Quick and Healthy Cherry Tomato Spaghetti (Vegetarian)

I don't like spaghetti. I think it has something to do with the super long noodles and (at times) bland sauce. Before I was a vegetarian, I never ate spaghetti. However, this spaghetti is a healthy, easy, very different recipe that is good for traditional spaghetti lovers and non-spaghetti lovers as well. It is a recipe that I created this year at school while trying to make something quick for dinner.

Ingredients:

-Spaghetti noodles

-Olive Oil

-Cherry tomatoes (1-2 plastic containers), halved

-1/4 cup onion, chopped finely

-4-5 cloves garlic, minced

-Basil, chopped finely

-Sea salt, freshly ground pepper, Italian spices such as oregano

-Parmesan Cheese

1. Cook your pasta according to the package. I usually use whole grain or Ronzoni Garden Delight (pictured). If you are like me and don't really like the long noodles, break them in halves or thirds before putting them in the pot. When done cooking, drain and set aside. If your noodles are sticking, toss with a little bit of olive oil.

2. Make the sauce.  Put a few tablespoons of oil in a medium to large pan on medium heat. Add the chopped onion and cook until the onion turns clear. Add the chopped tomatoes and garlic. I used 5 cloves of garlic, but you can use more or less according to how garlicky you want your sauce. Add the basil. I usually use scissors to chop my basil. Add salt, pepper, and Italian herbs to taste and stir until it forms a sauce. When the tomatoes begin to soften, smash them with a wooden spoon. Cook until the tomatoes form a thick, chunky sauce.

3. Layer the noodles, sauce, and cheese and enjoy!

MMMinty Patties

Possibly one of my favorite candies ever is York peppermint patties. That's why, when I saw this recipe idea on pinterest, I knew I had to try them out. The original recipe can be found here. 

This recipe was surprising easy and amazingly delicious. Basically you mix all of the ingredients together (except for the chocolate), make patties, and dip them in chocolate. I only made one change on this recipe. It asked for peppermint oil, and because I didn't have that, I used twice as much peppermint extract. This made it very minty, so if you don't want them to be as minty, I would add a bit less (somewhere between 1/4-1/2 tsp). 

The hardest part about this recipe was dipping them in chocolate. I always have a hard time getting a perfectly smooth chocolate cover. I would recommend keeping the patties in the freezer and only taking out a few at a time to dip in chocolate, as they were much easier to dip when they were frozen. I would definitely recommend this recipe if you like mint and chocolate!
 

Two Christmas Cranberry Crafts

Starting around Thanksgiving and lasting throughout most of the Christmas season, I try to do as many things as I can with cranberries. I love how they taste, and I love how festive they look. Here are two Christmas cranberry crafts that are fun and pretty easy.

1. Christmas Tree Garland

Pretty much every year, my mom and I try to make a garland for the Christmas tree. It is a really easy project that makes the tree look old fashioned and beautiful. All you need to make a garland is a bag of cranberries, regular popcorn (no butter!), a needle, thread, and scissors.

First, thread your needle. Pick a pattern that you want. For my garland I did two cranberries followed by three popcorns. Thread through the popcorn and cranberries. I've found that it's easier to do shorter strands of garland and connect them to each other later. To do this, make sure to leave some extra thread at the end of your garland. When you are done, drape on the tree!

2. Christmas Floating Candle Jar

This is another really easy craft that you can use to decorate for Christmas. All you need are cranberries (I used the ones I had left over from the garland), a canning jar, water, some kind of plant (I cut off a few branches from my Christmas tree), and a candle.

First, wash out the jar. Place the plant at the bottom. Make sure to push it down so it doesn't float to the top. Next fill up the jar with water until it is almost near the top. Leave a few inches for the cranberries. Add a few handfuls of cranberries to the top of the water. Finally, place a candle on top of the cranberries. Voila~an easy candle that adds a Christmas feel to your house!