Ham and Spaghetti Supreme

When my sister threw a bridal shower for me, everyone brought a recipe. I LOVE this idea for bridal showers because I love trying out new recipes. That shower was a year and a half ago and I'm sad to say this is the first time I've tried this recipe from my cousin. I have an excuse. It calls for a can of mushrooms and I couldn't find canned mushrooms here. I know, that's no excuse. I was pretty proud of myself for coming up with an easy, fresher alternative. So, this is my modified version of the recipe and it was DELICIOUS! It's a great way to use up leftover ham. We had it with steamed green beans.

I apologize for the quality of the picture at the bottom. I had completely forgotten to take a picture and Wes reminded me just as he was about to tuck into his plate.

Ham and Spaghetti Supreme

2 Tbsp butter or margarine
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cans of cream of mushroom soup (I used low fat)
3/4 c milk
2 c cooked ham, cubed
1 1/2 c shredded cheddar
150 g button mushrooms, sliced
1 large clove of garlic, minced
1/4 tsp black pepper
Salt, to taste (my ham was very salty, so I omitted this)
1/2 lb dry spaghetti
1/2 c seasoned dry bread crumbs

Start boiling the water to cook the spaghetti. While making the creamy mixture, cook the spaghetti according to the package directions.

Melt butter over medium heat, then add onion, mushrooms, and garlic. Cook until mushrooms are starting to brown a little, about 10 minutes. Add soup, milk, ham, 1 c of cheese, and pepper. Mix well. Cook over medium heat until cheese melts, stirring occasionally. Taste to see if you need to add some salt. Add the spaghetti to the ham mixture, tossing to mix.

Spread evenly in a 9x13 in baking dish. Sprinkle evenly with breadcrumbs and remaining cheese.

Bake at 375 degrees F (180 degrees C) until bubbly, about 20 minutes.

Makes 5-6 servings.

Enjoy!

Pork and Rosemary Lasagne

For the record, I spell it 'lasagna', but the BBC prefers to spell it with an 'e' and it's their recipe that I've based this one off of, so we'll go with it. I never really thought of putting any other type of meat into a lasagna other than beef, so I was a bit wary of this recipe. It turned out delicious! It's low fat AND filling, which is the best combo! As I said, I first used the recipe in the BBC GoodFood Cookbook, but I tweaked it a bit to my own taste.

Pork and Rosemary Lasagne

1 tsp olive oil
400g/14oz lean minced pork
1 onion, finely chopped
2 celery sticks, finely chopped
1 tsp dried rosemary
150ml/¼ pint white wine
425ml/¾ pint chicken stock
2 tbsp tomato puree
400g can chopped tomatoes
1 tsp cornflour, mixed to a paste with a little cold water
450g low fat cottage cheese
Generous splash of skimmed milk
1 tsp dried parsley
½ tsp garlic powder
Salt and pepper
10 dried lasagne sheets (no pre-cooking required type)
20g freshly grated parmesan + a bit to sprinkle over the top

Heat the oil in a non-stick pan and fry the pork until brown and crumbly. Add the onion, celery, rosemary and wine. Simmer for 10 minutes, then stir in the stock, puree, and tomatoes. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes. Stir in the cornflour paste until slightly thickened, then remove from the heat.

Preheat the oven to 170°C/350°F. Spray a 9inx13in baking dish with cooking spray. Mix together the cottage cheese, parmesan cheese, milk, parsley, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Wet the bottom of the baking dish with a generous spoon of meat mixture. Cover with 3 lasagna sheets. Top with a third of the cheese mixture then a third of the meat sauce. Repeat the steps, so you finish with meat sauce on top. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese. Cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for an additional 10 minutes. Allow the lasagne to sit for at least 5 minutes before you cut it.

Enjoy!

Sausage and Peppers Pasta

This is one of Wes' most requested dishes. I like to make it because it's hearty, low fat, easy, and there is no way to screw it up. You can adapt the recipe easily if you're feeding a lot of people or there is just two of you.

There's a similar recipe to what I make in the Pampered Chef It's Good For You cookbook. I've changed it a bit, mainly because I can't find hot Italian turkey sausage in Ireland so I had to adapt. I use Marks and Spencer's reduced fat pork sausages, but you can use any sausage you like.I used penne pasta because that's what I had on hand, but I've used rotini and farfalle. Whole wheat pasta also tastes really nice with this. Any short pasta will do!

Sausage and Peppers Pasta

400g uncooked pasta
300g reduced fat sausage (I used 5 links from the M&S pack)
1 each red, yellow, and green pepper cut into large chunks
1 medium onion cut into large chunks
2 large cloves of garlic, chopped
1 can (400g) chopped tomatoes
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 tbsp Italian seasoning
1 tbsp olive oil
1/8 tsp red pepper flake
1/4 c grated Parmesan cheese (optional)
Salt and black pepper to taste

This will make enough for 4 generous servings. 

1. Chop the garlic and vegetables and put to the side.

2. Heat a large, lidded skillet with the olive oil over medium-high heat. Either cut the sausage into 1 in. pieces or just blob them out of the casings into little 1 in. balls. That's my preferred method. I think the little meatball shapes are cute. I got about 5 blobs from each sausage. Cook the sausage until it's lightly brown on the outside.

3. Once the sausage is brown, throw in all the chopped vegetables. After this cooks for a few minutes, throw in the garlic. If you put it in too early it will burn. Actually, when I made it on this go around I almost forgot to put the garlic in, so it went in after the tomatoes. No problem. Still tasted great!

4. Add the can of tomatoes, tomato paste, Italian seasoning, red pepper flake, salt and pepper. They didn't have chopped tomatoes at the store, so I used peeled whole tomatoes. I just crushed them in my hands as I was pouring them into the pan. If you like really spicy, just add a little more red pepper flake. Stir everything together, put the lid on it, turn it down to medium (or 3 out of 6 on my stove). You'll let this cook for 20 minutes or until the peppers are soft.

5. It takes forever for my stove to heat up, so as soon as I put the lid on this, I start heating up the water to cook the pasta. If you're lucky enough to have a fast stove, wait about 10 minutes to start your water. Follow the directions on the package, but you should cook the pasta al dente since it will soak up some of the sauce. Over cooked pasta is yucky. The sauce can sit for a few minutes with the lid on, so it's better if your sauce finishes before your pasta and not the other way around.

6. Drain the pasta and pour it into the sauce. Stir together well and add the cheese if you'd like.

I serve this with garlic bread I've made using ciabatta bread, chopped garlic, olive oil, and italian seasoning.

Enjoy!