The Homemade Pasta "UnRecipe"

Although this is a "recipe" for pasta, this is actually an un recipe. I'll give all the directions, but if you go a head and make them for yourselves, you'll see that you really made them without any directions at all. So this is my "un recipe" for the best homemade pasta. Ever. In the world. Yes.

The Homemade Pasta "Un recipe"

Ingredients:

• 1 egg
• I cup of flour
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 2 Tablespoons of water

3 servings

Directions:

Mix together the salt and flour. Make a "well" or hole that doesn't quite reach the bottom of the bowl and crack a large egg into it. You can do this in a bowl, like I did. Or, if you're feeling brave, do like the Italians do and Just heap the mound of flour directly on the counter and add the eggs into that.

Since this supposedly is only 3 servings I went ahead and tripled it. As I was adding in the flour I was disrupted by the littles running around me and lost my train of thought (Oh Lord, this is sad. I only had to count to three, for three cups, and I lost my train of thought. This is a new low for me and slightly disturbing) Anyway, I lost my "train of thought" and could not remember if I had done 2 cups or 3 already and I was in a hurry, and it looked about 3 cups but I added about a half cup extra anyway.

Go ahead and mix that and add the water. The dough should be sticky and firm. This WILL NOT be enough water. I ended up doing about 10 Tablespoons of water and 4 Tablespoons of olive oil. Just add enough water and oil to make a dough you can knead and that looks all doughy and happy.

Knead this for about 4 minutes. I then let mine sit for 15 minutes.

Once that is done you can either roll out the dough with a roller or use a pasta maker. I used my nifty pasta maker that my mom gave me.

I took about 1/8 of the dough, floured it and rolled it through twice before rolling it through the pasta side. I decided to let the kids help. This, of course doubled the time it took to do this, but that's ok. :) After a while of this though E. became bored and wandered off and I set D. off to the side of where I was working. She happily, very happily kneaded her little ball of dough in the flour she kept stealing when I wasn't watching her. :)

Once you have the pasta, let it dry out for a bit before cooking. I let mine sit and become slightly dry, about 20 minutes.

Start a salted pot of water boiling. These noodles take about 8 minutes (depending on how long you let them dry out for.) to cook. It doesn't look like there a ton of noodles, but they are so very filling! All four of us ate our fill, and there was still enough left over for another whole dinner's worth, at least!

The rest of the family had the normal pasta sauce, but I rinsed mine until they were cool and added in just a bit of ranch dressing, a tiny bit of Sun Dried Tomato vinaigrette and a slight squeeze of lemon. It was perfect!

Although this takes longer to make than dumping a box of pasta in a pot, it was worth it! It doesn't even taste like pasta, it taste like long strips of Italian wheat goodness! Try it, you won't be disappointed!

Come check out some other great recipes and crafts here at:

Low Calorie But Still Healthy Lean Ground Turkey Stuffed Peppers

Whew! What a mouthful! Well, it will be once you make it! hahaha...ok, stupid joke :( But the recipe is amazing!

We try to eat as healthy and as lean as possible (most times anyway) so I am always looking for yummy and healthy recipes. Stuffed peppers are one of our family's favorite meal! I used to make them with regular ground beef and mixed lots of cheese in them, then topped them each with their own little mountain of cheese towards the end of baking. SO very good! But so very bad....

Anyway, here is a little healthier recipe. This version of stuffed peppers has just enough little extra kick where you don't really notice the difference of ground turkey (instead of ground beef) and the lack of cheese. So, here it is:

Ingredients:

* 5 Servings of cooked rice

* 3 Peppers

* 2 cans of tomatoes and green chilies

* frozen corn

* frozen peas

* Pico De Gallo

* Aprox 1 pound of ground turkey

Cook the rice. I made it the long way this time, but instant rice works well too! See how boring and sad the rice looks? Add in two cans of tomatoes/green chilies! Then about 3/4 cup frozen corn kernals and about the same (maybe less) of frozen peas. (I did end up adding some tomato sauce because it looked to dry.

From July 28, 2011

From July 28, 2011

Time for the pico de gallo! Hubby and I really like this stuff (found at costco!!!) So I added about a cup. Mix that all up and and you have your filling!

From July 28, 2011

From July 28, 2011

For the peppers get a pot of water boiling with just a pinch of salt. Cut off the tops of the peppers and take out all the seeds inside. Let them boil for about 7 minutes or so. Just enough so that they are all tender and bright!

(notice I stacked them all creative and artistic like, with one laying on it's side? :)

From July 28, 2011

Place those in a pan. Once they are cool enough to handle, fill the peppers with the rice mixture. I always make extra rice mixture because we love having the rice for lunch the next day.

(The secret to any recipe? Making it while drinking a cup coffee of course! Notice the background pink mug :)

From July 28, 2011

From July 28, 2011

Once everything is all filled, stick in a pre heated oven of 400* for about 20 min. Volia! Yummy stuffed peppers! What about the ground turkey? Well, I forgot about it until after the peppers were already in the oven. Blah!

I opened the microwave to warm up my coffee (mmm....java.....) and there it was, the perfectly defrosted ground turkey! Duh! Oh well, now I can use the turkey for another night and the stuffed peppers turned out even leaner and were still just as good! If you want to know when to use that, just cook up the ground turkey with lots of garlic, onion powder, (or a chopped up onion, you go getter you!) and some hot sauce. Drain and add the turkey with the rest of the rice mixture.

There you go, a super delicious and healthy dinner!

Vanilla or Hazelnut Iced Coffe Recipe :)

My dream come true... A Mc Donald's in my own home!!! Ok, not really. But the next best thing, a copy cat recipe of a Mc Donald's iced coffee! Yup, it's true, I finally found and tweaked an iced coffee recipe that tastes just like my new favorite drink. :) The secret is to cold brew the coffee because then it doesn't get that acidic taste when you try to drink it cold. So, if anyone else out there shares my obsession, here is the recipe!

*************************************************************************************

~Vanilla or Hazelnut Iced Coffee~

* Mix 2/3 cup of coffee grounds with 1 1/2 cups of room temperature water. Cover and let sit AT LEAST 12 hours. I think it tastes best at about 14 hours.

* 1 14oz can of sweetened condensed milk

* 4 Tablespoons of either hazelnut or vanilla syrup. (Once I used vanilla imitation extract and that was amazing too!

Step 1

*After your coffee water mixture has sat and cold brewed for 12-14 hours, separate the coffee from the coffee grounds. The best way I have found to do this is to take a coffee filter, place over a glass cup and secure in place with a rubber band. Pour the coffee and let it strain through the filter. When it starts to get too full of grounds, very carefully take off of the cup and replace with another filter. I usually go through 2-3 filters and gently squeeze the last bits of coffee out after removing each filter. (Does this all make sense? I can see myself doing it in my head, lol )

Step 2

* Mix the coffee with one can of sweetened condensed milk and add your flavoring. Be careful not to splash your very concentrated coffee concoction!

Step 3

* Pour into a pitcher and add about 11 cups of icy cold water. Park in the fridge and let chill! When your ready for your coffee, pour over a big glass of ice.

And Volia! You now have a perfect iced coffee! A word of caution though, all that sweetened condensed milk makes it a high calorie dessert like treat. So, after you get over how great it is, this is best for a once in awhile treat. And don't make the mistake of what I did, drinking 3 glasses before bed. All that caffeine and sugar had me running on a super sugar high and added to my horrible sense of dry humor, lol :)

Sweetness!

So, I had a craving for cookies the other day but didn't have eggs, well after some time on the Internet I found something much better. How does this sound for a sweet craving indulgence...

PARTY TIME EGG LESS CAKE BATTER COOKIE DOUGH CHOCOLATE TRUFFLES!

Yes!!! Sweet happiness!

So, I made these the other day and they were AWESOME! I found some general recipes and changed them up a bit. If anyone wants it (it's amazing! Did I say that already? ;) Here it is...

Recipe of Awesomeness:

Yields: about 1 1/2-2 cups cookie dough (aprox)

3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 (plus some extra Tablespoons :) cup yellow cake mix
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup granulated white sugar
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
2 tablespoons sprinkles
2-8 tablespoons water

Directions:
In a medium bowl, cream together butter and sugar for 2-3 minutes until light, fluffy, and pale yellow. Mix in salt, flour, cake mix, sprinkles, and vanilla. Add water one tablespoon at a time, mixing after each, until you reach cookie dough consistency. Roll into little 1 inch balls and stick in the fridge for a couple of hours.

Melt a bag of chocolate chips in a double boiler, roll each ball in the chocolate, then let cool!

Make sure to invite someone over then so you don't eat them all by yourself. I had my sister Mandy over, we had them with coffee and may I say, it was awesome!!!!

I also found another great recipe, but more for later I guess :) I have far exceeded both my coffee and sugar quota...