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~

 

 

Spring Time Cupcakes

So, I'm totally a sucker for reading magazines such as All You, and Better Homes & Gardens and searching it for new recipes to try. I often grab the last minute buy magazines off the shelves at Wal-Mart to look for new dishes!! I was flipping through the All You magazine the other day and ran across these cute little cupcakes they had for Spring. These are incredibly easy to make, very festive and colorful and they taste wonderful (we can't stop eating them)!
You can also find this recipe at: http://www.kraftbrands.com/Jello/recipe.aspx?ID=132787

To start you get the white cake mix and go ahead and mix everything together according to the back of the box. Then you will divide the mixture evenly into 3 separate bowls. Then you will take one box of each of the jello powders and pour 1/4 cup of each "flavor" (lemon-lime-strawberry) into each bowl and stir to "dye" the white cake mix into flavored fun colors! In the recipe it says you will place two TABLEspoon fulls of each color into the cupcake tin. NOT SO (at least for me). I tried doing that and by tablespoon number 3 I had completely filled up the tin. So, instead I gradually added each color by teaspoon fulls until I had 3/4 of the tin filled with each color.
NOTE: I found that to get all 3 colors on top, it's easiest to add the first color a little to the side and then the next color on the other side and the final color on top of those two pretty much smack in the middle. Just play around with it, you'll have fun :)

Then you finish them off in the oven for about 18 minutes (or however long it says to bake them on the box) and wait for them to cool and add your frosting. YUMMY!! We used cream cheese frosting, however after eating our way through the tin we both decided strawberry icing would be DIVINE!! These would be very fun at birthday parties, family gatherings, or just to have to snack on after dinner every day, for a week, or two. All depending on how many people are in your house and how much self control everyone has :)

Tie-Dye Fruity Cupcakes

1 pkg of white cake mix (2 layer mix)
1/4 cup lime Jell-O (dry)
1/4 cup lemon Jell-O (dry)
1/4 cup strawberry Jell-O (dry)
1 container of whichever frosting you prefer (or make your own!!)

a different kind of chicken soup

Leah here. I really like making soup on Sundays. Not only is it (typically) an easy dish I can throw together while washing, drying and folding four or five loads of laundry--but there is plenty left over for lunch on Monday. One less thing to think about on a Monday morning: yes, please!

I flagged this soup right away when my April issue of Bon Appetit showed up in the mail. They included suggestions like doubling the batch of chicken meatballs to freeze and use for other quick dishes. People left glorious comments online about the flavor of this dish. I finally got around to it today and I have two words: NO JOKE. Not only did I want to simply snack on these little meatballs, but they would also be great simmered in marinara sauce and made into a meatball sub or tossed into a pasta. Maybe sliced in half and thrown on a homemade pizza. Next time, I will make double. But today I was making soup. 

A certain slim lady is often heard saying and tweeting, "use what you've got." I swear I said that way before her. In my head at least. When I read a recipe I'm usually making substitutions for 40 percent of the recipe---within reason. Don't have chives but have parsley? Sub it. Have turkey but not chicken? Should be fine. Brown sugar for white. Pancake syrup for real maple syrup. It isn't always an exact replica but rarely can you mess something up with some quick research and substitutions. Plus you save a few bucks by not buying brand new ingredients you only need a few pinches or smidgens of. 

Case in point, this recipe calls for ditalini or other small pasta. I didn't have any and didn't want to buy any. What I did have: giant pasta shells. 

Get creative. Use what you have. Break spaghetti up in to small pieces. Use spiral noodles. Or bash up shells in a food processor and you have...

Ta-da! Tiny pasta!

The meatballs come together quickly. I subbed dry bread crumbs for fresh because that's what I had. Parsley from my patio pots instead of chives which I think added a nice brightness. I love cooking with ground turkey but did buy ground chicken for this. It's actually cheaper. It also has a higher fat content making a very tender, tasty meatball.

This minestrone calls for carrots (which I had) and leeks which I splurged on. I knew they had a nice onion flavor but for a cost or ease perspective, green onions or even celery would have been fine here. I had spinach on hand but kale would have also worked. Just let it simmer a bit longer if subbing a heartier green. 

Start to finish, this soup took about 25 minutes. I ended up letting it cool down and reheating it making dinner time a snap. It says it's four servings but I'd argue for five or six especially if you served this along a salad or entree. We enjoyed ours with toasted dinner rolls. 

Easy, bright, springy and delicious. I chopped up the meatballs and veggies for my toddler minus the broth. Hubs, not typically a soup lover, complimented this after bite number one. Best part---we get to enjoy it again over lunch Monday!

Spring Minestrone with Chicken Meatballs
(Slightly adapted from Bon Appetit's April issue)

Ingredients
6 ounces ground chicken (I bumped it up to 8 oz or 1 pound)
1/2 cup fresh breadcrumbs (I used dry seasoned breadcrumbs with no trouble)
6 tablespoons finely grated Parmesan, divided, plus more for garnish (about 1 cup total)
4 garlic cloves, 2 minced, 2 thinly sliced
2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives (I used parsley from my back porch)
1 large egg, whisked to blend
Kosher salt, freshly ground pepper
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 leek, white and pale-green parts only, sliced into 1/4-inch rounds (celery and/or spring onions would be a fine substitution)
5 cups low-salt chicken broth
3/4 cup ditalini or other small pasta (you saw my substitution, ha!)
1 cup 1/2-inch rounds peeled carrots
1 cup (packed) baby spinach (kale or other green might work here, just let it simmer longer)
Chopped fresh basil (i omitted)

Preparation per Bon Appetit
Mix chicken, breadcrumbs, 3 Tbsp. Parmesan, 2 minced garlic cloves, chives, egg, 3/4 tsp. salt, and 1/4 tsp. pepper in a medium bowl. Form into 1/2-inch-diameter meatballs (I got 27). Heat oil in a small pot over medium heat. Cook meatballs until golden all over, about 3 minutes (they will finish cooking in soup). Transfer to a plate; set aside.

Add sliced leek to large pot and cook, stirring often, until beginning to soften, about 3 minutes.

Add 2 thinly sliced garlic cloves; cook for 1 minute. Add broth and 2 cups water; bring to a boil. Stir in pasta and carrots; simmer until pasta is almost al dente, about 8 minutes. Add meatballs; simmer until pasta is al dente, carrots are tender, and meatballs are cooked through, about 3 minutes.

My note -- If you are making this ahead of time, stop here. Either simmer on low until ready to eat, or, if serving at a later time, let cook and store. Reheat when ready to serve.

When ready to serve, bring the soup back up to a simmer. Add spinach and remaining 3 Tbsp. Parmesan; stir until spinach is bright green and wilted. Season with salt and pepper.

Ladle soup into bowls. Garnish with chopped herbs and Parmesan.

Interested in a few more soup ideas? 

If you like the endless soup at Olive Garden you must try my friend Heather's version of Zuppa Toscana. HEAVEN. 


If you are a tomato lover and like a little bit of spice, try this spicy tomato and blue cheese soup from Leite's Culinaria. But trust me and HALF the amount of sriracha it calls for. Don't be brave. Just do it. 






Do you have any Sunday afternoon cooking traditions? 

spring rolls - activity, dinner

Leah here. I'll typically pick a cool, herby spring roll over it's fried egg roll cousin. Have you tried a spring roll? A soft, chewy rice wrapper that neatly holds anything from crunchy veggies to herbs and even shredded chicken or cooked shrimp. I like making things you can make your own --like a big salad or homemade pizza. These types of meals are fun with friends or family, too. Lay out a big bowl of lettuce, a tray of baked potatoes or a slab of rolled out pizza dough. Line up the toppings and let everyone make their own creation. Throw spring rolls in to that category of "activity dinner."

To start, you need rice wrappers. They seem scary. Thin, wispy...and the packaging is typically not in English. Luckily, you can now find them at most supermarkets with a decent selection of Asian ingredients

I've used a few different spring roll recipes. Recently I tried this one from Williams Sonoma. It had a great tip about layering TWO rice wrappers for a sturdier roll. GENIUS! Decide how many rolls you want or need. I made six rolls and cut them in half making 12 half rolls. Plenty for hubs and me to snack on throughout the evening.

Prep all the ingredients you need for your roll recipe. This takes a bit of time. Give a few people a chopping, dicing or peeling job and it will go faster. Organize your ingredients in a line by how you will add them to your roll. You will thank me for this. I'm an old pro (ha!) so I just piled mine up on a plate. (an upside down plate, sorry, I'm no computer expert!)

My recipe called for green lettuce (tender butter lettuce would have been better here), cucumber, avocado, carrots shredded (would have been better as small matchsticks), basil, and mint. Also good in spring rolls--cilantro, thinly sliced jalapeno, rice  noodles...sky is the limit. These were vegetarian but I like cooked shrimp in mine.

Fill a wide, shallow bowl with warm water. Lay a clean kitchen towel next to the bowl. Here is where things can get scary--be brave! See how the rice wrapper is hard and crunchy? You're about to give it a bath. 

Dip one rice paper round into the water for a few seconds to soften--about 20 seconds--then lay it flat on the towel. You want it to be the constancy of a wet paper towel. But not a wet tissue. Got that? Ha!

You might rip it but they are actually pretty forgiving. That's why I like the double wrapper idea. Dip a second wrapper into the water and lay it directly on top of the first one. Get ready to work quickly. 

For my recipe, I centered a lettuce leaf on top of the stacked rice papers. Starting about one-third in from the edge closest to you, arrange your herbs in a line across the lettuce. 

Top the greens with a small row of each of your veggies or meat. Here are my carrots, cucumbers and avocado. You don't need much so don't over stuff the roll.

Now, think burrito! Lift the bottom edge of the wrapper up and over the bottom third of the filling and then roll once tucking the veggies in.

Fold in the sides of the wrapper and continue rolling it and tucking it into a tight cylinder.

 Set aside, seam side down. They will start to dry out so another secret--cover them with a damp (not wet) kitchen towel or a few damp paper towels. You can even make these a few hours ahead if needed. Keeping them covered will keep everything fresh. When ready to serve, cut in half.

Keep stuffing, rolling and tucking and you'll get  a plate full of crisp, fresh, yums. 

The dipping sauce I made this time is actually miso dressing from Gwyneth Paltrow’s cookbook “My Father’s Daughter." It's not for everyone, but everyone (every peanut eater) should love this peanut dipping sauce I've used several times from Chow.com. Like what you see here? Then please start with his recipe for shrimp summer rolls---my favorite to date.

I love getting friends and family in the kitchen. What is our favorite activity meal? Grilling? Cookie decorating?