mid-week meal share: tuscan tortellini soup

Fall and cold weather type recipes are some of my favorites. Don't get me wrong though, I'm down to grub on most recipes any time of the year. Because, food and we don't judge on body types around these parts. 

This is a recipe I found searching on one of my favorite easy food sites. DELISH. If the namesake didn't give it away and you aren't very good at deductive reasoning everything that I've made has been delish. I would never tell a lie when it comes to good eats.

Easy to concoct: can you brown onions without burning them?

Cost effective: sointantly, what's up doc!

Snatch up these ingredients from your local supermarket!

1 tbsp EVOO (like, is it possible to say this without thinking of Baby Mama?)

1 onion, diced/chopped/pulverized

1 lb chicken sausage

2 tsp (4 cloves) minced garlic

28 oz canned crushed tomatoes

4 cups chicken broth

2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

salt + pepper to taste

1 lb refrigerated cheese tortellini (or the closest amount you can get to 1 lb)

15 oz can great northern beans (rinsed + drained)

5 oz baby spinach

parmesan cheese

1. Prepare your onion and chicken sausage.

2. In a large pot heat your oil and then add your onion.

3. Drain and rinse your beans and spinach forgetting about the onions and promptly letting them burn to the bottom of the pot and start over. Okay, you can skip this step if you really feel like it.

4. Add in your chicken sausage and cook until they brown up a bit.

5. Add in your chicken broth, garlic, crushed tomatoes, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper.

6. Bring to a "rolling simmer" and add your tortellini. Reduce to a regular simmer (?) and cook for 20 minutes.

7. Lastly you're going to add your beans and spinach; cooking until it is wilted. Happens quickly.. in about one or two minutes.

8. Throw some cheese on top and enjoy!

So delicious, so easy, and affordable. What more could you look for when mapping out dinners for the week? It was a little on the spicy side (not for me, but for the wee ones) and next time I will probably add only 1 tsp of red pepper flakes. I always underestimate their strength and occasionally regret it.

Now to plan our Thanksgiving menu.
Leia

mid-week meal share: garlic lemon shrimp pasta

When Beyoncé gives you lemons you make lemonade garlic lemon shrimp pasta. This task is best completed while staring at a picture of Jay-Z because you not only need to cut lemons but you need to juice them and zest them; this will give you the adrenaline boost needed to reach your goal.

Is this recipe a refreshing one? Yes. Does this recipe yield any other flavor besides garlic, lemon, or shrimp? No. Unless you put cheese on it, too. Even after going through the ingredients and cooking everything up I was still somehow shocked by the 'lack' of flavor. Still very delicious, though and everyone loved it.

Easy to concoct: shell(fish) yeah!
Cost effective: ~$15 for seafood at home? I think so.


You shall hunt for these ingredients:

12 oz angel hair pasta
1½ tsp (3 cloves) minced garlic
1 shallot, minced
1 lb raw shrimp; peeled and deveined
'kosher' salt
pepper
¼ cup lemon juice
zest of 1 lemon
*chopped fresh basil for serving
*parsley
*2 tbsp butter


1. I started with all my prep work. Food processing the shallot, juicing and zesting the lemons, 'de-icing' the shrimp to avoid excess water and boiling/draining the noodles.

2. In a saucepan melt butter and add in your shallot, garlic, salt and pepper. I simultaneously added everything instead of waiting for the butter to melt. The goal is to cook until shallots are soft and 'fragrant' (as if they weren't immediately after they were pulverized).

3. Add in your shrimp and cook until pink, then add in your lemon juice and zest. I let mine simmer well after they were pink because seafood gives me the heebie jeebies and I am always so nervous it will serve them under-cooked. YES, I know there is such a thing as sushi but this is not a food inspected restaurant folks.

4. Combine your sauce with your pasta and voila!

5. Enjoy!

Let me tell you that this one a somewhat wacky recipe to follow. Not that it was hard, but the ingredients and instructions didn't line up. When it comes to me and trying a new recipe, I tend to follow along like a sheep and I'll adjust the second time around if there was something I didn't quite like. It says that you need basil for serving. While cooking it says that you need to melt the butter but doesn't tell you how much and finishes by saying "garnish with parsley". Y'all, can you stick to the script please? One other problem I had with this meal was that I used too many noodles and not enough shrimp.



Shrimp not on the barbie.
Leia

mid-week meal share: tuscan chicken pasta

Like, I wish I could be eating this pasta again. Right meow. I've said it before and I'll probably continue to say it: my hangry friends on Facebook share so much food shit it's ridiculous. I save roughly 80% of the quick food videos I see. There are a couple breakfast diddy's, countless desert's (though these always seem out of my culinary comfort level) and even more pasta dishes. I mean, pasta. How can you not just love the stuff? Hopefully it's your favorite, too because that's what I have for you this week!

Easy to concoct: yes'm.

Cost effective: ~$18 for a full meal plus leftovers.

Let's get ready to gatherrrrrrrrrr (these ingredients):

16 oz angel hair pasta

1 lb chicken breast

"kosher" salt

"freshly ground" black pepper

6 slices bacon

1 tsp (2 cloves) minced garlic

2 cups diced tomatoes

3 cup baby spinach

¾ cup heavy cream

½ cup water

⅔ cup grated parmesan

This time the main instructions I've provided are with the alterations I made; feel free to follow the original though! 

1. Pick your favorite sauce and dump your chicken in a Crock-Pot with it and cook on high for 3 hours.

2. If you haven't alotted 3 hours prior to dinner you can cook it in 1 tbsp of olive oil in a pan for 6 minutes on each side before cooking your bacon.

3. To get things rolling you're first going to want to get water boiling for your noodles and frying up your bacon. I used thick cut which I sort of regretted with the amount of minuscule grease burns I got everywhere. The original recipe called to reserve ½ cup of pasta water, this I presume was to thicken the sauce which I didn't end up needing in the end. You won't either if you've used my above ingredients.

4. Cook your bacon until crispy, set aside, and drain most of the grease.

5. Add garlic, tomatoes (I used canned because: hello easy) and spinach to your greasy ass pan. Season with salt and pepper to your liking.

6. Once your spinach has cooked down you can add your cream, water, and cheese. Mix and simmer.

7. While your sauce is simmering you're going to want to shred your chicken and bacon. Brendon grabbed our bear claws and shredded both simultaneously. Awesomeeeeeeee.

8. Add your noodles to the sauce and combine until evenly covered.

9. Add in your chicken and bacon. I added my chicken and bacon in first and it was a total disaster. The sauce made the chicken clump together and the cheese just made everything that much harder to separate. I switched to a larger pan and was frantically adding cream and water to try and get everything evened out. The ingredients I provided should be the amount I ultimately ended up using.

10. Enjoy!

It was a shirtless affair.

Minus my freak out of having a lump of chicken with a side of noodles near the end it ended up being completely delicious. I really had my doubts but the added liquid components evened everything out. I think that all would have been avoided had I added the noodles first. Oh well, you live and you learn I guess.

Bon appetit!

Leia

mid-week meal share: cheeseburger mac & cheese

Look at me, guys! I'm back on track (for now)! And first I would like to thank everyone who has taken the time to view my little slice of the internet because Average Mom Blog has now had over 8,000 views. Over the course of six months I know that this is by no means a mass amount but, hey this blog has made me conscious of how often I rush through the week with providing dinner for my family or how little time I have to spend quality time with them; it also helps me document all the ups and the downs of raising kids and a 'scrapbook' of important milestones and happenings. To have other people along for the ride is great.

Again I'm bringing you some cheesy carby goodness. Like, it's a weakness and hopefully you don't mind.

Easy to concoct: sure is!

Cost effective: yes, ~$15 for a large serving.

Necessary supplies:

1 tbsp olive oil

1 medium onion diced - or pulverized

1 tsp minced garlic (2 cloves)

1 pound ground beef (85% lean, 15% fat leaves almost no grease)

"kosher" salt

"freshly" ground pepper

1 tbsp tomato paste

1 tsp Worcestershire sauce (or more cause it's s'good)

4 cups beef broth

1 box elbow (or other) noodles

4 cups mixed cheese (cheddar and monterey jack were used in original recipe)

1. Chop or food process your onion to minuscule bits. I am still love-hate with onions and I've really been trying not to remove them from recipes as of late. I don't even know if this qualifies as medium.

2. In a skillet combine the onion, olive oil, and garlic. Cook until onions are translucent.

3. Add your ground beef, Worcestershire sauce, tomato paste, salt and pepper. Unless you're serving your ground beef raw, cook until it's brown. 

4. While I had little to no grease to drain, if there had been an excess I would have attempted to drain it.

5. Pour in your beef broth and bring to a simmer.

6. Instruct Piper to do the dishes that are in the sink since we'll be contributing more shortly.

7. Add in your noodles and cook until they are al dente. It is important to keep it at a simmer so your broth does not entirely absorb/cook away because you will need some at the end for your cheese.

8. Slowly mix in your selected cheeses.

9. Enjoy!

Yummy, yummy. Like hamburger helper without the powdered cheese mix! This has made it's way onto my list of favorites and I'm sure it will be there for awhile, it's not one I can really envision getting sick of any time soon. 

And Kroger has been the first store that I have found plain shredded monterey jack. When I went to the store for the ingredients I had fully planned on just getting colby jack, but lo and behold I was able to get cheddar and monterey jack!

One pound, one pan, one happy family.

Leia