Most often, I take the "I don't know" as my cue to pick a main and go ahead. However, sometimes I decide "the guy likes the 'loaves, let 'em eat loaves." So, I went ahead and made mini-meatloaves again and included a new side dish.
Shells with Corn and Tomato is loosely inspired by the what we dubbed 'adult mac 'n' cheese' in France. No, full frontal nudity or male rear nudity (can you believe 'male rear nudity' is now used when describing the ratings of a movie?!), it was large shells (the stuffing kind)smothered with about four kinds of French cheese. My dinner was a winner. And in France, anything smothered in cheese has to be good. Except lima beans.
I followed the package directions for the shells, then added cooked green beans and cooked corn. I mixed in tomato sauce which I seasoned and voila---veggies and pasta.
The stats:
1 c cooked shells
1/2 c corn
1/2 c green beans
1 c tomato sauce mixed with (1/2 tbsp garlic powder, 1/4 tbsp onion powder, 1 tbsp parsley, 1/2 tbsp basil)
For starters we had a Balsamic Tomato and Raspberry Salad. With salads, I enjoy combining vegetables and fruit. I think the sweet and tart/salty tastes together really are nice to have on the same plate. This is really easy, and if you feel creative, you can sculpt your tomato however you like. I used about 1/2 tomato per person, sliced it up, poured 1.5 tbsp balsamic vinegar over the tomato, topped with basil and added a few fresh raspberries!
Bon appetit!
