Tortellini Bake

A couple of weeks ago we ate Our Best Bites Tortellini Spinach Bake in Creamy Lemon Sauce for dinner. I made it without the bacon or the bacon grease (I used butter instead) and it was pretty good. A few days ago I made Chicken Piccata from Second Sister Suaviloquy. We had leftover chicken, so I made Laura's Chicken Bacon Ranch Pizza. Tonight we are finishing off the chicken and the bacon with a variation of the Tortellini Spinach Bake.

I used butter for the white sauce, and added the chicken, but it is otherwise mostly the same.

Here's my variation:

12 oz bag Barilla Cheese & Spinach Tortelini (find them in the dry pasta aisle)

4 oz bacon, cooked and broken into small pieces (about 4 strips bacon)

1 cup chicken breast, cooked and diced or shredded

3 cloves garlic, pressed in garlic press or finely minced

3 Tbs flour
3 C milk
1 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 1/2 tsp dry basil
¼ tsp red pepper flakes (1/2 tsp or more if you like spicy)
1 medium lemon
2 C broccoli, roughly chopped
¾ C grated mozzarella cheese, divided
¾ C grated Parmesan cheese, divided

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Fill a large stock pot with water and bring to a boil. Add tortellini and cook according to package instructions. About half way through cooking time, add the broccoli.

Melt butter in saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic to pan and cook until fragrant and tender, about 1 minute. Add flour to pan and stir with a whisk for about 1 minute. Slowly add milk and continue to stir with whisk until smooth. Add salt, pepper, basil, and red pepper flakes and bring sauce to a simmer.

While sauce is heating, use a microplane grater or a fine-holed cheese grater to zest lemon. Then cut lemon in half and remove juice. Add 2 teaspoons zest and 1 tablespoon lemon juice to sauce (I just added all the juice this time and really liked it that way). Continue to stir until thickened, 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat.

Drain tortellini and place back in stock pot. Reserve 1 tablespoon of the cooked bacon and add the rest to the pasta mixture. Add spinach, 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese and 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese. Add sauce and gently stir to combine. Place pasta mixture in an 8 x 11 baking dish and top with remaining 1/4 cup mozarella and 1/4 cup parmesan and also crumbled bacon.

Cover pan with foil and bake for 20 minutes. Remove foil and bake for an additional 5-10 minutes, until cheese on top is melted and pasta is bubbly throughout. Remove from oven and cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Spaghetti Pie

8 oz whole grain spaghetti

4 TBSP butter

2 eggs, slightly beaten

1/3 - 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

1 1/2 cup sour cream

1 - 2 TBSP onion (I used 2 green onions)

1 small jar marinara sauce (14 oz?)

1/2 cup shredded mozzarella

Preheat oven to 350.

Cook spaghetti according to package directions. Drain and return to pan. Add 2 TBSP butter, the parmesan cheese, and the eggs. Stir to combine, then press into a 9 inch round casserole dish to form a crust.

Melt 2 TBSP butter in a small pan. Add onions and cook till tender. Stir in sour cream and heat through. Spread the sour cream/onion mixture over the pasta.

Pour the marinara sauce over sour cream, spread to edges.

Bake uncovered at 350 for 20 minutes. Remove from oven, sprinkle mozzarella over the top, and return to over until mozzarella is melted and casserole is bubbly.

Notes: I forgot to buy cottage cheese, and I wanted a vegetarian meal, so I tweaked the following recipes: Spaghetti Pie, and Sweetheart Pasta Pie.

Pasta Night

Monday is still Pasta Night at our house. Tonight I tried three new recipes for our dinner.

The main dish was Pioneer Woman's Fettuccine Alfredo. It was pretty good, although not as good as I had hoped it would be. It was good enough that I will probably try it again sometime. Maybe next time I can get it just right.

For our vegetable, I tried used a Food Network recipe for Sauteed Broccoli. I really liked this one. Hopefully the next time I make it it will turn out as well as it did tonight.

I wanted to have french bread with our pasta tonight. I have made this recipe from Our Best Bites before, but I'm trying to use whole wheat more often (and less sugar) in my baking, so I did a quick search and tried this recipe for Whole Wheat French Bread. It uses 2 cups white flour and 2 cups whole wheat flour. It was okay, but not great. I think I'll keep looking for the perfect recipe.

ps we also had mandarin oranges with dinner

Fresh Tomato Sauce

I wanted to make Ginger's Pasta for dinner tonight because our neighbor brought us a bunch of fresh tomatoes. But, I didn't have the right kind of artichokes. I googled "fresh tomatoes" and ravioli and came up with this recipe. I used frozen ravioli, and 6 tomatoes, but otherwise followed the recipe for the tomato sauce. The kids made a huge mess, but they liked the sauce. I really liked it, too, although it wasn't what I was expecting.

Ingredients

3 garlic cloves, crushed

1/2 cup olive oil

12 ripe Roma tomatoes, chopped

Salt and black pepper to taste

1/2 cup chopped basil

Preparation

Sauté the garlic in the olive oil until soft. Add the tomatoes, salt, and pepper and cook until the tomatoes begin to soften. Add all but a couple of tablespoons of the basil. Put the mixture in a blender and blend until smooth.

Read More http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Fresh-Tomato-Sauce-239030#ixzz0xmEGzerF

Pasta with Garlic Zucchini

Ingredients:
1 package wacky mac
3 TBSP olive oil
kosher salt
fresh ground pepper
3 garlic cloves, minced or pressed
1 large zucchini, cut into strips
1/2 cup water
onion powder
6 grape tomatoes, cut into strips
3/4 cup parmesan cheese

Directions:
Boil pasta according to package directions.
Meanwhile, heat 2 TBSP olive oil and add garlic. Cook for 3 minutes.
Add zucchini, cook for a minute or two, then add water and onion powder.
Let sit on medium heat for 10 minutes.
Add tomatoes and 1 TBSP oil.
Salt and pepper to taste.
Stir in pasta and cheese.
Serve.

I adapted this recipe from Nie Nie's cooking blog.

You could use any pasta, Stephanie uses whole wheat spaghetti, I was hoping that the colors and shapes of the wacky mac would appeal to my kids and be easier for them to eat. Except for Ruby, they still thought it was gross, but not too gross to eat when told they wouldn't get a snack if they didn't eat it. That's saying something.

Husbands Delight

When I asked John what he wanted to eat for Father's Day,

he said "something no one else will like."

I had a feeling what he really wanted was fish, but I

don't like fish (unless it's battered, fried, drizzled with lemon juice,

and smothered in tartar sauce), so I pulled out this old recipe

that I found on Recipezaar years ago.

John and I liked it, but most of the kids hated it.
That's what John asked for, right?

Ingredients:
10 oz egg noodles
1 lb ground beef
onion powder
1 (14 1/2 oz) can diced tomatoes (with juice)
1 tsp salt
1 TBSP white sugar
1 1/2 cups sour cream
3 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350. Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain.
Meanwhile, brown hamburger with some onion powder (or you can use diced onions - fresh or dried). Add can of tomatoes, salt, and sugar. Bring to boil and simmer for 15 minutes. In a medium sized bowl, combine cream cheese and sour cream.

Put a little over half of the cooked noodles in the bottom of a 9x13 pan. Cover the noodles with the meat mixture, and then the cream cheese and sour cream mixture. Top with the remaining noodles, and sprinkle with cheddar cheese.

Bake for 25 minutes, or until it is hot and bubbly. (I usually cover with tinfoil for part of the time to keep the cheese from getting too brown.)

Pasta

In the last week, we've tried a couple of new pasta dishes.
The first is Penne and Broccoli from Recipe for Disaster.
The second one is from The Pioneer Woman Cooks. The kids weren't crazy about it, but I thought it was good.
Baked Lemon Pasta

I may eventually get around to typing the recipes up here, along with the small changes that I made for our family. But in the meantime, at least I remembered to link them. :)

Minestrone Soup

I got this recipe from Ginger, and I think that Carla has one that is similar, if not the same one. I love this soup, and would make it more often if the kids were better at eating it. As it is, we have it more than they would like. :) It's great in the summer when you have fresh garden vegetables, and it's a kind of comfort food in the winter.

Minestrone Soup
1 onion, diced
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
1 carrot, sliced
1 can kidney beans, drained
1 can chopped tomatoes
1 zucchini, chopped
1 summer squash, chopped
1 potato, chopped
1 cup cooked medium pasta shells
vegetable broth
italian spices (I usually use basil and oregano)
olive oil
salt to taste (depends on the broth you use)

Saute the onion, garlic, and carrot in a little bit of olive oil until they start to get transparent.
Add the potato and the vegetable broth. Bring to boil, and simmer for about 10 minutes or until the potato starts to get tender.
Add the kidney beans, canned chopped tomatoes, zucchini, and the summer squash.
Cook for another 10 minutes or so, and add a little water if necessary.
Add the cooked shells and heat through.
Serve with parmesan cheese sprinkled on top.

Options: You could saute some celery with the onion, garlic, and carrot at the beginning. Frozen peas can be added with the beans, tomatoes, zucchini, and squash. You could also add green beans at that point. You could also substitute some other type of beans, like garbanzo beans, for the kidney beans. I like to have this soup with warm homemade bread. Ginger suggests a baguette and some kind of french cheese, like camembert.

Recommended Recipes

I thought I'd list a few of the recipes that I've tried from The Pioneer Woman Cooks.
She does such a great job of writing them down (and illustrating them with photos), it would be silly for me to try to improve them. Here are the links, instead.

Delicious Creamy Mashed Potatoes -We had these with our Thanksgiving dinner. Sooo good, and just in case you have some cream cheese haters in your home, the cream cheese flavor didn't really come through. The potatoes were just GOOD.

Egg-in-a-hole - John and I sometimes have these for a snack before bed. Yum.

Farfalle with Zucchini - This is a great recipe for summer zucchini. We haven't had it for a few months, so I'm not sure whether it was a hit with the kids, or not. I'll have to update after I make it again.

Chicken Rice Soup - This was really good. A nice, creamy soup. I even added the yellow food coloring. :)

Ranch Chicken - We had this for dinner last night. I was skeptical because I'm not a big Dijon Mustard fan, but the flavor was really good. John really liked it (although he admits that not having eaten all day might have pushed this recipe from just "good" to "really good").

Crash Hot Potatoes - I know that we had these potatoes last summer. I don't think that the kids liked them, and John wasn't impressed, but I thought they were good.

Mom's Macaroni and Cheese

Ingredients:
2 cups elbow macaroni (7 oz)
2 tablespoons butter
1 clove minced garlic (optional)
3 tablespoons flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
2 1/2 cups milk
2 1/2 cups shredded sharp cheese

Method:
Cook macaroni according to package directions. Set aside.
Melt butter in medium saucepan, add minced garlic and sauté. Stir in flour, salt, and dry mustard. Cook 1 minute. Gradually whisk in milk. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Remove from heat and stir in 2 cups shredded cheese and drained cooked macaroni.
Place in a 9-inch baking dish and sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup cheese. Bake uncovered at 4000 F for ten to twenty minutes or until hot and bubbly.

To reduce fat, use low-fat or fat-free milk and reduced fat cheese.
Made from scratch it beats, by far, the boxed versions. Recipe serves 6
from KSL's cooking show

Ginger's Pasta

Ingredients:
24 oz frozen ravioli
14.5 oz can diced tomatoes (NOT drained)
6.5 oz jar marinated artichoke hearts
1 TBSP olive oil
3 cloves crushed garlic
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
2 TBSP parmesan cheese

Cook ravioli, being careful not to split the pasta.

In a large, non-stick skillet, heat 1 TBSP oil over medium heat; add tomatoes, artichokes, garlic and seasonings. Cook 2-3 minutes until vegetables are warmed.

Drain pasta well. Add to vegetables and stir gently.
Sprinkle with parmesan cheese and pass extra cheese at the table.

adapted from Carla's Eden's Harvest blog
The original recipe used fresh tomatoes, which I use when I have them in the garden. Most of the time, I substitute the canned tomatoes as above.
find Ginger here


not sure on servings, it feeds our family of 2 adults and 4 kids with a little left over
time: about 15 minutes

Lazy Lasagna

1 jar spaghetti sauce
1 cup cottage cheese
1 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
3 cups cooked wide noodles (any variety)
4 TBSP grated parmesan cheese

Warm spaghetti sauce in a large pan on the stove.
Stir in the cottage and mozzarella cheeses.
Fold in the cooked noodles.
Pour all into a casserole dish and sprinkle with parmesan cheese.
Bake uncovered in 375 degree oven for 20 minutes or until bubbly.

From a Fox 13 cooking show on 26 January 2005
Christine Robinson - cooking expert

Zippy Mexican Salad

2 cups (8 oz) uncooked macaroni
3/4 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup cili sauce or taco sauce
2 TBSP vinegar
1 to 2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp onion salt
4 to 5 drops hot pepper sauce
1 1/2 cups (14 oz can) red kidney beans, drained
1/2 cup sliced pitted ripe olives
1/4 cup sliced green onion

Cook pasta according to package directions: drain. Rinse with cold water to cool quickly; drain well. Meanwhile, in large bowl, combine mayonnaise, chili sauce, vinegar, chili powder, onion salt, and hot pepper sauce. Add cooled pasta and remaining ingredients: blend well. Cover; refrigerate.

Makes 6-8 servings.

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Start to Finish: 25 minutes + chilling time

From American Beauty Elbo-roni package