Tingly Szechuan Pepper (Beef) Noodles. {RR}

I knew I had to make this when I caught it on Rachael Ray's show. I had some ground beef in the freezer, so I made the recipe as is. Meat and all. It was so, SO good! And next time I will leave the meat out because the meat wasn't where this dish was getting it's flavors. The spices are amazing!! I cut down on the szechuan because of my 14 months - 8 year old kids. 

While I was cooking, my 4 year old informed us that she would not be eating dinner because "it stinks and I not like it". We negotiated with her and told her she needed to take her bites or she wouldn't have any of the super bowl snacks. She just had finished her first bite when minutes later we turned and looked at her and she was done and was pretty much licking the bowl. Yeah... now that's a good recipe! I took a picture of her holding her empty bowl for future reference to show her when she gives me that stink face and defiant attitude again. Mommies always right. ;)

1 pound dried Chinese noodles or thin spaghetti
{1 pound ground beef (used 1/4 pound)}
1 onion, minced
1 small red chile pepper, such as fresno, minced
4 large cloves garlic, minced
1 piece (1 inch) ginger, minced
2 teaspoons Szechuan pepper (went with 1 teaspoon so the littles could handle it)
1 teaspoon Chinese five-spice powder
1/4 to 1/3 cup tamari (dark soy sauce) or Bragg's liquid amino
2 cups shredded cabbage
1 bunch scallions, thinly sliced on an angle
Chili oil or sriracha, for serving

Bring a pot of water to a boil, salt it, add the noodles and cook until al dente. Drain.

{{OMIT if doing vegan. While the pasta is working, in a large skillet, heat the oil, 3 turns of the pan, over high heat until smoking. Pat the ground beef dry with a paper towel, then crumble it into the hot oil.}}

Heat pan and water to steam-fry the onion, chile, garlic, ginger, Szechuan pepper and five-spice powder to the beef. Stir-fry until the onion is slightly softened, 2 minutes.

Add the drained noodles to the {beef} mixture. Stir in the tamari (or liquid amino). Remove from the heat and toss with the cabbage and scallions. {Serve with the chili oil (or sriracha)... spicy enough, didn't need.}

Whole Wheat Penne with San Marzano Tomatoes

I was so excited to try this one out because I love fennel... knowing full well that I'd need to puree it before I fed it to the kids to avoid any nose turning ups. It was good but it didn't shine the way I thought it would... I think the pureeing mutilated the tastes. If that even makes sense. 

I'm not giving up on it that easily though... next time: I won't puree, cut the fennel really small, serve the swiss chard on the side, and go with regular tomatoes. I'm not convinced paying the extra bucks for the san marzano's is entirely worth it.

2 onions, quartered and sliced
2 fennel bulbs, halved and sliced
1 (28-ounce) can peeled Italian San Marzano tomatoes, drained
4 garlic cloves, minced
½ cup vegetable stock
½ cup white grape juice (wine)
4 cups roughly chopped Swiss chard
Freshly ground black pepper
Juice of 1 lemon
¾ cup Manzanilla (green) olives, roughly chopped
1 tablespoon fresh tarragon, minced
1 tablespoon fresh thyme, minced
1 tablespoon fresh parsley, minced
8 ounces whole wheat penne, cooked al dente according to package

Place a large sauté pan over medium-high heat. Sprinkle the bottom with a pinch of salt and heat for 1 minute. Add the oil and heat for 30 more seconds, being careful not to let it smoke. This will create a nonstick effect.

Add the onions and fennel and cook for 3 to 4 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the tomatoes, crushing each with your hand, along with the garlic, stock, wine, and chard. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Reduce the heat to medium and cook for 5 minutes.

Add the lemon juice and olives and simmer for 3 to 5 minutes, until the olives are tender. Fold in the tarragon, thyme, and parsley, along with the hot pasta. Serve immediately.

**Swap out anything you don’t like or don’t have on hand – chard for kale or olives for capers (which I did instead of the olives).

belly biters: Coco: awesome - Shayne, Nolan & I: good -

Ava: no way {she saw me cutting up the fennel and swiss chard}

The Conscious Cook

Tal Ronnen

Hurry Up Alfredo.

Ya'll are going to love me for this one. Like, "L-O, L-O, L-O, L-O-V-E, L-O, L-O, L-O... I'm talkin bout... I'm talkin bout love!" (Any Ashlee Simpson Wentz fans out there? Nope? No one? Yeah, me neither!)

Anyhow, back to this amazing pasta. It's for sure going into the Hatch Family rotation. It couldn't be more delicious. It couldn't be more easy. And it couldn't be more any on-hand, go-to meal to make, whatsoever. [any Chandler fans catch that one?... Man, I have got to stop writing these up late at night!] Although if you're just starting up on this vegan/plant-based thing it won't seem at all 'on-hand' ingredients to you at first. But this one alone is well worth the investment of the ingredients.

I seriously wanted more and more of this one, and couldn't believe that it was vegan. Seriously, just try this tonight. Or, right now. I can't wait to play with it some and add roasted red peppers... or try it into a rose sauce... and try roasted garlic with it... yum!

The only downfall was the garlic is not cooked, so the garlic flavor is strong - be ready for that. Too strong for my little Ava... "it's so good Mom... but it's just too strong!" I'll tone that down or try some roasted garlic cloves next time.

1 cup soy or almond milk

1/3 cup raw, unsalted cashews

1/4 cup nutritional yeast

3 tablespoons low-sodium tamari/soy sauce/bragg's liquid amino's

2 tablespoons Earth Balance margarine

1 tablespoons tahini

1 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

2 teaspoons dijon mustard

1/2 teaspoon paprika (smoked is awesome)

1 pinch nutmeg

2-4 cloves of garlic, optional (used 2, will use 1 next time)

Black pepper, to taste

whole wheat thin spaghetti

Add all the ingredients to a blender and blend until smooth. This may work best in a high-speed blender (like a Vita-Mix), but you can definitely make it in a regular blender. Just blend extra-long, or perhaps strain if you want it perfectly smooth. Tiny bits of cashews won’t hurt anyone though!

If you’re making this sauce for pasta, drain the pasta and return it to the hot empty pan. Pour the sauce over, place on medium heat, and stir until heated through. Serve with lots of fresh cracked black pepper. I love it with steamed broccoli added in!

belly biters: amazing!!

5 Star Hurry-Up Alfredo...

I just moved this already yummy dish up to 5 star yumminess... I cut up sundried tomatoes and added to the pasta water 1 minute before it's done. And sauted baby bella mushrooms and added them in after I mixed the pasta and sauce together. SOOOOOOO yummy!

Vegan Mexican Spaghetti.

So I updated a classic from about a year ago, which was originally a Rachael Ray... I just took out the beef, alcohol, cinnamon and added tomato. Turned out awesome.

2 ancho chili peppers, stemmed and seeded {i found a big bag of them at Wal-mart}
3 cups vegetable stock
3/4 pound soyrizo {Sprouts}
1 onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 bay leaf, fresh or dried
Salt and pepper
1/4 cup tomato paste
1 12-ounce can tomato sauce
1 pound whole wheat spaghetti
Finely chopped scallions, cilantro or parsley, to garnish

Simmer peppers in stock for 15 minutes to reconstitute, then purée stock and softened peppers in a food processor.

Meanwhile, heat heavy pot over medium-high heat add soyrizo, brown 8-10 minutes. Then add onion, garlic, bay leaf, salt and pepper, and cook 8-10 more. Then add tomato paste and cook 1 minute, stirring.

Add tomato sauce, stir a minute more then add the stock and pepper purée. Reduce heat and simmer 15 minutes.

While sauce simmers, bring water to boil for spaghetti. Salt water and cook pasta to al dente. Serve in bowls with pasta, sauce on top, and garnish with scallions and cilantro or parsley.

Spaghetti with Roasted Veggies & Garlic.

I love spaghetti... and I've been trying to concoct the perfect recipe for a while now. And I think I've got it. The trick is in the roasted garlic. Yum. It obviously doesn't have to be exact - especially if I came up with it.

1 red pepper, seeded & chunked
1 yellow pepper, seeded & chunked
1 orange pepper, seeded & chunked
1 green pepper, seeded & chunked
2 handfuls cremini mushrooms, chunked
1 squash, chunked
1 zucchini, chunked
1 bulb of garlic
1 - 14 oz. tomato sauce, no salt added
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon basil
1 teaspoon thyme
1 teaspoon fennel seed
salt to taste
whole wheat thin spaghetti

Preheat oven to 375*. Cut the top off the bulb of garlic, spray with evoo cooking spray and sprinkle with salt and ground pepper. Wrap in foil and put in the oven, roast for 20-30 minutes.

Cut up the rest of the veggies and put on 1 or 2 baking sheets. Spray and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast for 15-20 minutes.

Put water onto boil for the pasta. Cook according to package directions.

Put the tomato sauce in a pot over warm heat. When the veggies are done roasting, add them along with the seasonings. Salt to taste - remember you salted the veggies before roasting them. Get all of the roasted garlic cloves out of the bulb and smash them into a paste on a cutting board with a fork. Add to the pot. Let the flavors combine for 10 or so minutes... then chow down.

I also do this in a crockpot. You've got to do the roasted garlic separately... otherwise just put it all in the crock pot and cook on low for 4-6 hours.

Serve over whole wheat thin spaghetti noodles. Yum. It's even better the next day.

Pasta Della California.

The kids loved this... they love broccoli. Too bad for Shayne who just thought it was just "eh." Because if the kids like it, like devour it like it... it's gonna be made again!

1/2 pound thin spaghetti
3 cups sliced broccoli (tops cup into small florets, stalks sliced thinly)
8 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon grated lime zest
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/4 cup white grape juice
1 cup vegetable broth
2 tablespoons lime juice
1/2 teaspoon salt
several pinches of freshly ground black pepper
1 cup loosely packed arugula leaves
2 avocados; peeled, pitted, and sliced into 1-inch chunks

Bring a large pot of water to boil and prep all your ingredients while the water boils, because this dish comes together in no time. Once the water is boiling, add the pasta and cook according to the package directions, usually about 10 minutes. In the last minute of cooking you will be adding the broccoli, so keep that in mind.

Meanwhile, preheat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add about 2 tablespoons of of water, garlic, lime zest, and red pepper flakes, and gently heat, stirring often, for about 2 minutes, being careful not to burn the garlic. Pour in the white grape juice and raise the heat to bring to a boil, to reduce the white grape juice, about 2 minutes. Add the vegetable broth, lime juice, salt, and pepper, and bring again to a boil. Once the sauce is boiling, lower the heat to a simmer. Add the arugula.

By this point the pasta should be almost done, so add the broccoli to the boiling pasta and cook for 1 more minute. Drain all into a colander.

When the arugula is wilted, add the broccoli and pasta to the pan and use a pasta spoon to toss it around, making sure to get everything coated in garlic. Cook for about 3 more minutes. Add the avocado and turn off the heat. Gently toss the pasta for another minute to incorporate the avocado without smushing it, just until it is warmed through.

Serve with generous grinds of black pepper. There is usually a lot of garlic left in the pan, so be sure to spoon that over your bowls of pasta.

adapted from Veganomicon

by: Isa Chandra Moskowitz & Terry Hope Romero

page 192-193

My changes: omited 2 tablespoons olive oil, subbed grape juice for white wine, and I only used a cup of spicy arugula instead of the 4 cups they had (way too spicy for us)

SWEET AND SOUR THAI NOODLE BOWLS

From my girl Rachael Ray... modified for our belly bites. She will always and forever remain "my girl" for giving me some of my most favorite meals - even if we've changed what goes into our bellies. I'll just keep modifying.

Shayne loves this and said he could eat this once a week... It's a lot of the same ingredients as our favorite tilapia dish - so I figured it'd be a for sure thing with him. I told Shayne when we decided to change our eating that I'd die finding meals that left him fulfilled and happy the way his meat made him - and this is one of them. Yeah!! If you want to see the RR version, with meat - check it out here.

1 pound whole wheat or whole grain spaghetti
2 leeks, thinly sliced and thoroughly cleaned {I usually use just one}
A couple of generous handfuls shitake mushrooms, stems removed and thinly sliced
3 to 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 inches ginger root, grated
1/3 cup Tamari (or Bragg's Liquid Aminos - healthier and a quarter of the sodium)
2 tablespoons agave syrup or honey
2 limes, zest and juice of 1, the other cut into wedges, divided
Sriracha or other hot sauce, to taste
2 cups shredded romaine or iceberg lettuce
Cilantro or basil, chopped, for garnish

Bring a pot of water to a boil for the pasta. Add salt and cook pasta to al dente.

When the pasta goes into the water, heat some water (enough to fill the bottom of the pan) in a large skillet over high heat add leeks and mushrooms to the skillet and stir-fry 2 minutes. Keep adding water once it's evaporated out. Add garlic and ginger, and cook a minute more. Stir in Tamari (or Liquid Aminos), agave syrup or honey, lime zest and juice, and hot sauce to taste.

In a large serving bowl, toss veggies with the meat, noodles and lettuce to combine. Garnish with cilantro or basil and serve with lime wedges alongside.

YUM!!