Cooking pasta

Monday we were "hit" by the remnants of Hurricane Matthew.  So what do you do with all that water?  You cook Pasta.

Ingredients

1 pound of elbow macaroni, or pasta of your choice
1/8 teaspoon Salt
1 tablespoon Oil

Stuff you will need

Clean Water
Pot
Working stove or heat source

Directions

Put the water on to boil.

Add the salt and oil in the water.

Add the pasta.

Remove from the heat, cover and let sit for 20 minutes.  Drain and use in what ever recipe you need.

Comments and suggestions ALWAYS welcome.

Mum's Macaroni - some people call it "Goulash"

Mum's Macaroni - some people call it "Goulash"

This is another recipe that comes from home.  We all have our favorite cooks.  I call mine "Mum".  This is a variation of her recipe as she makes it just a little differently than what I did here.

Ingredients

1 pound elbow macaroni
1 pound ground beef
1 onion diced
1 large can of stewed tomatoes 
Pepper to taste
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon oil

Stuff you will need

1 large pot to cook the macaroni
1 collander (strainer)
1 large skillet
1 oven safe casserole dish (Optional)

Directions

Add water, salt and oil to the one pot to boil the macaroni.  I only use medium heat.  Saves electricity and if you think it boils the water any faster, well, I am sure your right, but not that much faster.  Once the water is boiling, add the macaroni and turn the heat off.  Cover and let sit for 20 minutes.  The macaroni will cook in the pot while the heat is off.  The nice part about this, NO boil over.

Fry the onions and pepper in butter till they are translucent.  I have never timed it, but about 5 minutes, perhaps a little more.  Do you like pepper?  Then add a lot.  Don't like a lot of pepper, then don't add a lot.

Once the onions are done, add the hamburger.  In the video, I am sure it's more than 1 pound of ground beef that I have added.  Fry up the beef till browned.

Drain the ground beef and add it back to the skillet.  Add the stewed tomatoes.

Drain the cooked macaroni and add that to the skillet.  Mix it all up and you got "Goulash".

To get "Mum's Macaroni", put the Goulash into an oven safe casserole dish and into the oven for 30 to 40 minutes at 350 F.  This will brown the top of the casserole.

I like adding extra salt to this before I eat it.  Not too much though, the Doctor said I have high blood pressure and should avoid salt.

Comments and suggestions are ALWAYS welcome.

Dad's Chinese Noodles

Dad's Chinese Noodles

Every family has that recipe that was created at home and you never make it the same twice.

This is one of those recipes that my father created one day.  

The year would have been 1976.  

I was 14 years old and this started me off on my adventure of being a cooking enthusiast

I started with 2 x Pork Tenderloins on the rotisserie

Put a pan under the roast to catch the drippings.

1.  makes less mess

2. you got drippings if you want to make gravy

Ye Old Temperature Guage

This help avoid raw meat and law suits

They are done and ready to be cut up

See that left hand?  

Yea, learn from my fail.

That hand got burnt by grabbing the rotisserie

It just came out of a flaming hot BBQ

Anyways, remove the rod and put it aside where it will not burn anyone else

Ready to cut

Really?  I am using a bread knife to cut the roast?

Must have been the first long knife that I could get my hands on

Yup, cooked all the way through

Concentration!

Mum, my camera person is stealing the pork as I am cutting it

Cutting away

Baked potatoe and rotisserie pork

Life is good

Now on to the Chinese Noodle part

Stir fry your veggies

The pot on the left has elbow macaroni on the boil

I put the remainder of the rotisserie pork in the frying pan along with the stir fried veggies

Mixing and mixing and mixing

Always with the mixing

Strain the cooked macaroni

Add it to the mixture

Mix that all up

The "secret" ingredient

You caught me adding the "secret" ingredient

Heat and serve

Ingredients

2 diced onions

5 stalks of celery

2 green peppers

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1 tablespoon crushed, minced or chopped garlic

1 pound elbow macaroni

1/2 cup teriyaki sauce AKA the "secret" ingredient

Left over meat, cut into bite sized chunks

Directions

Boil the elbow macaroni as per  the instruction on the package.  Some of you like it al dente or some of you like it cooked all the way through.  This is YOUR take on this recipe, not mine.

Fry up the veggies and spices.  Once they are fried up, add the left over meat.  When Dad and I used to make this, we first started with steak.  Not left over steak, but we would cook a steak, cut it up and use that.  Many years later, we found that adding pork was fantastic.  Back in the day, we would use soy sauce with liquid smoke vice the teriyaki sauce.  The liquid smoke meant that when I made this, Tonya wouldn't have any of it.  I used to add a lot of liquid smoke to ensure it was all mine.  (Sorry Tonya)

Once the meat, veggies, spices and other stuff has been added, stir in the strained elbow macaroni.

OK, another "back in the day" moment.  We also used to put this into a roasting pan and put it in the oven at 350 for 45 minutes.  This would brown the top layer.  Why did we do this?  I don't know.  It was just the way things were done.  Now, after it's been all mixed together, we serve it up and eat it.

Comments and suggestions are ALWAYS welcome.

Lasagna

Lasagna

This is what your lasagna will look like when it is done backing

One exception, I put extra noodles around the side.

I have NO idea what was in my head when I did this

Get out your cheese and your grater

I cut up the cheese into 1/4's and then grated one type of cheese, then the next, so on and so on till it was all grated.

Do your self a HUGE favour and find these OVEN READY noodles

You put them in "dry" into the lasagna, but they will bake to perfection

Use PAM to coat your pan.  Otherwise, you will be scrubbing and scrubbing to get your pan cleaned

I start with a layer of meat sauce

Noodles

Then cheese

Is that right?  I don't know.  It my lasagna, but I know the top layer MUST end in cheese

Ingredients

Ultimate Meaty Spaghetti Sauce: http://cookwithmitch.blogspot.ca/2016/07/ultimate-meaty-spaghetti-sauce.html
1 x box Oven Ready lasagna noodles
2 x blocks of cheese - I used Marble and Mozzarella
1/3 cup of Parmesan cheese
1 Tablespoon of Italian Spice

Stuff that you need

Lasagna pan
Box grater
Pam cooking spray

Directions

Spray your lasagna pan with Pam.  This is going to make for easy clean up.

Pre-heat your oven to 350 F

I started with a meat layer, then noodles, cheese.  Is this right?  I didn't really think about it.  Just as long as I ended up with a meat layer topped with cheese.  Then I topped it with the Parmesan cheese.  I sprinkled the top with Italian spices.

Into the oven for 45 minutes.

After you take it out of the oven.  Let it set for 10 minutes before cutting and serving.

Have a look at this video.

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As always, your comments and suggestions are ALWAYS welcome.

Pizza Pasta Salad

This is by request from my cousin Faith.  She lives in Montreal and it is warm and muggy out.  She needs a pasta salad that will be filling and can be served cold.

Pizza Pasta Salad

Jazzy pepperoni and mozzarella spruce up this pasta salad. If you can't decide between your two Italian favorites tonight, have both with Pizza Pasta Salad!

Serves: 12

Ingredients

·              1 pound twist pasta

·              3 medium tomatoes, seeded and diced

·              1 (8-ounce) package Cheddar cheese, cubed

·              1 (8-ounce) package mozzarella cheese, cubed

·              6 scallions (green onions), thinly sliced

·              1 (3-ounce) package sliced pepperoni

·              3/4 cup vegetable oil

·              1/2 cup red wine vinegar

·              1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

·              2 teaspoons dried oregano

·              1 teaspoon garlic powder

·              1 teaspoon salt

·              1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Instructions

1.      Prepare pasta according to package directions; drain, rinse, and drain again. Place in a large bowl and allow to cool.
 

2.      Add tomatoes, Cheddar and mozzarella cheeses, scallions, and pepperoni to pasta; toss until well combined.
 

3.      In a medium bowl, combine oil, vinegar, Parmesan cheese, oregano, garlic powder, salt, and pepper; mix well. Pour dressing mixture over pasta mixture and toss until evenly coated.
 

4.      Cover and chill for at least 2 hours before serving.

Although it doesn't show it in the ingredients list, I added diced red peppers.

As always, comments and suggestions are ALWAYS welcome.