Beef & Bow Tie Pasta

I have several “beef and pasta” recipes in my recipe binder (and even one by the same name as this blog’s title), but I decided to combine the idea behind several of them to come up with my own version of beef and pasta. Here it is…

Ingredients:

• 2 cups bow tie pasta (a.k.a. farfalle), cooked
• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 Tbsp EVOO
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup chopped crimini mushrooms
• 2 cups any brand of Traditional Pasta Sauce
• 2 Tbsp Italian Seasoning (or a mix of basil, oregano, and thyme), optional
• Parmesan cheese
• Parsley (dried or fresh, chopped)

Directions:

Season the ground beef with salt and pepper and cook in a large skillet over medium heat for about 8-10 minutes, until well browned. Drain off any excess fat. Stir in olive oil, garlic, and mushrooms, stirring occasionally. Cook for about 5 minutes. Finally, stir in pasta sauce and additional Italian seasoning, and cook for a couple more minutes.

Remove from heat. Stir farfalle into beef mixture, mixing well. Grate fresh Parmesan cheese on top before serving.

Creamy Chicken & Noodles

Another Campbell’s Kitchen recipe (campbellskitchen.com), this really is a quick and easy meal! It’s very creamy and delicious, and I added freshly grated Parmesan cheese to give it a “wow” factor.

[Side Note: I had a bit of an accident while preparing this dish. Let's just say me and the grater had a bit of an argument; the grater won, and I have the scar now to prove it. Just a reminder to myself and to YOU that safety should always be a priority in the kitchen!]

Start with two large boneless, skinless chicken breasts, and cut them up into small “cubes.” Cook the chicken in a skillet over medium-high heat. (I melted a tablespoon of butter in the skillet before adding the chicken and added salt and pepper.)

Also cook 3 cups of medium egg noodles and drain.

Heat the cooked chicken and eggs noodles along with the following in a large saucepan:

• 1 can Campbell’s Cream of Chicken and Mushroom Soup (or just use their Cream of Chicken Soup, sans mushrooms)
• 1/2 cup milk
• 5 grinds of fresh black pepper
• 1/3 cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese

Continue heating until hot and bubbling, stirring occasionally. Serve with parsley and grated Parmesan cheese on top.

Date Night...at Home

Friday nights are “officially” our Date Nights. That doesn’t always mean we have to go out and spend lots of money on a nice dinner. Sometimes we decide to stay home and have a rather inexpensive one. 

But cheap doesn’t mean tasteless. 

Here’s a tasty steak dinner you can make for a fraction of the price it’d cost you at any steak restaurant in town…and it’s for TWO!

Start with two good-sized sirloin steaks and the following (for marinating):

• 4 cloves garlic – 2 chopped, 2 whole and peeled
• 1 large sprig of rosemary, chopped (or used dried rosemary, about 2 tsp)
• EVOO

Cover bottom of plate/dish with olive oil. Place steaks in dish and salt and pepper both sides, coating them in the olive oil. Sprinkle chopped garlic and rosemary on top of and around steaks. Place whole garlic in dish next to steaks. Cover and refrigerate.

After a couple hours of marinating, get the grill (or cast iron grill pan, stovetop style) nice and hot. Sear steaks for about 6 minutes on each side (only turn ‘em once)—this gave me a nice medium-rare temp inside with a crisp outer sear. (If using pan on stovetop, place the whole cloves of garlic in the pan while steaks are cooking.)

For one of the side dishes, I prepared Onion-Roasted Potatoes. I found this handy-dandy recipe on the back of the Lipton’s Onion Soup Mix box! Here’s how I made it to serve two:

• 1 envelope Lipton’s Onion Soup Mix
• 2 small-to-medium potatoes, cut into bite-sized chunks
• ¼ cup vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 425°. In a large roasting pan, combine all ingredients. Bake for 35-40 minutes, stirring frequently. Potatoes will be nicely golden when done.

 For the other side, I made sweet glazed carrots. Here’s a quick recipe for two:

• 1 Tbsp brown sugar, packed
• 1 Tbsp butter
• 1 cup crinkle-cut frozen carrots

Combine brown sugar, butter, carrots, and just enough water to cover the carrots in a medium sauce pot. Place over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil and continue cooking for 7 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to serve; use remaining liquid to pour over carrots if desired.

Balsamic Glazed Salmon

Here’s a recipe I borrowed from campbellskitchen.com (search for same name as blog title). You’ll see their recipe as prepared serves eight; I had three salmon fillets, and I reduced the other ingredients’ measurements by half to make the glaze.

Follow the Campbell’s Kitchen recipe and all should be fine. However, I will use more cornstarch next time I prepare this; the glaze was a little too runny.

If you’re like me, you don’t like that scaly skin on the salmon while you’re eating it. So here’s an easy way to fix that—DON’T grease the baking dish before you put the salmon in it. Yes, I just said that. And here’s why…when you use the spatula to remove the salmon from the baking dish, slide it just underneath the fish but on top of the skin. This way, the skin sticks to the dish, and your salmon comes away nice and skinless.

I served the salmon on a bed of wild rice with a couple of twisted orange slices.

Tilapia with Oven Roasted Tomatoes

The tilapia is so easy to make. Although I didn’t follow a certain recipe, you can add basically anything you want to get the most bang-for-your-buck outta this fish. I actually prepared this earlier in the day so, once I arrived home from work, all I have to do is pop it in the oven.

The tilapia is baked at 350° for about 15 minutes. I seasoned these fillets with garlic, olive oil, and parsley.

 

It’s the roasted tomatoes that are the star, here, though. And here’s how you can make them:

• 2 Roma tomatoes, cut in half from top to bottom
• 4 cloves of garlic (unpeeled)
• EVOO
• basil
• pepper

Preheat oven to 400°. Coat a small baking dish with olive oil. Place the tomatoes in the dish, face up. Place the garlic cloves around the tomatoes. Add basil generously then add pepper to taste. Drizzle with more olive oil. Bake for 40 minutes.