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Posts Tagged ‘Cooking’

  1. Mmmm, Marinara!

    May 23, 2013 by admin

    IMG_0593

    We love marinara sauce!  We top our pasta with it at least once a week.  We use marinara on homemade pizza and in calzones.  It is our go-to sauce to compliment many meals.  We keep our marinara recipe simple, which also helps in its utility in other dishes, from soups to enchilada sauce.

    By making this sauce ourselves, not only can we tweak it to our own tastes, but we also avoid added or leached chemicals that are frequently found in canned sauces.

    Ingredients:

    • 1 T Olive Oil
    • 1 Medium Sized Onion, Diced
    • 1 T Oregano
    • S&P to taste
    • 1 T Vegetarian Bouillon
    • 8 or so Plum Tomatoes, Rough Chopped
    • 2-4 cups water
    • 2 T Tomato Paste

     

    Process:

    • It couldn’t get much easier!
    • Sauté onions in olive oil along with the herbs, spices and bouillon.
    • When onions are translucent, add the rough-chopped tomatoes and sauté for a few minutes.
    • Add the water, and let simmer for as long as possible- at least an hour.  If your tomatoes are very wet, use the lesser amount of water.  Add water if the sauce looks too dry.  You want it to simmer in order for all the flavors to mingle.
    • Add the paste towards the end of the simmer time.  We make our own paste at home, but there are organic varieties available.
    • Puree the sauce in the food processor—use short pulses for a chunky sauce, longer time for a more smooth texture.

     

    And that’s it!  This recipe yields about three cups of sauce.  Don’t forget to freeze the leftovers for next time!

    Category Recipes | Tags: ,,,, | 2 Comments

  2. Things We Don’t Need Anymore

    March 8, 2013 by admin

    Is it time to simplify your kitchen?

    Too many kitchen items are sold for “conveniences” and as “time savers,” but mostly what they do is create a further separation between you and your food.  If your goals include serving healthy and delicious meals, you need more time in the kitchen, not less.  And you need to be more hands on with your food.

    Consider selling, giving away, or up-cycling some of your gadgets:

    The Microwave:  We ditched our nuke oven almost ten years ago, and we haven’t looked back.  Whether you need to reheat left-overs, or make a meal, there’s nothing your microwave can do that you can’t accomplish as easily on the stove or in a standard oven.  Why deal with food that is Napalm hot in some sections and ice cold in other areas?  Or why eat those ‘instant’ meals that are filled with preservatives and other strange chemicals?  Lose the microwave!  You don’t need it.IMG_1613

    The Popcorn Popper:  Maybe you already tossed your old air popper in favor of the microwave, but you don’t need a special tool to make popcorn.  We use a small saucepan (with a lid!!) and cook our popcorn on the stovetop.  It only takes about two minutes, and you get the joy of watching the kernels explode.  We like to make bets on which corn kernel will go first.

    The Bread Machine: These were all the rage at one point, so one found its way into our kitchen.  But even our top-of-the-line bread machine was hard to clean, unreliable, and didn’t make nearly as good a loaf of bread as we could make by hand.  Making bread by hand is easy, fun, and fills the house with great smells.

    Lots of Little Tools:  Our drawers were bulging at one point with little hand held gadgets.  We tossed most of them and now we barely remember why we had them in the first place.  We owned a garlic press?  I guess so.  Now we use the side of a chef’s knife, or a small cheese grater.  The egg-separator?  In the time it took to dig it out of the drawer, you could crack and separate the eggs with your bare hands, and wash up afterwards.  The avocado slicer?  We use a knife now.

    Like clothing, anything in your kitchen that you haven’t used in a year should be recycled.  And any device that does only one task isn’t worth your time.  Simplify your kitchen and your life.

    Category Rambler Ramblings | Tags: ,, | Comments Off on Things We Don’t Need Anymore