A New Recipe Called Mushroom Agnolotti with Corn, Tomatoes and Arugula Pan Sauce

Ok, so I cook occasionally. I won't tell you how many times I actually cooked dinner at home during the last 3 weeks because it's embarrassing.  But, I've decided to turn over a new leaf.  I've begun meal planning again.  I've decided to get some different, better food back on the table.  Because, I was in a rut.  I preferred Hamburger Mac (no one was complaining though) to something a little more healthy.

So, my first try back to interesting but easy cooking was something with a crazy name but a pretty yummy and fresh looking picture. I have also wanted to know what the hype was about arugula so, I thought this would be perfect.  Especially since Utah corn is at its prime.  Yum.  Here are a few notes:

1.  I used frozen ravioli. Costco kind with the spinach in it.  They said I could.  Agnolotti is basically ravioli.  It just sounds more special.
2.  My ravioli did not have mushroom in it.   So I actually put in some white mushrooms for my husband.  And picked them all out of my bowl at dinner time.
3. Most important discovery:  I hate arugula.  It's gross. If you like it, pardon.  But if you don't like it, you know what I'm talking about.  Andrew took a bite and said, "What tastes so bitter?"  Yeah, so we both ate around the arugula.  If you want the rest of my arugula in the fridge, it's yours.

So if I were to make this again here are the good things:

1.  Great for meatless Monday.
2. Fast
3. My corn was white and awesome and fresh and inexpensive.  Delish.
4.  It was pretty healthy.
5.  We ate it with garlic bread.   Bueno.
6.  Substitute the stinking arugula with spinach.  That would be good.  And don't put a full 5 oz in.  That's a lot.  Maybe half of that?

Theirs (Better Homes and Gardens)

Mine

The Recipe:

2 ears sweet corn on the cob
18 oz wild mushroom agnolotti or ravioli
2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 small onion thinly sliced
1 clove garlic thinly sliced (I have the jar of costco minced for ease)
2 medium tomatoes, cored and chopped
2 Tbsp unsalted butter
5 oz baby arugula (6 cups)  *too much!  Sub spinach if you don't like arugula
2 oz Parmigiano-Reggiano finely shredded (I used shredded parm)

1.  Bring large pot of salted water to boil.  Shave corn off the ears with knife and reserve.  Add the cobs and agnolotti to water, set timer for 6 min.
2.  Meanwhile, for pan sauce, heat oil in large skillet over med-high heat.  Add onion and garlic.  Cook until fragrant about2 min.
3.  Add corn kernels to skillet; cook over med-high heat until bright and crisp tender; 1 min.  Add the tomatoes (and mushrooms if adding) and toss until they begin to release some juices, about 2 min more.
4.  Drain the pasta, reserving 1/4 cup cooking liquid.  Discard cobs.  Add pasta back to the pot with the reserved cooking water, corn mixture and butter.  Gently toss over low heat to melt butter.  Stir in arugula and toss until just wilted.  Divide among four bowls and top with finely grated cheese.
4 servings.

566 cal
6g fiber
(in case you were wondering)

Chicken Sausage Oven Roasted Pasta Primavera

I know!  It's a post.  Shocking.  This is a really good one from realmomkitchen.com  Andrew loved the mushrooms and I shoved all of them into his portion.  Great way to get the hubs to eat veggies.  I'm making it again tonight!  Here's the link!

Chicken Sausage Oven Roasted Pasta Primavera

veggies and noodles with thai coconut curry sauce

I got the recipe for this on the Our Best Bites website (linked on the left of the blog). You can find it here. It's a knock off of Noodles & Co Bangkok Curry, which I'm now considering ordering on my next visit there. Yum.

I don't like curry. This doesn't taste like "curry". It uses red curry paste, which I actually had lying around in the fridge. I also happened to have coconut milk in my cupboard. This really hit the spot with me tonight. Even Nathaniel ate it up, which really shocked me!

A couple of notes:

1. I used fresh broccoli and fresh carrots instead of the stir fry mix. I didn't blanch them first, I just threw them in the wok the same time as the red peppers and it was fine. With sitting for 5 minutes in the sauce to thicken, they soften even more. If they're soft once you add the sauce, I'd imagine they'd get a little limp.

2. I did half the recipe. Probably a smart idea. But, after I ate my 3 lbs and Thanny ate some, there's probably enough for Andrew to eat for dinner when he gets home and not a whole lot of left overs. So I may actually make the whole thing next time!

3. As a lover of sweet chili sauce- you do not have to go to the Asian market to find it. They have two brands in the Asian section of Smiths. Just so you know. (P.S. If you've never had sweet chili sauce, try it with sour cream and dip potato wedges in it. I ate this all the time in Australia- they even had sour cream and sweet chili potato chips in the store there, America needs to get with the program and get some of those. yum!)

Follow the link (the word "here") for the recipe.

Chicken Satay Noodle Soup

Rachael Ray says that this serves 4. Thinking it really did, I decided to just make it for the 4 servings and have Andrew and I eat it once for dinner and then once for lunch the next day as left overs. We've eaten it for dinner and I've eaten it twice for lunch and there is still TONS of soup left. So my advice is that if you don't have a large crowd to feed, half this recipe for sure!

That being said, this was kind of a fun and different kind of dinner. I would definitely not forget the toppings at the end (cilantro, peanuts, green onions and lime) since I felt like they totally made the meal.

Salt

1/2 lb whole wheat pasta

2 Tbl vegetable oil

3/4 lb chicken, thinly sliced

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

3/4 cup peanut butter

1/4 cup plus 2 Tbl tamari (dark soy) *I used regular soy since I didn't have any

1/4 cup Thai red curry paste

2 Tbl tomato paste

6 cups chicken broth

One 1-inch piece fresh ginger, thinly sliced

1/2 head napa or savoy cabbage, shredded *I only had regular cabbage and it worked fine

1/2 cup apple joice

1 cup bean sprouts

1/4 cup chopped peanuts

green onions thinly sliced

1 Tbl chopped cilantro

Lime wedges

1. Bring a large pot of water to boil, salt it, add the pasta and cook until al dente. Drain

2. Meanwhile, in a soup pot, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the chicken and garlic and cook, stirring until the chicken is opaque, about 5 min. Transfer to a plate.

3. Add the peanut butter, tamari, curry paste and tomato paste to the pot and stir. Increase the heat to meduium-high and whisk in the chicken broth; add the ginger. Bring to a boil, then stir in the cabbage and cook until wilted, about 2 minutes. Return the chicken to the pot and stir in the apple juice.

4. Divide the pasta among 4 bowls. Ladle the soup over the pasta. Top with the bean sprouts, peanuts, green onions and cilantro. serve with the lime wedges.

Chutney Curried Chicken with Yogurt Sauce

No, I haven't forgotten about this blog. I've just been really, really bad at putting things on it. I have been cooking, just not taking pictures of what I make!

The name of this recipe would not have caught my eye and I would have moved on in my Crock Pot book. However, the picture in the book looked yummy and I did have a mango sitting in my fruit bowl that needed to be used. So I tried it and it was good! Andrew said it was fun. I'll be making it again. Plus, it's a crockpot dinner- I love those!

(I can't get this one to not be flipped sidways, sorry)

1 container (6-8 oz) plain low-fat yogurt
2 tsp. curry powder
1 tsp. garlic salt
1/8 tsp. ground red pepper (I didn't have, so I used red pepper flakes)
4 bone in chicken breast halves, skin removed (2 lbs. about) (I used boneless skinless I think)
1 small onion, sliced
1/3 cup mango chutney (chop large pieces of mango if you don't have chutney)
1 Tbl. lime juice
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbl. cornstarch
2 Tbl. water
3 cups cooked linguini or lo mein noodles
Optional Toppings: chopped cilantro chopped peanuts, toasted coconut

1. Place yogurt in paper-towel-lined strainer over a bowl. Drain in refrigerator until serving time.

2. Combine curry powder, garlic salt and red pepper; sprinkle over chicken. Place onion in crock pot; top with chicken. Combine chutney, lime juice and garlic; spoon over chicken. Cover; cook on LOW 5 or 6 hours or on HIGH 2 1/2 to 3 hours or until chicken is tender.

3. With slotted spoon, transfer chicken to serving platter and cover with foil to keep warm. Turn crock pot cooker to High. Combine cornstartch with water until smooth. Stir into cooking liquid. Cover; cook 15 minutes or until thickened. Spoon sauce over chicken; serve over linguini. Top with thickened yogurt and garnish as desired.

parmesan crusted salmon with shrimp in a garlic cream sauce

I grabbed my camera after I had already begun eating and mixing things around my plate.

There are no measurements for this recipe. That's how it goes when Andrew cooks. I'm his sous chef. But basically, here is what happened:

1) In a saucepan, heat olive oil, minced garlic, salt, pepper, butter and lemon juice. Heat to "infuse the oil". Stir in the shrimp and let marinate until you're ready to get things going.

2) Cook pasta.

3) Make a cream sauce in a pan by mixing a little whipping cream, skim milk, butter, garlic, salt, pepper. Stir until thickened. We wanted it thin and so our sauce wasn't thickening- we didn't add enough cream. So, I made a quick thickener of water and flour and poured in just a little bit until it coated the back of a spoon.

3) Salt and pepper the salmon fillet. Press parmesan cheese and minced garlic onto one side of the salmon (you may want to add more spices here- ours needed more salt after). Heat some vegetable oil in a skillet until hot. Put cheese/garlic side down and cook for about 4 minutes. Put cheese on the side facing up. Flip and cook 4 more minutes.

4) While the salmon is cooking, heat the shrimp.

5) Mix pasta, sauce and shrimp together.

6) Place the pasta and shrimp on a plate with the salmon and enjoy! We added extra salt and parmesan because it needed it.