The Poor Family's Gourmet Pasta

So, sick of all that Ragu Prego stuff? This is the perfect pasta recipe for entertaining at the last minute or if your wallet is empty but you still want to make something memorable. I make this a lot. Any pasta will do, but i prefer the lined penne as the sauce sticks better to it than something super smooth like bowtie. I'm laying out the recipe for a 2 person + 1 toddler serving.
*1/2 a box of whole grain or white lined penne pasta.
*olive oil
*3 shakes of crushed red pepper
*5 garlic cloves sliced thin (not minced or chopped, but in thin little slices)
*1 and 1/2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
*14 oz crushed tomatoes
*1 tsp dried basil
*3 tbsp sugar
*pepper to taste
Make your pasta according to directions on the box. Drizzle enough olive oil to coat the bottom of a big pan/pot liberally. Turn on a low to low-medium flame and add garlic and crushed red pepper. Saute slowly until some of the garlic just starts to brown a little. Stand back and add the balsamic. Use a spoon to move the mixture around the pan and let cook about 30 seconds. Add the crushed tomatoes, basil and sugar. Stir well. Get a hard simmer going and simmer for 5 minutes stirring only 2 times during the 5 minute period. After the 5 minutes add your drained pasta to this and mix together. Serve. Yummy.

Strawberries & Spinach?

This is amazing. Seriously. Coming from a super ridiculously picky eater this salad is AMAZING. Make it now.

-1 package of prewashed baby spinach

-1 package of fresh strawberries

-A BIG handful of honey roasted pecans, walnuts or almonds

-1/4 cup olive oil

- 2 TBSP balsamic vinegar

- 3 1/2 TBSP white sugar

-2 dashes of Paprika

In a large bowl toss together spinach and berries. In a cereal bowl whisk together the remaining ingredients except for the nuts. This is going to take a good whisking to get the sugar to dissolve. Pour over the salad and toss until everything is well coated. Toss in the nuts and go crazy over the fact that this exists.

Makes 4 small salads.

Autumn Snack

Fall is finally here, and so is pumpkin carving season. This year I decided to start a new family tradition of roasting the seeds while we carve. When it was all done we snacked on some pumpkin seeds and watched the glow of the flickering jack-o-lantern.

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

*Pull out seeds and place in a colander as you go. Try and get as much pumpkin guts off of the seeds as possible before rinsing.

*Rinse the seeds very well under cold running water. Place seeds on a towel to get rid of most of the water left on the seeds after the rinse.

*Spread a thin layer of olive oil on a baking sheet and lay out seeds in a single layer. Sprinkle liberally with table salt. Roast for 10 minutes then stir around. Put the oven at 325 degrees and roast for 15 more minutes. Crunchy, super good for you and helps set the mood for fall.