Not Your Typical Pasta

Pasta is one of the cheapest and easy meals any college student can make. All you do is boil water, cook pasta until soft, drain, and sauce. Voila!! You have a meal. Now, what do you do when you eat pasta at least three times a week? Change the sauce. You can go traditional with garlicky basil and tomatoes, classy with stroganoff, spicy with habanero pesto, or crazy with pumpkin sauce. Hmm which reminds me - I should add my creamy garlic sauce and garlic butter sauce soon.

Here are two more pasta varieties. I only recommend the pad thai only if you absolutely love peanut butter. By love, I mean sitting there with a jar and a spoon and happily eating away. I love PB, but the taste was a little intense. However, it tasted better the next day, so maybe it just needed time.

The Mediterranean pasta I made myself. To be traditional, you would use kalamata olives. However, I only had a can of black pitted olives.


Pad Thai with Creamy Peanut Sauce




8 oz rice noodles (or substitute linguine or spaghetti)
1/8 cup water
1/8 cup sugar
1 Tbsp ketchup
1 1/2 tsp soy sauce
1/8 tsp chili powder
1/3 tsp lime juice
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/4 cup onions, chopped
1 chicken breast, chopped
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup peas

Sauce
1/4 cup evaporated milk
1/8 cup peanut butter
1 tsp soy sauce
1/8 tsp ginger

1. Place sauce ingredients in a blender. Process until smooth, about 30 sec. Set aside.

2. If using rice noodles, soak them for 30 minutes in hot tap water; drain. They should be flexible but not soft. If using linguine or spaghetti, cook in boiling water until done.

3. Combine water, sugar, ketchup, soy sauce, chili powder and lime juice in a small bowl.

4. Saute chicken in oil until no longer pink. Add garlic and onions; cook until tender. If using rice noodles, add to pan. If using linguine or spaghetti, do not put in pan. Pour ketchup mixture over chicken.

5. Push chicken mixture to side of the pan. Add egg, stirring until cooked. Add peas. If you are using linguine or spaghetti, add to pan as well. Mix in peanut sauce. Makes 2 servings.

Source: Cooking with Carnation Evaporated Milk, 2006 p.14


Mediterranean Pasta



8 oz. pasta, your choice
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/4 cup onion, chopped
1 small can tuna, drained
1/2 cup tomatoes, chopped and drained
1/2 cup olives, sliced
1/2 cup feta cheese

Bring water in a small saucepan to a boil. Cook pasta until soft. Meanwhile, saute garlic and onion in oil until tender. Add tuna, tomatoes, and olives. Cook until warm. Add to cooked pasta. Sprinkle with feta. Makes 2 servings.

Source: Recipe by me



Sorry for the horrible lighting, but my dad took a video of Murray being impatient for Christmas.


He's still waiting.

It's All About The Seasoning

I was recently browsing through numerous cookbooks and recipe sites, looking for dinner ideas. I had lettuce and tortillas that I needed to use before they went bad, but I didn't want to make quesadillas (again). So I eventually stumbled across a chicken fajita taco salad. Found my dinner idea! However, the recipe called for fajita seasoning mix, and I wasn't going to spend any more money than I had to. I googled for a fajita seasoning recipe, hoping that I had all the spices; I did. I put my salad together without following the recipe except for the seasoning, so the recipe is half mine (inspired, of course)


Chicken Fajita Salad




1 chicken breast, chopped
2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp powdered chicken bouillon
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1/4 tsp cumin
1 tsp lime juice
1/2 cup lettuce
1/4 cup onion, chopped
1/2 cup tomatoes, chopped
2 tortillas, torn into strips
1/2 cup shredded cheese
Ranch dressing

Fry chicken breast in skillet until cooked. Add chili powder, bouillon, garlic salt, cumin, and lime juice; toss to coat. Place 1/4 cup lettuce onto plate. Top with 1/8 cup onions, 1/4 cup tomatoes, 1/2 of the tortilla strips, 1/2 of the chicken, 1/4 cup cheese, and ranch as desired. Makes 2 servings

Source: Me; Fajita seasoning from About.com


What is your favorite type of salad?
I love the buffalo chicken salad they serve at my campus. I also enjoy a chicken caesar salad and the chicken bbq ranch salad from The Cheesecake Factory.

A Good Way To Eat Your Greens

In order to spark more interest in the LJ community, Arty Chokes is holding a recipe contest. What you need to do is prepare and submit a vegetarian recipe using mainly greens. I knew I had jumbo shells, frozen broccoli, and a block of cheese in the house. What does that get me? Broccoli and Cheese Stuffed Shells!!! Probably not my best recipe because it was dry due to the cheese. Plus I'm not a huge cheese fan. Also, don't always trust the first recipe you get online. I got a cheese sauce recipe from Recipe Zaar where you add the cheese first then the other ingredients. Big no-no. Luckily, I had milk and a giant chunk of melted cheese in the pan, so I used a colander and poured the milk into another saucepan. Then I googled and found several recipes with the same steps. Here you added the cheese last. That Recipe Zaar person got a bad review on her/his recipe.


Broccoli and Cheese Stuffed Shells




12 jumbo shells
3 Tbsp butter
3 Tbsp flour
1 1/2 cups milk
8 oz cheddar cheese, cubed
8 oz frozen chopped broccoli, thawed
1 tsp garlic, minced
Desirable spices, such as black pepper, chili powder, etc.
1/4 cup breadcrumbs

1. Boil water for shells; cook for 10 minutes. Drain and run under cold water. The cold water will keep them from cooking further. This is important because you will be baking the shells later.

2. Preheat oven to 350F. Melt butter in a saucepan. Add flour; stir. Gradually add milk. Add a few cubes of cheese at a time until fully melted. Stir in broccoli, garlic, and spices. Remove from heat.

3. Assemble shells in the bottom of a 13x9 pan. Fill each shell with cheese mixture. If you have any leftover cheese mixture, fill the gaps between the shells. Sprinkle breadcrumbs on each shell.

4. Cover with foil and bake for 35 minutes.

*If you want your broccoli to be soft, cook for a few minutes before stirring into the cheese sauce. Otherwise, they will be hot and crunchy in the shells (the way I like it).

You can also add various veggies to the broccoli - red pepper, carrots, zucchini, etc.

Source: Me! (Cheese sauce - don't remember)

Weekend Cookbook Challenge 18

What do you do when you can't find the recipe you're looking for? Make it up. That's right. I made my own recipe!! I had 1 lemon that I needed to use up. When my dad was going through the cupboard above the stove, he pointed out that I had jumbo shells I needed to use (they were up there probably at least a year). What does lemon juice + shells equal? Greek stuffed shells, of course. I googled for recipes, but I got nothing. So I took the typical Greek ingredients and replaced the Italian ingredients with these. I also decided to enter this into the Weekend Cookbook Challenge 18 - Red and White due to the tomatoes and cucumber sauce.

EDIT - Round up is now posted.


Greek Stuffed Shells




12 jumbo shells
1 cup plain yogurt
1 cup cucumber, peeled and diced
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp dillweed
3 Tbsp lemon juice
1 cup feta cheese, crumbled
1/2 cup tomatoes, chopped
1 egg, beaten
5 black olives, chopped

1. Boil water. Cook shells for 10 minutes. Drain; run under cold water to stop any further cooking.

2. For the sauce, combine yogurt, cucumbers, garlic powder, 1/2 tsp dillweed, and 1 Tbsp lemon juice. Cover and let chill in the refrigerator.

3. Combine cheese, 1/2 tsp dill, 2 Tbsp lemon juice, tomatoes, egg, and olives.

4. Preheat oven to 350F. Spread the bottom of 13x9 pan with some of the sauce. Place shells on top. Stuff with the cheese mixture. Pour remaining sauce on top. Cover with foil. Bake for 35 minutes.

Source: Sauce from Recipe Zaar, Shell recipe by me


Nectarine Crisp




I also made dessert. This has nothing to do with Greek cuisine but still delicious nonetheless. I used this recipe from Recipe Zaar. I left out the blueberries and wheat germ. Next time, I will try it with raspberries.

Why Can't Everyone Enjoy Seafood?

It's very hard to make seafood dinners when one member of the family hates it. Not only do I have to make the seafood dinner, I also have to make something else to accommodate my mom's hate for seafood. Usually she's content with a grilled cheese sandwich, but since there was veal in the freezer, Friday night I made 2 dinners and dessert. It was easy to do because both involved spaghetti and I could bake the meat while cooking the shrimp, but there's a lot of preparation for one person to do. Fortunately, dessert only took 5 minutes to prepare.


Lemon Garlic Shrimp




1 pound large shrimp, peeled, deveined and cooked (tails optional)
2 Tbsp + 1 tsp lemon juice (or juice from 2 lemons)
1 Tbsp minced garlic
1 tsp dried basil
1/4 cup olive oil
Enough spaghetti for 4 people (1/2 - 1 lb.)

1. Prepare shrimp as necessary. If frozen, run under hot water. Make sure all shrimp are deveined (if using prepared bag, some shrimp are overlooked in the deveining process). Tails are ok to leave on (although I would recommend tailess). If not already cooked, cook the shrimp.

2. Boil pasta in water. Meanwhile, combine lemon juice, garlic, basil, and oil in a bowl. Pour into skillet. Heat shrimp in lemon mixture until hot. Add more lemon juice if needed.

3. Drain pasta. Add pasta, shrimp and lemon mixture to bowl; toss together.

My thoughts: We didn't have enough spaghetti, so there wasn't enough food for 3 of us. I served it with green beans.

Source: Inspired by Razzle Dazzle Recipes


Veal Scallopini




I never had veal before, so I tried a piece when I cooked it. I think I'll stick with beef. My mom enjoyed it, so that's good enough for me. Since I didn't change the recipe (except changing it to 1 serving), you can view it here.


Pudding Parfaits




1 (4 serving) box of banana pudding
2 cups cold milk
Sliced strawberries
Chocolate syrup
Whipped topping

Prepare pudding as directed on package. Fill the bottoms of 6 wine glasses with pudding. Add enough chocolate syrup to cover the pudding. Top with strawberries. Repeat the layers. Top with whipped topping.

There are many variations to this recipe. You can have banana pudding + banana slices + chocolate syrup; coconut cream pudding + shredded coconut + chocolate syrup; vanilla pudding + chocolate chips + chocolate syrup; chocolate pudding + banana slices + strawberry syrup. Experiment with different flavors. Perfect for hot summer days.

Source: Me (inspired by picture in "New Joys of Jell-o" April 1991, p.15)

The Easiest Mexican Dinner A Student Can Make

Before coming to Ireland, I have never made a quesadilla. I watched my housemate Bonnie make one for dinner, and I saw how easy it was. I put a different filling into mine, but it came out just as delicious. I usually make them with sour cream, but since I couldn't find any at the store, I substituted salsa.


Chicken Salsa Quesadillas




1/4 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breast
1/2 cup frozen corn kernals
1 cup salsa
Lettuce
2 flour tortillas

1. Fry chicken in oil in skillet until no longer pink. Drain oil.
2. In a separate pan, heat corn until warm (make sure you heat the corn in water!). Drain corn. Add salsa and chicken; stir.
3. Put tortilla in skillet. Add lettuce to half of the tortilla; top with salsa mix. Fold over remaining tortilla. Heat for a few minutes; flip. Heat for a few more minutes.

Makes 2 quesadillas (unless your tortillas are small).

Recipe source: ME! :D

How Can You Hate Peanut Butter?

Studying abroad in Ireland has taught me several lessons. One of them is Irish people can't stand peanut butter. I've spoken to several Irish students about peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and they think it's the most disgusting thing ever. What's there to hate about peanut butter? Ireland does sell peanut butter. This label shows you how much they hate it:



Their label says AMERICAN peanut butter. They really don't want to have anything to do with it :P

Of course since my housemates finished off the loaf of bread, I was craving for a PBJ sandwich. Instead, I used crackers. This is a basic recipe for any college student who runs out of bread lol

Peanut Butter and Jelly Cracker Sandwiches



6 crackers
Jar of (American) peanut butter
Jelly of your choice (I used apricot)
Handful of shelled peanuts

1. Spread peanut butter on 3 of the crackers. Spread jelly on the other 3.
2. Put peanuts on top of the peanut butter crackers.
3. Top the peanut butter crackers with the jelly crackers. Don't do it the other way because the peanuts might fall off.

Makes 1 serving

Recipe source: ME! :D