mac and ch-easy bake

wanted an easy side for thanksgiving, and knew this could also work for leftovers - with rice pasta (especially white rice pasta) i find you have to add a lot more liquid to soften it.

ingredients
1 can each of cheddar soup and cream of mushroom
1c light cream
2c water (would be a lot less if a wheat-based pasta
1tsp garlic powder
1 pack of rice pasta shells (400g - almost a pound)
1.5c shredded cheese (i used marble cheddar)

i mix all the ingredients except the pasta and cheese so i can pour evenly

precook pasta to just under al dente in a pot of boiling water, then into a lightly greased glass baking dish (i think mine is about 10x14, and pour mixed ingredients on top

add cheese and jiggle it around so it's nice and even and into a 350 oven for 30 min

done!

i like this a lot, but you do need to stir it after it is baking for a bit if using rice pasta to make sure it gets nice and soft. great for leftovers. no time to make it and you can alter the flavours and contents a lot.

dad's spaghetti sauce

my dad is great at making sauces. jams. curries...anything in a big pot.
he finally shared his recipe with me.
had this for a supper and a few lunches with rice pasta (shells and spaghetti). this is popular with both bubs too.
this makes a HUGE amount of sauce. enough to package individual bags for about 10 meals worth.

ingredients (slightly altered
2lbs lean ground beef (brown it)
2 jars pasta sauce
2 cans tomato paste
1c beef stock
2 cans diced tomatoes
2 large onions chopped
2tbsp minced garlic
2 red peppers chopped
1 stalk celery chopped
1tsp rosemary dried
1tbsp each of basil and oregano
1c wine (i used red, he wrote white)
1/2tsp each of salt and pepper
1tbsp sugar or to taste
after the beef is browned i tossed everything into a large pot and simmered on low for about 3hrs. 
serve over pasta
the one year old considers the pasta part optional...

easy pesto cream sauce

i had leftover salmon from a bbq the day before
didn't feel like doing anything complicated
so i made a pesto cream sauce
added salmon
served over rice pasta

ingredients
1c light cream
2tbsp butter
1/2c pesto
2tbsp parmesan cheese
heat over low heat until well blended then add
2 cooked salmon fillets broken up into pieces
add to sauce until heated

 easy
easy
easy
...and the best part - delicious

shrimp and leftover pesto pasta

pasta is comfort food for me. but white pasta, whole wheat pasta, etc. lead to heartburn and cramps for me. so i tend to use organic, gluten free brown rice pasta. it's good! but i should have adjusted the recipe to reflect that a bag of g-f pasta was 2/3 lb (300g) and not 1lb (454g) - so it was a bit sauce heavy - delicious but sauce heavy.

i did the sauce in the wok.

ingredients

bag of g-f brown rice pasta (tinkyada)

2c italian nacho toppings (italian sausage, onion, red pepper, tomato, olives

1lb shrimp

1/4c butter

3/4c basil pesto

2c of rice milk or lite table cream

1/4c grated parmesan

i used the near 2cups of leftover toppings from my italian nachos

i cooked a pound of shrimp in the wok (removed when cooked)

then

butter, milk and pesto in the wok over medium heat until the sauce reduces a little

throw in the rest of the ingredients and stir and mix until well blended

add sauce to pasta

simple, easy, delicious - my 3 yr old loves shrimp, pasta and pesto so this works for him too.

simple crockpot pasta sauce and pasta

ugh
just switched from the old to newer blog editor and still having problems with uploading pics...ah well, will try again later.

this supper was all about keeping it easy, so cooking pasta and doing up a sauce is it.

pasta is tinkyada's gluten free brown rice pasta

pasta sauce was a jar of marinara sauce
1 can diced tomatoes
3 italian sausages (removed from casings and torn into small pieces
2 white potatoes chopped - i just wanted potatoes!
1 medium cooking onion chopped
1 tbsp each of dried oregano, basil, and minced garlic
a few spoonfuls of red wine

turned the crockpot on high for 2hrs

for my gluten eating guys i used whole wheat pitas, buttered, added minced garlic and topped with parmesan cheese and toasted in the toaster oven...for some reason THAT photo made it as seen below




i love tinkyada g-f pasta it really does taste as good as the non-g-f version. this was a simple, comforting meal and the potatoes were actually pretty yummy in the sauce.

everyone ate this and was enough for 2 full meals.

chicken and tortellini in a carbonara sauce

i took the inspiration from this recipe.
i used the leftover chicken breast from the slow cooker in this one.
i skipped the heavy cream and basil and added a few tablespoons of pesto instead.

this turned out great. really tasty and super easy to make.