Homemade Macaroni and Cheese

My son Marcus asks me to make macaroni and cheese almost daily.  There is no way I will EVER make that neon boxed macaroni and cheese.  So...many times I will boil noodles, drain them, add some butter, and grate fresh cheese over the top.  I realize this isn't the macaroni and cheese he was hoping for, but it works for him and holds him over. 

I decided it was time to give the boy what he was really wanting.  I found this recipe that is super easy and delicious from Everyday Food's Great Food Fast cookbook.  It is really a great cookbook with healthy, easy meals.  I love it and go to it often.

Once you make the macaroni and cheese you can put it into a large casserole dish or into ramekins for individual servings.  

Top with breadcrumb/cheese mixture and bake in the oven at 375. A casserole takes 30 minutes and my boys were hungry so I used ramekins and cut the time to 15-20 minutes.

Enjoy!  This is a family favorite over here!

You can find the recipe at :  Macaroni and Cheese

 

Vegetable Lasagna

In a quest to try something different, I found this vegetable lasagna recipe.  It was in the latest Everyday Food cookbook, "Everyday Food:  Fresh Flavor Fast:  250 Easy, Delicious Recipes for Any Time of Day."  The family loved it, so I decided to share it with you.

Mix cheese, spinach, egg, salt and pepper for the filling.

The recipe said to use store bought marinara, but those who know me know I NEVER buy marinara.  I have a favorite recipe I like to use, but I used the Basic Tomato Sauce recipe in the back of the cookbook and it was perfect.  VERY SIMPLE too.  Here is the sauce recipe:

Basic Tomato Sauce
1 T olive oil
1 small onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 cans (28 ounces each) whole peeled tomatoes
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
Course salt and freshly ground pepper

In a saucepan, heat oil over medium.  Cook onion and garlic, stirring frequently, until translucent, 2-4 minutes.  Add tomatoes with their juice and the oregano.  Simmer, stirring occasionally and breaking up tomatoes with the spoon, until thickened, 20-30 minutes.  Season with salt and pepper.  Sauce can be refrigerated up to 4 days or frozen up to 3 months; let cool completely before storing in airtight containers.  

Makes 6 cups.

Add a thin layer of the sauce to the bottom of the casserole dish.  Arrange 4 of the noodles on top.  Spread 1/3 of the cheese mixture on top of the noodles.  Then add 1/3 of the tomato sauce and 1/3 of the fontina cheese.  Continue layering.

Cover and bake for 30-40 minutes.  Remove foil and cook another 15 minutes.  Enjoy!

Vegetable Lasagna

Ingredients

• 4 cups (32 ounces) whole-milk ricotta cheese
• 2 large eggs
• Salt and fresh ground pepper
• 2 packages (10 ounces each) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed to remove excess moisture
• 6 cups store-bought or homemade tomato sauce (Basic Tomato Sauce listed above)
• 12 no-boil lasagna noodles (8 ounces)
• 1 pound fontina cheese (4 cups), shredded

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a medium bowl, whisk together ricotta cheese, eggs, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Add spinach, and stir well to combine.
   
   
2. Spread a small bit of tomato sauce in the bottom of a 9-by-13-inch glass baking dish or dishes. Arrange a layer of lasagna noodles on top. Spread 1/3 of the ricotta mixture over the noodles, followed by 1/3 of the remaining sauce; sprinkle with 1/3 of the grated cheese. Repeat to make two more layers, ending with cheese. If freezing, cover tightly with plastic wrap. Before baking, defrost in the refrigerator overnight.
   
   
3. Cover with aluminum foil. Bake 30 minutes. Remove foil; continue baking until top is golden brown, about 15 minutes more. Let cool slightly before serving.
   
   
   

Turkey and Artichoke Stuffed Shells in Arrabbiata Sauce

I was going through my giant binder of recipes that I have either torn out of magazines or printed out when I saw it on the food network, when I came across this one.  I haven't made it in ages and it is even more amazing since it makes two batches!  We had one for dinner and I froze the other for a lazy night.  That makes me smile...I love a lazy night of no cooking.  I will just turn the oven on and put them in!

The batch you make right away only takes 20 minutes in the oven, so by the time you clean up your mess, set the table and put the second batch in the freezer, it is ready!

Start by boiling a large pot of water to partially cook your shells (they will cook the rest of the way in the oven).

Next, saute onions and garlic in olive oil.  

Then add the ground turkey, salt and pepper.  Once that is cooed through, add the artichoke hearts and stir.

Allow to cool so you will be able to handle the meat to stuff into the shells.

Add ricotta cheese, Parmesan cheese, eggs, basil, parsley, and salt & pepper.

 

Mix all ingredients.

Add one cup of the Arrabbiata sauce to the bottom of a 9 x 13 by 2-inch baking dish.

Stuff shells with about 2 tablespoons of the meat mixture.  I used a medium scoop.

The easiest way to fill these is to put the shell in the palm of your hand and fill it with the scoop.  Then place each filled shell in the dish.

Add remaining sauce to the top and sprinkle with grated mozzarella cheese.  I use fresh.  It is easier to grate if you put it in the freezer for a bit before trying to grate it.  Soft cheeses are never easy to grate, but I think it tastes so much better.  I use a box grater for this.

Seal the other dish and put into the freezer.  To reheat later, preheat to 400 degrees and bake for 60 minutes.

Bake the dish you are going to eat for dinner at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.

Serve with your favorite veggies.

 

Turkey and Artichoke Stuffed Shells with Arrabbiata Sauce

Recipe courtesy Giada De Laurentiis

6 to 8 servings

Ingredients

• 1 (12-ounce) box jumbo pasta shells (recommended: Barilla)
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/2 large yellow onion, chopped (about 1 cup)
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 pound ground turkey
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, plus 1/2 teaspoon
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus 1/4 teaspoon
• 1 (8 to 10-ounce) package frozen artichokes, thawed and coarsely chopped
• 1 (15-ounce) container ricotta cheese
• 3/4 cup grated Parmesan
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley 
• 5 cups Arrabbiata Sauce, recipe follows
• 1 1/2 cups grated mozzarella (about 5 ounces)

Directions

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boilover high heat. Add the pasta and partially cook until tender but still very firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, about 4 to 5 minutes. Drain pasta. 

Meanwhile, in a large heavy skillet, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the onions and the garlic and cook until the onions are soft and starting to brown, about 3 minutes. Add the ground turkey, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until the meat is slightly golden and cooked through. Add the artichoke hearts and stir to combine. Remove from heat and let cool. 

In a large bowl combine the cooled turkey mixture with the ricotta cheese, Parmesan cheese, eggs, basil, parsley, and the remaining salt and pepper. Stir to combine. 

To stuff the shells, cover the bottom of a 9 by 13 by 2-inch baking dish with 1 cup of Arrabbiata sauce. Take a shell in the palm of your hand and stuff it with a large spoonful of turkey mixture, about 2 tablespoons. Place the stuffed shell in the baking dish. Continue filling the shells until the baking dish is full, about 24 shells. Drizzle the remaining Arrabbiata Sauce over the shells, top with the grated mozzarella. If freezing, cover tightly with plastic wrap and place in the freezer for 1 day and up to 1 month.

To bake, preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Bake until the shells are warmed through and the cheese is beginning to brown, about 60 minutes (20 minutes if shells are unfrozen.)

Arrabbiata Sauce:

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
6 ounces sliced panchetta, coarsely chopped
2 teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes
2 garlic cloves, minced
5 cups jarred or fresh marinara sauce

Heat the olive oil in a large soup pot over medium heat. Add the pancetta and saute until golden brown, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and saute until tender, about 1 minute. Add the marinara sauce and red pepper flakes and bring to a simmer. Remove from heat and let cool until ready to use. 

Yield: approximately 6 cups

Macaroni and Cheese

Since dad is out of town, I am letting the kids make the meal calls.  They picked a good one here.  I haven't made baked mac and cheese in forever!  Not that nasty box on the shelf at the store.  REAL mac and cheese with REAL cheese...not neon orange whatever that is.

Boil 1 pound of elbow macaroni and drain.

The recipe called for 1 1/4 cup of white cheddar and 1 1/4 cup of yellow cheddar.  Grate it with a box grater or whatever you have.

Chop one small onion and dice 8 ounces of ham into cubes.

Melt 4 tablespoons of butter in a large sauce pan.

Saute the onions for 5 minutes.  Whisk in 1/4 cup of flour and then 4 cups of milk and salt & pepper.

Add the pasta, 2 cups of cheese and the ham.

Place into a 9 x 13 casserole dish.  Top with remaining cheese and fresh bread crumbs.  To make the bread crumbs, simply put two slices of bread into your food processor and pulse.

Bake for 30 minutes.

For the complete recipe go to:  www.everydayfood.com.  That will take you directly to the link!
Enjoy!  Leftovers are amazing!!!

Spinach Cannelloni

My family LOVES spinach.  The boys like it because they immediately think of Popeye and how strong he is, and feel stronger after just one bite!  Whatever the reason, I'm just glad they eat their veggies.   I found this recipe in a pile of papers I had printed out.  As I see recipes online I tend to copy and paste to try at a later date.  I believe this came from the Clean Eating Magazine newsletter.  I tweaked it to our liking and this is what I came up with.  I hope you enjoy it.

Start a pot of water boiling and boil the lasagna sheets.  I got sheets instead of long noodles...you can use either one.  When they are ready, drain and lay out on a sheet to cool so that they do not stick together.

Melt 1 tablespoon of butter and adding 1 1/2 tablespoons of whole wheat flour, whisking for 2 minutes.  Add 2 cups low fat or soy milk (I used skim) and bring to a boil until sauce thickens.

Reduce heat and simmer.  Add 1/4 teaspoon of salt, 1/4 teaspoon of pepper and a pinch of nutmeg.  I always use freshly grated nutmeg.  I have a jar of the nuts in the pantry that I take out and grate as needed.  It tastes so much better when you freshly grate it. 

Grate 1/4 cup of Parmigiano reggiano, add to the sauce and cover the pan.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.  Saute the spinach in a nonstick pan with 2 tablespoons of olive oil and a clove of minced garlic.

Combine 1 3/4 cup low fat ricotta, 1 egg (slightly beaten), 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley, and 1/4 teaspoon of salt in a mixing bowl just until combined. 

Lay out the sheet and add sauted spinach to each sheet, about 2 tablespoons.  Add the ricotta mixture to the sheet as well.  I used a small scoop for this to make sure I had an even amount on each sheet.  (3 small scoops worked for me.)

Here are the other sheets.  I made sure I had enough in all of them before I started rolling them up.  That way if I was short on ricotta, I could scoop some from another sheet.  Luckily, it was just enough.

Coat the bottom of the buttered casserole dish with the sauce.  Roll up the lasagna sheets and place them in the dish seam side down.

Add remaining sauce to the top of the cannelloni and add 1/4 cup of freshly grated Parmesan cheese.  Bake covered with foil for 20 minutes.  Remove foil and place under the broiler for about 5 minutes, until lightly browned and bubbly.

Here it is out of the oven.  Let it cool about 10 minutes before serving.

Serve with whole wheat rolls.  Mmmmmm.....

Grilled Pork Paillards with Pasta Verde and Fresh Tomatoes

Flipping through the Martha Stewart Dinner at Home cookbook, this immediately caught my eye.  So, on my trip to Costco I got a stack of pork chops and started the recipe.  Here is what you need to get started.

 

Cut the fat off of the pork chops and pound out the meat to 1/4 inch thick.

Once they are flattened, mix balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper and refrigerate for at least 15 minutes.

To get started on the dressing for the pasta, you add mustard, white wine vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper. 

Cook pasta according to package directions, strain and add back to stock pot.

In the meantime, heat a pan with two tablespoons olive oil and then add onions.

Slice zucchini and wash snap peas to add to the onions.

Chop fresh spinach and scallions.

Add the zucchini and cook for three minutes, then add snap peas and cook for two more minutes.

Add the spinach and scallions.

Combine with pasta and season to taste.  I also added Parmesan cheese.

Heat the grill to medium.  (Betty, I took a picture of how hot Medium is on my grill.  WOW.  I lowered it a bit when I put them on the grill till it got to 500.)

Take pork out of the refrigerator and pat with a paper towel.

Cook on the grill for 1-2 minutes per side.

 Here are the grilled pork paillards.

Slice cherry tomatoes in half.

Give it a try.  Here is the link for the pork:  Grilled Pork Paillards 

The link for Pasta Verde is at:  Pasta Verde