Stir Fry Bowties Pasta

My kids prefer to eat noodles and pasta over rice but my hubby is a rice barrel! Can't satisfy everyone's preference so I told them to compromise that only on weekends we get to have noodles. So far the arrangement is working fine.  :)

So, to keep my promise, the kids get to have their noodles or pasta on weekends. Sometimes I will do the regular Hakka or Cantonese fry but pasta is cheap here so beside using them in pasta type of dishes, I will either use them for noodles soup or stir fry them.

Also, I've been using my HCP (Happy Call Pan) to do most of the frying which is very convenient and less oil splattering onto my stove top.

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Ingredients

• 150g Bowties pasta


• ¼ of Red Capsicum - strips


• ¼ cup of Green pea


• 100g of Meat (chicken or pork cut into thin strips)


• 1 small stick of Carrot - sliced


• ½tsp Garlic -minced


• Soy sauce


• Black sauce


• Pepper


• Mirin (Japanese sweet cooking wine)


• Raw sugar


• Salt


• Olive oil

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Methods

1. Marinade the meat with some soy sauce, black sauce, pepper and mirin and set aside.


2. In a small pot, boil half a pot of water added with some salt and cook the pasta till al-dante (at a chewy stage), drain away the water and sprinkle some olive oil to keep them apart.


3. In a frying pan (in this case in the HCP) saute the minced garlic with a tsp of oil till fragrant.


4. Toss in the marinated meat and stir fry till brownish and 80% cooked.


5. Add in the capsicum, then the peas and carrot and continue to fry for 2 minutes or so. If using HCP, you can click and lock it.


6. Toss in the cooked pasta and stir to mix them well (if using HCP, you can lock and flip the pan)


7. In a small bowl, mix some soy sauce, dark soy sauce, raw sugar, pepper and about ¼ cup of water and pour over the pasta and vege mix. Stir till well mix.


8. Serve while hot!

Simple Meaty Lasagne

We visited Rome and Milan during our honeymoon but the ironic thing is, we never really eat what the Italians eat except pizza! Yes, no kidding... we only had a few slices of pizzas as I was so sick with morning sickness that I don't have much appetite for any food well, except a few cones of gelato! What a shame! :P

Back then I was not so interested in Italian food and cheesy stuff don't appeal to me since I had lactose intolerance. My tummy will have a fit each time I eat cheese except mozzarella so I avoid them at much as I could.

However, when we moved to Melbourne, cheesy food seems to be everywhere! Well, one thing is that, cheese is so much cheaper here compared to Malaysia and the kids love to have cheesy stuff once in a while. Darrius is a fan of cheese and of all things he only ordered lasagne from his school canteen!

One day I saw a big lasagne dish on sale in one of the supermarket and decided to get one so I could cook my own lasagne. Checking the net and found a few recipes but most have béchamel sauce which I was reluctant to do as I don't have so much time to spare. So, I decided to go for the simplest where I used bottled bolognese sauce andwith added vegetables.

I can tell you the aroma from the browning cheese (mozzarella) filled the entire kitchen and it was oh so good! :lol:  The dish was rather huge so we have half of it as left over. I cut them into a few snack size portions and freeze them so I can have it whenever I have the cravings while having some bingo games when the kids are sleeping :D I know it is sinful but it was really satisfying!

Since I still have some left over lasagne sheets, I might be baking another dish soon when I finished the frozen batch.

Ingredients

• 1kg Mixed ground beef and pork (I used 50/50)


• 1 jar of Bolognese or pasta sauce of your choice


• 1 can of Tomato paste (optional)


• 1 Zucchini - cut into thin slices or diced


• 2 sticks Carrots - diced


• 1 cup Peas (I used frozen peas)


• 1 jar of Bolognese or pasta sauce of your choice


• 1 Onion - diced


• 3 pips Garlic - smashed


• 1 cup Water


• Olive oil for stir frying


• Salt and pepper to taste


• Lasagne sheets


• 1½ cup Cheddar cheese - grated


• 1½ cup Mozzarella cheese - grated

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Methods

1. Heat up frying pan with some olive oil and sauté the vegetables (garlic, onion, zucchini, carrot and peas), lift up and set aside then in the same pan stir fry the ground meat till 80% cook.


2. Add in pasta sauce, tomato paste and water to the cooked meat, stir till well combine, toss in the sautéed vegetables and stir till well mixed. Add in salt and pepper to taste.


3. In a sauce pan, boil water with some salt to slightly soften the lasagne sheets (if you are not using fresh lasagne sheets).


4. Fill the first layer of your lasagne dish with some of the bolognese/pasta sauce, line with lasagne sheet, sprinkle with some cheddar and mozzarella, pasta sauce, lasagne sheets and so on until all your pasta sauce is used up.


5. Topped the dish with lasagne sheets, a layer of cheddar and lastly the mozzarella to get the browning effects on the surface.


6. Bake in a preheated oven of 190ºC for 30 minutes and turn to 200ºC for another 10 minutes or till the surface is brown or slightly burn.

Baked Pasta on Bread

It has been a long time since I make any baked snacks at home. We have just too many packets of cookies and other snacks lying around the house waiting to be finished up. Darrius spent half the day in school so he skipped one snack time at home. When he returned, his lunch will filled him up till dinner time and that means, no more snacking time in those 5 days of the week!

I actually made these simple snack some time back when I was trying to find ways to make something interesting to munch...

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Ingredients

• 100g Pasta (I used some characters pasta)


• 6 slices of Bread (cut into star shape)


• Pasta sauce (I used the Leggo's Pasta Bake sauce)


• Cheese bits


• Ham bits

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Methods

1. In a medium sauce pan, boil the pasta with some salt. Drained and leave to cool down.


2. Cut the bread slices into star shapes using a cookie cutter and placed them into muffin tins with the 5 edges  sticking out.


3. In the centre of the bread, put a dullop of pasta sauce and some cooked pasta on it before dropping another dullop onto the pasta.


4. Before sending the tray into the oven, sprinkle with some cheese and ham bits on the top. Bake at 200°C for about 20 minutes or till the edges of the bread turned brownish.

Meaty Bolognese

Now that my baby is at the stage where she is getting more active and mobile, I have less time to prepare lunch hence I will cook and freeze some food which my boy likes. All I need to do is to reheat these frozen food stash before I go and fetch him from school.

One of these is pasta/spaghetti with bolognese sauce. The sauce can be kept in the freeze up to a month. All I need to do is to put appropriate portion into small containers and deep freeze them once they have cooled down.

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Ingredients

• 500g Meat (chicken/pork/beef) minced/ground


• 80g Frozen mixed vege - optional


• 4 Button Mushroom (sliced/coarsely chopped) - optional


• 1 jar Bolognese/pasta sauce - I used the 575g jar


• Pepper and salt for taste


• 250g pasta


• Olive oil (to fry the meat and to seperate pasta/spaghetti)


• Water

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Methods

1. Heat up a frying pan with some olive oil and stir-fry minced meat till 70% cooked.


2. Toss in the mix vege & sliced button mushroom and continue to stir.


3. Add in the bolognese/pasta sauce and mixed well and add in water (about 1/2 cup). Stir till cook and sprinkle with pepper and salt to taste.


4. In a pot, boil 1.5 little of water, add a teaspoon of salt and wait till boil before tossing in pasta/spaghetti and cook according direction on the package. Drain and add in some olive oil to avoid them from sticking to each other.

Simple Seafood Alfredo Portobello

Ever since I have 2 kids, I am always looking for easy to prepare dishes which takes less time to cook and something Darrius will enjoy as he has been a little fussy lately. As I have to cook 2 meals a day, sometimes I really have to scratch my head to think of what to cook since PiggyBeng can be quite fussy too.

Kids being kids, Darrius loves Western food more than his daddy so I'll try to cook stuff that PiggyBeng likes least for lunch. It is during lunch I will cook pasta or spaghetti which PiggyBeng tried to avoid as he thinks these carbo food are too fattening!

Being pressed for time, I don't cook these sauces from scratch anymore which I used to do last time. Now, I'll just grab a few cans of those pasta sauce each time I visit the supermarkets and they come in real handy when I want to have a quick bite for both Darrius and myself.

Campbell's came out with quite a few pasta sauce recently and I guessed this is the perfect time to try all of them... With some frozen fresh scallops stash from our reunion dinner, I made some yummy cream pasta that don't require much time.

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For this dish, I used the Alfredo Portobello sauce...

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With some fresh ingredients...

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Ingredients

• 150g Spaghetti or pasta of your choice


• 2 pips Garlic (sliced thinly)


• 4-5 Button mushrooms (caps + stipes)


• 3pcs Fresh scallops (sliced half and cut into 4 sections)


• 80g Fresh medium prawns


• 1 can of Campbell's Alfredo Portobello sauce


• 1/2 cup Water (optional)

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Method

1. Heat some water in a stock pot - half filled with a teaspoon salt and let it come to a boil. Toss in spaghetti or pasta and cook till preferred softness. Drained, add a teaspoon of olive oil, mix and set a side.


2. In a frying pan, add some oil and saute garlic till golden. Lift up and set aside.


3. Using the same frying pan, add another tablespoon of oil and stir fry mushroom, scallops and prawns till 70% cooked.


4. Add in the whole can of Alfredo Portobello sauce and mix well with the ingredients. Add 1/2 a cup of water if you want it to be slightly diluted and stir till cooked.


5. You can either pour on top of your spaghetti or you can toss in your spaghetti and stir fry it for a minute. Garnish with the saute garlic and some vegetables.


6. If you love herbs, you can sprinkle some mixed herbs for extra flavors.

Tuna Macaroni

Most carbo food like rice and noodles will let you pile up on weight - most of the time so these days I tried to consume less of such food though they have been my favorite all these while! Need to give a thought to our bodies mah! :P

Since Darrius has been a huge pasta fan, I tried to come up with more recipes that hopefully will entice him to eat more besides the pasta. I introduce a varieties of pasta both in shapes and types to him and let him enjoy his meals with fun.

This recipe I learned from an ex-nightschool mate which she prepared for one of the BBQ nite when I was in Singapore. A very easy to prepare and can be eaten cold... so perfect for Bento or lunch boxes!

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Ingredients

• 1 can Tuna (chunk) in water or brie


• 250g Elbow pasta/macaroni


• 1 Hard boiled egg (smashed into small pieces)


• Button mushrooms (sliced a few)


• 2tbsp Mayonnaise


• 1/2 cup Corn kernels


• Raisins (yellow) for garnishing


• Pepper, black pepper and salt for taste


• Lemon juice to kill the fishy taste/smell


• French beans for garnishing (optional)


• Bacon bits for garnishing (optional)


• Sunflower kernels for garnishing (optional)

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Method

1. Boil half a sauce pan of wate, add some salt and oil to cook the pasta/macaroni. When cooked, test the softness before draining the water away.


2. Boil another pot of water for cooking the French beans, corn kernels and button mushrooms slices.


3. Pour the can of tuna (drain away water/brie) into a bowl, smash them up and add in the mayonnaise and mix them well together with smashed up hard boiled egg. Add in sliced button mushrooms.


4. Sprinkle pepper, black pepper and salt to desire taste. Squeeze some lemon juice to kill the fishy smell of the tuna.


5. Toss in raisins, sunflower kernels and bacon bits to garnish. Top with some French beans for presentation. Voila!

Spagetti with Chicken Meat Balls in Olive Pasta Sauce

When one cooks with a toddler in mind, there will always be pasta dishes as these are one of the kids' all time favorite. Like any other toddler, Darrius has also started asking for pasta or any noodles dishes. As compared to rice vermicelli or rice sticks, pasta or spaghetti are the healthier choice.

Though preparing such dishes can be time consuming sometimes, but when you see your kids gobble them down, the work are all worth it! :)

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Ingredients

• 100g Spaghetti (I used the wheat based)


• 120g Chicken pieces (use the thigh part as they will be more tender)


• Small section of Red and Green Capsicum (coarsely chopped)


• 1 Red onion


• 1 Chinese mushroom (soaked and cut into small cubes)


• 5tbsp Pasta Sauce (I used the one with olives)


• Salt and pepper for seasoning


• Some oil

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Methods

1. In a medium stock pot, boil half a pot of water with some salt (1tsp). When it boiling, put in your spaghetti and cook until desired softness.


2. Mince the chicken pieces and put in a bowl. Add in the chopped capsicums, mushroom and onions and mix with some salt and pepper and oil. Stir till they are well mixed. Then roll them into small balls.


3. In a frying pan or sauce pan, heat up with some oil and pan fried the chicken meat balls till golden brown. Lift them up when all are cooked.


4. In another sauce pan, heat up some oil and pour in the pasta sauce and stir till it is cook.


5. In a dish, put some of the cook pasta with the chicken meatballs on top. Then pour some of the pasta sauce over and garnish with some chopped capsicums.

East Meet West Pasta

This is a delayed post... supposed to put it up on Sunday but only download the photos last night.

We have abundance of dried mushrooms (MIL brought bak from Germany where my SIL operate a Chinese restaurant) and if we do not finish them up those tiny beetles will start to invate as our fridge is over stuffed with so many things so we can't keep them in there. Since we had another round of spring cleaning last Sunday, I decided to help by cooking.

Had a bottle of pasta sauce and a packet of clourful vege spiral pasta so came out with this idea... another east meet west dish! :P

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Ingredients

• 1 pkt Pasta (I used the 3 colours vege pasta)


• 1 btl Pasta sauce (tomato with onion base)


• 1 can Button mushrooms (sliced)


• 4pcs Dried mushrooms (cubed)


• 1 stick Carrot (cubed)


• 5pcs Onions (cubed)


• 4pcs Tomatoes (cubed)


• 1 or 2pcs Green bell pepper or capsicum (cubed)


• Water (add less for thicker sauce)


• Salt for taste


• Magerine or butter to loosen cooked pasta


• Mixed herbs


• Pepper (black pepper preffered)

Marinade

• 1 whole Chicken breast meat (deboned and cut into cubes)


• 2tsp Corn flour


• 1tbls Soya sauce


• Pepper for taste

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Methods

1. Boil pasta till soft then drained, add some magerine with a sprinkle of mixed herbs and stir till all loosen, put aside.


2. In a separate saucepan, boil the cubed carrots and dried mushrooms.


3. Heat up wok or large pot with 4-5 tbls cooking oil or olive oil and sautee the onions till soft and add in the sliced button mushrooms, capsicums, dried mushrooms, all stir for around 3 minutes each in between before adding the next item.


4. Next add in the marinaded chicken cubes, stir till 70% cooked, pour in the pasta sauce, stir and add desired amount of water, stir and covered for a few minutes. (I had 2 cups or 250ml)


5. Lastly, add in the cubed tomatoes, stir and add salt and pepper to taste and sprinkle some mixed herbs.