This tasty little recipe was originally for meatballs but somehow I could rarely find enough time to make them. So I tweaked it a lot and here is the super tasty result!
4 sprigs of fresh Rosemary
2 tsp Dijon Mustard
1 lb Ground Beef
1 Tbs dried Oregano
Sea Salt and Black Pepper
Olive Oil
Fresh Basil
1 Onion
2 cloves Garlic
2 cans of diced Tomatoes
2 Tbs Balsamic Vinegar
Spaghetti
Parmesan Cheese to sprinkle on top
1. Pick the Rosemary leaves and finely chop them (I mean really finely, they will blend right in with the meat and your kids wont even notice them, The Bug loves this recipe and she wont eat anything with visible spices on it without much whining and face making:) Mix together Rosemary, Mustard, Ground Beef, and Oregano. Add a good pinch of the Salt and Pepper.
2. Pick the Basil leaves, chop the Onion and Garlic.
3. Start the noodles!
4. Saute the Onion in the Oil, after 5 or so minutes add the Ground Beef mixture with the Garlic. Cook for 10 or so minutes then add Basil, Tomatoes, and Balsamic Vinegar. Bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer until noodles are ready. Enjoy!
Monday, March 14, 2011
Menu Plan for 3/14/11
Its that time of the week again, check out all the great menu plans over at I'm an Organizing Junkie!
Menu Plan
Chicken Mulligatawny Stew (didn't make it last week)
Baked Radiatore with Chicken and Fontina serve with Broccoli
Rosemary Spaghetti serve with Salad and Green Beans
Surf & Turf serve with Peas and Sweet Potato Fries
Chicken Fried Rice serve with Asian Salad and Asian Mixed Veggies
Dinner with Grandparents
Turmeric-Yogurt Chicken with Tomatoes serve with Rice, Mangoes and Peas
Saturday, March 12, 2011
A New Year a New Trellis
I wish I had photos of the tomato plants from last summer. Though they never produced much fruit they managed to grow quite large and eventually pulled over 2 of the 3 cadges I had used. Thus I decided to install a new trellis system for all the wonderful trellising plants I plan to grow this year. I had a budget of $20.00 for this project and would have needed more had I not had screws, a laundry line and an extra piece of stabilizing wood on hand.
Behold the efforts of The Bug, myself and mostly my dad's handiwork!
For anyone interested, you could totally tackle this project with basic do it yourself skills, a drill, and a hammer. I found this design here, and you can see from the photos where the laundry line comes into play once there are plants :) We added a horizontal support which runs from the top of the trellis to the green fence that you can't see in this photo because of the angle. This was an afterthought as dad mentioned that it was strong enough we could hang the kids from the trellis and of course The Bug decided she wanted to try. Through rigorous kid testing we found that while surely stable enough for tomatoes it had a little more play than I was comfortable with for playground equipment so we thought up this solution. The ladder was out because we were pruning back the trees near the garden, going up and down the ladder was definitely The Bug's favorite part of the day.
Even if the plants aren't spectacular this year I will have a stylish trellis to talk about!
Behold the efforts of The Bug, myself and mostly my dad's handiwork!
For anyone interested, you could totally tackle this project with basic do it yourself skills, a drill, and a hammer. I found this design here, and you can see from the photos where the laundry line comes into play once there are plants :) We added a horizontal support which runs from the top of the trellis to the green fence that you can't see in this photo because of the angle. This was an afterthought as dad mentioned that it was strong enough we could hang the kids from the trellis and of course The Bug decided she wanted to try. Through rigorous kid testing we found that while surely stable enough for tomatoes it had a little more play than I was comfortable with for playground equipment so we thought up this solution. The ladder was out because we were pruning back the trees near the garden, going up and down the ladder was definitely The Bug's favorite part of the day.
Even if the plants aren't spectacular this year I will have a stylish trellis to talk about!
Monday, March 7, 2011
Balsamic Chicken with Feta Cheese
This is a super quick chicken entree to prepare, you just have to remember to put it in to marinate at lunch time!
Chicken Breasts
Balsamic Vinaigrette
2 Tbs Balsamic Vinegar
Basil
Oregano
2 Tomatoes sliced
Salt and Pepper
Feta Cheese
1. Marinate the Chicken in some Balsamic Vinaigrette for 2-3 hours. Then remove Chicken and discard marinade.
2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
3. Place Chicken in baking dish and drizzle with Balsamic Vinegar. Sprinkle with Herbs, Salt and Pepper generously.
4. Bake for approximately 15 minutes or unlit cooked through.
5. Remove from oven, top Chicken with Tomatoes (I like to Salt and Pepper my Tomatoes and this point) and Feta. Broil for approximately 5 minutes or until the Cheese is lightly browned.
Homemade Pizza
This delicious Homemade Pizza Recipe is super easy and yummy, what could be better?
Homemade Pizza
1 1/4 cups very warm Water (not too hot or you will kill the Yeast!)
2 1/2 tsp SAF Instant Yeast
1 Tbs sugar
1 1/2 Tbs Oil
1/2 tsp Salt
3 cups Flour
1/2 pint Cherry Tomatoes
a few sprigs of Basil
1 clove Garlic
splash of Red Wine Vinegar
pinch of Salt
drizzle of Olive Oil
Top with whatever you like!
1. Put all the Tomato Sauce ingredients in a food processor, I use a small Cuisinart, and whiz together.
1. Pour Water in mixing bowl and sprinkle Yeast on top. Allow the Yeast to dissolve.
2. Add Sugar and watch for the bubbling as the Yeast consumes the Sugar, this may take a couple of minutes.
3. Add Salt and Oil. Gradually mix in Flour.
4. Place dough on baking sheet, I have a round pizza pan that I use. Allow dough to rise a bit, maybe 10-15 minutes. Then cook for 5-10 minutes.
5. Remove mostly cooked pizza from oven and cover with Tomato Sauce, Mozzarella Cheese, Parmesan Cheese, and whatever toppings you like. We use Pepperoni, Olives and Basil. Return pizza to oven for 5 minutes or so to cook the toppings, yum!
Homemade Pizza
1 1/4 cups very warm Water (not too hot or you will kill the Yeast!)
2 1/2 tsp SAF Instant Yeast
1 Tbs sugar
1 1/2 Tbs Oil
1/2 tsp Salt
3 cups Flour
1/2 pint Cherry Tomatoes
a few sprigs of Basil
1 clove Garlic
splash of Red Wine Vinegar
pinch of Salt
drizzle of Olive Oil
Top with whatever you like!
1. Put all the Tomato Sauce ingredients in a food processor, I use a small Cuisinart, and whiz together.
1. Pour Water in mixing bowl and sprinkle Yeast on top. Allow the Yeast to dissolve.
2. Add Sugar and watch for the bubbling as the Yeast consumes the Sugar, this may take a couple of minutes.
3. Add Salt and Oil. Gradually mix in Flour.
4. Place dough on baking sheet, I have a round pizza pan that I use. Allow dough to rise a bit, maybe 10-15 minutes. Then cook for 5-10 minutes.
5. Remove mostly cooked pizza from oven and cover with Tomato Sauce, Mozzarella Cheese, Parmesan Cheese, and whatever toppings you like. We use Pepperoni, Olives and Basil. Return pizza to oven for 5 minutes or so to cook the toppings, yum!
Menu Plan for 3/7/11
Check out all the great menu plans over at I'm an Organizing Junkie!
Menu Plan
Tuscan Bread Soup serve with EZ Wheat Bread
Church Dinner
Homemade Pizza serve with Green Beans
Chicken Mulligatawny
Chunky Ratatouille serve with Salad and EZ Wheat Bread
Dinner with Grandparents
Balsamic Chicken with Feta Cheese serve with Mixed Veggies
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Garden Stakes for Easter or Mother's Day
I love wandering around the garden in the late summer when we have family over for dinner. One of my mothers in law is a very successful gardener and she always ends up poking around my humble little patch. I wanted to make some fun garden stakes so that even if the plants turn out to be not much to look at again there will be something interesting to see and talk about.
I picked up a package of twelve stakes at the Home Depot for about $3.00. The paint and sealer was left over from another Mother's Day craft project two years ago. The Bug and I were able to paint all the stakes in about 30 minutes. The next step will be to write fun sayings on them like, "Grow Darn It!"with the Sharpies and then coat them with the sealer. The Bug really likes the green ones so I think that set might be ours. I plan on tying them together with some pretty white ribbon and a homemade by The Bug card.
EDIT***
Here is a photo of the finished stakes just in time for Easter! The stakes say "Grow Happy", "Eat Me", and "Dig Deep." The Bug wasn't interest in making 3 cards so we printed off Easter coloring pages and the kids colored them instead. Cute huh?
I picked up a package of twelve stakes at the Home Depot for about $3.00. The paint and sealer was left over from another Mother's Day craft project two years ago. The Bug and I were able to paint all the stakes in about 30 minutes. The next step will be to write fun sayings on them like, "Grow Darn It!"with the Sharpies and then coat them with the sealer. The Bug really likes the green ones so I think that set might be ours. I plan on tying them together with some pretty white ribbon and a homemade by The Bug card.
EDIT***
Here is a photo of the finished stakes just in time for Easter! The stakes say "Grow Happy", "Eat Me", and "Dig Deep." The Bug wasn't interest in making 3 cards so we printed off Easter coloring pages and the kids colored them instead. Cute huh?
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