wheat pasta with fresh and light garlic tomato sauce

Now if you read this blog you know that I make a number of variations of tomato/ marinara and bolognese sauces. I almost always use either a small box (here it is a box- in the USA it would have been a jar) of ready made sauce and or a box of tomato puree. This just extends the sauce to be able to cover more meals.

Alas- last night i did not any ready made items. I had to make it all and it went really well. it was the same thing that I always do but with out the bow of tomato puree.

It was simply... 1/2 chopped white onion, 6-8 cloves chopped garlic, 4 chopped tomatoes, a little salt and pepper and at the very end I added chopped basil from my garden.


Once the noodles were ready I just added them to the sauce pan with all of the yummy oil and sauteed onion, garlic and tomatoes. It was a very fresh tasting dinner. Especially for how simple it was.

It also reheated today beautifully when tossed into a non stick pan with just a little oil- it was perfect. When topped with fresh parmesan cheese--- ahhh... wish I could get that here. Oh well.

This dinner was simple and wonderful. This would be perfect for a party or crowd. i thin I will serve this at our next picnic.

Spaghetti with Bolognese Sauce- loaded with vegetables

Now, ever since I have found wheat pasta at the supers here in town- we make noodles with marinara or bolognese at least once if not twice a week. We love it especially because of how many vegetables we have in the sauce but for how easy it is to reheat the next day or use in a new way. We love making french bread pizzas the next day!

Anyway. Another reason I love this recipe is because I hardly have to chop anything at all. With my hands in as bad of shape as they are I have come to LOVE and rely on my mini-chopper. First thing in is 1/2 to a whole clove of garlic- Once chopped I put a little a container with some butter to melt, the rest goes onto a little plate, next, the onion followed bell pepper.

I heat up a little oil in my skillet and and throw those all in with some salt, pepper and Pappy's. While those are getting soft and mixing together I blend up a head broccoli florets and then 3 carrots, I usually do not peel my carrots, just wash them up really well. and put those on the little plate.

After the onions, garlic and pepper are soft add the ground beef, you could ground turkey or chicken but I have not tried that yet. Once the meat is pretty cooked, add the broccoli and carrots and mix together. If I had celery or squash I would have added it here.

Then mini chop some tomatoes and throw those in with some tomato paste. At this point I usually add some cinnamon, Italian seasoning, red pepper flakes and 1/2 a chopped jalapeno.

For the bread, we just mix the garlic into the butter and let it stand at room temp for a few minutes (here it melts within minutes) Cut the bread length wise, butter and grill until golden.

We usually serve it with a simple salad and save any leftover salad for salad or sandwiches the next day.

I love this meal. And the kids love it and there is almost no limit to what you can do with it. I love having extra sauce to make french bread or bagel pizzas or lazagna. And now with the whole wheat pasta I do not feel nearly so bad.

Marinera sauce and wheat noodles

This was a real budget meal. With this whole out break of swine flu in Mexico. Money has been really tight lately. This recipie can be made with pretty much anything. This time I had on hand onion (red and white) garlic, tomatoes and a box of sauce .

Everytime I make this it is a real garbage bowl type of meal. You can add pretty much anything you want. It is also a really good way to get kids to eat a variety of vegetables. I chop my veggies in my little mini chopper and then the kids cannot pick them out.

I sauteed it all up, added the sauce and a bunch of basil (one of the herbs that is doing really well here)


When put on wheat noodles this turned into a pretty healthy meal. Yeah!!!!

This is also a great leftover meal. It is easy to reheat the sauce and can be used on more noodles, put on lasagna noodles or put on pizza dough or on french bread and make french bread pizza. The kids love this dish in all forms.

Penne with bacon wrapped Shrimp w/tomato, garlic white wine sauce

This dish was absolutely amazing. My girlfriend Jessica had recently watched an episode of Rachel Ray where they made this sort of dish and she could not wait to try it out. We did not need much. Just some garlic, onion - white and red, white wine, tomatoes (in Rachel ray they used cherry tomatoes- but the store did not have them) white wine, some bacon and some shrimp. We would have used the larger shrimp but the cocktail shrimp was all that was at this particular super.

We used spices like salt, pepper, oregano, Italian seasoning, Pappy's (obviously)and fresh from my garden we used basil- which is growing great here - and parsley.


This dish only used 2 pots which I love and the kids asked for seconds. The only thing that would make this a 100% guilt free meal is whole wheat pasta but I have not found that yet.

The first part is the only pain in the butt. You trim all or most of the fat from the bacon and wrap each piece of shrimp. . Again, we would have rather used larger shrimp but the pescaderia was not open. So we had to settle for cocktail shrimp but it was still bomb.


Fry the bacon wrapped shrimp until a little crispy in a large saute pan. Once they are brown on all sides transfer to a dish to drain. In the same pan saute onion, red onion, garlic, and tomatoes. We used 1 whole red onion, 1 small white onion, 1 small head of garlic, and 8 or so tomatoes. In the Rachel Ray one they used the little cherry ones and put them in and let them burst open. We seasoned with salt, pepper, oregano, italian seasoning & Pappy's. I went the my little herb pots ad grabbed a bunch of basil leaves and parsley leaves and threw them in at the last minute.


This dish was so good. It was the perfect dish to end what has been an amazing day. And this dish cost only 200 pesos and we bought every ingredient. And we have a ton for lunch tomorrow and were able to drink 2 glasses of wine with the rest of the bottle. PERFECT!!!! It was so good.

Spaghetti W/ lots of vegetables

Okay so we have had some interesting things going lately. First we tried to make home made tortellini. The Gorgonzola sauce was great but the pasta did not turn out well. But it was fun to make anyway. But since it is one of my favorite dishes I am going to make it again for Valentines day but without making my own pasta.

So today I making some meat sauce that I planned to make a few meals out of - (lasagna, spaghetti, and strata) I grabbed my little mini chopper which I just LOVE. As I am rapidly losing the battles with my hands I have come very dependant on this little device. Plus it gets all of veggies so my kids can't pick them out.

Today I was thrown a curve ball, right in the middle of sauteing my onions and garlic my gas stove dies. We ran out of gas. We have to wait for the gas truck to cruise by in the morning with the little jingle and then they take the tank and bring it back the next day. So right at that point I switched my little hotplate that we used when we first moved here. Thanks goodness. I do need to be careful because I get electrocuted often. but oh well.

So I mini chopped a bunch of random vegetables. Onion, garlic, celery, carrot, broccoli, chanote, tomatoes, asparagus, used a little chicken stock when needed for the veggies. I added some seasoning-(salt, pepper, oregano, italian seasoning, cinnamon, and Pappy's)


Before the veggies I cooked up the ground beef that I had gotten at the carcinera that day. I cooked that with the same seasonings as above as well as some garlic and onion powder.

I threw the beef in with the veggies and added the can of tomato sauce. It turned out very good and is very full of a ton of vegetables. I get my kids to eat a lot of vegetables.


I was going to make a lasagna to cook later and prep a strata to cook another day. But since the oven cannot be used I just left it in the saute pan to reheat for a whole lot of superheat. But that is okay.

Chicken and vegetable lasagna

Tonight's dinner was something that I had the idea for a few days ago. I have started to crave more casserole and lasagna stuff. I have never made a lasagna so I was a bit nervous. We are really trying to use all of what we have in house and fridge and not have extra around. So most of my recipes can be done with what ever veggies you have. Or even better, these recipes are a great way to sneak a lot of fresh veggies into your life and into your kids! So the recipe I had in my head... Chicken and veggie sort of lasagna. I had intended to do a very chunky veggie thing but I decided that it was easier to get a ton of stuff into the kids if I chop most things in the mini chopper. This works well for me too as my hands are no good. Tonight I had onion, garlic, celery, carrot, potato, broccoli, bell pepper, fresh tomatoes, zucchini (this I kept in strips) , a box of tomatoes sauce and I used some oregano and Italian seasoning and I think some Pappy's.

In the back pan I started to boil water with chicken bouillon, salt, pepper, and oregano. I used this water to poach the chicken. I have heard that this is a very healthy way to cook fish so we are going to give it a try. Plus our chicken was already cut think so it worked well. After the chicken was done I cut it up and set it aside. I saved the stock to use with the veggies.


For the vegetable I sauteed a little garlic, onion and celery,- let them soften then added the carrots, bell pepper and potato. As I needed to I would use the chicken stock to add to the veggies as they cooked. after a while I added the broccoli and zucchini. After a few more turns with the spoon I added the box of tomato sauce.

For the cheese I had 2 types. A white that was shredded. It was Manchego. And a yellow cheddar that was cubed. I then made an easy bechamel sauce and added the Manchego.


I do not have any baking dishes here yet except for my baking one that is a heart or a train. So we had a heart lasagna. I layered the oiled dish with noodles (these ones did not need to be pre cooked which was great) white cheese sauce, chopped chicken, veggies sauce, then threw down a few cubes of cheddar. Second layer: white cheese sauce, chicken, veggies sauce, cubed cheddar- you get the idea. We only did 3 layers I think. Then on top we finished with the cheese sauce and veggies sauce on top.


I had my concerns about this dish. I mean, for 1 there were A LOT of veggies so I was not sure if it was going to be "too veggie" tasting. I mean I want to eat healthy but I want it to taste good. But after 20-30 minutes in the oven it was ready to eat. If I was serving this to my husband I would have served it with a small salad and bread- but it was just me and the kids so we just had the lazagna.

First of all- the kids loved it. They ate every bite on the plate. It did turn out great. I was really excited about it.


I saved a little of the veggies sauce to make a strata for the next morning. My friend Jordan told me about this and I have been playing with them since. In a baking dish you line with aging bread. (a great way to use up bread that is hard)Then some sauce (any number of variations could work for this) then some cheese, then some bread, sauce, cheese,& bread, sauce, cheese- topped with bread. Then you whisk a few eggs, milk, salt and pepper and pour it on top of the top bread. Put it in the fringe and the next day you can put it in the oven for 30-40 minuets - It is a great breakfast, lunch or dinner. I will post pictures of it when I get them.

Serrano ham and peas with a Gouda cheese sauce

Okay... this dinner was awesome. It was inspired by the Serrano ham I found at the supper. And I found some shredded Gouda. This dish was so easy and yet finished off fabolous. It definitely tasted great.

In one pot I had the noodles cooking with a little oil and some chopped garlic. I used some small bow tie style ones. In my saute pan I threw in a little oil, onion and garlic then threw in the chopped up Serrano ham. I also was looking up recipes with Serrano ham and found an appetizer that was asparagus wrapped in Serrano ham. So when I do this recipe again, I might try asparagus. But anyway. Once the ham was heated threw I threw in the thawed peas.

The sauce for this recipe took me into making my very first bechamel sauce. It was sooooooooo easy. In a 3rd sauce pan I put 4 Tbs. of butter and let it melt and start to bubble, then threw in 1/4 cup flour and slowly added 2 cups of milk.



I threw in some salt and pepper and then when the noodles were ready I threw in some grated Gouda from the store. I kept whisking to make sure that the sauce did not clump. I then put the noodles and the sauce in the saute pan and mixed everything together. It was such a good dinner.

Speghetti with bacon and peas

This dish was very easy to make and looked great. When I get my camera up and going I will make it again and take pictures. The recipe calls for a cup and a half of parmesan cheese. We did not have that but it would have made the dish much better. Once again I prepared everything. I think this makes the difference in my enjoying cooking. I even start to enjoy the prep. My hands have been having a very hard time keeping up with all of the things that they need to continually do here so prep takes a while- but hey... time is what I have.

I chopped up the rest of the bacon slices that I had (after making a much needed BLT) and set in 1 bowl, thawed the frozen peas in another bowl and in a 3rd bowl I had 3 eggs, milk, salt and pepper. On the back burner I started the noodles while in my skillet I cooked the bacon on medium (mostly as to not burn the shit out of my arms.) Once crispy, I set it aside and got rid of most of the drippings. I threw in some garlic to soften and drained my noodles. I used a little of the hot water (about 1/2 cup) to temper the egg/milk mixture. I then threw the noodles, tempered egg/ milk situation and the peas into the saute pan to heat through.

This was my first time tempering eggs and I did not do it that well so they did harden up in the pan. That was okay though, it was still very good. At the end I threw in the bacon and if I had it this is when I would have added the cheese as well.

It was a very good dish, easy to make and the kids loved it. I wish there was a picture. It was nice looking. And I like pretty food.

Now this was a smart left over re-creation

I have never been good about left overs. I always just reheated the same dish. But I have been trying not to throw anything away. But the kids too are picky about left overs. So when we had some of the pasta in garlic cream sauce left, I figured... I used a lot of good ingredients for that dish, and there is a lot left (except shrimp... Akilean LOVES shrimp) I knew that I had to use it all. But the kids did not want the same pasta- they wanted a meat sandwich. So I said, well "I'll put meat in your pasta." I simply fried up some sliced ham and threw in the pasta. The oil from the ham coated the pasta- which already had great flavor from the veggies and sauce from the last dish. One of my more successful left over dishes.

At this rate, we will be able to stay very close to our 700 peso a week budget.

Shrimp and Pasta in a Garlic Cream Sauce and Veggies

Okay, this dish was inspired by a killer fettuccini and salmon cream dish that we had on Lena's birthday and this cute little place in Tulum called 2 lum. First let me say that my cooking experience is made so much better since I decided to start prepping my food when I cook. For this dish, a shelled & deveined about 1/2 a kilo of shrimp and separated the meat and the shells. And my typical assortment of veggies, (onion, calabasa, broccoli, carrot, and TONS of garlic)

In one pan I heated heavy cream, a pinch of salt and pepper, a little garlic and the shells from the shrimp. ***Ruben made a good point... he suggested that I sauté the garlic for a moment before adding the cream. I think that I will do that next time. *** After allowing the shells to simmer in the cream, I removed the shells and the added the shrimp meat to cook in the sauce.



In another pan, I sautéed my veggie combo is some simple chicken stock that I had made.

In the last pan I boiled water and cooked spaghetti noodles with a touch of oil and salt until tender.

It was my intention to serve the veggies mixed with the pasta and shrimp but in the end I thought that the pasta would be better by itself in the garlic cream sauce and shrimp and the veggies had a punch of their own flavor. It was very good.

Spaghetti with Chorizo Meat Sauce & Chorizo and Veggie Strata

Okay, so we are going to see what we can get out of these 300 pesos. Part of my whole goal is enjoy the process of preparing food and well, shit... I have nothing else to do! So I might as well take my time. My hands go through spells of severe pain so 1 of them is usually performing at about 30% its normal ability. And when you consider that the doctors gave up on me after loosing 25% of the ability that I used to have in the first place, the hand that is having a bad day pretty much helps the potato not to roll.

Having said that, there are a few things that I have come to really appreciate in a kitchen. The first 1 is a good set of knives, cutting boards and my mini chopper. I love that mini chopper. Plus it is a perfect way to make veggies small enough that the kids cannot pick them out.

So here is a recipe that actually makes 2 meals. The first is great pasta with meat sauce and the 2nd is a great strata for a hot cooked breakfast with NO effort.

This is actually a combination meal with a girlfriend of mine. I make this chorizo pasta dish a lot for my family and then she showed me a great recipe for the next day. It is amazing.

So with my chopped onion, garlic, 1 carrot, 1 large chunk of calabasa, large handful of broccoli florets, 6 chopped tomatoes, some chopped green pepper and 1 lb chorizo we were off to cook. This is what I got at the tienda that day but you can use just about any veggies that you have.

Simply sauté all veggies, add chorizo and season to taste with anything you have or want (I always use salt, pepper, Pappy's and cinnamon) and serve over spaghetti or other pasta and garlic bread. For my garlic bread I just mini-chopper some garlic- let stand with butter and melt, spread over bread and toast.

And there is meal #1. For the 2nd meal.... read the strata recipe.

With the 2nd roll, layer bread (this recipe can be done with old stale bread as a way to use it up) and chorizo sauce and cheese (if you want) into a casserole dish. In the picture is one of my oven proof pots, I do not yet have a casserole dish. Bread, sauce, cheese, bread, sauce, cheese, bread sauce cheese, bread. End with a layer of bread on top and pat down lightly. Then beat up a couple eggs and some milk, salt and pepper and pour evenly over the bread layers.

Cover the strata and leave in the fridge over night. In the morning, start the coffee and bake at 350 or so for an hour or so and you have a hot yummy breakfast. This is so filling and substantial that it can also be made for a dinner dish served with salad instead of fruit.