Basic, But NOT Boring!

Doctor's orders have had me on a "bland" diet as of late, which, everyone knows, tastes about as fun as it sounds.  Luckily, with some poking around the internet, I found some not-so-bland (delicious, in fact!), easy-to-digest options and have been able to cook myself some pretty tasty dishes.  Here is one such recipe, found on one of my new favorite blogs, Delectably Free.  I modify the recipe by using an egg.  I also went a bit crazy with the onion on this one (and was too lazy to chop it small), as you can see...in the end, though, it tasted fabulous.  And though this may not look pretty, as everyone also knows, taste is what matters!

You can use chicken or turkey for the meatballs, and, if you are gluten intolerant, or watching your carbs, or just looking to mix things up, you can serve these over spaghetti squash (helpful cooking instructions here), as I did this time around, or "zucchini pasta" - another favorite recipe introduced to me by Miel - which I will share in my next post. 

To keep things simple and easy on the tummy, I had this dish with butter, salt and parmesan cheese, just like the old days, but you can also add homemade pasta sauce (so easy to make - and cheap!) to the mix for some added interest.

Pasta Sauce:

1 (28 ounce) can crushed or diced tomatoes

4 (6 ounce) can tomato paste

1 large onion, chopped (I like sweet, but yellow and white work great too - the beauty of cooking is you can modify how you see fit)

4 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 cup chopped fresh basil (you can also add rosemary or any other Italian seasonings you like)

salt to taste

ground black pepper to taste

1 pinch baking soda

2 TB olive oil

Steps:

1.  Heat the olive oil, throw in the onion and garlic, and cook until carmelized

2.  Add tomato paste, brown this, then fill the tomato paste can with water, add, and heat

3.  Add in the large can of tomatoes, heat on high

4.  Add in the remainsing ingredients and simmer, covered, about 45 min - 1 hour

3. Salt and pepper to taste

This can be served right away or frozen and saved for later - a huge time saver, budget friendly, and, of course, better than the stuff in a jar.