Hot Ham Water... No... Pasta!

I am not a huge fan of pasta... shocking, I know.  That being said, I do eat pasta from time to time.

My dad is Armenian, and Armenian cuisine is filled with various spices.  As such, we LOVE garlic.  So it follows that each sauce I will write about contains a copious amount of garlic.

The easiest sauce we make and I have adopted as well, is simply the Garlic Olive Oil Sauce... 

Garlic Olive Oil Sauce

1 head of garlic, diced

olive oil

salt

red pepper flakes

1 box pasta

In a small saucepan, heat up a fair amount of olive oil.  Add minced garlic, red pepper flakes, and salt.  Stir until the garlic starts to brown.  Immediately remove from heat.  Boil a pot of water, when the water boils, add a tablespoon of olive oil and salt, add pasta and follow instruction of the box.  Drain, the pasta when ready, and mix in with the sauce.

Sometimes, we don't have enough time to make tomato sauce.  I mean who has 4 hours or 5 hours to simmer tomato sauce???  And, while sauce in a jar is acceptable, sometime it lacks the necessary flavor and spiciness.  My solution:

mince a few cloves of garlic

dice up 1/2 a red onion

mince up a hot pepper

Heat up some olive oil and sauté the garlic, onion and pepper.  Once the garlic, onion and pepper are soft enough add a jarred pasta sauce (prego, ragu, whatever....).  Stir until the sauce start to bubble a bit - add some dried oregano or/and dried basil.  Stir in the herbs and again wait for the sauce to bubble.  Sometimes, I like to add a few tablespoons of parmesan cheese.  You may want to add some salt, but that's up to you and how you like your sauce.  Sometimes, I like to add red pepper flakes instead of the hot pepper but again, your call.  This sauce takes about 10-15 minutes total to prep and it is very tasty and easy.  

Let me know what you guys think!

~JS

Quinoa!!!

QUINOA!
What an odd sounding grain... keenwah!  But it's definitely yummy.

People have different ways of preparing quinoa, this is mine... hope you enjoy!!









1/2 red or vidalia onion, diced
4-5 cloves of garlic, diced
1/2 inch of ginger, diced
1/2 tsp turmeric (optional)
1 jalapeno pepper, diced (optional)
2 cups of chicken stock or 1 bullion cube
1 cup of quinoa
olive oil or coconut oil

Boil two cups of water or heat up 2 cups of chicken stock.  If you're using water, once the water has boiled, dissolve a bullion cube in the 2 cups of water.  While the water is boiling, sautee onion, garlic, ginger, turmeric, and jalapeno pepper.  After a few minutes, add the liquid.  Taste the liquid - add salt if necessary.  Once the liquid starts boiling, add the quinoa and cover.  Cook for 15 minutes.  Remove from heat, fluff with a fork.

~JS

Is this hand shucked?

A few weeks ago, my boyfriend acquired a crockpot... which has enabled us to try new recipes and have fun with recipes!

We are both huge fans of A-1 steak sauce, so, a recipe on the back of their bottle seemed like a great idea.

Slow Cooker Pot Roast

1/2 cup A-1 original steak sauce

1/2 cup water

1 pkg onion-mushroom soup mix

1 boneless beef chuck-eye roast (2-2.5 lbs)

1 pkg baby carrots

1 lb. baby red potatoes

1 onion, diced

Mix the steak sauce, water, and onion-mushroom soup mix.  Place meat in the slow cooker.  Top it with the carrots and potatoes and onions.  Pour the sauce over.  Cook on low for 8-9 hours or on high for 6-7.

The recipe came out great.  We both enjoyed it greatly.  That being said, here are a few tips and suggestions: 

• To make this recipe healthier, I wouldn't use the onion-mushroom soup mix.  In it's place, I would season the beef with salt and pepper.  I'm sure you can add other spices such as garlic powder.
• You don't have to use baby red potatoes - if you use a larger potato, quarter them.
• I used a vidalia onion for it's taste.
• I would consider throwing in a few cloves of garlic and pouring a 1/2 cup of red wine.

If you have any suggestions - please feel free to comment! Look forward to reading them :)

~JS