didn't have them (more likely) but he couldn't find zuchinni. So yellow squash made it in instead.

Ingredients
(1) package Hot Italian Sausage
(1) orange or red bell pepper
(1) yellow squash or zuchinni
(2) roma tomatos
1/2 cup onion
(3) cloves garlic minced
Olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Tri-Colored Rotini pasta

Directions
1. In a skillet brown your sliced sausage until thoroughly cooked. While this is cooking dice and chop all your veggies. Once your sausage is cooked, remove from pan but leave any drippings. Drizzle olive oil in your pan and saute your veggies and garlic until onion is clear and the veggies are soft. Add salt and pepper and stir. Mix in your sausage until everything is combined

2. In a stock pot boil your water and cook your pasta until it's al dente. 

3. Drain your pasta and toss your mixture and pasta together until well coated. Serve!

This recipe literally from start to finish was under 30 minutes and was made with all fresh ingredients. The hubby agreed also that it was needing to go onto the list, which is always a win to me! I hope you enjoy! We did!

Homemade Pasta Fagioli

I grew up in an Italian family. We had so many recipes that have become heavy staples in my own home including our pasta sauce and Italian dressing. You might remember my Meatball Sub Sandwich recipe from earlier in the year and those are our family recipe meatballs, minus the Parmesan cheese which I miss! So I keep asking my great aunts and grandfather for specific recipes and was finally able to track one down. The pasta fagioli recipe (pronounced "fazul") The hubby loves the Olive Garden version, but I remember it being slightly different and wanted to try our own recipe before attempting the O.G. knock offs on Pinterest. He was on board and helped me out with making it.....well he cut the veggies and then got a call to run to work really fast.

What You'll Need:
1lb Ground Beef
1/2 an Onion (chopped small)
3 Stalks of Celery (chopped small)
Carrots (chopped small) - 2 handfuls baby carrots
6 cloves garlic Minced
(1) 16 oz Can Tomato Sauce
(2)  16 oz Can White Beans (If you can find Cannellini or Great Northern Beans that is preferred)
(1) tbsp Oregano
(1) tbsp Garlic Powder
Pinch of Pepper
1lb of Small Elbow Macaroni
Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Directions:
1. Brown your ground beef until cooked and drain fat. Chop all your veggies small.

2. In a large stock pot begin to boil your water for your pasta

3. In a separate stock pot, pour about four tbs olive oil in the bottom of your pan. Add your minced garlic and saute until brown. Add in your veggies and saute until cooked.

4. Add your 16oz can of tomato sauce and cook on high to bring to a boil.

5. Reduce heat to medium and add your (2) cans of beans. Then add your garlic powder, oregano and pepper, and ground beef.

6. Increase heat to high and bring to a fast boil for 1 minute. Switch heat to medium and simmer for 15 minutes. If your sauce isn't juicy enough you can add water from your pasta pot.

7. While simmering finish cooking your elbow pasta until al dente.

8. This is where there was an oops.....I remember everything being mixed together (like goulash) so I added my cooked pasta into the sauce and mixed it together. I guess you are supposed to just add the amount of pasta you would like for your sauce, for it to be more like a stew/soup. Either way works and tastes just as good. Just pick how you would like it dished up. Remember that the pasta is going to absorb a lot of the juice from the sauce.

Another tip straight from the hubby.....if you cry a lot while chopping onions, then just utilize your swimming googles to help with the sting! Haha. I was giggling when he put these on, but was glad that we were cooking together!

The couple that cooks together, stays together.

Even though it wasn't the same as his favorite O.G. soup, he still went back for seconds and we have plenty left over for lunches.

Always remember that with any spice you should adjust to your own taste. I added more pepper and might adjust the other spices the next time I make it, of course I could add to it as well!.

Cold Tuna Pasta Salad

You guys, I don't know about you, but when it's really hot outside I don't feel like cooking....or eating...or doing anything really. Hehe. So last night, after a 105° day in SoCal it was the battle of what to have for dinner. The hubby had the day off so he made one of our go to summer staples for dinner. Cold Tuna Pasta Salad. It's light and refreshing, and because we make it relatively dry (with regards to the mayo) not all that unhealthy. Simple ingredients, and you only have to turn on the stove to boil the water, you won't even break a sweat. This recipe makes a lot so you can have it as a side for a BBQ or just have tons of leftovers!

Cold Tuna Pasta Salad

Ingredients:
Shell Noodles (We usually use the whole bag)
(2) cans Tuna
Mayonnaise (To taste)
(1) can Corn
2-3 Stalks Celery (Finely Chopped)
2-3 Green Onions (Finely Chopped)
2 handfuls Shredded Carrots
Salt and Pepper (To Taste)

Directions:
Cook shell noodles according to package directions. Fold all ingredients together. Refrigerate until ready to eat. (Will taste better the colder the pasta is!)

Simple and quick. Perfect for those late nights, or lunches! As you can tell by my other recipes, we love simple! But of course delicious!

A Mammoth Triptych

Wow, I have been a busy bee the last couple of weeks. Last weekend I finished up a couple of crafts, after failing at my attempt to fix the hubby's suit pants. He's got a hole in the pocket that I just cannot seem to fix! I guess they are going to get shipped off to mom's house! Cest la vie! Also, I was able to do some photo editing as well. Still needing to work on Florida, but these things were asked of me LONG ago.

We all love our smart phones and the fact that we can take photos at the drop of a hat. However most of these photo's are not print worthy. When my friend asked me to do some editing of some photos for his home I thought ok no problem. Well that is until he emails them to me and the below shot is one of them. Needing to color correct and remove the blue haze (caused from being in the shade and the setting sun) was my first task. Now since we are doing more to the photo, I didn't so super crazy with the photo editing, but the after (on the right) looks so much better than the original photo.

Before (Left) After (Right) Also, this photo was taken on a smart phone! Haha

I played around with a couple of techniques and came up with this cool, sketchy triptych. Although, I think were gonna need a little more work on the last photo, since it doesn't quite match the other two. Hey. Not too shabby for less than an hours worth of work! Hopefully we can figure out what kind of techniques to use, to make the photo's wall worthy. Once completed, I'll post em!

I also finished another baby shower quick gift. The diaper/wipes strap. Tutorial to come on that later! They look so cute! I am in love with the pink ABC fabric, too bad I'm almost out of it! :-( Also I did some hand stitching a couple of weeks back (finishing up a couple things) and tried some hand embroidery. Another new thing for me. All I had ever done was the simple techniques that come with the bib patterns. I think it turned out pretty cute! I love the colors! Need a technique for transferring an image for embroidery? Print your image off from the computer or wherever you would like, trace it onto Glad Press and Seal, pin to your fabric, and stitch over the design. You'll have to cut off the press and seal later, but it made my life so much easier! :-)

Closeup!

And finally a Saw It, Pinned It, Did It moment. This chicken with tomato and basil recipe I found on Pinterest. We had everything except the chicken so I thought, what the hell it's worth a shot! Once this was simmering, it was hard to not want to lick the pan. It smelled that good! Another one on the list for dinner rotation!

Tomato Basil Chicken

What You'll Need:
2 chicken breasts
kosher salt and black pepper
2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 cups chopped fresh tomatoes
2 tsp minced fresh garlic
4 Tbsp cold butter
1/2 cup fresh basil, chopped
freshly grated Parmigiano reggiano cheese, for garnish (optional)

Head on over to Menu Musings, for the rest of the directions! If you love Italian food, this is one for the books!

Happy Friday! Have a great weekend!

Not your traditional Spaghetti sauce! AKA Quickie Spaghetti....and it has bacon!

Can you see the bacon chunks in the sauce?

Ok, first off I know, crappy photo! But hey, sometimes the presentation doesn't matter as much as the taste right?!? RIGHT?!

So at the beginning of the week I told you I had a ton of DIY's to share, well I still do. It's just getting my lazy bum to the computer and going through the photos to find the best ones! So stay tuned for those. Also I told you that I would post a family recipe that has bacon. Well here she is. I LOVE pasta. Why? #1 because it's pasta, #2 because it's cheap, #3 because it's SUPER EASY! and #4 because it's pasta! I grew up in an Irish/Italian household so many dishes that are our family traditions usually are pasta related. We have a red sauce that was brought to America from my Sicilian great grandmother and it's so yummy, but takes ALL day to make. So when the hubbs and I are in a red sauce mood, not the jarred kind (which I always dress up anyways) this is the go to. It's really quick and usually we have all the ingredients on hand.

Quickie Spaghetti

What You'll Need:
3-4 Slices of bacon chopped
1 cup chopped onion (yellow or white)
1 15oz can of tomato sauce
1 15oz can of water
Pepper (to taste)
Pasta of choice (I either use Angel Hair or Fettuccine)

Skillet
Stock Pot (For the pasta)

Directions:

1. In a skillet over med. heat place your chopped bacon and onion. Saute until bacon is fully cooked.

2. Once cooked, add tomato sauce, water and pepper. I say to taste, but I use a LOT of pepper. Probably 1/8 to 1/4 of a teaspoon. It just adds flavor in my opinion. I kind of coat the middle of my pan with pepper, stir, then coat again and stir. Not really measurements, but hey sometimes you just dump and go!

3. Cook sauce on low-med heat uncovered, 30-40 minutes or until thickened. While sauce is cooking prepare pasta according to package directions.

4. Serve over pasta. I like to coat the pasta with the sauce and then add a little extra on top!

See what I mean about EASY! What are your household dinner staples for those nights when you just want to have a quick meal fast?

Tuna Pasta Salad

Since its the hubbs b-day on Saturday I decided to make a couple of his favorite dishes. One of those is tuna pasta salad. So easy and the perfect summer dinner.

Tuna Pasta Salad

My family cook book!

Ingredients:
Shell Noodles
(2) cans Tuna
Mayonnaise (To taste)
Corn
Celery (Finely Chopped)
Green Onion (Finely Chopped)
Shredded Carrots
Salt and Pepper (To Taste)

Directions:
Cook shell noodles according to package directions. Fold all ingredients together. Refrigerate until ready to eat.

Simple and quick. Perfect for those late nights, or lunches!