Baked pasta...

Sometimes, I just can't get enough of something new that I've found that I like to eat. When that something ends up being low on the Weight Watcher's points scale, everyone's a winner.

This is my recent favorite...


It's so easy...

Take a whole wheat cheese tortellini. (If you follow points, you have to find one that fits your allotment.) Boil it until almost done, but not quite. (I made one cup (5.5 points) for just me.) While it's boiling, preheat the oven to 425. Once the pasta is done, mix in your favorite sauce (homemade or jar, up to you...the one I used was .5 points for 1/2 cup serving) and stir in a little bit of parmesan cheese. Then pour into individual ramekin, top with a bit more parmesan cheese (I used .5 ounce for the whole thing... 1.5 points) and bake for twenty minutes.

It's FANTASTIC and only 7.5 points for quite a lot of pasta. I served it with a salad with one point dressing and it was really really a filling dinner and a good comfort food warm fuzzy hug.

(About the points, I don't snack during the day, so I tend to have my points break out like this: 5 or so points for breakfast, 5 or so points for lunch, and the remaining 10 or so for dinner. This is perfect for me, as it gets me an egg sandwich (see below) or some such thing for breakfast, a tv dinner or leftovers for lunch, and then a good filling dinner. It fits the way I like to eat. I know when I've said to other people that I like something that's 10 points, they wonder how I fit it in... that's how!!!!)

A Bad Picture of a Good Lunch.

On day three, G's family joined us downtown for a walk-about. I was really excited to get into Cape Town proper, and we went to the African Craft Market (which is overwhelming!!!), had a coffee, stopped at the CNW and bought some food magazines (!), and just soaked in the sites.

After soaking, we decided that a spot of lunch was in order. We somehow ended up wandering into a little pasta place that had seating outside. The restaurant had a long display case full of different types of cold and hot pastas, and you could pick either one or two pastas for your lunch. I can't remember the name of the place or the cost of the food. And really, all I have is a mostly crap picture of the wonderful gnocchi and chicken pasta that I had. So of course, I share with you...


It was really good. Not the best pasta ever, but for wandering in off a busy street on a busy day with a group of people, it hit the spot nicely!!!

Is there any food that Cape Town can't make?!

When the Cat's Away...

I have been going back and forth between my "old" camera and my "new" camera based on what I am up to, so I keep finding all of these things that I have yet to post about... so I decided to do a hodgepodge of things that have yet to be posted...

While G was in Israel, I decided to try some new things. Oddly, my new things are often variations on my old things, but whatever. In the spirit of new things, I really wanted to try to make a baked eggs. But I didn't want to bake them. So instead, I took some leftover canned chopped tomato that I had in the fridge, added some spice, cooked the moisture out and added two eggs. Once they were cooked (over-cooked, I admit sheepishly), I grated some white cheddar on them, which made the eggs look very albino.

I then served them on top of corn tortillas on top of beans. It was like a huevos ranchero. It was... okay. I think the tomatoes either needed to cook longer or needed more spices added. They still tasted kind of tinny. The beans were excellent, as beans almost always are, and the eggs just needed to have been cooked a bit less. BUT, it was a good try...

I know I've mentioned it before, but I really do love almost all things pork related. And I also love all things baked pasta related. So this recipe, Baked Pasta with Spinach, Ricotta and Prosciutto from Martha Stewart really seemed to fit the bill...



And I emphasize, it SEEMED to fit the bill. First things first. I didn't like the idea of the prosciutto in the pasta, so I used cooked bacon to which I also added some garlic. And I bought frozen spinach from Whole Foods that was so stringy it was really fairly vile. And I added a little bit of chopped tomato to the mix to liven it up. But it was still fairly bland. I wouldn't make this one again... but if you try it, let me know. It just wasn't that great, to be honest, but it has potential. I much prefer Nigella Lawson's baked ricotta pasta shells. I find that with the really cheesey pasta, you need some tomato sauce to cut through the richness... And if you want to know how much I didn't like it... I threw away the leftovers. Which never happens.

We also had our 'it's fall so it's chili' chili.


There are so many different ways to eat chili. I love chili and rice, and have even been known to enjoy a chili on spaghetti. But my all time favorite chili accompaniment really has to be chili with crackers and cheese. It's how we ate it when I was kid, and it's how I prefer them now.

This Sunday, we are moving away from the chili and I am going to make bbq chicken. I made a version at the cottage, but I am going to do it a bit differently tomorrow... stay tuned for that!

And then, there was the most excellently amazing lasagna that I made...


Whoa. Yeah. That's pretty good. I made it pretty similar to how my Mom does, browned meat with crushed tomatoes, lots of herbs, onion and garlic. Cook for about an hour to really thicken it up. I used President's Choice fresh lasagna sheets, which you don't boil (and they completely ruled). Then I just layered sauce with cheese and noodles. Pretty typical.

Nothing overly complicated, really, but everything delicious. G raved about it for days, and we greedily ate the leftovers!