Strombolli

You can't get buch easier than this recipe.
You can even use canned or frozen bread dough if you do not want to make your own.

STOMBOLLI
1 lb bread dough (half of this link's recipe)
1/2 lb salami
1/2 lb ham
1/2 pkg pepperoni
1/2 lb grated cheese
1/4 cup grated parm cheese
italian seasoning
pizza sauce

Roll out dough in rectangle shape.
Layer meats in row down the long side.
Add cheese and sprinkle seasoning on top.
Roll up dough into log shape, sealing edges.
Bake at 375 for 25-30 minutes.
Wait about 5 minutes before cutting.  Serve with sauce for dipping.

That's it!  I sometimes add turkey or pastrami as well, really whatever I have on hand.

I Eats My Spinach

Shane is a finicky salad eater. We both dislike iceberg lettuce, but he's not even a fan of some of the more substantial lettuces, like romaine, butter or leaf. However, he does like spinach salads, so....I buy big containers of baby spinach at Sam's Club. Then, sometimes I don't feel like eating spinach salads every night, and I need to use the spinach up before it goes bad, so we eat something like this...

RIGATONI FLORENTINE

Sounds kind of fancy, right? It's delicious, the kids liked it, and it had hidden (well, sort of) nutrients for the kids.

I found it here on Allrecipes.com by using their ingredient search. I love that I can put whatever ingredients I have on hand, or that I need to use, and recipes will come up every single time.

PASTA FLORENTINE (because I didn't use Rigatoni, I used bowtie...)

1 (16-oz.) package of pasta
2 tbsp. olive oil
2 pounds boneless chicken, cubed (I only used 1 pound, my kids don't really eat meat)
3 cloves garlic, chopped (I minced it)
1 pint heavy cream
26 ounces spaghetti sauce
10 ounces fresh spinach, washed and chopped (I didn't chop mine, I missed that step)
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese (I didn't use it, I was out, didn't want to go to the store...it worked ok without it, but I'll bet it's even better with it)

1. Bring water to boil and cook pasta to al dente, approximately 8-10 minutes.

2. In a large skilled, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add chicken and saute until cooked through and no longer pink inside. Add garlic to skillet; saute until golden. Add cream and spaghetti sauce to skillet; cook over medium heat for 10-15 minutes or until sauce thickens.

3. Add cooked chicken and spinach and cook until spinach reduces. Then add pasta; toss with cheese and serve.

Birthday Dinners

Birthday dinners are a HUGE thing at our house.  The birthday person gets to plan the menu for their own, very special birthday dinner.  Whatever they want.  In a family of 6 this is a pretty big deal.  Especially when the mom loves to cook what she likes most of the time…

Savannah’s dinner was the most thought out, well planned meal from a six-year old EVER.  She analyzed her options, she thought long and hard, and came up with pretty much the perfect menu.  Each one of the 15 people who ate the dinner would agree, I’m sure.

Jalapeno poppers

Homemade rolls with homemade jam

Tomato/alfredo shrimp pasta bake

Green salad

10 layer rainbow layered jello

Grape soda (we also offered Strawberry)

Strawberry lemonade ice cream cake (just use Strawberry Lemonade mix)

Seriously, so fattening, so time-intensive to make, but oh, so delicious!  Thanks Nannah!

TOMATO/ALFREDO SHRIMP PASTA BAKE

• 16-18 oz. pasta (I use penne, radiatore, or farfalle), cooked as directed on packaging
• Large jar spaghetti sauce (it doesn't have to be fancy, I use Hunts, it's cheap and the spaghetti sauce isn't the star of this dish)
• Alfredo sauce (see recipe below, or you can use a large jar of store bought sauce
• 1 pound medium shrimp, cooked, deveined and tails removed, chopped into bits
• Mozzarella cheese - enough to cover a 9x13-in. casserole

Preheat oven to 350°.  Cook alfredo sauce, if you're making the homemade (and much, much tastier) sauce.  Once sauce is cooked, add the shrimp to it and stir in.  Line 9x13-in. baking pan with spaghetti sauce, just dump it in and spread it out. Add cooked pasta, then pour the alfredo sauce (w/ shrimp mixed in) over the pasta. Top with shredded mozzarella cheese.  Cover with foil and bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes, or until it is bubbly.

Amazing Alfredo Sauce:

1 pint heavy cream

1/2 cup butter

2 tbsp. cream cheese

3/4 c. parmesan cheese

1 tbsp. garlic powder

In a saucepan, combine cream, butter and cream cheese.  Simmer until all is melted and mixed well.  Add parmesan cheese and garlic powder.  Stirring constantly, with a whisk, simmer for 15-20 minutes until thick.

Drive-Ins, Diners and Dives

I love food networks and cooking shows.  As inspiring as they are, I love most watching whip together food quickly, efficiently and plating it beautifully.  That doesn't happen at our house.  I may whip it together quickly, sometimes efficiently, but the plating is lost in the six of us wolfing it down without stopping to admire the beauty of the dish.  Hence the lack of pictures lately.  Sorry, we're hungry.

Last time Shane and I sat down to watch Triple D (yes, the title post, it's too long to type again) Guy Fieri watched a chef make Pastitsio.  Shane fell in love, but of course the restaurant didn't expose all of it's little secrets or the recipe in total, so we googled it...

This is the closest we could find, from Ina Garten...the restaurant we watched make it used only beef, no lamb.  If I make this I will be using only beef too.

Pastitsio

2009, Ina Garten, All Rights Reserved

Ingredients

For the Tomato Meat Sauce:

• 3 tablespoons good olive oil
• 1 1/2 cups chopped yellow onion (1 large)
• 1 pound lean ground beef
• 1 pound lean ground lamb
• 1/2 cup dry red wine
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic (3 large cloves)
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
• Pinch of cayenne pepper
• 1 can (28 ounces) crushed tomatoes in puree
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the Bechamel:

• 1 1/2 cups whole milk
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 1/2 cups freshly grated Parmesan or Kasseri cheese
• 2 extra-large eggs, beaten
• 2/3 cup Greek-style yogurt, such as Fage Total
• 3/4 pound small shells

Directions

For the sauce, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat in a large pot. Add the onion and saute for 5 minutes. Add the beef and lamb, and saute over medium heat for 8 to 10 minutes, until it's no longer pink, crumbling it with the back of wooden spoon. Drain off any excess liquid, add the wine, and cook for 2 more minutes. Add the garlic, cinnamon, oregano, thyme, and cayenne, and continue cooking over medium heat for 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes, 2 teaspoons salt, and 1 teaspoon pepper and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 40 to 45 minutes. Set aside.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

For the bechamel, heat the milk and cream together in a small saucepan over medium-low heat until simmering. In a medium saucepan, melt the butter. Add the flour and cook over medium heat, whisking constantly for 2 minutes. Pour the warm milk and cream mixture into the butter and flour mixture, whisking constantly. Continue cooking, stirring occasionally, over medium heat for 5 to 7 minutes, until smooth and thick. Add the nutmeg, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1 teaspoon of pepper. Stir in 3/4 cup of Parmesan cheese, 1/2 cup of the tomato and meat sauce, and allow to cool for 10 minutes. Stir in the eggs and yogurt and set aside.

Meanwhile, cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling water until al dente. Don't over-cook because the pasta will later be baked. Drain and set aside.

Add the pasta to the meat and tomato sauce, and pour the mixture into a baking dish. Spread the bechamel evenly to cover the pasta and sprinkle with the remaining 3/4 cup Parmesan cheese. Bake for 1 hour, until golden brown and bubbly. Set aside for 10 minutes and serve hot.

The Night We Ate My Son

Or, at least that's what he thought when we started talking about eating kale in this soup.

When the kids saw the green stuff in the soup it came out that the unknown vegetable was Kale, not Cael, my last born child.  He was sufficiently concerned and didn't touch the green stuff.

However, the rest of us did, and loved it.  This is one of my husband's favorite soups, and because it's one of those recipes that I don't usually have all the ingredients for, we go long periods of time without eating it.  You'll recognize the name if you've ever eaten at The Olive Garden, and if you've ordered their Zuppa Toscana, and liked it, then you now have a copycat recipe.  Though this recipe is not listed on their site, they have a large selection of their recipes online at http://www.olivegarden.com/recipes/.

Zuppa Toscana

1 pound hot or mild Italian sausage
1 bag real bacon bits
1 onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
10 cups water
5 cubes chicken bouillon
3 potatoes, chopped to 1/4"-ish
1 pint whipping cream (though I usually substitute half and half)
1 cup kale

Brown sausage in a large skillet.  Add bacon bits, onion and garlic and saute together.  Transfer meat mixture to a large pot, add water, bouillon, and potatoes.  Boil until the potatoes are cooked.  Add whipping cream and let simmer until thoroughly heated.  Add kale and let sit until the kale is soft, about 5 minutes.

Lasagne with "homemade" noodles

As very few of you know I have major heart burn problems. When I get stressed for a couple of weeks my presciption miracle pills ($2 each!) don't even seem to have much of an effect. Well, when it seems to finally calm down I do what I probably am not supposed to do. Eat what I have been craving for weeks! Yesterday, it was lasagne. With sausage. And lots of cheese.

When I went to pull out the cheese out of the fridge in my drawer, something caught my eye... leftover egg roll wrappers. My wheels started turning. They're just raw noodles right?

Well, it tasted like homemade noodles! It was a great change. I was however dissapointed when I was cleaning up and started looking at the recipes inside the package. I was not the first afterall. There were recipes for cannolli and lasagne! Who knew all these years? I just thought I would pass on the possibilities for everyone on the versatility of egg roll wrappers.

For more ideas you can go to the VitaSoy website.

Sorry that my first post for ya'll is not an original idea all of my own...

For my fast and easy breadsticks I just opened a can of cheap biscuits, rolled them in butter and sprinkled with lots of garlic powder and parmesan cheese. I then dumped the leftover butter into a skillet with some italian dressing for the veggies.

Give it a try next time!

I = Italian

Creamy Italian Chicken

1 package (8 oz) cream cheese
1 package italian dressing mix
2 cans cream of chicken soup
4-6 chicken breasts
1 small container sour cream

Mix all ingredients together and simmer in a crockpot for 4-6 hours on low, or 2-4 hours on high. Serve over rice.