MARCH 2011

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

A Great Meal

I absolutely love pasta. I can't get enough of it. If I could, I'm pretty sure I would have some kind of meal that includes pasta in it every night, however that is not so waist friendly. Once a week or every two weeks is ok, right? Hello? Right!!?

I recently discovered a great and very easy bolognese sauce. It's a Kraft Food recipe and soooo delicious (I'll include the actual recipe below). Normally we just have the spaghetti and call it quits, but since I was feeling very generous today and Z got a job, I decided to indulge in some homemade garlic bread!!! Yay!

As I type there is a scrumptious italian bread loaf sitting cut in half lengthwise with melted butter mixed with roasted garlic spread all over it!! I roasted the garlic with olive oil and S&P in a 325 degree oven for 50 minutes. Then, I mixed it with some softened butter. I was a little eager and just threw it all together and then mashed it up, but I would suggest mashing up the garlic first before mixing it up with the butter. Then I just spread it all over the bread. It smells so delicious!!


Just look at all those chunks of roasted garlic!


To start this scrumptious meal, you will cook some Zesty Italian dressing with a small chopped onion until the onion is nice and tender. Then add in a pound of extra lean meat.


Cook until the meat is browned and add in a can of tomato sauce and a can of diced tomatoes.


Mix it all up nicely and bring it to a boil. Let it simmer for about 15 minutes. Place the bread in the oven.


In the meantime, hopefully your pasta water is boiling so you can cook the spaghetti according to the directions on the package. (Please don't judge me by the quality of my photos, I haven't quite mastered the whole cook with one hand and take pictures with the other!)


Once the pasta is al dente, drain it and then sit around and wait a few minutes until your husband comes home from the driving range.


Take out the garlic bread from the oven (I cooked the bread in a 400 degree oven for about 8 minutes and then I turned off the oven and left it in there to keep it warm without it getting too brown.)


With the heat on low or off, mix in the cream cheese and parmesan cheese. Once the cream cheese is completely melted and mixed in, add the spaghetti and mix it up.


Serve with some garlic toast and you could even serve it with a side salad if you wanted to pretend to be healthy!

This is one of my most favorite meals and I hope you enjoy it too!

Spaghetti with Zesty Bolognese (6 servings):

Ingredients:
1 small onion, chopped
1/4 cup Light Zesty Italian Dressing
1 lb extra lean ground beef
1 15oz can tomato sauce
1 14oz can diced tomatoes
3/4 lb (12oz) spaghetti (we use whole wheat)
2 Tbsp Light Cream Cheese
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

How to Make it:

Cook and stir onions in dressing in large skillet on medium heat until crisp-tender. Add meat; cook on medium-high heat until browned, stirring frequently. Stir in tomato sauce and tomatoes. Bring to boil; simmer on medium-low for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Meanwhile, cook spaghetti as directed on package.

Remove sauce from heat. Add cream cheese; stir until melted. Drain spaghetti and place in large bowl. Top with sauce and parmesan.

Enjoy!

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