Foodie Fridays: Cooking out of cans

The stove and oven have still been pretty busy this week (yay!), and we've had two new developments on the kitchen front.  Firstly, I've been trying to cook veggies in different ways, to encourage both the boys in the family to eat them (especially the hubby who's not too fond of broccoli)... and secondly, I've recruited an extra pair of hands in the kitchen (the hubby, on days that I'm tired!), so cooking has become more fun. :)

So for this week, two types of greens, done in two different ways each... 

Friday's mish-mash meal of scrambled eggs with tomato, oven-baked asparagus, and baked veggies (recipes for baking from "Cook with Jamie").  Sunday's baked risotto (using this recipe, but with mushrooms, tomato and chicken) and broccoli with soy and sesame seed dressing (from "Cook with Jamie").

Wednesday's pork rib with lotus root soup (recipe here), with pan-fried asparagus and baby corn (from Kylie Kwong's "Simple Chinese Cooking", in which recipes don't seem to be simple at all :S).  The hubby helped to cook the veggies while I dictated the steps from the book, hahah.  And Thursday's broccoli with spiced yoghurt (from "Cook with Jamie"), and chilli tuna pasta (see below).

And the using of an old favourite, tried-and-tested home-grown recipe, using mainly stuff out of cans (I was really tired that day and too lazy to dig in the freezer to defrost stuff):

Chilli Tuna Pasta 

(Should yield enough sauce for 3 servings)

Ingredients:

2 cloves of garlic, diced

1 medium onion, diced

6 mushrooms (button/shitake), sliced thinly

1 can of chilli tuna

1 can of whole plum tomatoes, chopped into cubes

1 tbsp Parmesan cheese, grated

Extra chilli/chilli padi, sliced (optional if you want extra spiciness!)

Parsley/spring onion (optional)

Steps: 

1. Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a frying pan (or use the oil from the can of tuna.  I used olive oil since I took out a portion of the sauce for Junior J before adding the spicy stuff.).

2. Fry garlic for 1 minute, then add onions, fry for an additional minute.

3. Fry mushroom slices and tomatoes.  (If you are cooking for kids, now is a good time to take out some sauce.)

4. Add tuna (if you are using olive oil for cooking, drain the oil from the can first), and extra chilli slices, fry for about another 5 minutes, remove from heat.

5. Spoon sauce on top of pasta, sprinkle cheese, parsley and spring onion.  Eat while piping hot.  Perfect for cold, rainy days!

(If you prefer sardines, then you might wanna try this version instead!)

Do you have any favourite ways of cooking veggies, or any quick and easy recipes?  Do share! :)