Clean Pantry Pasta Bake

Daddy Rating: 4



My hubs was hungry and I wasn't fast enough to take a picture...it was that good!

 I have a small kitchen....tiny, really. I have no idea how the woman who cooked in it before me fed SEVEN children there. I have no pantry space so I usually wind up keeping crackers in the 'fridge just because there is more room. So, last week I went through the pantry to make room for more groceries. Going through the food I realized I may have the ingredients for something yummy - so I tried it...and it worked. Below ingredients are just suggestions, go through your pantry and you may find a different yummy twist - think of it as a challenge. Or as we call it in my house "Adventures in Eating"

I used:
1 Package bow tie pasta
1 Jar pasta sauce
1 28oz can whole peeled tomatoes
1/2 Jar roasted red peppers, chopped
1lb Italian sausage,
1/2 an onion, chopped
1.5 cups Italian shredded cheese
1 tablespoon capers
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
1 teaspoon dried basil

Boil water for the pasta. In another pan, cook the sausage. Once sausage is mostly cooked add onion and garlic (add a little olive oil, too, if the pan is dry) and cook until translucent. Add tomatoes and break apart with a spoon, then add basil, roasted red peppers, pasta sauce, capers and let simmer.

While the sauce is filling the house with great smells, cook the pasta and drain. Combine pasta, sauce and a little cheese in the pasta pot, put into a glass baking dish and top with the remaining cheese.

I covered this with saran wrap in the 'fridge and cooked it a few nights later. Heat oven to 350* and cook for 25 min or so until warmed through. ENJOY!

Toasted Ravioli

I went to school at the University of Missouri - in Missouri, they have this thing called "Toasted Ravioli" which it turns out isn't "toasted" at all, but rather is deep fried. What's not to like!? A bit messy to make, but if your little one is anything like mine, she will love anything that you can dip-dip.

You'll need:
- Frozen ravioli (meat or cheese - use whatever you have left over from making the Ravioli Lasagna)
- 2 tablespoons whole milk
- 2 eggs
- Bread Crumbs (either use Italian flavored or add Italian seasoning)
- Jar of marinara sauce
- Veggie oil
- Parm cheese

Set up your assembly line; Beat eggs in a shallow dish with milk, put bread crumbs in another shallow dish, and then at the end put a plate with paper towels or something else for the ravioli to cool/drain.

Heat a few inches of oil in a deep sauce pan or dutch oven on high until oil is hot. Dip frozen ravioli in egg mixture, cover with breadcrumbs and plop in oil for approx 3 min. Remove from oil and drain. Sprinkle ravioli with parm and serve with heated marinara sauce. ENJOY!

Greek Turkey Patty Pockets

Daddy Rating: 3/4 (that's pretty good!)

From Martha Stewart Everyday Food Magazine, inspired by Emeril Lagasse's recipe. This is a kid friendly recipe, just may want to cut back on the cayenne. Also uses ONE bowl to mix the meat – the meat cooks on a cookie sheet, but use foil for super easy clean up. If you are able to prep this beforehand, it takes only about 15 min to get dinner on the table once you get home from work. If you have older kids, they can help you with all of this.

Ingredients:
1lb Ground Turkey (the recipe originally calls for ground chicken, but turkey is on sale more often)
2 large egg whites, lightly beaten
1/2 c. plain dried breadcrumbs
1/4 c. finely chopped onion
1/4 c. chopped fresh parsley (I have never used this...)
1 tablespoon minced garlic (I always add more garlic to everything)
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander (I left this out a few times and it was still good!)
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Olive oil
Pita Pockets

Yogurt Sauce:
1 cup plain greek yogurt
Add lemon or lime juice, cumin, coriander, pepper and cayenne until you like the taste

In the morning before you leave for work or when your kids are napping, in a large bowl, using your hands mix together turkey, egg whites, breadcrumbs, onion, parsley, garlic, salt and spices until well blended. Cover bowl and put in the fridge until it's dinnertime.  If you have time, also make the yogurt sauce, chop the cucumber and tomatoes now and save for dinner time.



When you are ready to cook, heat broiler on high. Take the yogurt out of the fridge so it's not so cold in the pitas. Line a cookie sheet with foil and spread some olive oil on the foil. Divide turkey mixture into balls (I did this beforehand too) about the size of golf balls, squish flat into a little patty and place on the sheet.

Broil until lightly browned, about 4 min. Flip the patties and cook under broiler for another 4 minutes. While cooking, spread yogurt mixture, and veggies in the pitas and add one or two turkey patties when they are done cooking.

Tonight, I made a quick side salad with greens, tomatoes and feta cheese, but usually I just serve the pita pockets alone – the veggies are already in there, so you’re covered

Always serve with a glass of wine. ENJOY!

BONUS:

My hubs took the leftover patties and made an awesome pasta sauce by just doctoring up jar sauce with mushrooms, cilantro, tomatoes. Was PERFECT for lunch at my desk!

Love him!

Weekend Dinner - Baked Pasta With Chicken Sausage

(Daddy Rating 4/5)

(This is from an old "Everyday Food" magazine that I grabbed from my mom. I meant to cook this over the weekend, but I wasnt' feeling well and the Oscars were on so it got bumped to a Monday night...sort of a mistake, it was too much to do on a week night but it was good, so we'll keep it on hand for a Weekend Dinner or if we have company over)

Ingredients:
- Olive Oil
- Salt/Pepper
- 1 medium red onion (I used yellow)
- 1/4 cup vodka (Optional, I didn't use it)
- 1 can 28 oz whole tomatoes, lightly crushed with your hands
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/2 cup cream
- 1 lb rigatoni (I used cavatappi because I like the fun shape better, you won't use the hole pound, you will have some plain pasta left if you need to reserve some for picky eaters)
- 10 oz Baby Spinach (I used frozen and pressed out the water because I'm cheap, but fresh would have been a lot easier)
- 12 oz smoked chicken sausage (I used some chicken sausage from Target that has spinach in it)
- 6 oz fontina cheese (I used 8oz)
- 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese (Or enough to cover the top of the casserole in the dish)

Everything finally chopped up....

Start the water boiling for the pasta. Then heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat (as large as you can because you wind up mixing the ingredients with the pasta in this skillet). Add onion; cook until translucent (about 3 min). Stir in garlic. Turn down heat and add vodka if you're using it. Turn heat back up until evaporated (about 1 min).

Trying to occupy baby girl by making drums out of mixing bowls so I can chop ingredients.

Stir in tomatoes and oregano and cook until tomatoes are falling apart (about 10-15 min). Add cream and cook until warmed through (about 5 min). Season with salt and pepper.

Preheat oven to 400*. Start the pasta cooking.

Drums got old, so baby girl cleaned out the spice cabinet for me...

Add Spinach and chicken sausage to skillet until wilted (if using fresh).  Combine cooked pasta (do it in small batches, you may not want to use all the pasta) and fontina cheese to the tomato sauce in the skillet and toss to coat.

Divide evenly into whatever baking dishes you have. Top with Parm to your liking and back until browned and edges are crisp - about 20-30 min.

YAY! Finally in the oven! My husband ate the dish on the left for dinner and we still had plenty of left overs

Always serve with a glass of wine.