Basil Tomato Sauce

This basil tomato sauce was delicious!  I was trimming my basil plant and needed to use up the basil leaves and a basil tomato sauce was the perfect thing to make.  (I love the smell of fresh basil too!) This sauce is great with pasta or as a pizza sauce too.  I also used a chili pepper instead of chili pepper flakes, so if you don't have a fresh chili pepper from your friend's garden like I did, than you can substitute 1/4 teaspoon of red chili pepper flakes.  I served this basil tomato sauce with capellini pasta.  Enjoy!

Basil Tomato Sauce

Printable Recipe

Ingredients

28 ounce can crushed tomatoes

6 ounce can tomato paste

1 cup water

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 teaspoon garlic, minced (from a jar)

1 small chili pepper, minced

1 tablespoon Italian seasoning

1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil

2 to 3 tablespoons butter, divided

1 bunch fresh basil, torn

Directions

In a heavy pan, over medium heat, add in olive oil.  Add in garlic and chili pepper.  Add in 1 tablespoon butter.  Stir and cook for about 2 or 3 minutes until garlic is lightly browned.

Add in crushed tomatoes and tomato paste.  Using the cans, fill about halfway with water and add into pan.   (This will equal to about a cup of water and rinses the can to add in any remaining tomatoes to the sauce.)

Stir in Italian seasoning.

Cover and cook on low for about 30 minutes.

Stir in torn basil leaves.

Stir in 1 to 2 tablespoons butter (optional).

Serve with your favorite pasta.  You can also freeze this sauce in freezer bags or freezer-safe containers.

Buddy and Ellie like to be in the kitchen with me...probably hoping for a treat from their treat jar on the counter :)

Slow Cooker Beef Stew

I adapted this Slow Cooker Beef Stew recipe from Martha Stewart's Beef Stew recipe.  I was unsure about adding balsamic vinegar to a beef stew since I have never tried that before.  However, it turned out great.  I actually love balsamic vinegar but never thought to add it to beef stew.  I also added mushroom broth since it was something I wanted to use up from the fridge.  You could also make this on the stove top or oven, but I prefer using a slow cooker.  The meat always comes out tender and melts in your mouth!  I usually like to serve beef stew over wide egg noodles, but its also great as is or even over rice.  Enjoy!

Slow Cooker Beef Stew

Printable Recipe

Ingredients

2 pounds beef stew meat, cut into 1 inch cubes

1/3 cup tomato paste

½ cup and ¼ cup mushroom broth (You may use beef broth)

3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

2 tablespoons flour

1 onion, diced

1 russet potato, diced

½ pound baby carrots

6 garlic cloves, minced

2 bay leaves

1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil

Directions

Toss meat with flour to lightly coat.

In a pan over medium-high heat, add oil.  Next, add in meat in batches to lightly brown.  There is no need to cook the meat all the way through since it will cook in the slow cooker.

In a small bowl, mix together tomato paste, ½ cup mushroom broth, balsamic vinegar, and minced garlic.

Once meat is done browning, add ¼ cup mushroom broth to pan to deglaze. Scrape bottom of pan with a wooden spoon.  Next, pour in tomato-balsamic sauce and stir to mix with deglazed bits.

In slow cooker, add in carrots, onion, and potato.  Top with meat.  Pour sauce over top and add in bay leaves.

Cook on high for 4 to 5 hours or on low for 8 to 10 hours.

You can also freeze in freezer bag(s) prior to cooking for a make-ahead meal.

Curry Coconut Chicken

I love coconut anything these days.  My current favorite coffee flavors for K-cups are coconut mocha and island coconut.  I usually bring coffee to work so I have been interchanging those two K-cup flavors every other day.  I also had a mocha coconut frappucino not too long ago at Starbucks.  Too bad there is no "light" version of the mocha coconut frapp or I'd be getting it more often!   There once was a time I despised coconut flavors and then one day I happened to start liking coconut.  This is how I came upon this curry coconut chicken recipe.  I altered this recipe from allrecipes.com and it came out great.  I tried out a green curry for the first time so instead of using 2 tablespoons of curry, I did 1 tablespoon of regular curry and 1 tablespoon of green curry.   I found the green curry on sale at World Market, so you should check out their spices section next time if you can't find it at the grocery store.  I served this curry coconut chicken over white rice.  How good does that look?

Curry Coconut Chicken

Printable Recipe

Ingredients

1 ½ - 2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into bite-sized pieces

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 tablespoons curry powder (I used 1 tablespoon green curry.)

½ onion, thinly sliced

2 cloves garlic, minced

13.5 ounce can coconut milk

28 ounce can crushed tomato sauce

3 ounce tomato paste (½ of typical 6 ounce can.)

3 tablespoons sugar

salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Season chicken with salt and pepper.

Add oil in a large skillet, over medium-high heat.   Add in curry powder and stir to mix with oil for a minute or two. 

Add in onions and garlic, stir into curry oil and cook for a minute or two.

Add in chicken and stir to coat with curry oil.  Cook for 5 to 7 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink.

Add in tomato sauce, tomato paste, coconut milk, and sugar.  Stir to combine.

Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 30 minutes.

Serves 4 to 6.