Recipes!

I looked back at my recipe label, and it doesn't look like I ever posted my Babchi's sauce. Time to remedy that!





Bachi's Spaghetti Sauce

Babchi was my grandmother. She moved in with us when I was five and my youngest sister was born, and lived with us until she died when I was in college. She was a woman who liked routine; every afternoon she watched her soaps, and every evening with her tea she read Harlequins or played cards. I come by my love of serial stories, romances and card games honestly!

Anyway, this was one of her standard dishes that she made. We all loved spaghetti night. I doctored it a little; she used onion and garlic powder, I like the real thing. Otherwise this is the recipe she wrote down for me a long long time ago.

2 big cans (28-oz) crushed tomatoes

1 big can (28-oz) tomato puree

1 small can tomato paste

1 small onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

basil (dried, fresh or frozen cubes)

thyme

oregano

salt and pepper

1 TBSP sugar

Saute the onions and garlic in large saucepan until translucent. Add the crushed tomatoes, puree, basil, thyme, oregano, salt and pepper. Cover and bring to a boil.

Turn down to simmer, add the paste and sugar. Stir occasionally and let simmer, covered for a couple of hours.

Fresh sauce in the fridge only lasts a week, so freeze any leftovers for later. I regularly freeze them in pint or quart baggies, as in the above picture.

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The other request was for the black-eyed pea salad. I make that one a little differently every time, but this gist of it is:

-1 can blackeyed peas, drained and rinsed

-2-3 cucumbers, peeled and diced

-2 oz crumbled feta

-rice wine or white wine vinegar (I prefer the white wine)  

olive oil (optional)

Penzey's Greek seasoning

salt and pepper

Mix and season to taste. Feel free to season liberally since cucumbers are usually bland on their own. :)

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Did a little more cooking today too. I bought a new WW cookbook, Make & Take Meals, at the meeting last week, and decided to try a couple of items today. Everything in it is fast and easy, some of which is actually from salad bar items at the grocery store. In other words, just like how we eat these days at Casa LFD.

Here's the plan for the week, handily posted on the fridge for Hubby and me. This way, he knows what is available so on the nights I go swimming after work, he can feed himself from the fridge instead of waiting for me to get home or ordering delivery for himself/us. 

The top section are items I made on Sunday or which can be made into sandwiches. I need food for lunch and dinner for myself, which tends to translate into sandwiches with side dishes of salads and fruit. The middle section random foodstuffs in the fridge which need to be eaten soon (not included on list: shredded Brussels sprouts and spinach). The last part is what I am planning on making mid-week once we run out of the top half of the board. 

The black bean-carrot salad is one I made up this afternoon. I had leftover carrots from last week that I wanted to use up, so I started putting together a cold salad. I chopped the carrots into smaller chunks, drained a can of black beans, and threw in some thinly sliced red onion. Tossed all of that with olive oil, rice vinegar, cumin and lime juice. Not bad!

I had that for dinner tonight with the roast beef with fig jam and blue cheese. DAMN, that was a good sandwich idea from that new WW cookbook. Figs and blue cheese are delicious together, and I had no idea how nicely they would pair with the roast beef. YUM.

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Tomorrow I will be trying the cereal bars. Not sure yet how they will be -- they seemed a little sweet -- but it will be a nice treat in the afternoon if they are too much for breakfast.

No-Bake Cereal Bars
6 WW points as is, 5 pts if you make the same substitutions I did.

1/3 cup almond butter (I used Better'n'Peanut Butter)
1/3 cup honey
2 TBSP light corn syrup
2 cups multi-grain Cheerios
2 cups wheat bran-flake cereal, coarsely crushed (I used Wheat Chex)
3 TBSP dried cranberries
1.5 TBSP ground flaxseed (I omitted).

1. Line 9-inch square pan with parchment paper; spray bottom and sides with Pam.
2. Stir almond/peanut butter, honey and corn syrup together in small bowl. Set aside.
3. Combine cereals in large bowl; microwave 1-2 minutes until warmed. Mix in cranberries (and flaxseed). Gradually stir in butter mixture, stirring until cereal is evenly coated. Microwave another minutes, and stir.
3. Pour cereal mixture into pan. Use more parchment paper to help spread out if needed. Refrigerate until chilled, at least 2 hours. Cut into 8 bars. Wrap each bar in plastic wrap and refrigerate up to 1 week. 

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What are you cooking this week?