Florentine Mac and Cheese

Who doesn't love mac and cheese?? I am such a sucker for this comfort dish, especially when my dad makes it, but when I found this Rachael Ray version, I was excited to try a "healthier" version (hey, throwing some spinach and chicken in there makes it good for you, right?).

I did realize a bit too late that I used mozzarella instead of cheddar, but that wasn't necessarily a bad substitution! And I learned that I can effectively bake meatballs in my toaster oven, and I also learned that my husband gets grumpy when I forget to change the setting back and he takes ten minutes trying to figure out why his waffles won't toast when he's trying to walk out the door... Whoops. ;)

Ingredients:
Salt
1 pound cavatappi corkscrew shaped hallow pasta
1 1/2 pounds ground chicken
Black pepper
2-3 sprigs fresh rosemary, leaves stripped and finely chopped
2 teaspoons fennel seeds
3 cloves garlic, grated
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 cup ricotta cheese
1 1/2 cups grated Parmigiano Reggiano, divided
1 egg
3/4 cup bread crumbs, plus more, if needed*
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, (EVOO) divided
2 boxes chopped frozen spinach (10 ounces each)
3 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup chicken stock
1 cup whole milk
1/8 teaspoon grated nutmeg, eyeball it

Preheat oven to 450°F.

Place a large pot of water on to boil for pasta. When it comes to a boil, salt it and add the pasta to cook to al dente. Strain pasta reserving 1 cup cooking liquid.

While the water is coming to a boil, in a large mixing bowl combine the chicken, salt and pepper, rosemary, fennel seeds, garlic, crushed red pepper flakes, ricotta cheese, 1/2 cup grated Parmigiano - a rounded handful, egg and bread crumbs. *If the mixture seems too wet, add a handful of bread crumbs and mix together.

Form 8 large round balls, about 3 to 4-inches. Coat balls in a couple of tablespoons of EVOO and lightly grease a baking sheet with 1 tablespoon EVOO. Arrange balls on the baking sheet and roast 17-18 minutes until juices run clear.

Defrost spinach in microwave 8-10 minutes on "defrost" setting depending on the microwave. Place the boxes in a shallow dish to catch any run off.

While the meatballs roast, in a medium sauce pot over medium heat, melt butter, whisk in flour, cook 1 minute then whisk in stock and milk, season with salt, pepper and nutmeg and thicken 5-6 minutes. Stir in the remaining 1 cup grated Parmigiano and reduce heat on lowest setting.

Wring spinach completely dry in clean kitchen towel then separate as you add it to the sauce. Also add the reserved 1 cup pasta cooking liquid.

Toss pasta with the spinach-white sauce and adjust seasonings.

Serve Florentine Mac-n-Cheese with 2 meatballs per person along side.

Taco Meatloaf

I used to get daily e-mails from Hungry Girl and I enjoyed seeing her recipes and insight on things. I've changed my email address and never got around to re-subscribing, but I probably should...

Anyway, my cousin bought me HG's book for my birthday. I've bookmarked a bunch of things, and this Taco Meatloaf is the first I've finally cooked.


I opted to use beef instead of turkey, and I don't really know why since I like turkey so much better. I also put the meat into my muffin tin rather than an actual loaf; just felt like a change, I suppose!

I do think I overmixed a bit, because while the taste was okay, the consistency was kind of rough. I would definitely make this again, but I will likely use turkey like HG advises.

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup chopped green bell peppers
• 1/4 cup chopped onions
• 1 lb ground turkey
• 1/2 cup canned sweet corn (I used frozen.)
• 1/2 packet of taco seasoning mix (Oh, CRAP - I just now realized that I used the whole packet. Ugh. I guess that contributed to the weirdness...!?)
• 2 slices fat-free cheddar cheese (I omitted since I was doing the muffin tin thing.)
• 1/2 salsa
• 1/2 cup fat-free shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 375.

Cook peppers and onions for 3 minutes over medium high heat in a pan sprayed with nonstick spray.

In a large bowl, combine onions and peppers with turkey, corn, and seasoning mix. Spread half of the mixture evenly into the bottom of a loaf pan sprayed with non-stick spray.

Layer the two slices of cheese on top of the mixture. Evenly top with the remaining meat mixture.

Pour the salsa over the top of the loaf. Cook in the oven for 30 minutes.

Top loaf with shredded cheese. Return loaf to the oven and cook for another 15 minutes.

Crockpot Hawaiian Chicken

I starred this recipe from Brooke a loooong time ago, and I don't know why I am only getting to it now. It was beyond delicious, though, so I am sure it won't be too much longer before I'm making it again!


It did end up pretty sweet like Brooke said, but I enjoyed it! Joe, you don't know what you're talking about, man.



Ingredients:

• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• salt to taste
• 1 (15 ounce) can pineapple slices, juice reserved
• 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 cup cornstarch

Place chicken in slow cooker sprayed with non-stick spray and sprinkle with a little salt. Place pineapple slices over chicken. In a small bowl, combine pineapple juice, brown sugar, lemon juice, ginger and cornstarch and stgir until combined. Pour over chicken. Cover and cook on low for 4 to 5 hours or hight for 2 1/2 to 3 hours. Serve over rice.

A morning at Williams Sonoma

For our anniversary, Pat's parents gave us a gift card to Williams Sonoma and I got to go use it today!

Some of the things I bought were practical items that I've been keeping my eye on, such as the salad spinner, extra spatula, silpat baking mats, and cake keeper. The train sandwich-shaper and little cupcake containers were little splurges. ;)

Thank you again!!!

Pumpkin Cheesecake Ice Cream

My second encounter with the ice cream maker didn't go quite as smoothly as my first, but it wasn't too bad.

I am not having luck finding Ben & Jerry's Pumpkin Cheesecake Ice Cream, so I figured I'd make my own!



I couldn't find a recipe, so I combined one for cheesecake ice cream that I found on the Food Network along with the one for pumpkin ice cream that came with the machine.

I did use light cream and whole milk in place of the heavy cream and light cream, but the consistency was by far icier than when I made it last time. I actually had to let the container sit out for a good half hour before I could even scoop it out.

The taste, however, was freaken fantastic!!

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups light cream
• 6 egg yolks
• 8oz cream cheese (low fat is okay, but avoid fat-free), softened
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 3/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
• 1 1/2 cups canned solid pack pumpkin

1. Freeze bowl of machine for 24 hours.

2. Scald light cream in heavy saucepan. Whisk yolks, cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla in a medium bowl. Gradually whisk in the cream; add the spice. Return to saucepan and stir over medium-low heat until mixture thickens, about 10 minutes; do not boil. Remove from heat. Whisk in the heavy cream and the pumpkin. Strain into bowl; refrigerate until well chilled.

3. Assemble ice cream maker according to manufacturer. Turn to the proper setting ("stir" for a KA Mixer attachment). Using a container with a spout, pour mixture into freeze bowl. Continue on "stir" for 15 to 20 minutes or until desired consistency. Immediately transfer ice cream to serving dishes, or freeze in airtight container.

Those of you with kiddies...

(Forgive the non-cook-ness of this post...)

If you are interested in some free things for your wee one, check out this blog!

Crispy Parmesan Ranch Crusted Green Beans

These Green Beans from Picky Palate were so awesome and easy to make!


I don't even know what to say about these, really; simple and delicious.

Ryan went absolute bonkers over these. He ate about a billion! I asked him I could take a picture of him eating his beans, and he actually paused and POSED for me. He even said, "Cheese!"

(Yes. He's in his pajamas. Yes, he'd been in them all day. Yes, I was too. Your point??)

Ingredients:

• ¾ Cup prepared Ranch Dressing
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 ½ Cups panko bread crumbs
• ½ Cup grated parmesan cheese
• A shake or two of Italian Seasoning
• ½ lb washed and trimmed fresh green beans

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Combine ranch dressing and egg together in a shallow dish. Combine panko, parmesan, salt and pepper in a separate shallow dish. Lightly dip beans into ranch dressing. Press into crumb mixture then place onto a parchment lined baking sheet (they’ll stick to the pan if not, even if sprayed with cooking spray). Do this process until all beans have been coated. Bake for 15 minutes or until crust is crispy and golden. Let cool for 3 minutes then serve.

Worst. Dinner. Ever.

Tonight was, by far, the absolute most disastrous dinner attempt. I am only blogging about this in the hope that someday, I will look back on this and laugh.

I tried my hand at home-made gnocchi once, and I was relatively successful. So I felt somewhat ready to brave this recipe for Spinach Gnocchi with Blush Sauce.

Two hours later, I found myself near tears, cooking Ronzoni pasta while staring at potato play-doh and sauce the consistency of pudding.

I have NO idea what happened to the gnocchi, but after cooking/draining, this is what was left behind, oozing out of the holes of the colander:



Disgusting.

I followed the recipe for the sauce to the letter. The letter!! And yet it was this absolute disgusting blob in a pot. I actually tried to thin it out by adding some crushed tomatoes and another cup of milk; nope. It didn't taste too bad, actually, but the consistency was just too weird.

I'm not even going to bother posting the recipe. Don't try it. It was awful. If you are that interested, click on the link above, but consider yourself properly warned.

Chicken with New Potatoes and Spinach

I found this Sandra Lee recipe on Brooke's blog and couldn't wait to use it. I feel like this has been Brooke Week... although, rarely does a week go by that I DON'T pilfer one of her recipes...! (I actually decided to give her her own tag!)

Anyway, my mom was watching Ryan for the day since I had Back-to-School-Night at work. I was just going to stay at school all evening and not bother coming home in between, so I set up the crockpot so that they'd have dinner.

This was really easy to assemble. I used thighs instead of breasts, so the 10 minutes wasn't quite enough in the broiler, but it didn't matter. To save time in the morning, I chopped the potatoes the night before. I stashed them in a giant ziploc in the fridge over night, drizzled with some olive oil and sprinkled with some Italian seasoning.

I didn't get around to trying it myself until a day or so later, but it was pretty good. The chicken was tender - no knife required. I did pay attention to Brooke's suggestion about more soup; I only had the one can, so I also poured in about 3/4 cup of broth.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs

1 tsp ground black pepper

1/2 tsp salt

1 lb small red potatoes, quartered

2 bags (6 ounces each) baby spinach

1 cup frozen chopped onion

1 can (10.75 ounces) condensed cream of celery soup

Preheat broiler. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Trim fat from chicken. Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper and arrange chicken on baking sheet. Broil 6 inches from heat 10 minutes or until chicken is golden*. In a 4-quart slow cooker, arrange potato quarters. Top with spinach and onion. Spoon half of the soup on top of spinach; add chicken. Spread with remaining soup. Cover and cook on low for 5-6 hours.

*This step may be omitted but it produces a better flavored dish.

I'm Excellent!

In the last few days, several people have tagged me with this "Excellent" award. I am absolutely astounded that so many people read my dinky little blog, and that so many people actually ENJOY it! It really makes my day. I know it sounds corny, but it's true.

Part of the "strings" attached to such an award is to pass it along. While I would love to spread the joy, the majority of the blogs I'd award have already received it. Instead, I thought I'd spread a little love to the awesome ladies who gave it to ME.

The Milkman's Wife Her recipes look so comforting and delicious... and she has a photo of the famous Pumpkin Spice Hershey Kiss. That alone should make her win a TON of awards! ;)

Daily Deliciousness Shawna's blog is so fabulous - I have a ton of her things starred in my reader. She's getting married in a couple of months, and I think that is one lucky dude. Check out the post with her shower pictures - how FUN!!

Delicious Meliscious Look at those AMAZING cakes. Though I never had the desire before, her cakes make me really want to take a Wilton class - especially that garden one. WOW! And I am SO making that pumpkin mousse soon...

Jenn and Food, Perfect Together Not only do I get excited when she posts new dishes, but I'm thrilled that I'll finally be meeting her for dinner in a few weeks! Several of us Central-Jerseyians on our cooking board have a dinner planned, and I can't wait.

Thank you, ladies - not even for the award (although that was awesome, hee hee!) but for YOUR blogs and their impact on my kitchen!