Cheese & Spinach Baked Ziti

I made this last night, and it was really yummy! It wasn't as complicated as it sounded. Although I had to exclude the spinach because I didn't get on the making of this dish before my spinach leaves liquidized in my fridge. The girls ate it up- I wish there would have been spinach to get some vegetables down them. Next time! I will not procrastinate until the produce is spoiled!

What you need:

16 oz. penne pasta
1 bag (6 oz) baby spinach leaves
1 jar marinara sauce
1 c. ricotta cheese
1 c. shredded mozzarella cheese
3/4 c. grated parmesan
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 tsp. pepper

Preheat your oven to 350. Cook pasta to al dente or less (so the noodles will soak up the sauce when baking) Add spinach during the last minute. Drain pasta & spinach, then return to (large) saucepan. Stir in marinara sauce, ricotta, 1/2 c. mozzarella, 1/2 c. parmesan, garlic powder, and black pepper into pasta. Pour into 9x13 pan, sprinkle remaining cheese on top. Bake for 30 mins. uncovered.

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Skillet Chicken Parmigiana

This recipe comes from Betty Crocker's Quick and Easy Cookbook. Every recipe takes 30 minutes or less. LOVE IT! And this one is all done on the stovetop which makes it even better.

4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (about 1 1/4 lbs)
1/3 cup Italian-style dry bread crumbs
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 egg, beaten
2 TBsp olive or veggie oil
2 cups spaghetti sauce
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese (2 oz)
spaghetti noodles

Start by cooking the noodles according to package. Meanwhile, flatten each chicken breast half to 1/4 inch thickness between sheets of plastic wrap or waxed paper. Mix bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese. Dip chicken into egg, then coat with bread crumbs mixture. Heat oil in 12-inch skillet over medium heat. Cook chicken in oil 10 to 15 minutes, turning once, until no longer pink in center. Pour spaghetti sauce around chicken in skillet; heat until hot. Sprinkle mozzarella cheese over chicken. Serve over spaghetti noodles.

Tada!!




Quick, easy and so yummy!

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Crockpot Fetticini Alfredo

I love my crockpot, so I have quite a few recipes. This one serves quite a bit and we eat leftovers for a week I swear! (but there is only 2 of us).

4 skinless boneless chicken breast halves, cubed (I use my chicken from the cannery and shred it)
2 jars of Alfredo sauce
4 slices of swiss cheese
3 TBS grated parmesan cheese
1 TSP garlic powder and salt and pepper to taste
1 package fettuccine noodles (you'll need the whole package for as much sauce as this makes)

Mix chicken cubes and alfredo sauce in crockpot and cook on low for 2 hours (my cannery chicken is already cooked, so I usually just cook it for 1 hour). Then place swiss cheese and Parmesan cheese on top and cook for another 30 minutes. Add garlic powder and salt and pepper and stir everything together. Cook noodles according to package. Then you can either pour the sauce over the noodles, or just mix the noodles with the sauce and serve from the crockpot.

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Chicken and Broccoli Alfredo

I made this tonight for the first time in a while and I forgot how much I love it! It's my favorite homemade alfredo sauce recipe. I hope you enjoy it too!! Sorry, no pics, we were in too much of a hurry to stuff our faces :)

Chicken and Broccoli Alfredo

6 oz fettuccine noodles
1 cup broccoli flowerets
2 Tbsp butter or margarine
1 lb skinless boneless chicken breasts, cubed (about 1 cup)
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese (shredded is better but grated works too. Sometimes I even substitute with 1/4 cup mozzarella and 1/4 Parmesan)
1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper (I'm not cool enough to have a pepper grinder thingy...normal pepper does the trick)

Cook fettuccine according to package. Add broccoli for last 4 minutes of cooking time. Drain in colander. While noodles are cooking, heat butter in medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken and cook until browned, stirring often. Add soup, milk, cheese and pepper. When noodles are cooked, add them in too. Serves 4 (or in my house, me and my bottomless pit hubby. The little one got a small serving too ;))

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Southwest Fettucine

I've got two versions of this one. Both are yummy!

Expensive, but super quick version:

1 pkg. refrigerated fettuccine noodles
1 can diced tomatoes w/ green chiles
1 pkg. frozen southwest chicken strips, thawed (or two pkgs of the refrigerated kind)
1 green bell pepper, sliced
1 c. shredded monterrey jack cheese
1 small can sliced olives

Cook noodles as directed, drain. In a large skillet, sautee the green bell peppers until soft. Then combine noodles and peppers in large skillet with tomatoes and chicken. Toss in the olives and heat through. Sprinkle servings with cheese.

Cheap, but more time consuming version:

9 oz. (half a box) of dry fettuccine noodles
1 can diced tomatoes w/ green chiles
4 chicken breasts, cut into strips
2 tbl. olive oil
Chili powder- to taste

1 green bell pepper, sliced

1 c. shredded monterrey jack cheese

1 small can sliced olives

Cook noodles in a large saucepan. In a skillet to the side, cook the chicken with a bit of olive oil and coat chicken with chili powder to taste. Cook chicken all the way through, then toss in the green pepper to soften. When the noodles are done, drain and add to the chicken/peppers. Toss in the olives and sprinkle cheese on each serving.

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No Bake Ziti

This may not even qualify as a "recipe" but it's a nice changeup from cooked pasta with some jarred sauce on top. (my old standby)

1 lb. italian sausage (I like it hot- but if you have kids, get mild)
1 c. chopped onion
1 c. diced green bell pepper
1 jar marinara sauce- any variety (today I had Prego Garlic & Parmesan- really, whatever's in your cabinet)
4 1/2 c. hot, cooked penne pasta

In skillet, over medium heat, cook sausage, onion, and bell pepper until sausage is cooked through, drain fat.
Add pasta sauce and heat to boil, then serve over penne (the longer the sauce simmers, the better it tastes!)

Side note: picky husband prefers this with cheese melted on top.

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Ravioli Casserole

This recipe came from "Real Mom Kitchen". Pretty simple (5 ingredients) and oh so yummy! Beginning products:



Finished product:



Ravioli Casserole

1 25 oz package frozen ravioli, cooked and drained (you can use cheese, spinach, meat, whatever you want!)
1 28 oz jar of spaghetti sauce
2 cups (16 oz) small curd cottage cheese
4 cups shredded mozarella cheese
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

Spread 1/2 cup spaghetti sauce in ungreased 13x9 pan. Layer half the ravioli, 1 1/4 cups sauce, 1 cup cottage cheese, 2 cups mozarella cheese. Repeat layers. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese and bake uncovered at 350 for 30- 40 minutes or until bubbly. Let stand 5-10 minutes before serving. 6-8 servings.

This recipe is kid-approved :)

*for sides we had green beans and parmesan toast. The recipe for parmesan toast can be found on the label of Kraft parmesan cheese, but it's for a whole french bread loaf. For my family I just spread butter on bread, sprinkle on parmesan cheese and italien seasoning, then bake at 475 for about 5 minutes, or until it's lightly brown. Very yummy!

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Dino's Fettuccine

I enjoy making fresh pasta whenever possible. It is usually ravioli but tonight I did fettuccine. It has become a tradition in the Cancellare house to feed the pregnant wife Fettuccine Alfredo like she was about to run a marathon and go 12 rounds with the the heavy weight champ of the world. Nothing beats fresh pasta and it cooks up al dente in 2 minutes every time, and all you need is flour, eggs and salt.

According to the Pasta Bible, 00 or Tipo 00 (Farina Bianca) flour is best when making pasta. This flour is a lighter flour than your typical all purpose flour, but you can use all purpose flour. The Bible also recommends using fresh eggs to give the noodle better color but who has hens laying eggs in their backyard?? Just let your eggs sit out at room temperature for at least an hour before making the dough.

2 3/4 Farina Bianca 00 or All Purpose Flour
3 eggs at room temperature
1 tsp salt

If you do not have a food processor (less mess if you do) you can pour out your flour on a clean surface and make a well in the center of the flour tall enough to hold 3 eggs. In the center of the well place the salt and 3 eggs and mix with fork.

With your hands, slowly begin to mix the flour into the egg and salt mixture...do this gradually starting from the outside in trying not to let the egg spill out. Once the egg mixture is no longer a liquid mix the rest of the flour together with your hands. If too wet add some more flour if too dry add some cold water. Dough should be rough and slightly sticky...not too sticky. Knead dough for at least 5 minutes...Kneading makes for a smoother noodle.

If you use a food processor, like I do, use the plastic dough blade and combine the flour and salt. Let the processor run while you add the eggs one at a time. The dough will not stick...you will have to dump the flour and egg mixture out and ball the dough together...it will stick...and knead.

Although the Pasta Bible says to add water if too dry I always add one more egg and the noodles come out great.

After kneading your dough wrap in plastic wrap and let rest for 20 minutes at room temperature. After rested, cut into quarters.

If you do not have a pasta roller or cutter you can roll out the dough by hand until you reach you desired thinness or thickness. Roll out as close to a rectangle as possible. Cut dough into 12 inch rectangle segments and roll up. Slice rolled up dough to your desired width. Be sure to slice through the dough and not saw the dough.

If you have a pasta roller and cutter take your dough and flatten out enough to fit into roller. On the 1st setting feed the dough through. Fold the dough into thirds and feed through the roller on the 1st setting again. Do this at least 5 times. Adjust the roller to the next setting and feed the dough through. Continue to go up in the the settings and feeding the dough until you reach the last setting or second to last or until you reach you desired thinness or thickness.

Once you have rolled out you dough you can now feed it through your pasta cutter to cut out your fettuccine noodles
Once your noodles are cut toss on a clean towel with flour and lay flat to dry. Bring your water to a rolling boil and add 2 tblsp of salt (per pound of pasta) to the boiling water and quickly add all your noodles. Cover and cook until boiling again and uncover and stir (stir often). Pasta will be done in 2 - 3 minutes (once they start floating they are done). Drain well...try to time it to be done when your sauce is done and combine with sauce after drained.

Dino's Sauce (Alfredo Sauce) If you can't get some good Parmigiano Reggiano, try and find some decent grated cheese. I found a Mario Batali 4-cheese blend that is pretty good. I toss it into my mini food processor to grate finer the the shreds it comes in.

1/2 stick butter
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup fresh grated Parmigiano Reggiano (Asiago is good too or try to use a combo of parm, romano and asiago...delicious)
pinch of nutmeg
chopped fresh parsley
1 clove of garlic (optional)
Melt butter, garlic and 1/2 of the cream over medium heat until just simmering. Add remaining cream and gradually add the cheese constantly whisking. Whisk until cheese is melted into cream and sauce is creamy. Add to your noodles and toss in a pinch of nutmeg and some chopped fresh parsley...toss and serve.

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BBQ Chicken Pasta

Well, with a call to arms like that, how could I stay silent? I made this recipe for the first time last week and I think it needs a bit of tweaking. So this is how I would do it. (I've just switched around a few things- my onions were too soggy and my chicken was too dry on the first run) I was going to make it again (and add cilantro) and post the recipe. But it sounds like Lacie is in dire need here. Here it goes!

1 tbl. olive oil
2-3 chicken breasts- in chunks
1/2 red onion- diced
3 c. water
2 1/2 c. chicken broth (this is more than 1 normal can of broth)
1/2 tea. salt
12 oz. dry penne pasta
2/3 c. BBQ sauce
1/3 c. sour cream
1/2 c. shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 c. shredded cheddar cheese
2 tbl. fresh cilantro- finely chopped

In a large skillet, (I used my big stir fry skillet) heat olive oil over medium heat. Add chicken and cook through. Remove chicken to a plate and set aside.

In the same skillet, add water, chicken broth, penne, and salt. Bring to a boil and simmer for 12- 15 mins. until liquid is almost absorbed, pasta is tender, and mixture is syrupy. Stir in BBQ sauce, onions and chicken. Heat through and let onions soften.

Add sour cream and stir to coat. Then add cheeses and heat through. Remove from heat and stir in the cilantro before serving.

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Manicotti

*I always half this recipe for just me and my husband. But if you're going to feed more than 3 people, the full recipe is sure to impress :)*

What you need:

1 pkg manicotti noodles (14 noodles)
1 1/2 lbs large curd cottage cheese
2 eggs slightly beaten
2 tsp. parsley
1/2 tsp. pepper
2 cups mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup fresh Parmesan cheese (1/4 cup dry)
1 tsp. salt
1 jar spaghetti sauce (1 lb 10 oz size)

What you do:

Start by cooking the noodles. (For half the recipe, 6-7 minutes makes them perfect: sturdy enough to hold up when you stuff them, but soft enough to eat.) Combine the rest of the ingredients (minus the sauce). Pour enough sauce in the pan to generously cover the bottom of it. Once the noodles are done, stuff them with the mixture. I will admit, this part is time consuming (usually takes me about 10-15 minutes). But it is so worth it! I have found that a baby spoon works best because it is small enough to actually stuff down into the noodle. I hold the noodle with one end in my palm so it doesn't leak out while I stuff the other end. Place stuffed noodles in pan and cover with the rest of the spaghetti sauce. Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes, then remove the foil and bake for another 15. (For half the recipe I do 30 covered and 5 uncovered).



Not the best picture, but this is what it looks like before you bake it (and pretty much it looks the same when you take it out of the oven)

Enjoy!

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Chili Spaghetti

OK, don't look at the title and think "Hormel Chili" in a can, dumped on some spaghetti. It is soooo not that. This recipe comes from my mom, I'm not sure where she got it. It was my favorite meal growing up. I think she even made it for my birthday dinner once or twice! Anyway, it's super good. Pretty easy, too.

Start with these ingredients:

2 tsp EVOO

1 lb ground beef (missing from the photo)

1 med onion (chopped finely or grated)

2-3 garlic cloves (crushed or grated)

2 (14.5 or 16 oz) cans of tomatoes (Mom says whole, undrained and cut up. I say, let someone else cut 'em up! So I use diced whatever kind I have. Italian, chili ready, fire roasted, they're all good)

1 (8 oz) can tomato sauce

1 (6 oz) can tomato paste

2-3 Tbsp. chili powder

1/4 to 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

salt and pepper to taste

7 oz spaghetti broken in 3" pieces.

First, grate or finely chop your onion. I use a box grater, I hate cutting onions. PS- This method will still make you cry.

Start browning the hamburger with the onion.

And grate in the garlic cloves (or toss 'em in if you chopped 'em). See all that oil and greasy goodness? Yeah, we're gettin' rid of that soon.

After the hamburger is cooked through, drain off all the fat. I have a nifty trick. I find my colander and stick just ONE paper towel in the bottom and then drain the mixture in that (over the sink, I'm bad).

This next picture is upside down, I don't know how to flip it. But you get the idea, dump all the cans of tomatoes and sauce and paste in with the beef mixture.

Stir everything together.

Add chili powder (I never measure. Use this much, more or less, depending on how you like it to taste)

Same with the cinnamon.

Here is the beautiful Chili Sauce. I love it because it tastes like a normal spaghetti sauce, just kicked up a notch with chili powder. YUM.

NOW- let the sauce sit and simmer on low for as long as you want. The longer it sits, the yummier it is.

While the sauce sits, start boiling your water for the pasta.

Break the pasta into 3" pieces. Not really sure why, that's just what my mom's recipe says to do. So I do it :)

Cook pasta according to package directions.

Serve pasta with a big spoonful of chili sauce on top. I didn't feel like grating the cheese, but it would be really good on it!

Now if you make this, you may be saying to yourself, "Becca, this makes a ton of sauce. Like, enough for say, 8 people! What do I do with the rest?!"

Freeze it my friend. Save it for a rainy day :)

 Enjoy!

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