#trust me on this i am a spinach HATER but i eat so much of it now

[yournewapartment]

Tomato Sauce

There is nothing that I love more than a bowl of pasta with tomato sauce. Tomato sauce is inexpensive, versatile, and so easy to make. You can literally let it stew for hours unattended while you do your thing. I am known amongst my friends and family as the tomato sauce queen. Here are some of my tips and also some of my favorite recipes. 🍅 

Thick Tomato Sauce 

The only way to make thick tomato sauce is to use canned tomatoes. Fresh tomatoes create a thinner sauce. Trust me. Don’t believe the haters who say that a complex sauce can’t be created in a half hour. They are liars! Thick tomato sauce is great for anything from ravioli to shells. It’s also better for weird pasta shapes (like wheels) than thin pasta, because it coats better. 

1. Pricing. There are different qualities of canned tomatoes, different brands costing anywhere from 89 cents to $6.00. You can taste a slight difference with the tomatoes themselves, but not enough to warrant dropping lots of money. I recommend just going to your local Dollar Store and buying bulk cans of whatever is cheapest. One 12 oz can of tomatoes makes two meals for me.

2. Canned variety. Sometimes I like to buy “fire roasted tomatoes” or “herbed tomatoes” to mix it up. Even with the stronger varieties, any initial taste they have will be mostly covered up by whatever you put in the sauce. Remember: fresh herbs are always better than dried ones! 

3. Building your sauce. If you’re going to put anything that needs cooking in your sauce (NOT meat, but any garlic, onions, mushrooms, carrots) cook these in a sauce pan first. Use oil, not butter. Add any dried herbs or spices you want to this initial mix. 

4. Get going. Add your tomato sauce to the pan and get it bubbling. Now is the time to add anything that doesn’t need cooking (olives, capers, anchovies, pickled anything). I like to use brines in my sauces, so I add them at this point. For example, if I’m making a puttanesca sauce, I’ll add my black olives and pour the black olive juice right into my pan. 

5. Taste it. Take a spoonful and taste it. If you don’t like it’s taste, add some more spices. If it’s too acidic, add tomato paste. At this point you can either turn it on low and let it cook for an hour, which creates a very rich and thick sauce. Or, you can cook some meat or veggies and add your fresh herbs. Always ad your fresh herbs in right before you’re about to eat! Otherwise they’ll wilt and you won’t taste their flavor. 

Some easy thick sauces:

Puttanesca: From Series of Unfortunate events (and also Italy). Cook garlic and onions first. Don’t let them brown too much, just get them not raw. Add your canned tomatoes, let the sauce sizzle while adding salt and pepper (don’t go crazy on the salt). Add anchovies, black olives, capers, and other pickled things (pickled mushrooms, jalapeños, pearl onions, etc). Pour your black olive juice right into the sauce pan. Let it cook until the sauce has absorbed the olive juice. Top with cheese.

Marinara: Brown some garlic and onions in olive oil. Add tomato paste to the pan after the onions and garlic have turned golden, and swirl it around so that it gets toasted. Add your canned tomatoes and any dried herbs you may be using (thyme, parsley, oregano… but be gentle with your oregano pouring). Let reduce if you added the dried herbs, otherwise add fresh herbs and serve immediately. Put this on your pizza or in your lasagna. 

Bolognese: Cook your meat first with oil, seasoning with cumin, garlic powder, pepper and salt. Or whatever spice blend you enjoy. Remove the cooked meat, and use the juices as the base for your tomato sauce. Pour your canned tomatoes and mix the sauces. Add chopped carrots or your other favorite vegetables. Cook until the veggies are fork tender, and add your meat back in. Hearty and warming! 

Thin Tomato Sauce 

This type of sauce always reminds me of summertime at my parent’s house when my mom would make her basil tomato sauce (see bellow). A thin sauce doesn’t have to be lighter than a thick sauce, but it definitely interacts with pasta differently and really needs a long pasta or a penne pasta to properly pick it up.

1. Fresh tomatoes. You don’t need to spend your lifesavings on beautiful heirloom tomatoes (in fact I’d urge you to just eat any heirloom tomato you happen upon raw). Any old tomato will do, even ones that are starting to sag and move towards the end of their lives. One fresh tomato makes two meals for me.

2. Cutting tomatoes. Cut the bottom of the tomato off and slice your tomato that way, cutting into the core. This way, no part of your tomato goes unused. For quick cooking, chop the tomato up small. If you have more time, leave large chunks to caramelize. You get a bit more flavor this way, but we don’t all have the luxury of time, so don’t stress about it.

3. Sauce base. With this type of tomato sauce, your base is 90% oil. The tomatoes themselves aren’t heavy enough to carry themselves, so do not skimp on the oil. I recommend cooking garlic and onions and browning them before adding your tomatoes. Allow them to dissolve into the sauce while you do your dishes or whatever. 

4. Acidity. Fresh tomatoes can make for a really acidic sauce. Make sure to cook some veggies or meat to help balance out the flavor. Cook these in a separate pan while your tomatoes are reducing. Remove them, and pour their juices into the sauce. I recommend bacon. 

5. Too much reducing/gloppy sauce. You may have to add water if your sauce becomes too reduced. Don’t worry if you add too much water, just let the sauce reduce to a comfortable consistency. Add your fresh herbs minutes before it’s done. I would skip the spices or dried herbs, their taste is too powerful for this sort of sauce. 

Some easy thin sauce combos: 

Hello onion: Caramelize half an onion. Chop it up into thin slices so that it will cook faster. Cook bacon and pour the drippings over the cooking onion. Add your fresh tomatoes and add water to help everything reduce. Be careful adding salt, the pasta will have salt from the bacon juices already. Add the crumbled bacon after you’ve turned the sauce off. 

Mom’s basil sauce: Using olive oil and chopped garlic, cook tomatoes with salt and pepper. Add basil when the tomatoes have reduced. 

Veggie blast: Brown onions and garlic (or not). After they’ve browned, add your favorite veggies to the sauce. I have a soft spot for squashes so I like to use eggplant and whatever squash we have in our fridge. I encourage you to get creative and to try different things. Add your tomatoes shortly after adding your veggies, because you don’t want the veggies to overcook and becoming mushy. Add spinach or kale after the sauce has reduced, and season heavily with salt and pepper. Seriously, veggies need salt.

#cooking #low spoons #low spoon #budget #Cooking on a Budget #college student #college food #college cooking #easy cooking #pasta #tomato sauce #tomato #apartment #new apartment #first apartment #college #dorm #dorm food

[ecassandrae]

One Piece 863 thoughts

I call them “thoughts” because who ever has the time to write a proper review? It’s the first time in weeks I’ve had time to breathe and thank Kami-sama now that I have more than -1 time the chapter is AMAZING

Starting with the covers: I ... am wondering why they’re playing rock paper scissors. But more than that why the hell IS GON NOT THERE? IT’S HIS MOVE GODDAMMIT F*** YOU TOGASHI I mean, a moment of silence for all the HxH fans such as myself who were slain by this umpteenth reminder of the Eternal HiatusxHiatus. Other than that, as I said before, but at this point it’s pretty obvious: Jump editors are working so that Boku No Hero Academia becomes the successor of OP - meaning, a world-wide Japanese-born pheonomenon. It’s due to its own popularity of course, but BNHA is, like OP was at its time, being brought forward massively. Which is kinda - alright, VERY - sad, given the treatment that same board gave to Bleach just a few months ago. And, Sanji is there along with Luffy! Yay. Way to go, Sanji fans. 

Secondòy, we get a popularity poll for the 20th anniversary in August. And since after every saga some characters that have been relevant step a few places forward - wanna think of Trafalgar Law after Dressrosa stealing Zoro’s spot? And just like our favorite dark doctor - the cute one would be Chopper of course, could Sanji make a step forward now, as well, just after an entire saga has been partially focused on him? And well... there are only two spots ahead for him now since he’s fourth. 

Now I’m feeling stupid  cause I hadn’t understood that the party was taking place outside! So in my mind I briefly wondered how could Big Mom know it wouldn’t rain... then I realized she

can control weather

has a son who foresees the future

Lol. Also funny that is looks a bit like a giant tooth... in a candy island. How extra. 

 So Luffy’s kagebunshin no jutsu - which is particularly dear to us who grew with Naruto - was just a trick using Brulée’s mirror after all. Now I hope they bring her along on the sunny cause this techique is just too funny - imagine the faces Law would make?

Alright this was by no means related I just wanted to use this gif because #bepo

Something I could not say last week because I was so fricking tired was that the cake reminded me so badly, decorations and stuff, of the Corpse Bride. However, jokes aside, I think Big Mom’s must have some sort of last minute backup acquired through sugar - much like Popeye and Spinach or Luffy and Meat. Otherwise, we’d know pretty much about her already and it’d be quite disappointing for a yonkou to be, possibly, theoretically, so easily defeated. To even know about all her weaknesses. And then when they fight and lose their strenght, both she and Luffy will eat the scraps of the cake...?

I haven’t had time to look at even one single post on this chapter yet, but much like someone else in this chapter, I’m betting my soul this enraged a lot of people. Mainly, two categories of people: SaNa fans, Pudding haters and those who thought she would have to stay bad. 

Answering a post by  @mapofallblue last week I, shamelessly copying and pasting it:

She’s not a Viola 2.0 because she’s not someone who’s good inside forced to do bad stuff - she did go after children with a knife, and not as an immediate reaction to what they did to her or in self-defence but later, because she has two different dresses on -, so yeah, until further evidence, she remains a villain.

And as for the “fragile woman”… I don’t think this entitles her to be one. She can stand up for herself - again, going after children with a knife -, though she’s being manipulated into what precisely to stand up for.

And all of this is still standing until proven otherwise. She’s still in emotional breakdown, and yes, for those who love it like me and for those who’d rather see him take a little revenge sometimes, Sanji is just too good a person to let even a manipulative witch like her meet a tragic(omic) death by asfixiation under tons of cake. 

As for SaNa fans, the reasons above stands just the same. The fact that he’s saving her means just he’s a decent person, not that he’s in love with her - NOT AT ALL. So worry not, the ship is still sailing,out of Whole Cake Island and with Sanji on board asap. Besides, see what happens next.

The mugis and minks and Ceasar mafia version and ... who else is there? a bunch of people, well, they let the remaining Luffys go. Again, a techique we should see more of. Pedro and Jinbei back up Luffy, while...

Chopper, Carrot and Nami back up Sanji and will apparently help him save his family - not like I think Big Mom cares about the Vinsmokes much at this point -. Nami tells reminds me they have to backup Sanji. Nami.  Yeah, I didn’t get my so anticipated sostitution bride but hey, this is something. 

Now, it is incredibly disappointing that  a yonkou wouldn’t have enough haki to spot the real Luffy in a matter of seconds. But in Oda I trust, so I won’t give a definitive judgement on her fighting abilities until she waves white flag. 

Luffy being an idiot. Nothing special to say here. 

I wonder what role exactly do Nami, Chopper and Carrot have. They are prepared to fight, but they can’t mean to, right? They’re not usually in that role - aside from Carrot, about whom we know too little. Unless we’re about to see a major development, something we’re already seeing actually: when did Nami last mention fighting?

Well, the enemy here is all but wounded and pretty harmless. Nami’s been putting forward a lot of courage and boldness lately. Even just the fact that she kept pushing all to move forward in their search for Sanji. 

Again, Katakuri is a well-rounded character. If I had to judge from appearances, I would unfortunately have to say he looks stronger than Mama. Though those abs kinda freak me out, and not positively.

And then ... slightly anticipated by a Pedro in a fancy suit...

....some massive...

 BADASSERY

Basically Mama’s power of specifically “robbing” people of their souls works only on those who are afraid of death. Which makes sense, because it’s already a strong fruit by itself. Those of who give up their souls willingly, like the inhabitants of WCI, don’t abide by this rule, but if Mama has to “take” the piece of lifespan herself, she can’t unless she meets this condition. So Jinbei bets and wins - I wonder if because he already knew about this clause or not, but he’s not less of a badass anyway. 

But the big forgotten of the Mugiwaras and the other, and umpteenth, star of this arc is Brook. He just goes there and destroys it nonchalantly, and it’s sooo Looney Toons. 

This chapter was pure hype. As fo what happens next, who can tell? No srls, no one can, it’s fricking Golden Week next Thursday .-.

#one piece #one piece 863 #one piece thoughts #op #luffy #sanji #chopper #jinbei #brook #nami #charlotte linlin #mink carrot #mink pedro #charlotte pedro #charlotte katakuri #charlotte brulee #capone bege #sanami