Easy Peasy Marinara Sauce

This simple recipe is vegan, gluten free, sugar free, and all other good things that people think is healthy! You could even make it salt free, but that would probably compromise the taste. But you do you, boo!

so let's get to:

Cooking {without} Class

Anything that requires marinara can use this REALLY EASY recipe. And, I think it's super good! 

You can also double the recipe and freeze some for a future recipe. 

Easy never looked so good and tasted so tasty

Me looking PIST that Jud was taking my picture while I cooked.
I'm gonna hit him with my big ole spoon. 

Ingredients:

1 28 oz Can of Crushed Tomatoes

1 15 oz Can of Diced Tomatoes (This can vary, but I'll cover it, don't worry)

3 tsp Italian Seasoning (or 1 of each: Parsley, Basil, Oregano)

1 tsp of Salt (you don't have to add if you're trying to go for no sodium added)

1/2 tsp Garlic Powder OR sauté 2-3 fresh cloves before adding the tomatoes

1/2 tsp Onion Powder  OR sauté 1/2 fresh onion, minced

A couple of pinches of Red Pepper Flakes depending on your spicy level

This cannot get any easier for a homemade, healthy marinara! 

1. If you want to do it the "Hard Way", mince your onion and garlic. Sauté. 

• I sautéed garlic here. No onion. 

2. Add the tomatoes and spices. Stir together. 

• Let's talk tomatoes: I didn't have crushed or diced tomatoes when I first made this. I did have whole peeled tomatoes and tomato sauce. I "crushed" my whole tomatoes with a spoon in the can and used the tomato sauce. It was perfect. Diced tomatoes would make it chunkier if you're into that.
• The next time I made it, I doubled my recipe to freeze some for later, "crushed" my whole tomatoes with an immersion/wand blender and used the tomato sauce. It was a little watery because of the doubled sauce, so I added a small can of tomato paste. Then it was perfect. 

3. Cook until boiling, then lower the heat and simmer for at least 20 minutes, up to an hour. 

4. Add to whatever you're cooking! 

Bonus picture of my KITTY CAT HOT HAND THINGY
with meatballs in the background. yum. 

The thing about quinoa spaghetti..

So tonight I made dinner (meatballs parmesan). In an attempt to make our meal healthier, I used quinoa spaghetti instead of normal spaghetti. I've had it before. It tastes like spaghetti, it looks like spaghetti, and it pretty much cooks like spaghetti. BUT here's the deal, if you cook it and let it sit in the colander for 20 minutes, it hardens. This makes it no longer "eat" like spaghetti. It clumped together and got a little weird with the texture. My dinner was OBVIOUSLY still delicious, but I just thought I'd share my thoughts about quinoa spaghetti.

tldr: don't let it sit on the counter. cook, then eat immediately.

<3 Frankie

Spaghetti Squash Lasagna

GUESS WHAT TIME IT IS...

Cooking {without} Class

That's right everyone. The time has come (the walrus said), to share my cooking again! 

This week's cooking class is based on a recipe I found on Pinterest...like they all are. 

Here's the link to the original poster: Celiac in the City

So let's get this thing goin, shall we?

FIRST THINGS FIRST YALL: Apron of the day or #AOTD

This picture makes my legs look long. Do not be fooled! Also, I'm wearing my most ~fashionable~ flip flops.
I chose this apron because it reminds me of my MawMaw Cascio, and I'm making Italian food, so it was appropriate! 

Now we can really get this thing rocking. 

Ingredients: 

1 spaghetti squash

1 lb Italian sausage (I mixed spicy & sweet)

2 cups of your favorite pasta sauce

2 tablespoons fresh basil

½ cup ricotta cheese (I used a whole cup)

½ cup shredded mozzarella cheese (again a whole cup, plus topping)

Olive oil

salt & pepper (obviously)

How would you know what the ingredients looked like if I didn't put a picture?

Let's talk about ingredients. 

• The Italian sausage I got from Trader Joe's. It's actually chicken sausage instead of the traditional pork sausage. I got one package of sweet, and one of spicy. I used half of each to make approximately one pound. I froze the rest. I am good wife, hear me roar. 

• The basil I picked from my "herb garden" - which consists of a new basil plant, an old, ugly basil plant, a tomato plant that hasn't bloomed in 4 months, a rosemary bush with spiderwebs in it, a mint plant with about 4 leaves, and some droopy sage. Here's some photos:

The new, beautiful, fragrant basil plant. I honestly use basil a lot, so it's nice to only spend the money on the plant.

The older, uglier basil plant. 

BONUS SUCCULENT
MawMaw Cascio liked these a lot too! 

• When choosing a pasta sauce, if you want to be as healthy as possible, you should try to get organic sauce with no added sugar. This is the one I found:

I'm pretty sure MawMaw Cascio's recipe calls for like a whole cup of sugar, so this is wayyyy healthier.
Definitely not your great grandmother's, but healthier.

• For the cheeses, I think I used TWICE as much as the recipe called for. If you like cheese, which you do because you aren't a monster, then plan on using a whole cup of each. Or more. No judgement here. Also, for health purposes, get the cheese made with skim milk. Anything that says "fat free" screams I'M NOT NATURAL so I don't buy it. Plus its GROSS.
•  And since I'm a scientist, here's a nice article to read on fat intake and your diet. Fat is necessary for your body, so pick healthy fats instead of a "low fat or No fat" diet.
• ANNND the article is from the Mayo Clinic. Which I think is funny -- because traditional mayo is really fatty!! lololololol  

Now that we've had a word about ingredients and a health lesson, let's get COOKIN!

1. To begin, I readied my oven by turning it to 400 degrees. 
2. Then I picked out a pan, and decided to use my Silpat, which is this crazy no stick thing. It wasn't really necessary. It also gave me more to clean. 
   

      3. Cut the spaghetti squash! If it has extraneous stemmage, cut the stem down. Then VERY CAREFULLY cut it in half lengthwise, like so:

Squash

Meet giant knife

carefullll....

So very careful.. 

WHEW IT'S DONE
No fingers were lost! 

     4. Clean out the gunk in the squash, just like you would a pumpkin!

So fresh and so clean, clean

      5. Put some olive oil on the fleshy part of the squash. I used one of those nice BBQ brushes to put       mine on evenly, but you could always use your finger! 

       6. Place the squash fleshy side down on your pan, put a little water on the bottom, and bake for 45-60 minutes

This is how much water I used. And yes it did seep under the mat and burn.
And yes it was a pain in the ass to clean. 

      7. While the squash is roasting, brown your sausage! Use a pretty big pan. 

TIP: I had to take my sausage out of the casing, so I cut it down the middle and squeezed it out.

This pack of sausage didn't have casing...but I tried to find it, and made holes in my weiners. 

Crumble it with your hands to brown in the pan!

      8. Add the sauce to the sausage. Did I mention to use a big pan?

Simmah down nah.

      9. In a bowl, combine the ricotta, mozzarella, and shredded basil.

ugh. I love cheese. 

SO GEWD

      10. Wait because your squash was huge is cooking SO SLOWWWW

That's twenty more minutes.
I guess I could clean up the dishes I already dirtied.

     11. When your squash is tinder, swipe right. But when your squash is tender, fluff out the insides of it with a fork and see the magic! IT LOOKS LIKE SPAGHETTI BUT IT'S NOT

Are those NOODLES?

The full fluff. 

      12. Fill your squash with lasagna layers! Sauce, Cheese, Repeat. Top with mozzarella.

      13. Turn on your broiler, and pop those bad boys in for a couple of minutes - until the cheese on top starts browning.

The Health Inspector is at it again.

      14. Marvel at the great beauty in front of you. Take pictures for your blog. Top with parmesan if you want. Then EAT.

ooooooooooooooo

ahhhhhhhhhhhh

parm is added to everything at our house

whoahhhhhhh 

Overall Thoughts About this Meal:

It was really good!! Like yum. Judson said it was "probably the best thing you've cooked." I will definitely make it again! 

The only bad thing about it was that there was a lot of water at the bottom of my squash bowl. I think next time I will take out the squash and for real layer everything in a 9x9 pan (squash, sauce, cheese). I think that will help with the moisture. 

Also, I just realized it was missing a garlic flavor! That's just bad form for an Italian. I'll either add some garlic salt in my layers (I added salt anyway), or add actual chopped garlic to my sausage browning process next time. Granny says that garlic keeps the worms away, so really it's a health concern.   

Concise Instructions:

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees. Wash spaghetti squash, cut off stem and slice squash lengthwise. Scoop out the seeds and gunk. Brush with olive oil, season with salt and pepper, and place, cut side down, on your baking dish with a little water. Roast for 45-60 minutes. 

While squash is roasting, brown Italian sausage in large skillet over medium heat. Add sauce once brown.

In a bowl, combine the ricotta, mozzarella, and fresh basil, set aside.

Fluff squash innards.

Layer sauce and cheese until squash is filled. Top with mozzarella. 

Broil until cheese turns golden brown.

Hope you enjoyed this installment of Cooking {without} Class! Leave me a comment with questions and compliments. Obviously, there won't be any complaints. 

<3 Frankie