Category Archives: Everybody Ate It

April 30, 2010 · 5:44 am

BLT Rigatoni

This is a recipe from the lovely Rachel Ray. It is quick and easy and a nice twist on regular pasta.

Ingredients:
1/4 pancetta or bacon, cut into slivers
Olive Oil
1 small onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1/2 c. dry white wine
4 ripe tomatoes, diced
Salt and pepper to taste
3/4 lb. penne, rigatoni or similar pasta
1/4 c. chopped fresh basil
2 c. fresh spinach, chopped
3/4 c. fresh paremesan

Directions:
Cook pasta per the directions on the box.

In a medium skillet, cook pancetta for about six minutes. Put pancetta on paper towels to drain off oil.

In a medium saucepan, heat 3 tbspns. of olive oil. Add onion and garlic and cook until softened.

Add the wine and bring to a simmer.

Add the tomatoes, season with salt and pepper and simmer over low heat, stirring, until sauce thickens a bit.

Divide cooked pasta into four bowls (or however many servings you need). Top each serving of pasta with the tomato mixture. Top each serving with the pancetta, basil and spinach, toss, drizzle with olive oil and top with parmesan.

Did I change anything? Yes, I took out the arugula and added spinach. I am not a big arugula fan.

What does the family think? They liked it! We are pasta eaters, so that’s not a huge surprise.

CrockPot Pizza Soup

I had a Crockpot for about five years before I even took it out of the box. Now I probably use it at least once a week and it’s usually on days when I know we are going to be getting home late and it’s so nice to have dinner ready and waiting for us. I also love how awesome our house smells when we walk in the door. 🙂 I found this recipe over at my favorite CrockPot website.

Ingredients:
14oz. jar of pizza sauce
3 empty jars of water
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 can diced tomatoes, drained
2 already cooked Italian sausage links
1 c. pepperoni, cut into quarters
8 fresh basil leaves, chopped
1 T dried oregano
1/2 c. macaroni noodles (or a pasta about that size)
Shredded mozzarella

Directions:
Wash and prepare green peppers. Dump them into the crockpot. Cut up the sausage into small pieces–I sliced, then cut the pieces in fourths. Add to crockpot. Cut up the pepperoni, add it, too. Add basil and oregano. Pour in the pizza sauce, and follow with three empty jars of water.

Cover and cook on low for 7-9 hours. Everything in this is already cooked, so you are really only heating through and allowing the flavors to meld.

Thirty minutes before serving, add the dry pasta, and turn to high. My pasta only took 20 minutes to soften quite nicely.

Garnish/top with shredded mozzarella cheese.

Variation: The great thing about this is that you can add whatever you would normally put on a pizza. The original recipe called for mushrooms and onions, but we don’t get those on pizza so I left them off. There is a lot of room to play around with this recipe and add/take away whatever “toppings” you do/don’t want.

What did the family think? Sean and I liked it. I told the boys it was like pizza so they ate it.

2 Comments

Filed under Definitely Making it Again, Everybody Ate It, Italian, Super Easy to Make

April 19, 2010 · 5:01 am

Asian Chicken Salad

This is a great, fast meal on a hot spring/summer day when you don’t want to turn on the oven. I have been making this salad for years, but I think I originally got the idea from one of those Kraft cookbook magazines.

Ingredients:
Lettuce greens, rinsed and dried
2 already cooked chicken breasts, shredded
11 oz. can mandarin oranges, drained
Asian sesame dressing
Chow Mein Noodles, a sprinkle of top of each salad

Directions:
Divide lettuce greens between four bowls.

Divide the shredded chicken breast between the four bowls and place on top of the lettuce greens.

Divide the mandarin oranges between the four bowl and place on top of the chicken.

Wait to put chow mein noodles and the salad dressing on right before being served.

Enjoy!!!

What does my family think? My hubby and I both really like this salad. Our children will eat it as long as they don’t have to eat the Asian dressing with it.

Spinach Tortellini with Tomato Sauce

This is great pasta dish with a little twist…salami.

Ingredients:
2 T. olive oil
1 oz. salami, chopped
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 28oz. can of San Marzano plum tomatoes, drained (save juice)
5-6 fresh basi leaves
Pinch of sugar
Salt and Pepper, to taste
8 oz. dry spinach tortellini

Directions:
Cook tortellini per the directions on the package.

Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the salami and garlic and cook for about one minute. Crush the tomatoes into the skillet using your hands. Let these simmer for about four to five minutes and then add the tomato juice, basil, sugar, salt and pepper. Simmer for a few minutes and stir well.

Drain the tortellini and serve the sauce on top of the noodles. You may want to put the noodles in individual bowls for each person and then put the sauce on. We do that because some people in our house like more sauce than others. Enjoy!!!

This is great with a salad and a glass of wine. Have some parmesan cheese at the table to sprinkle on top.

Did I change anything? I didn’t really change much from the original recipe other than the type of pasta. I think I probably ended up adding more than 1 ounce of salami too. It just didn’t seem like enough.

What does the family think? We will eat pasta in any form, shape or size, especially if it has tomato sauce on top.

4 Comments

Filed under Definitely Making it Again, Easy, Everybody Ate It, Italian

April 13, 2010 · 4:08 am

White Beans and Italian Sausage

As I am going through my recipes I am realizing that we eat a lot of Italian food around here. This is what we had for dinner tonight and it was the first time I had ever used this recipe. I made my own version though because the version I found on-line talked about soaking beans and simmering for a few hours. I don’t have time for all that. So here’s my version:

Ingredients:
2 15 oz. cans cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
2 T olive oil
2 garlic cloves
1 1/2 lbs. Italian sausage (sweet, mild or hot)
2 14.5 oz cans of Italian-style diced tomatoes
Pinch of red pepper flakes
Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions:
Heat olive oil over medium heat and add garlic. Saute garlic for a minute or so and add Italian sausage. When Italian sausage it completely cooked add beans, tomatoes and red pepper flakes. Keep on burner until heated through. Season with salt and pepper.

Next time: When I made it this time I only used one can of tomatoes. I put two cans in my directions up above because I think it needed more. Also, I used mild Italian sausage this time. Next time I will definitely use a spicier version.

We had this with a baguette hubby had picked up at the store and we had some grapes so I put those on the table as well.

What does the family think? Hubby and I liked it enough to have seconds. The boys ate it, but mostly just ate the sausage.

2 Comments

Filed under Definitely Making it Again, Easy, Everybody Ate It, Italian

April 11, 2010 · 10:31 pm

Italian Sausage, Peppers and Tomatoes

I use the internet a lot to find recipes. I found this one a while back and I love it because it is super easy and everyone loves it. Here is my variation:

Ingredients:
6 whole Italian sausages (hot, sweet or mild)
2 14.5 oz cans of Italian-style diced tomatoes
1/2 large onion cut in thin strips
1 1/2 cups (approx.) frozen bell pepper strips
2 T. olive oil

Directions:
Place the sausages in a pot of boiling water and cook for about ten minutes. Drain and set aside to cool.

Heat olive oil in a skillet and add onions and bell peppers. While onions and bell peppers are cooking cut sausages into “coins” and add them to the skillet. Cook until onions are tender and sausages are cooked through. Lastly, add the tomatoes and cook for about five more minutes on medium.

Variations: You might want to add one can of tomatoes and see if that is just right. Some people might prefer two cans…it depends on how much you like tomatoes.

We always have this dish with some fresh Italian bread or a baguette. You can dip the bread in the bowl to soak up some of the juices. Yummy!

What does the family think? Hubby and I love this dish. The boys mostly just eat the sausage.

3 Comments

Filed under Definitely Making it Again, Everybody Ate It, Italian, Six Ingredients or Less, Super Easy to Make

April 10, 2010 · 11:09 pm

Whole Chicken Crock Pot Recipe

It doesn’t get any easier than this. I found this recipe on-line a few years ago and have made several variations, but this is the simplest one I have made. Simple is good. We have this at least twice a month at our house. It is a great dish to have on a night when you know you are going to be busy or getting home late. It’s done when you get home AND your house smells FANTASTIC!

Ingredients:
Salt
Pepper
Poultry Seasoning
1 large roasting chicken
1 small lemon

Directions:
After making sure there aren’t any gizzards, etc. in the cavity of the chicken, cut the lemon in half and place both halves of the lemon in the cavity of the chicken then place the chicken in the crockpot. Sprinkle a little bit of salt, pepper and poultry seasoning on the chicken. Put the lid on the crockpot and cook on low for 4-8 hours. (Ours is usually done within five hours at the most.)

Variations: You can put just about any reasonable spice on this chicken that you want to and it will turn out tasting great. You could use paprika, lemon pepper, garlic salt, thyme, cayenne…get creative.

We usually have this dish with a veggie that can be prepared quickly and some bread and butter with honey on it. Again, very quick, but yummy.

What does the family think? Hubby and I love this dish. It is definitely a comfort food in our house. Our boys aren’t huge chicken fans, but they’ll eat it.

4 Comments

Filed under Chicken, Definitely Making it Again, Easy, Everybody Ate It, Six Ingredients or Less, Uncategorized

April 9, 2010 · 7:07 am

Chorizo and Butter Bean Stew

This recipe

Also, let me say that Jamie Oliver is my new hero and I have been trying out a lot of his recipes lately.

Here is my version of his recipe:
1/2 lb. ground turkey chorizo
3/4 chopped red onion
3 garlic cloves
olive oil
1 tspn. cumin
1/2 tspn. sweet paprika
1 pinch of cayenne
14 1/2 oz. can diced tomatoes
15 1/2 oz. can butter beans
several dollops of sour cream

Directions: In a dutch oven or other such pot, cook the chorizo, garlic, olive oil and onion until the chorizo is cooked through. Add the spices, tomatoes and butter beans and cook until heated through.

When serving, dish into bowls and top each serving with a dollop of sour cream. This dish is on the spicy side and the sour cream helps take the heat off. This recipe doesn’t make a lot. It made enough for hubby and I to each have one serving and our two boys to each have one little serving. It could easily be doubled for more.

Jaime Oliver suggests serving this dish with some crusty bread and a nice glass of red wine, so that’s what we did.

So what did the family think? Hubby and I thought it was awesome. It was SO MUCH tastier than I thought it would be. One of the kids ate only the beans and the tomatoes and our other child ate only the chorizo. Go figure.