Anything with Garlic: #MFRWAuthor Blog Challenge, Week 49

Our topic this week is about favorite recipes, and I have to say, my taste in food is pretty simple: the foods I love the best are highly spiced, especially with garlic.

Gilroy Garlic Festival

When we first moved to California, I heard about the Gilroy Garlic Festival. A whole town devoted to garlic! How wonderful!

But, I’ve grown to hate crowds so much, I’m happy to avoid the festival and just pick up their cookbooks.

My favs

My favorite recipes don’t come from those cookbooks though. Surprisingly, my favorite cookbook recipe doesn’t even have garlic as an ingredient. Here it is (I made it easy on myself by taking a photo of the well-thumbed page):

This comes straight from 30 Low-Fat Meals in 30 Minutes, by Faye Levy. Hopefully posting this isn’t a copyright violation. I read somewhere that recipes can’t be copyrighted (not sure if that’s true). In any case, I never follow the recipe exactly.

Very little “low-fat” anything comes out of my kitchen, and I always substitute avocado oil for olive oil in cooking because I prefer the taste and because avocado oil has a much higher smoke-point. I substitute beef for chicken broth because I like the taste better, use whatever vegies I have, and I cook meat in the pan first (chicken or beef usually) so the sauce deglazes the pan and gets more flavor. Yummy! Also, if I don’t have pasta to put it over, I use rice.

And I always add lots of garlic to my version of this dish!

Pasta Sauce

My other favorite recipe is my homemade pasta sauce, which I learned to make by watching my mother prepare the sauce the way her Italian mother-in-law taught her. I’ve improved it over the years by the addition of a bit of carrot (instead of sugar to cut acidity), chopped olives, and … lots more garlic.

To all my friends who are kicking off Hannukah celebrations next week, I wish you many blessings. Share a family recipe in the comments, please!

Let’s find out the fav recipes of my fellow MFRW authors:

Image credits: recipe page, the author; garlic, David Monniaux, Creative Commons via Wikimedia Commons

Comments

Anything with Garlic: #MFRWAuthor Blog Challenge, Week 49 — 18 Comments

Sherry Lewis on December 8, 2017 at 8:55 am said:

That linguine recipe sounds wonderful. I’ve never tried carrot in my pasta sauce. I may have to give that a try. Thanks for sharing!
- akfield on December 8, 2017 at 12:00 pm said:
  
  It’s a stealthy way to get carrots into your kids!
maureenbonatch on December 8, 2017 at 3:34 pm said:

You had me at garlic! I love, love garlic! Must visit that town devoted to garlic 🙂
- akfield on December 9, 2017 at 3:49 pm said:
  
  Read Helen’s comment below–sounds like you can find a garlic festival closer to home!
Helen Henderson on December 8, 2017 at 6:29 pm said:

For quite a few years we went to Stroudburg (Pennsylvania)’s garlic festival. The smell permeated the town that weekend. Thanks for sharing.
- akfield on December 9, 2017 at 3:49 pm said:
  
  Sounds wonderful!
Shari Elder Stories (@ShariElderBooks) on December 9, 2017 at 6:25 am said:

Agree with you completely on the garlic. The smell of sauteed garlic and onions always makes a house a home to me.
- akfield on December 9, 2017 at 3:48 pm said:
  
  I love it also!
Cathy Brockman on December 9, 2017 at 7:25 am said:

MM this recipe looks so good. I may have to try it. I loved your tips on cooking meat in the pan. Thanks for sharing.
- akfield on December 9, 2017 at 3:48 pm said:
  
  I never understood gravy making (or was any good at it) until I started making this recipe. Sure saves on some of the cleanup!
Mary J. McCoy-Dressel on December 9, 2017 at 9:03 am said:

I’ve never had avocado oil to my knowledge. Your homemade pasta sauce sounds yummy-licious with your additions. Mmm, I love the smell of garlic cooking. Thanks for sharing.
- akfield on December 9, 2017 at 3:47 pm said:
  
  Our local Costco often (but not always) sells big bottles of avocado oil. It has a pretty neutral taste. And though I love olives, I’m not fond of the taste of olive oil except in salads, plus I don’t think it’s so healthy for high heat cooking. Here’s an article about the bajillion types of oil available: https://jonbarron.org/diet-and-nutrition/healthiest-cooking-oil-chart-smoke-points
  And try the chopped olives in your sauce. Those tiny cans are enough.
  - Mary J. McCoy-Dressel on December 10, 2017 at 6:17 am said:
    
    Thanks for the info, Alina.
Kris Bock on December 9, 2017 at 10:19 am said:

Mmm, garlic!
RobinMichaela on December 9, 2017 at 2:29 pm said:

Oooo, this looks tasty. (And, the snowflakes on the page are very cool – how’d you do that?)
- akfield on December 9, 2017 at 3:39 pm said:
  
  The snowflakes are a WordPress plugin. If you have WP, just go to plugins and search snowflakes. There’s a bunch of options.
Ed Hoornaert on December 9, 2017 at 6:07 pm said:

While growing up, I had no idea what garlic tasted or smelled like. Boiled cabbage was the family’s preferred smelly food.
Meka James on December 11, 2017 at 6:14 am said:

Nice recipes. Thanks for sharing! I don’t do much in the way of low fat either. Reading about your homemade sauce reminds me I have one a friend sent me that I need to make.

Simply Romance

with romance author Alina K. Field

Anything with Garlic: #MFRWAuthor Blog Challenge, Week 49

Gilroy Garlic Festival

My favs

Pasta Sauce

Comments

Anything with Garlic: #MFRWAuthor Blog Challenge, Week 49 — 18 Comments

Gilroy Garlic Festival

My favs

Pasta Sauce

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