This is not my mother's spaghetti.

When my mother would make spaghetti it meant ground beef and canned tomatoes simmering for hours with a bay leaf.  And it goes without saying that it was served on top of plain old white flour noodles.  I must say it was never my favorite meal.  But now I'm in charge and it's a different story.

Here we have whole wheat angle hair pasta (with Jerusalem artichoke flour, which is high in potassium, iron, fiber, niacin, thiamine, phosphorus and copper or so says wikipedia).  On top I start with a lovely sauce from Muir Glen (tomato basil).  To that I have added yellow and red onion (both, only because I had half of each in the fridge), red bell pepper, kale, and zucchini; all from my local farmer's market.

I chop up all of my vegetables and lightly saute them in some extra virgin olive oil, then add the sauce and heat until warm.  I try to cook the veggies for as short a time as possible to keep those valuable nutrients intact. 

Here's a little tip: after you dump out the sauce there is always a good amount clinging to the jar.  Pour in some balsamic vinegar, juice, or wine, put the lid back on and give it a good shake.  Dump the resulting mixture in with rest of the sauce.  Voila.  You get your moneys worth out of that jar of sauce.  And less to clean out of the jar before putting it in the recycling.

I always keep pasta and a jar of sauce on hand and there is always some vegetable or other around that I can throw in to make a delicious and nutritious dinner.

I can eat pasta without feeling guilty if it is whole wheat and I have more veggies than noodles.

Savory Muffins and a Ruined Picnic

We love to listen to The Splendid Table on the way home from church on Sunday afternoons.  Of course they are always talking about some really delicious thing that we do not have in the house as we drive toward our lunch of frozen fish sticks and peas.  Don't get me wrong, I really do enjoy my guilty pleasure of Mrs. Pauls (whole fillet not minced, as the commercial says) fish sticks with ketchup (organic, no high fructose corn) and Tabasco as well as the frozen store brand peas.  Any who... This past Sunday someone called about some kind of savory muffin that they had enjoyed in Australia and their quest to either find it or make it here in the good ole U.S. of A.
This got me thinking about how delicious a savory muffin could be and I wanted to give it a try.  So here it is.

Savory Sun-dried tomato and Kalamata Olive Muffin with Mozzarella Cheese

1 1/4 cups fresh ground soft wheat flour
1/4 cup flax meal
1 tsp baking soda
1/3 tsp sea salt
2 cage free or free range eggs
4 1/2 tbs Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 tbs honey
1 cup milk
1 1/2 tbs Kalamata Olive tepanade or chopped olives
1/4 cup Sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped
1 tsp fresh thyme
shredded mozzarella Cheese, enough to top muffins
Combine all dry ingredients in one bowl.  Beat eggs.  Add remainder of wet ingredients (evoo, honey, milk).  Mix wet and dry ingredients and fold in remainder of ingredients, except cheese.  Pour into oiled muffin pan.  I made nine nice sized muffins or you could make more smaller.  Top with cheese.  Bake on 375 for 20 minutes.
Prep time: about 2 1/2 hours but only if you are chasing after a potty learning 17 month old while trying to bake.  For others it should only take about 20 minutes.

We included these muffins in our picnic today along with carrots, red bell pepper, balsamic vinaigrette for dipping, an avocado, dried cranberries (apple juice sweetened), sardines for the husband, a banana, fruit leather, and fiddlesticks.  As we sat atop our tapestry, that a friend brought us back from India, our picnic came to a sad end when we were asked to move so that they could spray the grass with chemicals, pesticide or fertilizer I know not but either way a picnic downer.

Hot Cakes

I promised our Friday night dinner guests pancakes but that was before I knew that the air conditioner was going to stop doing its job to make our house hospitably cool.  But alas I stood over a hot stove and flapped some jacks anyway.  I got all of the cooking done before our guests arrived hoping that the kitchen would begin the cooling process.  It was still sweltering.  

Whats on the platter:  Sausage links are Shelton's Turkey Breakfast Sausage. 
Patties are Morning Star Farms Maple flavored Breakfast Sausage.
Pancakes:
1 1/2 cups fresh ground soft white wheat
1/2 cups oat groats ground into flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
2 free range eggs
1/4 cup light olive oil
1/4 cup local honey or white grape juice concentrate
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups organic milk
1-2 ripe bananas mashed
Combine all dry ingredients.  Beat eggs.  Beat in remainder of wet ingredients, except banana.  Combine wet and dry, mix well.  Fold in mashed banana.  Lightly coat large hot pan with light olive oil.  Pour, flip, repeat.
I use a 1/4 cup measuring cup to pour the batter out in equal amounts.  Serve with real maple syrup.
We also enjoyed a fruit salad of mango, papaya, and kiwi.
After chatting and sweating for a while we decided to make nice cold cherry-peach smoothies to cool off. 

Brunswick Stew: Raw

Last Night I attempted to make a raw version of an old favorite, Brunswick Stew.  The traditional recipe includes lots of pork and chicken which my raw version, of course, did not.  I started off with the Hickory Barbacue recipe from Ani's Raw food Essentials then added more whole tomatoes, onion and some chopped up raw okra (from farmer Joe).  I added some sunflower seeds and red bell pepper to mine where as my husband warmed his up and added some brown rice.  I am not going to give you the recipe for this one just yet because I would not describe it as a complete success and who wants a not so good recipe.  Next time I think that I will add some honey to sweeten up the sauce, less onion and garlic, some fresh corn and maybe some lemon juice.  Any other suggestions?

By the way, fresh okra makes good snacking.