Pasta Puttanesca, Potato Soup and some Golden Beets

I've gotten a little behind in my post, so I'm combining them.  Today's post will include 2 dinners and a side dish.




The Pasta Puttanesca is the first dish to discuss.  It was pretty good, but since there was no protein, I added steak to the dinner.








I marinated the steak in some balsamic vinaigrette and served the pasta as a side.  Chicken would have also been good to go with the pasta, but I didn't have any ready, so steak won out be default.  Not to mention, I needed some iron I'm sure.

The recipe I once again got from Budget Bytes and didn't change much.  It was good, it just was missing something for me.  I will make it again, just next time I need to add something.  Maybe an Italian dressing marinated chicken breasts.  This was an easy recipe and pretty good.



Don't let the anchovies scare you off.  They don't add a fishy taste, instead they actually add a salty taste without the salt and I feel act as a flavor enhancer.

Overall it was a pretty good dinner.  Maybe a side salad would have been nice to go with it.

The next dish was Potato Soup.  I started out with a couple different recipes, then I decided to just wing it.  and made my own version of potato soup, and it wasn't too bad.

Ingredients:

8-10 potatoes, pealed and diced
6 strips of bacon
1 onion, diced
28 oz. chicken broth (I used chicken base and water)
1 tbs ground white pepper
1 tbs thyme
1/4 cup flour
1 cup Sour Cream
1 cup Milk
1 Cup Sharp Cheddar Cheese, plus some for topping soup
2-4 Green Onions

• Peal, clean and dice potato and onion.
• Cook bacon until just browned and saute onion until browned a bit.

• Add broth, onion, bacon and potatoes to crockpot.  Cook on low 6 hours or high for 3 hours.
• 30 minutes before serving, mix flour and milk, add to crock pot with sour cream and the cup of cheese.

• Serve with chopped green onions and cheddar cheese.

I've talked before about my Honey-Balsamic Roasted Beets.  I decided to try it with Golden Beets.  And I liked the results, but will stick to red beets.  The Golden Beets are better just roasted with parsnips, rutabagas and turnips with olive oil and Italian seasoning.

 I just peeled the beets and diced them up.  Then splashed balsamic vinegar over them and drizzled honey over the top.  Roasted them for 45 minutes at 425 degrees F.

 Let them cool down and put them in the fridge  for a side dish or snack for latter.