Spaghetti Squash with Turkey Meatballs

Makes 4 meals (depending on size of the squash)

Cut the squash in half lengthwise, remove the seeds and microwave the pieces on high for 20 minutes (or put in the oven for 40 minutes).  Then scrape out the squash strings - it looks just like spaghetti but has more flavor!

Then microwave the turkey meatballs, add the pasta sauce of your choice and put over the squash.  It tastes delicious and is healthy too.

Sesame Noodles with Asparagus and Mushrooms

Makes 2 meals or 3 to 4 side dishes.

Vegetarian.

You can buy these sesame noodles in the refrigerated section of TJs and add vegetables, tofu, chicken, etc.  This time around, I chose to add asparagus and shitaki mushrooms.  Cut the asparagus into two inch pieces and steam until it just starts to get soft.  Slice and saute the mushrooms in a tiny bit of toasted sesame oil with a sprinkle of red pepper flakes (all available at TJs!).

Then add the asparagus and noodles in with the mushrooms and cook until it is all warmed up.  Add soy sauce to taste and enjoy.

French Onion Soup

Two servings.

This frozen soup is perfect for a very raining Saturday afternoon.

It comes with two soups, prepackaged and frozen.  They heat up well and have lots of nice melty cheese.  Occasionally I eat with a crusty bread because the croutons are a little on the mushy side.  It doesn't quite end up looking like the picture on the box (my final photo ended up looking too unappealing to post) but it tastes that good.

Cherry tomato and parsley pasta

Vegetarian.  Makes about three meals.

This is a light pasta dish that I often enjoy in the spring and summer... so I guess I made this in hopes that spring will arrive soon!  You can use any kind of pasta offered at TJs but for this dish I'm partial to the Penne Rigate.  I usually boil about half or 2/3rds of the pasta.  While the pasta is cooking, I saute about three cloves of chopped garlic in olive oil (you can also use the crushed garlic in a jar - see Penne Arrabbiata entry - but fresh garlic will add a stronger flavor).  Cut a bunch of tomatoes in half (about half of the package seen here) and add those in with the garlic for about a minute.  

When the pasta is ready, toss it with the tomatoes and garlic.  Then add lots of chopped parsley.  I often keep the parsley separate when storing the leftovers so it does get too soggy.  Sprinkle with freshly grated parm or asiago cheese.

Chocolate Chip Cookies!

Makes 1 to 16 delicious chocolate chip cookies.

One day I had a craving for something sweet, ran across the street to TJs, and discovered their frozen Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough!

The dough is pre-frozen into individual pieces so you can choose the number of cookies you want at a time.  But, a word of caution - if you think that you can bake four cookies, have two after dinner and two for lunch the next day, it is impossible!  Trust me, I've tried it several times and always end up eating the four cookies at once.

Voila - warm and yummy with melted dark chocolate chunks!