Tag Archives: Tomato

Taco Pasta Bake

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Feeding small children can be… a challenge.

Picky doesn’t even begin to describe how complicated it can be.  My kids have their favorites, but are the meals balanced?  Are they getting enough protein?  How about fiber?  Is it too high in sugar?  Or sodium?  Oh, and that thing that they loved last week and ate for just about every meal?  They hate it now.  And their younger sibling never would touch it, and probably never will.  He or she has another whole set of food criteria, and it’s an even narrower list.

My older son is currently on a taco kick.  It all started with the Doritos Locos Tacos, from Taco Bell, that he saw being advertised in between his favorite cartoons.  I’m actually kinda psyched that he’s open to this, since it does seem to be a pretty balanced meal (as far as kid food goes), and I’ve managed to bring him around to the idea of homemade tacos, instead of the fast food version (winning!).  But they are kind of a pain to put together, and messy, and his preschool doesn’t heat up lunch so I’d prefer to be able to put something in a thermos for him.

I recently saw this on Pinterest, and thought it sounded like a pretty good idea.  Unfortunately, the link doesn’t lead to an actual recipe, so I had to get creative.  C and I worked together in the kitchen developing our version, and we both love it!

Baked Taco Noodle Casserole

Begin by boiling the pasta in salted water (for a minute or two less than the package directs), and browning the ground turkey, chicken, or beef in a skillet, along with some grated onion, garlic, tomato paste, and the fragrant spices.

**It’s very important to C that I differentiate “fragrant spice” from “hot spice.”  ”Hot spice” = NO/ “Fragrant spice” = Ok.**

If your meat is very lean, you may need to moisten it with a half cup or so of chicken stock or water.

Grease an oven safe baking dish and preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

After the pasta and meat are cooked, drain them and combine them in a big bowl, along with the greek yogurt, shredded cheddar cheese, and beaten egg.

Taco Noodle Casserole

Pour the mixture into the greased baking dish, and top with crushed up corn tortilla chips.

At this point, you can put a tight cover on it and freeze or refrigerate it for another day!  Or, if you just can’t wait to dig in, bake it for 25 minutes covered, then take the cover off and broil on low for another five minutes, to crisp up the top.

Taco Noodle Casserole

Garnish with finely shredded lettuce and chopped tomatoes.  The grownups might enjoy a little cilantro…  Guacamole would also be great!

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Taco Pasta Bake
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Ingredients
  • 2½ cups dried pasta, such as Rotini
  • 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 pound ground chicken, turkey, or beef
  • 1 onion, grated or finely minced
  • 2 cloves garlic, finely minced
  • 1 tablespoon tomato paste
  • ¾ teaspoon sherry vinegar
  • ¾ teaspoon agave nectar or sugar
  • ½ teaspoon chili powder
  • ½ teaspoon ground cumin
  • ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • ¼ teaspoon dried oregano
  • ¼ teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder
  • ½ cup chicken stock or water (optional)
  • 2 cups greek yogurt
  • 2 cups shredded cheddar or Mexican blend cheese
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 1 cup crushed corn tortilla chips
  • 1 heart of Romaine, shredded
  • 1 cup fresh tomatoes, chopped

Instructions
  1. Boil the pasta in salty water for two minutes less than the package directs.
  2. Heat the oil in a skillet and brown the ground meat, along with the onion, garlic, and tomato paste.
  3. Stir in the vinegar, agave/sugar, and spices.
  4. Add the chicken stock/water, if necessary.
  5. In a large bowl, combine the drained pasta with the taco meat, greek yogurt, cheese, and egg.
  6. Transfer the mixture to a lightly greased, 9×9″ oven safe baking dish, and bake, covered, for 25 minutes at 350 degrees.
  7. Remove the cover, top with crushed tortilla chips, and broil on low, for another five minutes.
  8. Serve, topped with shredded lettuce and chopped tomatoes.

Taco Noodle Casserole

Yum!

Is it “a challenge” getting healthy meals into your kids?  What kinds of foods do your they enjoy?  Do you think they might go for something like this?

 

Quick and Easy Tomato Soup

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This morning we awoke to the most beautiful blanket of snow…  It looked so clean and pretty, fluttering down from the sky and covering all the bare tree branches.  And it bought me a 30 full minutes (!) of uninterrupted computer time while my little ones made snowmen in the back yard.  I still can’t get over my good fortune!

The first snowfall is always such a delight, and this one was a happy surprise.  Between the luminous, soft filtered light from my kitchen window, and the rosy cheeks and noses, and frosty fingers of my little ones as they shook the snow off their boots, I just knew today would have to by a bloggy day- and there was no other option but soup.

My five-year-old is way into soup lately.  And considering how infuriatingly picky he is about what he will and won’t eat, I’m happy to feed him anything morning, noon, and night, as long as it’s not chips!

This one is easy as can be, with just a few ingredients, and it comes together in about 15 minutes.

Tomato Cheddar Soup

2 cloves garlic, finely minced or grated
1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
1 32-ounce box chicken or vegetable stock
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 cup finely shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon honey
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Saute the garlic in a little olive oil until fragrant.  Add in the crushed tomatoes, stock, and cream and heat until just about to simmer.  Add in the cheese and stir, continuously, until melted.  Season with onion powder, salt, pepper, and honey.

It’s so comforting and warm in your tummy!

* For a more grown-up version, try substituting freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano or pecorino-romano for the cheddar, and garnish with a chiffonade of fresh basil *

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Summer’s Bounty

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Allie

Look the backyard vegetable garden my Mr. put together earlier this season:

Isn’t it a work of art?  I am so very proud of his hard work.  Out here in the boonies, (where I grew up and now find myself again), vegetable gardens are a common sight in most backyards.  Nevertheless, I’m thoroughly impressed with the farming skills of my rather citified husband…

Even if you don’t have a backyard vegetable garden, delicious summer fruits and vegetables are hard to miss right now.  Supermarkets, farmers markets, and roadside stands bursting with fresh produce seem to be everywhere you look.  Take advantage of the best summer has to offer, with an easy summertime classic that’s so simple to prepare, you don’t even need to cook it!

Who doesn’t enjoy a cool, refreshing bowl of fresh gazpacho?  I’ve liked it as long as I can remember, but it wasn’t until I tasted the real deal, on my honeymoon in Spain, that I truly fell in love.

Most of the gazpacho I had tried up until that point was a lot like a soupy salsa.  Lots of chunky veg blended together and served cold.  Nice.  But true Gazpacho Andaluz is a completely different animal.  Velvety smooth, pale in color, and so rich and creamy you almost can’t believe it’s completely free of dairy.

Allie’s Gazpacho Andaluz

3-4 baguette slices
1/2 cup water
1 cucumber
2 large, ripe tomatoes
1/2 red bell pepper
3 scallions, green part only
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 1/2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
1 teaspoon agave nectar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder (not garlic salt)

Start by trimming off and discarding the crusts of the bread.  Soak the bread in water.

While that’s soaking, peel your cucumber and halve it lengthways.  Scoop out the seeds with a spoon.

Cut the tomatoes into quarters, remove the core, and squeeze the seeds out.  This really isn’t as difficult as it maybe sounds.  I just run my thumb inside all the little tomato crevices and squish the seeds out.

Now just hack the bell pepper and the scallions up a bit, and throw all the veg into the bowl of the blender.

Scoop up the soggy bread, squoosh out all the excess water, (there’s a lot of squooshing going on in this recipe), and throw that into the blender too.  You can also add in the olive oil, bready water, sherry vinegar, salt, agave, and garlic powder.  (I like garlic powder because to me it’s a little less sharp than raw garlic.)

Let it buzz for a good long time, so it gets nice and smooth.

Set up a strainer over a big bowl.  I especially like the kind with the pour spout, so you won’t even have to dirty up a ladle.  I get pretty lazy when it’s hot outside…

Pour in the soup and let it strain.  You can speed up the process by stirring it around in the strainer.

Serve it mercifully cold and garnish as you wish!  (I’ve used some sliced scallions and a dribble of olive oil.)

Here is a 4×6″ printable recipe card for you:  Gazpacho Andaluz Recipe Card, but please just use it as a rough guide.  You can use as much or as little of any ingredient as you like.  You can even swap out ingredients!  And, as for the seasonings (salt, agave, and vinegar), you really just want to taste and decide for yourself.  A lot will depend on the produce you begin with.

Do you like to grow your own food?  What is your favorite seasonal summer ingredient?  How do you like to put your bumper crop to use?  Are you feeling pretty lazy these days, too?  I’m hoping nobody drops by unexpectedly and sees the layer of dust that is accumulating… if so maybe I can distract them with a nice cold bowl of soup.

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Give Your Oven the Night Off!

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Here is a seasonal, refreshing, and delicious meal for a hot summer evening!  With a little tweak for the kiddos, this one can be a home run for the whole family!  And you don’t even have to use your stove or oven!

The first time I heard about a watermelon salad, I thought it seemed like an odd combination of flavors.  But after one bite, it all made sense.  So delicious!  And, this type of preparation has actually been around forever in the Mediterranean part of the world.  Those Mediterraneans sure know what works when it comes to food!

Watermelon Salad with Grilled Shrimp
(serves 2 adults and 2 small children)

1 pound uncooked jumbo shrimp
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 seedless watermelon
1 pint grape tomatoes
4 oz. crumbled feta (I like the goats’ milk kind)
bunch of fresh mint
about 2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
juice of 1 lime

Another thing I love about this recipe is that it’s so quick to prepare, and, besides the plates and forks you ate off of, you’ll only end up with a cutting board, one knife, and one bowl to clean.

Start by peeling the shrimp, and placing them in a bowl with about a tablespoon of olive oil, the chili powder, the garlic powder, and a bit of salt and pepper.  Toss them around to coat, and pop them in the fridge while you go preheat the barbecue.

While the shrimp are marinating, and the grill is warming up, you can slice the watermelon into thick wedges.

Take out four wedges, for the grownup plates, remove the rind, and cut them into cubes.  Divide them between two plates.

The remaining wedges are for the kiddies.  I can’t explain it, but for my kids, watermelon is not watermelon unless it is in triangle form…

Now halve the grape tomatoes.  Tumble a few handfuls over the watermelon cubes, for the grownups, and into neat piles alongside the watermelon triangles for the kids.  (Woe be unto the parent who allows tomato and watermelon to touch on a kid’s plate.)

Crumble feta over the tomatoes and watermelon on the grownup plate.  I omitted the feta for my kids…

Top each of the grownup plates with about two tablespoons of fresh mint, roughly chopped or torn…

…my kids are green-phobic so this was also omitted for them.

Pop the plates in the fridge to keep everything good and cold while you go grill the shrimp.

On a very hot grill, shrimp will only take about three minutes on the first side, and another one minute on the other.  Don’t overcook them!  They will get rubbery and dry.  You want some good char marks on them but they should still be juicy.

Chop a few shrimp into bites for the little ones, and top the grownups’ salads with the rest. Now grownups each get a drizzle of olive oil and a squeeze of tangy lime.  Enjoy!  Easy!