Easy Zoodles with Garden-Fresh Tomato Sauce

Behold the great Zoodle!

 

We love zoodles at our house. Especially since we got my new favorite gadget: the spiralizer. 

I picked mine up on a super sale on Amazon last year and have been spiralizing everything I can get my hands on. 

Zoodles can be very wet and watery, so my fool-proof version with a garden-fresh tomato sauce is a real hit. The key is to saute the zoodles, add lots of flavor with herbs, and (most importantly) to strain them like you would pasta to take out the excess moisture. 

Beet n' Berry Scones

So let me just get this out of the way first: I don't like baking and I am a terrible baker. It just takes so much. . . precision, you know? All the measuring and weighing and worries about humidity affecting the dough and the frantic warnings about overworking the dough. WHATEVER YOU DO DON'T OVERWORK THE DOUGH the cookbooks all scream. It's enough to turn anyone off - or at least me.

Despite this, every once in awhile I suddenly get an urge to bake something. Awhile back I got in a scone-backing frenzy. I used my sister's berry scone recipe and which makes a really lovely, dense-but-not-too-dense scone. After awhile it dawned on me that beets and berries would make a lovely combination.

After a lot of trial and error, I figured out the best ratio of beets and berries and I'm really happy with the results. The beets add a really lovely earthy flavor and the berries are bright and sweet. You could also try mixing in shredded beets to your favorite berry scone recipe - no need to follow everything I do here exactly. And as I think about that last sentence I just typed, I'm realizing the urging not to follow every direction is not good guidance for baking. I guess I'll never learn.

Spanish Rice

I love a good Spanish rice, there is something about the combination of sauteed onions and peppers with skillet browned rice and slowly cooked with tomatoes. Delicious. It is the perfect side dish to your favorite taco or enchilada or a great filler with beans in a delicious taco salad.

Start off by chopping one onion and green bell pepper. Heat one tablespoon of olive oil in a large saute' pan and add chopped onions and peppers. Cook until tender and fragrant, about 5 minutes.Add two cups of rice to the pan. Cook until the rice starts to just barely brown, stirring frequently. It will brown fast.

 

Add 1 teaspoon of salt, 2 teaspoon of chili powder, and stir to coat the rice.

 

1 can of diced tomatoes, stir to combine. If you have extra tomatoes around (anyone else have an overload of garden tomatoes?) feel free to add 2 cups of fresh chopped tomatoes.

Add three cups of chicken or veggie broth - or bouillon and water.

Cover, turn to low, and cook until all the liquid is adsorbed and the rice is tender - about 20 minutes.

Spanish Rice
Serves 8

1 tablespoon Olive Oil
1 onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
2 cups long grain white rice
1 can diced tomatoes ( or two cups of fresh chopped tomatoes)
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon chili powder
3 cups of chicken or veggie broth

Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large saute' pan. Add the chopped onion and green pepper and cook until tender and fragrant, about 5 minutes. Add the rice, stirring frequently, cook until the rice starts to brown lightly. Add the salt and chili powder and stir to coat the rice. Add the tomatoes and stir to combine. Add the broth. Cover and cook on low until the liquid is absorbed and the rice is tender, about 20 minutes.
 

Baby-Led Weaning (Solids)

When I found out I was pregnant (almost two years ago) one of my first reactions was “holy cow, how on earth do I take care of a BABY?!” I was excited, obviously, but realized I really had no clue how to take care of a newborn. Then came my reading obsession about babies; if there is a book about babies on the library shelf, there is a 99.9% chance I read the book. Because of all the reading and researching I felt like I knew every “method” of baby raising, and I was able to modge podge all of my favorite’s into my own version of child rearing. (which turned out great, by the way. Baby sleeping through the night by 10 weeks? Yes please.)

When time got closer for Calvin to start eating solids, the same thing happened (book frenzy). I remembered my sister Natalie telling me about Baby-Led Weaning, and how it worked wonders for her little man, I decided to pick the book up, along with a few others. I instantly fell in LOVE with the idea; bonus, the thought of feeding my child rice cereal kind of gave me the heebie geebies.

Like the whole newborn rearing, I definitely made my own version of BLW, and both my husband and I felt comfortable with the way we ended up introducing solids, and let me tell you; almost everyday I get a comment like “Claire, he is SUCH a great eater!”

Here we are; now that I have given you that rather lengthy introduction, you can choose to go to another web address, or just stick with me as I take you on the journey of BLW.