Pasta and Tomato Sauce

One thing that I really don't eat a lot of is pasta... because obviously, it's generally made with wheat. Not only that, but the pasta sause I had in my cabinet was made with cheese... really, what am I doing to myself!! 

So, I had to fix things, because for some reason, after over five weeks, I wanted some carbs. 

I went for it and bought some delicious Quinoa pasta, which honestly, I couldn't tell the difference between this and the "real" stuff. It didn't make the water turn a funny color and didn't turn stringy like I've heard of other gluten free pastas doing. If I didn't tell you, you wouldn't have even known it was gluten free. I was impressed!

Pasta Sause

2 large tomatoes, diced

2 cans of tomato sause

2 tbsp of fresh basil

1/2 an onion, diced

3 garlic cloves, diced

1 green pepper, diced

salt and pepper, to taste

1/2 lb of ground beef or turkey, cooked and drained

I am the kind of cook who likes to prepare everything first and clean up as I go. It's a dinner failure if I have a lot of clean up. I'm not able to relax or enjoy post-dinner family time if I know there is a pile of dishes in the sink. So, thankfully, this meal made it super easy! 

First, I put my meat, I used beef, in a skillet and turned it on low to brown. While it was browning, I walked out to my balcony and cut some of my basil. I love having my own herbs right outside that I can access any time I want. Unfortunately, a mean worm also loves this, and has been attacking my basil. He wasn't around so I couldn't seek revenge... but I will get him! 

I cut up my tomatoes, basil, onion, garlic and pepper. Done. Once my beef was browned, drained and put aside, I added all the ingredients I had just chopped up, along with the two cans of tomato sause. I kept the heat on low so that it could all simmer together. I'm pretty sure I added some other spices I had in my cupbord, I honestly just can't think of what I added. I'm not one who knows what spices go with what... if it smells like it could taste good with what I'm making, I usually throw it in. After the sause is simmering I add back in my browned beef and allow to heat up. 

Oh yea, all along I was cooking the pasta. It takes about 7-8 minutes to cook. But don't make the mistake I usually make when making pasta with something else... I always forget about the initial time to get the water to boil! Seriously, I have done this far to many times to count. So depending on how much pasta you're making and how much water you need to boil, add that to your cook time. Lucky for me, this time I was just making the gluten free pasta for myself and "normal" pasta for Eric and Malachi so it cooked super fast. 

In my family, we're pretty big fans of sause, if you've only got a little bit, well then, it's like you've got none at all. So final step, pour whopping spoonful of sause over pasta and eat your heart out. We were in a rush to go somewhere {pretty typical!} so I had to eat this pretty quickly. I had leftovers for lunch so I could enjoy it a little bit more.