Zucchini & Yellow Squash Spaghetti

Credit: Jen Cochran
Recipe:
1 zucchini
1 yellow squash
1 red bell pepper
1 yellow bell pepper
2 Tbsp of Kosher salt (to taste)
Ground black pepper to taste
2 Tbsp of olive oil
1 29oz can of tomato sauce (Target brand only has 2g of sugar)
1 cup of water
4 Tbsp of onion chives (or to taste)
7-8 garlic cloves (or to taste)
1 tsp of Rosemary
1 handful of fresh parsley
1 Tbsp of Tarragon
1 package of Jenny-O Turkey Italian Sausage (20oz)
1 package of Jenny-O lean ground Turkey (20oz)

Zucchini & Yellow Squash Noodles
- Use a potato peeler to make long noodle like slices of the zucchini & yellow squash. Stop when you reach the seeds and discard unless you have a use for them. I put them in my compost.
- Put zucchini and yellow squash noodles in a strainer in the sink. Give a good coat of salt (1/2 to 1 Tbsp of Kosher salt) to release water & gently mix (I used my hands). Let sit. Mine sat about 10-15 mins, I guess.
- While noodles are sitting, bring a pot (pasta pot) of water to boil. And chop bell peppers.
- When water starts to boil, rinse the noodles in cold water to remove some of the salt and put noodles in boiling water for one minute.
- After one minute, remove, strain, and immediately rinse with cold water to stop the cooking.
- In the pot, heat a Tbsp of olive oil and 2-3 sliced garlic cloves. Heat just long enough to soften the garlic, you don't want to brown the oil or garlic.
- Add noodles to olive oil and garlic pan. Toss right away. Add bell peppers to noodles and stir occasionally on medium heat for 5 mins.
- You can serve as is. For this meal I also completed the following steps to make spaghetti.

Ground Turkey & Italian Sausage
- Heat 1 Tbsp of olive oil (to help the turkey from getting too dry as it cooks) in a large pan or pot.
- Remove the sausage from the skin tubing so it can be ground and mixed with the lean ground turkey.
- Once pan is hot, add sausage and ground turkey.
- Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Continue to mix and cook until meat is thoroughly brown.

Sauce
Note: I typically chop my own tomatoes and make my sauce from scratch, but I was running low on time and decided to doctor a low sugar canned tomato sauce. Premade spaghetti sauces I found were loaded with sugar and unnecessary ingredients.
- Pour 29oz can of tomato sauce into a large food processor or blender.
- I added a cup of water by filling the tomato can 1/4 of the way twice so I could get all of the tomato sauce out of the can. Pour water into food processor.
- Chop about 4 Tbsp of onion chives (it was fresh in my garden; feel free to use what you like). Add to food processor.
- Add a handful of parsley to the food processor (again, it was fresh in my garden).
- Add 4-5 garlic cloves to the food processor.
- Toss one tsp of Rosemary in the food processor.
- Include 1 Tbsp of Tarragon in the food processor.
- Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Mix ingredients in food processor until you have your desired consistency.
- Pour ingredients from food processor to sauce pot on the stove and lightly heat and stir occasionally.

Now just build it... Noodles, then turkey, then pour sauce on top. Using the amounts above, I was able to make 8 servings, which included 5oz of turkey with each serving. Feel free to add, remove, change any of the herbs used to suit your liking. I just used what was on hand, and my family really enjoyed it! I hope you do, too!

Don't be intimidated by the meal. It came together quickly (something I did while home alone with my 2 year old) and was very easy. Enjoy!

Chicken and Avocado Soup


Recipe Inspiration from: Skinny Taste
Original Recipe: http://www.skinnytaste.com/2010/02/chicken-and-avocado-soup.html

Cochran Review: I say inspired and original above because I had to alter the original recipe cooking instructions in several ways to appeal to my boys. I'm sure I'd love the original recipe as is. We're having this for dinner tonight. Stay tuned for what we thought and pictures.

Rather than state my changes in a paragraph format, I thought it may be easier to just rewrite the recipe as I made it. So, here is how I prepared our dinner..

Chicken
- 5 cups of chicken broth
- 10 whole peppercorns
- 1 lime (sliced thinly)
- 2 bay leaves
- 4 raw boneless skinless chicken breasts
- pinch of cumin powder
- pinch of cayenne pepper powder

Place the chicken in the slow cooker. Sprinkle with peppercorns, cumin, cayenne pepper, and bay leaves. Toss lime slices on top. Pour chicken broth over top of everything. Cook on high 4-5 hours (5 if frozen) and low 6-8 hours (8 if frozen). Making the chicken is definitely a step you can do in advance.

Soup
- 1 tomato, diced
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1&1/2 cup of green onions, finely chopped
- 2 ripe avocados, mashed
- 1 cup of cilantro, finely chopped
- 1 lime sliced
- 2 tsp of grape seed oil
- ground sea salt & fresh pepper to taste
- 18 oz of whole wheat three cheese tortellini

In a large pot or dutch oven, heat grape seed oil. Saute tomato, garlic and green onions in pot about 3-5 minutes. Let cool enough to be safe to transfer to food processor. Blend saute mixture well in food processor.

When chicken is done, remove from slow cooker and shred or cut into bite sizes pieces. Strain broth (to remove fatty chicken pieces, peppercorns, bay leaves, and lime slices) into large pot or dutch oven used to saute vegetables. Bring to a boil. This is the base for your soup. Whisk saute mixture into soup base. Whisk mashed avocado into soup. Put tortellini and chicken into soup broth. Simmer, covered on low for 15-20 minutes.

To serve, place cilantro, lime slice(s), additional scallions (if desired) into a bowl, and ladle soup over top.

Italian Sausage Tortellini Soup

Credit: Two Peas & Their Pod
Recipe: http://www.twopeasandtheirpod.com/italian-sausage-tortellini-soup/

Cochran Review: This was really good. You may notice on the labels I have Meatless and Slow Cooker. Meatless is tagged because you can make this meal without the Italian Meatballs... unless you're cooking for me boys. Ha! I had a jam packed day when I made this so I altered the meal to a slow cooker method. However, you do not have to make this in the slow cooker. Just follow original recipe for stove top cooking.

One cautionary word of advice, I found rolling a zillion tiny little meatballs time consuming and tedious. So, if preparing this on a work day or busy day, you may want to do this step in advance. You could put them on wax paper in fridge to keep or even freeze them. Also, I ended up scooping all of the tortellini for our original meal and buying another batch to make for leftovers. My family likes a chunky, hearty soup over mostly broth. I will definitely make this again with doubling the tortellini. Enjoy!

Here are some pics from our dinner:

I made the meatballs about the size of a baby spoon.

I couldn't decide which pic to use, so I offer both. Ha ha! Also, I decided to top the soup with freshly grated Romano cheese I had on hand from another recipe.

Dirty Shrimp in Butter Beer Sauce

Credit: EdsGirlAngie via Food.com
Recipe: http://www.food.com/recipe/dirty-shrimp-in-butter-beer-sauce-79606

Cochran Review: This was a family favorite! I served it over angel hair pasta and everyone couldn't get enough. Enjoy!

Buffalo Chicken Pasta

Credit: Hodgson Mill (recipe on side of pasta box)
Recipe:
1 12oz box Hodgson Mill Whole Wheat Penne
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast cubed
2 tsp vegetable oil, divided
1-2 tsp hot sauce
1 cup celery, sliced
1/2 cup red onion, chopped
1 cup low-fat bleu cheese salad dressing
1 cup low-fat mayonnaise
3/4 cup skim milk
2 Tbsp bleu cheese, crumbled

Prepare pasta according to package directions. While pasta is cooking, combine paprika, salt, garlic powder and pepper, sprinkle over chicken stirring to coat. Add 1 teaspoon of oil to a large skillet and heat over medium to high heat. Add chicken to skillet and saute, stirring frequently, until chicken is golden brown and cooked through, about 4 minutes. Add hot sauce; cook 1 minute. Remove chicken from skillet. Add remaining teaspoon of oil to skillet; add celery and onion and saute about 2 minutes.

Combine mayonnaise, dressing and milk in a small bowl. Add to vegetables in skillet. Add chicken. Stir constantly and cook until heated. When pasta is done, drain and return to pot. Add contents of skillet to pot and mix well. Transfer to serving dish and sprinkle with bleu cheese. Serve immediately. Serves 6.

Cochran Review: I made a few substitutions in an effort to make this healthier and we do not like bleu cheese dressing:
- Sorry Hodgson Mill, another whole wheat pasta was on sale. So, I ran with that.
- I upped the garlic powder from 1/8 tsp to 1/4 tsp.
- I used Roasted Garlic Grapeseed Oil from Wildtree instead of vegetable oil.
- I sliced the red onion in large slices instead of chopping it so we could remove them easily. We like the flavor of onions, but do not appreciate the texture.
- I replaced mayo with plain Greek yogurt.
- Instead of bleu cheese salad dressing, I used a block of brie (w/ rhine removed) and some feta crumbles.
- We topped it w/ leftover feta crumbles instead of buying bleu cheese crumbles, and additional hot sauce.
- I didn't combine the spices and then put them on the chicken. I put the oil in the pan, the chicken, and dumped spices as I measured them. It saved a step and worked fine.

This dish was SO yummy! We really enjoyed it and would love to have it again. I used 2 teaspoons of hot sauce and I wouldn't even say it had a kick... in fact, I would say 2 teaspoons is very kid friendly. So, we topped our dishes after they were plated with a few more shakes of hot sauce! Yum! I served it with raw celery and carrot sticks. The recipe states it serves 6. I'd say it serves 3 adults, unless you have larger sides than I offered. Enjoy!

Pic of our meal is the picture shown above.



Clinton Kelly's Pappardelle with Summer Vegetables and Ricotta

Credit: The Chew's Clinton Kelly
Recipe: http://beta.abc.go.com/shows/the-chew/recipes/Pappardelle-Summer-Vegetables-Ricotta-Auberge-du-Soleil-Resort

Cochran Review: Bleh! How's that for an official food blog review? LOL! OK, in all fairness to Clinton, I didn't have cherry tomatoes (my plants have stopped producing) and I didn't have Arugula (lettuce). So, maybe that makes a huge difference. I also had to swap out pappardelle noodles for egg noodles. I don't think this was a big deal tho. Clinton even recommended it on the show. I substituted egg plant for tomatoes and I think that's where I went wrong. I haven't done a lot of cooking (OK, none) with egg plant and was interested to try it. I think this wasn't the best recipe for it though. The dish was OK, not a lot of flavor, after cooked fresh. However, warmed up was awful! The veggies got rubbery and were not edible. If you give this dish a shot, I recommend going with tomatoes or something that provides that acidic flare. We won't be trying it again. Oh well, I told my husband, one bad dish out of a hundred isn't bad, right? Ha ha ha! This is where I usually say enjoy, but I think I'll end with good luck.  ;)

Here's a pic of our dish:

Bacon Corn Cavatelli

Credit: Michael Symon via The Chew

Recipe: http://beta.abc.go.com/shows/the-chew/recipes/Bacon-Corn-Cavatelli-Michael-Symon

Cochran Review: I'm addicted to The Chew on ABC! It's so entertaining! Check it out! Yum! Yum! Yum!!! This meal was SO easy and cheap to make, but still really brought the flavor! We loved it! I did a few things different, of course:

• Cavatelli is not carried in my grocers w/o special ordering. Since I didn't plan for that timing, I substituted Cavatappi. It's a fun noodle! I'd like to plan ahead next time and try Cavatelli... I don't think I've ever had it.
• I picked the tomatoes fresh from my garden. I didn't quite have enough cherry tomatoes ready, so I also chopped regular tomatoes. Also, my husband doesn't care for tomato texture. So, I chopped finely.
• EVOO - My Aunt Sherry sells Wild Tree products. I love cooking with the Roasted Garlic Grapeseed Oil as a substitute for EVOO. If you're interested to see what it is or would like to order, here is her site: http://www.mywildtree.com/sherryr/
• Bacon, my husband LOVES bacon! 1/4 pound is about 4 thick slices, which isn't enough for hubby. So, I doubled it. It didn't seem like bacon overload, but I used the whole box of noodles (slightly more than called for).

That's it! This dish is so easy I made it in under 45 mins with a nearly two year old's "help". Thanks for joining us for dinner, and enjoy!

Here is a picture of our dish. I know Chef Symon is a declared Iron Chef and all, but I'm gonna go ahead and say my pic looks tastier! hehehe:

Chicken Spinach Noodle Casserole

Credit: Real Simple
Recipe: http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/browse-all-recipes/chicken-noodle-casserole-00100000075552/index.html

Cochran Comments: I have several of these ingredients left over from last week's meals. So, we are going to try this some time this week. I think I'll try to substitute Greek yogurt for sour cream and skim milk for whole milk. Stay tuned!

Wine & Tomato Braised Chicken

Credit: Eating Well
Recipe: http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/wine_tomato_braised_chicken.html

Cochran Review: This is for dinner tonight! After doing the prep work, I can honestly say I'm excited for dinner! This is a meal that requires a minimal amount of prep cooking before you toss it all in the hot tub. The prep cooking and clean up took me about 30 minutes. So for all of you working 8-5 chefs, I recommend following in tip at the bottom of the recipe to make this part ahead. Also, they offer alternatives for the wine for those of you who prefer. I used Barefoot Chardonnay in our meal.

Some things I did different:
- I used 3 pounds of boneless skinless chicken breasts instead of the bone in thighs in the recipe.
- As I've mentioned before, my husband has a texture issue with tomatoes. So, I used 23 ounces (15 & 8 oz cans) of tomato sauce instead of the canned tomatoes.
- The bacon I used didn't produce very much fat/grease. So, I added a tablespoon or so of coconut oil to the pan before the onion.
- Also, I threw a 5th piece of bacon in, because, well, why not!  :)
- I didn't thaw my chicken first. I turned the slow cooker on high with the frozen chicken inside while I prepped the sauce. I've decided to leave the chicken and sauce on high for the first hour and then I intend to kick it down to low until dinner (about 4 hours).

OK, so this meal wasn't awful, but it wasn't great. The flavor smelled more than it tasted. We didn't hate it, but it isn't something we will remember about to have again. Maybe the few things I did differently altered the recipe too much, but we won't be having this again. If you give it a try and find a way to doctor it tasty, let me know!

Slow Cooker Lasagna

Credit: Creating Through Life
Recipe: http://creatingthroughlife.blogspot.com/2011/10/crock-pot-lasagna.html

Cochran Review: I haven't had this particular recipe, I don't think, but I've had several from dinning at friend's homes and that I've made myself. Some call for adding spinach or brocolli. I made a recipe from Parents or Parenting Magazine a while back, but can't find it now. Anyway, point being, they all have tasted about the same... amazing! Enjoy!

Pepperoni Penne Carbonara

Credit: Tast of Home Simple & Delicious
Recipe: http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/Pepperoni-Penne-Carbonara

Cochran Review: This was FAN-freakin-tastic!!! So much flavor! Yum! And this was so easy and quick to make! I paired it with the Zesty Broccoli, and it went very well together. I prepped and cooked both meals in 30 mins! Perfect for a quick, yummy meal on a busy night! The turkey pepperoni has a little spice to it. So be aware of that if you serving to kids who aren't used to it.

Pasta with Shrimp & Basil

Sorry, no image available online. I will take a pic next time I make it.

Credit: Taste of Home Simple & Delicious
Recipe: I didn't find it online. Here is the recipe from my magazine:

3 cups uncooked bow tie pasta
2 cups sliced fresh mushrooms
1/3 cup butter, cubed
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
3/4 lb peeled & deveined cooked medium shrimp
1 cup fresh baby spinach
1/2 cup pine nuts, toasted (I don't like these. So, I omitted this.)
1/4 cup shredded Swiss cheese
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
3 Tbsp minced fresh basil
1/8 tsp pepper

Cook pasta according to package directions in a large saucepan. Saute mushrooms in butter in a skillet until tender. Stir in cream. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 2 minutes. Stir in remaining ingredients; cook for 1-2 minutes or until spinach is wilted. Drain pasta; add to shrimp mixture and toss to coat.

Cochran Review: Total time for this meal is about 25 minutes. Very simple, very delicious, and a light pasta dish. We enjoyed it!  Hope you enjoy it, too!

Pasta & Broccoli Sausage Simmer

Credit: Taste of Home Simple & Delicious

Recipe: http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Pasta---Broccoli-Sausage-Simmer

Cochran Review: Wow! So easy and very good! True to it's claim, this meal literally took me 30 mins, and that included kicking an occasional soccer ball with my son, cleaning up as I cooked and changing laundry! This meal makes SO much! Seriously! I will make this again, but I will cut the recipe in half. I guarantee even cooking a half recipe we will have leftovers!

Like I've mentioned before, my husband doesn't care for the texture of tomatoes and I'm allergic (can only handle in small doses). So, I opted out of the canned tomatoes. Instead, I used a 12 ounce can of tomato sauce & filled it with water and added a can of water. I think this was a great substitute for our family!

A note about this meal for leftovers: It is a little dry and appears to have less flavor. You might need to add some olive oil and salt and pepper.

Although this was good, I think I prefer the Pepperoni Penne Carbonara. It has a lot more flavor! Enjoy!

I will make this again. It is inexpensive, fast, easy, and we liked it. However, I will be making a half recipe unless I'm feeding an army! Enjoy!