Saturday, May 7, 2011

OhMy Spaghetti Sauce


Ok, I know I already posted my crock pot spaghetti sauce, but here's a new one, and I think it's even better! Plus, it's a great way to hide extra veggies for those picky eaters you know and love, and it's excellent either with meat or without. I'm going to post the vegetarian version, since that's what is pictured here.

That is actually a picture of our stuffed manicotti, a joint effort at our house. The whole dish is a bit of a pain (although very worth it), so I'm not posting it here. But the sauce works fantastically in this, or spaghetti, or pizza...

1 can Rotel tomatoes (as always, sub regular diced tomatoes if you don't like spicy)
1 large can tomato sauce
1 can tomato paste
2 or 3 carrots
1 squash (yellow or zucchini -- great either way)
1 small can black olives
1/2 an onion
garlic
dill
onion powder
butter

The only annoying part of this recipe is grating the carrots and squash. I use a potato peeler and just keep peeling until I can't hold onto the vegetable anymore. You could also use a cheese grater. So, grate the carrots and the squash, whichever way works best for you.

Next, melt some butter in a saucepan over medium heat and briefly saute some minced garlic in it. Then add the carrots and squash and saute them for a few minutes while you dice the onion. Add the tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato paste, olives and onion. Mix well, then add the dill and onion powder (you know I don't measure seasonings! Just add however much looks right!) and mix well again. Keep stirring while you bring the sauce up to a bubble, then reduce heat to very low, cover, and simmer, stirring occasionally.

Here's the thing about this sauce -- the longer you simmer it, the better it's going to be. When we made that manicotti, the sauce simmered for a couple of hours, and it was amazing. As always, if you're in a hurry, you don't HAVE to do it that long, but it's not going to knock your socks off quite the same!

If you don't want to go vegetarian with it (although you really don't miss the meat), just brown 1 pound of ground beef, then add it to the sauce when you add everything else. If you don't want meat, but do want a little more meaty texture, add some mushrooms.

Squash Boats



So, WIC thinks we need to eat more beans, apparently. I'm not a big fan, but I didn't need four more cans of chickpeas, so we got a couple different kinds and I was determined that I would find something tasty to do with them. This is what I came up with for the pinto beans (I also needed to use up my last squash!).

1 large yellow squash
1 can pinto beans
1 can sliced olives
1/2 an onion
1 can Rotel tomatoes (if you don't like spicy, just sub regular diced tomatoes)
olive oil
garlic

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

First, slice the squash in half down the center (so that they're still round). Then slice them down the middle and scoop out the meaty part, leaving the rind intact. Drain the olives and tomatoes, and drain and rinse the beans. Dice the onion. In a bowl, combine the squash meat with the other veggies.

Once you have everything in the bowl, drizzle with olive oil, add some minced garlic, and mix well. Now brush some olive oil on the inside of the squash rinds, or boats. Scoop the veggie mix into the boats and bake for 10-15 minutes, depending on how well done you like your squash.

As long as your squash is not shaped oddly, you should be able to get 4 boats out of one squash. You will have lots of veggie mix left over, so you could either use more squash to make more boats, or do what I did -- I used the extra to cover some chicken legs and wings and baked them for about 45 minutes. I won't lie, though; the chicken was juicy and good, but not the high point of this dinner -- the veggie mix was!

The next time I make this, I am going to add some herbs and other stuff to the olive oil. Maybe cilantro, maybe dill, probably some lemon juice...I haven't decided yet. And definitely a little bit of corn.

Super Easy Potatoes

I made this tonight to go along with Vann's awesome barbecued chicken (he invented a wonderful sauce, but it takes forever to make). This is so easy and very tasty.

1 can of sliced new potatoes
1/2 an onion
5 mushrooms

6 Tablespoons olive oil
juice of 1 lemon
kosher or sea salt
pepper
dill
garlic

Chop the onion and mushrooms. Drain the potatoes. Combine in a bowl.

In a jar or bottle (I used a glass baby bottle with a cap instead of a nipple), combine the oil and lemon juice with a dash each of salt and pepper. Put the lid on and shake very well.

Pour the lemon sauce over the vegetables and stir, then liberally sprinkle with dill and stir again. I recommend letting this marinate for 30 minutes or so, but you can go ahead and cook if you're in a hurry.

Melt some butter in a pan over medium heat and toss in a spoonful of minced garlic. Cook for 1 minute, then add your potato mixture. Reduce heat to low, cover and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring now and then, until the mushrooms are tender. Voila!