Healthy Eating: Tuna Farfalle

I'm one of the least fashionable people I know :-) but I love looking at pictures of well-dressed people. I indulge in a long list of bookmarked fashion blogs.

One of the blogs I frequent is Jenni Epperson's. Hers is a mix of fashion, family, food and shopping. I'm amazed at how much work she does and she still manages to look well and cook well. I loved it when she started her Meatless Fridays series. Her recipes are very easy to make with ingredients that are readily available. Plus, she encourages her readers to use healthy and organic ingredients. I'm trying her recipes recently (and will try switching to organic later :-) ).

She has a new website now which has its own section for food!

Here's my version of Jenni Epperson's Century Tuna Farfalle

Tuna Farfalle

• 1 can Century corned tuna
• 1 cup farfalle
• fresh basil
• Parmesan cheese
• Chili powder

Cook pasta according to package directions. Reserve 1/4 cup of pasta water.

Heat tuna. Season with chili powder.

Add pasta, fresh basil and pasta water. Cook for about 3 minutes.

Put in a plate and generously top with grated parmesan cheese.

Serve warm.

Pawis rating: 1 of 5 super easy!

Baked Macaroni

Make this your specialty :-)

Do you have a go-to recipe for events, gatherings or parties? My husband's Kapampangan clan has all sorts of specialties. Each would bring their own specialty in almost every family event.

Mine is this one. I am proud to say I can make a mean baked mac. It's very easy!!!

Again, this probably comes with age, I forgot where I got this recipe from. So if you recognize this, please let me know :-)

Baked Macaroni

• 225 g of macaroni (penne or ziti), cooked according to package directions undercooking by 5 minutes

Sauce:

• 3 tbsp of butter
• 3 tbsp of olive oil
• 1/4 kg of ground beef
• 1/4 kg of smoked ham/bacon/salami/pepperoni
• 1/4 kg of sliced button mushrooms
• 1/4 kg of tomatoes, chopped
• 1/4 kg of onions, chopped
• 4-5 green or red bell pepper, cored and chopped
• 1 whole garlic, finely minced
• 1/4 cup of tomato paste
• 3-4 cups of good meat broth
• bunch of basil leaves or 1 tsp of dried basil
• salt
• pepper
• sugar

Topping:

• 1/3 cup butter
• 3 tbsp flour
• 2 cups milk
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 of 225g quickmelt cheese
• 1/2 of 225g cream cheese, softened then cut into small pieces
• salt
• pepper

Cook the pasta sauce:

1. Heat the butter and olive oil together over med-high heat
2. Add ground beef, breaking up the lumps
3. Add garlic and cook until meat starts to brown
4. Add ham/bacon. Stir and cook for few minutes
5. Add the vegetables and cook.
6. Add tomato paste and stir. Pour the meat broth. Season with salt, pepper and sugar.
7. Bring to boil, cover and simmer for 20-30 mins.

Cook the topping:

1. While pasta sauce simmers, prepare cream cheese topping.
2. Melt the butter in saucepan.
3. When frothy, add the flour all at once, stirring. Let the flour cook for about 5 minutes. Usually the flour is cooked when the mixture starts to turn golden brown.
4. Pour in the water in a thin stream, stirring as you do. Mixture will be lumpy at this stage.
5. Pour in the milk slowly, again, stirring as you pour. By the time the milk has been incorporated in the mixture, it will appear to be a little thin. The cheeses will thicken them to required consistency.
6. Add the cheeses. Set the heat to low and let the cheeses melt, stirring occassionally. Turn off heat and season with salt and pepper.

Baking:

1. When the sauce is done, add the cooked pasta and toss well. Let the mixture cook over low heat and occassional stirring (5-6 minutes).
2. Pour the pasta and sauce into a baking dish. Make sure that the dish is large enough so that the mixture is an inch below the rim.
3. Pour the topping onto the pasta mixture, spreading to seal the edges. If you don't seal the edges, the exposed pasta will dry up during baking.
4. Bake in preheated 180C oven for 20-25 mins or until top is lightly browned.
5. Let the baked mac rest for 10 minutes before cutting.

I bought a pyrex 9X13 baking dish last week and was very excited to try this today. Lo and behold, the dish wouldn't fit my measly oven!!! Damn you cheap oven! I had to be resourceful and find an alternative.

This must be my unlucky day because I decided to use my 9X13 teflon pan to make classic crumb cake (which I have not posted yet, lazy me). So that is not an option. I used my 10" round teflon pan and 8X8 pyrex baking dish. A little tedious but this tactic actually worked.

Mixing the pasta and the sauce

Arrange the pasta in your baking dish
Pour the topping
Bake - I wish you can smell this


Eat :-D

Pawis rating: 4 of 5 - This is not at all difficult but it had so many steps and so many ingredients I needed to chop! My hands are tired :-(

Lasagna with Bechamel Sauce

Me: Marion, I will cook lasagna today.
Marion: Mommy, pagkain ng pusa yan (Mommy, that's cat food)
Me: Ano?! (What?!)
Marion: That's what Garfield eats!

Does this look like cat food? I'm sure cats would eat this cheesy, meaty goodness but this sure is safe for humans too.

I actually forgot where I got this recipe from (if you know, please message me and I'll acknowledge the chef/cook).

Edit: I found the chef!!! This recipe is from Pinoy Food Blog! Thank you Ms. Noemi Lardazabal-Dado for making this on Mother's Day! (And thank you to Facebook for the regular updates hihihi)

Lasagna with Bechamel Sauce

Bechamel Sauce

• 3/4 cup butter
• 1/4 cup flour
• 2 cans evaporated milk (1 can is equivalent to 225 ml or 1 cup)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg

1. Melt butter in a pan.
2. Blend in flour until bubbly.
3. Gradually stir in evaporated milk.
4. Cook until bubbly and a bit thick. Make sure not to burn the milk by lowering the flame.
5. Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg.
6. Set aside

Cooking the bechamel sauce. This should come out thick and bubbly.

Tomato Meat Sauce

• 3/4 kilo ground beef
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/2 cup butter
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed
• 6 tbsp white wine (optional) - I did not use this as I obviously skip every optional ingredient in every recipe (that's just me being lazy)
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/3 tsp oregano
• 1 tsp salt
• 4 tbsp basil leaves, shredded - I used dried basil
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1 cup beef broth
• 2 cans tomato paste (150 grams each)
• shredded mozzarella cheese to add in between layers and for topping - I did not use this, you can see my explanation below.

1. Heat olive oil and butter.
2. Brown the garlic, add the onions and cook until soft.
3. Put in the ground beef, wine and spices.
4. Allow to cook for a while then pour in the beef broth and tomato paste.
5. Simmer gently until thick. A little flour may be needed to thicken the sauce. - I didn't need the flour as the sauce was already thick.
6. Set aside.

Very tasty meat sauce

Lasagna cooked according to package directions

I was scared to cook lasagna pasta for fear of breaking the pasta. It's so easy pala! And you only need 4 minutes :-) Don't overcook or you'll have soggy pasta when you take the lasagna off the oven.

Assemble the lasagna

1. Grease a rectangular dish (around 10X17 inches) with butter.
2. Pour 1/3 of bechamel sauce.
3. Arrange a layer of pasta. Spoon in tomato meat sauce and sprinkle with cheese.
4. Repeat number 3. End with bechamel sauce on the top layer.
5. Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese.
6. Bake 350F until golden brown.
7. Let stand 5 to 10 minutes to set before serving.

To explain myself - I did not use mozzarella cheese because we don't have it available anywhere near my house. I would give a reward to anyone who can find mozzarella cheese near our town. So I used quickmelt cheese instead (I know, so cheap). Plus cream cheese (not so cheap). I still got the cheesy gooeyness I wanted.

Next time, I would use a bigger (or deeper dish) so I can use the entire box of lasagna pasta. And I will double the meat sauce recipe. I find the meat sauce not enough for a 4 layer lasagna. I had to be careful in proportioning the potful of meat sauce so I have enough to put on top.

Serve this during family reunions, parties or dinner with friends and you'll be instant bida! Guaranteed bestseller! Best served with crusty bread :-)

Pawis rating: 1 of 5 super easy, no need to use your brains :-)

Pasta Carbonara

I've been craving for spaghetti with carbonara sauce the past 2 days that I've been lurking in different sites and discussion groups to get a good recipe.

I found a good recipe at Pioneer Woman which is bechamel-based. I want to try this soon but I don't have time to go to the supermarket to buy ingredients.

TOSH's Spaghetti Carbonara in a takeout container (working lunch, sheesh!)

In the meantime, to ward off the craving, I went to The Old Spaghetti House to get their classic Carbonara. Good but I would prefer more sauce = more calories :-)

Tuna Pasta for Dummies

When you're hungry and you don't have either: (1) time, (2) energy, or (3) kitchen skills, then tuna pasta is the dish for you!

Very easy! Cook pasta (spaghetti, macaroni, penne, whatever except lasagna) according to package directions. In a pan, saute chopped garlic (if you're too lazy, you can skip this), canned tuna (2 small cans or 1 big can), tomato sauce (small Del Monte pack) plus dash of salt, chili powder, basil leaves. Let simmer. You can add black olives if you have these available. While sauce is hot, mix with pasta. See, not bad right?

Pawis rating: 1 of 5 = chicken