The Cook's Corner

Welcome to The Cook's Corner! Today I will be sharing another quick and easy recipe for a Simple Supper. I also want to thank everyone who participated in my Give-A-Way. As of 12 noon today, the comments closed and now we will be selecting a winner! I will be compiling all of your wonderful suggestions for saving money and sharing those later this week. Some of you are very thrifty indeed! I thought we would take a little tour around my kitchen before we start cooking. My kitchen is truly the heart of our home. It seems that we spend more time here than anywhere, especially during the week.This is "Renny, the Rooster". Renny is short for Reynolds. Don't ask, it's a long, long story. He stands watch over my kitchen island and keeps me company while I cook. Although I've noticed that our conversations are rather one sided. LOL!
My kitchen is very open and spacious. I have tons of storage space which is a huge blessing! My home in FL had what we called a "one-butt kitchen"! That means that only one butt at a time could be in the kitchen it was that small! So when we moved to NC, a big kitchen was at the top of my wish list. All the cabinets are Maple, hardware is brushed nickle and the appliances are Stainless Steel. We had the Italian tile installed after we purchased the house. I love the texture and color variations. So warm. Like hot caramel sauce - yum, yum!

I chose a very neutral color pallet for my kitchen. The walls are painted a pale yellow-gold and accents in brown and green make it very "earthy". As you can see I like Roosters. It seems that everyone has something they collect in their kitchen. What do you have in your kitchen? Bunnies? Fruit? Grapes? Pigs? Cows? Wine Bottles? French Pastry Chefs? You name it! It's your kitchen. Do what makes you happy! I like to accessorize my counters. Since we are in our kitchen so much, I thought we should have pretty things to look at and create ambiance. I use candles in my kitchen to create a sense of warmth and welcome. Yesterday it was rather cold so I lit about a dozen candles. It really helped to dispel the dreariness of a wintery day.

One of these days I will have Gourmet Kitchen complete with a 6-burner range, double ovens and down-draft grill but for now this is where the action takes place. Yesterday I decided to fix homemade Spaghetti Sauce. This is another recipe from my M-I-L, Ann. (Thanks, Mama) I like this recipe because it is very flexible, quick and super easy. With only 9 ingredients and most of them pantry staples, it's a breeze to cook up a satisfying meal for Honey and the boys! Let's take a look:

Annie's Sauce

1 can tomatoes, undrained (crushed or diced, I prefer Hunt's Petite Diced 100% Natural)

1 can tomato sauce (I used Hunt's 100% Natural)

1 can tomato paste (I used Hunt's 100% Natural)

1 pound lean ground beef or 1/2 pound white mushrooms (vegetarian)

1 medium green bell pepper, chopped

2 medium sweet onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

Optional

2 teaspoon Oregano

1 teaspoon dried Basil

1. First, saute peppers, onions, garlic and beef with salt and pepper.
2. If you wish you can substitute the ground beef for fresh or canned sliced mushrooms. In this case add 1 tablespoon of olive oil to saute your vegetables.

3. Cook until the beef is browned and your vegetables are tender-crisp.

4. Drain off fat. Return mixture to sauce pan and add diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato paste and spices. Simmer for 1 hour.

5. Meanwhile bring 4 quarts of salted water to boil. Add pasta of choice and cook about 7-9 minutes. I use Hodgson Mill Whole Wheat Spaghetti. It cooks up wonderfully.

All that is needed to complete this Simple Supper is a Garden Salad of Romaine lettuce, sweet Grape Tomatoes, White Onions, Cucumbers and Bell peppers.

Warm up some thick slices of 12-Grain bread (my fav!) and your dinner is served.

Tomorrow I will post the winner for the $100 Gift Certificate for

Home Interiors! Again, thanks for participating. I will also share a collection with you that is very near and dear to my heart. It is something that I inherited from my maternal Grandmother, Mary Catherine. See ya then!

Happy Cooking!

~Alisa