Dinner is served

Since Tom is working swing shifts this week, I have to cook dinner in the middle of the day. I like to try to keep his eating schedule as regular as possible. It seems to help him switch between the 3 shifts a lot easier.

For these early dinner preparations I like something that is quick easy, packed full of nutrients, and something that will reheat easy. So I dubbed today as the official start of my cooking with Jamie Oliver. Tonight's dinner is "Pregnant Jools's Pasta"....not to sure where he comes up with the names for his meals. He suggest serving it with a "Crunchy Red Endive & Watercress salad" and "Little Frangipane Tarts".  There is no way I can possible justify eating dessert with every dinner meal. My budget nor thighs could handle it. 

Here is a look at the end result:

YUMMY!!!!! When I first made it, I was thinking he was crazy to put the sausage and veggies in the food processor together. My way of thinking, was it was going to create a gritty, minced texture. Oh but I am so wrong. On the contrary it produced a velvety light sauce. This is also a great way to get kids to eat more veggies. The sauce has carrots, celery, onions and peppers all blended together. Haylie seemed to be pleased with the dinner choice. A quick suggestion, if you don't care for the taste of fennel (those little seeds in Italian sausage) then grind your seeds before putting them in the food processor. They are still very much whole in the end. The salad was also a nice accompaniment, however it didn't photograph well. Speaking of photo's I am trying out the food setting on my camera.What do you think of my pasta picture?

Since my mouth can't enjoy the dessert, I can at least savory it with my eyes. Plus it may entice you to try it out. Looks delicious doesn't it? This picture was borrowed from Jamie's Site.

Here are the facts:

I completed the salad and pasta in 23.46 minutes. (I set my timer) If you don't have a food processor, you wouldn't be able to complete it in that time frame. (keep in mind I only made the pasta and salad) 

Pasta: $2.79 per serving.  (total servings - 6)  *** I bought organic italian sausage form the local butcher. I also used the Heart Harvest whole grain Penne pasta. My celery is also organic. I did have a hard time figuring the price of this dish as I used my homemade canned tomatoes and I am not sure what the cost per jar is. I just added in the cost of an organic canned tomatoes from the store. Other then that all the other ingredients were just regular supermarket brands. 

Salad: $1.93  per serving. *** I will never make a salad with endive again, unless the price drops. It is ridiculously over priced. I didn't even buy the organic kind. I think just substituting it with romaine or spinach would be just as good. Its a salad for goodness sake's. Its just there to make you eat your greens. 

Star Rating:

Tom - 3 stars

Me - 2 stars (mainly because I am not a pasta fan)

Haylie - she ate it, that is all that counts.

On a side note: If your want to try and eat more organic foods, try just switching your meats. I have found that your local butcher will have a better price on organic meats. Also buying all your spices and grains at a bulk store will cut way down on the cost. You don't have to buy a pound of chili powder, you can buy just a teaspoon if you wish. The savings comes from not having it pre-packaged in a fancy shaker jar. The flip side is that you need storage containers at home. Or you can save your empty spice containers and refill them.