29 oz. can of crushed tomatoes
7 cloves of chopped garlic (I didn’t have any fresh garlic so I used garlic powder. Sorry, Catherine!)
2 tablespoons dried basil (hey, I like basil, ok?)
½ cup of chicken broth (I used water)
Dash of ground nutmeg
Dash of salt
Dash of ground black pepper
18 oz. of frozen spinach
2 tablespoons dairy cream
1 cup mozzarella cheeese
1 lb. of your favorite macaroni
8 oz. of feta cheese, crumbled
Olive oil – for drizzling

I also added some leftover, frozen (pre-cooked) ground beef that I needed to use up. The beef adds a wonderful savor to the dish, especially with the nutmeg.

I boiled my penne rigate.

I sauteed my beef with the first 7 ingredients in the list for about 20 minutes. I then added the frozen spinach on top and allowed it to thaw. I then added the cream.

I placed the pasta in a large casserole dish and added my mozzarella cheese and some leftover broccoli.

I then poured the tomato sauce into the dish and stirred it all up. I sprinkled the feta cheese and a little extra olive oil on top.

I cooked the dish for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

OOOOO LA LA!!! This would win the heart of anyone, even those guys hawking bad credit small business loans. Sooooo gooooood.

I served this meal with some broiled Italian bread. We get leftover loaves from Panera Bakery. I slice these in half and spread either olive oil or butter on them, sprinkle garlic powder on them, and grill them under the broiler for about 3 minutes. They are magnificent with the meal, believe me.

*sigh* It’s good to eat Italian food on a snowy winter eve. Manja manja!

So I am always adding little things to ziti to try and perk it up. This latest addition was pretty good– fresh kale.

I removed the stalks from the kale and ripped the leaves into bite-sized pieces. Kale is such a wonderful vegetable. A member of the cruciferous family, kale has plenty of vitamins and antioxidants that help destroy “free-radical” cells– the cells that cause cell mutations which can lead to cancer.

The ziti pasta will readily slurp up the moisture from the kale leaves during the cooking process, so I suggest adding a bit of water or additional tomatoe sauce to the mix. Cover tightly and bake. The kale added a nice tang to the otherwise bland dish.

How about you? Do you have any ideas for sprucing up a ziti dish?

photo credit: mrjoro

• If you want a low-fat sauce, pre-cook the ground beef and drain it. But realize that by draining the fat, you are removing most of the flavor. It’s true! Ground beef is pretty bland without the savory fat. You can drain MOST of the fat as a nice compromise.
• Use ground chuck, not ground sirloin or ground round. Ground chuck has a bit more fat in it, giving the beef more flavor.
• If you want to leave the fat in the sauce but not have TOO MUCH fat, use a lean beef and do not pre-cook the meat. Instead, shred the ground beef and put it in the tomato sauce and let it cook. Yep, it’s fattier and has more calories, but it’s SOOOOOO good.
• Use only fresh ingredients: fresh tomatoes, fresh basil, fresh garlic, etc.
• Use Roma (plum) tomatoes, not those big round beefsteak tomatoes. Roma are the best tomatoes for sauces, as they are thick and savory. The big beefsteak tomatoes are great for slices on hamburgers, but they are too soupy and flavorless for sauce.
• Pre-cook white onions before you add them to the sauce. When you pre-cook the onions, the heating process caramelizes the onions, drawing out their sweetness and adding flavor.
• Cook the sauce on LOW heat and stir constantly.
• Don’t serve the sauce right away. Allow the sauce to sit in the refrigerator for a day or two, to ripen. This is true for all tomato recipes (especially Manhattan Clam Chowder). For some reason, allowing the sauce to mature for a day or two allows the ingredients to mellow and blend together. Yum.
• Add little touches to the sauce, like freshly grated Parmesan cheese or a drop of Worchestershire sauce. I also add green peppers for color and a little panache.

Italians make the finest foods, don’t you think?! I love Italian cooking and I learned some really good tips growing up in an Italian home. I’m not Italian, though (and I couldn’t even pass as one, not even with some good costume kingdom coupons and a slick disguise). But I can cook like one!

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to make some sauce! Manja! Manja!

My daughter, however, makes GREAT homemade pizza! OMG this is amazing!!!

We made the crust in the bread machine, a simple white bread dough. We allow it to rise and then we stretch it out in a pan. Allow it to rise again.

I always failed in the next step– from there, I always spread the sauce and cheese and baked it. But the daughter baked the bare dough for just a few minutes before she added the toppings. The crust turned out perfect.

Her toppings are amazing. She used canned pizza sauce (not spaghetti sauce!). She chopped up and cooked frozen meatballs. She used plenty of pepperoni. She steamed fresh broccoli. She slathered on mozzarella cheese (I think she used about 45 ounces of cheese for 4 pizzas!). She spread freshly chopped garlic and plenty of Italian seasoning (dried) herbs. And she baked it all again.

IT WAS MARVELOUS. The pizza was very filling and so delicious. It wasn’t greasy like pizza-parlor pizza, either– the cheese was more like the consistency of egyptian magic cream– smooth and flexible but not oily and runny.

Yeah, it was a lot of work. And yeah, it was expensive. The cheese alone costs $10 per 30-ounce bag. Ouch. Pizza is just an expensive meal, which is so ironic because it was invented as a cheapo means to use up leftovers.

I also think homemade pizza is more healthy. Which gives us another excuse to make it again!

Easy Shrimp & Chicken Garlic Pasta
Serves 6-8 hungry people
1 5-lb bag cooked, frozen shrimp
3-4 chicken breasts, cubed
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup olive oil
3 handfuls of raw kale, de-stemmed and chopped into bite-sized pieces
2 pounds thin or vermicelli spaghetti
2 Tablespoons pesto sauce

Place the frozen shrimp in the sink and run under cold water, to thaw.

In a large wok, add the olive oil and toss in the chicken cubes. Turn on medium-high and simmer.

Remove the tails from the shrimp and toss them in the wok. Stir the chicken and shrimp until both are cooked/warmed well. Add the kale and garlic and cook for another 3 or 4 minutes, until the kale softens. Turn off the heat. Add pesto sauce and stir well. Serve over spaghetti.

Tip: Do not overcook the chicken or it will turn to rubber. Don’t add the garlic until last– you want it a little raw and not burned to a crisp.

This stuff is SO good, more filling than nitrix, I think. I’d eat it every night, if I could. It’s very good for you, too, because the olive oil, garlic and kale are very healthy.

1. What type of pasta is your favorite?
2. Is there a type of pasta that you don’t like at all?
3. What’s your favorite ravioli filling?
4. Do you use regular or no-bake lasagna noodles?

We are big pasta eaters. I recently found out it’s not such a great diet. :-p I grew up in an Italian home, and we always ate a lot of pasta. That, or my mom’s ikky pasta fazool (*wretch*). I loved pasta because it made me feel full, and as a kid, I always felt hungry.

So I usually have huge stockpiles of pasta around. I even got a few medical computer carts type thingies to store boxes of pasta in them, lol!! Weird, I know. I have boxes everywhere. I am sloooowly starting to move away from pasta and move toward healthier stuff, like long-grain rice and more veggies. But pasta dishes are nice because you can either make them long in advance or make them immediately. Because I work full-time, my meal preparation skills are totally gone! I can slap a hearty meal on the table in 20 minutes with pasta, or prepare it the previous day and make it the next. It’s so versatile.

Anyway, on to the meme.

1. I like rotini. I don’t always get it, because it seems that it is not as filling for a household of teenagers who eat mounds of food all the time.

2. Not really. I guess I like them all, or am ambivalent. Of all the pastas, I probably like the plain spaghetti least. It is so slippery and sloppy. I don’t like to wear my food. :-p

3. Meat. I greatly dislike ricotta cheese. YUK!

4. I have used both, and even though the “regular” lasagna is more laborious to prepare, I prefer it enough to use it. The no-bake is too pasty and bland.

All this talk of pasta reminds me that I need to start tonight’s dinner! See ya later!

Well, I spotted another easy recipe, Penne with Three Cheeses that rates a whopping 4 out of 5 stars. The recipe was awful! I had to force myself to down it. It was pasty and sticky and WAY too cheesy. I thought about giving the leftovers to the dogs, but I didn’t think they’d even eat it, despite all the dog training we’re giving them to eat the scraps. This stuff was awful.

I mention it here because it goes to show you that the ratings mean next to nothing (to me, anyway). In case you are curious, here’s the Penne with Three Cheeses recipe:

10 ounces refrigerated Alfredo sauce
1 cup milk
12 ounces evaporated milk
4 cups shredded Italian 3-cheese blend
1 pound uncooked penne pasta
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

I couldn’t even bear to snap a photo. The stuff was like glue, and the milks and cheeses melted before the pasta was done, so on top of the glue-y cheese, the pasta was chewy.

I guzzled about 5 cups of cold water after having some.

But I have actually located a recipe WITH shrimp that is pretty durn good! And it’s easy! I make this from time to time. I found the recipe again after unpacking our storage boxes (we’d stored books in boxes during the house renovation). I’m going to make it later this week. It’s a very satisfying yet light meal. If the husband likes it enough, he may send flowers. You don’t have anything to lose…

Chicken and Shrimp Pasta Dish
serves 6

3-4 chicken breasts, boned and cut into large cubes
1 pound shrimp (you can use the pre-cooked frozen kind to make this super-fast to make- make sure it’s thawed first)
7 Tablespoons butter
1/2 cup olive oil
6-7 garlic cloves (add more or less, depending on your preference)
2 Tablespoons FRESH basil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon Creole seasoning, if desired (add more if you like it)

Melt the butter in a large skillet. Add the oil. At low heat, add the garlic, basil, salt, and Creole seasoning. Toss in the chicken and the shrimp. Cook for about 15 to 20 minutes, until the meats are cooked through.

Serve with cooked angel hair spaghetti or thin spaghetti. Yum.

Another quick fix is to use leftover cooked chicken with the thawed pre-cooked shrimp. It’s a wonderful meal. My family loves it (even the kids).

1 pound ground sausage, cooked and drained of fat
2 small zucchini, sliced
2 small yellow squash, sliced
1 medium white onion, diced
1-2 cans spaghetti sauce (depending on taste)
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Saute the sausage, zucchini, yellow squash, and onion until the vegetables are tender. Add the sauce; warm up. Throw some cheese on the top until melted. Serve as it is, or with some pasta.

It’s so good! The flavors really blend well. The veggies are slightly crunchy, too, so it’s just terrific stuff.

SCORE on both counts! Yay!

This was so easy. And it’s good for you: eggplant, artichokes, olive oil, marinated garlic, marinated black olives, a little basil, OOOO LALA! Eat this healthy stuff, and I’ll bet your term life ins rates will lower! I used all this stuff from leftovers in my fridge (food too expensive to throw to the dog). The garlic and olives I got from the deli at my grocery store.

Here it is:

Garlic Eggplant Pasta Dish

1 small eggplant, peeled and thinly sliced
1 cup artichoke hearts, sliced into bite-sized pieces
1/2 cup marinated garlic cloves, sliced in half
1/4 cup marinated black olives, sliced in half
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/4 cup olive oil
prepared spaghetti sauce (I used a big can of Prego)
1 pound ground beef, cooked and drained
pasta (rigatoni or rotini are perfect)

Start the water boiling for your pasta. In a large frying pan, heat the olive oil. Throw in the eggplant and allow to soften. Don’t let it get mushy, though! Toss in the artichokes and basil, and heat up. Toss in the garlic and olives. Keep the mixture moving in the saucepan so that nothing gets browned.

Cook the pasta. Heat the ground beef and sauce.

Serve!

I placed everything in separate dishes (eggplant mixture, pasta, ground beef, and sauce) for the picky eaters. But everyone ate it all. It’s delicious!