Kale and Tomato Pasta

Two nights ago we tried a new recipe (from my favorite- Martha!) - and it turned out ok.  I added some Parmesan at the end to throw in a little cheese and the husband added some butter and cheese to his to make a bit of a sauce.  We're thinking of trying a buttery lemon sauce to go on it next time to add a bit of flavor and make it a bit more than just some vegetables with noodles.

However - for my first time trying something with kale I think it turned out ok and I definitely plan to try more kale recipes in the future - it's just a vegetable that's so packed with nutrients and super tasty in the winter!

Here's a few pictures from my prep last night:

And as I'm a bad blogger - all I have for the final meal is a picture of my leftovers for lunch yesterday :-/!  But the website had a nice picture of what it ideally could turn out to look like.

Also - in case you're curious how the husband is eating pasta since he does low carb - he has found some shirataki tofu noodles at Whole Foods that are low carb friendly!  I don't eat them - but it allows me to make pasta dishes and we just split the toppings between us!!  If you want to find out more about these - check out this article here.

Spaghetti Carbonara - Low Carb style

ok so ours didn't look quite that amazing (and I'm a bad blogger and didn't take a picture of the final product - but it looked tasty, I promise! so tasty I forgot to take a photo!) (photo from www.stan-burger.com)

The other night (I meant to blog this then but...life gets in the way sometimes!) I made spaghetti carbonara for my husband and I - mine with noodles and his with spaghetti squash! Spaghetti squash is a really awesome substitute for noodles and we've used in a few different pasta dishes so he can enjoy too. It doesn't have a lot of flavor - so it takes on the flavors of sauces and toppings really well!

I followed this recipe from Emeril off Food Network.com

Ingredients

• 1/2 pound bacon, chopped
• 1 tablespoon chopped garlic
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1 pound fresh spaghetti, cooked al dente
• 4 large eggs, beaten
• Salt
• 1 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh parsley leaves

Directions

In a large saute pan, over medium heat, cook the bacon until crispy, about 6 minutes. Remove the bacon and drain on paper towels. Pour off all of the oil except for 3 tablespoons. Add the garlic. Season with black pepper. Saute for 30 seconds. Add the crispy bacon and the pasta. Saute for 1 minute. Season the eggs with salt. Remove the pan from the heat and add the eggs, whisking quickly until the eggs thicken, but do not scramble. Add the cheese and re-season with salt and pepper. Mound into serving bowls and garnish with parsley.

I simply split the recipe in half and had two different pans to mix one half with spaghetti noodles and the other half with spaghetti squash.

Spaghetti squash is super easy to cook - just cut in half - take out the seeds and then coat each side with a little olive oil. Then put cut side down on a baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Then flip over and bake for another 20-30 minutes. Then just scrape the insides with a fork and you have "Spaghetti!"

Dinner Tonight

I made orange peel chicken tonight - I kind of winged it. My husband loves it but regular orange peel chicken has sugar and orange juice in it and he does a low carb diet so this is changed a bit for him.

3 chicken breasts - cut into bite size pieces
4 green onions, chopped
2 tbsps or so of soy sauce
1 garlic clove
3 tbsps of vegetable oil
1/4 cup of water
~.5 lb. of snow peas - boil for 3 minutes and then rinse in cold water before adding to the pan.
4 oranges' worth of peel
1 tbsp. splenda (or sugar)
2 tbsp. of garlic chili sauce

I heated up a large saute pan with the oil and heated up the garlic over medium high heat. After the garlic browned ever so slightly, add in the green onions, soy sauce, water, garlic chili sauce, and splenda, turn the heat down to medium. Let it cook for 5 or so minutes to reduce down. Then add the chicken and orange peel. Cook until the chicken is done and add in the snow peas. Cook for another minute or two, until everything in coated. Serve over rice, or plain!