Penne all’amatriciana

Time: 30 minutes

8 oz. penne pasta

4 oz. pancetta or good-quality bacon, cubed

1 cup chopped onion

1 tbsp minced garlic

1 large can diced tomatoes

1 tsp each kosher salt, freshly ground pepper, and red chile flakes

¼ grated Parmesan cheese

1. Cook pasta according to package directions; drain and set aside.
2. Cook pancetta in a large frying pan over medium-high heat until partly translucent. Spoon off most of the drippings/
3. Add onion and garlic; cook, stirring often, until browned.
4. Add remaining ingredients except Parmesan and cook over high heat until juices have reduced by half, about 10 minutes.
5. Add pasta, stir to coat, and transfer to a bowl. Sprinkle with Parmesan. 

Drunk Chicken - we ate this all the time when I was a kid!

¾ cup vin Rose

¼ cup soy sauce

¼ cup salad oil

2 tbsp water

¼ tsp oregano

1 tsp clove garlic (or 1/8 tsp powder)

1 tsp ginger

1 chicken, cut up

1. Salt and pepper chicken, pour sauce over.
2. Bake about 1 ½ hours in 350* oven, baste if necessary and start in a cold oven.
3. Serve with rice

Mexican Beef Stew - south of the border favorite!

2 pounds beef stew meat

¼ cup flour

1 teaspoon seasoned salt

¼ teaspoon black pepper

¼ cup oil

1 (14 ½ oz.) can beef broth

1 (14 ½ oz.) stewed tomatoes

2 (8 oz.) cans tomato sauce

1 crushed large garlic clove

1 teaspoon oregano leaves

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cumin

3 large carrots

2 ears corn

1 (15 oz.) can garbanzo beans and liquid

1. Combine flour, seasoned salt and pepper.
2. Coat meat with flour mixture. Brown in oil in Dutch oven.
3. Add beef broth, stewed tomatoes, tomato sauce. Garlic, oregano, salt and cumin.
4. Cut onion into 8 wedges and add to stew.
5. Heat to boiling
6. Reduce heat and boil gently 1 ½ hours or until meat is almost tender.
7. Cut carrots and corn into 1 inch pieces. Add carrots, corn and garbanzo beans to stew.
8. Boil gently covered 30 minutes or until meat and vegetables are tender.
9. Serve with warm flour tortillas.

Quick and easy Salmon with Lentils

Package of Trader Joe's cooked lentils  

Olive Oil - we use the spray bottle kind to keep it light on the oil 

2 cups chopped sweet Maui onions  - about one large onion 

2 cups well washed chopped leeks, white and light green parts only

1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves (if you don't have fresh 1/4 tsp dried works) 

1 teaspoons sea salt

Garlic salt 

¾ teaspoon or more if you love pepper  freshly ground pepper

1 tablespoon minced fresh garlic

1 ½ cups chopped celery

1 cup chopped carrots

2 tablespoons tomato paste

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

4 (8 oz.) salmon fillets. We love the frozen wild caught salmon from Costco. If you can get fresh that is awesome! 

1. Spray a pan with a bit of olive oil. Saute onions, leeks, thyme, garlic, celery, 1 tsp salt and carrots in a pan until cooked through.
2. Add lentils and cook until the lentils are warmed through. 
3. For the salmon, preheat the oven to 450*. Rub the fillets with olive oil, garlic salt and pepper and bake for 10 minutes. Or grill the salmon - we prefer to grill but we also live in a sunny place where you can grill year round! 
4. Serve with lentils.

My boys loved this dish and it's so easy!!! The lentils also are great for lunch the next day - if you have left overs. 

Pizza Margherita

1 12-inch pizza crust, prebaked

4 teaspoons olive oil

2 heaping cups grated mozzarella cheese

2 large tomatoes or 6 Italian plum tomatoes, sliced

¼ cup chopped fresh basil or 1 heaping tablespoon dried

1. Preheat oven to 425*
2. Brush prebaked pizza crust with olive oil and sprinkle with all but ¼ cup of the mozzarella
3. Place tomato slices over cheese; sprinkle over remaining mozzarella on top.
4. Sprinkle with basil over topping and bake pizza until nicely browned. 

BBQ Chicken Bowls

I was searching for something to feed the boys for dinner after football and came up with this quick dinner.

Cooked chicken tossed with a bit of BBQ sauce
Cooked brown rice
2 cups Cooked Corn (cut it off the cob or heat frozen corn)
1 can Black beans heated
BBQ Sauce
Green onion

We started with rice in the bottom of the bowl then added the chicken, corn, and black beans. You can add more BBQ sauce or hot sauce to give it more flavor and garnish with green onion. Yum. I had happy fed kids and husband.