True Confessions (and Baked Ravioli)

During this season of Lent, our family has been practicing confession of our sins, our shortcomings and frailties at the dinner table.  We have this wreath in the center of our table with a little dish of toothpicks.  We stick a "thorn in the crown" representing our sin.  We have done this during this pre-Easter season for the past few years.  It is so convicting and powerful.  [If you don’t know of this ritual and want to know more (and the beautiful conclusion)- read about it HERE].

My kids have really engaged with this practice.  They quickly grab for the toothpicks, ready to confess.  They are aware of their struggles and the ways they have lived out of a selfish place.  This humility and self awareness seems so important.  (We have had a lot to confess lately- as we've had some rough days). It has been a beautiful and convicting experience to have my children model conviction for me.

One of the most humbling parts of it this year has been the repetition of sin in my days.  As I ponder the day's words, thoughts and deeds, I find that I repeat the same sins over and over.  The other day, I followed my kids’ lead by grabbing a toothpick.  And then I just held onto it.  My daughter asked, “Are you going to share your sin?” I said, “I’m thinking.” She replied with some suggestions of sins from my previous week, (thank you very much) “What about self pity, judging, impatience?”  Yep. Those are the ones.  The ones that keep surfacing.

The silver lining of this disappointment is that it has made me sick of myself! I have thought, “NO MORE SELF PITY!! THIS IS GETTING OLD!” And it has prompted me to resist when the urge to “compare and despair” rises up in me.   I have been fighting the temptation to let my comparison lead me to judging myself or others. (My comparison typically tends to lead to one or the other.)

While I’m confessing, here’s another. (Not nearly as ugly.)  I am tired of dinner.  I am tired of dinner planning, of preparation, of dinner itself.  I wish that we could just make a peanut butter and banana sandwich, or have a salad, or open a can of tuna, or take some "dinner pill" and call it a night.  But I have people in my house that like a real meal for dinner.  Sigh.

I am grateful for the longer days of sunshine, as it helps with my motivation.  My friend Lindsey was telling me this week that last month she planned out the entire month of dinners for her household.  I'm so impressed.  She said she went ahead and bought all of the non-perishables for the month and then bought perishables each week.  I think this is brilliant (and ambitious) and I'm hoping that maybe she will just give me her month-of-menus and I won't even have to think! We like the same kinds of meals, so I would be happy to adopt her plans. 

If my daughters had it their way they would choose pasta every meal.  I really try to limit it to one dinner a week.  I felt like I needed to add another pasta dish to my repertoire.  I was trying to think of something easy but different and delicious to make.  I didn’t want to do a meaty lasagna- for the sake of cost and trouble and my meat-adverse people.  My family loves ravioli.  I found a recipe from Martha Stewart's EVERYDAY FOOD for Baked Ravioli.  It is so simple and is lasagna-like in that it has the pasta, cheesy and savory filled, with red sauce in between, but much less work. 

I followed her recipe, and even made the sauce she instructed to make.  It was so delicious.  I think next time, I confess, I might just make it with jars of good quality pasta sauce. The homemade sauce didn’t make that much of an impact.   Then the recipe would be even simpler!!  I also think I'll attempt to sauté some vegetables to layer into the dish- maybe zucchini and squash to incorporate some healthiness.

Baked Ravioli

(adapted from Martha Stewart’s EVERYDAY FOOD)

2 Tbsp olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

coarse salt and ground pepper

1 ½ tsp. dried oregano

1 tsp. basil

1 can (28 oz.) diced tomatoes

1 can (28 oz.) crushed tomatoes

2 (1 lb. bags) store-bought frozen cheese ravioli

2 cups shredded mozzarella

½ cup grated Parmesan cheese

 [OR if you are making it with bought sauce- omit first 8 ingredients and replace with 2 jars of pasta sauce. ]
And, if you are making for a smaller crowd, you could make it with one bag of ravioli and one jar of sauce and make it in a square baking dish.

Preheat oven to 425˚ degrees.  Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and garlic, and season with salt and pepper; cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 5 minutes.  Add spices.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer, breaking up tomatoes with a spoon, until sauce is thickened and reduced (about 20-25 minutes).  OR heat up 2 jars of quality pasta sauce.

Meanwhile, cook ravioli in a large pot of boiling water, salted.  Cook for just a few minutes- until pasta rises to the top of the pot.  Drain pasta.

Toss sauce with pasta.  Pour into a large baking dish (13 X 9).  Sprinkle with mozzarella and parmesan cheeses.  Bake for 20 minutes or until golden on top and bubbly.  Cool slightly before serving.

chop

simmer

boil for 3 minutes

pile in a dish

stir in sauce

top with cheeses and bake

Done!

I hope you are having a lovely beginning of spring, a meaningful season of Lent (if this is something you practice), and inspired dinners!

Chicken Bryan A.K.A. a party in your mouth

At the beginning of my blogging adventure, two years ago, I wrote about a tradition of ours called "The Celebration of Daves". It's a celebration meal honoring Dave Hunt and David Thomas – two incredible, food-loving men, prepared by their food-loving, food-preparing wives.  This tradition has stood the test of time.  (We think it's been about 14 years). The four of us (David, Connie, Dave and I) are all highly motivated to continue this sweet annual ritual. We love this tradition because it is food and friends, period. We don't get to spend much time together, especially as couples.  And we all love good food, so this dinner is one we cherish and anticipate all year long.

connie and me a decade ago
aproned and cooking for the
Celebration of Daves

(In addition, Connie and I love to work together in the kitchen and it's such a rare treat).  We most often hold this celebration in late July or early August.  However, this year, with schedules and an early start to school, we just finally had our dinner last week!


When Connie and I were on the phone discussing menu options, we were tired and stumped about what to make.  We decided to ask our honorees if they had any requests.  When I asked Dave, he said, "Oh, it doesn't matter!" and then, "What about Chicken Bryan?"  I said, "Oh that would be delicious and special, however, it requires grilling, which I fear will be tricky for us to pull off with all of the rest of the cooking inside without someone to monitor the grill."  (I wanted to protect him from managing the grill on his birthday celebration meal.)

That Yummy Vegetable Pasta Thing

I have to be honest.  There is no recipe for this dish.  There's not even a name for it.  It's that simple and that versatile, and hard to pin down.  It's really a matter of opinion, and available ingredients and feel. 

There seem to be people who really prefer written recipes.  They want a detailed recipe with measurements and exact baking times.  I get this.  I really like a recipe.  One time I asked my mom for a broccoli cheddar soup recipe and she handed me a page that had a collage of 3 different broccoli soup recipes taped to one sheet of paper! It overwhelmed me.  I needed ONE.  The perfect one, preferably.  To which she replied, "Well, really the one I make is more of a combination of  #1 and #2, and then when I don't have all of those ingredients, I use the #3 (and tweak it a little)!" Clearly, written recipes are sometimes the way to go.

And then there are some people who don't really use written recipes.  They just add a little of this and a pinch of that.  They might even feel like recipes are restricting!  They want freedom.  Because of this, they can't easily share recipes.  It's not that they are being selfish or mysterious, it's that they don't have a recipe written down.  They just "feel" their way through the recipe and it may change with each time they prepare the dish.  

In An Everlasting Meal, (which I mentioned a couple of weeks ago), the author Tamar Adler writes about using our senses to assist in cooking. She talks about using your sight, taste, touch, smell and hearing in the kitchen.  She writes,

"You must taste and taste.  Taste everything and often.  Taste even if you're scared...  

Listen as though you could cook something just by hearing it...

When you touch the food you cook, you develop intelligence in your fingertips.  I cook mostly with my hands:  they're calibrated, by now, to turn things at the right moments, to choose correct amounts of salt."

I love this idea.  I do think my hands are calibrated to cooking certain dishes.  

On the spectrum of recipe-following, I probably land somewhere in the middle.  I'm best with a good, clear recipe to start with and then after I become acquainted with the recipe, I like to substitute, or add-in, or alter here and there.  

This recipe is one that I created a few months ago and keep changing it a little each time I make it.  I look in the kitchen and see what short pasta i have, and what veggies and cheese I have, and then I create something.  

Dave has been urging me to post this "recipe", because he thinks it is such a winner, and wants YOU to make it too.  I have hesitated because it feels too loose of a recipe to write out.  And it doesn't even have a name – as I have changed the name of the dish each time I've made it, depending on what ingredients I've used.  It can be served hot or cold or room temperature.  That makes it confusing as to whether it is a side dish, or pasta salad.

So, live in freedom, make it like you want and call it what you like.

Use your senses to make this recipe your own.  Roast the vegetables to where they look, smell, and feel right.  Cook the pasta until, when touched or tasted, it feels done.  Add dressing and seasonings to your taste buds' liking, add more veggies when your eyes tell you it looks balanced.

Here it is:  The Yummy Vegetable Pasta Thing

Pasta (tortellini, bowtie and orzo are the 3 I have tried) Dave votes for orzo.

Boil as directed on the package.

4 cups roasted vegetables – cut small (squash, zucchini, green beans, asparagus, onions, bell peppers, )

 (See HERE for further roasting instructions)

1 cup Sun dried Tomatoes and/or 1 cup sliced grape tomatoes

A few hands full of spinach leaves (cut into small pieces with scissors or sharp knife) – don't be afraid of this.  It shrinks into little pieces but adds nice color and "hidden" nutrients!

Cheese (feta or goat) – as much as you like 

Dressing – ½ cup olive oil, 3 garlic cloves minced, minced basil (fresh or dried), Kosher salt and ground pepper to taste. (You can add in other spices – I love the flavor of the Trader Joe's Everyday Seasoning Mill.  It has some red pepper which adds a nice kick). Place all of these ingredients in a jar or measuring cup and stir vigorously until well combined.

Toss all prepared ingredients together (except the dressing) 

Then pour dressing on a little at a time stirring and tasting, until you have the amount of dressing desired.  (You may have some leftover depending on the type and amount of pasta used).

Add seasoning to taste, if needed.  

Serve it as a side dish with a green salad or sandwich, 
make a meal out of it, 
top it with a piece of meat or fish and call it a pilaf, 
serve it chilled and call it a pasta salad,
or eat it with a fork out of the bowl before bedtime and call it Dave's Late-Night Crave.  

tortellini & bow tie version

orzo version

roasting veggies 

roasting other veggies

chopped spinach (which when incorporated shrinks into tiny pieces)

 orzo with different veggies

Macaroni & Cheese Comfort

As I was packing up to leave my office Wednesday I got a message from my kids’ bus driver, Mr. Gary.  This was unusual. He was calling to let me know that Asher was visibly upset on the bus that afternoon. They had announced in the last hour of the day that Ms. Barbara, one of office assistants, had died that morning.  This came as a great shock to the children and many kids were upset.  Lainey said she cried all through P.E. when they told them.  Asher, I found out, was “just so emotional that everyone was so emotional”. He had helped his classmate pack her backpack at the end of the day because she was too upset to do so.  When he got on the bus, he then began to cry. 

I stood in my office so overcome.  Overwhelmed at the terrible news that the lovely, young Ms. Barbara, who had been the sunshine in the office and the bright spot in the cafeteria everyday for my kids and for the entire school, was gone. In a moment, gone.  I was touched that our public school bus driver would be so attentive to “his kids” (as he lovingly calls all of his riders), that he would get my number and call me.  I was sad for my kids at their loss and glad that they had had a lady like Ms. Barbara in their school.  I was moved by my children's depth of feeling and compassion.  I told my co-workers what happened and all the questions unanswered at that point.  

I grabbed my things and pulled my door closed. The sky was gray. The dark was coming. I said goodbye.  My dear co-worker, Debbie, who is insightful in these moments asked, “So what's comfort food at your house?” “Hmm.” I said, “I guess Pizza… or homemade Macaroni and Cheese”.  She said, “maybe tonight is a Macaroni and Cheese night”.  “Maybe so,” I replied.

When I got home, things were hectic.  We had a guy coming to give us an estimate about a fence we are planning to have built and a porch that we dream of getting to have built.  I was digging around in the kitchen to see if I had everything to make Mac & Cheese or what ingredients we had for dinner.  Dave needed me outside and I was trying to fix dinner and keep our newly adopted dog, Scout (who joined our family 2 days ago), from following me outside. 

meet our sweet Scout

It was chaos.  I found a bag of Orzo and thought, it might end up more like risotto, but there’s nothing more comforting than that! I found ½ a bag of frozen peas and starting making a simple but hopefully comforting dinner.  

With bowls of Cheesy Orzo in colorful bowls and lots of petting Scout, I believe the needed comfort was found for my family.

  

This Mac & Cheese isn’t fancy, it isn’t layered with 3 types of cheeses, breadcrumbs or tomato slices like some (which I love, by the way) but just to warn you: this is like a homemade version of Kraft Shells and Cheese.

I got this recipe when I was in elementary school.  I was at my school friend’s house and her mom was working as a sales lady at a microwave store and this was a “microwave recipe”.  Yes, you read it right, a microwave STORE.  This was when microwaves were first starting to enter people’s home kitchens. They were not yet being sold at Target or department stores. [If you are old enough, you might remember the large boxy appliances with the large dial on front.]  And with this new appliance came the need for microwave recipes, to instruct people as to how to use it as an oven, because it was so very different than a stovetop.  I remember being at her house and having this macaroni and it was so good that I asked the mom for the recipe.  I brought it home and we started making it, and have ever since.  I love it.  I have tried different cheeses in the recipe to take it up a notch from the processed cheese spread that Velveeta is.  (Which bothers me to some degree).  But the Velveeta really does melt the smoothest.  I like to use Velveeta and Cheddar (or Co-Jack).

  

Amy D., my former student who is completing a Master's of Social Work program in Colorado asked for some comfort food recipes.  Amy… this one’s for you.

Macaroni & Cheese

6 Tbsp butter

6 Tbsp flour

2 cups milk (I use 1 % because that's what

    we have, but any kind is fine)

16 oz. cheese (Velveeta melts most 

    smoothly, but I usually use part 

    Velveeta, part Cheddar or Co-Jack)

1 lb. pasta (shells or macaroni – or any 

    pasta, really)

Salt and Pepper to taste.

Cook pasta as directed on the package.

Meanwhile, melt butter in a large microwave safe bowl. 

Stir in flour. Stir in milk.

Cook in microwave until thickened.

Cut cheese into cubes and add to the sauce.  Stir until melted. You might need to return bowl to microwave to completely melt cheese.

Pour over cooked pasta noodles.

Season with salt and paper to taste.

(If you are a purist and don't want to use the
microwave, feel free to make this sauce in a pot on the stove.  Just be watchful that it doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan and burn.)

**I have included the photos of the process of the traditional Mac & Cheese as well as this week’s Cheesy Orzo.  

Depending on the pasta used, you might
have extra sauce. If so, it can be used
for cheese sauce on ANYTHING!

a big bowl of cheesy comfort

Cheesy Orzo

topped with green peas

On Top of Spaghetti...

Why do we love Spaghetti and Meatballs? They seem to be universally adored (unless of course you're a vegetarian)! I mean, my father in-law loves when we make this dish and my 3 year old daughter loves it as well.  

Is it the "On Top of Spaghetti" song that eating a big bowl of it inspires us to sing?  Or is it the fun images of the classic children’s book (recently made into movie), Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs,  that makes it iconic somehow?  Or is it because you can make little bitty meatballs or GREAT BIG HUGE meatballs? It is a comfort food indeed. There is just something so tasty and fun about this meal and it's so easy to throw together.

I started making spaghetti and meatballs years ago when my son was a toddler and didn’t like meat sauce with pasta, but yet we wanted to add some kind of meat to the meal. [I think meat sauce is unappealing to some people – something about the texture of the ground beef throughout the sauce.]  So, in order to ramp up the noodles-and-red-sauce dinner, and to give us some protein, I tried making some meatballs.  I made turkey meatballs with a recipe from an Everyday Food magazine.  They were simple, fairly healthy and they were a hit!  We all loved them.  A few years later, the Everyday Food magazine published another meatball recipe, this one with beef called "easiest meatballs". Both recipes are winners although the beef has less steps.  I have combined the two recipes into one, simple, tasty meatball recipe that can be done with ground turkey or beef. They can be made on the spot or ahead of time.  They also freeze well in a ziplock bag.  It's a winner.

Spaghetti and Meatballs

For sauce: (if you want to make a simple homemade sauce)

3 tablespoons olive oil

4 cloves garlic, minced

5 cups canned crushed tomatoes

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1/4 teaspoon dried thyme

Salt and pepper

    

In a large non-stick skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat.  Saute garlic until golden, 1 minute or so.  Add tomatoes, oregano, thyme.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Let simmer for 10 minutes.

       

For meatballs:

1 large egg

salt and pepper

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 cup plain breadcrumbs

1/2 cup freshly grated Asiago or Parmesan cheese, plus more for serving

1/2 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley (or sprinkle in a few shakes of dried parsley instead)

1 pound ground turkey or beef (we like to use Laura’s Lean Beef, which is a leaner, healthier cut of ground beef – a nice, lower-fat beef option)

1 pound spaghetti noodles

Make the meatballs: In a large bowl, whisk together egg, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper with a fork. Stir in garlic, breadcrumbs, cheese, and parsley. Add ground meat and mix until combined. 

Form mixture into 1 1/2 inch balls (golf ball size). [Keeping your hands wet when forming the meatballs will prevent the meat from sticking to your hands.] 

If you made the homemade sauce,  add the meatballs to the skillet, covering them with sauce.  

If you opened a jar of lovely bought sauce, place the meatballs in a large non-stick skillet, over medium heat.  Cover with sauce.

Bring to a boil, lower heat, and simmer, gently turning after 10 minutes.  Cook until meat is cooked all the way through.

Meanwhile, bowl a pot of water and cook spaghetti until al dente (according to package instructions), about 12 minutes. Drain pasta, serve, top with meatballs and sauce. Serve with more cheese sprinkled on top...of spaghetti....(sing it with me)! 


***There are many ways to cook the meatballs.  Some recipes call for baking them on a baking sheet in the oven, some call for browning them in olive oil in the skillet on stove top.  I think because this recipe uses lean meat, it works well to cook them in the sauce, as Martha recommended in the original recipe.  There is not much excess grease and cooking them in the sauce keeps them moist and tender, not dried out and tough.

P.S.

We had a nice tutorial with our children about using a large spoon to help eat spaghetti the other night. We showed them how to use a spoon as leverage to twirl noodles onto a fork.  However, it wasn’t the most effective lesson- as evidenced here!