Fried Pasta!

Normally when I made pasta, I'd put the leftovers in a container in the fridge, and there it would sit until I got sick of looking at it and threw it out, or it started to grow something, in which case I'd pitch the whole container in the garbage.

I found a much tastier and less wasteful way of dealing with leftovers....fried pasta! It's actually way healthier than it sounds, and it's delicious!

Coat a pan with olive oil, add the pasta, and minced garlic (I used dry, I just gave it a few shakes). I also added adobo seasoning, because I put that shit on everything!

Over medium high heat, stir the pasta until it starts getting browned and crispy. I like mine pretty crispy, if you like yours less so, just stir until it's heated through.

When it's cooked to your liking, plate and serve!

You can make it your own with any of your favorite add ins. Try frying up your pasta with some of these combos:
-chopped onions and peppers
-frozen peas and chopped bacon
-pine nuts and chopped broccoli
-anything that strikes your fancy!


Comfort food at its finest! Make it a real treat and pair it with a chardonnay if you like white, or a cabernet if you like red. Fried pasta, and a glass of wine, I can't imagine a better meal for a cool fall evening!

For more wine pairings with your favorite foods visit me over at Wine Decadence!

Veggies and Dip With a Kick

The veggie platter is my favorite part of any appetizer spread. I love raw veggies, and I love dip! When I was strictly vegetarian, one of the things I missed the most was buffalo wings. Really though, it wasn't the chicken I was craving, it was the kick of the buffalo sauce! This dip is the best of both worlds, and like all of Country Gourmet Home's mixes, it's super easy to make.

All you need is 2 cups of sour cream. Have you ever looked at the ingredients in sour cream? Some brands have a ton of fillers and additives that take away from the real flavor. My favorite brand?

Shoprite (of course) 

You may not live near a Shoprite, but before you buy sour cream, look at the ingredients. It should say milk, cream, and enzymes, and that's it!

Anyway, measure out 2 cups of sour cream.

Pour in the mix and combine.

Arrange on a platter with fresh, chopped veggies. Make it pretty!

If you want to make a meal out of veggies and dip, add some cheese and crackers to your platter, and pair with a Riesling to balance the heat of the dip. 

Interested to see what else Country Gourmet Home has to offer? Visit the website and get ready for the re-launch!

Taco Night

There's really never not a good night for tacos. It's perfect for a busy weeknight dinner, and also for a fun Friday night meal. Kids love putting together their own tacos....so do adults for that matter.
Check out our most recent taco night!

Step 1: Combine water and seasoning packet to create the taco sauce.

Step 2: Spray a pan with cooking spray. (If you haven't yet, you will soon learn about my deep, abiding love for Shop Rite. I have a problem, I know!)

Step 3: Brown your meat. I used ground turkey, but you can use ground beef, chicken, or even make it vegetarian friendly with veggie crumbles.

Step 4: Combine the sauce with the meat and stir to combine.

Step 5: Cover and simmer for 5 minutes to soak in all that taco-y goodness.

Step 6: Serve with your favorite taco toppings! Now really make the night festive by opening up a bottle of Spanish Garnacha wine!

To learn more about Country Gourmet Home click here. And stay tuned for the re-launch of CGH to order up your own taco night!

It's Soup Weather!

I love summer. The beach, not having to put on a billion layers before going outside, the long days, not freezing my tush off when I get out of the shower, all aces in my book. There are a few things I like about cooler weather, and soup is one of them. I love soup, but just don't like having it when it's hot outside.

It's finally not a million degrees here in NJ, so I broke out a packet of my favorite Country Gourmet Home soup mix for dinner the other night.

Wild rice in anything is good, and this soup is seriously easy to cook and get on the table before your toddler can start hollering that he's hungry! Well....almost.

Step 1: Combine soup mix and 4 and a half cups of water in a pot, and bring to a boil.

Step 2: Cover and simmer for 45 minutes to an hour, assure the toddler lurking in the background that dinner will be ready soon.

Step 3: Serve! That's it! You're eating already! This soup goes great with a hunk of crusty Italian bread, and a glass of Pinot Noir. Then again, just about anything goes well with bread and wine.

Be sure to put this on you CGH wish list! They will be up and running and ready to take orders very soon! In the meantime, check out the website here.

Pancakes For Lunch

I suck at making pancakes. I've tried many recipes from scratch, I've made absolutely positively sure I follow the directions to the letter, and I end up with flat, gooey, heaps of semi fried batter, and a whole lot of broken dreams. Now I know pancakes are supposed to be flat, but mine actually occupy negative space, if that's possible.

Enter Country Gourmet Home's Buttermilk Pancake Mix. I seriously go through withdrawal when I run out. I felt like pancakes for lunch the other day, so I whipped up a batch for me and my toddler, and my pancake dreams remained intact!

It's so simple, it's almost criminal!

Step 1: Measure out 1 cup of mix, and mix with 1/2 cup of water. (instructions for larger batches are on the back of the package)

Heat and grease a skillet (I like Shop Rite's Olive Oil spray). When it is hot, pour the batter using a 1/4 cup measure into the skillet. Be sure to wait until it's hot! I set my stove top to the hottest setting. When the pan is nice and hot, then I reduce it to medium.

When the pancakes start to bubble, flip, and cook for another minute or two on the other side.

Super simple and makes the perfect lunch....or breakfast.....or dinner for that matter.

If you love pancakes as much as I do, you'll want to head over to Country Gourmet Home, click "shop online" and scroll down to "pancake mixes". Besides buttermilk, they have a huge variety of flavors, from the traditional faves like blueberry and chocolate chip, to unique flavors like lemon lavender blueberry.

Goulash!

Before Country Gourmet Home, I didn't know what goulash was. Actually, I still don't really know, but I do know one thing: it's really good!

It's super easy to make, takes only about 20 minutes, is healthy, and will most likely please even your picky eaters, aka, the perfect meal!

Here's how:

Step 1: Coat a pot with olive oil (go Greek!) and brown your meat. I used 1 lb of ground turkey, but you could use beef, chicken, or even make it vegetarian with veggie crumbles!

I sprinkled a little Adobo Seasoning on the meat as it cooked. It's like powdered gold in this house!

Step 2: After the meat is cooked, add 4 cups of water, the pasta, and seasoning packet.

Stir well, bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium low, cover and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, or until pasta is ready. The mixture will thicken as it simmers.

Step 4: Plate your goulash, sprinkle with parmesan cheese, and serve!

One of my favorite things about this mix is that it only has 5 ingredients, and I know what they all are!

Put this in your regular rotation for easy weeknight cooking. Head over to Country Gourmet Home, click on "shop online", then scroll down to "pasta mixes" to get yours!

Dinner in 10!

The other night I absolutely needed to get dinner on the table fast, with no mess to clean up. I was hungry, my toddler was hungry, and we had to eat and leave to get somewhere. I tried Country Gourmet Home's Bruschetta Pasta Dinner Mix for the first time, and before we knew it we were chowing down.

Here is how seriously easy it is to make this meal:

Step 1: Cook the pasta (See, easy already!)

Step 2: Blend the seasoning packet with olive oil. As a side note, did you know you should always look for Greek olive oil? I'm not just saying that because I'm Greek! Apparently olive oil from other regions is a diluted blend of better quality oils mixed with lower quality. Go Greek!

Step 3: Drain the pasta, return it to the pot and toss with the seasoning.

Step 4: Serve! I splashed on a little pomegranate infused balsamic vinegar because I was feeling fancy, and topped with grated cheese.

I love it when my meal looks pretty!

And of course some for my little guy. He gobbled it up before I could blink!

Four steps to delish! Want to try it for yourself? Visit Country Gourmet Home, click the shop button and scroll down to pasta mixes. Let me know how yours turned out!

Country Gourmet Home

I love to cook, and I love to sit down to a meal with my family that's not take out, out of the microwave, or has a shelf life of a billion years. I don't always have the time to cook a full meal from scratch. I have a toddler, I'm a freelance writer and I need to put my time into my child and job. That's where Country Gourmet Home comes in.

I started with CGH as a customer, loved the products, and decided to become a consultant and share the products with others. It's seriously easy to throw together a meal using a CGH mix, one or a couple of ingredients and have a home cooked meal in no time flat! WHat's even better is that your mixes aren't made until you order them. They don't sit on a warehouse shelf, and they don't have a ton of preservatives in them. Just premium seasonings, and all the dry ingredients you need to get cooking.

Stay tuned to this blog to find out what's on my table for dinner, (and dessert). I'll post pictures showing how ridiculously easy it is to prepare a CGH meal, and other tips and techniques I've learned in the kitchen.