Design your own ravioli with vodka sauce

Today we went to Sky Zone trampoline park as a premature celebration of my upcoming 40th birthday. It was incredible. Highly recommended.

When we got home, I thawed a frozen container of vodka sauce, cooked some plain chicken, and had husband make peas. He also whipped up some cheese ravioli.

We set out the shredded Parmesan and let everyone compile their own mix. After all that jumping, I had a chicken breast, a serving of ravioli, the cheese and a heap of peas.

Chicken and spinach pasta

A quick lighter version of Alfredo florentine, with chicken served over little chicken-shaped noodles.

The sauce:

- 4 tablespoons butter

- 1 cup homemade chicken stock

- 1 cup skim milk

- garlic powder to taste

- paprika to taste

- about 2 cups chopped spinach

Combine all the ingredients but the spinach and bring to a slow boil so it can thicken. Once it starts to thicken, add the spinach. Mix sauce into noodles.

Cook chicken strips as designed with additional garlic powder and paprika. I arranged mine in a circular formation  around the pasta.

I then sprinkled shredded Parmesan on the pasta.

Green pasta with beef kielbasa

This turned out awesome.

I sautéed a couple ounces of ricotta salada and kielbasa diced in large chunks in Papa John's garlic sauce diluted with a couple tablespoons oil.

Then I added about 1/2 cup frozen spinach, about 1/3 cup frozen kale and probably 2 cups peas (it all fell out of the bag at a rate I couldn't control.)

When that was all thoroughly cooked, I added cooked pasta (about four to five servings) and removed it from heat. I stirred it for what seemed like forever and then drizzled about two tablespoons cold pressed imported extra virgin olive oil.

Fried Chicken

So, I had a cold this weekend while daughter had serious gastro-intestinal distress. I went to work Monday and survived an eight hour December shift. Came home way sicker than I was previously. Guess I overdid it.

I had the worst craving for boxed mac and cheese. Daughter had a school fundraiser and I purchased the "holiday toy cheesy mac" because her public school demanded I buy pasta or opt for a $20 buy-out. I won't rant here. But simply put, I would rather know what that money is for. I was told field trip. But then tell me my kid needs to sell pasta or pay for their own field trip ticket later. Not just tell me to hand over $20.

I made "fried chicken." Now this is a variant of my mother-in-law's chicken. I had three chicken breasts in the freezer reaching their expiration. I thawed them, slapped them in my cast iron skillet with a slight greasing of oil and baked them at 350 for 20 minutes.

I then retrieved them and sliced each breast into four fingers. They were very juicy at this point so I probably could have skipped egg to bread them. I didn't. I slopped them through the egg, dipped them in my breadcrumb mix, and return them to the skillet with maybe three tablespoons oil. I turned them every three minutes or so.

My breadcrumb mix:

- homemade crumbs from any remotely "bread" product

-commercial Italian breadcrumbs because I didn't have enough in the freezer

- one to two tablespoons paprika

- about 1.5 teaspoons mesquite dry rub

Garbage Pail Pasta

I wanted spaghetti with meat sauce so we made this crazy pile of pasta where half the noodles are farfalle and the other half are elbow.

The sauce started as about six to eight ounces ground beef, three chopped garden tomatoes, canned plain tomato sauce, garlic powder, freshly ground black pepper, basil and Italian seasoning.

But then I threw in leftover julienne carrots, artichoke hearts, and a handful of kalamata olives.

Topped the whole mess with crushed red pepper.

Scrumptious.

Broccoli olive pasta

Nothing more soothing than hot pasta after shoveling a blizzard...

My husband made this whole wheat rotini with red sauce, black olives, green olives, ground beef and broccoli. Topped with shredded Parmesan. All kinds of yum.

Olive pasta

This one is for my friend, Jayne, who stopped to ask my husband if I were okay because I hadn't blogged in a while.

Haven't had anything to blog because our meals have been borrowing.

Earlier this week, my daughter had her ENT appointment. We would be getting her to school late and since I didn't have time nor groceries to pack, it was looking like she'd be stuck with peanut butter and jelly.

There's a Target next door to her doctor's office.

A BIG Target that has different stuff than our local Target.

We found an Archer Farm ready to eat pasta salad in the café. It came with pesto, roasted red pepper, kalamata olives, spinach and feta. Child loved it.

But it made me want to try it.

So tonight I had husband make rotini.

I poured some extra virgin olive oil in my skillet. I put the heat on low and added garlic powder and cracked peppercorn. I added organic fresh spinach, roasted red peppers, Spanish olives, and kalamata olives.

I put the topping on the noodles and sprinkled with Parmesan. 

I served with a side of chicken bites because they were on clearance and I wasn't sure the pasta world be enough. I wish I hadn't included them. 

Eggplant/Sausage Parm

I think I am possibly the least talented person alive when it comes to cooking eggplant. 

I started with an eggplant from my sister-in-law's garden. I peeled, sliced, layered in between dish towels and pressed under a big Le Creuset pot.

About four hours later, I breaded the cutlets sans egg with my own mix of homemade breadcrumbs. Fried in a mix of canola and coconut oil because I'm almost out of coconut oil.

We layered the eggplant with tomato sauce, chunks of tomato from my own garden, cheddar, Parmesan and chunks of bratwurst. (It was on clearance at Target). Seasonings included garlic powder and Italian seasoning.

Covered with foil and baking at 350 for 40 minutes. While I'm in the shower, husband will prep some sort of pasta with the leftover sausage.

The end product was fabulous on a bed of spaghetti, sprinkled with some more Parmesan. 

I haven't cooked a real meal in ages and this might make up for it.

Buffalo chicken orzo

My daughter and I went on a six mile bike  today. Man, I am out of shape. But I never was an athlete!

When we got home, the family whipped up a hot lunch of leftover orzo with chopped chicken.

My husband and daughter had theirs with sugar snap peas, lima beans, and brussel sprouts drizzled with extra virgin olive oil and topped with herbs and a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese.

I had no lima beans and used Archer Farns buffalo sauce on mine.

Cheesy spinach orzo

It's 95 degrees here and for some reason, I get the idea it would be *nice* to have baked mac and cheese for dinner. My mother gave me this really nice block of aged sharp provolone. She deemed it "too stinky" for her crew to eat.

But then I had no full sized pasta, just spaghetti or orzo. So I made orzo. A LOT of orzo.

Ingredients:

- about eight ounces aged extra sharp provolone

- about three ounces Monterey Jack

- about two ounces cheddar

- about 4 ounces grated Parmesan 

- 3 cups coconut milk

- 2 tablespoons flour

- 3 tablespoons butter

- 3/4 teaspoon fresh ground four color peppercorns

- 1 teaspoon garlic pepper

- 1 block frozen spinach, thawed and drained

Preheat oven to 375.

Prepare pasta as desired. Set aside.

Melt butter in pan, slowly mix in flour. When bubbly, slowly mix in coconut milk so flour-butter roux blends in nicely.

Add desired seasonings. 

When bubbly, add all cheese but Parmesan, in tiny chunks. Remove from heat. Stir. When melted, add spinach.

Mix sauce and pasta in oven safe dish. Top with Parmesan. Bake, covered, for 30 minutes.

Chicken française pasta

My husband came up with the suggestion of "chicken française pasta" when I first got some boneless, skinless chicken on clearance at Target.

Today we pulled it out of the freezer and gave it a shot.

Ingredients:

- chicken, boneless, skinless and cut into smaller pieces

- lemon juice, about half a cup (two fresh lemons?) 

- one stick butter

- peas

- broccoli

- pasta of choice

- 1/2 cup fresh dill from the garden

- 1/2 cup fresh parsley from the garden

- about six chives fresh from the garden

- 1 teaspoon garlic powder 

- about 1/2 teaspoon garlic pepper (plus another 1/2 teaspoon)

- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning 

- your favorite olive oil 

Heat about one tablespoon butter over low heat in cast iron skillet. Add equal parts lemon juice. Add the garlic powder and the Italian seasoning.

Stir until nicely combined. Add chicken. Increase heat to medium. 

Cook pasta to desired doneness. Drain and set aside. 

When chicken is done, push the meat to one side of skillet. Sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon garlic pepper. Arrange skillet so empty side is over the heating element.

Add about 1/2 stick butter to empty side of skillet, add fresh herbs and cook while trying to push the sauce around the empty side of the skillet to minimize how much sauce the chicken absorbs. 

Add vegetables to empty side of skillet. Combine both sides of skillet until everything is evenly mixed and evenly heated.

Pour olive oil (cold pressed extra virgin imported from the Middle East is my fav) over the pasta and mix so they are just a tiny bit wet and kind of glistening.

Put pasta in bottom of serving bowl. Top with desired amount of chicken-vegetable mix.

This was incredible!

Pasta tonight

Dinner tonight:

- fresh express iceberg lettuce garden mix with Annie's Goddess dressing

- pasta with red sauce, calamata olives and spicy lamb sausage 

- unsweetened applesauce

For him:

A Grasshopper

1/2 shot creme de menthe

1/2 shot creme de cocoa

1/4 shot half and half

1/4 shot plain coconut milk

(Shaken and served over ice)

For her:

Bicardi ready to drink mojito 

(Not the best mojito I've ever had but nice enough)

Empty House Daddy Pasta

As you may know, we have been traveling. We left the house without much food... And guess what? We still didn't have any when we returned. No food shopping fairies!

So we made rotini with red sauce, supplemented with half a tomato found in the fridge, some of the Parmesan I got on clearance at Target and about 1/2 cup of browned ground beef I had in the freezer.

Ravioli and Brussel sprouts

So tonight I made Bertolli roasted tomato and mozzarella ravioli (that I got on clearance) in an olive oil sauce with a serious side of Brussel sprouts.

I put a small amount of butter on each serving of ravioli then sprinkled them with fresh ground Italian seasoning, garlic pepper and basil. I drizzled extra virgin olive oil over top.

The Brussel sprouts were sautéed briefly in coconut oil, fresh ground four color pepper, garlic powder and sprinkled with salt. I topped them with olive oil also and placed them, in the Le Creuset skillet, in a preheated 450 degree oven for ten minutes.

Delightful.

Ravioli with bacon sauce

My husband had to work late unexpectedly and child has her dance lessons tonight so I whipped up this ravioli (spinach-portabello mushroom-cheese) with bacon sauce and broccoli.

I dropped the ravioli into boiling water, started a big bag of premium broccoli in the steam in bag and started the sauce in a small pot.

The sauce was two tablespoons butter, melted on low, with three strips bacon broken into bits. I added about a teaspoon of garlic pepper and a teaspoon of Italian herb seasoning.

When the ravioli finished, I placed them in a big bowl and poured the bacon sauce on them and stirred to mix. Next I topped with the broccoli and drizzled the broccoli with extra virgin olive oil.

I stirred everything heartily together and sprinkled some Parmesan cheese. I added sliced calamata olives and served.

Delightful. Really delightful.

Lasagne soup

The title is a joke.

I made lasagne in a bread loaf pan because I only had 8 no boil lasagne noodles.

So I layered plain sauce, noodles, ricotta from Klein Farm, heaps of spinach, some garlic powder and some Italian seasoning.

I didn't do the egg and multiple cheese thing. Wanted to keep the dairy to a minimum and keep the recipe quick.

It was tasty even if it was soupy.

Mixed up ravioli

Last night I had a delightful dinner with friends at Valenca in downtown Easton. I brought home a lovely piece of salmon that I recycled into the following hot lunch:

- dairy free roasted red pepper ravioli
- Wegmans feta spinach peorogies

In a sauce just slightly warmed in the cast iron skillet:
- Extra virgin olive oil, cold pressed, imported from Beirut
- garlic pepper
- Italian seasoning
- a teaspoon of lemon juice
- zaatar spice

Hurricane Sandy Pasta

During the weekend, my husband made his famous-in-our-household "Daddy Pasta" to use up our ground beef from the farm, just in case we lose power.

We recycled it for lunch today and used up our calamata olives and Bulgarian feta that I would hate to lose. So we ate it.

Yummy stuff.

We also got homemade muffins, zaatar bread, mocha bread from Target, and croissants from the freezer.

We're ready.

Spaghetti and local sausage

- wheat rotini
- tomato sauce
- local sausage
- oregano
- garlic pepper
- Italian seasoning

'Nuff said?

Chicken spinach Alfredo

My husband requested "some sort of Alfredo sauce" over linguine.

So I whipped this up:
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 tablespoon flour
(Melted and blended in the cast iron skillet until bubbly)
Add:
- parsley
- Italian seasoning
- dry mustard
- generous amounts of garlic pepper
Add about 3/4 cups each:
- milk
- half and half
- soy milk
- fresh spinach
- frozen peas
Cook until bubbly.
Add chicken if desired.
Once chicken is hot, add:
- about 1/2 cup grated Romano
Then put over pasta and top each serving with shredded Parmesan