Ricotta, Chicken and Broccoli Stuff Manicotti

This was the other dish I made for my sister in laws Birthday Dinner.  Both of the dishes were really good, guess it depends on you taste buds and if you prefer Alfredo Sauce or Marinara.   Making these are alot of work but then again I love cooking but it sure wears me out.

Ingredients:
I box Manicotti shells
1 8 oz container Ricotta Cheese
1/2- 3/4 cup shredded Mozzarella Cheese
1 egg
2 TBL parsley
1/2 TBL oregano or italian seasoning
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 tsp garlic salt
salt and pepper
2-3 large boneless chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
1/2 onion
2 cloves garlic
olive oil

In a large pot cook Manicotti until Aldente, drain and set aside.
In a bowl combine Ricotta cheese, Parmesan cheese egg and spices and mix well. Set aside.
In a large skillet add olive oil and cook some diced onion, add chicken pieces and cook until done, add the garlic and finish cooking.  When room temperature add it to the Ricotta mixture.  Fill Manicotti shells and place in a 9x11 baking dish with marinara sauce covering the bottom, line the filled shells up then sprinkle shredded mozzarella cheese on top and then top with more marinara sauce.  Bake for about 25 minutes covered and until heated fully through.  You can take the foil off when you have about 10 minutes left to cook.

Serve with a nice salad and home made bread.  Enjoy!!
Thanks for stopping by, have a great week and Always Remember to Find the Time to Do ALL the Things You L♥ve.
Donna

chicken and spinach stuffed shells

I made this back in October for my sister in laws birthday dinner.  I also made stuffed Manicotti which was delicious too.  They were both very good.  I just love Alfredo anything and this was a nice change.  I made the Manicotti with ricotta which was also very good.

adapted from here

Chicken and Spinach Stuffed Shells Serves: 8-10 servings

Serves: about 40 shells

Ingredients

1 (12-ounce) box uncooked jumbo pasta shells
2 cups chopped cooked chicken
2 cups fresh chopped spinach
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 (15oz) container ricotta cheese
2 (8oz) packages cream cheese, softened
1 (5oz) package shredded Parmesan cheese (about 1⅔ cups)
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 Tablespoon dried parsley flakes
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, divided

Instructions

1. Cook shells according to package directions. Be careful not to overcook them or they will tear easily when trying to fill them. Drain and set shells out individually on a cutting board or baking sheet so that they don’t stick together.
2. Preheat oven to 350°. Lightly grease two 9x13 baking dishes.
3. In a large bowl, combine chicken and all the rest of the ingredients except mozzarella and spaghetti sauce. Stir in 1 cup mozzarella. Spoon into shells. *Tip: For easier filling, fill a gallon ziplock baggie with the filling and snip a quarter size hole off the corner of the bag. Then you can just pipe the filling into the shells.
4. Spread half of spaghetti sauce into prepared baking dishes. Arrange shells over sauce; top with remaining sauce. Cover tightly with heavy-duty aluminum foil. If you are freezing one of the 9x13 prepared pans, freeze it after this step. Include a baggy of the remaining mozzarella for when you cook it.
5. Bake, covered, for 40 minutes. Uncover, sprinkle with remaining 1 cup mozzarella. Bake for 5 to 10 more minutes.
6. Makes 8-10 servings.

Thanks for stopping by, have a wonderful week and Always Remember to Find the time to Do ALL the things YOU Love.
Donna

Homemade Cannelloni

This is what we had at the family dinner.  YUM!  They are filled with meat and cheese.  One is braised beef (above) the other had braised pork.  The meat cooked this way just falls apart.  I have never made them this way,  I always just made them filled with cheese.  The pasta is homemade also, I used my normal recipe which I have listed below.
Printable

Pasta Dough:
2 cups AP flour
2 eggs
1/4 cup of vegetable oil
3 TBL water

In a food processor pulse the flour a couple of times to put air into it.  Put the eggs, water in a measuring glass and whisk until incorporated, with processor running, slowly add this mixture through the feed tube, run until dough forms a ball and comes away from the sides.  Remove, knead a couple of times then wrap in plastic and let rest for 1 hour.

Cheese/Meat Filling:
12 oz. ricotta cheese
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/3 cup mozzarella cheese, grated
1 egg
2-3 TBL fresh parsley chopped
1-2 TBL fresh basil, chopped
2 cups shredded meat (either pork or beef)
5-6 slices provolone cheese
salt and pepper to taste
Mix all ingredients and set aside

Roll you pasta out or put through pasta making machine and make lasagna sheets then cut them into 6 inch pieces. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil,  Cook for about 4 minutes, until they float to the top.  Fresh pasta does not take as long a boxed pasta so be careful not to over cook.  Drain and put in an ice cube and water bath to stop the cooking.

In a 9x13 pan put a small amount of sauce on the bottom.  Fill your cut, cooked pasta pieces with cheese meat mixture, placing the mixture at one end and then roll up and place seam side down.  Cover with sauce and put some mozzarella and provolone cheese on top.  Bake for about 25 minutes until, hot and bubbly and cheese has melted.  Just as you serve grate some fresh Parmesan cheese on top. This is a hearty dish and all you need to serve with it is some nice home made Italian bread and a salad.
Thanks for stopping by, have a wonderful day and Remember to Find the Time to do All the things You Love.
Donna

Pasta Salad

Here is another dish that I have been making for years.  There isn't much to it but there are so many things you could change if you wanted, once you have the main parts add things you and your family like.  I will post some things at the end.  Also the type of pasta you use is entirely up to you.  Today I used medium size shells.  Oh one other note, I use Kraft regular mayo,  There was a time I only used Helmans but when I moved from NY to NM you couldn't find it.  They since have it but it's found with the Best Food label.  Even though we think of pasta salads for summer I think you can have them whenever you crave them.  The sandwich shown will be my next post.  It's Lime/Basil Chicken Salad on a homemade roll.
Printable
Ingredients:
3/4 of bag pasta (16 oz )
2-3 ribs of celery diced
1 large carrot, shredded
1/3 cup sweet relish
1/3 cup chopped bread and butter pickles
1 large kosher pickle, diced
1 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 cup mayo  (more if needed)
3 TBL sour cream
salt and pepper to taste

Direcitons:  Easy peasy
In a large pot with 6-8 qts salted water cook pasta according to package directions, drain and let cool.  When cool in large bowl combine all ingredient then add sour cream and mayo.  **There are times I add all ingredients except mayo and sour cream and refrigerate overnight*  that way I don't have to make it all the day I am serving it.**

Here are some things have also added just to change it up a bit
1/2 sweet red pepper diced
1/2 green pepper diced
2 green onions diced ( I don't do this often, don't like raw onions)
3/4 cup diced American cheese
3 TBL fresh Dill chopped
3 TBL fresh parsley, chopped
canned tuna, drained and flaked
cooked chicken, diced

So you see, you can make it just like you want.  Use you imagination and those things you like to eat.
Thanks for stopping by, have a wonderful Independence Day and Remember to Say Thanks to all those that serve our country and keep us FREE.
Donna

Spaghetti with Braised Beef and Sweet Sausage

 

This is a combo recipe.  I took parts from a couple of recipes.  The braised beef is from Cooks Country Italian  pot roast, part of the sauce is from my original recipe found here

 The night I cooked this we had a family dinner and my sister in law came too.  When she first tasted the sauce and meat she said "oh this taste a lot like the sauce my Italian neighbor used to make."  To me that's a real compliment.   Growing up I had some friends that were Italian and every Sunday Linda and Delores's Mom used to make an Italian feast, well to me it was.  The pasta, sauce and meat she always had was just out of this world delicious. 

Printable
Ingredients:
3-4 lbs blade chuck roast, cut into large pieces
3-4 link of Italian sausage (I used sweet and hot)
2 TBL olive oil
3-4 cloves garlic
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 carrot chopped
1 large onion, chopped
2 TBL tomato paste
2 tsp flour
1/2-3/4 red wine
14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
2 fresh thyme springs
2 TBL fresh basil chopped.
Pasta
Directions:

In a dutch oven put about 2 TBL olive oil, add your meat and brown on all sides.  Remove the meat the add 1 chopped onion, 3 cloves of garlic, 2 stalks of celery chopped, 1 carrot chopped.  Cook until onions caramelize, then add 2 TBL tomato paste, stir until well combined.  Add salt and pepper to taste.   Add 2 tsp flour, stir well.  Then add about 1/2 - 3/4 cup red wine (the kind you would drink)  Add about 14.5oz can of tomatoes, add water if needed. Toss in 2 fresh thyme springs and 2 TBL fresh chopped basil. Place meat back into sauce cover and put in pre heated 300degree oven and cook for about 2 1/2 hours.  At this point you can add some of the other sauce, heat all the way through.  Cook pasta, plate and serve.

Thanks for stopping by, have a wonderful day and Remember to Find the Time to Do ALL the things You love.
Donna

Another Toy

Well I got another new toy for the kitchen.   I've been experimenting with pastas,  hopefully you saw the post with the homemade Lasagna Noodles.  Boy was the meal ever so  yummy....As Buddy would say with  his Jersey accent "Forget about it!"  Since I'm now making homemade pasta I needed to be able to do more than just spaghetti, fettuccine,  lasagna noodles, and ravioli.  So I went searching for a good pasta maker.  We have a commercial grade Kitchen Aide mixer so I did some research on their pasta extruder and after days of reading, the attachment for the KA was the best I found.  I also found  that on Amazon. com one of their suppliers had it the most reasonable and there was no tax and no shipping.  Woo Hoo and best of all I had it in 5 days.   The attachment has 6 dies.  Here it is.   Oh grrrr it's $20 cheaper now...What's with that???  :-(
Well it came and I have already made two types of pasta.....Rigatoni and Fusilli.  I will be making a shrimp and pasta dish tonight  with a cream sauce that I will share with you all.
Here are the two pastas I made today.  My daughter was down and helped.  I had made the dough, let it rest and then she put it in the machine and I did the cutting.
This is the Rigatoni

 and this is the Fusilli...

I will let them dry and then bag them and put them in the freezer.  I think one of the dishes we will make with the Rigatoni will be Baked Ziti...oh I can taste that already.
Thanks for stopping by and I'll be back soon with a dish I made with the fusilli.
Have a wonderful day and Remember to Find the time to DO all the things YOU love.
Donna

Homemade Lasagna

Last week my daughter and I made homemade Lasagna.  My grandson Josh is joining the Marines and his recruiter and his wife came for dinner.  I think my daughter was originally going to make ravioli but decided they were really time consuming, which they are.  I made the dough the day before and then about 45 minutes before she was ready to start I took it out to rest on the counter.  I had made a larger batch than I usually do and we had more than enough noodles.  As a mater of fact we had some left over and I made Lasagna Roll Ups and put them in the freezer for a future quick dinner.  The recipe we used for the Lasagna was based on Michael Simon from the Iron Chef.  It's funny I never really liked him until I saw him on Paula Deens show one day.  I don't care for her,  mainly because of all the Y'all stuff and that southern twang, makes me crazy.  Wonder maybe it could be because I am a Northerner??  Hmmmm food for thought I guess.  Well anyway back to Micheal, on her show he was doing his Mom's Lasagna and homemade sauce.  My daughter used a sauce from Rachel Ray (can ya tell me both like the Food network Channel?)  I have made Lasagna for many, many years and it always was much better the next day because it didn't fall apart when you cut it.  Mine was always sooooooooooooooooo juicy.  Michael's is not.  First he does not add as much sauce to each layer and the alternates what he puts in it.  When I had made it I always put the Ricotta, meat, mozzarella and sauce on each layer.....But he did a layer of noodles then ricotta, some sauce, layer of noodles, layer of meat,  layer of noodles, layer of mozzarella, layer of noodles, etc. I think we did three layers with sauce.  So that's what we did.  But we did put a bit of sauce on the very bottom before the first layer of noodles.  Didn't want them sticking.  Also the meat was a mixture of Italian Sweet Sausage and ground beef.  YUM!   We topped the top layer with provolone slices and mozzarella cheese with sauce.
Here are the homemade lasagna noodles

 Dough:
5 room temp. eggs
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups bread flour
3/4 cup semolina flour
1 tsp salt
extra olive oil (about 2 tsp)
water
You can make this several different ways.  Put it all in a stand mixer and mix until you dough comes together.  Put it all in a food processor and mix until it forms a ball.  Or put the flour and salt on the counter and make a well inside and put the eggs in the center and slowly with a fork mix the eggs into the flour, when incorporated start kneading until you have your dough together.   When it's ready, whichever way you do it, make it into a large ball and cover with plastic and let it rest or 30 minutes.  You can also put this into the refrigerator until the next day, but be sure to take out at least 45 minutes and let rest on the counter until you're ready to roll it out.
I use my pasta machine (now with the motor) to roll out my pasta.  My daughter did all the rolling and cutting, as shown above.
Put a large pot of water on the stove, bring to a boil and add salt after it starts to boil, add you pasta, DON'T overcrowd, and boil until the pasta floats to the top, take out immediately and place in a large bowl of ice water.  This will stop the cooking, you don't want your pasta overdone...ick!
Ricotta filling:
1 large container ricotta
1 egg
3 TBL fresh chopped parsely
salt/pepper
1/4 cup grated parmasen cheese
1/4 cup fontina cheese
Mix all above ingredients, set aside.
Sauce adapted from Rachel Ray:
  3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, 3 turns of the pan
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/3 cup  chicken stock or white wine, eyeball it(she uses white wine)
2 cans fire roasted tomatoes plus 1 can crushed tomatoes (recommended: San Marzano)
Several leaves basil, torn or chopped, a handful
2 tablespoons  butter, cut into small pieces

Directions

Heat a medium sauce pot over medium-low heat. Add extra-virgin olive oil,  garlic, and red pepper and let them cook 5 minutes, garlic will be soft and light golden. Remove garlic. Add stock or wine and stir 30 seconds, add tomatoes and combine. Season the suace with salt, to taste, then stir basil in and reduce heat to low.

Printable Recipe

Now doesn't this look yummy.  Give it a try.  Thanks for stopping by, have a wonderful day and Remember to Find the Time to Do ALL the things You love.

Donna

Pasta with Roasted Sweet Pepper Sauce

The other night I made some Italian bread hero's to put some sausage I got from NY. While I was in Maine one of Orm's friends, Vic, went to NY for a visit and I asked him if he would buy me some Cheese And Parsley Italian Sausage. If you have never had this and you happen to be in the NY area try it...OMG! You serve it on a hero roll with green peppers and onions. I'll post that soon. Anyway, back to the pasta...I wanted a side dish to go with the sandwiches, but also wanted something new and different. So what better than a Pasta with Roasted Sweet Red Pepper sauce.
Printable
4 red bell peppers or a 12oz jar of roasted peppers
1/4 cup olive oil
1 bunch of green onions, diced
2 cloves of garlic
1 TBL Butter
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
1 cup low sodium chicken broth
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 tsp. celery seeds
1/4 tsp fresh ground pepper
1/4 tsp salt
1 pkg of your favorite pasta *tonight I made medium size shells*

If using fresh peppers brush them with olive oil and place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper (helps with clean up) place on highest oven rack and put the oven on broil, Broil for about 5-7 minutes, be careful and watch them so they don't get too charred. Sorry but I don't have pictures of them. (next time I made this I will be sure to take pictures of this step and repost to this post) When one side is done turn them over and complete the cooking. Immediately put them in a bowl and cover with clear wrap. After about 15 mintues cut peppers, remove the seeds and peel the skin. The skin should come off very easy.
Chop the peppers and put them in the blender or food processor. When ready to make sauce, puree peppers and slowly add the heavy cream, chicken broth, salt and pepper. Blend until creamy. In large skillet saute onions and garlic for about 4-5 minutes, add pepper puree and cook for about 10 minutes. A minute before you are ready to serve add the basil, stir in cooked pasta and serve immediately.

This is the pasta without the fresh Basil.

And this is it with the Basil getting ready to go to the dinner table. I hope you give this a try, it's a great change from the normal marinara sauce and I think you'll enjoy it. My family really liked it, especially the kids...so that's a plus too. My youngest grandson AJ just walked by while I was doing the drafts for this and said "oh is that the pasta you just made, boy that's good stuff." So there's and first hand response to this dish. ;)
Have a wonderful day and I'll be back with a dessert I made recently.
Thanks for stopping by and I'd love to hear from those of you that take the time to come by. Remember to Find the Time to Do all the things you LOVE.
Donna