Baked Ziti

April 4, 2012 by · 6 Comments


Tomorrow night we are heading up to Virginia to meet my family for a mini pre-Easter vaca. We are going into DC on Friday and then the American Girl Store in Tyson’s Corner on Saturday…along with a trip to LaMadeline for lunch. I used to work in McLean, Virginia and I always loved to go to La Madeleine for lunch so I can’t wait! They have the best tomato basil soup I have ever had.

Then on Saturday we are driving up to Maryland to see Jim’s family for Easter. I am sure there will be an Easter Egg hunt and a trip to Annapolis somewhere in there. Hopefully we will make a trip to Carlsons again!

So this will probably be my last post until Monday. Have a wonderful holiday and I wish everyone a Happy Easter!

This is a great recipe to serve if you are feeding a crowd – especially if there are kids involved. It’s also easy to split into two pans and freeze one for a busy night!

This is a great twist on baked ziti and what makes this a bit different is the sour cream. It gives the dish a little tang and adds some creaminess that you will love.

Enjoy!

Source: Allrecipes.com

Baked Ziti
 
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Ingredients
  • 1 pound ziti pasta
  • 1 small onion, chopped
  • 1 pound lean ground beef (I sometimes use half Italian sausage)
  • 2 (26 ounce) jars spaghetti sauce
  • 6 ounces provolone cheese, sliced
  • 1½ cups sour cream
  • 6 ounces mozzarella cheese, shredded
  • 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9X13 pan with cooking spray.
  2. Cook ziti in boiling water until al dente. Drain
  3. In a large skillet cook ground beef and onion. Add the tomato sauce and simmer about 15 minutes.
  4. In the bottom of the baking dish add half the ziti. Cover with the provolone, sour cream and then ½ of the sauce mixture. Add the remaining ziti, mozzarella, sauce mixture and then sprinkle the Parmesan cheese on top.
  5. Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes.
  6. Enjoy!

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Chicken Cacciatore

November 21, 2011 by · 6 Comments

This morning I got the girls dressed and out the door by 7:30 to head to the dentist for their checkups.  As anyone with little girls knows, getting them dressed, fed and packed for school is an event.  Doing it by 7:30 when they are used to being out the door at 8:30 is a slight miracle.  If you have girls you can probably relate to the dramatics of getting dressed in the morning.  I could write a whole other post just on that subject.

We made it out the door, coffee mug and backpacks in hand and jumped in the van.  We drove through town, passing by the big kids waiting at their bus stops and runners getting their morning jogs in.  When we got to the dentist at about 7:41 we gave the receptionist our name and she paused.  Usually, this receptionist knows who you are you as are walking in the door, so this wasn’t good.  She asked for our names again and when I told her she looked worried.  “I don’t see them in here for today” she said.  Oh no……

So tomorrow morning we will be performing another slight miracle and we will get back to that dentist office by 7:40 just in time for our appointment…..that was always on Tuesday.  Sigh.

This cacciatore is really delicious and I like to make this in my dutch oven.  I cook it down and let it simmer for a while because the flavor really develops and it starts to taste like something you would get at a good Italian restaurant. However, if you would like to make this on a weeknight, the crockpot would work well for this as well.

In the picture I served this over papardelle pasta which is basically a wide fettuccine noodle.  The second night I served it over some Barilla Plus farfalle and liked it better that way.  When I plate my pasta I like to drizzle a little bit of EVOO and toss.  If I want some spice (which I usually do) I will throw some crushed red pepper flakes in with it too.  Adding this directly to the noodles adds more flavor because every noodle gets coated in the oil.  You can also serve this over white or brown rice for a different twist.

It’s quite healthy, too.  This recipe uses boneless skinless chicken and the rest of the recipe is pretty much tomatoes, peppers and onions.  Throw some red wine, basil, garlic and olive oil in and you have yourself a great, healthy meal! One suggestion for keeping Italian meals light is to skip the bread if you are serving this over pasta or rice. I love bread, too, but seriously people, that is two portions of carbs in one meal. Plus, we all know you won’t just have one piece of bread.  Instead, have a nice salad.  Don’t be afraid to use some of the EVOO even if you you are trying to keep this healthy.  If you totally avoid the oil in this dish, the flavor won’t completely come together and your body does need some fat to help digest all of this healthy food.  So don’t go without, but just watch your portions.

Cacciatore recipes that I have seen typically call for white wine.  I happened to only have a bottle of red so that is what I used.  You can really use either and the taste will be fantastic.

Enjoy!

Chicken Cacciatore
 
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Recipe type: Main

Ingredients
  • 3 boneless skinless chicken breasts
  • 1 28 oz can plum tomatoes (get the best quality you can)
  • 1 small can tomato paste
  • 2-3 red, yellow or orange peppers, sliced into strips
  • 1 sweet onion sliced
  • 3-4 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 cup red wine
  • 1 cup chicken broth
  • 1 large handful of fresh basil – cut in a chiffonade
  • 1 tsp italian seasoning
  • olive oil
  • Salt and Pepper to taste

Instructions
  1. Heat dutch oven over medium heat with a little olive oil. Season chicken with salt and pepper and brown in the frying pan on both sides. Remove from pan.
  2. Add onions and peppers to the dutch oven and cook until the onions start to turn translucent. Scrape up bits of the browned chicken as the onions and peppers cook. Add garlic and wine. Cook for about 3-4 minutes until the wine is reduced by about half.
  3. Add the chicken broth, tomatoes and italian seasoning along with two tablespoons of additional olive oil and a few dashes of salt and pepper.
  4. Simmer the chicken on the stovetop for about and hour and a half stirring every 20 minutes scraping down the sides of the pot. Crush the tomatoes as you are cooking so you are left with smaller chunks.
  5. During the last half hour add the basil and stir to combine.
  6. When the chicken is done cooking shred with two forks until you get lots of big chunks of chicken. Add a little more salt and pepper to taste. If you want to make this sauce a little bit velvety you could add in 2-3 tablespoons of butter at this point.
  7. Serve over pasta that has been tossed with EVOO and crushed red pepper flakes (if desired.) Top with freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

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Beef & Tortellini Marinara with Green Beans

October 4, 2011 by · 5 Comments


This. Is a keeper.

This was a huge hit with everyone involved. Everyone involved being my family…and that says a lot. My family isn’t picky really, but not all dishes are a hit with everyone at the same time. This dish was. For me it was a huge hit because it was simple to make and pretty healthy. The flavor was deep and rich – which doesn’t always happen with slow cooked meals.

I used frozen green beans (the haricot vert if you are fancy) from Trader Joe’s and they worked wonderfully. I love their frozen veggies and I very often use frozen instead of fresh veggies when it is more convenient. I don’t know what it is, but TJ’s has the best frozen veggies.

****Can I give you my tip on frozen vegetables? Don’t microwave them. Maybe there is a good way to nuke frozen veggies, but I haven’t found it yet. I will sometimes sauté them in a little olive oil right from frozen and sometimes I will boil them in some water with a little bouillon. I have even roasted veggies in the oven right from frozen and it works great. Another thing I will do is put them in some foil with a little seasoning salt and some olive oil and throw it on the grill. It steams in the foil and cooks up really nice. I do this with frozen asparagus quite a bit.

Thank you for that brief interruption, now back to our regularly scheduled program:-)

Seriously – try this dish today. This is some absolutely delicious Italian food. Another great recipe from Taste of Home.

Enjoy!

Beef Tortellini Marinara with Green Beans
 
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This is a great slow cooker recipe with some amazing Italian flavor!
Recipe type: Main

Ingredients
  • 1 lb beef stew meat
  • 2 Tbsp olive oil
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 jar (26 0z) marinara or spaghetti sauce
  • 2 cups dry red wine or beef broth
  • 1 lb fresh green beans, trimmed – (I might do 1.5 lbs next time)
  • 1 can (14½ oz) diced tomatoes, undrained
  • lb small fresh mushrooms
  • 2 envelopes thick and zesty spaghetti sauce mix
  • 2 Tbsp minced fresh parsley
  • 1 Tbsp minced onion
  • 2 tsp minced fresh rosemary
  • 1 tsp pepper
  • tsp salt
  • 1 pkg (9 oz) refrigerated cheese tortellini

Instructions
  1. In a large skillet, brown beef in oil until no longer pink. Add garlic, cook 1 minute longer. Transfer to a 5 or 6 qt slow cooker.
  2. Stir in the marinara sauce, wine, green beans, mushrooms, sauce mix, parsley, onion, rosemary, pepper and salt. Cover and cook on low for 6 – 8 hrs or until meat is tender.
  3. Stir in tortellini. Cover and cook on high 30 minutes longer or until tortellini are heated through.

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Easy Homemade Pizza Crust

August 18, 2011 by · 5 Comments


I have these recurring dreams that I am back in high school. Scary stuff, huh? In these dreams I still need to graduate, but I keep missing my classes. I guess it’s probably college because I always have MWF classes and T,TH classes and they are all at different times. The problem is always that I never know what time my classes are so I just keep missing them. Then in my dream I can’t graduate and I get really worried….and then that’s it. Not sure how many times I have had this dream, but it seems like it is a lot. This is actually better than my old recurring dreams which are truly scary so I will spare you the details….

I am wondering if in my dreams I skip science class because in real life I have a fear of yeast…which I can only attribute to the fact that maybe I didn’t pay nearly enough attention in Chemistry class? I’m sure that is what these dreams are about…I am subliminally attributing my fear of yeast to my lack of attention in Chemistry? I mean, they wouldn’t mean anything more serious, right??

So, when I read the words easy, pizza crust and yeast all in one recipe I knew I had to try this recipe. We have made it several times and one time the crust was real thick and the other time we made it more thin and I made individual pizzas for the girls. It turned out great both times. It really is easy and a great way to get used to working with yeast. We used to get the packets of pizza dough that you can buy next to the pizza sauce at the store, but to be honest with you, this is just as easy. We will probably also use this dough for grilled pizza once the fall weather appears in North Carolina.

 

Quick and Easy Pizza Crust

Adapted from Allrecipes.com

1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
1 teaspoon white sugar
1 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45
degrees C)
2 1/2 cups bread flour
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon saltPreheat oven to 450 degrees.  In a medium bowl, dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water.  Let stand until creamy – about 10 minutes.Stir in flour, salt and oil.  Beat until smooth.  Let rest for 5 minutes.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and  pat into the shape you would like your crust.  Transfer crust to a lightly greased pizza pan or cookie sheet  dusted with cornmeal.  Spread with desired toppings and bake in oven for 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown.  Let the pizza cool for 5 minutes before serving.

We typically grease the pizza pan with some olive oil before baking and then brush it lightly with a bit more olive oil.  We also poke the crust with a fork all over.  I think this prevents bubbles.  Sometimes we cook the crust for about 10 minutes before putting the toppings on and then we broil the pizza.

Enjoy!

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Easy Spaghetti and Meatballs

August 10, 2011 by · 4 Comments

Spaghetti and Meatballs

One of my favorite comfort foods is spaghetti and meatballs.  We like to make this on a Sunday and let it simmer for a while on the stove top.  However, we can also make this on a weeknight when it doesn’t have as much time to simmer (and we don’t have as much time to make it) and it still tastes great.  This is a basic recipe that we use, but to be honest every time that we make some it’s probably a little bit different depending on what we have in the pantry or the fridge.  If we have some bread that needs to be used up we will use fresh breadcrumbs.  If we are in a hurry we will use panko.  Sometimes we will use straight ground beef and sometimes we will also add some pork.  If we want to get really crazy we might use part Italian sausage.  On any given day this dish can turn out in many different ways.  It’s always good though and with some freshly grated cheese it’s a great meal for the whole family.

This is a recipe that Jim and I made together.  He was mostly responsible for the meatballs and I put the sauce together.  We hope you enjoy!

Spaghetti and Meatballs

1-1.5 lbs ground beef – we use lean and it tastes great

1 egg

1/3 c onion minced

2 garlic cloves minced

1 tsp dried Italian herbs or a handful of fresh basil, oregano, parsley finely chopped

1/2 cup panko

1/2 tsp salt

1/8 tsp pepper

You can also add some grated parmesan if you would like some more flavor.

Gently combine all ingredients and shape into golf ball sized meatballs.  Cook on the stovetop in a little bit of olive oil until browned on all sides.  Drain  some of the fat and remove meatballs from the dutch oven to a plate.

1/2 cup chopped onion

1/2 red wine

Cook the onion in the fat that remains in the dutch oven until translucent.  Add the red wine and reduce by almost half.

28 ounce can of good whole peeled tomatoes

14 oz can of diced tomatoes

1 can tomato paste

3 garlic cloves minced

Salt, pepper dried or fresh herbs and sugar to taste.

Add the remaining ingredients to the onion/wine mixture adding only half of the paste at first.  Break up the whole  tomatoes with a potato masher.  As the spaghetti cooks down add more of the paste to your own preferences.  Add the meatballs back in.  Let this simmer ideally one hour (longer is good), but if you have less time, that is fine, too.  Serve over hot noodles and freshly grated parm.  I use my microplane to shred the cheese.

If you want more sauce than this you can also add another can of sauce or some more diced tomatoes.  If you want your sauce less chunky you can throw it in a blender and process.

**Note: if you want to make this more healthy use the lean ground beef and drain all of the fat and then use olive oil to saute the onions.  Use whole wheat noodles – or the Barilla Plus noodles which is a good compromise.  Also, instead of serving garlic bread serve with a veggie salad and toss with an olive oil based dressing.  If you can’t live without the bread, get a whole wheat baguette and dip in some extra virgin olive oil flavored with herbs***

We have also added red peppers or zucchini into the sauce for more flavor.  Mix it up to your own taste and enjoy!

 

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