Recipes: Week of August 8th

Based on my blog so far, some of you might be shocked to learn that I don't eat out at restaurants all the time. ;)

In fact, most of the time I cook meals at home, and when I'm in the right frame of mind, I actually enjoy it! The biggest challenge for me is balancing the three ideals that everyone wants their food to be:

-Healthy
-Cheap
-Quick/easy to make

Usually, I can get two of the three! For this post, I want to share with you some of my favorite dishes I've made this week. These aren't real "recipes," per se, because you won't find many measurements or timings---most of the time I just "eyeball" everything. Also, since these aren't baking recipes, you can adjust them to your taste. Hopefully they give you some ideas...

Mushroom and Basil Pasta: Or, how to spice up a boring jar of pasta sauce!

Olive oil
Mushrooms
Fresh basil leaves, each cut in half
Pasta sauce (I used Francesco Rinaldi--normally I make pasta sauce from fresh tomatoes and canned diced tomatoes, but I cheated a little bit this time)
Some garlic
Dried rosemary and oregano
Whole wheat pasta
Fresh grated mozzarella

1. Saute the mushrooms and garlic in olive oil until the mushrooms are browned.
2. Pour in the sauce and add dried herbs, then let simmmer while the pasta is cooking
3. Just before the pasta is ready, throw in some basil leaves and mix them into the sauce
4. Enjoy with pasta and grated mozzarella on top! It's great when the cheese melts into the sauce.


Basil, Tomato, and Mozzarella Toss: Can you tell that I was trying to use up fresh basil and mozzarella this week? ;)

Basil (I used about half of a small bunch)
One tomato
1/4 of a package of fresh mozzarella cheese
A little bit of olive oil
Some garlic

1. Mix all ingredients in a large bowl, toss, and let sit for 30 min. to let the flavors mix together. That's it! I ate this in a wrap, but you can also pour it over pasta. Recipe courtesy of The 15 Minute Gourmet: Noodles.

Cumin Chicken Fajitas: This is a pretty straightforward fajitas recipe, but I didn't have any chili pepper, so I used cumin, and it worked really well.

Chicken cut into thin strips
Onion cut into thin strips
Green pepper cut into thin strips
Diced tomatoes
Tortillas
Handful of cumin

1. Saute chicken until completely cooked through.
2. Add onion, green pepper, cumin, and a little bit of water. Saute until onion and pepper have softened. Make sure there is enough water and the heat is not too high so that the veggies don't burn.
3. Serve in warmed up tortillas and throw a few tomatoes on top of each one.

Note: This is the "healthy" version of this recipe. For a "slightly less healthy but delicious" variation, top the tortillas with guacamole, salsa, sour cream, and cheese.


Fried Plantains:

1 black plantain (they're the sweetest)

1. Cut the plantain into circles about 1 inch. thick
2. Fry them in a nonstick pan. Make sure the oil is very hot before you put them in. Fry each side about 5 min., until browned. Watch to make sure they don't burn.

These have become my favorite late night snack!


Post some of your recipe ideas in the comments!