Chicken and Squash

This is a super quick, light and fresh meal. Prep time depends on how fast you can chop veggies.

This is for 2 people.
2 boneless skinless chicken breast, cubbed
1 bunch green onions or one small sweet onion, chopped
2 med zucchini, sliced and halved
1 med yellow squash, sliced and halved
1 cup about cherry or grape tomatoes, cut in half
4 garlic cloves, chopped
fresh thyme to taste chopped of bunched in twine
salt and pepper to taste 
yellow mustard
2 large squares heavy duty foil

Spread a light layer of mustard on the foil, top with chopped veggies and chicken, season with salt, pepper and thyme and top with mustard. Roll up foil tightly as to not allow steam to escape. Place on a cookie sheet and bake at 400 for 40-50 mins.

Thyme is a tough herb to work with. Its stems make it hard to chop and they are not something you really want in your food. There are two ways you can get around this. One grab a bunch at the stem and slide you finger down the stem, the little leaves should come right off. Another way you can do it is by bunching it in some cheese cloth and putting that in with your veggies.

Sausage Spaghetti

Spaghetti is such a quick and easy go to. Today was a perfect spaghetti day because of my work schedule. This recipe has alot of flavor to it, you can add or take away what ever you want to suit what you like or what you have in the kitchen.

You can use either ground beef or sausage for this. I like to use sausage because it add a lot more flavor to it.

What you need
2 lbs ground beef or italian sausage (casing removed)
1 box spaghetti
1 large onion, chopped
1 whole garlic bulb, each clove crushed then grated to a pulp (less to taste, i love garlic)
2 6-oz can tomato paste
2 8-oz can tomato sauce
2 can sliced stewed tomatoes
1 cup water (more if sauce is too thick for you liking)
2 tsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp ground red pepper flakes (more or less to taste)
dash of salt and pepper (about 1-2 tbs each)
a palm full of fresh basil and parsley cut or chopped.

Optional additions to add to sauce before simmering
1 sliced zuchini
1 sliced summer squash
1 can sliced mushrooms or 1/2 cup fresh mushrooms
1 chopped celery rib
1 chopped green pepper
1 small eggplant, cubed

Brown sausage or beef in a large pot with olive oil (you will be making the sauce in this pot) break up the sausage as you brown it. Be careful not to burn it, sausage can burn easily and will get very hard or tough. Cook until no longer pink.
Add chopped onion and cook for about 5 mins. Add garlic, water, tomato sauce, tomato paste, and canned tomatoes, crushed red peppers, brown sugar, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Simmer for at least 1 hour, a longer simmer will result in a better sauce so i simmer for about 2 to 3 hours on a low heat. Stir frequently to avoid sticking and burning.
Boil water and cook past to directions on package. Drain noodles and spoon sauce over plated noodles and enjoy.

Again i must stress i love garlic and i can never have too much so the amount of garlic in this may be a bit too much for you so feel free to reduce it to about 4 cloves. As for me, even with one whole garlic i was still wanting more. I can eat a clove of garlic like a piece of candy and an onion like an apple, so do not be afraid to reduce those ingredients.