Homemade pasta sauce

It's been a while!

Here is an easy way to make your own pasta sauce. This is a base, so try your own variations on this and post them in the comments!

Ingredients:

• 8 tomatoes, chopped (or 4 cans crushed tomatoes)
• 3 cloves garlic, diced
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 cup fresh basil leaves (or 3 table spoons dried)
• Meat (optional)
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 cups water
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper
• 1 tsp red pepper flakes
• Parmesan for garnish

Directions:

• Put onion, garlic, and basil into a food processor, run until almost liquid
• Sauté onion mix for 5 minutes in olive oil in large pan or sauce pan
• Add tomatoes, crush a bit if fresh, stir well
• Add salt, pepper, red pepper flakes
• Add 2 cups water
• Add sugar
• Add meat (optional)
• Boil until sauce reduces to your liking, slower and longer the better
• Serve, mailman, repeat!

This sauce is delicious as it is, and so any additions you make will only make it better. Be careful on the red pepper flakes, they are quite strong with the garlic. Otherwise, this is super easy and can be used for chicken, ground beef, meatballs, sausage, etc. Here's Natalie dominating some angel hair with this sauce :)

Happy cooking mailmanning!

Spinach and Ricotta Stuffed Chicken Breast

This is something I make when I want to pretend to be healthy (aka spinach and chicken) but really just want to eat something a little slutty (aka pasta and cheese).  Super easy to make, but from start to eating, it takes a while due to the time it takes chicken to cook.  Sometimes I mix it up with different cheese or vegetables, but this is my favorite, easy combo.  Also, this is not a pretty meal, so I apologize for the photos.

Just a note, this makes a lot of food, so feel free to cut in half.  I like leftovers so I usually make big meals on the weekends and save for leftovers during the week!

Ingredients

• 2 lb chicken breasts
• 15 oz. ricotta cheese (I use fat free from TJ's)
• 3/4 c. shredded mozzarella cheese
• 10 oz. frozen spinach, thawed and drained 
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced (adjust to your ideal garlic taste)
• 1 egg
• 1 jar of tomato sauce (I like tomato basil from TJ's)
• Pepper to taste
• Pasta of choice (I use corn pasta because I'm a freak human that can't have gluten

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375
2. Trim fat off chicken breasts and pound them so that they are about 1/4" thick

3. In a bowl, mix ricotta cheese, mozzarella cheese, spinach, garlic and egg

4. Spread the mixture into the middle of each flattened chicken breast

5. Fold the chicken breast in half (secure with toothpicks or twine if necessary -- I just squish mine together to make them stay)

6. Place stuffed chicken breasts into a lightly greased pan
7. Pour tomato sauce on top/around chicken

8. Cook for 40 minutes, or until chicken is cooked all the way through (my oven is weird and so it usually takes longer, or maybe my recipe is just wrong)
9. While the chicken cooks, make pasta
10. Put on plate: pasta, then chicken/cheesy deliciousness

11. Mailman and enjoy, preferably with wine

Spaghetti Carbonara

looks good huh? 

Well this is one of my favorite mom dishes that I had growing up and I always thought it would be so hard to duplicate, but it's one of the easiest things I have made recently. Also there literally is no way to screw this one up, which is good for me because I tend to lose focus halfway through recipes anyways. 

The ingredients
1lb of spaghetti
6 slices of bacon
2 eggs
1 cup of milk
3/4 cup of parmesan cheese
salt 
freshly ground pepper 

Here we go...

First thing, you need a glass of wine or brewski to enhance your cooking abilities.

1. BACON! Cook the bacon and smell the goodness. Save 2 tbsp of bacon grease for the pasta. 
2. Cook the noodles just like you did all of senior year of college when we pretended we could cook.
3. In a bowl, whisk the eggs, milk, and salt together. 
4. Cut the bacon up into small pieces (a food processor is ideal, but I do not have one so I just let the bacon cool and I did it with a knife). 
5. In a pot add the pasta, milk/egg mixture, bacon, bacon grease, and a half cup of cold water. Mix everything up quickly so the eggs don't cook too much. 
6. Sprinkle the parmesan and freshly ground pepper on top and serve. 


HEALTHY UPDATE! The Italian way uses cream instead of milk, so this is actually a healthy recipe! 

Here is a grad student in his element, however he has no support for the Iowan team. Sorry Hawkeyes, but you stink.