What's Cooking? Partly Homemade Dinner

The Scoop

I am 62 years old and still get asked every evening, “what’s for dinner?” Gosh I feel like even though I love to cook I have very few dinner ideas left in me.

Lately, at least 50% of the time I skip dinner and just help my husband fix something he wants. We both don’t eat as much as we used to and don’t even like the same things, we did years ago.

But a couple of times a week I get inspired and come up with something fun to make and delicious to eat.

What’s my secret? Partly homemade baby! ha ha!

Pasta Partly Homemade

Here is a recipe I have made lately that we think is pretty darn good considering how easy it is to make. I call it pasta surprise because you never know what kind of protein in might contain.

Here is how I make it.

1. I cook and drain my pasta of choice which is usually a whole grain penne.

2. Then, I prepare my protein of choice. It may be beef, chicken or a vegetarian meat look alike. In this recipe I grilled a few pieces of chicken so they were lightly browned.

3. Next, I added some fresh spinach to my favorite jarred pasta sauce and mixed everything together.

4. Last, I topped it all off with a light layer of cheese.

5. I bake it at 375 degrees until golden brown and since everything is precooked that only takes 15 to 20 minutes.

Green, Red and White Salad

We like to have a nice salad with our pasta dish and the other night I came up with this combo. I call it Green, Red and White Salad because everything green, red or white. Genius, right? ha ha!

1.    Arugula

2.   Beets (I used canned)

3.    Fresh Raspberries

4.    Sliced Red Onions

5.    Grated Parmesan

6.    Blue Cheese Dressing

As Julia would say Bon appetite!

Thanks for stopping by!

Peace!