Farfalle with Tuna

Niko : "What's for dinner, mama?"
Me : "Pasta!"
Niko : "Spaghetti?"
Me : "No, Farfalle with Tuna!"

Sounds fancy ha? Saying the word "farfalle" makes you feel like a top chef.  It'll impress your family.

Well, "farfalle" is just another word for bow-tie pasta. Don't get intimidated by the name of the dish. This is as easy as making spaghetti with meat sauce.


INGREDIENTS :

1 small onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2  14.5oz cans diced tomatoes
1/4 cup dry white wine (you can substitute with chicken stock or water)
1  14.5oz can black pitted olives, drained and sliced
3 tsp chopped fresh oregano or 1 1/2 tsp dried oregano
2   6oz cans tuna in olive oil
1 lb/16oz dried farfalle/bow-tie pasta
2 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper

1. Heat olive oil in a pan on medium heat. Saute the garlic and onions until onions are tender and translucent.
2. Add the canned tomatoes and bring to a boil. Add the dry white wine and simmer for a minute. Stir in the olives and oregano. Cover pan and let it simmer for 25 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Meanwhile, cook the farfalle per instructions on the package. Save 1/4 cup of the water used to boil pasta. Drain the pasta and transfer to a bowl.
4. Flake the tuna (you can drain the tuna to remove excess oil if you wish) and add it together with the 1/4 cup pasta water to the simmering sauce. Adjust the seasoning according to your taste. Let the sauce simmer for few more minutes until the tuna is heated through.
5. Pour the tuna sauce over the pasta and toss. Garnish with fresh oregano or parsley to make it look like a professional chef made it.
6. Serve, say the name of the dish (Farfalle with Tuna!) and let your family enjoy your fancy pasta!

Baked Chicken Nuggets

One of any mom's challenge is what to feed our kids. I am lucky to have kids who will eat almost anything I put on the table. Yet I still ran out of ideas on what to feed them. I have to admit, I am sometimes guilty of feeding them with chicken nuggets from a fast food chain. Well, they never say "no" to chicken nuggets.

So I thought, how would I make it homemade and a little bit healthier? I used chicken breast on this recipe and baked them. The only not so healthy part is the little butter I used. You can use eggs to substitute the butter.

I hope your little ones will love this.

INGREDIENTS

3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into nugget size pieces
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
3/4 cup dry bread crumbs
1 Tbs dried basil (or Italian seasoning)
3/4 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 cup melted butter
olive oil

1. Grease a baking sheet and set aside. Preheat oven to 400 deg F.
2. Meanwhile, mix parmesan cheese, bread crumbs, basil, salt and pepper in a bowl.
2. Dip chicken nuggets in butter and then coat them with bread crumbs mixture.
3. Place coated chicken nuggets in a single layer on the greased baking sheet.
4. Drizzle some olive oil over the chicken nuggets.
5. Bake for 15-20 minutes.
6. Enjoy!

TIP : You can make a big batch, place in a ziplock freezer bag and freeze them. When you need them, just heat them (yes no thawing needed) in a preheated 375 deg F oven (I use my toaster oven most of the time) for 12 to 15 minutes. It'll be as good as when they were freshly baked.