Spaghetti Meat Sauce

I'm always looking to try new recipes that Joe will eat, and he approved of this sauce :-) It was yummy, but honestly, just as good as some of the pre-made canned sauces.

Recipe from Pennies On A Platter

Yield: About 10 servings

1 lb sweet Italian sausage
3/4 lb lean ground beef
1/2 cup minced onion
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
2 (6 ounce) cans tomato paste
1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 cup fresh basil leaves, chopped - 2 tablespoon dried
1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds, crushed
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
4 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley 1 tablespoon plus 1 tsp dried
dash of nutmeg

In a Dutch oven, heat the sausage, ground beef, onion and garlic over medium heat until the meat is cooked through. Drain any excess grease, if necessary. Add the crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, tomato sauce and water and cook for 1-2 minutes. Stir in the rest of the ingredients. Simmer, covered, for about 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally.

Source: AllRecipes

Bow-Tie Pasta

I'm so behind on posting recipes and have been really bad about taking pictures. I'm not such a big fan of life being so busy, but I'm surviving.

I really enjoyed the bow-tie pasta, and it froze really well. It was great having some pre-made lunches ready to grab in the morning.

Recipe from Tasty Kitchen

INGREDIENTS

* 1 pound Ground Chuck
* 5 cups Bow Tie Noodles
* 3 cups Spaghetti Sauce (or Pizza Sauce, Whatever You Prefer, I just use a whole jar)
* 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
* 1 teaspoon Salt
* ½ teaspoons Garlic Powder
* 1 teaspoon Italian Seasoning (or More, Make It To Your Taste)
* ½ cups Mozzarella Cheese
* ½ cups Sour Cream

INSTRUCTIONS

Fry ground chuck in small pan. Meanwhile, cook noodles according to package directions.

After noodles are cooked, drain and drizzle with olive oil. Mix in your spaghetti sauce.

Add your fried hamburger, seasonings, cheese, and sour cream. Fold together and allow it all to combine and melt together, over low heat, for about 5 minutes, or until cheese is melted.

Serve and enjoy!

Greek-esque Pasta Salad

I'm only now discovering how easy it is to whip up a yummy pasta salad.

INGREDIENTS
1 pound tri-color pasta - cooked
2/3 cup Italian dressing (I'm sure Greek dressing would taste excellent too)
1 cucumber - sliced and cut into quarters
1 pint cherry tomatoes - sliced in half
1 can of pitted black olives - sliced in half
1 cup crumbled feta cheese

DIRECTIONS
Cook pasta as directed, drain. Mix in Italian dressing while pasta still warm to help prevent pasta from clumping. Add rest of the ingredients, except the feta. If the pasta has cooled enough so that it won't melt the feta, add the feta. Cover and chill 3-4 hours. Enjoy!

Easy Pasta Salad!

Believe it or not, I've never made pasta salad before. Last week a friend had a little cookout and asked me to bring a side dish, so pasta salad it was.

This isn't really a recipe from any particular site, but it was inspired by Kraft Foods. The beauty of this salad, it's completely customizable--just add whatever veggies you like.

INGREDIENTS:
1 1 lb box pasta, cooked and drained (I used whole wheat)
1 cucumber, sliced and cut into fours
1/2-1 pint cherry/grape tomatoes, halved
1/2 green pepper, chopped
1/2 red pepper, chopped
1 tablespoon red onion, diced (probably could have used a little more)
2/3 cup - 1 cup Italian dressing or vinaigrette
Roughly 1/3 cup Parmesan cheese
Salt to taste

DIRECTIONS:

Combine all of the ingredients and let sit in fridge for at least 3 hours before serving. I found the key is the Italian dressing and pasta, everything else is interchangeable. Enjoy!

Penne a la Betsy

After hearing raves and raves about Pioneer Woman's Penne a la Betsy I figured it was time to give it a try. It was good, don't get me wrong, but I think I had my expectations a little too high. It was a little too rich for me, so next time I'll definitely use half and half instead of heavy cream. I also think I'd love it with a drained can of diced tomatoes. I didn't have any on hand, but I added the two small tomatoes I did have. I also agree with my friend Dani to up the salt. I used precooked shrimp, which was fine, but next time I'll look them myself, just to make it a little more "fresh."

Recipe Adapted from Pioneer Woman

INGREDIENTS

* ¾ pounds Penne Pasta (it comes in 1 pound boxes and I think it would still be enough sauce if you used the whole box)
* 1 pound Shrimp
* 3 Tablespoons Butter
* 3 Tablespoons Olive Oil
* 1 whole Onion (small) (yay for using my Ninja to mince it =) )
* 2 cloves Garlic
* ½ cups White Wine (or To Taste)
* 1 can Tomato Sauce (8 Oz)
* 1 cup Heavy Cream
* Fresh Parsley, to taste (only had dried, use 1 tsp)
* Fresh Basil - to taste (didn't have any, used 3/4 tsp of Italian Seasoning)
* Salt to taste - (at least a tsp)
* Pepper to taste
***My addition - 1 can of dice tomatoes, drained.

DIRECTIONS

Cook the penne pasta until tender-firm, also known as al dente.

Peel, devein and rinse (under cool water) 1 pound of large shrimp. Heat about 1 tbsp. butter and olive oil in a skillet. Add the shrimp and cook for a couple minutes until just opaque. Do not overcook them. Remove from heat and let cool for a few minutes. Now, put the cooked shrimp on the cutting board and pull off the tails. Chop the shrimp into bite –sized pieces and set aside.

Finely dice one small onion. Mince two cloves of garlic.

In a large skillet heat 2 tablespoons of butter and 2 tablespoons olive oil. Add the garlic and onion and sauté, stirring occasionally. After the garlic and onions have cooked a bit add your white wine. Let the wine evaporate for a few minutes, stirring occasionally. If you would rather not use wine, you can use low-sodium chicken broth instead (about ½ cup).

Now add an 8-ounce can of plain tomato sauce. Stir well until combined. Then add 1 cup of heavy cream. Continue stirring. (Add diced tomatoes if you're using them). Add seasonings. Turn heat down to low and let simmer.

Now add your chopped shrimp back into the tomato cream sauce. Give it a stir and add salt and pepper to taste. Finally add your cooked penne pasta and give it a good stir.

Slow-Cooker Lasagna

Another recipe from Kraft foods. I thought it needed more flavor, but Joe didn't. I turned on the slow cooker before I left for work, so it was on low for over 8 hours. That's definitely too long and I think that's why it dried it out. I wouldn't push six hours if you're going to make it. I'd also only use 1/2 pound of ground beef next time since I thought it was too meaty.

INGREDIENTS

1 lb. ground beef (I'd recommend 1/2 pound)

1 jar (26 oz.) spaghetti sauce

1 cup water

1 container (15 oz.) BREAKSTONE'S or KNUDSEN Ricotta Cheese

1 pkg. (7 oz.) KRAFT 2% Milk Shredded Mozzarella Cheese, divided

1/4 cup KRAFT Grated Parmesan Cheese, divided

1 egg

2 Tbsp. chopped fresh parsley (I used 1 tbsp of dried parsley flakes)

6 lasagna noodles, uncooked

DIRECTIONS

BROWN meat in large skillet; drain. Stir in spaghetti sauce and water. Mix ricotta, 1-1/2 cups mozzarella, 2 Tbsp. Parmesan, egg and parsley.

SPOON 1 cup meat sauce into slow cooker; top with layers of half each of the noodles, broken to fit; and cheese mixture. Cover with 2 cups meat sauce. Top with remaining noodles, broken to fit; cheese mixture and meat sauce. Cover with lid.

COOK on LOW 4 to 6 hours or until liquid is absorbed. Sprinkle with remaining cheeses; let stand, covered, 10 min. or until melted.

(Second photo from Kraft's website)

Slow-Cooker Lasagna

Pumpkin Sausage Baked Ziti

After going to the store today and not finding more pumpkin, I knew I had to use the half of a can I had left from this weekend's baking. I just couldn't justify tossing it. I love to bake, but I'm a little tied of pumpkin desserts. I found this recipe on Nestle's site and knew it was a go. Since I only had 1/2 a can of pumpkin, I halved everything else, plus Joe won't eat it anyway. I'd love to make this again. Perhaps for my family when I'm home next month. I'm afraid they'll not like the spinach, but it's really subtle. Recipe adapted from Nestle.

Ingredients

• Nonstick cooking spray
• 4 cups (12 oz.) dry regular or whole-wheat ziti
• 1 can (15 oz.) LIBBY'S® 100% Pure Pumpkin
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• Pinch cayenne pepper
• 1 can (12 fl. oz.) NESTLÉ® CARNATION® Evaporated Fat Free Milk
• 4 links (12 oz.) fully-cooked Italian-seasoned chicken sausage, cut into 1/4-inch slices I used 1 pound ground Italian sausage
  
• 1 pkg. (6 oz.) or about 4 cups pre-washed baby spinach I used one package of frozen chopped spinach, heated
  
• 1 cup (4 oz.) shredded part-skim or 2% milk reduced-fat mozzarella cheese
• 1/2 cup (1.5 oz.) shredded Parmesan cheese - Didn't have any on hand, so didn't use

Directions

PREHEAT oven to 425º F. Spray 4-quart baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.

PREPARE pasta according to package directions. Reserve 1/2 cup pasta cooking water and set aside for later use. Drain pasta; return to cooking pot.

MEANWHILE, COMBINE pumpkin, flour, garlic powder, salt, nutmeg and cayenne pepper in medium skillet over medium heat. Slowly add evaporated milk, stirring until smooth. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 2 to 3 minutes or until mixture begins to thicken slightly. Pour over pasta in pot. Add sausage and reserved pasta cooking water; stir well.

SPREAD half of the pasta mixture into prepared baking dish. Top with spinach. Cover with remaining pasta mixture. Lightly spray piece of foil with nonstick cooking spray. Cover ziti with foil, greased-side-down.

BAKE for 20 minutes or until heated through. Combine mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses in small bowl. Remove foil; sprinkle with cheese mixture. Bake, uncovered, for an additional 5 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Pasta Toss

Here's a pasta toss I made modifying kraft's recipe. I used regular diced tomatoes the first time and I felt it needed more spice, so I added Italian style tomatoes and ground Italian sausage, such a difference and oh so yummy! The spinach scared Joe off from trying it, but I truly believe he'd like it, even if he just picked around the spinach. Oh well, perhaps next time.

What you need:
1 can (14-1/2 oz.) Italian-style diced tomatoes, undrained

2 cups multi-grain penne pasta, uncooked

1 cup water

1 pkg. (9 oz.) baby spinach leaves (7 cups)
I pound of ground Italian Sausage

1 cup KRAFT 2% Milk Shredded Italian* Three Cheese Blend

What I did:

BRING tomatoes, pasta and water to boil in large saucepan; stir. Cover; simmer on medium-low heat 10 min. or just until pasta is tender. In the meantime, brown the sausage in a separate pan.

ADD 1/2 of spinach; simmer, covered, 2 min. or until wilted. Stir. Repeat with remaining spinach. Stir in browned Italian sausage.

SERVE topped with cheese.

Very easy to make and much cheaper than an Italian restaurant =)