pasta pomodoro

It was Mikel's turn to cook today. While he did not make anything off of the Cooking List, he did make Pasta Pomodoro. Pomodoro means tomato. Yes, my son, the one who does not make friends easily with tomatoes, wanted to make this dish. It is about the only thing on the menu at Olive Garden that is vegan, and having had it before, he wanted to recreate it.

And just because he is such a fan of pesto, he made a Duo of Pasta for lunch.

The Pomodoro uses tomatoes from our garden, Hungarian Hearts to be exact, and the pesto uses basil from our kitchen garden. Both contain plenty of garlic to boot and both were delicious. Both are actually very simple to make - the Pomodoro has basil, garlic and tomatoes, the pesto, basil, garlic and nuts.

He used Lo Mein noodles for the pasta since they cook in three minutes and I was out of angel hair.

Cost Breakdown:

noodles: $2

tomatoes: $3

basil: $3

garlic: $1

Total to feed a family of four:

$9.00

north indian

Indian Night

As soon as my kids got wind that I was making Indian (again) they asked: are you going to make the same things again?

Are you kidding me??

There is a whole country of food to make!

But, it does seem, at least to kids before they tasted it, that indeed, Mom did make the same things again: legumes, potatoes and rice. It was only after they tasted it that the light bulb went off - this is totally different than last week's Indian.

It was either my cooking skills or South Indian's penchant for sour, because they enjoyed the tonight's North Indian more. 

Tonight I made a split red lentil (masoor dal) Dal with spinach and tomatoes, Chana Masala, chickpeas with gravy - one of the only vegan items on an Indian restaurant menu, and Alu Matar, a potato and peas dish. 

The Alu Matar recipe I got out of Flavors Of India by Shanta Nimbark Sacharoff. I met this lady in San Francisco where she has an Indian shop. Her cookbook is excellent and the recipes are easy. This is the book I have used before and while it does not have all the recipes that one can drool over in a restaurant, it is a great place to start. If you are looking for a good, simple Indian cookbook, look no further.

The chickpeas in the dish above need to be cooked fresh since the cooking broth is important in the preparation. Believe me, I've tried making Chana Masala on more than a few occasions since it is Cat's favorite dish, with little success until tonight.

Cost Breakdown:

onion, garlic: $1

spices, herbs: $1

tomatoes, peppers: $3.50

potatoes: $1.50

peas, lentil, chickpea: $3

spinach: $1

rice: $.50

Total to feed a family of 6:

$11.50

Chana Masala Recipe

DAL WITH SPINACH PRINTER-FRIENDLY RECIPE