Roasted Fennel and Sausage Pasta

I have really come to love fennel, or anise as they call it here. It's sweet and fresh and crisp. It's delicious raw and roasted. We're big fans of it now. I also have become a big fan of sausage. I never was a huge fan of pork sausage because it felt so fatty, it always made me feel a little sick. But turkey sausage is another matter. You get the wonderful flavour of sausage, but it's so much leaner! Since sausage has fennel in it, I thought it had to be the perfect thing to pair with roasted fennel. This is one of our favourite pasta dishes now and it's so easy and cheap!

Ingredients:
1 large fennel bulb, tops removed (save the frilly green part, called the fennel fronds) and outside, tough layer of bulb removed
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
12 oz turkey sausage, casings removed
1/4 c chopped sun dried tomatoes packed in oil
1/3 c chicken stock
8 oz Penne pasta
Parmesan cheese to top

Heat the oven to 400 degrees. After the top of the fennel and the outside layer has been removed, cut it through the middle and cut the core out of the bulb on both sides. Chop the remaining fennel and put on a baking sheet. Toss with just enough olive oil to coat the fennel pieces and season to taste with salt and pepper. Roast in the oven for about 20-30 minutes, or until the fennel starts to look golden.

Meanwhile, cook the pasta according to package directions.

Heat a large skillet over medium heat and add 2 tsp of olive oil. Add the turkey sausage and break up into small pieces. Once sausage is mostly browned and cooked through, add the chopped sun dried tomatoes. Cook for a couple of minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the chicken stock and scrape the bottom of the pan to get all the yummy brown bits off the bottom of the pan. Turn the heat to medium high and cook until all the liquid is evaporated. Add the cooked fennel to the pan and add the cooked, drained pasta. Top with Parmesan cheese and some of the fennel fronds that have been chopped

Sugar Free Peach Crostata

Ingredients:
1 sugar free pie crust, unbaked (I just used my favourite pie dough recipe and left out the sugar)
2 large ripe peaches
1-2 T honey
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp lemon juice

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Thinly slice your peaches and put the slices in a medium bowl. Taste one of the slices and add honey based on how sweet your peaches are. If your peaches are tart you'll want 2 T of honey, maybe even more. My peaches were pretty sweet so I only used about 1 T. Add the cinnamon and lemon juice and toss to coat the peaches in everything and set aside. Roll out your pie crust to about 10-11 inches in diameter and move to a baking sheet. Arrange the peach slices in the middle of the pie dough, leaving about an inch border around the edges. Gently fold the pie dough border over the peaches and gently press on to the peaches. It's a rustic dessert so don't worry about it looking perfect. Carefully spoon some of the juices in the bottom of the peach bowl over the peaches in the center. I used all of the juice in mine, it was about 1/4 c of liquid. Bake for 45 minutes or until crust is starting to brown and peaches are cooked through.

Cheap Eats: Chinese Noodles

When you're on a budget like we are, a few good cheap meals in your repertoire can really save your food budget some months. This is a dish my mom made all the time when we were growing up and I never really liked it as a kid. But when we were just in Utah visiting my mom mentioned something about Chinese Noodles and I had totally forgotten about them. I thought I would like them now that I'm an adult so I made them pretty soon after we got back from Utah and I did like them! Easy, cheap and not bad tasting either. Not a gourmet meal by any stretch, but what meal is that costs $1 or so a serving?

Ingredients:
2 c water
2 packages Ichiban (or top ramen), broken into fourths
Olive oil
1/2 white onion, diced
1/2 green pepper, diced
1 tomato, diced
4 eggs, well beaten
2 limes
Lemon pepper

Add water and seasoning packages from Ichiban to a large frying pan and bring to a boil. Meanwhile heat about a tablespoon of olive oil up in another frying pan over medium heat and add the onion. Cook for a minute or two and add the green pepper. Once water is boiling, add Ichiban pieces and cook for about a minute over medium heat. Flip noodles over and cook for another minute. Add the tomato to the onions and peppers. When the water from the noodles is almost all gone, stir in the beaten eggs. Add the veggies and stir to combine. Season to taste with lemon pepper and lime juice.

Raspberry Coconut Overnight Oats

I used this recipe as inspiration for these overnight oats. The best idea was using all fruit jam as the sweetener! I made some changes because we only keep Greek yogurt on hand but I don't really like the tanginess of it (Greg is the one that eats it) but I didn't want to buy regular yogurt just for this so I used less yogurt and swapped the milk for coconut milk to try to mask the tanginess of the yogurt and it's delicious!

Ingredients:
1/2 c full fat plain Greek yogurt
1 1/2 c full fat coconut milk
1/3 c all fruit jam (we have used raspberry but any would be great!)
1 tsp vanilla
1 c rolled oats
2 T chia seeds
2/3 c chopped almonds

In a bowl whisk together the first 4 ingredients. When the jam is all incorporated in, stir in the oats, chia seeds, and half of the almonds. Mix well, cover the bowl, and refrigerate overnight. This makes 4 servings. Use the other half of the almonds to sprinkle on top when you serve it

Cajun Fettuccine

Ingredients:
12 oz dry Fettuccine
1 T olive oil
1 lb peeled and deveined shrimp
Cajun seasoning
Half a small white onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 c chicken stock
1/4 c cream
1 c frozen corn
1/2 c grated Parmesan
Salt and pepper to taste

Cook pasta according to package directions. Meanwhile, sprinkle one side of the shrimp with the Cajun seasoning, just enough to lightly coat the one side. Drizzle the olive oil in a skillet and heat over medium high heat. Add the shrimp once the oil is hot and cook for about 2 minutes per side, or until opaque. Remove the shrimp from the skillet and add the onion. There will should be brown bits on the bottom of the skillet, that is what you want! Don't clean it out! Cook the onion for a couple of minutes until softened and then add the garlic. Stir and let cook for just about 20 seconds so the garlic doesn't burn and quickly add the chicken stock, scraping up all the brown bits in the pan. Add the cream and stir well. Add the corn and Parmesan and season to taste. When the pasta is cooked al dente, remove it from the water and put directly into the sauce. You want some of the water on the pasta to get into your sauce. The starchy pasta water helps pull the sauce together. Toss it together and add the shrimp back in

Mongolian Beef

Mongolian beef is my FAVOURITE at PF Chang's. It's rich and beefy and just delicious. But to do it on the cheap, I had to learn to make it at home. I have stir fried the beef and I have coated the beef in cornstarch and deep fried it and both are great! Just kind of depends what you want. But the sauce is where that magic happens.

For the Sauce:
1 tsp veg oil
1/2 T ginger, grated
1/2 T garlic, grated
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup water
2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch

1 lb flank steak
1-2 tablespoons vegetable oil
3-4 green onions, cut into one inch pieces

In a saucepan, heat the teaspoon of vegetable oil over medium heat. When it is warm, add the ginger and the garlic. Let it cook for about a minute and then quickly add the soy sauce, water, and red wine vinegar so the garlic doesn't burn. Turn the heat up to medium high and add the brown sugar. When the sugar is dissolved, quickly whisk in the cornstarch. Bring to a boil and let it boil for a couple of minutes, until the sauce starts to thicken. Turn the heat off and set it aside. In a frying pan, heat the 1-2 tablespoons of vegetable oil. Slice the steak into thin strips. Salt and pepper the meat and add to the oil. Brown the meat and remove from the oil. Pat the meat dry on a paper towel and add to the sauce. Heat it all up and add the green onions and cook for an additional minute.

If you want to deep fry the meat, coat in 1/2 c of cornstarch and fry in 3-4 inches of oil. Let drain on a towel before adding to the sauce.

Pesto Mac & Cheese

Mac and cheese is sooo easy to make from scratch. And it's so easy to change it up! You can do a plain cheese sauce, add some cayenne and paprika for some spice, or add garlic and herbs for something more sophisticated. Add chicken and veggies or just veggies or add nothing! Once you know the ratios for a basic white sauce, the possibilities are endless. Monday nights I try to do a meatless meal for dinner. I had planned to make biscuits and fruit and veggie smoothies but we were prepping for the blizzard Tuesday and it was cold and the wind was howling and all I could think about was a bowl of warm, gooey, mac and cheese. I had some pesto in the freezer and thought it would be really delicious in the mac and cheese so I just went for it! It was REALLY delicious!

Ingredients:
2 T butter
2 T flour
2 c milk
1/3-1/2 c prepared pesto (I was just eye balling as I went along, so just make sure you're tasting as you go along, but you could add as much pesto as you want!)
2 c shredded cheddar (I like my mac and cheese really cheesy so feel free to use less if you want)
Salt and pepper to taste
10 oz small pasta (shells, elbows, etc.) cooked to package directions

In a large sauce pan, melt the butter over medium heat. Whisk in the flour and let cook for about 30 seconds. Slowly pour in the milk, whisking constantly to prevent lumps. Add your pesto and stir well to combine. Add the cheese and turn off the heat. Stir until the cheese is melted. Season to taste. Pour sauce over cooked noodles.