Husband Cooks.

So last weekend while I was working, Clinton decided to go through my newest Food Network magazine and pick out some recipes. He drafted a meal plan and went shopping for everything before picking me up at work later in the day. Since then, he has been cooking every night while I have been working on some crafty things (that will have their time on the blog at a later date!). I just wanted to brag a little bit and show y'all how lucky I am to have a husband that cooks just as much as I do - and he's pretty good at it!

IG photo of the white board in our dining room.

Sunday - Spicy Pasta with Tilapia

Review: We didn't dislike this dish, but we didn't love it either. Despite our best efforts, neither of us is a huge fan of tilapia, and we agreed that he should probably have only used 1/2 the box of pasta, since using the whole box absorbed a lot of the sauce. It was a perfectly acceptable Monday night meal though - and when I went to clean the dishes after my shower, I saw that he had already done that too. SCORE!

Monday - Salmon and Curried Lentils

Review: I loved this! Honestly though, I love salmon (it's probably my number one favorite food) so much that I will love any dish that has it! According to Clinton, this was his first time eating lentils (hint: it's not. I use them sometimes in soups, and to bulk up other dishes like tacos or certain crock pot meals), and he liked them. He said they tasted like "earthy oatmeal" - I personally thought they tasted more like beans, but either way, it was very tasty. The salmon was perfectly cooked and flaked effortlessly. Despite eating a snack after work, I still managed to clear my plate on this meal which NEVER happens. I was very full, but it was worth it!

Tuesday - Pork Chops and Pineapple Salsa with Jasmine Rice

Review: Very tasty! I'm not the world's biggest fan of pork so we rarely have it, but this was quite good. The pork chops and pineapple were grilled, and the pineapple salsa was made with some Chinese five spice which gave it a really nice, subtle heat, which was perfectly balanced by the slight sweetness of the jasmine rice. The pork was cooked to perfection and did not dry out at all. The pork chops were HUGE though, so I only ate 1/2 of mine. This is the only meal that I "helped" on at all, and really it was only because it was convenient - while Clinton was outside grilling, I was inside baking, so I cooked the rice on the stove top.

Wednesday - Turkey and Quinoa Salad

This. Was. AWESOME! I really love love love Mediterranean style food - I love eating meals that are lighter and with lots of vegetables - it feels nourishing, but then doesn't feel like it's just sitting in your belly, and this was the perfect meal for that! For plating he layered all the components, and then when I was eating it I just made sure to get a little bit of everything in each bite. It was filling and so so so good. Oh! And I forgot to take a second picture, but after I started eating it I remembered that we had some feta cheese in the fridge and thought it would enhance the dish, so we both added some of that to our bowls. DELICIOUS.

Thursday - BLTs and Grilled Sweet Potato Salad

Review: The BLT wasn't from a recipe or anything, it was just a BLT - But he toasted the bread, so major bonus points for that. I love toasted bread for sandwiches! The main part of this dish was the Sweet Potato Salad, and it was good! It tasted pretty vinegar-y so I wouldn't recommend it if you don't like that, but I do so it worked! I didn't eat it all just because I wasn't very hungry.

- - - - -

And thus ends this week's adventures in Husband Cooking! Hope you enjoyed reading about it as much as I enjoyed being a little spoiled this week!

Recipe - Parmesan Penne with Broccoli and Kielbasa

Last night I threw together this recipe for a quick and easy supper. My sweet husband helped himself to no less than three servings of it, so I figured it was blog-worthy!

Ingredients:

- 1 package turkey kielbasa sausage
- finely shredded parmesan cheese
- ricotta cheese
- broccoli (amount is totally up to you)
- your preferred pasta
- dried italian seasonings (basil, rosemary, oregano, parsley)
- extra virgin olive oil
- butter

Directions:

1) Pre-heat a large skillet and add a drizzle of the olive oil. Get a small pot of water boiling on another burner.

2) Open your package of turkey kielbasa, and slice it on the bias. (This stuff is pre-cooked and I usually don't buy it, but it was BOGO at the store last week! I usually buy uncooked chicken or turkey sausages so if you have those on hand that's fine too - just cook them first, and then slice them and add back to the pan.) Add the sliced sausage to the pre-heated pan. Add ~2 tsp. of italian seasonings. Stir occasionally, but allow the sausage to brown a little bit.

3) Meanwhile, while sausage is browning, cook your pasta. I only used 1/2 a box of mini penne. You can use any pasta you like, but I like this one because the penne gets sauce in the middle of the noodle for some extra flavor, plus is's substantial enough to hold up to the sausage.

4) Steam a bag of broccoli. Confession: I just used one of the microwave steamer bags of broccoli because it's way easier than dirtying another pan. I always have this on hand because we love broccolil in our house.

5) Drain pasta. Add cooked pasta and broccoli directly to your pan with the sausage. Add the following ingredients:
- 2 heaping Tbsp parmesan cheese
- 2 heaping Tbsp ricotta cheese
- 2 Tbsp butter
- salt and pepper
- drizzle of olive oil

6) Mix everything together, pile your servings up in a bowl, and top with more parmesan cheese if you like. Enjoy!

Yield: 4-6 servings, depending on your portions.

Sorry for the instagram filter, I didn't remember to take a regular photo!

This recipe is great because it literally takes about 10 minutes to make from start to finish. Even if you used uncooked sausage it would still probably only be a 20 minute meal, so it's perfect for a worknight. You can add other veggies to it too if you like (I think next time I'll throw in some fresh spinach) or tweak it to your taste. It would also be good meatless (I like to refer to myself as a part-time vegetarian), but definitely might need more veggies to bulk it up.

Also, as a small aside - there is a small possibility that last night was the peak of our boring-married-coupledom. There is a slight chance that I prepared and ate supper before 5pm because I was tired and wanted to go to bed really early. That might have happened. Maybe. I'll never tell.