Pan Lasagna from Pasta leftovers

This is a quick and filling dinner for a weeknight when you don't have the time or energy to fuss with food but do have a hearty appetite. Take the leftover meat sauce and mix it with the leftover pasta and heat in a small skillet. When it is good and hot, turn it down to simmer and add mozzarella cheese and Italian seasonings, cover until the cheese is melted and eat it right out of the pan. It's not really lasagna, but it sure tastes good!

Another Fine Breakfast

Here is another fine example of a breakfast that will get you through the day. I should have put in a fork or something to give a size reference. This is a small dessert plate. You don't want to eat so much that you're too full to start the days activities. I had leftover chicken, green beans, and rice. The hard-boiled eggs make it seem more like breakfast.

Basic Pasta with Italian Style Chicken

Tonight's menu consists of whole wheat Rotini smothered in a meaty tomato sauce with Italian Style breast of Chicken. I prepared this meal on a Sunday so I would have plenty of time. This meal will become the basis of my dinners for weekdays when time is at a premium. The leftover chicken will be tomorrow's Chicken Parmigiana, the leftover rotini and sauce will become a quick and satisfying Pan Lasagna, and the remainder of the sauce will top Home-made Pizza!

Never use jars of sauce like Prego or any other brand! They are full of chemicals and fat and junk you do not want to eat.

I like Hunt's sauce the best. I save a few cents by mixing it with a can of store brand sauce and add a can of Italian seasoned stewed tomatoes. I saute ground chicken to add to it because I need to watch fats. I don't like ground turkey, it tastes like Turkey! If I didn't have to watch fat intake so closely, I would use ground sweet Italian sausage. Just drain all the fat from it. This is a very basic sauce. You could add onion, garlic, peppers, mushrooms etc.

Chicken breasts: add a small 8 oz. can of Hunt's sauce with oregano, and basil to a 2 qt. casserole dish with the chicken breasts, cover and cook at 350 - 375 for 25 - 30 minutes.

Follow directions on the box for the rotini. It takes just a touch longer for the whole wheat pasta than for the regular semolina, but it is better for you and tastes better too. My market only has rotini and spaghetti in the whole wheat but I really like the rotini.
2 cups or half the box will make plenty with leftovers.

This is a meal that will satisfy! Sprinkle with Romano cheese and dry Italian Spices and feast. Be sure and take good care of the leftovers and they will feed you most of the week. I don't mix the sauce with the leftover pasta for storage. I put everything in it's own container.

Cereal is for Snacking

In the previous blog, I recommended eating a good dinner for breakfast. Although I don't think cereal is appropriate for breakfast, at least not until some protein is eaten, I do consume mass quantities of the stuff. Honey Bunches of Oats or the store brand with Vanilla Silk (or store brand) is my ice cream. I will admit to having a hard time giving up my addiction to ice cream. My gall bladder put an end to that! The solution was a substitute addiction to Vanilla Soy Milk over a good mixed grain cereal. I first tried Silk because my Lady Friend is lactose intolerant. It was a lot better than I ever would have thought, and now I use it instead of milk. It lasts a whole lot longer in the fridge than milk and has lots of calcium and vitamins. It was the Vanilla product that hooked me. The only downside is that I have to buy regular silk for cooking. Even I can't tolerate vanilla in my mashed potatoes!