Category Archives: Recipes For Busy Moms

Prawn Spinach Pasta

Posted by Antoniette Sellaro on June 3, 2010 1 comments

Prawn, spinach & Cherry tomatoes ready to be tossed with the pasta! Bellissimo!

This is not the first time I cooked my recipe, arranged it on the plate, served it on the table and forgot to take a photo for publication.  I cannot blame myself.  Once you tried this recipe you will also realize you cannot blame me for getting too excited to eat and please my palate.

Italian food is known for simple recipe and unique blend of flavors.  This is another simple, easy and quick recipe which is ideal for busy moms.  I confidently recommend this recipe to all  those who have no luxury of time to prepare two-course recipe.  Your plate will already be made complete with carbohydrates, protein and all the goodness of green and scrumptious baby spinach.  The sweet, citrus-y  and juicy cherry tomatoes are additional bonus to your craving palate.

Since the recipe is very simple, I will just put the cooking instructions and ingredients all in the next paragraph.  Amount of ingredients will depend on how much you want as well as on your taste.

Instructions: Saute garlic; put the peeled tiger prawns; splash a bit of white wine and wait for the alcohol to evaporate; put in the baby spinach and cook until wilted; throw in halved cherry tomatoes.  Season with salt and pepper, and bit of chili flakes.  Toss with pre-boiled spaghetti or any pasta that you like.

Optional: Put shaved parmesan on top before serving.  You can also substitute baby spinach with baby rocket lettuce of any green leafy veggies of your choice.

Bon apetit!

Home-Made Tomato Sauce Recipe

Posted by Antoniette Sellaro on May 30, 2010 1 comments

Tomato-Basil Sauce

The Italian tradition of making home-made tomato sauce takes place every month of February in my in-laws’ place.  A garage full of a hundred of boxes of tomatoes is one of the most amazing sight that I have ever seen in my life as a cook.  The challenge of making my own tomato sauce really tickled my thoughts.  I have only used canned tomato sauce back home in Manila.  In fairness, my tomato sauce is delicious and I love preparing it on pasta for my family most of the Sunday afternoons.  But when I moved in Australia, my taste changed.  I think I cannot be fully satisfied anymore of any pasta recipe that requires tomato sauce if the latter is not home-made.

How they do it: The first step is to steam all the tomatoes in a huge steamer.  Tomatoes are cooked when they are already soft and the skin can be easily peeled.  Cool the tomatoes.  Peel them one by one.  Put them in sterilized bottles.  Seal the bottle.  Sterilize the bottled tomatoes for an hour or so – this is the preservation process.  That’s it!  Sounds easy?  Not really…We usually finish all the tomatoes in two days!  Then, the year-supply of tomato sauce for the entire family is ready.  We produce two to three hundreds of bottled tomato sauces.

But for a busy mom like me, and if I don’t have this supply of tomato sauce, this is How I do it: Pour olive oil in a deep pan.  Saute one to two heads of garlic until they are soft.  Don’t brown the garlic.  Put the 1 kilo sliced tomatoes in, stirring continuously for a minute.  Put the lid on and leave it simmering in medium heat.  After a couple of minutes give the tomatoes a stir.  You can see here that the tomatoes are already soft and starting to juice.  No need to add water as the tomatoes will cook in its own juice.  Lower the heat and put the lid back.  Make sure to stir it once every five minutes.  When the tomatoes are already in its sauce-like consistency, it’s ready for seasoning. Season with salt and put in a handful of fresh basil.  Ground black pepper is optional.

The sauce is ready when it is not watery anymore.  You can bottle the sauce (and do the preservation process by steaming it) or keep it in a container and refrigerate it.

Blenderize the tomato sauce before bottling it or you can do that right before preparing your pasta.

It is worth making your own home-made tomato sauce once in a while.  I love using my sauce not only for pasta but for chicken, meat or seafood recipes.

Thai Salad Steak For Dinner, Want Some?

Posted by Antoniette Sellaro on May 21, 2010 1 comments

Then, prepare this for yourself and your family in less than 30 minutes!

I love the combination of steak and salad; any salad.  But this Thai salad really captured my palate.  The blend of all the flavors from the dressing is so delicious that I keep on craving for more.  I tell you, I can finish a whole big bowl of this salad.

How To Prepare: First, buy a slice of scotch fillet from a good butcher shop.  Scotch fillet is my favorite meat cut for steak.

Second, prepare all the veggies that will go to your salad bowl:  sliced carrots, sliced French shallots, bean sprouts, parsley, red/green/yellow/orange capsicums, red onions.  Optional:  coral lettuce, julienned green beans, snow peas.

Dressing: Mix in the following ingredients with a whisk:  soy sauce, vegetable oil, finely chopped garlic, finely chopped parsley, grated ginger, a spoon of low fat mayonnaise, a spoon of sesame oil, chili flakes, ground black pepper, salt and a pinch of sugar.

Grill the steak and toss the salad with the dressing.  Serve.  That easy.  This is ideal for a quick lunch or dinner.  You can prepare the dressing ahead of time and keep it in a container or bottle.  Keep the dressing in a fridge pre-mixed and the same will be as good for a week.

Note:  The photo attached here is not as colorful as it should appear.  I prepared this salad without planning ahead so I just put in it whatever I have in the fridge.  I love how my steak came out of the grill though-  still juicy inside.  Bon apetit!

Lentil Vegetable Soup

Posted by Antoniette Sellaro on May 8, 2010 2 comments

I had difficulty feeding my 3 year old son as he is so fuzzy.  I was thinking of a healthy recipe that would be appealing to kids like him.  One of the first recipes that I cooked for him is the Lentil & Vegetable Soup.  This is a very good and healthy recipe, which for young kids, can also be considered a meal in itself.  This is because this recipe’s base is lentil/dried beans (monggo) which is high in protein and very filling.  The rest is a mixture of all the lovely vegetables you would want to put in.

Instructions: Put in a cup of lentils in 3 cups of boiling water.  Cook until the lentils are tender and almost mushy.  Add in onions, celery, carrots, potatoes, green beans, pumpkin, zucchini, broccoli, spinach.  Aside from the aforementioned vegetables, you can add others that you would love to have in the soup.  Vegetables must all be chopped finely.  Cook the soup until all the vegetables are tender and the flavors are well blend.  Add salt or you can use a chicken stock cube instead.  Serve.

Alternative serving idea: You can also put the soup in the blender and puree it.  Then top it with a spoonful of non-fat thick cream and garlic croutons.

My son loves to eat this with steamed rice (so Filipino) but he still would not eat the ‘chunky’ veggies even if they were chopped so finely.  At least, he loves the soup where all the flavors and healthy juices of the vegetables are.

Although this is just a soup, it is a hearty one!  This recipe is recommended for those who are in weight loss diet as well.  Bon apetit!

Yummy Italian Prosciutto Starter

Posted by Antoniette Sellaro on May 2, 2010 1 comments

I cannot deny that I love prosciutto.  It is the Italian version of bacon but it is not smoked.  I love the sweet taste of it that blends with its saltiness.  Also, prosciutto is very versatile that it can be used for a starter recipe, salads, and even on main course like pasta or together with steak.  I have yet to publish all the exciting prosciutto recipes that I made and have discovered.  A Prosciutto Salad recipe I have published here almost a year ago have received lots of great feedback from our readers.  If you haven’t tried it then give it a go now.

Now, let me give you this very simple and easy prosciutto starter.  All you need are the following ingredients:  Tomatoes, sliced mozzarella cheese, basil leaves, caramelized balsamic/ balsamic concentrate, ground black pepper, olive oil and prosciutto slices.

Procedure: Slice the tomatoes about 1cm thick.  Arrange on a serving platter and top with mozzarella slices, followed with basil leaves.  Drizzle the olive oil on top as well as the balsamic concentrate.  Season with black pepper.  Arrange on its side the slices of prosciutto.  You can also put the slices of prosciutto in between the tomatoes and mozzarella cheese instead of separating them on the plate.

Alternative serving idea: You can arrange the ingredients in mini skewers by using cherry tomatoes instead and cutting the mozzarella in cubes.  This will definitely look beautiful on the party table!

This is a favorite Italian entree.  The combination of all the flavors of ingredients is fantastic.  Bon apetit!

Spaghetti Broccoli

Posted by Antoniette Sellaro on April 20, 2010 1 comments

A simple recipe that is fast and easy.  This can be a very good alternative to the most common spaghetti recipe using a couple of bunch of broccoli flower and a handful of peeled prawns.  The taste is simple and every mouthful makes you eat and want for more.

Ingredients: Boiled/cooked 250grams spaghetti, broccoli flower (as mush as you like), 1 tablespoon of finely chopped garlic, coarsely ground pepper, peeled prawns, olive oil, thick cream or all-purpose cream.

Half of the broccoli must be cooked until tender that it can be mashed; While half must be half-cooked (still crispy).

Procedure: Heat pan and pour olive oil.  Saute garlic until tender but not brown.  Put in the prawns and cook for few seconds.  Pour in the pre-boiled broccoli.  Mash the over-boiled broccoli; this will give more flavor to the sauce. Season the mixture with salt and pepper.  Finally, pour in the cream.  The idea is for the cream to just add thickness and a bit of creamy taste that will stick to the pasta.  Therefore, the cream should not overwhelm the sauce.  Three to five tablespoons of cream will do.

Boil pasta until cooked al dente.  Toss in with the broccoli sauce.  Enjoy!

Alternative ideas: You can also use other pasta like linguine, fussilli or tagliatelle.  The broccoli sauce can also be made without cream for those who are on diet.  It is good to serve it with more broccoli and less (just a cup) of pasta – this is already a complete meal!