Recipe of the week: Green Beans & Pasta

Jamál (Beauty), 9 Sharaf (Honor), 168 BE – Sunday, January 8, 2012 AD about 10:02 AM Pacific Time

Ingredients:

1 26.5 oz. can of pasta sauce (any flavor)

1 16 oz. pkg. of elbow macaroni (any type of pasta may be substituted)

8 c. water

2 14.5 oz. cans green beans (any style) drained

¼ c. of grated cheese (any type)

Instructions:

Step 1: I fix my pasta in a slow cooker, so I start this dish the night before. Put 8 cups of water in the slow cooker and turn the cooker onto high. When the water reaches the boiling point, I put in the pasta and let it cook. If you put the pasta into the slow cooker too soon, it gets starchy.

Step 2: Remove pasta from slow cooker and drain. Then place the pasta into microwavable casserole dishes (either 1 or 2 will do depending on the size of the casserole dish). Then place the pasta into the refrigerator (if you cook the pasta the day before making this recipe).

Step 3: Open the can of pasta sauce and mix it with the macaroni. If the macaroni is in two casserole dishes divide the pasta sauce between the two casseroles.

Step 4: Mix the green beans into the macaroni and pasta sauce; if you are using more then one casserole dish divide the green beans between the casseroles.

Step 5: Put the casserole dish into the microwave and heat the mixture. The length of time depends on the microwave, but give this dish at least 2 ½ to 5 minutes.

Step 6: Sprinkle the grated cheese on top of the green bean and pasta mixture. Note: If using two casserole dishes then change ¼ cup of cheese to ½ cup and divide between the casseroles.

This recipe makes enough for several people; therefore, if you want to freeze parts of it go ahead. To do this place the mixture into freezer containers that are also microwave safe, but do not add the grated cheese until you are ready to heat and serve.

Serving suggestions:

Serve this dish with either chicken thighs or breast. If you serve with chicken thighs do not remove the skin before cooking the chicken, especially if you are cooking the chicken in the microwave.

Happiness is twenty recipes for green beans

Fidál (Grace), 19 Qudrat (Power), 167 BE – Monday, November 21, 2011 about 6:10 PM Pacific Time

All right, it doesn’t take much to make me happy any more. For the past few weeks, we’ve eaten a lot of green beans, can chicken, and rice. It’s good, but I think I’ve overdid it because Mom doesn’t eat it very good any more, so I have to find different ways to fix green beans because I have an over abundance of canned green beans in my pantry.

A friend sent me a link to 20 Ways to Cook Green Beans. I glanced through the recipes a few minutes ago and they all sound good. Since I’m making a green bean salad this week, I’ll begin fixing one of the other recipes next week. The first thing I need to do is make a list of the ingredients and then check my pantry to see what I have on hand. I’m looking forward to cooking these new (to me anyway) recipes.

A Recipe in Progress – Microwave rice casserole

Jalál (Glory), 16 Qudrat (Power), 167 BE – Saturday, November 19, 2011 about 9:55 AM Pacific Time

At the beginning of the week, I fixed a package of rice in the slow cooker. I fixed the entire package because I wanted the rice to last all week. This time I did not add any bouillon cubes to the rice, but the next time I make it I think I will add some chicken or shrimp bouillon cubes.

On Thursday, I added a can of chicken and a can of green beans to the rice. Thinking about it now, I realize I had too much rice for one can of either item. However, since I did not use a measuring cup when I transferred the rice to the microwave casserole dish, I do not know how much rice I used. When I tasted the rice, I realized I needed more chicken and green beans.

Today, I added the rest of the rice to the casserole dish, but I did not add any other items. I wanted us to finish the casserole this weekend so that I can begin fresh on Monday and keep track of the amount of the ingredients. Right now, the ingredients are rice, chicken, and green beans. Next time I make this recipe I will add corn, peas, and perhaps carrots or switch to cans of mixed vegetables. I have not decided which just yet. I also have to buy some chicken bouillon cubes because I have only shrimp cubes in the refrigerator. Yes, I keep my bouillon cubes in the refrigerator.

Rice, Canned Chicken, and Green Beans

Kamál (Perfection), 9 ‘Ilm (Knowledge), 167 BE – Monday, October 24, 2011 about 3:40 PM

Today I fixed rice, canned chicken, and green beans. I mixed the green beans with the other ingredients because it had only 2 grams of dietary fiber. Since Mom is going to eat this for her supper, I had to make sure it had the least amount of dietary fiber.

Mom is on a low fiber diet, which means she can have no more then 3 grams of fiber in a meal. The rice and chicken have very little or no fiber, so this is a good mean for a weekday afternoon.

I mixed one can of chicken and one can of green beans with the rice. I am not sure how many cups of rice because the casserole dish I used already had rice in it. When I cooked the package of rice, I flavored it with one shrimp bullion cube. Since the cube contained a great deal of salt, I did not want to use more then one. I am not sure what size package of rice I used; I had enough rice to fill two medium casserole dishes.

All right, that may not be the best way to cook rice, but that is how I do it. This way I only have to cook rice once a week. I cook the rice and then I decide what to add to it for our meals the rest of the week; it saves time and energy.