Oh the trials and tribulations of making homemade pasta... I made some a little while back and it went totally smooth... I got cocky... and decided to make some spinach pasta...

no biggie right? Yeahhhh except when you don't chop the spinach up fine enough... and then you go to pass it through the pasta cutting part... and the spinach doesn't get cut... so it becomes a HUGE mess! HAHAHAAH John came out into the kitchen to find me cutting the pasta with this...


Pretty resourceful huh!? It worked out seriously well actually :) although the pasta was ALL types of different widths... Makes it more fun right? Oh you want to see the mess I made on the counter of all the pasta??


It's all good, I cleaned it all up in due time ;) The pasta wasn't the prettiest, but it was darn tasty! Go ahead you know you want to make a big mess like I did :)

Whole Wheat Spinach Pasta
1.5 cups whole wheat flour
2 eggs
6 oz frozen spinach, defrosted and chopped VERY fine

Mound the flour in the center of your work surface and make a well in the middle. Add the eggs and spinach. Beat the eggs and spinach and slowly start incorporating the flour. Once all incorporated knead for about 3 minutes. The dough should been elastic in texture. Keep kneading another 5-10 minutes until the dough is smooth and VERY elastic. Wrap it up and let it rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.

Divide dough into little portions and work through a pasta machine until you reach your desired thickness (or roll it out on a table using a rolling pin) Next either use a pizza cutter to slice or pass through the pasta machine cutting part. (I'm so specific aren't I?)

Boil a large pot of water and add freshly cut pasta. Boil about 6 minutes. Serve with your favorite pasta sauce.

Every heard of TVP? It stands for textured vegetable protein.

Sounds kinda weird and maybe gross right? But give it a chance! In this economy a seriously cheep high protein substitute is a good thing right?? It's under $3 a bag, and the bag could feed a large family for at least 2 full dinners if not more. Plus it's tasty!

It looks like some kind of dehydrated grain... then when you hydrate it... it looks like light tan ground beef... I'm making you want to try it right? Hmmm marketing skills not kicking in... Ok how about a picture of it in action?

Hmmm that's not the best picture I took... is it? Darn, guess it is... well, you'll just have to believe me on this one... It's super tasty. Crazy healthy. Protein packed. Low fat. And when mixed with red sauce and pasta... you'd think you were having ground meet... not TVP. We made this up last friday (it's Lent, so no meat). Gnocchi cooks in 4 minutes so this whole thing was ready to go in about 15 minutes. Seriously I know! I love fast food don't you?

Portobello Pasta with "meat" TVP sauce
recipe by me. (Feeds John and me, that means three normal people, with sauce left over)

1 package whole wheat gnocchi
1 bottle (1 lb 8 oz) Diavola Red Sauce from Wegmans (or your favorite go to sauce)
1 cup TVP (I use Bob's Red Mill TVP)
1 cup boiling water (to hydrate TVP)
3 large portobello mushrooms sliced
2 tsp chopped garlic
olive oil spray
cottage cheese (if you are John or if you like to mix it into your pasta too)

Boil water for gnocchi.

Microwave 1 cup water in a medium size bowl or large pyrex cup for 2-3 minutes. Remove and add 1 cup TVP, let soak for 5 minutes or until water is absorbed. Set aside.

Spray a wok, or large sauce pan, with olive oil, saute garlic until brown. Add mushrooms and cook through, flipping after a minute or two to cook the other side. Add jar of sauce and TVP. Simmer until heated through.

Once water boils, add gnocchi and cook according to package directions (4 minutes). Drain, and immediatly divide between 2 or 3 bowls, top with sauce, stir in cottage cheese if desired. Serve.

Chow!

Happy Fat Tuesday!!

Pasta is one of those things that tastes 100 times better when it's home made, and in truth it really isn't that hard to make. I grew up making pasta dough, among other delicious things, with my Dad. He's 1/2 Italian and grew up where it was the men in the family's job to make pasta. He has two daughters so I get to inherit the men's role :) Ravioli is always my favorite to make with him! Tonight though I was going simple, just a little fresh pasta to have with some breaded zucchini and some red sauce. It's so simple, yet SO FLAVORFUL!

There was pasta hanging/spread out EVERYWHERE when John got home!

All you need is a pasta press and you are good to go! Doesn't it just look pretty :)

A quick dip in a pool of boiling water and we were ready to chow!

Whole wheat pasta
1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
2 eggs
dash of salt
drizzle of olive oil

Pile flour and salt in a large bowl (or if you are brave, right on the counter) create a well in the center and crack eggs into it. Beat eggs with a fork and slowly start incorporating the rest of the flour into the center until well mixed. Then use your hands to kneed the dough into a ball, at this point you may need a little more moisture so a little drizzle of olive oil will do the trick! Cover with plastic wrap and let rest for about 20 minutes at room temperature.

Divide into small pieces (around 8) and work through pasta machine to flatten. Start at the highest number on the side and work your way thinner (lower number) I only did mine to a 3... for ravioli we aim for a 1! Thick dough ravioli is a pet-peve of mine... BLEH! I like mine THIN! Anyway... once you have your nice thin sheets, crank them through the cutting part of the machine (the part in the front right side of my photo above). I did a thicker fettuccine cut as apposed to a spaghetti size width. Separate the pieces and hang to dry. Once you are done cutting all of the dough boil up some water and get ready to chow! Make sure your sauce is done first though, since this pasta will cook up quick (4-8) minutes depending on how thick you made it, and how dry it's gotten since you made it.

Drain and serve it up with your favorite sauce or whatever else you like!

Come back tomorrow for the zucchini recipe, a perfect meal if you are celebrating ash Wednesday and can't eat meat tomorrow... or for a Friday in Lent... or you know if you don't ever eat meat :D

I'm a big advocate of treating tragedy with good for you comfort food. When something bad strikes, I'm immediately to the kitchen to cook something up to send/ drive over to the person in need. Last week when I heard the news of a friend's father passing I immediately started making a shopping list of things to prepare to bring to him and him family.

Big batch of homemade lasagna, check,
Big batch of his favorite cookies, check.

Lasagna travels well, pretty much everyone loves it, and you can freeze leftovers (if you have any). All you need to do is have the person pop the whole thing in the oven to rewarm or slice out a piece to fit in the microwave. Perfect.


Comforting Whole Wheat and Veggie Lasagna
350 degrees for 45 minutes covered plus 15 more uncovered

6 whole wheat lasagna noodles (uncooked)
1 medium zucchini sliced into long wide (lasagna noodle shapped) pieces about 1/4 inch thick
1 large jar of your own go to pasta sauce (wegmans diavola)
1 container sliced mushrooms
15 oz reduced fat ricotta
1 egg (lightly beaten)
2-3 cups part skim mozzarella divided (depends on how cheesy you want it)
fresh basil and parsley to taste (you can use dry if you don't have fresh on hand)
fresh ground black pepper to taste
(feel free to toss in any other veggies you have on hand, I like to add in bell pepper and spinach)

In a small bowl mix ricotta, egg, 1-2 cups mozzarella, black pepper, basil and parsley.

In your baking pan pour a little sauce and shake the pan around until it coats the bottom. Layer 3 lasagna noodles on top of sauce. Spread 1/3 of the ricotta mixture over noodles. Sprinkle 1/3 of the sliced mushrooms along with 1/3 of the remaining sauce to cover. Layer 3 more noodles and repeat with ricotta, mushrooms, and sauce. For the final layer cover with long wide slices of zucchini, followed by remainder of ricotta, mushrooms, and sauce. Finish by topping off with mozzarella.

Cover with tin foil and place in the oven. I normally turn the oven on now, no need to preheat with something like lasagna. Heat at 350 for 45 minutes. Remove foil for final 15 minutes to brown cheese.

Sunday nights have turned into sauce night for me and John. This past week we made skinny pasta and topped it with turkey kielbasa, shrimp, and mushrooms in a red sauce. Easy, fast, and delicious!


Cook the pasta (whole wheat for me!) according to the package, I like mine aldente yum! Slice up the turkey kielbasa and mushrooms and toss in a sauce pan with a little olive oil spray. Toss them around until they are nice and browned, at this point plop in a jar of your favorite sauce (in a pinch wegmans Diavola sauce is the hands down best in my opinion, spicy!) Stir and turn the heat down to low. I used frozen cooked shrimp so once they were defrosted I just tossed them in the sauce for the last few minutes to warm them up.

This meal goes from start to finish in 20 minutes. Top with some parmasian cheese or a little parsley and you are good to go! I also added in a bunch of spinach into mine for a little added boost.

Chow!

So although the following pictures may lead you to believe otherwise... I am NOT a hunter!



I know I know... it sure looks like I am a hunter. Can't a girl be a wicked good shot and cloverleaf with an old school muzzle loader, AND place second at the NY State competition in the category Adult Female Bow Hunter Freestyle A Class, and NOT be a hunter? Hmmmm yes yes it is possible.

I know it may be hard to believe but it's true! I love shooting at targets, paper targets or even the big foam animals (they are just too funny, ooo a panther *thump*) (seriously the range I go to has big foam panthers, bears, skunks, and about 20 other varieties of random animals... AND you can shoot from a tree stand for the real deal experience, wind and rain included some days haha) There is something about an arrow hitting dead center and making that wonderful *thump* sound that gets me every time :)

John is also not a hunter, but he grew up in a family of them and his dad and cousins still go deer hunting every year (bow and gun season). I really have respect for bow hunters, it's not an easy thing and add in the elements of wind, a moving target, and guessing yardage, it really is a skill that requires a lot of practice. Don't get me wrong I could never do it, I was joking with John the other night about it... His mom knows I love shooting bows and such and keeps saying I should go out hunting with his dad... I can just see me, draw back, in site, thump... OMG what did I just do *bawling crying*. Yeah that's pretty much how it would go down. hahah that or his dad would have the deer all in site and I'd start screaming "run dear!! run for your life!!!" hahaha

This all being said I'm a total hypocrite because... gasp... I really like venison. Thankfully John came with a yearly venison bonus package (all boyfriends really should come with add on bonuses don't you think?) So I get my fill without any of the badness :) John cooked up an awesome sauce with ground venison for dinner which we had over pasta...


I asked him what was in it so I could blog about it... but he's not talking... so you just get a picture. It was soooo good and even better the next day after it had all marinated all night... mmmmm

PS. my parents didn't even let me have water guns as a kid... yeahhhhh wooops! sorry mom and dad :)

Ok one more really funny picture...

That's right I was on my last bite when I realized I hadn't taken a picture after they were cooked... wooops! Here is the last one in a nice spicy red sauce. Delicious!

So John and I love gnocchi (NYOH-kee), or if John is saying it (YON-kee)... yes it's an ongoing debate on how to say it. It seems most places in the world pronounce it like I say it... however when in a totally old school italian restaurant in Gates NY... it's the way he says it... hahaha. Since Gates is also known as "little Italy" I seem some cred to it... but being i'm part italian... I'm saying I'm right :) Anyway.... gnocchi is the only white pasta he will eat out, I know crazy huh (we eat the whole wheat kind at home though) I've tried making these before with yams but in a time crunch this recipe is the best! It's super fast and easy. Even though it's made with pumpkin you really can't taste it, it tastes like normal potato gnocchi!

Pumpkin Gnocchi
1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup fresh or canned pumpkin puree
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
14 cups water

Combine 1 3/4 cups flour, pumpkin puree, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and nutmeg in a large bowl. Stir well to form a smooth dough (dough will be slightly sticky). Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Shape dough into a 12 x 3-inch-long roll. Cut roll lengthwise into 6 (1/2-inch-thick) strips, and cut each strip into 12 (1-inch) pieces. Press each piece of dough with a lightly floured fork. Place gnocchi on a lightly floured baking sheet; set aside.

Bring water to boil in a large Dutch oven. Add half of gnocchi; cook 3 minutes or until done. Remove gnocchi with a slotted spoon; place in a colander. Repeat with remaining gnocchi.

all ready to go into the water