Delicious Baked Manicotti

 

So, besides my post yesterday I know it's been awhile since you've seen me post anything on here! It's not because we've taken a hiatus from eating or cooking, it's just that as soon as the weather here in OK started to get more "Spring" like, I can't keep myself inside or sitting still! As someone who has spent her entire life loving the outdoors, I think it's SO important to put down the iPad, tablet, computer or whatever it is that keeps you inside and go outside and take some time to stop and smell the roses! 

 outdoormindedmag.com

We've been fishing, hiking and cooking out with friends and family already this Spring, and there will be much more of all that as the season for outdoor living has just begun! Today is yucky, so I'm taking this downtime to put up a new recipe! I grabbed this recipe from Mel's Kitchen Cafe, and she has so many good recipes on there it's hard to chose where to start! Let's get started with this one!

Ingredients

Tomato Sauce

 

1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes (in juice)
1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3 medium cloves garlic, finely minced
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes, optional
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons dried basil 

Cheese Filling and Pasta:

3 cups part-skim ricotta cheese
4 ounces grated Parmesan cheese

8 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese
2 large eggs , lightly beaten
3/4 teaspoon table salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves (or 2 1/2 teaspoons dried parsley)
2 teaspoons chopped fresh basil (or 1 teaspoon dried basil)
16 no-boil lasagna noodles

 

Make sure you have a rack in the middle of your oven and pre-heat it to 375 degrees. 

 

In a large saucepan heat the oil, pepper flakes and garlic over medium/high heat! You are wanting this to get fragrant, not so much brown! It should take about a minute or two to get that first wonderful whiff of deliciousness! Now throw in your tomatoes, salt and dried basil and allow to simmer for about 15 minutes or until sauce has thickened (not too thick just slightly). 

 

 

 

In a medium sized bowl stir together the ricotta, mozzarella cheese, 1 cup of the Parmesan cheese (1/2 of what the recipe calls for), eggs, salt, pepper, and herbs! Set this mixture to the side.

 

 

 

Now for the assembly!! n a 9x13 pan, pour about one inch of boiling water into the pan. Add your noodles one at a time, making sure they don't all stick together! Let them soak for about 5 minutes or until you can "roll them" without them breaking! You don't want them to be completely cooked through because then they will break on you! 

 

 

Lay your noodles out on a paper towel or dish towel to dry off and discard the water in the pan. Make sure your pan is dried and clean to start the assembly process. Add just enough of the sauce to cover the bottom of your pan. It should be about 1 1/2 cups of sauce! Take a noodle and spoon about 1/4 c of the cheese mixture on the bottom of the noodle! This took some trial and error for me! I found the easiest way to do this was to spoon the mixture on about an inch from the bottom of the noodle. Spread it out a little with your fingers and start to roll the noodle! You'll have to figure out what works best for you! I made about 3 extra noodles just so I could practice a couple of times without losing any of our food! Place them on top of the sauce in the pan, seam side down! Cover with the remaining sauce and place aluminum foil over the pan. Bake in the oven for about 40 minutes and then remove the foil (CAREFUL: DON'T BURN YOURSELF WITH THE STEAM). Add the remainder of the Parmesan cheese, and bake about 5-7 more minutes or until the cheese is brown and bubbly. Remove from oven and let stand for a few minutes to cool! 

Serve and enjoy!

I'm going to try and start writing the night before so all I have to do before heading out is hit publish and we can be on our way! I love sharing our recipes with ya'll and you've given me such an overwhelming response that I want to make sure to keep it up! I've got to figure out what I'm going to do to make up for the photo challenge this month. Maybe next month I will take 2 pictures a day and go from there!

Until next time...

~Happy Eating~

 

--"Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature. It will never fail you"-- 

~Frank Lloyd Wright~

 

 

Spicy Smoked Sausage Pasta

I have a lot of catching up to do on recipes!! This recipe I pulled from Kevin and Amanda's blog who got this recipe from the cookbook, The Best Simple Recipes! Smoked sausage is one of those things I love to eat, but often forget exists when I'm at the grocery store! This is an absolutely delightful, hearty dish that we had no problems polishing off in just a couple of days! Let's get started...

Ingredients

1 TB olive oil

1 lb. smoked sausage

1.5 c diced onion

2 cloves garlic-minced

2 c chicken broth

1 (10 oz) can Rotel

1/2 c heavy cream

8 oz. Penne Pasta

1/2 tsp. salt & pepper 

1 c Mont Jack shredded cheese

1/3 c thin sliced green onion

To begin, you're going to want to add your olive oil to your pan over medium/high heat! You're going to want the oil to get hot enough it's smoking before you add the sliced smoked sausage and diced onion. 

Cook these two together until slightly browned, which should take about 4-6 minutes! Add in the 2 garlic cloves, and saute about 30 seconds, or until fragrant! 

Add the chicken broth, tomatoes, heavy cream, pasta, salt and pepper and stir together!

Bring this all to boil and cover leaving the heat on medium/low and simmer for about 15 minutes or until the pasta is tender!

Stir in 1/2 of a cup of the shredded cheese and mix together well! Top it off with the remaining 1/2 cup of cheese and sliced green onion, and place under the broiler for a just a few minutes, until the cheese is bubbly and getting brown!

Ready for the broiler

Out of the broiler!

All finished and ready to eat :)

This recipe was absolutely wonderful since it's been so cold outside, it helped warm us up! I did sprinkle a little dash or two of red pepper flakes in there to spice it up a little more! 

Stay tuned for another recipe from a friend of mine!

Until then...

 

Taco Salad

Taco salad is an easy dinner and absolutely delicious! I can remember eating this when I was a little girl! I never seem to remember it when I'm stuck for something to make for dinner, but I remembered last night and I couldn't be happier I did! It's fairly easy to put together and will leave you happy and coming back for seconds! Let's get started...

Ingredients

1 lb. ground beef

1 onion

2 small tomatoes

2 cloves of garlic

1 pkg. (or pre-made) taco seasoning

Corn Tortillas

Canola oil

Shredded Cheese-I used the Mexican blend 

Shredded Lettuce-

(I didn't have this on hand last night but I normally always put it on there)

Catalina Dressing

You're going to want to brown the meat in a large skillet, and add about half of the onion (chopped), garlic cloves and one small tomato (diced). Once your meat is cooked through you're going to add the taco seasoning and water. Keep the meat on warm, and add a little canola oil to a small skillet. Heat the oil until it's smoking and add one tortilla at a time for about 10-15 seconds per side. All you're trying to do is give the tortilla a crispy crunch!! Place tortillas out on a paper towel to soak up any remaining oil. Dice the remainder of the onion and the second tomato and add to a plate! Here are the steps to putting these together...

1) Place tortilla on a plate

2) Add meat

3) Top with onion, tomato, and lettuce

4) Add shredded cheese

5) Top it off with the Catalina Dressing

6) ENJOY!!

Meat mixture in the skillet staying warm!

This is the size of the onion I used! 

Step 1) Add crispy corn tortilla to your plate! (You need to use corn, the flour tortillas don't get crispy like these do)! 

Finished Taco Salad! YUM! 

Stay tuned for a chickpea snack tomorrow! 

Until then...

Penne Pasta with Roasted Red Peppers

We found a delicious pasta dish on Annie's Eats blog! We loved it, had plenty of leftovers and had no problem taking down the entire leftover bowl in the next couple of days! I also started February's photo challenge, so here is the beginning of February's photos and this yummy pasta dish!

The first two days of February's photo challenge were:

Words
Childhood

"Treasures from the Sea" were my words I captured on the 1st of February! This is from our package of Mahi Mahi that we had for dinner! Yes...Treasure from the sea is how I would describe this fish as well!

My childhood photo is a picture of the street sign from the street I grew up on! 

Now on to the pasta...

Ingredients

3 garlic cloves (if you don't like a lot of garlic flavor I would cut this down)

1/3 c Parmesan cheese

1 c roasted red bell pepper

Basil

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1/3 c olive oil

1 lb. penne pasta

1/4 c heavy cream (this is optional...we used it)

To start off, you're going to mix the garlic, cheese, roasted red pepper, salt and pepper. Add the olive oil and mix together until well blended! 

To roast the red bell pepper, I placed the pepper in the broiler for about 5 minutes then took it out turned the pepper and roasted for another 3-4 minutes. You'll just want to keep an eye on the pepper, because once it starts to "roast" it goes quickly! You're going to look for a little "charred" effect, and make sure you turn the pepper so it roasts all the sides! 

Once it's roasted, wait for it to cool and then peel the skin off and finely chop the pepper! The skin is easy to remove and make sure you get the core and seeds out as well!

Now you're going to cook the pasta according to the the package, drain and rinse with cold water. To your olive oil mixture you can add the heavy cream if you so wish, and toss the sauce in with the pasta and serve! 

This dish is an easy alternative to a quick spaghetti dish you might throw together during the week! You can even make it ahead of time and heat when you're ready, it tastes just as good re-heated as right out of the pan! Stay tuned for some great new recipes this week!! Until then...

~Happy Eating~

  

Homemade Sloppy Joes

Well, we did it again! Watching the Pioneer Woman make some homemade sloppy joes for her family made us realize that it's just as easy to make it her way as it is to dump the can in the pot and add extra ingredients! The only thing I wasn't adding pretty much was the ketchup and Worcestershire sauce! So we made her homemade version, and it was just as easy and equally delicious!

Before we get started on this recipe though, I'll give you an update on reading The Alchemist! It's a wonderful book so far! My favorite quote from the book thus far is, "We do not realize that love is just a further impetus, not something that will will prevent us going forward. We do not realize that those who genuinely wish us well want us to be happy and are prepared to accompany us on that journey" (Paulo Coelho).  What a beautiful truth! This makes me think of one of my best friend who is packing up her family to move 10 hours away to follow her husbands goals with his job! That's the kind of love that is real. No questions, no worries, you just go and be supportive and make the best of every opportunity because each new place and each new obstacle is a part of your life together and a new road on your journey! I love all the adventures I've had so far with DJ, and the future and all the adventures we have yet to have, and it could not be more exciting to think about.  I think you know it's real, when you can express to each other that the road, the journey and all the bumps and cracks on the way are YOURS to experience TOGETHER. I love that he reminds me of this in one way or another every single day! Just the short reading I've done so far, has made me very aware of this! Do I have your interest yet about the book?? Okay, good! Now let's get started on the sloppy joes!

Ingredients
We used less ingredients because we are only feeding two of us :)
1 lb ground beef (we used venison)
1 TB butter
Onion, chopped (she used half of an onion, I just eyeballed it until we had all we wanted)
That's the fun part of tweaking recipes to fit your family, you can add as many ingredients as you want, based on your own taste buds!
Green Pepper, chopped (small green pepper, we used the whole thing)
Garlic cloves, minced (we used about 2 1/2 larger cloves, she used 5)
1 1/2 cup of ketchup
A little less than a full cup of water
2 TB brown sugar
2 tsp chili powder (more if you want more of a kick)
1 tsp dry mustard
Red Pepper Flakes (add as few or as many as you want for a little spiciness)
Worcestershire sauce to taste
Salt and pepper

To start off, you're going to cook your beef (or venison) in the butter in a large skillet! Once it's browned drain of excess grease! While your meat is cooking, start chopping the onion, peppers, and garlic!

The garlic on the top and bottom on the right side were TINY, that's why it looks like there is so much garlic there! I wouldn't have cared if they were larger, I love garlic!

One small green pepper chopped

Once the meat is brown and drained, you're going to add ALL the ingredients (chopped onion, garlic, pepper, ketchup, Worcestershire, red pepper flakes, dry mustard, brown sugar, chili powder, water, salt and pepper). Turn your heat down to medium/high and simmer everything together. If it doesn't look right, you can add more of whatever you think you're missing. We ended up adding more ketchup to give it the typical "red sloppy joe sauce" look. 

Here it is before it was all mixed together, and then after it was all mixed and simmering

Once everything is warmed through, you can it scoop it on the bread of your choice (we just used regular hamburger buns) and enjoy!! It was really delicious and truly just as easy as using the pre-made store bought mix! I guess for us anyway, because I always add extra fresh ingredients to the can! 

Until next time...

~Happy Eating~

Friday is for Fish--Mahi Mahi with basil butter

Mahi Mahi photo at FreshFishSource.blogspot.com

I have such a wonderful man!! He had to run some errands today and he ended up right by the White River Fish Market at 1708 North Sheridan in Tulsa. So of course being the lover of foods that we are, he went in and brought us home a beautiful (and very large), Mahi Mahi filet! It was about lunch time and he just got off work, so I found a quick recipe on Food Network and it took almost no time to whip up! This is seriously one of my new favorite recipes! You know when you cook fish in the house, and it leaves that "I just cooked fish" smell?? Well, this recipe didn't have that smell...it smelled like basil, and garlic and butter! Yum Yum Yum!!! So here is all we did to make this absolutely wonderful Mahi Mahi dish!

We started with a very large filet cut and removed the "skin" off the fish! We actually had to cut it into about 3 sections it was so large. In a small sauce pot I added 3 tablespoons of butter, a shake or two of salt and pepper, one large garlic clove minced and I didn't have fresh basil so I added dried basil to the recipe. I actually used less than it called for since we were using dried basil and probably added 4 shakes to the pot! (I say shakes because I took the container and shook it over the pot). I turned the burner on low and added a lid to keep it covered and let the butter melt, stirring it every so often. In a large skillet, I added 3 tablespoons of olive oil and warmed it over medium/high heat. We salt and peppered both sides of the fish, and added them to the skillet. The recipe says 3 minutes on one side and 3-4 minutes on the other. Ours took quite a bit longer because it was cut so thick. So we turned it every 3-4 minutes until the fish was white and flaky all the way through. After the fish was finished we put it on a plate and poured the basil-garlic butter over the top of the fish.

 Soaking up that garlic-basil butter!! YUMMY

The rest of the fish is history! It was so delicious and made a very light, flavorful lunch! If you're wondering here is some nutritional information on Mahi Mahi that you can find on Livestrong.com. The only thing we had to purchase for this meal was the fish, everything else was in the fridge, so for $13 we got a lunch that would cost an arm and leg at a restaurant for cheap! Made my day!!! 

Can't wait to make this again!!!

~Happy Eating~

                                              

Kale Caesar-ish salad - a stress relieving salad. no, really.

Leah here. Today has been....difficult. Not bad, but challenging. Sundays are never a walk in the park. It's my fault, too. I totally veg out on Friday night. Usually we get takeout food and always I catch up on my week of DVRed trash TV.  We live Saturday to the fullest. Trips to the farmers market. Lots of backyard playing. Long naps. Then either another takeout dinner or something easy and comforting. Then Sunday comes and it's time to face the reality of planning for the new week ahead. This means menu planning, grocery shopping, laundry, general house cleaning, ironing those things in need of it. In protest I often stay in my pjs until noon.

Today was no different but throw in a rambunctious and newly hard headed, nay, DRAMATIC 27 month old and this mommy was worn out. I sent hubs out to run errands, plopped kiddo in front of the TV and tried to gain control of my kitchen / laundry situation. You know when you just CAN'T stay on top of it? I'd clear the dishes and then it was time to switch the laundry. Kiddo dumps box of legos all over the living room. We clean that up and it's time for her lunch. More dishes and mess to clear. I swear I could sweep four times a day and not control the crumbs and general grit that is my kitchen floor. DING! Another load of laundry is done. By nap time, I was READY for a break. And for my lunch. And I settled on a very stress relieving salad.

SALAD!? "Leah!" you're yelling at me, "We don't come here for stinking salads!" Well, burritos and baked goods soon enough, friends. Today we're talking salad. A kale salad with Caesar-ish flavors. You'll feel like you're getting away with something bad for you. You'll chomp on chewy kale and your stress will slip away through your jaws and your tension will be tamed by your full, soothed belly.

First of all, I LOVE Tracy and her ShutterBean blog. She's great on Twitter, tries out a lot of recipes she finds online like I like to do, PLUS she's bff's with Joy of Joy the Baker, another blog I adore. When menu planning this morning I ran across Tracy's Tuscan kale salad with perocino cheese. I had most of the ingredients and filed it away for a future meal. Nope. I needed it for lunch.

Tuscan Kale Salad with Pecorino
slightly adapted from Shutterbean

Makes 2 generous servings (or one if you are a grouchy mommy)

• 1 bunch Tuscan Kale (I used about 1/3 to 1/2)
• 1 thin slice country bread or 1/4 c. good, homemade coarse bread crumbs 
• 1 garlic clove
• 1/4 tsp. kosher salt, plus a pinch
• 1/4 c. finely grated Pecorino cheese, plus additional for garnish (I had parmesan on hand and it was great)
• 3 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil, plus additional for garnish (I only had vegetable oil. It worked fine but EVOO would have been best)
• freshly squeezed juice of 1 lemon (I used half a lemon but more would have been better)
• 1/8 tsp. red pepper flakes (mmmmmm...)
• freshly ground black pepper to taste

Trim the bottom two inches off the kale stems and discard. Slice the kale into 3/4-inch ribbons or shred with your hands (more stress relief!) I ended up with about two or three overflowing cups. Place the kale in a large bowl.

Toast bread on both sides and tear it into small pieces. Grind in a food processor until the mixture forms coarse crumbs.

Using a mortar and pestle or a heavy knife (my choice), pound or mince the garlic and 1/4 tsp. salt into a paste. Transfer the garlic to a small bowl. Add 1/4 c. cheese, 3 Tbsp. oil, lemon juice, a pinch of salt, pepper flakes, and black pepper and whisk to combine.

Pour the dressing over the kale and toss very well to combine thoroughly. Really scrunch the leaves with your hands working in the dressing. It breaks up the fibers making it less chewy as raw kale can tend to be.  Let the salad sit for about five minutes for the flavors to combine and lemon to break down the kale even more. 

When ready to serve, topped with the bread crumbs & additional cheese. Here's what mine ended up looking like topped with a few bites of roasted beets on top--like little pieces of candy. Love em!

Looks like enough for two, doesn't it? Oh, it is. But I savored every chewy, garlicky bite. 

See? Already making a good dent here. I washed to down with the lime flavored La Croix. Have you had one of these babies? I'm addicted. Just lightly flavored sparkling water. But something about them feels really special. Like it should be served poolside. They aren't paying me, promise. But you should seriously try them. 

And this salad! The flavors are a lot like a Caesar salad. The garlic and pepper flakes give a nice sharp bite and are complimented by the salty parm or pecorino. The lemon is fresh, bright and excellent with the kale. If you like kale, you will love this salad. If you love garlic, you will love this salad. 

And now, my tension is slightly relieved from all that chewing. I feel like I ate something naughty but I really have a belly full of kale. I'm still in sweatpants. There is still a pile of clothes to be ironed and kiddo will be up from her nap soon. But it all seems a bit more manageable after a nice lunch. 

A Side and an Appetizer

I had a very random cooking afternoon today as I perused a cookbook I stumbled upon in a moving box of mine. The sausage balls and Zucchini just looked too good to pass up. I snacked on the Zucchini (which was wonderful) while making the sausage balls, hoping I would be too full to devour them when they were finished because I have a birthday party to go tonight and need my stomach empty for the great flavors of The Cheesecake Factory. The cookbook is one my parents church put together titled, Tasteful Traditions by the Fellowship Bible Church in Tulsa. The Zucchini saute recipe comes from a lady named Brina Osborne and is absolutely delicious. Here is how to make it...

You start with 1/4 of a cup of butter and melt it in a small/medium skillet. You're going to add 1/2 of a cup of chopped onion (I also minced a clove of garlic and tossed it in with it) and let it simmer until the onions are crisp-tender in the butter.

While that's cooking you will add 3 cups of chopped Zucchini, 1/2 teaspoon of Italian Seasoning, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and 1/4 teaspoon of garlic powder. Stir this all together and let cook for 4-5 minutes.

When it's finished, I put them out on plate and sprinkled Cheddar cheese on top (which instantly melted into a gooey delicious mess)! She also added 1 cup of fresh diced tomatoes to hers but I was down to 1 tomato in the fridge and needed it later for something else so I omitted this ingredient. The taste is delicious, and it was super fast and easy to make! I love zucchini so I am very excited I decided to try this because it makes such an excellent side dish for dinners or you could make a big pan of it if you needed something quick to take to a dinner somewhere.

 Brina's Cheesy Zucchini Saute
1/2 c Chopped Onion
1/4 c Butter
3 cups Chopped Zucchini
1/2 tsp. Italian Seasoning
1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. Garlic Powder
1 (4 ox) cup shredded cheese
1 cup Diced Fresh Tomato

Saute onion in butter until crisp-tender. Add zucchini and spices, cooking 4-5 minutes. Sprinkle with cheese and tomato.

Onto the sausage balls. I will keep this short and sweet :)

You take two pounds of sausage (one pound hot and one pound regular), 3 cups of Bisquick and 24 oz. grated Cheese and mix this all together. I threw everything in at once and it took me FOREVER to get it all mixed in. So I would suggest mixing in little bits at a time. Mash, knead, jump up and down on the meat until you have everything mixed together! You will roll this mixture into 1 inch sausage balls and place on a cookie sheet. I baked mine for 8 minutes and then flipped them over (with tongs because they're going to greasy and hot) and let it cook for 6-8 minutes more. Simple, easy, and fabulous for parties or if it just sounds good. I think (via an idea from Dee Jay) we are going to throw ours in with some spaghetti and sauce and have cheesy sausage ball spaghetti for dinner. Another idea I had was to put 2 or three on top of some grits (yes I love grits of all kinds...That's why I'm from the south lol) because they taste a little like breakfast. I think that is just because it uses Bisquick and I associate that taste with breakfast. Or you could probably top of some white or brown rice with these delicious goodies and go to town! Any way you decide to make them, bake them and serve them up is up to you. This was just our idea.
~Happy Cooking~

 PRE-COOKED

 Cooked (Placed on paper towel to help soak up the grease)

Sausage Balls by Paula Kreitzer 

1 lb. Hot Sausage

1 lb. Regular Sausage

3 c. Bisquick

24 oz. Grated Cheese (I used Cheddar although next time I think I'm going to mix it up)

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Mix all ingredients. Form into 1 inch balls with a cookie scoop (or your hands). Bake on cookie sheet for 5-20 minutes. (Remember I did 8 minutes on one side and 6 on the other).