pasta power

I've already shared my basic technique of making pasta dishes. I love making pasta dishes because they are usually quick one pot meals (less than 30 min), work well for the next day's lunches, and have a zillion variations. here are a few variations of recent pasta dinners:

Rigatoni with mixed vegetables and boneless chicken thighs in marinara sauce, with sliced avocado. This one was a winner!

Ziti with kelbasas, broccoli, and tomatoes. (The kielbasa sausages contain soy so Jax couldn't eat this one)

Ditalini pasta with peas and cubed ham (used chicken broth for more flavor):

Wagon wheel pasta with fresh broccoli, chopped garlic, and a can of stewed tomatoes:

kids out and about, eating

we don't go out to eat with our kids much because of their food allergies. when we do eat out, it's a treat. here are a few pics of them enjoying food outside of the home:

When we were at Bethany Beach, we went out for crabs. Here is Ky, eating fried chicken, corn, and french fries:

Jax enjoying his first french fries. Steak fries at an italian sandwich joint somewhere between Bethany Beach and Maryland.

Jax having his first popsicle (69 madison st., ny ny):

summer BBQs

We grilled quite a few times in August and September. Here are a few of our meals:

Grilling at the beach: Steak, chicken, hot dogs, baked beans, corn.

 Locally grown, fresh sweet white corn was a staple at our bbqs:

We had salad to fool ourselves into thinking we were eating healthy:

Lots of grilled steak. Our favorite cut of meat is ribeye. Pictured here is porterhouse:

Barbecue chicken. By the end of the summer, Chad figured out how to grill chicken without burning it.

We only had grilled shrimp a few times. Shown here, grilled shrimp, prepared by our friends Dennis and Minna.

august no-watch dinners: chili, slow cooked bbq chicken

We were on the road almost every weekend in August. We tried to stick to our routine on weekdays, while recovering from the previous weekend and preparing for the upcoming weekend. Dinners were not so exciting but here are two low-maintenance entrees I made in August.

Chili
3 cans red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 can no-salt whole kernel corn
1 can crushed tomatoes
1 lb lean ground beef
1/2 onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
4 tbsp chili powder
olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Brown garlic and onions in olive oil. Add ground beef and salt and pepper. Cook meat thoroughly. In a slow cooker, combine kidney beans, corn, and tomatoes. Add meat mixture to slow cooker mixture. Add chili powder, salt, and pepper. Mix well and slow cook on low for 4 hours.

The kids love this simple chili. They love the beans and the corn. Sometimes we will serve chili with rice or pasta. Recently, we've been serving it with soft flour tortillas and they can make "chili tacos." It's a bit of a mess but it's a good way to get them to eat beans.

Slow cooked bbq chicken
4 chicken thighs + 4 chicken drumsticks
1 cup ketchup
1/2 cup sugar
1 tbsp soy sauce

Combine ketchup, sugar, and soy sauce well. Toss chicken pieces in sauce. Cook in slow cooker for 5 hours on low.

This dish was not good. I think the same ingredients would be much tastier if I used a higher temperature cooking method, like on the grill or oven. The sauce was a variation of the 1-2-3 sauce that my aunt carol uses for her ribs (ketchup, sugar, and soy sauce in a 1:2:3 ratio). The sauce was great but I didn't like it combined with the chicken skin since it wasn't browned.

August Birthdays

In August, Jax turned one year old. We spent his birthday weekend at Bethany Beach with family. I was a little depressed that Jax couldn't have a regular cake and ice cream for his first birthday since he has so many allergies. At the last minute, I remembered that our cousin had a great recipe for vegan chocolate cake. I adjusted it slightly to make him an allergen-free chocolate cake and cupcakes.

Allergen free chocolate cake
3 cups flour
2 cups sugar
6 tablespoons cocoa
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups water
3/4 cup vegetable oil
2 tablespoons vinegar
2 teaspoons vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix dry ingredients first.  Once the mixture is even, mix in wet ingredients. Continue mixing until you obtain an even batter (no lumps).  Pour into a greased cake pan and bake for approximately 40 minutes (or 20 minutes for 20 cupcakes, 30 minutes for 2 rounds).

Frosting
1 cup Crisco
2 lbs powdered/confectioner's sugar
1/2 cup water
1/8 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. vanilla

Whip till fluffy using a heavy duty mixer.

I couldn't decide between making a cake or cupcakes, so I did both! I made one single-layered round, and 10 cupcakes. I bought regular gel decorating icing for the designs. Chad's cousin, Yuxuan, did the actual designs. It was just perfect. The cake tasted great and not healthy at all! As you can see, both Jax and Ky enjoyed it thoroughly! :)

A few weeks later, on my birthday, we happened to be in New York visiting Chad's parents.We didn't have anything specific planned for my birthday, except that we were going to have takeout from my favorite Chinatown restaurant, Congee Village. I was really excited that Chad surprised me with cupcakes that night. He was very thoughtful and got vegan cupcakes from Babycakes in the Lower East Side so the kids could celebrate with us too. Jax actually only liked the frosting and he spent 15 minutes just trying to lick it off the top. It was hilarious. We had to take off his shirt because he was a sticky mess. Kyler was a little more controlled with his chocolate cupcake, but they both went straight to the bath after they were done.

taking out the shovel

i am soo sooo far behind on my dinnerattheleesters posts. life has been keeping me busy. i will dig myself out of this hole. stay tuned...

June convenience meals

Dinners had to keep up with our hectic June schedule. Here are a few of those recipes:


Pasta with Kielbasas and veggies
1/3 lb rigatoni pasta
1/2 bag frozen peas
1/2 bag frozen corn
1 link of cooked kielbasa sausage
olive oil

In a pasta pot, cook pasta according to package directions. 5 minutes before pasta is done, add peas and corn to water. Drain and set aside. While the pasta is cooking, slice Kielbasa diagonally. Heat a separate pan with olive oil on medium heat. Add Kielbasas, cooking for 3-4 minutes on each side. Add cooked pasta and veggies to pan with kielbasas. Sautee for 3-4 minutes, allowing the pasta to absorb the flavors of the meat.

We went to a retreat recently and I had nothing planned for dinner that night we returned. I pulled together this very quick and tasty dinner in just 15 minutes! Chad was impressed with getting such as "quality" meal in such a short amount of time and without much in the fridge. Kyky wanted more "hot dogs." No one even noticed the large amount of veggies I sneaked into this dish. Next time, I'm going to reduce the amount of pasta to just 1/4 lb, and add MORE veggies to reduce the carbs and increase the vitamins! :)

Pasta salad and fish sticks
1/2 lb rotini pasta
1/2 bag frozen brocoli florets
1/2 bag supersweet frozen corn
3 tbsp Italian dressing

Add brocoli and pasta to boiling water and simmer for 10 minutes. During the last 4 minutes, add the frozen corn. Remove from heat; rinse and drain. Cool to room temperature, and add Italian dressing. Toss well and serve with cooked, frozen fish sticks (according to package directions).

This dinner was made on a day that I had absolutely nothing prepared and I had just 20 minutes to make dinner. I don't like to have prepared foods like fish sticks as dinner because I usually want to minimize the preservatives and I want to keep dinners homemade. But, everyone was satisfied and happy after this meal, and considering the lack of preparation, I was happy.


"Greener" roasted chicken and carrots
 3 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into small pieces
6 carrots, peeled and sliced
olive oil, salt, pepper, chopped garlic to taste

Toss chicken and carrots in the olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic. Place in a 375 degree oven for 35-40 minutes. Turn off oven and do not open door. Leave pan in oven for another 30 minutes before serving.

On this particular evening, I had to pick up kyky and jax from daycare so I started to cook this meal, turning off the oven, and allowed the residual heat in the oven to continue cooking the meat while I picked up the kids. It turned out great and I probably saved a little electricity too. Yay for doing something convenient AND green!


beef-a-rotini bake
1/2 lb lean ground beef
1 jar of your favorite pasta sauce
1/2 lb rotini pasta
Italian bread crumbs

Cook pasta according to package directions and set aside. Brown ground beef with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Add pasta sauce. Combine pasta and sauce in a casserole pan. Top with italian bread crumbs. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes.

This was one of those days where Chad had to work late and I had to pick up the kids from daycare. Before picking them up, I combined the pasta and sauce in the pan, and topped it with the breadcrumbs. Then I ran out to get the kids from daycare. When we got home, I popped the dish into the oven to heat it up.



Ground beef and tofu with broccoli
1/2 lb ground beef
1 box firm silken tofu
1/2 bag frozen broccoli florets
1 tsp olive oil
1 tsp soy sauce
salt and pepper to taste

Add small amount of olive oil to a nonstick wok on medum heat. Add ground beef, salt and pepper. In a separate pot, boil frozen broccoli and drain. Add tofu to ground beef. Add cooked broccoli to the wok. Add soy sauce and allow to cook for another 2 minutes.

Our dishwasher was broken for 3 weeks May/June as well. I tried to make as many one-pot-meals as possible to minimize the number of dishes I had to hand wash at the end of the day. This was one of those dinners. :)

Here's a picture of our dishwasher being used as a drying rack after hand washing a million items on a typical weekday. Note that this is JUST a portion of the plastic items. The other dishes are drying on the other dish rack on top of the counter. Ahhh...that's life with an infant and a toddler. :(