Creamy Pumpkin Pasta with Bacon

Please don't decide not to make this just because it has pumpkin in it. It kind of weirded me out too, but I had all the ingredients and it's "light" so I gave it a whirl. 

We really liked it and my kids downed this.  I think it would be great vegetarian if that floats your boat, although the bacon is awesome in this.  It's a very fall-ish meal which is super fun for us when it's still over 100 degrees in September!

Creamy Pumpkin Pasta with Bacon

recipe adapted from Pinch of Yum

13.25 oz box whole grain or wheat shells
3-4 strips bacon, chopped
2 onions, chopped
1 tb. brown sugar
1 c. pumpkin puree (NOT pumpkin pie mix)
3 oz. reduced-fat cream cheese, room temp
5 oz can evaporated milk
3 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
1 tsp. sea salt
lots of fresh black pepper
minced chives

Heat a skillet over medium-high heat and cook the bacon until crisp.  Remove the bacon from the pan and pour off most of the grease.  Add the onions to the pan and cook over medium-low heat, sprinkling the brown sugar on after the onions are soft and translucent.  Continue cooking the onions 20-30 minutes over low heat until soft and caramelized. At the very end stir in the garlic and let it cook a minute. In the meantime start a pot of water to boil.  Once the onions are done, boil the pasta.  Drain well and use the same warm pot to heat the pumpkin, cream cheese and evaporated milk over medium-low heat until the cream cheese is melted.  Stir in pasta, bacon, and onion mixture.  Add salt & pepper.  Sprinkle with chives to serve.

 

Southwest Chicken Pasta Salad

This pasta salad is so delish!  Of course I borrowed the recipe from Our Best Bites.  I made this numerous times at the end of last summer and even brought it to people as a meal and everyone loves it!  This is a great summer meal, especially here in Phoenix, when you don't want your whole house heated up at dinner-time. 

The only changes I made are to roast the bell peppers first, which is entirely optional, and I like to use Trader Joe's fire-roasted corn--yum!  I also prefer diced red onion instead of green onions--your choice, you really can't go on.

Southwest Chicken Pasta Salad
recipe minorly adapted from Our Best Bites
1 lb bowtie pasta, boiled al dente
2 15-oz cans black beans, rinsed and drained
4 Roma tomatoes or 2 big beefsteak tomatoes, chopped
3 colored bell peppers, roasted and chopped
3/4 c. minced red onion
1 c. frozen corn, defrosted.  Prefereably fire-roasted corn
zest from 4 limes
1 lb grilled chicken, chopped
1 c. crumbled feta or cotija cheese

Dressing:
3/4 c. fresh lime juice
1/2 c. white vinegar or rice vinegar
8 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
3 tsp. chili powder
2 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. coriander
1 tsp. sea salt
1 1/2 Tb. sugar or more, to taste
1 1/2 c. canola oil
1 c. cilantro

To make the dressing first zest the limes and set zest aside.  Add lime juice, vinegar, garlic, chili powder, cumin, coriander, salt & sugar to the jar of your blender.  Blend until mixed and while the blender is running on low, slowly stream in the canola oil until emulsified.  At the end toss in the cilantro and blend for another 20 seconds.  Set dressing aside.

In a large bowl combine cooked pasta, black beans, tomatoes, bell peppers, onion, corn, lime zest and chicken.  Toss ingredients together.  Pour over dressing to coat, there may be some leftover for later.  Refrigerate at least one hour and serve with a sprinkling of cheese. 

Goat Cheese Mac

I found this recipe and it looked yummy and then I forgot about it until recently....when we started my younger son on an elimination diet to try to get his intestines healthy and determine what foods are causing the upset.  So, for the next 4-6 weeks he can't have wheat/gluten, dairy, soy, eggs, nuts or fish.  This pretty much eliminates my current recipe repertoire.  Then...I was going through my Pinterest recipes board and found it.  It was an "aha moment" for me.

I will say, if you don't care for goat cheese you probably won't like this.  I do think that a cream cheese/parmesan mix could work for this if you wanted to try this.  The thing I love most about this dish is it is so very simple, and comes together very quickly.  It does take time to roast the tomatoes but you can certainly sub some sundried tomatoes instead.  Unfortunately I ignored the "cover your plants it's going to freeze" warning and my basil plant died so I used dried...next time fresh basil for sure!

Goat Cheese Mac

recipe adapted from Nummy Kitchen

2 lbs roma tomatoes or cherry tomatoes

1 lb short-cut pasta (brown rice or quinoa pasta for GF)

3/4-1 c. pasta water reserved

2 Tb. olive oil

1/2 c. fresh basil, chopped or 2 tsp dried basil

salt & pepper to taste

6-8 oz goat cheese, crumbled (I used more like 8 oz)

Ahead of time, preheat the oven to 250, quarter the tomatoes if using roma and layer them on a baking sheet.  Roast for 2-3 hours, until they're dried on the edges but still moist in the middle.  Remove from the oven and let the tomatoes cool, chop them up and set aside until you're ready foor them.  Boil the pasta according to directions, before draining reserve some cooking water.  Add to the hot pasta: water, olive oil, basil, salt, pepper and goat cheese.  Stir until the cheese is melted and it's all combined.  Add more cooking water if needed. Stir in tomatoes and serve immediately.

Pasta with Roasted Cauliflower and Tomatoes

Again...Pinterest. I heart Pinterest.

I had 2 large heads of cauliflower to use and wanted something different so...I searched Pinterest and found the base of this recipe. We really loved this pasta and I will make it over and over again. I used brown rice penne, but any short-cut pasta would be great.

To make prep go more quickly, I roasted the tomatoes, cauliflower and garlic in the morning so I could just throw this all together quickly at dinner time.


Pasta with Roasted Cauliflower and Tomatoes
recipe adapted from Simply Recipes

1 small head cauliflower or 1/2 large head, chopped
3 beefsteak tomatoes, chopped
10 cloves garlic, peeled
olive oil
1 lb short-cut pasta
1 box spinach, thawed and drained completely
1/2 lb. bacon, chopped
a few Tb. julienned sundried tomatoes
1 c. white wine (I used chardonnay)
1 1/2 c. freshly grated parmesan cheese
1 tsp. granulated garlic
salt & pepper to taste (hold off on the salt until the end)

Preheat the oven to 425. Line a cookie sheet with foil and lay out the cauliflower and tomatoes.  Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.  Wrap the garlic cloves in foil and stick it in the oven with the other vegetables.  Shake the pan every 10 minutes until the cauliflower is browned and somewhat crispy and the tomatoes look soft, about 25-30 minutes.  The garlic may take longer, it should be lightly browned and soft. Remove from the oven and let cool. When the garlic is cool, chop it.
While the pasta is boiling, cook the bacon until crisp.  Drain the grease out of the pan.  Add in the sundried tomatoes, cauliflower and spinach.  Pour in the wine and cook a few minutes.  Stir in the tomatoes and garlic, cooked pasta, granulated garlic and parmesan cheese.  Taste and adjust salt and pepper.  Serve immediately.

Pasta Rustico

This is a super simple, quick dinner that my family loves so it's great for a busy night.  I used my homemade marinara but a jar would be fine too.

I usually make this meat-free on a night when I've had a busy day and forgot to thaw meat, but italian sausage or sliced chicken would be great in this too.







Pasta Rustico

1 lb short-cut pasta (I used brown rice ziti)
3-4 c. marinara (I used 4)
1/2 c. fresh grated parmesan cheese
2 bunches OR one bag spinach, coarsley chopped
3/4-1 c. ricotta cheese

Boil pasta according to package directions.  While the pasta is cooking steam the spinach in the microwave until just wilted, 1-2 minutes.  Drain the pasta, and pour the marinara sauce into the hot pot and warm the sauce.  Stir together marinara, pasta, spinach, parmesan cheese, and ricotta cheese.  Serve immediately.

Chicken Spaghetti

Pioneer Woman will never lead you astray.  I live by this motto.  Every single recipe of hers that I've ever tried has been delicious!  Seriously.

A couple friends of ours lost their grandfather/father recently and since I'm from the Midwest, when I don't know what to do for someone, I bring food. Specifically comfort food. So I made this recipe and brought it to them.  Apparently it was comforting, because they all loved it.  And so did we.

The great part about this recipe is you can  use leftover chicken, a rotisserie chicken, or boil your own chicken.  Whatever works!

Chicken Spaghetti
2 c. cooked chicken (shredded or chopped)
1 lb spaghetti, broken into two-inch pieces
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of chicken soup
2 c. grated sharp cheddar cheese
1/4 c. finely diced onion
1/4 c. finely diced green pepper
1 4 oz jar diced pimentos, drained
2 c. chicken stock or broth
3/4 tsp seasoned salt (or more, taste it after you add the soup and stock and see if it needs more)
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (or more if you like it spicy--we do!)
pepper to taste
1 c. additional grated cheddar cheese

Boil the spaghetti as directed making sure not to overcook because you will bake it.  Drain.  Combine the cooked spaghetti with the other ingredients except the additional 1 c. sharp cheddar cheese.  Place the chicken spaghetti mixture in a 9x13'' pan and cover with cheddar.  Bake at 350 for 45 minutes, until bubbly. This makes a lot, perfect for company!

Mexican Spaghetti

My friend gave me this recipe, and we really loved it.  Again with the Velveeta cheese...I can't help myself!  I made a couple changes only because I wanted it a bit milder for the kids (and I was still pregnant and couldn't take the heat!)  So adjust the heat level with more or less jalapenos.  The picture is on the old harddrive that died and wasn't backed up so I think it's gone forever!

Mexican Spaghetti
1 1/4 lb cooked chicken breast, cubed (I seasoned mine with chipotle chili powder, garlic and cumin)
1 lb cooked spaghetti
1 lb 2% milk Velveeta
1 can rotel
1-2 Tb chopped jalapeno
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 c. shredded cheddar cheese
fresh cilantro

In a microwave safe bowl heat together the velveeta cheese and soups, stirring every minute until the cheese is melted. Combine the spaghetti, cheese mixture, rotel, chicken and jalapeno and pour into a 9x13'' pan.  Top with the shredded cheddar cheese and bake at 350 for 20 minutes.  Top with cilantro before serving.

**Note--IF you omit cheddar cheese on top, use 2% milk Velveeta, and 99% fat free cream of chicken and cream of mushroom soup the entire pan has roughly 2472 calories.  That meas 1/9th has roughly 275 calories.

Creamy Pasta Skillet

A good friend of mine is a Pampered Chef consultant and she gave me these great recipe cards with photos on them and a shopping list and I love them!  This recipe was originally called "Pronto Pasta and Sausage Skillet".  I made just a couple small changes and we LOVED it.  I had my friend's son that day so I sent the leftovers home with her and she immediately asked me for the recipe because they loved it too. 

My skillet was a little small for this so next time I'll make this in an electric skillet, but if you have a really large skillet it will work.  If you find that you have too much liquid to fit into the skillet you're using, just add the liquid in batches as it cooks in, which is what I did and it worked out fine.

Creamy Pasta Skillet

14.5 oz box of penne (4 c. uncooked)
1 lb sausage (or ground beef)
1 medium onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper
4 c. water
26 oz jar pasta sauce (I used homemade marinara--about 3 1/2 c.)
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
2 oz softened cream cheese
1 c. mozzarella
1/4 c. grated parmesan

Brown sausage and onion.  Drain the fat.  Add in the garlic, salt, pepper, and crushed red pepper and let it cook a minute.  Add uncooked pasta, water and sauce.  Bring to a simmer, cover and cook 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally until pasta is cooked.  Remove from the heat and stir in the softened cream cheese, then top with the other cheeses.  Let stand a minute.







 

Carrot Macaroni Salad

I haven't blogged in a few days because I've spent my free time doing internet research on ways to induce labor naturally. Well, those ways don't seem to be working, and I'm confident that God wouldn't punish me by causing me to remain pregnant forever, and I refuse to drink castor oil, so I quit. My due date is still 10 days away so I'll just try to be patient and instead post some yummy recipes for you.

My mom has made this macaroni salad for years and years. Its one of my favorites and I've made it a couple times for potlucks and stuff and it isn't the first thing to fly off the buffet table if people don't know what it is because it isn't the best-looking salad. BUT it tastes so good and when people try it then they immediately want the recipe. SO, you should definitely make it --maybe for your Labor Day bbq this weekend. It would pair wonderfully with some bbq ribs, grilled chicken, or beer brats or even burgers. It goes with any grilled meat!

The recipe makes a lot of salad so you definitely want some company to help eat it up. I always make it a little lighter by using fat free sweetened condensed milk and reduced fat mayo and even sometimes I substitute Splenda for the sugar. I have tried this recipe with whole wheat pasta and I'm sorry to say that this is one recipe that the whole wheat doesn't really work with. It just tastes different. But--I'll leave you to your own devices on this one!

Carrot Macaroni Salad

1 lb macaroni, cooked & drained

1 large green pepper, finely diced

1 medium onion, finely diced

4 carrots, shredded

1 can sweetened condensed milk

3/4 c. vinegar

1/4 c. sugar

2 c. mayo

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper (or more to your liking)

Add the chopped/grated veggies to the pasta in a large bowl. In another bowl mix together condensed milk, vinegar, sugar, mayo, salt and pepper. Stir to combine well. Pour the dressing over the pasta and stir it all together. Chill at least 4 hours before serving.

Tuna Noodle Casserole

This recipe is a throwback to the 80's. We used to looove when Mom made this, although admittedly we were pasta hogs. We would eat anything with pasta and as previously mentioned, we also loved Velveeta cheese, so this is clearly a winner!

A few weeks ago I decided to make it and the entire family ate it happily so try it out! If you aren't tuna fans, a can of chicken would work great too.

Tuna Noodle Casserole

12 oz egg noodles (I used whole wheat) cooked

12 oz tuna, drained well

1 c. frozen peas

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 c. sour cream

1 c. milk

1 c. shredded cheddar cheese

2 c. Velveeta (about 15 thin slices, I used 2 % milk Velveeta.)

2 tsp. olive oil

1/2 c. finely diced onion

salt & lots of pepper (easy on the salt, the cheese and soup are already salty)

1 c. crushed cornflakes

2 Tb melted butter

Boil noodles al dente, careful not to overcook! Add in the peas during the last minute of cooking noodles and drain everything well. In the same pot saute onion in the olive oil for a couple minutes. Turn heat to jedium low and add soup, sour cream and Velveeta cheese. Let cook, stirring occasionally until the cheese is melted. Add in cheddar cheese, noodles and peas, and tuna, stir well to combine. Taste and add salt and pepper to your liking. Pour into a greased 9x13'' pan. Mix cornflakes with the melted butter and top the casserole. Bake at 400 15-20 minutes.

Tuna Pasta Salad

Living in Phoenix in the summer is a bit hellish. Living in Phoenix in the summer 7-9 months pregnant is super duper hellish. I'm always trying to find something to make for dinner that doesn't require a lot of oven time--or eating super steamy foods. This pasta salad is a great weeknight dinner that's super quick to throw together and is nice and cold to eat. Serve it with a piece of bread or some melon and you've got a meal. I made this for dinner at the beginning of the summer and it was a hit with my whole family and now that I'm looking at the picture thinking...hmmm I should make that again! this would also be a great playdate lunch that you can do completely ahead of time.

This is also a super inexpensive meal wihch is always a good thing too!

Tuna Pasta Salad
1 lb shells or any short-cut pasta (OR 13 oz whole wheat pasta, that's what seems to come in a box of that)

1 c. halved cherry tomatoes or diced tomatoes

1 medium minced red onion

1/2-3/4 c. minced celery

1 c. frozen peas, thawed

3/4 tsp dill

1/4 tsp granulated onion

1/4 tsp granuated garlic

lots of pepper

1 tsp. sea salt

1 1/4 c. mayo

3/4 c. ranch dressing

3-4 cans tuna in water, drained well

Boil the pasta to al dente. Drain well and rinse under cold water until it isn't hot. In a large bowl mix pasta and all other ingredients. Taste and adjust seasonings. Refrigerate at leasat an hour before serving. If you refrigerate overnight you may need to stir in some extra mayo and/or ranch dressing because the noodles will soak up most of the dressing and personally, I like it more "wet" than dry.

Goulash

I love goulash. But a good question would be...what is goulash? (and not the authentic Hungarian kind) Basically it's macaroni with tomato sauce and some veggies and ground beef. My mom used to make goulash a lot when we were kids, probably because it's dirt cheap to make a huge vaat of it and the four of us were complete pigs. And we loved it--so there's that. She never had a recipe for anything, she just dumped stuff together and it worked. So, I got some of that new baby ziti and I decided to make me some goulash.

I just dumped a bunch of stuff together and it worked out. Rob loved it--his comments were, "This is like Hamburger Helper on crack. And I mean that in a good way!" Which--PS I make hamburger helper maybe once a year when I get it for free on the Grocery Game and he loves it, which just solidifies the fact that he may not be the most reliable food critic because he will happily eat anything besides olives and couscous.

Anyway, this is super simple and feeds a crowd and the kids loved it. So--try it out if you're feeling adventurous in a midwestern kind-of way.

Goulash

1 lb macaroni or short cut pasta, cooked with plenty of bite left

1 lb ground beef, turkey or sausage

3 Tb italian seasoning

1 medium onion, diced

1/2 green pepper, diced

3 garlic cloves, minced

pinch of crushed red pepper

1 can tomato soup (10.5 oz)

1 can water (just fill up the soup can)

3 c. vegetable or tomato juice

1 Tb soy sauce

1 c. corn (defrosted frozen or canned)

seasoned salt & pepper to taste

4 slices Velveeta cheese

While the water boils and the pasta cooks, brown the ground beef with the onion and green pepper. (Make sure not to cook the past all the way because it will continue to cook in the sauce a bit.) Drain well and add in the garlic cloves, crushed red pepper, and italian seasoning. Cook a minute or two and then add in the tomato soup, water, vegetable juice, soy sauce. Stir well and simmer a few minutes. Add in the cooked noodles. Cook 10 minutes to let the noodles soak up the tomato sauce flavors. At the end stir in the corn and the cheese and stir until the cheese is melted. Enjoy!

Philly Spaghetti

Hey everyone (or the fives of people that read this blog!) Sorry for the short hiatus...we went on a long weekend trip last weekend and since then somehow life has been a blink! So today I will give you two recipes to make up for lost time.

This first recipe is super simple, quick and really tasty. This is one of those dinners you can throw together in fifteen minutes.

I found this recipe here and it's a winner. It is a very thrifty recipe also! The original recipe called for ground beef but I used some turkey italian sausage and it was great.

Philly Spaghetti

3/4 lb thin spaghetti, cooked

1 lb ground beef, turkey or italian sausage

1 1/2 jars spaghetti sauce (24 oz jar plus 12 oz)

4 oz cream cheese (half a block)

pinch of red pepper flakes

While the water is boiling and the pasta is cooking brown the meat in a large saucepan. Drain the fat and heat the spaghetti sauce with the red pepper flakes. Cube the cream cheese and drop it in the sauce, stirring until it is all melted together. Toss the sauce with the cooked spaghetti and serve with parmesan cheese.

Chicken Picatta

Yum. I love the Pioneer Woman. She is my culinary hero. I really wanted to make chicken scallopini...but the recipe I have calls for several sticks of butter and it is SO super delicious but I really am trying to watch what I eat this pregnancy (kind of) so I looked for an alternative. THIS chicken picatta is super yummy, not difficult and really rivals a good restaurant. So for an "on a dime" date night, try this. Put your kids to bed and eat with your honey. A big fat glass of chardonnay would be great with this...but of course I didn't get to have that so you should definitely do it.

Chicken Picatta

adapted from Pioneer Woman

1 lb chicken breasts (about 2 large breasts)

2-3 Tb flour

salt & pepper

5 Tb butter

4 Tb olive oil

1/4 c. fresh parsley, chopped

2 lemons

1 c. white wine

1 c. heavy cream

1 c. chicken stock

salt & pepper to taste

2 Tb capers

1 lb pasta (I used whole wheat linguini)

Cut your chicken breasts in half through the middle, so you have two big thin pieces. Pound them in between two pieces of plastic wrap until they are slightly flattened and even in thickness. Season the chicken with salt and pepper and dredge in the flour.

While your sauce is cooking, boil water for your pasta. Melt half the butter and oil in a large saucepan cook half the chicken 3 minutes on each side until browned and remove to a plate. Cook the rest of the chicken and add that to the plate. Wipe the pan with a paper towel and melt the rest of the butter and oil in the pan over medium to medium-low heat. Add in the wine, chicken stock and juice the lemons. Whisk the sauce together and allow to cook until reduced by half. Season with salt and pepper. Reduce heat to low and add in the cream and parsley. Taste the sauce and adjust salt and pepper. If the lemon flavor is too strong add a bit more stock or another splash of cream. Add the chicken back in coating with the sauce and toss in the capers. Serve hot pasta topped with chicken and sauce. YUM.

Tortellini Salad

I found the base of this recipe in a Paula Deen magazine--and if Paula says it's good, who am I to argue with her? I did make a couple adjustments mostly because I'm trying not to gain 100 lbs during this pregnancy and I had to spice up the dressing a bit. It turned out great--a super compliment to burgers or any picnic.

You can absolutely use frozen or fresh tortellini at the grocery store but I found some dried stuff at Trader Joe's and it was inexpensive and really good.

Tortellini Salad

2- 12 oz packages dried tortellini (or 1 20 oz package refrigerated)
1 can canellini beans, drained

3 plum or Roma tomatoes, seeded and roughly chopped
1 can chickpeas, drained

1 c. chopped artichoke hearts

1 yellow or red bell pepper, diced

1/2 red onion, diced

1 cup sliced green olives

20 slices pepperoni, quartered

1 c. Sun dried tomato vinaigrette

1 c. Italian dressing

Prepare the tortellini as directed. Cool completely. Toss all ingredients together and pour the dressing over, tossing to coat. Refrigerate at least 1 hour. You may need to add extra dressing before serving so adjust accordingly.

Bolognese Sauce

I first had bolognese at Cheesecake Factory which is a strange place to stumble upon authentic Italian food...but it was SO good. I just had to figure out how to make it. After studying loads of recipes I gathered up all of those, including of course Pioneer Woman's bolognese sauce and made this. It was good. It's a really heavy sauce so I recommend putting it on a short-cut pasta. Angel Hair would just disappear under this sauce.

This sauce takes a bit of time but it's worth it---and it isn't difficult. A lot of recipes call for a mixture of ground beef, lamb and veal but I'm too cheap to go for $7.99/lb ground meat so I just stuck to beef and turkey.

Bolognese

2 Tb olive oil

1 lb ground beef

1 lb ground turkey (or 2 lbs combined of your ground meat of choice)

3 carrots, finely diced

1 onion, finely diced

6-10 garlic cloves minced, depending on your garlic tolerance

2 6 oz cans tomato paste

1 c. red wine (or 8-10 wine cubes)

2 Tb dried basil

1 Tb dried oregano

salt, pepper

1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes

2 Tb worcestershire

1 c. milk (I used 1%, I think anything would work great)

Heat oil in a pot over medium-high heat. Add in veggies and meat. Brown meat and veggies together until meat is cooked and vegetables are tender. Add in tomato paste and stir together with meat mixture, cooking several minutes until it starts to change to a darker color. Season with basil, oregano, salt and pepper. Add in wine, bring to a boil and cook a couple minutes. Then add in the diced tomatoes and crushed tomatoes, and worcestershire, bring to a bubble and simmer twenty minutes or so, stir in the milk and keep over medium-low heat for up to three hours. Serve over pasta with lots of parmesan cheese.

Ham & Broccoli Mac-n-Cheese

My husband is not hard to please. He will eat anything. (Well, almost anything. He does NOT eat couscous and he prefers to pick off olives, but that's it.) But he LOOOVES cheesey mac-n-cheese and requests it all the time so I try to revamp my mac to make it interesting. This one is by far is favorite and he insisted I take his picture eating it so everyone would know how much he loved it. (My son did too).

I'm still using up the rest of that ham from Christmas so I pulled out a ziploc bag of sliced ham from the deep freeze and whipped this up.

Ham & Broccoli Mac-n-Cheese

1 large bunch broccoli (about 2 c. florettes)

2 c. diced ham

3/4 lb macaroni or other short-cut pasta
3 T butter

1/2 an onion, minced
2 garlic cloves, minced

1/4 c. flour
2 1/2 c. milk (I used 1%)

1/2 tsp dried mustard

1/4 c. parmesan

8 oz cream cheese

1 c. swiss cheese

2 c. colby jack cheese

1/3 c. extra sharp cheddar cheese

1 1'' slice velveeta cheese, cubed
salt & pepper

drizzle of truffle oil

1/2 c. panko

1/2 c. parmesan

Boil your pasta, when the pasta is a couple minutes from being al dente (don't overdo the pasta!) drop in your broccoli. Drain the pasta and broccoli all together and dump it, along with the ham into a 9x13'' pan. In the meantime, melt the butter in a large skillet. Saute the onion and garlic until soft, sprinkle in the flour and cook a few minutes, stirring constantly. Add in the milk and combine well cooking until bubbly and getting thick. Add in the dried mustard, 1 1/4 c. parmesan, and other cheeses. Melt and stir constantly adn season with salt & pepper to taste. Drizzle in the truffle oil (optional, I guess.) Pour the cheese sauce over the macaroni, ham and broccoli and mix well. The mixture will be thick. Sprinkle the panko and parmesan over the top of the casserole. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes.

P-Dub's Lasagna

It's really rare that the Pioneer Woman steers me wrong. (Actually I can't think of any time she has.) So when I wanted to make a simple lasagna for a party, I looked to her. Once again, she did not steer me wrong. I was a bit leery of this recipe because it was soooo simple. But I tried it...and it is the best! Seriously. This lasagna melts in your mouth.

I made very few changes to the original recipe. The only things I changed: 1-extra garlic. Why not? 2-Instead of boiling the noodles I soaked them in water for a few minutes and then baked them like that. Turned out great. 3-I added a cup of water to the sauce while it was simmering so it was a little more...saucy. 4- I used shredded mozzarella, because I'm cheap.

Super Delicous Lasagna. Simple. Easy. Quick. Few ingredients. Try it!

P-Dub's Lasagna
1-½ pound Ground Beef
1 pound Hot Breakfast Sausage
6 cloves Garlic, Minced
2 cans (14.5 Ounce) Whole Tomatoes
2 cans (6 Ounce) Tomato Paste
2 Tablespoons Dried Parsley
2 Tablespoons Dried Basil

1 c. water
1 teaspoon Salt
3 cups Lowfat Cottage Cheese
2 whole Beaten Eggs
½ cups Grated (not Shredded) Parmesan Cheese
2 Tablespoons Dried Parsley
1 teaspoon Salt
1 pound sliced or shredded Mozzarella Cheese
8 Lasagna Noodles

Put the noodles in a pot of water, set aside.
Meanwhile, in a large skillet or saucepan, combine ground beef, sausage, and garlic. Cook over medium-high heat until browned. Drain the fat. Add tomatoes, tomato paste, 2 tablespoons parsley, basil and salt, and water. Simmer for thirty minutes.
In a medium bowl, mix cottage cheese, beaten eggs, grated Parmesan, 2 more tablespoons parsley, and 1 more teaspoon salt. Stir together well. Set aside. Drain the noodles off and set aside.

Arrange 4 cooked lasagna noodles in the bottom of a 9x13 pan, overlapping if necessary. Spoon half the cottage cheese mixture over the noodles. Spread evenly. Cover cottage cheese with a layer of mozzarella cheese. Spoon a little less than half the meat mixture over the top.
Repeat, ending with meat mixture. Sprinkle top generously with extra Parmesan.
Either freeze, refrigerate for up to two days, or bake immediately: 350-degree oven for 20 to 30 minutes, or until top is hot and bubbly.

Thai Peanut Noodles

Yumm. I'm kind-of salivating looking at the picture of the noodles. Seriously my family of four ate this entire recipe. There was some sauce and a couple veggies and a stray piece of chicken left in the pan at the end of dinner. We ALL ate seconds, which is really saying something because my one year-old has begun eating like a bird. (Except Cheetos Puffcorn, she could eat an entire bag of that.)

My friend had given me a bottle of Pampered Chef's Thai Peanut sauce in a gift bag of goodies for my birthday and I hadn't used it yet. SO I used it in this recipe and I'm so glad there's some left because it's delish and I have enough left to make another batch of these noodles. Although, I compared ingredients with other bottles of peanut sauce in the asian aisle at the grocery store and I'm confident you can sub any bottled peanut stir-fry style sauce in this recipe. Or, get on Kristin's website and order some of this addictive peanut sauce from her.

This recipe includes siracha sauce. If you've never tried it--you're missing out. We LOVE this sauce, it's a hot sauce, but thicker andmade of chiles and garilc--super flavorful. You can find it at any grocer in the asian food aisle. I dip lots of stuff in it, my favorite thing is a hummus wrap dipped in Siracha. it keeps for a loooonnng time in the fridge.

Also, to help me with my sauce recipe I parused the Pioneer Woman's site and found a great sesame noodles recipe, and since she hasn't steered me wrong yet I used it as a starter for the sauce for this recipe.

Thai Peanut NoodlesPasta:
3/4 lb linguini, or long noodles of your choice cooked al dente
2 c. cooked chicken, cubed* (about 2 chicken breast halves)
2 tsp veg oil
1 red bell pepper, seeded and cut in strips
2 large carrots, peeled and sliced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tb grated fresh ginger (or 1 tsp dried ginger powder)
1 bunch green onions, sliced
1/2 c chopped cilantro

Sauce:
1 c. bottled peanut sauce
1/4 c soy sauce
2 T sugar
2 T rice vinegar
3 T sesame oil
1 tsp siracha sauce (this stuff is delish, put it on everything!)
4 T vegetable oil
2 T water

Start with the sauce, mix all ingredients except the peanut sauce in a mixing bowl and whisk together well. Add in the peanut sauce and stir again. Set aside. Then, while the noodles are boiling heat 2 tsp oil in a skillet and saute the red pepper and carrots a few minutes until the begin to stoften, you don't want them mushy. Toss in the ginger and garlic and saute another minute. Add in the chicken and green onions and saute until warm through. Add in the cilantro. Toss the chicken/veggie mixture in with the drained noodles and toss with the sauce. Serve immediately. Yumm.

*I had cooked chicken on the grill the night before so I made a couple extra chicken breasts for this meal, which cut the time way down.

Greek Pasta Salad

We had a big meeting at church last week and my husbandd asked if I could make dinner for it. Of course I don't mind because I love to cook, but he gave me a veeeery rough estimate of people, "35-50". Being that budgets are tight I was trying to come up with an inexpensive, but good meal that feeds a lot of people and doesn't require hours and hours of time to assemble. So, I decided to make Meatball Subs, Pasta Salad, and Dessert. Every cost added(including water & ice, plates & napkins, and food) was less than $120 which is great that many people.

I just threw ingredients together to make this pasta salad but people thought it was amazing so I'm posting the recipe. (It really did turn out well).

Greek Pasta Salad

1 lb short cut pasta (bowties, penne...)

1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved

1 small can black olives, halved

1/4 red onion, thinly sliced

1 small bunch broccoli, but in small spears

1/2 cucumber, peeled & thinly sliced

1 small bunch basil thinly sliced or torn

6-8 oz crumbled feta cheese

10 oz bottled italian dressing

3-5 oz bottled red pepper vinaigrette (any brand)

Cook pasta al dente, drain rinse and cool. Toss in all veggies and toss with dressing. Chill several hours or overnight.