Welcome to my Blog!


I am so glad you stopped by. A couple of months ago I saw the movie Julie & Julia, where a young woman decides to take a year and make every recipe in Julia Child's French Cookbook. I enjoyed the movie very much and became intrigued. Maybe I could do something like that, so, I got out my barely used, 13 year old, Better Homes Cookbook and started flipping through. Thus began my cooking experiment.

Cooking is something I have always hated to do, it was a chore for me, not a pleasure. I am not a professional cook, and never will be, but the movie ignited a spark in me and revealed a new discovery, cooking can be fun!

I am learning that with patience, motivation, and good recipes anyone can be a good cook. Believe me, if I can do it, so can you! I hope you will experiment along with me and let me know what you think of the recipes I share.

I will post each new recipe I try along with a picture (I can't stand cookbooks that don't include pictures!) so you can see the final product. I will also share tips that I have learned along the way. For you seasoned chefs, the tips may seem like common sense, but for those of us who are dummies in the kitchen, they are epiphanies.

Happy Cooking!
Nancy

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Quick Tomato-Basil Pasta with Fresh Mozzarella


The other night my kitchen was barren and I really didn't feel like take out, so I used the recipe finder here on my blog and typed in pasta. I added the ingredients tomatoes, mozzarella, and Parmesan cheese and here is the recipe I found. Though I had to make some modifications due to my depleted kitchen, this was amazing. Scott kept telling me over and over how good it was. The major modifications I made were to use bowtie pasta and grated mozzarella cheese. I would definitely recommend this!

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
4 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
1 (14 1/2 ounce) can diced tomatoes
5 tablespoons fresh basil, roughly chopped
1/4 teaspoon sugar
table salt
1 lb fusilli
8 ounces fresh mozzarella balls, mini, drained and cut in half
1/3 cup parmesan cheese, grated

Directions:

1. Bring 4 quarts water to boil in large pot.

2. Meanwhile, heat 2 tablespoons oil, garlic, and pepper flakes in medium saucepan over medium heat until fragrant but not brown, about 2 minutes. Stir in crushed and diced tomatoes, bring to simmer, and cook until slightly thickened, 15-20 minutes. Stir in 3 tablespoons basil, sugar and 1/2 teaspoons salt.

3. Add 1 tablespoons salt and pasta to boiling water. Cook until al dente. Reserve 1/4 cup cooking water, drain pasta, and transfer back to pot. Stir in sauce and remaining tablespoons oil, and cook over medium heat until heated through (adding reserved water if pasta seems dry), about 1 minute. Stir in mozzarella and season with salt. Serve, sprinkling with remaining 2 tablespoons basil and Parmesan.

Servings: 4

Serving Size 1 (494g)

Recipe makes 4 servings

Nutrition Information:

Calories 802
Calories from Fat 246 (30%)
Amount Per Serving %DV
Total Fat 27.4g 42%
Saturated Fat 10.7g 53%
Monounsaturated Fat 12.1g
Polyunsaturated Fat 2.5g
Trans Fat 0.0g
Cholesterol 52mg 17%
Sodium 1137mg 47%
Potassium 1017mg 29%
Total Carbohydrate 107.0g 35%
Dietary Fiber 8.1g 32%
Sugars 14.1g
Protein 33.3g 66%

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Disclaimer:


None of the recipes posted on this site are mine, they are all taken from other sources, or given to me to try. I am not nearly creative enough or good enough in the kitchen to have come up with any of them.

I also cannot promise that any of these recipes are going to turn out good, or taste good for that matter, so you try them at your own risk.

Enjoy!!! Nancy SmileyCentral.com