An Adventure in Baked Pasta

I found this post, created last March! I don't know why it was still a draft, but since I've been so lazy about posting new stuff I'll just post old stuff:

Last night for dinner I decided to make the Baked Pasta with Spinach, Lemon & Cheese recipe I found in my Cooking Light magazine. I have to say that, overall, I was disappointed. (Although both my mom and boyfriend ate enough to show no disappointment at all.)

I really didn't stray from the recipe... I mean, I "eyeballed" everything -- there were no measuring cups involved. This is the first dish I've tried from the magazine and I felt like it was really lacking something -- the "oomf" factor, if you will. It looked delicious, but it ended up being kind of bland. If I were to do it again, I would definitely add more black pepper and salt. (I probably didn't use enough anyway because my pepper grinder frustrates me too much.)

Changes for Next Time:

• More black pepper.
• Maybe sun-dried tomatoes mixed right in.
• Definitely more cheese, or an extra type would be nice too. Asiago would probably be great mixed in with the parmesan.
• Basil. Lemon & basil, right? (I did add some fresh chopped basil on top after it was all cooked.)
• More spinach -- at least a bag and a half, not just one. 
• Replacing the wine with chicken broth would probably be a good idea too. 
• Maybe whole wheat pasta, to give some more depth.

I think with some of those changes, or at least more cheese, this dish would be much better. I served it with thin chicken breasts breaded with panko bread crumbs (mixed with a little salt, garlic powder & grated cheese) and baked in the oven. They were good, but grilled chicken would have been even better... but... it is still winter and I don't have a grill.

Talk About Using What You've Got...

There wasn't much for me to cook for dinner last night. No chicken, no onion, no fresh veggies... I felt lost. (But I did have bacon!) I looked in the cabinet and saw brown rice and lentils and I figured I could do something with them. Maybe the (often cringe-worthy) word casserole. I Googled "rice lentil casserole" and discovered that this is an actual dish! Pretty popular, I might add. According to the Internet anyway.

The basics are the right proportions of rice to lentils to liquid. Then whatever seasonings and add-ins you want. I found mostly Mexican flavors going on, but I went Italian instead...

What I Used:

• 3/4 c. brown rice
• 1/2 c. lentils
• 1 1/2 c. chicken broth
• 1 1/2 c. crushed tomatoes w/ basil
• the last bit of a can of cream of chicken soup
• a couple spoonfuls of tomato paste
• 3 cloves chopped garlic
• onion powder (I didn't have an onion!!)
• 2 chopped carrots
• oregano & parsley (just a little)
• peas

Put It All Together:

• Mix it all in a baking dish. 
• Cover and bake. Most of the recipes I found online said to bake at 300 for a little over an hour. But after about 40 minutes I checked on it and realized that would never work. So I upped the temperature to 325. It was in the oven for about 2 hours. ...It did come out a bit mushy, but surprisingly incredibly tasty!
• Oh and the best part: I topped with mozzarella, but didn't have quite enough so I grated lots of fresh Parmesan on top. (The good stuff, from work.) And then crumbled bacon!! This really made it.

I served it with salad & bread (rustic bread with prosciutto and provolone baked in).

*No photo... It's not exactly the most attractive dish. 

Caramelized Onions and Fusilli

As tasty and satisfying as this meal came out, it was born in disaster...

It all began at Jamba Juice on 5th Avenue on Tuesday, March 29th. Despite working so close, a half hour break still doesn't leave much of a window to order lunch, wait for it and make it back to work in time -- nevermind actually sitting down and eating it. But I tried. I got to work at 7 a.m. (yes, I had to get up before 6!) and was already looking forward to 12:00 because I had already decided to try out the oatmeal at Jamba Juice. I organized all the bread and filled baskets and blah blah, let's fast forward to 12. I rushed downstairs to grab my coat and purse, fumbled with the lock on my locker and the frustration started to build. Forgetting to clock out, I made it outside. I power walked across the street to Jamba Juice and at about 12:08 I found myself in front of the menu, confronted with too many choices, as usual.

"I'll have an oatmeal with fresh bananas and a 16 Orange Carrot Karma."

"We're out of carrots."

"Uhhhhh...." My eyes robot-scanned the menu again and fixed onto the all fruit choices. "Mega Mango, then," I sighed with disappointment.

I waited in line with the suits for the guy behind the blender to call my name. Finally. I sat down with about 10 minutes to have my lunch. I opened my newest issue of Cooking Light anyway to find something for dinner -- something I could make without shopping again. I pretty much decided on the first recipe I found: Fusilli with Caramelized Spring Onions and White Wine.

With dinner hastily decided, I shoved the last bite of (wonderful) oatmeal into my mouth and left with my Mango in hand. I had about 3 minutes to get back to work. With my eyes on the approaching walk signal, my pace quickened on the sidewalk. Then the disaster happened. My Jamba Juice slipped out of my hand and splattered onto the sidewalk. For a split second I contemplated picking it up and saving it to transfer to another cup. But in that split second it continued to pool all over the pavement. I looked up, devastated. An older woman saw my pain and sympathized with my loss, "Oh! I'm so sorry!!"

My sadness quickly transformed to rage. I stormed back to work and fumed about my wasted $4 and my lost nutrients in the form of deliciousness. And what does this loss have to do with my fusilli and caramelized onions, you might ask? Everything. I was looking forward to cooking it and taking photos and taking my time -- a leisurely and enjoyable cooking night. But my Jamba Juice frustration still lingered when I began cooking and as soon as I began I found myself rushing and overly frustrated.

BUT nevertheless, it came out delicious and I will give you the rundown of my recipe. I made some changes from the original.

What You'll Need:

• bread crumbs 
• I made my own with leftover slices of Otto bread from work. Toasted, pulverized & mixed with a little olive oil, chopped garlic, salt and crushed red pepper. Then toasted in the oven for a few minutes.

• garlic: chopped or minced
• onions, thinly sliced (about 1 and a half... I didn't have spring onions -- just regular yellow)
• white wine
• chicken broth
• parmesan rind
• peas
• bacon
• whole wheat fusilli
• quinoa

Put it All Together:

• Caramelize your onions. Ideally, do it nice and slow and low with butter. This equals perfection. I didn't have the time or the patience for this so I used some water and then a little olive oil and sauteed until soft and browned.
• Add a couple cloves of garlic and the wine. Heat it up to cook off the alcohol. Add parmesan rind for flavor (don't eat it!). 
• Add chicken broth and reduce.
• Throw in your frozen peas to heat them all the way through.
• Mix in about a quarter to a third of your prepared quinoa (1 cup uncooked) and most of your pasta (from 1 box). Toss it all together.
• Serve with bread crumbs, grated parmesan and crumbled bacon on top.

And hopefully you can do it all with less frustrations than me.

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The Other (Delicious) White Meat

Whenever I get my Rachael Ray magazine I do the initial, first flip-through. Where I mostly look at titles and photos and read a few of the non-food related articles. Then comes the second scan. This is when I check out ingredients and how long meals take and actually read the recipes I'm interested in. I found one in the Weekly Menu Planning section of April's issue: Herb-Crusted Pork Chops with Broccoli & Onions.

I made a few amendments to the recipe, making the pork chops pretty amazing. I used the idea of toasted bread crumbs and baking in the oven, but took it a little further...

What You'll Need:

• Fat free half & half
• 1 egg
• Brown mustard
• Honey
• Pork chops
• Panko bread crumbs
• Parsley, garlic powder, thyme
• Cheese powder from a macaroni & cheese box (my secret ingredient!)

Put it All Together:

• Whisk together the half & half and egg first. Then squirt in the mustard and honey and whisk together as best you can. The honey might be a little tricky because it's going into cold liquid, but you should be able to get it to spread out enough.
• Put your pork chops in a shallow dish, give them a few stabs with a fork and S&P them. Pour honey mustard mixture over them, making sure they're mostly covered. Cover with plastic wrap and stick in the fridge.
• Now, I did this about 3 hours before dinner. You could definitely do it the night before and it would be even better!
• When you're ready, preheat the oven to 425 and heat up a little olive oil in a skillet and add panko bread crumbs. Stir them around a lot while they're in the pan so they all get a chance to get toasty brown. 
• Move the bread crumbs to a shallow dish to cool. Then add about 2/3 of a cheese packet from a mac & cheese box, a few good shakes of garlic powder, just a little parsley and thyme and pepper.
• Get your pork chops out, smoosh them and slide them around a little in their egg mixture before coating them in the bread crumbs. (Sprinkle some extra on top.)
• Place coated chops on a greased rack (I just used the rack from the toaster oven) on top of a cookie sheet lined with foil -- just to make your clean-up easier. Bake for 20-25 minutes.

They will be tender and moist from soaking in the egg and half & half and they'll be crunchy and tasty from the bread crumb mixture! I served them with broccoli and red onion, like the Rachael Ray recipe called for -- with the addition of sliced tomatoes on top -- and quinoa (prepared with chicken broth and a small splash of olive oil).


Broccoli & Red Onion: Heat up some olive oil, soften sliced onion a little. Add broccoli with S&P and toss as much as you can. Add a little water on the bottom for broccoli to steam, cover & cook until tender (but still a little crunch).

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Pasta e Fagioli

This is one of my favorite Italian dishes... It's got everything delicious: beans, garlic, bacon, onion, pasta -- It's really hard to go wrong. Unless you're my grandmother. She takes this dish in a completely different direction. She uses Boston baked beans and some kind of tomato sauce... very strange. But this recipe is not red: I don't believe in red pasta e fagioli.

What You'll Need:

• quarter package bacon, chopped
• diced onion
• chopped carrots
• chopped garlic
• chopped celery
• olive oil/butter
• red kidney beans
• cannelini beans
• chicken broth
• sage
• basil
• bay leaves
• elbow macaroni 

Put it All Together:

• Heat a skillet and add bacon first. Cook it for just a minute or two, to give it a head start. Then add some olive oil and a little bit of butter, onion, carrots, celery and garlic. Allow vegetables to soften.
• Sprinkle a bunch of sage over veggies, black pepper, 2 bay leaves and a few basil leaves torn up.
• Take about a half cup of red kidney beans and half a cup of cannelini beans and puree them -- this will make the "soup" thicker. (I used an immersion blender because it's all I have and it's super easy.) Add chicken broth, beans and bean... mush. Bring it all to a boil, then turn down to a simmer.

• Add about 1/3 to a half box of elbow macaroni and cook until they reach desired tenderness. (I like more pasta and cooked really well... makes it less soupy and more dense.)
• Serve with grated cheese on top.

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Another Tasty Pizza

Since I had to work on Sunday until 7:00, putting me home around 7:45 and the Oscars were on at 8:30, my window was fairly small for dinner preparation. So while I was on my way home, the boyfriend got the pizza dough ready (another Pillsbury can -- what can ya do?) and the toppings. When I got in we assembled and stuck in the oven and timing with the beginning of the Oscars was just right.

Our Toppings:

• Spinach (tossed in a little olive oil before going on)
• A mozzarella/cheddar shredded cheese blend
• Chopped ham steak
• Thinly sliced red onion
• Some more of that cheese
• Sprinkling of crushed red pepper

 YUM.

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Ham & Veggie Quiche

Dinner last night? Quiche. Easier than expected. And slightly healthier because I opted out of the traditional flaky, buttery crust. It was a pretty easy dinner and that's that. Read all about it...

What You'll Need:

• Red-skinned potatoes
• Ham steak
• Small zucchini
• Cherry tomatoes
• Cheese (your choice -- I used cheddar & mozzarella)
• Eggs (about 5)
• Milk (I used 1% with a splash of half & half)

Put it All Together:

• Set your oven to broil. Thinly slice enough potatoes to line the bottom of your baking dish. You're going to put these in the oven just until they get a little brown and crispy to act as a kind of crust. Don't use olive oil, or it'll be too greasy/slippery. I just sprayed the pan with cooking spray and then gave the top of the potatoes a good spray too. Sprinkle with S&P and some garlic powder.
• Cut up the zucchini into small chunks, put the pieces on a paper-towel lined plate and salt them. They just need to sweat out some of their water a little. 
• Dice about a third of an onion and cut your cherry tomatoes in half.
• I browned half of a ham steak on the stove before cutting it up, but I really don't think it had any redeeming factor for the whole dish. So you can skip that and just chop it up.
• Whisk 5 eggs with milk... probably about a cup to a cup and a half. (You know I don't measure, so...) Also add some half & half to make a little thicker. (I also whisked in a little mascarpone because I had leftover and can't let it go to waste!) Pepper too!
• On top of your browned potato slices, add ham, zucchini (dredge in some flour first! It will make the quiche less runny/watery!!), tomatoes and cheddar cheese. Pour egg mixture on top and then sprinkle some shredded mozzarella on top of that. 
• Bake at 350 for about an hour. 

*When the quiche has about 20 minutes to go, throw some asparagus (coated with olive oil and sprinkled with garlic chunks) into the oven as well. They make a great side... as well as a nice slice of quality bread. (I used a rustic loaf with pancetta and provolone -- courtesy of Eataly once again!)

(That first piece looks like a mess because I didn't let it cool enough before I cut it -- I just wanted to get the photo out of the way so I could eat it! "Patienncce, Iago...")

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Superior Meatloaf

3 Key Ingredients That Makes My Meatloaf Better Than Yours:

• Bacon. (Cooked and chopped and mixed right in AND right on top.)
• Barbecue sauce.
• Cheddar cheese (in the middle).

 Add these to your ground beef and you're all set. (Oh yeah... and don't forget 2 eggs, breadcrumbs, crushed garlic, diced onion, salt & pepper and some ketchup... there may have also been some paprika and crushed red pepper involved.) Serve with baked potatoes (with cheese and grape tomatoes -- sauteed mushrooms would have been a great addition, but unfortunately the boyfriend doesn't eat them so I rarely buy them, so when you make this meal have some for me) and broccoli.

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Mascarpone & Basil Tomato Sauce with Chicken Sausage

You really can't go wrong with these basic ingredients, no matter how you combine them. But here's how I go about it:

What You Need:

• An onion, diced.
• Olive oil, a... dollop?
• A few cloves of garlic, chopped.
• 1 big can of crushed tomatoes with basil.
• 1/2 small can of tomato paste.
• Lots of fresh basil, chopped.
• Sun-dried tomato & basil chicken sausage.
• Mascarpone cheese!!

Put it All Together:

• Heat olive oil in a large pan over medium-high heat, add onion to soften. Add half your garlic when onions are almost done. (If you add the garlic with onion right away it tends to get bitter.)
• Pour tomato sauce & paste in. Add salt & crushed red pepper to taste -- as well as a sprinkling of sugar. Simmer for a bit.
• Add chicken sausage, cut into chunks.

• Add the rest of the garlic and lots of freshly chopped basil, turn the heat down low, partially cover and let it "simmer" for about an hour. (More like stew together.) Mix every so often.

• Just before serving stir in a few tablespoons of Mascarpone cheese (don't be shy) until melted.

Would have been even better with some freshly grated Romano cheese on top, but, alas... I had none. Nonetheless, it was delicious and super easy. 

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Chinese Food Re-Invented

So, you know how when you get Chinese take-out and you end up with lots of leftover sauces? And they just sit and keep accumulating in your fridge... Because the next time you get Chinese you end up with more sauces and they just keep piling up.

Weeellll... Tonight I finally put them to good use. Last time I ordered out I went the "healthy" route: I had steamed veggies and chicken, but it came with an amazing spicy, garlicky sauce on the side. A lot of it. So I used the leftover sauce and invented my own Chinese dish!

Marinade for pork chops. You're probably thinking, "Wow! Why didn't I think of that??" (Or maybe, "Yeah. No duh. I always do that... Where have you been?" If so, then sshhh.) I poured the sauce over a package of thinly sliced pork chops and added a few soy sauce and duck sauce packets (as well as one hot sauce) and let it sit for a few hours in the fridge this afternoon. And I just cooked them up on the stove for dinner, making sure I poured all that saucy deliciousness over the top as I went. I served them with brown rice (cooked in chicken broth for a little extra flavor) and some stir-fried veggies:

In the same pan used to cook the pork, pour a little bit of vegetable oil and some sesame oil and add a sliced onion and a few sliced carrots and cook about halfway to desired softness. Crush a few cloves of garlic in and soy sauce; cook a bit longer. When the veggies are just about to your liking (I like them in between soft and crunchy) add some frozen peas and sliced purple cabbage. The cabbage gets soft very quickly so it really doesn't need to cook long.

And there you have it.  A delicious, and pretty healthy, re-invention of Chinese food -- with all the flavor.

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Beef & Beer

What You Need:

• Butter. About half a stick.
• Beef (whatever cut you prefer… I get the cheap stuff) cut into chunks.
• 1 Onion. Sliced into wedges.
• A few cloves of garlic. Crushed.
• 1 small apple, or half a regular sized apple. Peeled and diced—small.
• Flour. About 3 tablespoons.
• 1 bottle of Guinness. (Or something dark, Guinness is just my preference.)
• Beef Broth. 3 cups.
• Bay leaves.
• 3 Yukon Gold potatoes. Chopped into big chunks.
• 5 carrots. (Depending on size, though.) Chopped into chunks.
• And S&P, of course.

Now Put Them All Together:

• In a big soup pot, melt about a tablespoon of butter. Season the meat with S&P, brown in the pot on medium-high heat. Don’t worry if it sticks a little and the bottom of the pot gets coated — that’s good! Once the meat is browned, remove from the pot and put it aside. (I kept a second pot on the burner (it was off) next to me.)
• Turn the heat down to about medium and add some more butter to the pot (just under a tablespoon) and soften the onions. When they’re about halfway done, add garlic and apples. (The onions needn’t be overly-soft, they’ll simmer in the broth later.) Remove them from the pot as well.
• Add yet another pad of butter to the pot — a good sized tablespoon. Melt. Sprinkle the flour over the top and whisk together. Let this cook together for a few minutes (keep whisking). Whisk in about 3/4 of the beer and then the beef broth. Bring it to a boil. Drink the rest of the beer while waiting.
• When your broth is boiling, add bay leaves, the meat and onions you set aside, carrots and potatoes. Season with S&P. When it comes to a boil again, turn the heat down and let it simmer for at least an hour — or until the carrots and potatoes are softened and the meat is fork-tender. 

I served it with cornbread muffins. Delicious. I should have taken some photos, but my boyfriend didn’t get home until around 8 so we were both too hungry to wait. Plus, the lighting in my kitchen is atrocious.

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