Tuesday, January 11, 2011 - Vegetable Stir Fry

2 TB olive oil
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 small onion
1 red bell pepper
1 bunch broccoli florets
1 1/2 cups frozen whole kernel corn, defrosted
1 TB ground ginger

Saute the onion, bell pepper and broccoli in the olive oil and soy sauce until tender. Add the corn and continue to cook for about 3-5 minutes more. Sprinkle the mixture with ground ginger and stir.

Serve over brown rice.
*Other variations of this recipe add 2 zucchini, sliced and 1 small can of sliced water chestnuts.

Monday, January 10, 2011

Tonight dinner is on my own. The hubby and my oldest son went to a sports bar/restaurant to watch the BCS Championships and my youngest son requested a snack of pop tarts when he got home from school. He then requested a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with a glass of milk later in the evening.

Dinner for me was simple but very tasty (and healthy). I grabbed a bag of frozen vegetable stew mix and put it in a pot with vegetable broth. I let it simmer for 35 minutes and ate it just like that. I have to tell you it was better than I thought. I even have some leftovers to go with a salad for lunch tomorrow. Yummy!!!!!

Sorry to be so boring the last few days but the boys' illnesses have really worn me out. Not to mention the fact that I think I may have caught some bug myself. :-(

Sunday, January 9, 2011

Today's dinner was a Teriyaki Pork Tenderloin and pasta. We bought a pre-seasoned pork tenderloin and rinsed it first (our last experience with one resulted in A LOT of teriyaki). We then placed it in a 400 degree oven for 45 minutes (if I remember correctly--it is literally based on the weight of the tenderloin).

I adjusted the Herbed Butter Penne recipe from three days ago to accommodate rotini pasta and spinach (rather than penne and broccoli). It was still just as good. :-)

January 8, 2011 - Fish, Sweet Potato Fries, mini-cheesecakes

Tonight the hubby cooked. I was updating my blog and catching up on the news of the Arizona shooting (please pray for the victims, their families, the suspect, the city, state and nation) when I noticed my husband moving pots and pans around in the kitchen. He told me he was cooking dinner so I continued to surf the web.

He made a delicious baked fish entree with a side of sweet potato fries and topped everything off with miniature cheesecakes. I told him to remember what he did so I could type up the recipes. I will post them as I get them but do know that everything was great!

Have a great night!

UPDATE: The mini-cheesecakes were amazing!!!!!!!!!

Soup, soup, soup 1/7/11

Tonight both of my boys came home under the weather. I think the oldest is suffering from a stomach virus, while the younger seems to have a simple head cold. Regardless of the sickness, it seemed like a perfect time for good ol' chicken noodle soup.

I really wanted to make the soup from scratch but didn't want to wait for the chicken to cook first (both boys were exhausted and wanted to go bed, so the food had to be ready quickly). I had one can of Campbell's Homestyle Chicken Noodle soup. That, clearly, would not be enough for everyone.

I placed this can of soup in a pot and added a can of water. My husband and I then decided to add 2.5 cups of chicken broth (I hope that measurement is accurate; we really eyed it rather than measured.) and the noodles from 2 packs of ramen noodles. We served this with a side of crackers. It was quite comforting and the boys were warm and full when they went to bed shortly afterward.

Herbed Butter Penne, 1/6/11

I found a very simple recipe from Epicurious.com but it called for angel hair pasta, which I didn't have in the pantry (crazy, I know!). I decided to use penne instead. I will notate this in the ingredients list by inserting brackets.

Angel Hair Pasta with Broccoli and Herb Butter
courtesy of Epicurious.com

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted European-style butter*, room temperature	2 TB chopped fresh basil
2 TB chopped fresh Italian parsley	1 garlic clove, minced
2 tsp olive oil	8 oz angel hair pasta [8 oz penne rigate pasta]
2 cups small broccoli florets	Grated Parmesan cheese (optional)

Mix first 4 ingredients in small bowl.

Bring large pot of salted water to boil. Add 2 teaspoons of olive oil. Add pasta and cook until almost tender, about 3 minutes. Add broccoli and boil until pasta is tender but still firm to bite and broccoli is crisp-tender, about 1 minute longer. Drain pasta and broccoli; transfer to large serving bowl. Add herb butter and toss well to coat. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve, passing Parmesan cheese separately if desired.

*My butter did not say European-style on it and we thought the dish was perfect as it was. I also cooked the pasta for an additional 8 minutes after adding the broccoli. I didn't feel as though 4 minutes of cooking time was adequate for this type of pasta.

Sandwich kind of night, 1/5/11

Tonight I was exhausted. Instead of cooking we decided to have sandwiches. Nothing exciting to report here.....

I expect that there will be quite a few posts like this throughout the year. :-)