Matt's Spicy Spaghetti with Meat Sauce

As with any family, we too have a few recipes that we eat at least once a week (and sometimes twice). I make 1 or 2 of them and Matt has a few goodies up his sleeves as well. Once in particular that we eat at LEAST once a week is spaghetti with meat sauce. I'm not going to call it Bolognese because it's got a little twist to it.

Ingredients:

• 1 package of ground beef
• 1 package of spaghetti
• 1/4 cup Frank's Hot Sauce
• 1 jar tomato sauce (about 3 cups)
• 1 tsp steak seasoning
• Sea salt
• Vegetable oil - a dollop

Steps:

1. Boil water according to the package directions for the pasta but add the sea salt to the boiling water. Add in the pasta and get those noodles cooking.
2. Add the vegetable oil to a frying pan and heat it up, add in the ground beef and start to cook. You can season with a little salt and pepper if you like. Add in the steak seasoning.
3. Cook the meat till it starts to smell like a well done burger - you want the meat to be almost well done. 
4. Drain the grease off. 
5. Add in the tomato sauce and the franks. Make sure you stir in the franks really well otherwise you'll have a few hots bites and the rest will be fairly mild. This is key.
6. At this point, your pasta should be ready. Strain the pasta and serve to each dish. We like to add the pasta to the dish first then add the meat sauce on top.
7. Enjoy!

Matt hard at work.

Fresh Pasta

My roommate and I have a small obsession with making fresh pasta. Who wouldn't? So stinking easy I don't know why we don't make it every single day.

3 eggs, 2 1/4 cups flour and a pinch of salt mixed together slowly on the table top. We also added some fresh black pepper - it could have used a bit more. Mixed it all together on the table top and let it sit for at least 20 minutes.

(link to video on how2heroes)

Then we split the dough in half so it was easier to work with - rolling it out slowly through the machine and thinner each time.

Yum!


Also here are a couple of nice shots from yesterday's how2heroes shoot with my good friend and amazing athlete Linda. One-Pot Peanut and Chicken Soup - recipe coming soon!

Fresh Pasta and Squash Sauce

I finally did it. I finally bought a pasta maker... and it's awesome.

Very simple pasta recipe...



Ingredients:
2 1/4 cups flour
pinch of salt
3 eggs

1. Pour the flour into a mound on the counter, make a little pit and pop the eggs into the middle
2. Start to scramble the eggs in the middle of the flour and add them slowly into the rest of the flour till you have the dough
3. Keep working it for about 8 minutes ( you can use your hands if you want at this point)
4. Break it into three balls. cover them with a damp cloth and let them site for 15-30 min
5. Roll out the pasta

Squash Sauce - we just used a whole one
3 oz of goat cheese - used plain, no flavoring
2 pad of butter
curry powder - to taste
garlic
salt
pepper
1/2 tsp brown sugar b/c it needed a little sweetening
topped with Parmesan cheese

1. Peel, cube and boil squash till it soft
2. Pour off the water and add all the other ingredients and mix the crap outta it

Cook the pasta like normal, top with the squash sauce and you're done!

Pasta Maker = Awesome

Bought a pasta maker. FINALLY! WOO HOO!

Layers of Lovely Noodles

Lasagna! Honestly - who doesn't love it? Want to know why I love it? Because you feel like you're eating something bad but with my recipe - its not! I promise!

I've made about a ZILLION lasagna's and this is the BEST ONE I'VE EVER MADE! Seriously! I feel bad for you that you aren't here to eat it with me! Ha ha!

The secret to the best lasagna? The coolest can opener ever! lol. Yes, it's avacado green and awesome! (and yes, my nails are neon pink - you know you love it!)



Want to know the second secret? The BIGGEST YELLOW OLD-SCHOOL STRAINER EVER! Check this sucker out - HUGE! This is a normal size sink and this strainer fills the whole thing! I wasn't lying last post when I said my lovely Uncle has about 10000 strainers - i choose this one because I like the color.



Want to know the third secret? I FOUND THE POT HOLDERS! YES! My mittens can rest easy tonight! They won't be needed.



Here's a quick rundown of the ingredients and amounts I've used. This should make one large lasagna or two smaller ones.

• 1 box of lasagna noodles - I'm using whole wheat ones because I feel they are less bad for me, I could be totally wrong but who cares!
• 1 Large red pepper
• 1 medium size zucchini
• 1 medium size head of broccoli
• 1 can of Italian flavored sauce - I've used Contadina
• 1 jar of tomato sauce - I've used
• 2 bags of mozzeralla cheese - I've used part-skim (a little bit of fat is ok)
• 1 package of ground turkey
• Salt/Pepper to taste
• Fresh Basil
• 1 small onion
• Fresh garlic
• Bit of olive oil

You'll also need a lot of pots - sorry, this isn't a clean recipe - you'll use lots and lots of pots.



First off - boil in a BIG pot some water, add about 3 pinches of salt to the pot. This helps the noodles from sticking together. Add the noodles and let them cook according to the package.

Then its time to chopppppppp! Garlic - I LOVE garlic so I always use a lot - I've got about 6 cloves and I chopped the crap out of them. Small bits but not too small. Then the onion is up next - chop the crap outta that guy - smaller is better in this case. Once you finish chopping - heat up your sauce pan with a little bit of olive oil. Save a little bit of onion for the sauce. Then you want to heat up the garlic and onions to get the juices flowing. From there - add the meat and cook till its not pink anymore.

While the meat is cooking - add the jar and can of sauce together. Just heat these guys up together and add a sprinkle or two of the Parmesan cheese. Then add the onions you set aside earlier as well. Just let this sit and mix together on a low heat for about 10 minutes.



The noodles should be about done now (they take about 15-10 minutes). You want to drain the pot and take the noodles out. The tricky thing about lasagna noodles is getting them to not stick together. I've used some tin foil spread over the counter to let them rest a bit.

So far so good eh? There is where it gets interesting. Now you want to chop up all your veggies into very small pieces - the zucchini, broccoli and peppers. I wanted to use the same sauce pan as I had used for the turkey but as you can see - the veggies don't all fit. Now it's time to get creative - there is a BIG pot that i had the noodles in - maybe that will work - YES! Rockin'.



You want to heat up your veggies so they get to be brightly colored - not too much. You want them still to have some sort of texture to them. Then add the sauce - mix that together for a minute, then add the meat, mix that together for a minute, then you're ready to build!



First start off with a layer of sauce, then a layer of noodles, then a layer of cheese (I also sprinkle a little bit of the parm here as well), then I start over again and keep layering until I end with a layer of cheese on top and it's just about the top of the pan. Sometimes this is three sets of layers, sometimes two.

You'll probably have bits and pieces of noodles leftover - you know what i do? I make a mini version and eat it while the larger one is baking! HA!

Cover your lasagna with tin foil and pop it into the over for 30-40 minutes. You'll know it's done when the cheese on top is melted and the entire thing is bubbling like crazy! Now - one thing to remember, this is HOT! I know this because I didn't heed my own warning and burned the crap outta my mouth. sucks.

Oh well. I hope you enjoy my recipe. Not too many troubles this time except for the pots. I warned you - lots and lots of pots.