Tilapia Pasta

From: Better Homes and Gardens magazine

Ingredients:
8 oz dried linguine
12 oz fresh or frzoen tilapia fillets, thawed if frozen
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 fennel bulb, trimmed, cored and chopped
6 cloves garlic, minded
1 Tbsp capers
1 tsp dried Italian seasoning
1 14-oz can diced tomatoes (undrained)
1 8-oz can tomato sauce
1 Tbsp snipped fresh Italian parsley

Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain, reserving 1/4 cup cooking water. Set pasta and water aside.

Season fish with 1/8 tsp salt and pepper. In a large skillet heat one tablespoon oil over medium-high heat. Add tilapia, cook about 6 minutes or until fish flakes easily with a fork. Remove; set aside.

Add remaining oil to skillet. Add onion and fennel. Cook and stir 5 minutes or until tender. Stir in garlic, capers, and Italian seasoning; cook and stir 1 minute more. Stir in undrained tomatoes, tomato sauce and reserved pasta water. Bring to boiling. Boil gently, uncovered, 8 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat.

Stir in pasta and fish, breaking up fish slightly. Sprinkle with parsley.

Verdict:
Thumbs up! I actually love tilapia because it doesn't have that "fishy" flavor that so many fish have. I also love pasta and pasta sauce, so I knew this was going to be a winner. I left out the fennel and capers and it still had a great flavor.

Tagliarini with Garlic Sauce

From: Sunset Pasta cook book

Ingredients:
8 oz tagliarini
2 large tomatoes or 1 can (1 lb) Italian-style tomatoes
1/4 cup water
1 tsp dry basil
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper and crushed red pepper
1/3 cup olive oil
6 large cloves garlic, minced or pressed

Peel, seed, and coarsely chop tomatoes. If using canned tomatoes, break up with a spoon. In a bowl, combine tomatoes, water (omit if using canned tomatoes), basil, salt, black pepper, and red pepper; reserve.

Place olive oil and garlic in a 1-quart pan. Cook, stirring occasionally, over medium-low heat until oil bubbles gently and garlic is a light gold. Add tomato mixture to pan and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes.

Cook noodles in a large kettle of boiling salted water until al dente. Drain noodles, then place in a serving bowl. Pour sauce over noodles, toss gently, then serve. Pass Parmesan cheese at the table.

Verdict:
Well, I enjoyed this, but it definitely is not my favorite sauce recipe. I never thought I would say there is too much garlic in a recipe, but I thought that about this recipe! I also don't like the amount of oil that was added. If I were going to make this again I would put half as much olive oil, and 3-4 cloves of garlic instead of 6. I really do think that would make a huge difference in the flavor of this pasta. It was just a little too tangy for me!

Tuscan Pasta with Tomato-Basil Cream

From: Here

Ingredients:
1 20-oz pkg refrigerated 4-cheese ravioli (or tortellini)
1 16-oz jar sun-dried tomato Alfredo sauce
2 Tbsp white wine
2 medium-size fresh tomatoes, chopped
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Prepare pasta according to package directions.

Meanwhile, pour Alfredo sauce into a medium saucepan. Pour wine into sauce jar; cover tightly, and shake well. Stir wine mixture into saucepan. Stir in chopped tomatoes and 1/2 cup chopped basil, and cook over medium-low heat 5 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Toss with pasta, and top evenly with 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese.

Verdict:
Thumbs up! Okay, this is NOT a pretty picture - I do realize that. I remembered when the stuff was half gone that I was supposed to take a picture!! I did make some changes to the recipe. I absolutely could not find sun-dried tomato Alfredo sauce (they said they used Classico) so instead I substituted Bertolli's vodka sauce. I didn't have any white wine so I needed to substitute that. I wondered about white wine vinegar but thought it might disagree with the sauce?? Anyway, I ended up adding a little vodka to the sauce jar, shaking it, and stirring that mixture in. I'm not really sure what the point of that step in the recipe is, actually. I used canned tomatoes instead of fresh (gasp!) and I did use some dried basil. When I got to my mom's house for lunch, we went straight out to the garden and cut some fresh basil though, so that was delicious. I would definitely recommend this recipe. If I can find the sun-dried Alfredo I would absolutely try that because I'm sure it would be awesome.

I am posting this on Mommin' It Up's Pin for the Wednesdays!

Super Simple Spaghetti Sauce

From: An old recipe newsletter I used to receive by email

Ingredients:
1 lb hamburger
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 clove of garlic, minced
1/4 tsp of grated sea salt
1 tsp of sugar
2 tsp Italian spice blend
2 15 oz cans diced tomatoes or 4 cups of fresh tomatoes chopped
1 6 oz can tomato paste
1 cup water or red wine
1 10 oz package spaghetti, cooked

In a soup pot or large saute pan add the oil, hamburger and onion on medium heat. Brown the burger and cook the onion. Break meat into bite-size chunks as it cooks. After meat is cooked add the garlic and stir. Add the salt, sugar, spices, tomatoes and tomato paste with one cup of water or wine. Heat until boiling and then turn it down to a simmer. Cook for about 45 minutes to an hour, stirring occasionally to make sure sauce isn't sticking to the pan. If the sauce is getting too thick for your taste you can add some more water. When ready to serve, drain the cooked spaghetti. Put the noodles on a plate and top with sauce.

What I did differently from the recipe:
I felt like the sauce was good, but not enough flavor, so as it simmered I added more sugar (probably put closer to a tablespoon of sugar in there by the end), and I also added a bit more sea salt, some basil, some oregano and a bay leaf. I used tomatoes that I had canned last year which I think was close to 4 cups but I'm not sure.

What I'll do differently next time:
Not sure.

Verdict:
Thumbs up! Oh, this was delicious! I do feel like there is something else I could do to add more spice to this recipe but I'm not sure what. I would be perfectly content eating this again as is, but if I could get more of "something" to this sauce it would just add icing to the cake, so to speak! Any thoughts??

Homemade Spaghetti Sauce

I am coming to the end of my 101 in 1001 list, which are 101 goals I am trying to complete in my personal life. One of my goals was to make homemade spaghetti sauce. You would think I could have crossed this off much sooner than now but it was actually harder than I thought. For one thing, my husband doesn't like spaghetti sauce. So when I make spaghetti, we just eat it with butter and Parmesan cheese. I know, gourmet. Also, I had a TON of great spaghetti sauce recipes that technically were homemade but they weren't created by me, and that was really what I wanted to do. So I took a day last week and tested my own recipe.

Ingredients:
8 oz tomato sauce
14.5 oz whole peeled tomatoes
1 tomato
14.5 oz diced tomatoes (fire roasted with garlic)
oregano
basil
garlic powder
sugar
Italian seasoning
mushrooms
chopped onions
1 lb ground beef/venison/turkey

I put it all in the crockpot and cooked it for about 8 hours. Then I had a salad made with ingredients from the food co-op we joined and free garlic bread from Super Doubles at Harris Teeter! Yums!

Verdict:
Neutral. I liked this recipe, but for all the tomato that's in it I still think it needs just a little more sauce. I froze what I didn't use and when I thaw it I'm going to add another 8 oz can of sauce to make it a little more tomato-y. As for the seasonings, I pretty much just cupped my hand poured in about a tablespoon of each seasoning. It was very precise.

Has anyone else made homemade spaghetti sauce? And did it turn out delicious? And should I try your recipe??

Speedy Ravioli Bake

Easiest pasta you'll ever make!!

Ingredients:
2 9-oz packages of cheese-filled ravioli
1 26 oz jar of chunky tomato pasta sauce
1 tsp dried basil leaves
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Heat oven to 400 degrees. In a large saucepan cook the ravioli as directed on package. Drain and set aside.

In the same saucepan, mix the pasta sauce and basil. Cook over medium heat 5 minutes, stirring, until heated. Stir in cooked ravioli. Or if you're like me, after you drain the ravioli, just don't move it out of the saucepan and dump the sauce and basil right on in there. Saves a step.

Pour into an ungreased 13x9 baking dish. Sprinkle cheese over the top.

Bake uncovered around 10 minutes or until it's bubbly and the cheese has melted.

What I did differently from the recipe:
I guesstimated on the amount of ravioli, basil, and cheese. I think I did more ravioli than the recipe called for, but they were small, unlike the picture in the cookbook. I probably did more cheese, because I'm a cheese fanatic.

What I'll do differently next time:
Nothing - I'll do it exactly this way the next time I make it.

Verdict:
Thumbs up!! Between four of us, this pasta was eaten almost entirely in one sitting. And truthfully, I would have finished it off except my sister had her baby that day and I wanted to get to the hospital! This is one of the easiest recipes I've ever done. And so good!