Pasta

  Tonight we had our pasta party. I had four great helpers, My two boys, Troy (24), Jake (19), then my two nephews, Dakota(14) and Zach (9). If you didn't really think about it my sister's two and my two are all five years apart. Troy is five years older than Jake, Jake is five years older than Dakota, and Dakota is five years older than Zach. Dakota figured this out when he was five, and tells everybody still today. Dakota and Zach have autism, we love them so very much. They are as close to me as my own two sons are.

  Now back to our party. Before my nephews got here, I placed some chicken quarters in the oven at 350 degrees and cooked them 35 minutes covered, and uncovered until they were brown. Jake made a spinach pesto. He took 4 cups of spinach, about 2 cups of fresh basil, 3 cloves garlic, 2 green onions, 1/4 cup fresh grated Parmesan, about 1/3 cup olive oil, salt, and pepper in a food processor, combined until it was well mixed, and creamy. He may have added more oil. Troy helped with some of the prep. When My sister and the boys came over, Zach and I got started on the pasta dough. An important thing to remember is not to let the 9 year old autistic kiddo read the recipe. He did great cracking the eggs, but when it came to the amount of the water he added 1 cup instead of 2 tbls. He did the olive oil, and salt just right, so we added more flour to balance out the water. Our dough turned out soft, but still tasted okay, it did clump together though. We then made the spinach pasta, and he did that great (I was reading the recipe this time). We let the pasta rest, that was the hard part...lol Next I turned the boys and dough over to Jake.

                                                                 They did a great job!

 While the boys were busy making the pasta, I started my quick sauce, I took 2 tbls olive oil, heated it, then added 1 small yellow onion chopped, mini carrots sliced, I let those cook until tender, then added 6 mini sliced sweet peppers, mushrooms, and minced garlic. I let all that get fragrant. I then deglazed the pan with 1 cup white wine, cooked thta for about 1 minute, then added 2 cups of chicken broth. I let that reduce by 1/2, then added 1 container of grape tomatoes, covered, just until the tomatoes burst. I then finished it with fresh basil and spinach. I let it simmer until the pasta was done. I then turned the stove over to my 2 boys, Troy has the green hair and Jake red. They cooked the pasta, and then added it to the sauces. One other sauce I had was a jar white sauce, that's all Zach will touch.

 Here is the 2 pastas, not a great picture, but it tasted great! It's something that we will have to keep practicing making.

Here are the 4 boys all together after eating their great dinner!

Black Beans and Chicken Tacos

  I know I haven't posted in a very long time. One reason is that Jake moved into an apartment with his brother, so I don't have my cooking partner any more. Sometimes it really sucks when your kids get older, especially when the move out on their own. Both my boys are suppose to come over Monday to make pasta with me. I got new pasta attachments for my Kitchen Aid mixer for Christmas, but have been to sick to use them.
  It's been so hard cooking just for myself. I usually cook too much and end up throwing it away, because I don't like leftovers. Since the beginning of the year, I vowed I will cook for myself and that it will be healthy. After being sick for the last month (I have had pneumonia), I have lost 10 lbs. and I would like to continue the weight loss. I thought I would use this blog to help me along.
  Tonight I was craving tacos so I thought how I could make them healthier. I had already picked up some high fiber tortilla at Grocery Outlet for fifty cents, so I thought I would try them.
  First I took 1/2 of a skinless boneless chicken breast, placed it in a small dutch oven, sprinkled on some pepper, ancho chili powder, and smoked paprika. I then added 1/4 cup chicken broth, covered it and baked in a 350 degree over for 30 minutes.
  I then, took a small pot, put a tablespoon of olive oil in the bottom, then added 1/2 of a small yellow onion, after those cooked for a few minutes then added 2 chopped cloves of garlic, let it cook for about 2 minutes. Then I added 1 can of drained black beans, and one can of El Patio tomato sauce (this brand has a lot of flavor, but if you don't like spicy, you can use a can of  regular tomato sauce. I also added some chopped mini sweet peppers. I let that simmer. I saved some of the chopped onion and sweet peppers for topping, for that crunch. I also sliced some fresh spinach.
  This is what it looked like when it was done. I know my pictures are backwards, but oh well. I for got I did put a pinch of shredded cheese on top. This dinner was 440 calories. I used the tortillas on the side. The calorie count was with 2 of the high fiber tortillas.