Pasta by Crystal

This is about the only vegetarian dish Sam will eat - I'm not sure why it gets the nod!  But I'm glad it does.  It's very simple, customisable to your own taste, and great if you don't have much in the cupboard or fridge for dinner (that was me tonight!)

In a skillet:
Heat 2-3 TBSP olive oil
Add chopped garlic and 1/2 diced onion and saute for a few minutes
Add 1 can of tomatoes (I have used both chopped and whole tomatoes before, it doesn't really matter, you can just mash up the whole ones anyway.  Roma are pretty good)
Add 2-3 TBSP tomato paste if you have on hand (sometimes I do, sometimes I don't)
Add salt and pepper to taste, fresh (or dried) basil and oregano.
(Optional - add diced fresh chilli - Sam likes this!)

If you can it's good to let this simmer for a while and get all flavourful and delicious.

In the meantime get your pasta going.  Tonight I used large spirals, but I have used spaghetti and seashells before, whatever tickles your pickle.  When the pasta is al dente, add to the skillet and mix through the pasta sauce.

Top with freshly grated parmesan cheese and basil.

Chinese coleslaw

I really love this coleslaw!  The recipe is from Our Best Bites, and it is great as a vegetarian dish or with shredded chicken added to it.  I love the toasted sesame seeds and almonds on top as well.  You can obviously add/omit whatever veges you like, but the veges the original recipe recommends (and the one in picture above that I made) are listed below:

For the coleslaw:
Finely sliced cabbage
Grated carrot
Red onion
Capsicum
Celery
Cucumber
Sugar snap peas

For the dressing:
2 TBSP canola oil
2 TBSP cider vinegar
1/4 C seasoned rice wine vinegar (I substituted with more cider vinegar as I didn't have any in the cupboard)
2 TBSP sugar
1 tsp salt
2 tsp soy sauce
1/4 tsp garlic powder, or one garlic clove, minced
1/4 tsp black pepper

Shake vigourously and pour over salad, mixing well.  Leave to marinate a while and get all the flavours going. You might not think this is a lot of dressing but it draws all the moisture out of the veges and it is more than enough.  Top generously with toasted sesame seeds and almonds - or maybe fried wonton wrappers!  Tastes great the next day too : )

Green bean casserole

Seeing that Thanksgiving is just around the corner and this blog hasn't been updated in 8 months! (gasp!) I thought I'd post a recipe we are going to use for Thanksgiving. Wade and I want to have it up here this year. We don't want to travel so far away especially if the weather is bad. So that doesn't mean we don't love the family down south. We're just wanting to stick around this year. You all are invited to come up here! :)

We're going to have:
Turkey
Stuffing (wade's recipe)
Mashed Potatoes and Gravy
Ambrosia
Green Bean Casserole
Glazed carrots
Corn (charlotte's request! haha)
Homemade Rolls
Cranberry sauce
Bubbly
Pumpkin Pie
Pecan Pie
Pavlova
Trifle
Cream puffs?
Ice cream
Yes. We are fat piggys. But that's the spirit of the Thanksgiving Feast! We get to eat this for a week! haha
and writing all that it makes me want to make broccoli salad too!!! oh the possibilities!

It would be fun to hear what everyone else (yes, those who who live around the world too :) may be cooking if they're celebrating Thanksgiving! Or if you don't, it would be awesome to know what your favorite recipe is for the holiday season.


Courtesy of Campbell's.

Green Bean Casserole-
This isn't my own recipe but we love it. And we love to add bacon too!

2 (10.75 oz) cans cream of mushroom soup
1 cup milk
2 tsp soy sauce
1/4 tsp black pepper
8 cups cooked green beans (about 2 cans for us)
2 2/3 c French's French Fried onions
optional: add some chopped bacon

1. Stir soup, milk, soy sauce, pepper, beans and 1 1/3 c onions in the 3 qt casserole dish.
2. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 min or until hot. Stir.
3. Top with remaining onions (add bacon here) and Bake for 5 min. more.

If you don't have fried onions, sautee/caramelize onions to go in the dish.