Publix and I are best friends. When you spend hours at the grocery store as I do you have to love the place. I love their apron simple meals and have used them on this blog and have prepared them for my classes many times with great results. This Parmesan-Crusted Chicken that I discovered this summer is a keeper. Anyone that can boil water and turn on the oven has got it made. Plus the meal is so delicious. By the way for all of you that are interested school starts for me two weeks from today. Where has my summer gone? So I’m digging in and enjoying every last minute.
Category Archives: pasta
Macaroni and Cheese from Martha
Let me just say that if you only make one mac and cheese in your lifetime this should be the one. My gosh! I just had to make it after reading all the comments after this was written. What about Food 52? They shouted from the rooftop about it, too. So I’m right up there with the rest of them and I have to say that it is the best macaroni and cheese that I have had. Martha knows her mac and cheese that’s for sure. It has just the right amount of bechamel sauce to go with the pasta and I love the White Cheddar and Gruyère Cheese. I will have to admit skepticism about the nutmeg, but it went in the sauce . Perfection! So it’s your turn to let Martha’s Perfect Macaroni and Cheese be the hit at your house. It was at mine.
Filed under Main dish, Meatless Main Dish, pasta, side dish
Angel-Hair Pasta with Fresh Tomato Sauce
This could be the absolute best pasta dish that I have ever made. It’s one of those dishes that you don’t want to stop eating. It is just amazing. The recipe has been waiting for some great home-grown tomatoes to put with my fresh basil. It’s so simple yet the flavors and texture scream complexity. A perfect meal for summer.
Chicken Parmesan and Anna’s Easy Tomato Sauce
I wrote this same post on December 3 of last year. All of my photos for the how to somehow got deleted by my editor ( that would be me). So please refer to the first post for the information about how great this recipe is and how easy it is to make. Continue reading
Washing Dishes and Knives While Making Paula Deen’s Szechaun Chicken
Making this Paula Deen dish my students learned many skills. Some of these skills I thought were just a given. You know like washing dishes and knife safety. Either I did not do such a hot job when we discussed these topics or in the excitement of preparing and eating such a delicious meal they did not rank up there with what was important. Anyway we all learned from our mistakes and I still have all of my fingers!
Creole Shrimp Saute
I am really enjoying my summer. It started with a beautiful wedding in Louisville, Kentucky and last week a couple of days at the lake with my good friends. When I came home from the lake GI Joe said, ” Well what did ya’ll do?” And I said, “Talked and ate a lot of good food.” Men just don’t get it when women get together that we love to talk. My husband will get together with some of his buddies and when he comes home I will ask about one of their wives. And it is always the same. “We don’t talk about stuff like that!” They just don’t discuss personal or emotional things like women do. Why is that? Anyway I am loving my summer. Getting a little “me” time before I have to start giving a lot of it to my students again.
Ultimate Comfort Food – Tuna and Shells – another classroom activity

Filed under Cheese, easy, pasta, Tuna and Shells
Savory Seafood Penne
This recipe came from Men’s Health. Don’t you read Men’s Health every month? Yea right. You know it is a good magazine. Gi Joe and The Athlete read it religiously. It is a good magazine. I will have to say that I have sat down and read my share of issues. This is a recipe that The Athlete found last April. I have prepared it at least a half-dozen times. It is good for you and easy to make.
This week I had a huge bag of beautiful spinach in my box from CSA and wanted to make good use of it. I also had pesto left over from this recipe that I wanted to use.
I changed the original recipe today and sautéed the spinach then added all the other ingredients. I like the original recipe better. The reason? The hot pasta just does wilt the spinach and it gives more texture to the dish. So here it is for you to enjoy. Look at what you are getting: 22 grams of protein, 26 grams of carbohydrates, 19 grams of fat, and 5 grams of fiber .
Shrimp Pasta with Pesto Sauce
There are essential ingredients that should be on hand so that you can throw a great meal together without even thinking. If everyone would do this we could put the fast food industry out on its last leg. Think about it. I grew up in a small town where we did not have endless possibilities for dinner. My mother shopped once a week and we never ate out.
As parents we have got to do the right thing for our children. Do you realize that the high school students that I am teaching this year have a lower life expectancy than I did growing up? Down the road we all are going to pay for what we are doing to our children. In the classroom I see all aspects of poor eating habits plus no exercise. It is scary! Let me share with you a great article that I used in my classroom a couple of weeks ago. Share the link with all of your friends and let’s do something about the epidemic of childhood obesity in the United States. Sarah shares her tips here that we as parents can do to make our children healthier. My students found all of Sarah’s links quite interesting. I was quite surprised at their interest. Please for our children’s health take the time to read this great information and share it with parents. Let’s do our part to keep America’s children healthier.
Back to the shrimp. Here is a recipe for a great meal and I am sure that most of the ingredients will be on hand. This means that it will be on the table in the time that it take to cook the pasta. Think about it the next time you are tempted to eat take out.
Tuna Salad with Pasta
On any given day you’re in a rush, right? Need a very easy and quick meal that you can make from staples found in your pantry? There is no excuse to order pizza out. It is expensive and calorie laden. Here is the answer – pasta salad. Most anything added to pasta will make a good meal. Another good point about pasta is that most people who can boil water can do pasta. So in the time that it will take you to boil water plus another 10 minutes dinner can then be served.
Pasta does not always have to come with a sauce that takes time to make. Just a little oil, seasonings, vegetables, meat, fish, poultry,or beans in any combination will work. You can’t get any easier than that! Be creative! If you don’t trust your creativity check out the recipes on the pasta boxes. I have found most of them very good.
Tuna salad with pasta is a standby in my house. Start with just a tuna salad. I love this and often have it along side a tossed salad and Italian dressing. The Athlete prefers a Panini which is very good with Havarti cheese with dill. Yummy!
Bring the water to boil and then put in pasta. Cook according to directions on the box. Now assemble the tuna. This is what I use:
Tuna Salad with Pasta
- 2 cups of uncooked pasta shells ( or pasta of choice)
- 12 oz. can of Solid White Albacore Tuna- drained
- 1 teaspoon of mustard
- 2 teaspoons of dill relish
- 1/4 cup sliced green olives
- 1 1/2 Tablespoon of mayonnaise ( you could need a little more depending on amount of liquid added with pickles and olives)
- 2 cups of pasta shells according to directions. Drain.
Mix drained tuna with the remaining ingredients and stir in the hot pasta. Enjoy right out of the bowl or wait and serve with crisp greens or a side salad. Serves 4
Enjoy Cooking,
The Teacher Cooks