Bmeandering

Bmeandering

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Corner View: Typical Family Dinner


This week at corner view we are featuring our 'daily' meals
or an interpretation of such a meal
as in Susanna's Van Gogh painting.

Several times a week, Mike and I have a sit-down dinner together.
Last night was one such night
as he had just arrived home from a business trip.


I enjoy cooking, but a lot of nights, due to chronic illness ,
I am too tired after teaching teen-agers
 to deal with much of a meal.

If Mike doesn't feel like cooking,
one of us makes a run to the limited choices of restaurants:

I am a one-pot or frying pan or crock pot cook usually.

I like the following meal because it is one conveniently kept in the freezer
until needed time,
takes only ten minutes,
and serves as a wonderful base for adding other ingredients.

Bow tie pasta, spinach, and chicken make up the 'foundation'.
The fridge's vegetable drawer always serves up additions.
In this case, I added onion (always), red sweet pepper, and cauliflower.
Frozen garlic bread is almost always a companion.

Of all the possible selections in this category,
Bertolli provides our favorite.
You Italians may be shuddering right now--sorry!




                                         One of our wedding (almost 14 years ago) gifts was
                                                    a wonderful pasta recipe book
                                                 complete with a beautiful pasta bowl set.
                                                  Below is a recipe I have tried and liked. 
                                                    Above is a photo of it from the book
                                                PASTISSIMA! Pasta the Italian Way.




For more corner views,
check out Francesca's Fuoriborgo.
Enjoy!

21 comments:

  1. Pasta is one of my fav foods and it is so easy to prepare. Thanks for sharing. :) xo

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  2. i like your blue and white plates :)

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  3. I would have enjoyed your meal; I love pasta with veggies!

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  4. I've wondered if that Bertoli "pasta in a bag" was any good. Now, I will have to try it!

    I love you plans to build a house and foster dogs! I actually have wood laminate in this house - never thought I'd have it as I was a "hard wood" snob, but I couldn't afford the real stuff when I bought this house. (And the filthy 20 year old carpet in it HAD to go before I moved in...) Anyhow, with older dogs who have accidents, it's been wonderful - cleans like a dream. Paint also cleans up easily on it.

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  5. I meant to add that it is "just something to consider." However, I "finger farted" and poster too early!

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  6. You can't go wrong with a simple delicious pasta meal.

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  7. Yum! And I'm with you on being too tired to cook. With just two of us, it is easier not to. The advantage of the Empty Nest.

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  8. Sounds good to me! I find it hard to cook after being on my feet in a commercial kitchen on working days but I do manage it if I can get someone to do the dishes.

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  9. I haven't tried any of the complete skillet meals, but I'm sure they are GREAT especially for working folks... Since we are retired, we still cook regular meals... BUT--when I was raising my kids alone and working fulltime, I loved my crockpot meals--and simple casserole-type dishes...

    Hugs,
    Betsy

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  10. pasta is so forgiving, and by that i mean, it is comforting in an easy way. i think it has helped us all alot, when we need food to comfort us. and enjoy, of course...

    on your questions asked:
    · we've had spiced spare ribs, with baked potato (garlic butter and parsley on top) and a side salad on my surprise evening meal. saved me at least one puzzle of 'what shall we have for dinner?'. to be frank, i miss cooking myself. but that's why i'm putting my (slow!) skates on too, so we get that downstairs level here good and proper. the work is going fine though. slow, but fine. i am happy!

    · i must say the crochet comes in at night, when i relax. my son being a young adult and me being single gives me seas of me-time, and i simply crochet whilest watching a film or series. if not i drop off to sleep and that is worse! crochet does serve a bit as a meditative post for me too. it kind of unravels my thoughts, and makes me relax my muscle (since i sit down). the only muscle that does hurt a little sometimes is my right hand.

    · thanks for the asking, aquarius! i smiled hugely at your remark on the celery head? now i see it too!!!!!

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  11. I haven't the courage to cook the evening during the week. Pasta often "save" me! It's so good and practical. However I like to cook on weekends.

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  12. I honestly don't know how humanity survived before we Italians invented pasta! 😄

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  13. I'd eat pasta every day if the doctor would allow...oops, no carbohydrates for you, she says!

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  14. Sounds good!!! Bon appétit !

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  15. Pasta is almost always good :) your dishes look very delicious.

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  16. The sitting together and enjoying a meal. What a blessing.

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  17. Sit-down dinners are the best. We almost always all sit down together for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

    Take-out is not something we have here in our part of the Netherlands. That being said, would we have it, we wouldn't use it. Cooking from scratch is fun, is cheaper and healthier than the fast-food rubbish the typical take-outs have, and is guaranteed free of MSG!

    Nicki

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  18. i love all pasta dishes, but i've had to pretty much give them up because of the calories... but oh my mouth waters looking at these pics! LoL! =)

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  19. Dave and I are both cooks, but we tend to cook about 3 times a week and then we scrounge the rest of the time. We're both involved with so many different stuff we don't eat together nearly as often as we used to. But he's been trying some new recipes and is such a great cook that I can just relax and enjoy. [Can't eat at home now, b/c I'm at Susie's for another week... am blessed beyond belief at both places.]

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