Spinach and Ricotta Dumplings and marinara

When I made these I thought they were OK, I figured I wouldn't bother to blog them, but Duncan absolutely loved them - took them for lunch the next day, and I actually liked them more than I expected, so I guess they are blog worthy.  My major problem with them is just the fact that I don't actually care for dumplings of any type - not a fan of the texture.  However, like I said, I actually liked them more than I expected. I'd probably rate them a 3.5, possibly 4 - they get a 5 from Duncan though, which brings my rating right up to a 4.
This recipe would also have been easier if I had remembered to buy frozen chopped spinach, but I didn't (or chose not to - can't remember at this point - but I do know I used fresh Spinach so I had to cook and chop it first.)  The recipe comes from my Food Network Magazine.  I have slightly adapted it mostly to cut some of the 32 grams of fat in the original recipe.  I'm also pretty sure I used 16 oz. spinach, 2 cups ricotta.... - extra because the original said it was only 4 servings.  However, unfortunately I didn't make notes in my original recipe like I normally do, and some of it was by feel - like the flour, so I leave the original quantities.

Ingredients

• 1 10 oz package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry (or 10 oz fresh spinach chopped and cooked until just barely wilted - I do that in a frying pan - no water or anything.  I just saute it.)
• 1 1/2 cups ricotta (I used fat free, but recipe called for whole-milk)
• 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 6 Tablespoons flour plus more for rolling
• 2 large eggs
• freshly ground pepper
• pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
• 2 cups prepared marinara sauce (I used the recipe that follows -which is a mini, quick version of the marinara I like to make in my slow cooker)

Marinara sauce ingredients

• 2 15 oz. cans crushed tomatoes (although for the amount I made (16 oz. spinach) I would use a third can next time.)
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 Tablespoon dehydrated, minced onion
• 2 Tablespoons Italian seasoning
• 1 Tablespoon olive oil (I may or may not have added this, I can't remember)
• salt and pepper to taste - I think I used 1/2 teaspoon of each

Directions

1. Combine all Marinara sauce ingredients in a large skillet.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer while preparing the rest of the meal. (If not making homemade marinara, put it in the large skillet and start to heat after step 3.)
2. Bring a large wide pot of salted water to a simmer.  (I used my saute pan, but it is kind of shaped like a wok, and rather deep.  I had sauteed my spinach in it, so I just used the same pan.  A large dutch oven would be a great choice if using frozen spinach.)
3. Put the spinach in a large bowl and separate it with you hands.  Add the ricotta, 3/4 cup Parmesan cheese, the flour, eggs, 3/4 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper and the nutmeg.  Mix with a fork to form a slightly sticky dough.  
4. Spread some flour on a plate.  Scoop out heaping Tablespoonfuls of the spinach-ricotta mixture and roll into about 24 balls.  Roll the balls in flour.  If not making homemade marinara, put it in a large skillet over medium heat.
5. Gently lower the dumplings into the simmering water and cook until they rise to the surface and are firm, about 5 minutes (although I cooked mine a bit longer - like 8-10.)  remove the dumplings with a slotted spoon, letting water drain off and add to the sauce.  Gently toss to coat, then transfer to plates and sprinkle with the remaining Parmesan.

Stuffed Spinach and cheese pizza with dipping sauce

Today's dinner was a compilation of 3 cookbooks.  The original idea came from no whine with dinner cookbook.  It called for a refrigerated wheat dough - I had a recipe for that I wanted to try in $5 dinner mom, and then I thought it would be good dipped in a red sauce - so I used my go-to sauce from American pie.  All good books.  It turned out OK.   Not a bad way to eat your spinach, and I didn't mind adding the nice tomato sauce either.  Here is how I made the entire dish.


Dough Ingredients

• 2 cups warm water
• 2 Tablespoons olive oil
• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 4 cups unbleached white flour
• 2 scant Tablespoons (2 packages) yeast
• 2 Tablespoons sugar
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
• 4 Tablespoons (1/4 cup) Parmesan cheese -I used the powdery Kraft stuff for this because I thought it would incorporated better

Dough directions

1. Combine water and 2 cups white flour in a mixing bowl (I used my bosch.)  Add yeast, sugar, salt and oil.  Whisk or stir together to make very liquid dough.  Let sit 10 minutes.
2. Add remaining 2 cups white flour and 2 cups wheat flour.  Mix with the mixer until smooth.  Add Parmesan and Italian seasoning and mix until well incorporated.  
3. Cover and let rise 45 min to 1 hour.

Filling ingredients

• 1 16 oz. package frozen chopped spinach, thawed
• 1 Tablespoon olive oil
• dough from recipe above
• 1 8 oz package shredded mozzarella -2 cups
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan (I used the real stuff here - a triangle that I shredded)
• 1/2 cup crumbled feta (this was optional and I didn't have any, but I really wanted to try it.  I think it would be delicious.)
• 20-30 slices turkey pepperoni coarsely chopped (I chopped mine with kitchen scissors)
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• pepper

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425.  Drain spinach in a colander.  Press into the colander to squeeze out extra water. Pat with paper towels.  Place in a medium large bowl.
2. Add cheeses, pepperoni, garlic powder and a few grinds of pepper to the spinach.  Mix together well.
3. Take out 2 large rimmed baking sheets.  Pour a little bit of olive oil onto one pan.  (1/2 Tablespoon or so)  Use your fingers to spread the oil all over the pan.  Place 1/2 of the dough on the prepared pan.  Spread it over the oil to cover the entire pan.  
4. Spread the spinach mixture evenly over the wider bottom 1/2 of the crust leaving 1/2 inch border.  Fold the top part of the dough over the spinach mixture.  (At this point I turned the dough on the pan and kind of stretched it out a bit, pushing it a little flatter.)  Use a fork to press edges of dough together.  Poke the top of the dough with the fork a few times to allow steam to escape.
5. Bake until crust is golden brown about 15 minutes (I may have done 20)  Cut into slices and serve with sauce.

Crushed tomato sauce Ingredients

• 1 28 oz. can crushed tomatoes
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 2 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic (5 cloves)
• 1 Tablespoon red wine vinegar
• 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
• salt

Directions

1. Combine all ingredients in a bowl.  (I totally forgot the salt yesterday and it was fine.  I also warmed it up for a minute or 2 in the microwave yesterday to use as a dip.)

White chicken lasagna rolls

This recipe is from the saving dinner basics book I have out from the library.  It was pretty good.  There was a sweetness about the filling that I really liked.  I can only figure it came from the croutons.  I really wished I would have just bought shells to stuff.  Would have been easier than manicotti, but it was ok.  It did not have any sort of sauce, and that for me was sadly lacking.  I took one bite and it was definitely missing something.  I defrosted a sauce and put on the top of this and then it was good.  Brandon says it was a sauce that was given to us, but I really think it was just frozen pizza sauce.  Whatever it was, it made this plenty tasty.  I did have extra filling, but my package of manicotti only had 14 or 16 shells and it called for 18.

Here is how I made it.

Ingredients

• 1 package manicotti noodles - or jumbo pasta shells
• 1 Tablespoon olive oil
• 1 can petite diced tomatoes
• 1 stalk celery, finely chopped 
• 3 carrots (mine were medium small), finely chopped (I tossed my celery and carrots in the food processor)
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 2 cups 
• 1/4 cup chicken broth
• 1 1/2 15 oz. containers ricotta cheese.  
• 1 1/2 cup seasoned croutons (Mine were large and I couldn't imagine stuffing them in manicotti shells so I tossed these in the food processor to chop into smaller bits.  I had small bits and crumbs.)

Directions

1. Cook noodles according to package directions, drain.
2. Preheat oven to 400.  Grease a 9 X 13 pan.
3. Heat oil in a skillet over medium high heat.  Cook celery, carrots, tomatoes and garlic in oil for 5-7 minutes or until crisp-tender.  Stir in chicken and broth.  Cook 5 minutes or until broth is evaporated.  (I actually kept adding broth because I was slowly adding the chicken and it kept evaporating faster than I wanted it to.)  
4. Stir remaining ingredients into chicken mixture.  Fill cooked noodles.  Set in baking pans.  Bake uncovered 10 minutes.  Serve with sauce.  

Try this pizza sauce super simple to whip up while the chicken is in the oven.  Then heat it up.

Chicken Parmesan Rollatini

This recipe comes from my food Network magazine.  It was a cute new spin on a Parmesan chicken because you used cutlets (I just pounded out some chicken breasts and cut the larger ones in half)  I'm pretty sure I made more bread crumb/parmesan mixture, but I honestly can't remember exactly what I did at this point in time.  I do know that it was good, but not great.  The sauce was ok, but not spectacular.  I wanted a bit more flavor in my sauce and I think I did add some extra thyme or Italian seasoning after tasting the sauce, but not a lot.  However, I do have to say that this was the first time I had used fire-roasted tomatoes.  Those were good, and I liked the flavor they added, I just want my Chicken Parmesan to have more thyme or rosemary, or oregano, not just basil.
  I also served this with polenta which we had never had.  No-one at our house was super impressed with polenta either.  :(
If making this again, I would serve it with a different red sauce - maybe still use the fire roasted tomatoes, but also add some other Italian seasonings.
The recipe can be found here.  I'm not going to re-type it because I can't remember what I did different anyway.

Oh, also, just reading through the recipe - I didn't use a cast-iron skillet.  I just put these in a 9 X 13 pan, and I didn't add fresh parsley, I sprinkled the chicken with dried oregano.

Fettuccine with quick ragu

I've been working on organizing, and hence neglecting the food blogging.  This is something I made a couple of days ago.  Luckily I didn't make any changes even though I debated it. (Ok, the original planned for left over sauce and used less noodles - my family is larger than 4 servings so I didn't plan for left overs, and I was out of onions and used some bulb onions which I sauteed in butter not olive oil.)  OK so I made a few slight changes, but I didn't change the spices or anything.  It turned out really well, and was pretty quick.  I also liked that it used a few more veggies than my regular pasta sauce.  The addition of milk was also something different.
The recipe is from a Food Network Magazine that I got last month to try something new.

Ingredients

• 1/2 onion (I used 3 bulb onions diced)
• 1 stalk celery, cut into 4 pieces 
• 1 small carrot, cut into 4 pieces (I used 5-6 baby carrots)
• 1 clove garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary (I used the leaves of about 1/2 inch rosemary)
• 2 Tablespoons butter
• 1 pound ground veal or turkey (I used my pre-cooked ground beef for time's sake)
• salt and pepper
• 1 28-oz. crushed tomatoes
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 16 oz. package fettuccine
• grated parmesan for serving

Directions

1. Pulse onion, celery, carrot, garlic and rosemary in a food processor until finely chopped
2. Melt butter in a large saute pan over medium high heat.  Add the chopped veggies and cook, stirring until softened and golden.  (3-5 minutes)  Add the meat with 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper and cook until no longer pink (Or just toss in the pre-cooked and it is ready.)  Add the tomatoes, milk, 1 cup water and 1/2 teaspoon salt.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer until slightly thickened, about 20 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, cook noodles according to package directions. 
4. Toss the noodles with the ragu and serve topped with Parmesan.

.

"Treasure stuffed shells" -sneaky stuffed shells

kThis is what I made yesterday out of The sneaky Chef to the rescue.  I was a bit worried about it because it had a large dose of puree and the puree contained zucchini which DH does not like.  I did do some massive re-vamping to this because it looked like it was going to be extremely bland.  It had no type of seasonings in it whatsoever, just tomato sauce, cheese and puree.  Well, I knew I wouldn't like that so I spiced it up a good deal. When discussing that with DH at dinner his comment was "you spiced this up, I thought it was kind of bland.  Other than lacking a tiny bit in the flavor department, it was good.  I could make it again - everyone seemed to like them - except of course for picky 2 year old who wouldn't touch them even tough I just gave him red sauce and noodles - but the noodles didn't look like spaghetti so they were spurned.  Still not sure how that child grows.
I also doubled the recipe in the book.  That worked out perfectly for the amount of sauce I made.  Here is what I did - with some notes for next time - For the red sauce - I just used my pizza sauce recipe from my Peter Reinhart book - very basic though - I'd probably go a bit heavier on the Italian seasonings next time.

Red Sauce

• 1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper (probably up to 1/2 next time)
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• (next time add Italian seasoning - up to 1 Tablespoon)
• 5 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
• 1 Tablespoon lemon juice (or 2 of either - we just like the flavor of 1 of each the best.)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt - I think I forgot this - that would definitely have helped

Directions

1. Mix all ingredients together in a bowl

White Puree

• 2 cups cauliflower florets
• 2 small to medium zucchini, peeled and coarsely chopped
• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

Directions

1. Stem the cauliflower for about 10 minutes -until very tender.  Drain.
2. Meanwhile, place the zucchini in a food processor with the lemon juice and process until well chopped.
3. When cauliflower is done, add it to the food processor and puree until smooth - adding 1-2 Tablespoons of water if necessary (I didn't need it.)

Stuffed Shells Ingredients

• 1 box large pasta shells (I did not use the entire package.  Some were broken when cooked, and I stuffed a few with plain mozzarella)
• 1 cup ricotta (I used fat free)
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 1/2 cups white puree (above)
• 1/2 cup egg substitute
• 6 Tablespoons wheat germ
• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning (could probably add another teaspoon or 2 depending on what you add to the sauce)
• 1 recipe red sauce (above)
• 1 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese (I didn't measure.  Just put on a nice amount.)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350.  Spray a 10 X 15 pan with cooking spray.  
2. Cook shells according to package directions until slightly firm.  Drain and set aside. 
3. Meanwhile, mix ricotta, Parmesan cheese, 1/2 cup of the white puree, egg substitute, Italian seasoning and wheat germ in a bowl. \
4. Combine tomato sauce with remaining White Puree in another bowl.
5. Pour about 1 1/2 cups of the red sauce mixture onto the bottom of the 10 X 15.  Fill shells with about a Tablespoon of white sauce.  Place on top of red sauce in the dish.  Top shells with remaining red sauce then the mozzarella cheese.
6. Cover with foil.  Bake 20 minutes, uncover and bake for an additional 10 minutes or until the top is lightly browned. 

Cheesy spinach crepes with tomato alfredo sauce

I found this recipe at recipeshoebox.com.  I changed it a bit.  I doubled the crepes part and made my own alfredo sauce because I'm not a fan of store bought. If you like that, then check out the recipe at recipeshoebox.   I also just used crushed tomatoes rather than whole tomatoes because I keep crushed tomatoes on hand.  This was a toss up as to whether it was liked or not at my house.  Tavio loved it.  He thanked me for fixing cooked spinach.  Duncan hated it.  I was kind of in the middle.  Brandon thought they were 4 star.  His vote is going to win for our rating today.

These could be easily made and stuffed in manicotti or large shell noodles rather than making the crepes.  It was very saucy as well made like this.  The picture on recipshoebox did not look as saucy, however, I liked the sauce.  I poured it on my plate and dipped each piece in plenty of sauce.

Crepes Ingredients

• 6 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup water
• 6 Tablespoons butter, melted
• 1 1/2 cup flour
• 1 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. Combine all ingredients in a blender and mix until well blended, scraping the sides if necessary.  Refrigerate for 1 hour.  (We only started with 1/2 this much, so we had to make more.  We refrigerated the first 1/2 and not the second.  The second batch was runnier and bubbled more without the refrigeration, but still worked fine.)  
2. Heat crepe pan over medium high heat until hot (water will sizzle.)  Pour 1/4 cup on crepe pan and quickly move around the pan to fill the pan.  Cook until golden on the bottom and dry on top.  I usually flip mine over to give the bottom a little browning.  This made 18 for me.

Crepe filling

• 1 8 oz package 6 Italian cheese blend
• 1 15 oz. carton ricotta cheese (I used fat free.)
• 1 10 oz package frozen chopped spinach, defrosted and drained
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

Sauce Ingredients

• 4 oz. cream cheese (I used Neufchatel)
• 1 1/4 cup chicken broth
• 1 1/2 Tablespoon flour
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1 28 oz. can crushed tomatoes

Topping

• 1 package smoked sausage (I used reduced fat, a 12 oz. package.  It wasn't a lot of sausage, but I didn't think it added a lot to the meal.  It actually seemed quite salty to me.

Directions

1. Combine filling ingredients in a medium bowl
2. Mix sauce ingredients in a blender.  (I actually heated the alfredo sauce in the microwave, but would just toss everything in blender if doing it again.)
3. Place filling in each crepe and wrap up like an enchilada.  Place seam side down in a greased 10 X 15 pan.  Continue until all crepes are used (actually we didn't use 2 - we ran out of filling.)  Pour sauce over crepes.  Bake at 350 for 35 minutes.  
4. While the crepes are cooking, chop the sausage and pan fry it.  Serve on top of crepes. 

Stuffed Chicken Parmigiana

I was interested to try this one because I love Italian especially red sauce type Italian food, so I love Chicken Parmigiana.  This was a slow cooker version, I thought that would be different.  The other thing that piqued my interest was that it used some different cheese - fontina and parmigiano reggiano (which I actually bought rather than subbed out.)  I really liked the chicken, but the sauce could have been way better.  I think part of the problem is the crushed tomatoes I used.  I wasn't a fan of their flavor.  It was good enough the first day - the chicken really did help make up for the sauce.  It was especially delicious in the spots with lots of the bread crumb mix.  I wished I would have put even more in each roll.

manicotti

Ok, I think this will actually catch me up for the last couple of weeks.  This recipe is also from my sister Karley.  I really liked the insides of this manicotti because it used cottage cheese rather than ricotta, and I'm not the hugest fan of ricotta  (I'll eat it and it can be good - check out canolli cones - but I prefer cottage cheese because I find ricotta to be a bit gritty and I'm a texture person.)  So, I really liked the middle of these manicotti.  However, I wasn't a huge fan of the outside.  I thought it was a bit salty.  Each of the big boys had 3 though, so it gets a 4 star.   I figure my dislike was just the mix used in the sauce.  I'd like to try these with a different sauce on top and bottom - maybe some spaghetti sauce or something.  Then they would be excellent.

Ingredients

• 1 small tub cottage cheese 
• 1/2 cup parmesan cheese
• 1/4 cup parsley (I used fresh, mixed with a bit of fresh basil)
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella
• 2 eggs
• 1 package manicotti  noodles (I didn't use 4)
• 1/2 pound hamburger
• 1/2 pound sausage (I used 1/2 a package of light sausage - 6 oz.)
• 1 packet thick and zesty spaghetti sauce mix
• 1 Tablespoon butter (I may have left this out because the sauce packet said it was optional
• 1 (6 oz) can tomato paste
• 3/4 cup water
• 1 cup mozzarella

Directions

1. Make manicotti noodles according to package directions.  Preheat oven to 375 
2. Mix first 5 ingredients together in a bowl to fill manicotti.
3. Cook hamburger and sausage.  Add onion and garlic as meat cooks if desired (I used my precooked hamburger which I make with dried onions.  I also threw in some garlic.)  Add tomato paste, packet, water and butter if using.  Make according to packet directions.  Fill shells with cottage cheese mixture.  Put a little meat sauc in the bottom of a 9 X 13 pan.  Place stuffed manicotti on top of sauce.  Cover with remaining sauce.  Top with cheese.  Bake for 45 minutes.

Spaghetti with cheesy tomato cream sauce

This recipe is from the Food Nanny's book.  It isn't my favorite book of all time, but it has a few decent recipes. This one wasn't bad.   I did make some changes -  I prefer to saute my onions in butter, so I changed that, but I used 1/4 what it called for.  I also cut down on the Parmesan cheese -afraid to make it too strong for the kids.  I subbed out a can of crushed tomatoes for diced.  I was going to sub out part milk for the cream, but ended up going out with DH for dinner, so I went ahead and used full cream for the kids.  They can use the fat right?  The recipe said to only use 8 oz. of noodles, and that it was only 4 servings.  I did a bit more than 8 oz. of noodles and it wasn't enough.  I'd use the full box next time.  I now have left over sauce but no noodles.  I actually added some pre-cooked chicken to the top at the end to add some protein to the meal.  It turned out pretty good.  Had a great creamy basil flavor. It definitely needs the fresh basil for this flavor though.  If not using fresh basil, I'd probably season it with oregano instead.   Definitely one to keep in mind for a quick spaghetti sauce with a bit different flavor than our normal sauce.

Here's how I made it.

Ingredients

•  1 Tablespoon butter
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 small onion, minced
• 1 15 oz can crushed tomatoes
• 1 15 oz can petite diced tomatoes
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 cup cream 
• 1/4 cup ricotta cheese (I used fat free)
• 20 fresh basil leaves, chopped fine (or 1/2 teaspoon dried, but it wouldn't be the same.)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1 lb spaghetti
• 1 lb precooked chicken (if desired)

Directions

1. Cook noodles according to package directions.  Drain
2. Meanwhile, melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium high head.  Add onions and garlic and saute until softened.  Remove from heat and the rest of the ingredients.  Cook over low heat "until the sauce coats the back of a spoon"  10-15 minutes.  I just cooked 10-15 minutes.  It never really boiled or simmered over a low heat.  
3. Serve over pasta.  Top with chicken and additional Parmesan if desired.

Italian Spinach Braid

This recipe comes from Taste of Home's Healthy cooking magazine, but of course it is a la Kimberly.  Can't seem to follow a recipe anymore.  This called for frozen dough - that is where change started.  Sure would have been easier with the frozen dough, but I don't keep that on hand and I didn't buy any.  For some reason I also forgot to buy mozzarella cheese.  I don't have any idea why.  All I had was a mexican 4 cheese blend.  I subbed out a parmesan/romano mix for the Romano called for in the original and played a bit with the seasonings.  I'm writing now more than anything to try to remember what I did for the bread in case it turns out wonderful and I want to do it again. 

For the bread I started looked at 30 minute bread dough on realmomkitchen, but I subbed out wheat for white flour, and I used agave as my sweetener, and a little bit less.  Then the dough seemed too sticky to braid so I added more and more flour, a little vital wheat gluten, then some potato flakes and some Italian seasoning.  This is what I did, (and in parenthasis what I think I could do for next time.)

Bread Ingredients

• 1 1/8 + 2 teaspoons warm water.  (Use 1 1/8 next time and only use 3 1/2 cups flour - no extra)
• 2 Tablespoons yeast
• 1/4 cup agave nectar (I actually shorted this a tiny bit
• 1/3 cup oil
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg
• 3 1/2 cup whole wheat flour  (I added about 3 Tablespoons more)
• 1 Tablespoon vital wheat gluten
• 1/3 cup potato flakes
• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

Directions
Mix first 4 ingredients in a bowl and let rest for 15 minutes.  Add remaining ingredients and stir until a nice dough forms.  Roll out on lightly floured surface.  Transfer to a greased cookie sheet and let rise for 10 minutes.

Ingredients

• 1 lb pre-cooked beef, defrosted 2 minutes in microwave.
• 1 package (10 oz.) frozen spinach, defrosted and squeezed dry  (I only had 6 oz frozen and added some fresh to make up the difference.  We'll see how it turns out.
• 2/3 cup mozzarella (I only had 4 cheese, but I would use mozzarella just because it is and Italian dish)
• 2 Tablespoons grated Romano/Parmesan cheese
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic (2 cloves)
• 1/2 teaspoon fennel seed
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. Mix all ingredients in a bowl. 
2. Spread mix down center of dough.  On each long side, cut 1 inch strips about 3 inches in.
3. Starting at one end, fold alternating strips at an angle across filling.  (I never do this well. :(  Pinch ends to seal.  (They brushed it with egg white which would have been a great idea, but I didn't do it.
4. Serve with pizza sauce.

This was really tasty dipped in pizza sauce.  I loved it, so did Brandon.  It got mixed reviews from the kids. Duncan didn't think he should eat the bread because it was all "soggy."  It wasn't in the least bit soggy.  It was completely cooked all the way through so go figure.  I thought I wouldn't like the fennel, but it ended up making Tavio think it had sausage in it when it was just hamburger, and hey, maybe that was the point of the fennel.

three-cheese manicotti

This is from the simple and delicious magazine again although I changed this one up a decent amount. It turned out delicious. Not to ricottaey. I'll write through the recipe my changes.


Ingredients

• 12 uncooked manicotti shells - I used all 14 in the package but the last one was mozzarella
  
• 1 lb. ground turkey (I used my pre-cooked beef)
• 1 large sweet onion, chopped (totally didn't even see this ingredient when making it)
• 1 jar (26 oz.) three-cheese spaghetti sauce (I used some of the Marinara I had left in the freezer. It wasn't quite 26 oz. so I added an 8 oz can of tomato sauce with some added herbs to make up the difference knowing that the marinara was plenty flavorful because it was home made.)
• 2 tsp. sugar (left this out on purpose - didn't see the need my marinara was tasty)
• 2 tsp. Italian seasoning
• 1 tsp. onion powder (I don't have this, and didn't use it thinking that I had onion in my precooked beef because I didn't even see I was supposed to add onion.)
• 1 tsp. garlic powder
• 2 cups shredded cheddar-monterey jack cheese (The store I usually go to had had no power last week when I went so I couldn't buy cheese, I went to a different store the next day, but they didn't have this blend so I bought mexican blend because I couldn't remember the recipe I was using it for and that blend included cheddar and jack cheeses along with asadero and something else)
• 1 carton (15 oz) ricotta cheese
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese, divided (I used 1/4 cup for the filling and topped the casserole with mozarella)
• 1 egg

OK, my ingredients are entirely too wordy for myself to ever read again, so I'm rewriting exactly what I did unconventional as it was because it was tasty and I'd like to remake it.

• 14 uncooked manicotti shells
  
• 1 lb. ground beef (I used my pre-cooked beef)
• 1 8 oz can tomato sauce with onion, garlic and basil (Maybe - the one with seasoning)
  
• 20 oz. marinara sauce
  
• 2 tsp. Italian seasoning
• 1 tsp. garlic powder
• 2 cups shredded mexican blend cheese
  
• 1 carton (15 oz) ricotta cheese
• 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 1/2 cup mozarella cheese
  
• 1 egg

Directions

1. Cook manicotti according to package directions.
   
2. Meanwhile, in a large saucepan, cook turkey and onion until done, (or just add pre-cooked beef.) Stir in the spaghetti sauce, Italian seasoning, onion powder, garlic powder. (I simmered this while I combined the filling.) Place 1 cup meat sauce into a greased 9 X 13
3. In a large bowl, combine the cheddar-jack sheese, ricotta, 1/4 cup parmesan and egg. Stuff into manicotti shells. (I used a plastic baggie and cut the corner off - note to self, use a stronger baggie -it sprung a leak and I did the rest by hand - not nearly as easy.) Place shells over meat sauce. Top with remaining sauce. Sprinkle with remaining Parmesan (but I used mozzarella.) Cover and bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes. (Oops, I forgot to cover it. It still trned out ok. I also only cooked it for 30 minutes because I had hungry kids.)

1. Drain manicotti. In a
   

Pork Milanese

This was another recipe from the Everyday Italian book by Giada de Laurentiis. This one at least was an everyday meal. It was simple enough to prepare, and everyone liked it. I had frozen the marinara sauce from the same cookbook that I used in Lasagna so I defrosted that, added it to some linguini and had that for a side. Turned out to be a very nice meal. I rearranged the directions a little to the order I did them.


Ingredients

• 1/3 cup flour
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 1/4 cups bread crumbs (I only used about 1/2 the mix including this and the next 2 ingredients.)
  
• 2/3 cups Parmesan cheese
• 2 teaspoons dried basil
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 4 8-oz center cup pork loin chops (each about 1 inch) (Mine were less than 8 oz each and I used 5.)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 2 Tablespoons butter
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 lemon, cut into wedges. (Oops, I forgot this part.)

Directions

1. Place the flour in wide, shallow bowl. (I used a plate that was semi deep.) Place the eggs in another wide, shallow bowl. Mix the bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, basil, and thyme in a third wide, shallow bowl. (Only used 1/2 of this, so could make 1/2 as much next time.)
2. Using a meat mallet, pound the pork chops until they are 1/4 inch thick. Sprinkle with the salt and pepper.
3. Preheat the oven to 150 (mine only went down to 170. I actually did this step since I was doing 5 chops, and my oven was already hot, and I had the stuff out from other cooking..... Not sure I would for the kiddos on a normal night.) Line a baking sheet with a rack.
   
4. In a large, heavy saute pan with high sides, melt the butter in the oil over medium heat until hot.
5. Working with one pork chop at a time, dredge the chops in the flour to coat lightly, then dip in the beaten eggs, then coat with bread crumb mixture. Carefully place pork chops in the oil mixture and cook until light golden brown, about 3 minutes per side. (I fit 3 in the first batch.) Transfer the chops to the baking sheet. Keep cooked chops warm in the oven. Repeat with remaining chops.
   
6. Place 1 pork chop on each of 4 dinner plates and serve immediately with the lemon wedges.
   

Classic Italian Lasagna, Marinara Sauce

This recipe is from Giada De Laurentiis' book everyday italian cookbook. The cover says 125 simple and delicious recipes. I have to disagree with the simple business. This has to be the most complex lasagna I have ever made. I had looked at the recipe and knew that, so I had planned ahead, but it was a lot of work. I had to make 2 seperate sauces from scratch one of which had to simmer for an hour. Anyway, at least it was good - probably not my favorite lasagna on the planet, but it was pretty good. I just like my lasagna the way I'm used to lasagna. This had a creamier flavor.



Ingredients

• salt
• 2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
• 15 dry lasagna noodles (about 12 oz)
• 3 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 pound ground beef
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 2 1/2 cups Bechamel Sauce (see below)
• 1 1/2 cups Marinara Sauce (see below)
• 1 1/2 pound ricotta (I only had 15 oz. Was going to buy more but didn't. It was fine like this, and I can't imagine it being fuller)
• 3 eggs (I used 2 since I used less ricotta)
• 2 Tablespoons butter
• 2 10 oz packages frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry (I used 1 16 oz. package and can't image having used more)
• 3 cups shredded mozzarella
• 1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

Directions

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the vegetable oil. Cook the lasagna noodles until almost al dente, about 6 minutes. (This isn't fully done.) Drain, then rinse noodles under cold water to stop cooking. Set aside.
2. Brown beef - I used my pre-cooked.
3. Position rack in center of the oven and preheat to 375
4. In medium bowl, mix bechamel and marinara sauces to blend.
   
5. In anotehr medium bowl, mix the ricotta, eggs and 1/2 teaspoon each of salt and pepper to blend. Set aside.
6. Spread the butter over a 9 X 13 pan. Spoon 1/3 of the red sauce over bottom of the dish. Arrange 5 noodles on the sauce. Spread the ricotta mixture evenly over the noodles. Top with spinach. Arrange 5 more lasagna noodles on the spinach, then top with ground beef. Spoon 1/3 red sauce on top. Sprinkle with 1/2 cup of mozzarella cheese. Top with the remaining 5 noodles. Spoon remaining red sauce over noodles, then sprinkle with remaining mozzarella cheese and the parmesan cheese.
   
7. She put it on a lined cookie sheet, but since I was lacking a few things, I didn't.
   Bake until lasagna is heated through and the top is bubbling, about 45 minutes.

Bechamel Sauce

Ingredients

• 5 Tablespoons butter
• 1/2 cup flour
• 4 cups warm whole milk
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• pinch of white pepper
• pinch of nutmeg

In a 2 quart saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the flour and whisk until smooth, about 2 minutes. Gradually add teh warm milk whisking constantly to prevent any lumps from forming. Simmer over medium heat, whisking constantly, until the sauce is thick, smooth, and creamy about 10 minutes (do not allow the bechamel sauce to boil). Remove from heat and stir in 1/2 teaspoon salt and pinch of pepper and nutmeg. Season with more salt, pepper and nutmeg to taste. (I did a great job making this with no lumps, but as it cooled and formed a skim then when I stirred it it was lumpy - didn't make the lasagna taste bad, I was just sad I stirred for so long for nothing.)

Marinara sauce

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 small onions, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 2 celery stalks, finely chopped
• 2 carrots, peeled and finely chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 2 32 oz cans crushed tomatoes (I had 2 28 oz cans and used 8 oz from another can)
  
• 2 dried bay leaves

In a large pot, heat the oil over a medium-high flame. Add the onions and garlic and saute until the onions are translucent, about 10 minutes. Add the tomatoes and bay leaves, and simmer uncovered over low heat until the sauce thickens, about 1 hour. Remove and discard the bay leaves. SEason the sauce with more salt and pepper to taste.
Marinara Sauce

Spaghetti Carbonara

This week I'm trying new recipes from a book I got for Christmas. The Food Nanny Rescues Dinner. This is the second recipe I tried. I tried some chicken and noodles over mashed potatoes yesterday. I didn't change much there. On this one I changed quite a bit, so I figure I'd better write it down now before I forget what I did. It was originally for 2, so I quadrupled it to use 1 lb. of spaghetti. I also used less yokes, more meat, less water..... I'm writing it how I made it.



Ingredients

• 1 lb. spaghetti noodles
• 4 eggs plus 2 yolks
• 1/2 lb. pancetta (you can substitute bacon if you want to - the original recipe called for it to be diced, but we diced it after we cooked it. It probably would have been easier to dice beforehand.)
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 4 cloves garlic, minced (2 teaspoons)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1 cup Parmesan cheese

Directions

1. Cook spaghetti according to package directions.
2. Meanwhile, beat the eggs and egg yolks in a bowl and set aside.
3. Cook the pancetta in a large saucepan over medium-high heat until it is cooked through, not crisp. Remove it from the pan with a slotted spoon and drain it on paper towels. Leave the fat in the pan and add the olive oil. Heat. (I waited to start this until my noodles were almost ready so I could move right on to the next step when I was through) Add the garlic and cook for about 30 seconds. Remove from heat. Return the bacon to the pan.
4. When the spaghetti is cooked, lift it out of the water with tongs and put it in the saucepan with the bacon. (save the water) Place the saucepan over medium-high heat. Pour 2 cups of the pasta water over the spaghetti and use tongs to turn the spaghetti over several times. Add teh beaten eggs and continue stirring quickly to cook the egg.
5. When the water is almost evaporated, add the salt, black pepper, and cheese. Continue to stir until well mixed. Remove when cheese is melted.
   

Baked Ziti

I found this recipe on real mom kitchen, but she found it on another kitchen site called blog chef. It turned out pretty good. I added more oregano than they did, and a bit of thyme as well.
Ingredients

• 1lb ground beef
• 1 cup onion (chopped)
• 2 garlic cloves (minced)
• 1 (32 ounce) jar meatless spaghetti sauce
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1 Tablespoon oregano
• 1 teaspoon thyme
• 1 (16 oz) package ziti pasta (cooked and drained)
• 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1 cup grated parmesan cheese

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a large skillet add ground beef, onions and garlic. (I used my precooked ground beef, so I sauteed the garlic and onions then added the cooked beef.) Cook over medium high heat stirring frequently until the beef is browned. Stir in spaghetti sauce, chicken broth and oregano. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.

2. Stir in 1 cup of sauce into the cooked ziti noodles. Spoon ½ of the ziti mixture into a 13×9” baking dish. Sprinkle 1 ½ cups mozzarella cheese and ½ cup parmesan cheese over the top of the ziti mixture. Top with 2 cups of the sauce, then add remaining ziti mixture and top that with the remaining sauce.

3. Cover with aluminum foil and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes remove from oven, uncover and sprinkle the top with the remaining mozzarella and parmesan cheese. Return to over and bake for 10 minutes or until the cheese has melted.
(Makes 6 Servings)

Spaghetti

This is my recipe for marinara/whatever I turn it into sauce. Today it was spaghetti sauce. I'm writing how I made it today.

Ingredients

• 1 lb cooked ground beef (I use my pre-cooked.)
  
• 1 large onion
• 8 cloves garlic, finely chopped -4 tsp of the predone minced garlic - love that stuff!
• 2 (28 oz.) cans crushed tomatoes
• 1 (6 oz.) can tomato paste
• 1 Tablespoon olive oil
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1 Tablespoon each of Basil, oregano, and thyme
• 1 teaspoon each of salt, pepper, and rosemary
• 3 bay leaves
• pinch of marjoram
  

Mix all ingredients in a slow cooker. Cover and cook on Low for 8 to 10 hours or on High for 4 to 5. Serve with noodles.

I make this different just about every time I make it. Many times I have Italian seasoning that I use instead of the other seasonings. I almost always add a little extra thyme and oregano. I don't alway put bay leaves in it. If you like it spicier try adding some dried red peppers while it cooks. My mom uses them in her spaghetti, but I find this recipe to be just the right amount of spicy without them since it has onion and pepper though. Sometimes I also add sausage. I have made it without any meat as well (that is actually how the original recipe was.)