Yummy Spaghetti

Tonight I didn't feel like cooking. Nothing new really, some days I do some days I don't. So I turned to my go to dish for nights when I want something quick and easy...spaghetti.

So here we have the spaghetti with meat sauce I made, cheesy garlic bread and wilted lettuce. The garlic bread wasn't anything special. Just store bought french bread, sliced, sprinkled with garlic salt and Italian seasoning mix and a pinch of shredded cheese. The wilted lettuce was a experiment and a bit of a fail. With some tweaking it may work. I wilted it with a bit olive oil, some garlic salt and put it in the oven. It had a very strong lettuce flavor. The Hubby said it may be good with some vinegar sprinkled on it.

The family gave me mixed reviews on the spaghetti. I thought it was great, others thought it was okay, and a couple thought the flavor was a bit odd...but okay.

I made the noodles the usual way...boil in salty water. I browned the meat and while that was all going I made the tomato sauce.  Since I liked it I thought I would post the recipe here. Just a warning, I guessed on the seasoning amounts, so all seasoning amounts are pretty much to taste. Bad Jackie for not measuring.

Spaghetti Sauce with a twist
3 cans diced tomatoes (low sodium preferred)
1 can navy beans, rinsed and drained
1 small can tomato paste
1 lb lean ground chuck
1 tsp garlic salt
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp Mrs dash
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp ground mustard
1/4 tsp turmeric

1. Brown meat in large skillet.
2. Puree two cans of tomatoes, the beans, and tomato paste together.
3. Add seasonings to tomato sauce.
4. After meat has browned, add tomato sauce and last can of tomatoes.
5. Simmer for 15-20 minutes.



Nutrient data for 8 servings (based on calculator on caloriecount.about.com)
Calories 192, Total Fat 4.2g, Cholesterol 51mg, Sodium 289mg, Total Carbohydrates 16.6g, Dietary Fiber 4.1g, Sugars 4.2g, Protein 22.4g, Vitamin A 16% • Vitamin C 19% Calcium 3% • Iron 73%

Pork, Greens and Beans, Yellow Rice.

Tonight's dinner was a bit of a throw together(okay so most nights are this way, I suck at meal planning). I had pork chops/steaks thawed out but nothing else planned.  So I went out to the garden and saw I had some radishes that were ready for harvest. I pull these thinking I could fix these and their greens for dinner. I then look at my collard and turnip greens. Those are big enough to pick as well. So I get a few of each to go with dinner. Next I decide on rice for another side. I wasn't sure how I wanted to fix it so I turn to Google.  I find a rice pilaf recipe that gave me another idea. So here it is. A total of approximately: 426.2 Calories, 18.7 g of total fat, 36g of total carbohydrate, 10g of dietary fiber, 0.4g of sugar, and 28.2g of protein.

For the pork I just took 5 chops/steaks and put black pepper, salt and garlic powder over them. Drizzled about 2 tbsp of Italian dressing and stuck them in the oven. I baked them at 425-450 for about 20 minutes then turned the temp down to 375 and kept them there till they were done. I didn't time it so I have now idea how long it was. I know that when everything else was done so were they.

Here's the approximate nutrition data figured up at sparkrecipes.com:

Pork Chops

Nutrition Facts

  6 Servings

Amount Per Serving

  Calories

195.3

  Total Fat

12.2 g

  Saturated Fat

4.0 g

  Polyunsaturated Fat

2.2 g  

  Monounsaturated Fat

4.8 g

  Cholesterol

59.5 mg

  Sodium

467.2 mg

  Potassium

251.3 mg

  Total Carbohydrate

0.9 g   

  Dietary Fiber

0.1 g   

  Sugars

0.0 g

  Protein

19.4 g

My yellow rice was started by heating a pan with a small amount of oil. I then added 2 cups of white rice and about 1 tablespoon of dry, minced onion and cooked them till they got slightly translucent and began to brown. At the same time I had 2 chicken bullion cubes in 4 cups of water heating in a medium sized saucepan.  When the rice was done browning/turning translucent I added it to the boiling water and completed cooking according to rice package directions.  Here is also where I should of done something different. I added the turmeric, salt and ginger at the end of cooking and I should of done it when the rice went in the water. So here add 1 tsp of turmeric, 1/2 to 1 tsp of salt, and 1/2 tsp of ground ginger to rice. Cook till done. 

The approximate nutrition data for the rice is:

Yellow Rice 

Nutrition Facts

8 servings

Calories 57.8

Total Fat 0.2g

Saturated fat 0.0g

Monounsaturated fat 0.0g

Cholesterol 0.0mg

Sodium 521.4mg

Potassium 38.0mg

Total Carbohydrate 12.2 g

Dietary fiber 0.4g

Sugars 0.0g

Protein 1.2g

I was going to just saute the greens in butter, roast the radishes and add them together.
Unfortunately I overestimated the amount of greens I had harvested. As i was cooking them I noticed they were cooking down to nothing. So I opened up two cans of light red kidney beans, drained and rinsed them, and added them to the greens and radishes. I then added some garlic powder, black pepper and salt. There was also about 3 tablespoons of butter and 1 cup of water with a beef bullion cube in the dish. I sauteed/pan roasted/steamed...okay how about cooked...cooked the radishes in the water/bullion and 1 tablespoon of unsalted butter. I then added the greens, two more tablespoons of butter, seasonings and sauteed them till soft. I next added the beans and cooked till heated.


Here is the nutrition data for Beans and Greens:
6 servings
Calories 173.1
Total Fat 6.3g
Saturated fat 3.7g
Polyunsaturated fat 0.5g
Monounsaturated fat 1.7g
Cholesterol 15.5 mg
Sodium 1,024.9mg (I'm not sure what's up with this number)
Potassium 446.6 mg
Total Carbohydrate 22.9g
Dietary Fiber 9.5g
Sugars 0.4g
Protein 7.6g


Tonight's meal went over well with my boys calling dibs on leftover rice for tomorrow.  Since they don't usually eat rice unless it's made sweet or drowning in gravy, this is a definite win.