Category: Pasta

Spicy Veggie Pasta

Pasta, Side dishes...veggies, Vegetarian

Last night we had a whatever you want/clean out the fridge/breakfast for dinner kind of night. I made this for myself using leftover veggies, less than half a container of thin spaghetti, and the end of the parmesan cheese. I even had plenty of leftovers to bring to work for lunch and share with a couple of work friends.

Spicy Veggie Pasta

1/3 package of thin spaghetti
1 onion thinly sliced
1 container mushrooms, quartered
handful of baby carrots chopped
1 container of spinach.
1 teaspoon, or more, of red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
tablespoon or more of parm. cheese
1 cup white wine
2 tablespoons of olive oil
salt and pepper

Directions

Heat your olive oil and add onions, mushrooms, and carrots. Cook down until tender. Add your spices. Mix well. Add in your wine. Reduce. Add in your spinach and a little more olive oil. Cook the spinach down and mix with the rest of the veggies.

Meanwhile, cook pasta. Add your pasta to the veggies when the pasta still has a bit of a bite to it. Add in about a cup of pasta water- a little bit at a time to your desired consistency. Add in your cheese and mix well! Enjoy!

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Easy Baked Cheesy Bacon Ravioli

Pasta

Hey friends! This was so easy… Cook some bacon- 8 pieces. Chop it up. Add it to pre made alfredo sauce. Cook some cheese ravioli according to the package. Layer sauce and ravioli to a pre-sprayed pan. Top with mozzarella and parm. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. YUM!017

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Baked Ziti and Garlic Butter Toast

Breads and Muffins, Pasta

I had a little bit of time today to make an extra special dinner. I have not cooked anything interesting for dinner in a while. A lot of  pretty amazing people have been making my family some dinners, or we have gotten take out, or I have thrown together something random that was not really blog worthy. It has been a crazy few weeks.

When people find out or know you have a sick kid, it can be a bit awkward. They feel helpless and don’t know what to do. The problem solvers and leaders are the ones who want to take over and figure out a way to help. They rally the troops. They bring you food, money, toys, offer to carpool, take your dog for a walk (good luck with that- I am the only one who can get him on a leash), and pretty much give up their left kidney for you.

I appreciate it all. I am thankful. All these offers actually are amazing and do provide relief and a weight off my shoulders. As much as I love to cook, I do have a cooking blog after all, what I really want to do is sit on my couch and snuggle my girls. I want to play with them as much as possible and just relax together as a family. But lately I have been itching to get back in the kitchen for a bit.

I thought…I meandered in the kitchen; I opened the pantry;I looked in the fridge; I looked in the freezer. I had an idea. I pulled out some ground beef from the freezer, found some canned tomatoes in the pantry, borrowed an onion from my awesome neighbor, poured a glass of wine, and I started to get my groove back in the kitchen. I gave Lizzie the choice of lasagna or baked ziti based in the noodle selection from my pantry. Well, she picked this. And I gladly obliged.

I may be a bit scarce on the blog in the next couple of months. I cannot stop cooking. I won’t. It is my hobby; it is therapeutic. I may post a Sunday roast, an epic Thanksgiving dinner, a glamorous grilled cheese sammie, or a regular Wednesday chicken dish. Whatever I post, it tastes yummy and is made by my love of cooking and making my family and friends happy.

Baked Ziti

Ingredients

1 pound of ground beef
1 onion, diced
3 cloves garlic
3 tablespoons tomato paste
1 large can crushed tomatoes
1 large can of tomato sauce
1 cup diced tomatoes or 1 small can of diced tomatoes
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons worchestershire
2 tablespoons butter
3 sprigs thyme
1 container mozzarella- whole or shredded
1 box ziti or rigatoni noodles

Directions

Brown your beef. If there is any grease, drain it. Add your onions. Cook down for 5 minutes. Add in your garlic and tomato paste. Cook down for 3-5 minutes. You can actually smell the tomatoes when they are mixed well with the garlic. The aroma is amazing. The beef and onions should be really camariling now. Add just a splash of red wine down in the pot to loosen up all those brown bits. Then add in all your canned tomatoes. Mix well. Add in your sugar, worcestershire sauce, butter, and thyme. Mix and simmer for at least 30 minutes. The longer the better.

Make your pasta. Undercook by 3 minutes according to the package. It should still have a bit of a bite to it.

Spray your dish with Pam. Add some sauce on the bottom. Put in your noodles. Cover with sauce. Top with Mozzarella cheese.

I made some quick garlic toast by melting butter with some 3 cloves sliced garlic. I dipped the bread in the garlic butter then put them in the oven on broil. Just check the oven to make sure they don’t burn. Delish!

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Creamy Mushroom and Caramelized Onion Ravioli

Pasta, Vegetarian

I made this last night to take for lunches this week. It was very easy to make; a semi-homemade dish, if you will. Ravioli was Buitoni, alfredo sauce was jarred by Classico and added caramelized onions, mushrooms, and white wine.

Pretty simple, ya’ll…Slice 1 onion nice and thin. Slice your mushrooms in half or thirds- larger sized chucks. Reduced them down in 3 tablespoons of butter. Make sure to salt and pepper your veggies. Stir and cook down for about 10-15 minutes. Add in your white wine at the end, stir, and  reduce down about 5 more minutes. Add the jar of sauce.

Meanwhile, cook the pasta according to the directions on the package. Add the cooked ravioli to the sauce and mix well.

Top with parmesan. So good!

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Lovely Leftovers- Chicken, Bacon, and Veggie Pasta

Leftovers/ Freezer Meals, Pantry Raid, Pasta

Hey all! This weekend was pretty good. Friday night a bunch of friends came over, and I cooked a ton of hamburgers. We ate chips and dip, macaroni salad, potato salad, coleslaw, and creamed corn. We played a card game, and me and my wine buddy put down a good amount of wine =) Loads of fun!
Sat morn I spent time at my middle’s cheerleading game. Her team is the Bulldogs, and she just loves cheering for them! She even won the spirit stick this game! So proud of her!006

The rest of the weekend was mostly relaxing and eating out of the fridge. No stressing. Last night hubby went to the store and picked up sweet and spicy marinated chicken from the meat counter and a red pepper. I made this with yellow rice and steamed broccoli. Pretty yummy! This morning, I made eggs and bacon. Clean plates were made by all.

Tonight I made the girls leftover hamburgers. I just had a veggie burger for lunch, so I did not really want another burger. Instead, I created this spectacular pasta dish.

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Lovely Leftovers- Chicken, Bacon, and Veggie Pasta

1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 stalks celery, chopped
1 tomato, chopped
1 jar mushrooms
1 cup creamed corn (approximate from leftovers)
5 pieces cooked bacon, chopped (approximate from leftovers)
1 cup chicken breasts and red peppers, cooked (approximate from leftovers)
1 cup parmesan cheese
1/2 cup heavy cream in the pot
Pasta of your choice- I had a little orzo and whole wheat angel hair, so I used both
Extra pasta water, as needed.
Fresh herbs, chopped
salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Boil water for pasta… make sure you heavily salt the water.
Cook your onions, celery, tomato, and garlic down on med low heat for a good 10 minutes.
Add your pasta to the water.
To your fresh veggie mix, add in all your leftover veggies, jarred mushrooms, bacon, and chicken. Mix well. Cook about 10 minutes, or until your pasta cooks.
Add in your pasta to the leftover mix. Add in cheese and heavy cream. Mix well. Add in starchy pasta water as needed. Taste- season as needed. I would have added some fresh herbs if I had them.