Meat-less | Seasoned with Life

Pasta with Tomato Cream Sauce

April 9, 2013 at 6:45 pm | Posted in Italian, Meat-less, One-Dish Meal, Pasta | Leave a comment

This delicious, meatless meal comes courtesy of Milk & Mode. It was very simple to do, and hubby and I loved it. The teen wasn’t too fond of it….which puzzles me because he loves spaghetti sauce. The only real difference between this Tomato Cream Sauce and a typical marinara or spaghetti sauce is the addition of cream. He loves alfredo sauce. Oh, well, you can’t win ’em all!

Ingredients, which I doubled, so that I have sauce to freeze for another time:

2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

2 tbsp. butter

2 tbsp. onion powder (original recipe called for onion)

4 cloves of minced garlic

2 cans (15 ounces each) of tomato sauce (original recipe states you could use marinara sauce)

salt and pepper

sugar

1 cup heavy cream

freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, about 1 cup

basil, fresh is best – I was low on dried basil, so I added some Italian Seasoning

Begin by boiling water to fix about 1/2 pound of pasta – I used linguine tonight.

Heat olive oil and butter in medium sized pot; add garlic and allow to get soft but not browned.

Slowly add the tomato sauce, salt, pepper and maybe a tablespoon of sugar; stir well and taste. You may need to add more seasonings.

Cover and allow to cook on low heat while you’re boiling the linguine.

Grate your Parmigiano Reggiano cheese; the original recipe stated to use enough cheese “to taste” and I added about a cup.

I hadn’t ever purchased or used Parmigiano Reggiano cheese and it was a bit more costly than Parmesan but it was delish!

My teen took a picture of me goofing around while watching the pasta boil. I like to have fun while I cook. I dance in the kitchen and sing as well. I wasn’t singing tonight but it kind of looks like I was using the spatula like a mic, doesn’t it?

Okay, back to the food! Once your pasta is al dente, drain in colander. Remove tomato sauce from heat; I put it on a cool burner. Slowly pour in the cream.

Add the cheese after you’ve stirred in the cream, then add the basil and stir it all up.

See how the sauce went from red to orange from the cream? Taste the sauce once you’ve stirred in the cheese and you can adjust seasonings again if necessary. You can even add more cheese. Pour pasta into serving dish.

I used my 11 x 7 casserole dish for serving. Scoop out some tomato cream sauce and top the pasta.

Oh, it was so good. I put the Parmigiano Reggiano on the table and served the meal with garlic bread sticks, so we could sop up the tomato cream sauce. And, as I mentioned earlier, there’s sauce leftover to go into the freezer for another meal.

Alfredo Sauce…Mine!

December 1, 2012 at 6:52 pm | Posted in Italian, Meat-less, My Own Creation, Pasta | Leave a comment

This is the only kind of meal that I can serve that’s meatless. Otherwise, my two T-Rex dinosaurs look for the meat. This recipe has tons of cheese, which is an excellent source of protein for all of us. Also, thankfully, I can eat it without getting bloated. Ever since my gastric bypass surgery, I’m lactose intolerant and can’t have ice cream or milk without taking Lactaid or something like it.

I recently made Alfredo sauce from a recipe and, while it was alright, it wasn’t thick and rich and creamy. My husband remembered that I had made it before using cream cheese, so I did some research here on the internet and tried to find what I had made before (I couldn’t find the recipe in my recipe drawer). What happened is this: lots of recipes sounded good so that it was impossible to pick one, so instead, I took what I thought would work and put it together myself. It turned out beautifully! My two cleaned their plates and our teen son had seconds.

Success!

Ingredients:

1 stick of butter (1/2 cup)

1 garlic clove, minced

8 oz. cream cheese

1/2 cup grated fresh Parmesan

1 pint half and half

parsley

pasta: you can use spaghetti noodles or Fettuccini or any other long noodle you wish

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Using heavy-bottomed pot, melt butter on low and add garlic. Slice cream cheese into slices (I ended up with 8 slices) and add one slice a time to the butter and garlic, stirring with whisk.

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Add cream cheese and continue whisking.

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When all of the cream cheese has been added and mixture is smooth, then slowly add Parmesan. Turn heat up to medium and keep whisking, so that it doesn’t clump.

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Add half and half to the mixture very slowly, whisking and watching that the mixture doesn’t get too hot: otherwise it could curdle!

When mixture starts to form bubbles on the edges, just before it starts to boil, TURN OFF heat and remove from fire.

Shake in parsley and serve hot!

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It was rich and oh, so yummy!

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See how nicely it stuck to the pasta? That’s the way Alfredo is supposed to be!

Fettuccini Alfredo

November 15, 2012 at 6:48 pm | Posted in Italian, Main Dish, Meat-less | 2 Comments

This recipe is from AllRecipes, and I doubled it because my two guys love Alfredo sauce.

Ingredients:

1 pound fettuccini

1/2 cup butter

2 cups heavy cream

2 garlic cloves, minced

3 cups freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1/2 cup fresh parsley, or 1/4 cup dried parsley

Prepare fettuccini according to package directions.

Melt butter on medium-high heat, in heavy-bottom pot.

A whole stick of butter. Paula Deen would be proud of me!

When butter is completely melted, pour in the cream. Lower heat to medium.

Gently simmer for about five minutes. Turn to low.

Add garlic, cheese and whisk, so that the cheese melts thoroughly. Add parsley and serve immediately.

My two taste-testers liked this Alfredo sauce. My husband commented that I had previously made one that was richer and creamier. He remembers that it had cream cheese in it. I found a recipe on AllRecipes that might have been the one, so I copied it off and will try it next time.

Angel Hair Pasta & Veggies

September 26, 2012 at 11:54 pm | Posted in Main Dish, Meat-less, Pasta | Leave a comment

This recipe is from Gooseberry Patch. I took an original from them and added a few veggies. The original title is 15-Minute Parmesan Pasta, it’s on page 86 of “5 Ingredients or Less!”

This meal fed the three of us, with no leftovers. You could easily double it, simply cook the entire box of pasta and add more veggies. You can also change the veggies. My teenager told me, “It needs meat!” but then he devoured two servings.

You will need:

cutting board and sharp knife
cheese grater
garlic press
strawberry huller for seeding tomatoes

That red pot is my official Pasta Boiling Pot.

See that spoon? That’s my favorite spoon. If I ever lose it or it breaks, I’ll cry.

Grate your own Parmesan. Please don’t use that stuff in the green jar.

Good for strawberry hulling and taking seeds out of tomatoes!

See? Tomato shells!

Did you know that a strawberry huller is great for removing seeds from tomatoes, especially small ones? Yep! All you do is cut the top off of the tomato and scoop out the seeds and then you’re left with a small tomato shell. Simply slice and they’re ready to go.

Ingredients:

8 oz. Angel Hair Pasta
8 fresh mushrooms, sliced
1 sweet yellow pepper, julienne sliced
8 tomatoes, seeded and sliced
1 clove garlic, minced
2/3 cup olive oil
2/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese plus more for serving

Ready to get tossed into the pan with garlic and olive oil.

Prepare pasta in boiling water; cook for two minutes LESS than package directions. Keep warm in serving bowl.

Heat oil in wok; add veggies and stir-fry for about three minutes on medium, until crisp tender.

Add warm pasta and stir together for another two minutes.

Pour into serving bowl. Top with Parmesan cheese and toss lightly.

Serve immediately.

Stir-fry on medium heat

Add pasta and stir together for two more minutes

Cheese has been added; need to gently toss it now!

Yum!

Breakfast for One!

September 26, 2012 at 2:00 pm | Posted in Eggs, Meat-less, My Own Creation, Potatoes, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

I love omelettes – they’re so versatile. This morning, I decided to make one.

Ingredients:
Two eggs
Two tbsp. milk
1 tbsp. butter
Four fresh mushrooms, sliced
1/4 cup cheese
1 tbsp. butter

Here’s how I did it:
Step One:
Whip eggs and milk together in small dish; set aside.

Step Two:
Heat butter in small pan; add mushrooms and saute for about four minutes. Remove from pan.

Step Three:
To the same pan you used to saute mushrooms, heat butter on medium and when butter is hot, add eggs. Do not stir! As eggs begin to set, gently lift around the circle of the pan to let the egg pour down onto bottom of omelette.

Don’t stir!

Can you see where I’ve lifted the sides a bit?

Step Four:
Once omelette is pretty well set, add mushrooms and a handful of cheese (I used Mexican blend). Gently fold omelette over and close it. If you’re brave – and I’m not – you can flip it to brown the side you just turned up. Slide onto your plate and enjoy! I had a bagel with mine, as well as some homemade potatoes.

Here’s how I make my potatoes:

Place one peeled and sliced potato into small pot and cover with water. Add about 1 tbsp. salt and boil for about 10 minutes. Drain potatoes and add to pan with one tbsp. melted, hot butter. Allow them to brown as much as you like. Salt and pepper to taste. Sometimes I shake a couple of shakes of onion powder or garlic powder on them.

The best part of this breakfast is that you can double and triple it. My rule of thumb on the eggs is two eggs per person and one tablespoon of milk per egg. Ditto on the potatoes: you can make more potatoes for however many people you are feeding. My rule of thumb on potatoes is one potato per person, plus one for the pot. My husband taught me that! This morning, the pot didn’t get its own potato because I knew if it did, I’d be too tempted to eat it myself.

Also you can add any kind of veggies to the omelette and any kind of cheese and even add ham or bacon or sausage. I will go meatless today. All day. But I ate my protein in the eggs and cheese this morning, will have a protein shake for lunch and had cheese in the pasta I will fix for dinner.