I like to stock up on certain go-to ingredients like canned beans for soups and canned sardines for simple pasta recipes. With only a handful of additional ingredients I can then make a quick and delicious meal.
Cannellini Bean Soup with Spinach and Tomatoes
This recipe is one of my all-time favorite soups to cook because it’s delicious and comforting. It’s also super easy! I’ve been home sick for a few days and wanted something simple to make and this soup always hits the spot.
Roasted Garlic Pasta – Minimal Ingredients for Maximum Flavor
[This post is part of “10 Ways to use Roasted Garlic“]
This recipe is for garlic lovers. It’s one of those minimal ingredient dishes that takes only a few minutes to prepare. The key ingredient is whole roasted garlic. I wrote a post yesterday on how to roast garlic and showed 10 different ways to cook with it. Here’s one…
Mung Bean Fettuchini with Truffle Butter and Cheese
I eat everything, so I like to mix it up and try to cook with ingredients I’ve never used. This time I experimented with organic mung bean fettuchini in place of my usual whole wheat pasta. I grew up eating mung beans so I thought why not give it a try. It’s made of only mung beans and water which give the pasta a pretty olive hue. They’re high in fiber and gluten-free for people who suffer from Celiac Disease or wheat allergies. The taste and texture may not appeal to some people as it has an obvious bean flavor and a bit of a chewy bite.
Vegenaise Macaroni Pasta Salad with Celery, Carrots and Sundried Tomatoes
I haven’t made a cold pasta salad in a long time so I was excited to come up with a simple and healthy version. I also finally had a reason to try Vegenaise. VEGE-wha? Vegenaise is a dairy-free, eggless mayonnaise alternative. I heard about it through a few vegan friends and Gwyneth Paltrow (not my friend) saying how great it was.
Soft-Shell Crab Pasta – The Easiest Way to Enjoy the Whole Crab
I love Blue Crabs. Every summer when they’re in season, my family and I sit around a table full of crabs and just pick at them for hours (while seeing who can get the biggest piece of meat out). I’m a slow eater so I’m usually the last one at the table. I really don’t like wasting food and have OCD-like tendencies so I want to get everything! That said, it was like an epiphany the first time I ate soft-shell crabs. The crab flavor is so much more intense since you eat the whole crab, shells and everything.
Simple Whole Wheat Pasta with Peas and Pancetta
Simple, quick pasta dishes are one of my favorite meals to make. This is one of my “go-to” meals since I usually have all of these ingredients in my kitchen. If you’re Vegetarian, feel free to substitute the pancetta for a vegetable. Sometimes I put in some sliced mushrooms or asparagus instead of pancetta. If you’ll notice in the recipe, I don’t drain the pancetta on paper towels. I feel there’s so much flavor in all the drippings, so why drain?? I cut the shallots into rings and garlic into slivers because I kind of like seeing garlic and onion (err, shallot…) chunks in my pasta dishes. If you don’t, feel free to mince them.