One of My Favorite Easy Dinners!

     Sometimes after being out all day. I need a quick and easy dinner to prepare. 

   My first go to when running around and needing a quick dinner. Was the grocery store deli. Or a hamburger and french fries from a fast food place. Sometimes the struggle is real and I still visit the deli or the fast food restaurant. Working on doing that less and less. Cooking more meals at home and controlling the ingredients.

I posted a blog about this easy dinner before,
Adventures at the Olive Bar!

    .....but I changed a few things.....


   The original dinner didn't have any tomato sauce. So chopping up some Roma tomatoes and then sauteing them in a skillet. With just a bit of olive oil. Adding a bit of garlic, onion, basil, a dash of salt and a pinch of sugar. To your taste. Personally, my preference is less salt and sugar, with more seasoning. 

Chopped up some Roma Tomatoes
added garlic, onion powder and basil

     Meatless "meat" balls from Aldi. These are so good! Really I promise!

I tried cooking the meatballs in the oven first

Meatballs heat better in a skillet
than the oven

     My favorite garnish. Kalamata Olives and fresh Mozzarella cheese. 

Added some asparagus

     Cooked Asparagus on the side. 


     I served all this on Rotini pasta. If you wanted to be super healthy. You could serve it on spaghetti squash or zoodles. Or even roasted veggies

    It was delicious!

A few of my other blogs.
What Have I Been Doing? Progress Report
What Have I been Doing? Progress Report, Part Two
Wigs for Kids!

Comfort Food for Valentines Day or Any Day

Lasagna is not an everyday dish, but something wonderful to make for your love(s) on Valentines Day. I don't have an actual Valentine. So my loves this year are my family. Also my dogs, but they can't eat lasagna. Can you picture big brown eyes begging for a little?

My mother taught me how to make it. I asked her how much Mozzarella? She said, lots. More is better.

 Lasagna is not hard, just time consuming.

But it's well worth the effort

The finished and delicious product

Lasagna
Box of lasagna noodles
mozzarella
ricotta
tomato sauce
diced tomatoes
tomato paste
basil
Sausage (I use turkey sausage)

Cook noodles according to directions

Simmer all the tomato products together. Add basil (to taste)

Brown sausage in a skillet

Layer all the ingredients together. Starting with the noodles

Cook on 400 for an hour. Or until the center of the lasagna reaches 165 degrees. Everything is pretty much already cooked but cold lasagna ::shudders::

Adventures at the Olive Bar!

     I wanted to make a certain type of pasta that used tomatoes and olives. And I have to say this is my version of the pasta dish. For those of you that are Italian Food Purists. I will probably shame you to no end with my thrown together version. Truth is, recipes bore me. The only time I use recipes is when I am baking. When absolute measurements matter. Otherwise no recipes. Just let my taste buds guide me.

        So moving on with, Adventures in Olives! The I went to an olive bar and picked out my special gourmet olives.  Before starting I lurves I mean love Olives. I eat one and find out they have pits. Didn't know this. Wouldn't have purposefully bought pitted olives.

     
         I love to cook but I am no Martha Stewart. How on Earth am I going to pit all these olives? And be able to eat dinner before 9pm? I tried just slicing them, but those sweet little pits clung to their olives. When I would chomp down on a olive. I noticed that the pit would shoot right out. Knowing that I couldn't bite every olive to get the pit out. Or could I? No, no I couldn't that would be really gross. And then I would end up eating all the olives instead of using them in the dinner.

      So I came up with the idea of smashing them with a knife.......

..........Ok that works, but I am so bored just pitting one at a time.  I just couldn't see smashing twenty or thirty olives one a time. I am about to fall out of my chair and fall sound asleep just thinking about it. So I put a couple olives on the cutting board and smash them all together.

          Ahhhhh! Much Better!

     
         I dice some fresh Roma Tomatoes and mix in some Italian seasonings. These seasonings are pre mixed and so I don't know what is in them. Then mix in my pitted and chopped olives with some minced garlic. Cooked it at 400 degrees for an hour. After that I plated my pasta added my tomato and olives. Then added some mozzarella cheese. And I have my dinner. And I tell you, it was delicious. Will make this again, very soon!

        Because when you make a really good, fresh and homemade dinner. It is fabulous and it is not tyranny. Far from it. I love a fabulous home cooked meal.

TUNE IN NEXT WEEK! When I give advice on how to get olive oil stains off of your tablet cover. Just kidding, but seriously an oily tablet cover is not Fabulous.