Penne With Spinach and Mushrooms

Lately I've been cooking lots of pasta.

June is usually very busy month with school winding down.....field trips, recognition assemblies, wind up parties, last baseball games, swimming lessons. The list goes on and on.

Couple times a year I make a big pot of Marinara sauce and I keep it in small containers in the freezer as my go to quick meal idea.

Yesterday was one of those crazy days where I had less then 20 minutes to put dinner on the table.

Of course pasta was my answer.

I cooked some penne (and rotini as I didn't have enough) and heated up a little container of Marinara sauce.

I added some fresh spinach and mushrooms and healthy dinner was done.

To make this meal you have to start with basic Marinara sauce.

Then you will need to cook onions and mushrooms with some wine.

Ingredients for ad-on to Marinara sauce:

• Olive Oil
• 1Onion (chopped)
• 1 Tbsp Butter
• 2 cups Mushrooms (chopped)
• 1/2 cup Red Wine
• Bunch of Spinach (washed and dried)
  

In a skillet heat the oil and saute onions till translucent. Add the butter and mushrooms and saute till mushrooms are nice and done.

Add red wine and let it reduce to 2/3.

Mix the mushroom mixture with Marinara sauce and add spinach. Stir and cook for another minute or two.

Stir in cooked pasta and serve with fresh Parmesan cheese.

Steak and Avocado Wrap

What's a better way to use leftover meat and veggies from your weekend bbq then roll  them up in soft tortilla shells and call it a wrap.

Who came up with wraps was a genius in my book. They are easy, delicious and quick. You can wrap just about anything.

My kids love wraps. I don't do sandwiches for school lunches anymore. Wraps are where it's

at......

I actually had requests from my older son's classmates to make some extra for them.

So for all of you parents out there.....your children WANT wraps in their lunch boxes.

Back to wraps. Last weekend we were having some steaks for supper. Since the weather is getting nice and soon it will be too hot to cook in my house I am getting myself into summer cooking mode.

Every time we grill steaks I always make couple extra to save some for steak wraps the next day or two.

The trick is to grilled them to medium even for those who like them medium-well and well. Otherwise they might end up tough and chewy.

I like to dress up steak wraps in many ways. Last week I was into using avocados and cheese.

Our steaks were full of taste from marinade and rub so they didn't require any special sauces inside the wrap. Simple sour cream did the trick.

Ingredients:

• Leftover Steak (thin sliced)
• 4 10" Soft Tortilla Shells
• 1 cup Romaine Lettuce (shredded)
• 1/4 cup Sour Cream
• 1 Avocado
• 1/2 cup Tillamook Colby Jack Cheese (finely grated)

Spread some lettuce onto tortilla. Put few dollops of sour cream on top of it.

Layer thinly sliced steak.

Cut avocado into slices and place 1/4 on top of each tortilla with steak. Top it off with shredded cheese and roll.

Serve with fresh veggies or salad.

Southwestern Eggs Benedict

As I mentioned in my previous post my husband spend the whole weekend home with us.

Since he's on the road most of the time good home cooked  meals are priceless to him.

I decided to turn into regular Suzy Homemaker and cook the whole weekend. I mean breakfast, lunch, dinner and of course dessert.

If you regularly reading this blog you might have the impression that I know what I'm doing.

Well, most of the time I do, but when it comes to breakfast I am a pure novice.

I never poached an egg till last weekend.

I did murder few eggs in the process, but at the end I was victorious. I managed to poached enough eggs to make my family what I call Southwestern Eggs Benedict.

These tasty and delicious poached eggs were served with fresh avocado on Grand Butter Biscuits covered with Jalapeno cheese and salsa.

This recipe serves 4.

Ingredients:

• 4 Poached Eggs (I used vinegar in boiling water method)
• 1 Avocado
• 4 Pillsbury Grand Butter Biscuits
• 4 Slices Tillamook Pepper Jack Cheese
• 8 Tbsp Chunky Salsa

Bake the biscuits according to the directions. Cut them in half.

Slice the avocado into thin slices. Place 1/4 of avocado onto bottom part of each biscuit.

Place a poached egg on top of the avocado. Cover with cheese and top with salsa. Finish it with top of the biscuit.

Serve it with hashbrowns or fresh fruit.