Ravioli Lasagna

I know this is a trend going around lately, so I thought I'd take a whack at it. It really was so simple, and does accomplish the same thing. Of course, nothing can replace that lovely flavorful gooyness that regular lasagna has, but it's a nice replacement as a simple form of the comforting dish.

This ended up being vegetarian, but brown up some beef or turkey if you'd like.

Frozen cheese ravioli
frozen broccoli (it's what I had on hand, but you could, of course, use fresh)
one small onion
about 1 c sliced mushrooms
a sprinkle dried basil
s&p
a sprinkle paprika
3 cloves minced garlic
about 1/2 jar marinara sauce ( I added a little water to it so the ravioli would be nice and tender)
Italian blend cheese, or any cheese you want to sprinkle on.

Turn over onto 375. In a hot skillet saute the onion, broccoli, mushrooms, garlic, paprika, basil, and s&p with a little olive oil. Let cook until onions are translucent, and broccoli is becoming tender. Spread a thin layer of the sauce on the bottom of a greased 8x8 pan. Place a single layer of ravioli over that and sprinkle half of the vegetables over that. Add a thin layer of cheese, and repeat the process. Add one more layer of ravioli and top with the rest of the sauce, a little more cheese, and some Parmesan and basil to finish it off. Top with foil ( I like to spray my foil with cooking spray so the delicious cheese doesn't stick.) and bake for about 20 minutes, or until the sauce is bubbling and the cheese is melted. I like my cheese a little brown so I like to take of the foil stick it under the broiler for a minute or two after it's cooked. Try it out.

Homemade Basil Fettuccine

This is the fettuccine I referred to in this post on my blog. The recipe for the pasta dough is there also. It was so delicious and tender. And once the pasta is made, it only take a couple minutes to boil to the perfect al dente. This dish was pretty simple.Start a big pot of water boiling. Saute some chopped onion in olive oil for about 5 minutes in a large skillet. Add a clove or two of garlic, sliced zucchini, and cherry tomatoes to the onions and saute until the veggies are cooked through. While they are cooking, add your pasta to the rapidly boiling water. It will only take 1 1/2 minutes to cook if it is fresh, and about 2 minutes if it's frozen. Add the pasta directly to the pan with the veggies, along with about 1/2 cup of the pasta cooking water. I wanted a nice fresh tasting sauce, so I just added about 1/2 c sour cream, s&p to taste, and any other herbs or seasonings you like with your pasta. Add as much Parmesan as you like, and toss is all together, take it off the heat and add a couple big handfuls of fresh spinach. Top with more Parmesan. I also added veggie meatballs that I mentioned in the post I wrote about before. Again, it was vegetarian with out trying to be so. It was quite good.

red wine carbonara

Yet another carbonara. I wanted to have some girls over for lunch so I made this. I really like this version.

Start pasta cooking. Cut the turkey bacon into strips and brown in olive oil until crisp. Remove from pan, leaving the oil. Brown an onion in the skillet. When they are nice and cooked and becoming caramelized, add a couple cloves of mince garlic and cook for about 1 minute. Add cooked, drained pasta (I used red wine fetuccine) to onion and garlic and stir to combine. Take off the heat and add 2 eggs (I had yolks leftover from baking so that's what I used. It was pretty rich.) Stir until the heat from the pan cooks the egg. Add parsley and parmesean. It was a little thick so I also added a little milk and put back on the heat for a minute or two just to let everything combine. Top with cooked bacon. Not the exact and proper way to make carbonara, but it worked and was delicious.

One of these days I want to start making my own pasta. I will someday get the attachment that goes with my KitchenAid, but I'm happy with good quality store bough brands until then.

Chicken and Red Pepper Cream Sauce with Pasta

On this day I was really aching to make something really comforting since for various reason I hadn't cooked a decent meal in about two weeks. This satisfied my need to cook, and our palates.


Place a deep skillet over high heat, add about 2-3 T of olive oil. Salt and pepper 2-4 chicken breasts and place them in the hot skillet to sear. Let cook for about 2 minutes per side just to caramelize. The don't need to be cooked through. Remove from the pan and set aside.

Add 2 more tablespoons of olive oil to the skillet and turn it to medium high. Roughly chop one red pepper, and a medium onion. Add those and 2 cloves of finely minced garlic to the skillet. Then add about 1/2 t of each paprika, curry power. mustard seeds, and dried basil. Saute for about 5 minutes until they are starting to brown and onions are becoming translucent. Add about 2 c of chicken broth and let simmer another 5-10 minutes until veggies are very soft.

Start cooking any kind of pasta using the manufacturers instructions. It's good to use one that can really hold the sauce like penne or rigatoni, but we used basil fettuccine since I was in the mood.

When the peppers and onions are soft, pour into a blender and add about 1/4-1/2 c of cream, or half and half, and blend until smooth. Milk works fine, it just won't be as thick and I happened to have cream when I made this. Or you can omit the cream/milk. Pour back in the skillet and let come back up to a simmer. Add the chicken and all the juices that have accumulated back into the pan and cook for about 15 minutes, or until the chicken is fully cooked through, 170 degrees.

Slice the chicken, place over the pasta, and pour the sauce over it. Garnish with mustard seeds and crumbled bacon for a nice crunch. I would've loved to have some nice green herbs like parley or basil for garnish, but not having any on hand, dried had to do. We also put Parmesan, a must with most pasta dishes. Some crusty bread, or good quality croutons are good for soaking up the rest of the juices as well.

KC now asks for this all the time.

Grilled Chicken and Spinach Lasagna Rolls

When I feel like I have nothing to make dinner with, I am always surprised at what my fridge and cupboards hold. This is why I hold off grocery shopping for long periods of time. This time I decided to use my finding to make lasagna rolls

Here's the deal:
Start you water boiling to get your lasagna noodles softened up. Boil until they are al dente. Start your chicken grilling on the George Foreman, or however you want to grill it (this is where those pre-grilled strips from Costco come in handy). I put a little Italian dressing on it for fun.
Then I brown up a couple strips of bacon and drained them on a paper towel. In a bowl combine about 16 oz cottage or ricotta cheese, one egg, a couple cup of chopped fresh spinach (frozen also works great) chopped marinated red pepper(optional, I just happened to have an open jar in the fridge.), about 1/4 c chopped red onion, salt, pepper, Mrs. Dash and the chopped grilled chicken (I used Cami's advice to chop the chicken with my Pampered Chef chopper) and mix. Lay the cooked noodles flat promptly after straining. Divide the filling between 9-10 noodles. Spread on the entire noodle leaving about 1 inch on each end. Gently roll them up and lay them in an oiled 9x13 pan. This recipe can of course we altered to whatever amount you want. Top them with a little marinara sauce and mozzarella cheese. I did an Italian blend of cheese so I didn't add extra Parmesan. Bake on 375 for about 20 minutes or until the cheese is melted and turning golden. I'm realizing now that I should've added minced garlic to the filling, but it was still delicious.

Tuna Casserole

There is actually a funny story about this meal. We had just gotten home from our cruise and wanted something really simple and quick. We were so used to eating rich meals constantly on the cruise so we were pretty hungry. We had hardly anything in the fridge so I was lucky to have the ingredients for anything. I like to think that I could go into anyone's kitchen and no matter how few ingredients they have in the cupboards, I can make a decent meal. This is what I made in a pinch.

It is super simple so I understand if you are not impressed. Here is the recipe

2 cans White Albacore Tuna in water (I know it's more expensive, but it's worth it.)
About 1/2 c sour cream. I didn't really measure.
About 1/2 c low fat Mayo. Same as above. I just added until I liked the texture.
About 1/4 c bread crumbs.
Shredded cheese
Any kind of pasta, cooked. I used the colorful curly ones.
Salt, pepper, Mrs. Dash to taste
Marinated red peppers (optional)

Mix the Tuna, sour cream, cheese, bread crumbs, mayo, salt, pepper, Mrs. Dash, and pasta in a
bowl. Spread into a baking dish and top with marinated peppers, more bread crumbs, and more cheese. Bake at 375 until it is warmed through.

Of course you can really dress this meal up, but again, we didn't have ANY fresh groceries due to all the traveling, so that fact that we ate that night was pretty impressive. The leftovers we good too.

Eggplant Parmesan

This was really simple. I breaded the eggplant (dry the eggplant on paper towels for a while, dip in flour, egg, then bread crumbs) broiled it until it was toasted on both sides, and layered it with marinara sauce, mozzarella, fresh tomatoes, herbs, and of course Parmesan. I baked it covered at 375 for about 20 minutes, or until it was bubbling, and then took of the foil for about 5 minutes. I served it over whole wheat thin spaghetti. The leftovers were just as good.

Pasta, and things like it.

Unfortunately there are few recipes to give here since I can hardly recall what I put in myself.

Whole wheat mac and cheese: This is Alton's recipe. I think I added ham and broccoli to mine.
Lasagna: I love lasagna. I never make it with out spinach.
Creamy veggie pasta: Looks like another spinach and pepper concoction. Quick and easy.
Spinach Gnocchi: I guess this goes with the pastas.
Vegetarian Carbonara: Loaded with peppers, yellow and green squash, and of course garlic and onions. I made this when our landlord came over for dinner.
Whole wheat linguine: Spinach, turkey bacon, chicken and fresh tomatoes. Maybe goat cheese in there somewhere?
Beef Stroganoff: This might not be considered a pasta, but where else would it go?
Carbonara: This had ham, red peppers, onion, parsley and garlic.
Whole wheat pasta with Chicken and creamy marinara: I can't quite remember what when into this one. Looks like there's broccoli in there somewhere.