Pasta with Tomatoes

One of our friends, when his wife was feeling nauseous around the first trimester, asked me to write up some recipes that he could cook for his wife. I handed him three simple recipes, and then one day we cooked together for his wife and Alvin. Many of the recipes do not include meat because the wife was feeling sick at the smell/taste of meat at that time.

The first menu was pasta with tomatoes and a side of roasted carrots. The pasta with tomatoes was a recipe given to me by my sister-in-law MSolari (but I did tweak it a little).

Pasta with tomatoes
Serves 4
Ingredients:
½ package of pasta
3 tomatoes, diced
1 teaspoon dried basil (or 1 T of fresh basil)
8 oz. mozzarella, diced (about a handful)
2 T olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
5 drops of lemon juice

Directions:
1) Boil pasta for 10-15 minutes, until pasta is soft. Remove and place pasta in strainer.
2) While pasta is boiling, sauté garlic in oil until garlic is soft but not burned.
3) Pour oil and garlic over pasta.
4) Add tomatoes, basil, mozzarella, and lemon juice. Stir.
5) Add salt and black pepper to taste.

Optional meat: Chicken chunks
2 chicken breast
¼ teaspoon olive oil

1) Sprinkle a little bit of salt and pepper over chicken.
2) Drizzle 1 teaspoon of olive oil over chicken.
3) Bake for 15 minutes in oven at 176 C (350 F)
4) Remove, let sit for 5 minutes.
5) Cut chicken in large chunks, and add to pasta



Roasted carrots
Serves 4
Ingredients:
4 carrots, cut in ¼ inch rounds
2 T of olive oil

Directions:
1) Put carrots in oven safe pan.
2) Preheat oven to 200 C (400 F).
3) Drizzle olive oil over the carrots.
4) Sprinkle a little bit of salt and pepper over carrots.
5) Bake for 20 minutes, or until tender. Halfway through the baking, mix up the carrots to prevent burning.