ON-THE-GO: Easy Weeknight Meal

Jeremy and Eric getting ready to cook an Easy Weeknight Meal

 As kids and teen’s we all have busy lives, thing’s to do and places to be but that doesn’t mean there isn’t time for good food and cooking. I’m excited to introduce a new feature here on JeremyCooks called ON-THE-GO! It’s time that we all realize that an easy weeknight meal does not come from the microwave or a frozen box. I’m always cooking meals with others at my home, but now it’s time to pack up my kitchen and help others where they live. While ON-THE-GO I’ll create easy, simple and fresh recipes that anyone (not just kids) can make for just about any occasion.


My first ON-THE-GO takes me to my friend Eric’s house. Like me, Eric is bombarded with schoolwork and after-school activities, so it’s hard to find time to cook during the week. As I thought of what would help Eric get a great meal on the table I decided that a pasta dish could be creative and quick. I like my pasta with a meaty comfort sauce that’ll keep me full and satisfied to get all my after-school work done. I decided on bow tie pasta with sun-dried tomato pesto, spicy Italian sausage, and peas. Eric started to boil the pasta and then we began preparing the pesto that consisted of just a few simple ingredients, sun dried tomatoes, grated Parmesan, basil, garlic, and olive oil. The great thing about pesto is that you could make it before hand which will definitely save you time when you’re on the go. When I’m cooking fast I like to plan out the week in advance, I ask myself how could this meal benefit future meals. I purposely made extra pesto so I could use it on a sandwich with turkey, or put it in an omelet later in the week.

Preparing the Pesto in the food processor

Eric removing the Sausage from its casing

Jeremy and Eric breaking up the sausage

 While the pasta was on the verge of  “al dente” we removed the sausage from it’s casing and broke it up into pieces in a medium sized skillet over medium high heat. If you don’t like spicy sausage there’s always mild and if you don’t care for pork see if your local supermarket or butcher offers turkey sausage.

Jeremy stirring the pasta

Eric stirring the pasta

What’s great about the Italian sausage is that it doesn’t require any added oil when cooking because it already contains the proper amount of fat needed to cook it in. Eric began cooking the sausage and when most of the pink was gone we added ½ cup of frozen peas.

Eric breaking up the sausage in the skillet

Sausage and Peas

Adding in the Pasta

 We then incorporated half of the sun-dried pesto into the pan and tossed in the cooked pasta until it was coated with beautiful specks of red and green. To top it off I grated Pecorino Romano cheese for that added saltiness.

Bow tie pasta with sausage, pesto and peas

Jeremy and Eric about to enjoy their creation

For dessert we made baked stuffed apples. Eric started with a mixture of brown sugar, raisins, chopped walnuts, cinnamon, nutmeg and cold unsalted butter. He mixed it together with his hands, breaking the butter into little pieces (do this ahead of time and store in fridge). Next we removed the core four Macintosh apples with a melon baller until all the seeds were out. A little squirt of lemon juice on top to prevent browning and then we over stuffed each apple with the filling.

Stuffing the Apples

The apples went in the oven at 375°F for 20 minutes until they were bubbly and golden brown. In just 20 minutes we had a beautiful apple exploding with warm flavors which we topped with vanilla ice cream, you know…to cool it down of course.

An awesome and simple dessert

Thats it, simple easy and delicious. In less then an hour you could create a lip smacking meal that’ll allow you the time to get all your other work done. Remember, there’s always time for good food and cooking you just got to find it when you’re ON-THE-GO.


Keep on Cooking!!!



JeremyCooks.com • ON-THE-GO

Pesto, Bow-tie, and Sausage 

Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto
8 ounces sun-dried tomato’s
1 cup basil
2 whole garlic cloves
1 cup grated Parmesan
1 ½ cups olive oil

Place the first 4 ingredients in a food processor and begin pulsing. With the processor running then slowly add the olive oil until it’s well blended and mixture is smooth. Cover and store in fridge until ready to use.

Pasta
½ lb bow tie pasta
20 oz. Spicy Italian sausage (about 4-5 links)
½ cup frozen peas
Freshly grated Pecorino Romano Cheese

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil, add the pasta, and cook until “Al Dente”. In the meantime, set a large skillet over medium high and take the sausages out of their case and place into the heated pan. Break the sausage into bite size pieces and stir until cooked all the way through. Add the peas and sun-dried tomato pesto and stir until peas are heated. Toss in the cooked pasta and serve with freshly grated Pecorino Romano.


Baked Stuffed Apples
Ingredients:
4 large Macintosh or Empire Apples, cored
1 tablespoon lemon juice
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, a healthy grating
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon,
4 tablespoons butter, cut into pieces
2 ounces, 1/8 cup, golden raisins, chopped
1/4 cup chopped walnuts or walnut pieces or pecans
1 pint vanilla ice cream (or ice cream of choice)

Directions
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
Sprinkle cored apples with lemon juice. Combine the next 7 ingredients in a bowl and over-stuff into apples. Bake 20 minutes in a small oven safe dish. Transfer apples to small bowls with a spoon and top with ice cream and sprinkle with cinnamon.