Spaghetti & Turkey Meatballs

Ben and I decided that we wanted to make a romantic dinner for Valentine's Day. Ben looked at me with those blue pleading eyes and smiled and asked, "can we have pasta?" "Yes, Ben. We can have pasta," I replied.


Ben had bought me Ellie Krieger's cook book almost a year ago and we still had not tried to make anything from the book yet. I picked it up and instantly saw the cover was spaghetti and meatballs. What a perfect idea! Since I don't eat any four-legged animals the turkey meatballs in Ellie's cook book were perfect.


They were super easy and so good. Oh yeah and healthy! I would definitely make these and eat these again. (I'm not a huge fan of turkey, but I was thrilled with these meatballs.) One whole package of pasta, bottle of sauce and these meatballs will serve 4 people.

Turkey Meatballs

1.25 lbs lean ground turkey
1/2 cup finely chopped carrot
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1/4 cup dried bread crumbs
1/4 cup reduced fat grated parmesan cheese
2 tsp fresh flat leaf parsley, chopped
1 large egg
salt & pepper to taste

In a large bowl mix all the ingredients for the turkey meatballs with your hands until everything looks mixed through. Roll into 2 1/2 inch balls (Ben and I got 13 big meatballs.) Place on a greased baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes until browned.


While in the oven start heating your sauce in a large sauce pan. (Ellie Krieger has a recipe for sauce in her cook book with the meatballs, but Ben and I were feeling lazy and did not want to buy all those ingredients to make the sauce so we just picked up a bottle of sauce. Any kind you like will work.) Also put the water on to boil for your spaghetti.


Once the meatballs are done place them into the pot with the sauce mix them in, cover and let cook for 10-15 more minutes. Cook your pasta according to the directions. Drain the pasta and plate. Top with a few meatballs, sauce and extra parmesan cheese.


I loved this meal. Yes Ben and I did do a Lady and the Tramp kiss. It was a great way to celebrate our Valentine's Day. We will be making this again.

Seared Scallops with Asparagus & Linguine

Ben and I had a small celebratory dinner last night, just a little nod to the fact that we have now been together for 2 and a 1/2 years. We don't really celebrate anniversaries, why if we love each other why do we have to congratulate ourselves for sticking in the relationship? We are together and it's great, there is no reason to count or list the days, hours, minutes that we've lasted.

But nice dinners together are something that I think we both cherish, so there is no reason that we can't do that on a weekly basis, and just enjoy each other.


I sent Ben a few different options for dinner. We decided on a pasta dish because neither of us could remember the last time we had pasta (which is almost a crime.) We also like trying new things and neither of us had ever made scallops before, and they are a food that we both like. So we experimented, guided by a cooking light recipe.

Seared Scallops with Asparagus & Linguine

1 (9-ounce) package refrigerated linguine
1 bunch asparagus
1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp Romano cheese, divided
2 Tbsp olive oil, divided
Handful of chopped fresh basil
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 lbs sea scallops
1 lemon

In a medium size pot bring the water to a boil to cook the pasta. While waiting for the water to come up, rinse and cut the asparagus into bite size pieces. Once boiling place the asparagus in the water, let come up to a boil again and then add the pasta in. Cook according to the package (2-3 minutes) then drain pasta and asparagus in a colander over a bowl. Combine pasta, 1/4 cup cheese, 1 tablespoon oil, chopped basil, the juice of 1/2 a lemon and pepper in a large bowl; toss well.

Heat remaining 1 tablespoon oil in a large cast-iron skillet over high heat. Sprinkle salt evenly over scallops; add scallops to pan. Cook 1 minute on each side or until golden.


Serve pasta with scallops on top and extra lemon wedges on the side. Sprinkle with cheese to finish the dish.


So the pasta was good, not great, the flavors were there that Ben and I love but we had a few issues with the dish. First, apparently I don't like fresh pasta, for some reason the texture was too chewy, it stuck together and I just didn't enjoy it. So if we make this again the first thing we would do differently is use dried pasta.


The second thing we would do is not over cook the scallops. I said "Ben it says scallops one minute on each side, that's it, don't over cook the scallops" about 7 or 8 times before we started to cook them. (Ben was in charge of the scallops while I did the pasta.) It got to the point where I knew I was annoying him, but I had this feeling that he would cook and cook and cook the scallops and they would be like rubber. Well...that's exactly what happened. We sat down to eat and Ben popped a scallop in his mouth, looked at me and smiled..."I over cooked the scallops," he said. Oh well...at least we'll know for next time. I'm sure that we will make scallops again, I can't wait to perfect it.

One last thing that we would change, adding the cheese to the pasta while it was hot made one big clump of cheese in the middle of a bunch of pasta, because the temperatures of the cheese and the pasta were too cold to have the cheese mix in well, so I would just take that whole part out and add the cheese on the top over everything at the end. I would also next time use Parmesan cheese not Romano.

But all that said, the flavors were there, the lemon, asparagus, seared scallops, it was yummy and I can't wait to redo it and make the dish really a winner. Ben took the leftovers to work today for lunch so...it was good enough to keep and eat again, just not as fabulous as we thought.


The night was not ruined because this is what we love, to cook, eat and be together, it's fun to be in the kitchen, mixing, stirring and pouring. I boss Ben around, his dinner gets cold while I try and take a million pictures and for us, this works.

Shrimp, Chicken and Tofu Stir Fry

Happy New Year everyone! I hope you all are enjoying the new year so far. I know that many people have made New Years Resolutions that include getting healthier, working out more and being overall happier with yourself. Ben and I are part of this group that made these resolutions and we've both stuck to it for the past 6 days. :)

The past few nights for dinner I've been experimenting with an Asian vegetable mix, and tonight Ben and I added Shrimp, Chicken and Tofu to the mix. It turned out really good. I accomplished making two new things (Shrimp and Tofu) and succeed in part of my resolution to try and eat more balanced, healthy meals. On my own I tend to not eat enough protein so experimenting with Tofu and Shrimp tonight was very exciting. I did try the shrimp, however I have to say it is not on my list of seafood that I like. Ben ended up eating 5 and 3/4 of the 6 shrimp we cooked.


Ben and I agreed that it was a great meal, easy, super fast and great for you. I'm not sure anyone would be looking for anything different in the New Year.


Shrimp, Chicken and Tofu Stir Fry

1 boneless skinless chicken breast
6 large shrimp, peeled and devained
1/4 block extra firm tofu
1/2 tsp chopped fresh ginger
6 Tbsp low sodium Soy sauce
1 tsp hot sesame oil
3 cups Oriental Style frozen vegetables*
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
salt
pepper
rice noodles (we followed the packaging and made about 2.5 servings at 150 calories per serving)

*French green beans, onions, broccoli, and mushroom mix.

Slice the raw chicken breast into bite size pieces. I cut the chicken on an angle so that the slices were thin and would cook as fast as the shrimp. Add the chicken and shrimp to a bowl with 3 Tbsp Soy sauce, 1/2 tsp hot sesame oil and the ginger. Let marinate for anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour (or more if you have the time.) Slice the tofu into whatever size pieces you want to use and set aside.


Cook the rice noodles according to the package. While the noodles are cooking place the vegetables in a sautee pan, and let cook until warmed through (about 5 minutes) add the shrimp, chicken, tofu and marinate mixture to the pan. This will all cook very quickly, you will only need to make sure that the chicken is no longer pink and the shrimp is just turning white and pink. Add the rest of the soy, oil and the spices. Stir to combine.


Drain the rice noodles and spoon the vegetables mixture on top and pour any extra liquid over everything. This made two servings perfectly. Eat and enjoy, we did!

Thai Fish and Noodle Soup

Tuesday night dinners with Ben has become a bit of a substitute for Ben's Poker night with the boys, and I love it (saves him money and gets me a yummy dinner.) I usually look around blogs and Cooking Light to find a recipe that looks good to us. For some reason I've been trying to make a lot of fish on these Tuesday dinners. I saw Thai Fish and Noodle Soup and instantly sent the link to Ben. He was very excited about it and said "yummmm." That was it, we were making Thai Fish and Noodle Soup. I thought the recipe would be so good because it had all the flavors that Ben and I love but instead of a Spanish or Mexican flavoring it was Thai influenced. We love jalapenos, spinach, lime, asparagus and rice. This soup had all that and more.


But...there was something missing. Ben said he wanted a sauce on the noodles which I kind of agreed with, there was not a lot of soup in this soup and since it is made with water it's really thin with not a lot of flavor. It needed that little extra punch of something, I'm not sure what. But it was good for what it was and very filling. I don't know if I would make it again...I want to be clear it was good, just not great it just needed something more to make it great.

Thai Fish and Noodle Soup

1/4 lbs uncooked pad thai rice noodles
4 cups water
3 tbsp fresh lime juice
2 tbsp diced jalapeno
2 tbsp thin sliced lemon grass
2 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsp minced fresh ginger
1/2 tsp salt
6 cups sliced mushrooms
2 cups julienne red pepper
1 cup asparagus cut into 1 inch slices
1 cup julienne carrot
4 (4 oz) fillets halibut (we used cod since halibut is out of season)
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
10 cups chopped spinach
1 1/2 cups thin sliced green onions
1/4 cup chopped cilantro

Preheat your broiler and prep you fish, wash and dry the fish spray your pan with Pam and then place the fish on the pan and coat with 1/8 tsps of salt and pepper.

Place the noodles in a bowl and cover with warm water for 3 minutes and drain.

Meanwhile in a medium sauce pan heat the water through the salt in the above ingredients and bring to a boil. Add in the noodles, mushrooms, red pepper, asparagus and carrot, bring back to a boil then let simmer for 7 minutes.

Put the fish in the oven to cook, will take 6 to 7 minutes depending on thickness of fish, it will turn white and flake easily when cooked through.

Stir in spinach, green onion and cilantro into soup, let cook for a minute until the spinach wilts. Ladle and serve one fillet over a cup of soup.


This will make 4 servings (2 cups of soup and 1 fillet per serving.) Ben and I halved the recipe so that it would be enough for just the two of us. We could not finish the soup. There was a lot and the whole dinner was very filling.

We followed the cooking light recipe, we usually make some changes and we did have to use a different kind of fish but for the most part since we are not familiar with Thai cooking and did not want to make changes that would hurt the flavors in the recipe.

Cooking light had the nutrition facts as 338 calories, 4 grams of fat and 32.7 grams of protein. So a great meal all around. I served the soup with a few rolls (I know they're not Thai inspired but there was nothing in whole foods that I thought would work to keep in the Thai theme.) Both Ben and I like to dip our bread in the soup.

This meal defiantly warmed our bellies on a cold Tuesday night.

Spaghetti with an Heirloom Tomato Sauce

Last night Ben and I decided that we wanted to go out for dinner, a date night on a weeknight. It would be fun, and we don't do it very often. Some unforeseen things happened so we then decided it would be just as fun, healthier and cheaper to just make something. My mom bought me great tomatoes the other day, they were mini heirloom, yellows, reds, even purple tomatoes. We decided to make a simple tomato sauce and some spaghetti.


It turned out just as good as in a restaurant, and it took about 20 minutes total to make. Ben and I were both part of the club last night, that is, the clean plate club.

Heirloom Tomato Sauce
1/2 tbs olive oil
1 small yellow onion (finely chopped)
1 pint mini heirloom tomatoes
1 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
4 fresh basil leaves

1/2 lbs spaghetti
shaved Parmesan cheese to taste

In a pan over medium high heat sautee the onion in the oil until translucent, add in all of the herbs except the basil. While the onions are cooking down start heating the water for the spaghetti and half all of the tomatoes. Once the onions are translucent add the tomatoes and reduce the heat to medium. Stir once in while. Tomatoes should start breaking down about after about 10 minutes in the pan. You don't want them to end up completely mushy, just until they start loosing their shape.


Place 1/2 lbs dried spaghetti into water once it has come to a boil, add salt to water, 1/2 tbs or so. Once spaghetti is cooked according to the package instructions, drain.


Tear the basil leaves right into the sauce, you want to do this right before adding the spaghetti into the sauce so that the leaves don't wilt, and loose that great basil flavor.


Toss spaghetti in with the sauce for about 30 seconds, so that the pasta starts to absorb the flavors of the sauce, plate and garnish with as much or as little Parmesan cheese as you like.


I absolutely loved the ease, and taste of this meal. It tasted like the sauce took hours to make, and it wasn't one of those heavy sauces that makes you feel like you gained 10 lbs after the meal. It was just so good. I asked Ben if we could make this once a week from now on.

Fettuccine with Chicken, Lemon Asparagus & Sun-dried Tomatoes

This morning I took out chicken from the freeze to defrost, which means I'm making something with chicken in it for dinner. I asked Ben what he wanted and he said Lemon Asparagus. Lemon Asparagus by the way is one of Ben's favorite dishes. He almost ate all of them before they made it in to this dish. So I was thinking what can I make with chicken and lemon asparagus, hmm well we could just grill up some chicken, but that seemed boring. So I came up with this almost gourmet chicken pasta dish.



Fettuccine with Chicken, Lemon Asparagus & Sun-dried Tomatoes

1/2 box of Fettuccine Pasta
Lemon Asparagus
2 chicken breasts
Pam or oil to coat
salt
pepper
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 cup white wine
7 sun-dried tomatoes, sliced into strips
Parmesan cheese (optional)

Place a medium pot of water on to boil. While waiting for the water to come up, sautee chicken in a pan with a little bit of oil or Pam to coat the bottom . We cut our chicken into bite size pieces so that they would cook faster and would be the right size for eating, cook over medium to high heat. Dust chicken with salt, pepper and red pepper flakes, make sure to go light with the salt especially because sun dried tomatoes are very salty and you don't want to go over board with the salt in the end. Brown on both sides and continue until almost cooked all the way through. Add in 1/4 cup of white wine to get any chicken pieces that have stuck to the bottom of the pan up, and create a bit of a sauce.

Cook pasta according to the directions on the package.

Add one recipe of lemon asparagus to the chicken, white wine mixture. I also cut these bite size, if everything in the end is about the same size it much easier to eat. Since these are already cooked, you just want to toss them in while the chicken is finishing up to meld the favors together. Let simmer until chicken is fully cooked and wine has reduced. Drain pasta and add it to the chicken asparagus mixture, you want to let the pasta absorb some of the flavors from the chicken, asparagus, lemon and wine. Finally add in chopped sun dried tomatoes and just toss to mix everything together.


Serve with Parmesan cheese on top if you like, and enjoy.

This is a light but hearty meal that is pretty easy and healthy. You cannot go wrong with it. Use whatever veggies you have on hand to switch up this meal and reinvent it over again. I think it was more stratifying than the typical "chicken, broccoli and ziti" meal that you find at any restaurant. Without the cream sauce it makes this meal a lot healthier and a bit more interesting with the asparagus and sun-dried tomatoes than boring old broccoli.