The Easiest Most Delicious Pasta Sauce from Scratch

*oh look, my tomatoes from last summer! Yes, that's my picture. I ate that orange one about two seconds after snapping this photo. 

I've been feeling a little uninspired in the kitchen lately. My hubby has been out of town a lot, and it's hard to get back into "cooking for one" mode. Then again, last week I made that amazing, incredible cauliflower casserole... and that thing was inspired, man.

Anyway. The point is, when I got home tonight I had a few leftovers and absolutely no ambition whatsoever to make anything fancy, but I was craving pasta badly. Cue the carb-fest!

I adapted this recipe from my Simply Shrimply Spicy Pasta. You can, and probably will, adapt it to suit your taste and the contents of your fridge. My one regret tonight is that I didn't have any soft cheese to add to this in globs... ricotta or even goat cheese would have been welcome.

What you need:

1 28oz can of diced tomatoes (I am still using Meijer's "organic" petite diced ones.)
2 T olive oil
1 T butter
1 clove garlic (or 1 tsp of minced from the fridge, ya'll)
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper, or to taste
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
+EITHER:
1 1/2 tsp dry basil
OR:
2 tsp minced fresh basil (or more? I LOVE basil...)
OR:
2 tsp Italian seasoning

Garnish: Fresh-grated Parmesan cheese, to taste

What you do:

If you're going to eat this now, start your water boiling first and get your pasta going. You'll want the pasta to be finished around the same time as the sauce. Tonight, I used elbow macaroni.

Set your skillet on medium and put the olive oil in to heat.

Add the butter.

Once the butter melts, add the garlic and stir slightly. Let the garlic soften but don't brown it.

Add the whole  can of tomatoes, juices and all. Add all the spices. Stir together well.

Let simmer for 5-8 minutes, until the sauce thickens slightly. Using a potato masher or some other method of your choosing, mash your tomatoes to a consistency you want to eat. If you like big chunks of tomato, don't mash. I prefer a more blended sauce, personally.

You should probably be ready to drain your pasta by now... please do. I'll wait.

Turn off the heat under your sauce, then toss your pasta into the skillet and stir it all up. The sauce probably won't coat the pasta very well but you still want to marry them together as much as you can.

Serve, preferably with Parmesan cheese all melty and gooey on top.

Seriously, this takes a total of maybe 10 minutes to do if you've got everything handy.

Simply Shrimply Spicy Pasta

*I totally did not take this picture. As you can see by the watermark, it's from Budget Bytes.

I don't get a lot of "weird" food cravings, but when I do crave something I definitely get some serious tunnel vision about it. So, when I realized I'd been thinking about almost nothing but shrimp for over a week, I decided it was time to do something about it. 

I've only ever cooked shrimp once or twice before; I'm a little intimidated by seafoods in general, as they are so easy to under or over cook. Still, I decided I needed to be brave and give it a shot, and I'm glad I did. The ever-amazing and wonderful Budget Bytes provided the base recipe (here), and I messed with it a little until it tasted the way I wanted, which was freaking delicious. 

A few notes about this recipe: Your home will likely smell like garlic shrimp for a day or two after making it. It's worth it. Also, the recipe calls for fresh parsley; so do yourself a favor and use fresh parsley. You can get by making it with dried (I did it), but the burst of fresh herbs will add a flavor dimension to this meal you just can't get with dried, IMHO. When you're picking up the parsley, get some fresh basil too. Trust me. 

What you need:
1 (15oz) can of Diced Tomatoes

2 Tbsp Olive Oil

1 Tbsp Butter

4 Cloves Garlic, minced (or 3-4tsp of minced from the jar... or more, if you like it zesty!)

1/2 lbs Raw Peeled and Deveined Shrimp (I bought a 3/4 lbs bag of flash-frozen raw/peeled/deveined shrimp for like $8; they only take about 10 minutes to thaw by running them under cool waater.)

1/4 tsp Red Pepper Flakes

1/4 tsp Chili Pepper Flakes (Hot, optional)

1/4 tsp Salt

Black Pepper to taste

A small handful of fresh Parsley (about 4T worth).*

A small handful of fresh Basil (see above)... (if you like basil. If you don't, just skip it.).*

8oz fettuccine or equivalent of your favorite long pasta (I use angel hair). 

What you do:

• Mince your garlic if you're using fresh. Tear or finely chop about 2T worth of parsley and basil and set aside. Roughly tear the rest of the parsley and basil to sprinkle on when serving. Set aside.
• Boil water for the pasta. Add the pasta. Cook the pasta. Got that? Once it's tender, drain it and set it aside. 
• Rinse your shrimp with cool water (unless you just thawed them under cool water, which would render this step unnecessary.) Be sure to drain the excess water. 
• While the pasta is cooking, add the olive oil and butter to a large skillet over medium heat. 
• Once the butter melts, throw the shrimp and minced garlic into your skillet. Sauté the shrimp and garlic for 3-5 minutes; just until the shrimp is opaque and slightly pink. Once done, remove the shrimp from the skillet and set it aside. Use tongs; you want to keep as much butter/oil/garlic in the skillet as possible.
• Pour the can of tomatoes, juices and all, into the skillet, along with your pepper flakes (both if using both), salt, and pepper. Stir to combine and then let the sauce simmer for 5-6 minutes; it should thicken slightly. 
• Once the sauce thickens, toss your shrimp back in there and simmer it all together for 1 minute. Then, add the drained pasta into the skillet as well and stir it all together. You want the sauce to coat the pasta. 
• Taste and adjust your salt/pepper if needed. Remove from heat. Sprinkle a little of the roughly torn parsley / basil over the skillet before serving, reserve a little if people want to garnish with more. 
• Serve hot with some fresh Parmesan cheese tossed on top. 

*Like I said, you can totally swing this recipe using dried herbs, as I did. I used about 1T each of dried parsley and basil in the sauce and didn't reserve any for garnish... next time, I will definitely use fresh, but in a pinch you'll be just fine. 

Sweet Molasses Steak

*Not my image, it came with the recipe. Also, those are PC molasses, so we know the recipe is from Canada. Yay!

The more I eat, the more I love to cook. The more I cook, the more I like to eat!

Over the past eight months, I've learned to cook a whole lot of new things, but we were still using store-bought marinade for beef. So when I saw this recipe, originally from Allrecipes.com, I had to try it.


Overall, I loved this recipe, but it was much sweeter than we were expecting. It really was very sweet, but that works with a nice juicy steak! Also, I expected the marinade to burn off a bit more on the grill, but because I was grilling rare and medium-rare, the steaks came out a little bit saucy. It works, but if you don't like sauce or gravy, you might want to wipe the marinade off the steaks before grilling.

Next time I make this, I'm going to spice it up a little bit. I would almost add jalapenos to the marinade... Or perhaps serve it with a spicy veggie/rice dish instead? I'm not sure. But anyway, enough maybe, here is what you came for.

Admittedly, it takes a lot of discipline for me to use molasses in cooking, because my instinct is instead to eat them directly out of the jar. I definitely had a few tastes along the way, but managed to get my 1/2 cup in the bowl.

As usual, I can't follow an original recipe to save my life. So I made some changes. This is my version.

What you need:

1/2 C molasses
1/2 C brown sugar
1/2 C tomato ketchup
1/2 C spicy ketchup (I used Heinz chili ketchup)
1 TBSP lemon juice
1 TBSP dried oregano
1 Tsp minced garlic
2 TBSP minced white onion

What you do:

Ready? Easiest. Directions. Ever.

Take all your ingredients. Mix them in a bowl and stir them together. Put them in a zipper bag with your steaks. Let them sit anywhere from 4 to 24 hours. Grill to taste. Serve with something. Or nothing. As you like it.

One suggestion: If you can't marinade for at least 4 hours, I suggest you tenderize your steaks with a fork... lots of holes means the marinade will get more surface area and help make your steaks soft and juicy. Yums.

Baked Sweet & Sour Chicken

*yes, this is my image... I'm doing my best to resist gobbling it all up before the hubby gets home!

Baked Sweet & Sour Chicken

I'm seriously starting to think I need a Pinterest intervention. A Pintervention! Anyway, I have seen this recipe floating around Pinterest for ages and finally decided to give it a go. Some claim it's the awesomest Sweet & Sour chicken ever. Some say it's "addicting", which, incidentally, drives me up the wall. The word is addictive. As in "That chicken is addictive" or "These bath salts are addictive". Addicting? Not a word. Non-addicting is a word. It means you cannot become addicted to something... it isn't an addictive substance. Kapish?! 

Now then. The recipe is on Life as a Lofthouse's blog, so go check it out already! 

As usual, I can't follow the darn directions, so I substituted fresh minced garlic (you know, fresh from a jar in my fridge?!). I also added a few hefty shakes of chili flakes to my sauce, to spice it up a bit. I highly recommend you do the same, because it's awesome. 

Start out by preheating your oven to 325...

What you need for the chicken:

1 to 1.5 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breast, thawed, trimmed, and cubed.
Salt and pepper to taste

1 C corn starch

2 eggs, beaten

1/4 C canola oil

What you do to the chicken:

As advertised: thaw it, rinse it, trim it, cube it. Put it in a bowl or whatever makes you comfortable. 

Add salt and pepper to taste. I used none, because that tastes best to me. 

Pour the oil into a large skillet and start it heating. 

Next, roll the chicken cubes around in the corn starch, ensuring they are completely covered. 

Dip the corn starchy chicken into the eggs, ensuring full coverage. 

*Fry your chicken until it is lightly browned and sealed, but not cooked through. 

Remove from skillet and place in a 9 x 13 baking pan, ensuring they're as evenly spaced as possible. 

*Confession: I don't fry a lot of things. Ok, this was totally the first time I've tried this. So one thing I learned is, you can't overcrowd your skillet or it makes turning your chicken really difficult... and you end up with uneven batter. So, if you used lots of chicken (more than a pound), or if you're a pan-frying pro, you'll know to do this step in two batches. I didn't, and it wasn't catastrophic, but I recommend you don't overcrowd your pan. 

What you need for the sauce:

3/4 cup sugar

4 tbs ketchup

1/2 cup distilled white vinegar

1 tbs soy sauce

1 tsp garlic salt (as mentioned, I used about the same of "fresh" minced garlic"... in my continued boycott of any dehydrated garlic products.)

What you do for the sauce:

Well, this is easy: Put the ingredients into a bowl. Whisk them together. Ta-da!

Pour the sauce evenly over the chicken. I was a little leery when I saw that my sauce wasn't going to actually cover the chicken, but it's ok... it works fine because you're going to be turning the chicken throughout the cooking process. I gave mine a few shakes once it was in there, just to ensure even-ness.

Place your baking pan in the oven. Close the door. Bake for 1 hour, turning every 15 minutes. 

I served mine with steamed white rice and steamed mixed veggies (broccoli, peas, water chesnut, carrots, etc... I think it's called "Asian Mix".) Well, I served what was left anyway. Some serious snacking occurred when the chicken came out of the oven. 

Wicked Tex-Mex Chicken or Turkey Pasta

*yep, that's my picture... Of my dinner. ;)

Wicked Tex-Mex Chicken

I was always told not to go to the grocery store when hungry. I suppose it's sound advice; going to the grocery store hungry often leads to impulse purchases, and they're not usually healthy choices! 

However, one trip on an empty stomach inspired me to make this wicked tex-mex chicken, which has become a pasta staple in our house. 

What you need:

1 lb skinless boneless chicken or turkey, cubed
1 (16 oz) container of Garden Fresh "Jack's Special" medium salsa (the best salsa ever. If you can't get this one, any fresh-made salsa would probably work)
2.5 servings bowtie pasta
1/2 cup shredded cheese (I used Kraft Mexican four cheese)
2 T olive oil

What you do:

Set water to boil for pasta. Add pasta. Cook it. You know how this works. I try to cook the pasta simultaneously with the chicken, so everything is ready at the same time. Once your pasta is done, strain and set aside. Don't let it dry out. 

Heat oil in a frying pan on med-high heat.

Add chicken or turkey. Cook until sealed on all sides. 

Turn heat down to medium.

Add 1/2 the package of salsa. Stir with the chicken. Simmer until chicken turkey is fully cooked. 

Remove everything from heat. In a casserole dish, stir salsa and chicken or turkey together with pasta. Add half the remaining salsa from the package and stir it all together. Sprinkle with cheese. You can eat it now...
or...

...put the casserole under the broiler until the cheese starts to bubble. 

Once bubbled to your liking, remove the casserole from the heat and let it rest for 5 minutes. 

Eat it. Praise me silently (or not) throughout the meal. The great thing about this dish is that it's absolutely delish as a leftover, hot or cold. :) 

Coconut Chicken Strips

*Yes, this is my (gloriously blurry) image

Baked Coconut Chicken Strips

This was a Pinterest find, and I'm glad I found it! So easy, so yummy... a great upgrade to classic chicken fingers. It was originally posted on Back To Her Roots' recipe blog. Here is what you need:

What you need:

2 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts (Or one package of pre-trimmed chicken breast tenderloins, 1 to 1.5 lbs)
3 C white flour
2 eggs
Splash of milk
Salt and Pepper
2 C each unsweetened shredded coconut and panko bread crumbs (I used coconut flakes, but I would recommend shredded if it's available.)
Oil spray (I used Pam).

Here is what you do:

Preheat oven to 400°.

If you're using whole chicken breasts, place them in a large zip-top bag and pound down to about 1/2″ thickness. Slice into 3/4″ strips.

Next grab three bowls, each larger than your chicken breast strips. 

Bowl 1: Just the flour, baby. 

Bowl 2: Whisk together eggs and splash of milk. 

Bowl 3: Mix panko and coconut in one bowl, season with salt and pepper.

Here comes the fun part! You can use any technique you like. I prefer a wet-hand / dry-hand system. 

You'll want to run your chicken through the bowls in order... first in the flour, then in the egg, and then press it into the coconut-panko mix. If you're using coconut flakes, like I did, you'll really want to press the chicken into the coconut-panko mix to get the larger flakes to stick. 

Place each strip onto a greased cookie sheet. 

Bake at 400 for 20ish minutes, flipping after 10. Let your strips rest for a few minutes before serving. 

I paired mine with President's Choice "Memories of Thailand" spicy chili dipping sauce. Unfortunately, it's only available in Canada, but if you can get it, it's worth it! If not, I think any sweet and spicy sauce would add a little zing to these yummy strips. 

My World-Famous Gingies

*not my image

My world-famous gingerbread cookies

I'll be straight up with you: I didn't make this recipe up from scratch. I found it online in the 1990s. You can see the original recipe here.

Please note: I'm really not into the whole "organic" or "fair-trade" thing. In fact, using organic, fair-trade molasses in this recipe will only lead to tears of disappointment. Organic fair-trade molasses will deliberately make your cookies taste like crap just to fuck with you. Their bastard cousin, fancy table molasses, are the only way to go. Besides, they're fancy... that should be good enough.

I vary this recipe slightly when I make my annual Christmas gingies, and there's only one other person in the world who knows the variation. I have made the recipe as-is, and the cookies are delicious... but I encourage you to experiment!

The recipe specifically says that you shouldn't use blackstrap molasses. I don't even know what blackstrap molasses are, so I just never used them. Feel free if that's what you're into.

You don't need to pre-heat your oven right now, because you're going to let your dough rest for a while before preparing it. I can't stress enough how important this is... you have to let the dough rest, or it will be too sticky to work with. I have tried, believe me, and it doesn't work. 

Making the dough:

1/2 C butter or margarine
1/2 C sugar
1/2 C molasses (room temp is easier to mix, but cold is fine)
1 egg yolk
2 C sifted all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until smooth and light. Stir in molasses and egg yolk. Mix again until nice and smooth. 

In another bowl, combine flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, ginger and nutmeg. 

Blend dry ingredients into wet. I use a wooden spoon and blend manually... it's part of my workout plan. 

You can use a mixer if you want to, but eventually you'll have to hand mix. 

Cover dough and chill for a minimum of two hours. I use a ziploc bag or plastic wrap to cover the dough. The less air in contact with it the better. 

Making the cookies:

Preheat over to 350F. 

On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to about 1/4 inch thick. You can vary this depending on how you like your cookies: thicker dough = thicker, softer cookies. 

Use cookie cutters to cut out desired shapes. Place cut outs on ungreased cookie sheets. 

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, or until the cookies are firm. Cool on wire racks before frosting. I always use my buttercream icing and Smarties from Canada (NOT the Smarties you get in the US!) on these cookies...