Spaghetti & cannellini in tomato & basil sauce

I haven't posted a recipe in quite a while. Despite doing lots of cooking! Maybe it's the lack of light to take decent photos around the time when I'm cooking, i.e. late afternoon. But now spring is here, we get more light in the flat, yay!

This is a super quick and easy recipe to make. And one of my favourites!

This will feed 2-3 people depending on how hungry/greedy they are! ;-) You could also serve it with a side of salad and it will be enough for 3-4 people I think. You could also add twice the amount of beans to get a sturdier meal.

Tony doesn't like spaghetti, so this is obviously way too much for me to eat in one sitting! So I usually have this for dinner one night, and use the leftovers like this: I cook a bit extra spaghetti and then I have the leftover spaghetti and a bit of sauce for lunch the next day. And I freeze about a third of the sauce for an easy dinner some other time. Or! use leftovers on a pizza, maybe with a sprinkling of thinly sliced onion. Delicious!

Spaghetti & cannellini in tomato & basil sauce

Ingredients
Enough dry spaghetti for 2-3 people

• a bit of oil for sauteeing (or use water if you prefer)
• 3 cloves of garlic, chopped
• 1/4 teaspoon of ground black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika (or regular if you havent' got the smoked stuff. But it's worth investing in, it makes many dishes extra delicious! I use this one.)
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano
• 1½ tablespoon dried basil
• 1 tin of cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
• 500 grams tomato passata (I use this one)
• 3-4 tomatoes, chopped
• a handful of fresh basil, chopped/torn
• salt to taste

How to do it
Fire up a large sauce pan of water for the spaghetti. Once the water boils, add the spaghetti and some salt. Turn the heat down so the water is still bubbling slightly, but not boiling over.

Sautée the garlic and spices in the oil (water) until the garlic becomes fragrant.
Add the dried basil and oregano. If the ingredients are a bit dry now, add a little bit of water so things won't burn.
Stir for a minute, then add the beans and half the chopped tomatoes. Stir frequently for 3-5 minutes until the tomatoes start to break up.
Then add half of the tomato passata. Stir and then leave to simmer for 2-3 minutes.
Add the rest of the passata and the chopped tomatoes along with the fresh basil leaves.
Taste the sauce, add a bit of salt if you like.

The spaghetti should be done by now. Take it off the heat, drain and rinse quickly in cold water. It won't make the spaghetti cold, it rinses of some of the salt and starchiness.

Serve and enjoy! :-)

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Maybroidery day 1-14

Here's the result of my daily stitching this month! I'm happy to report that I've only missed two days so far, one because my hand was hurting (boo!) and one day because I just couldn't find my stitching muse or something (also boo!)

But other than that, I've done every single day and I'm pretty darn happy about that! Most of these have taken just around 1 hour - I don't time it exactly! And a few of them may be closer to two hours. But two hours embroidering are two hours well spent, right? ;-)

I don't always have an idea for what I'm going to stitch each day. Although I do have a couple of pages in my sketchbook with smallish ideas that I turn to if I'm completely stuck. Sometimes I do a small drawing right on the fabric, other times it's just a repetition of a single stitch.

I really like how, because these stitcheries are small (they fit in a 4" hoop), it's a good way to use up random thread leftovers. And I'm purposely not keeping track of which colours I'm using. :-)

I'm really glad I set myself this challenge! It's a nice way to end the day; I usually do the #maybroidery stitching in the evening, after Tony has gone to bed so I can watch a "boring" documentary while I stitch. :-)

♥ stitching

PS - the fabrics in the background are all my own designs on Spoonflower

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Spring brings my favourite colours

Yesterday I needed to go to the shops. I decided to take a detour past this blossom tree. Just in time too because it looked like the pink blossoms would be blown off very soon... I'm glad I convinced myself to bring the big camera. :-)

Then on a whim I decided to walk through the church yard. Such pretty green-ness. I love spring. :-)

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Mosaic Monday, May 13

Carina » Polka & Bloom's favorites on Flickr.

A few of my recent Flickr favourites. Lots of blooms and blossoming going on! Click on each thumbnail to see the larger version on Flickr and who took/made it. Happy Monday!

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The perfect chair

Photo borrowed from the IKEA website

I'm in love with this chair, the Strandmon. As in smitten. Must have this in my life. Going to IKEA and sitting in it for a few moments is *not* enough. ;-)

And Oh My God. There is a sofa too! It's not on their website though so if you want an eyeful of that particular beauty.. off to IKEA you must go.

There's a video about the chair too. Yes. There is. :-)

Edit: I forgot I snapped a photo of the sofa in the shop. Gorgeous, right?

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