Baked Ziti (but no Ziti)

I'm pretty sure there are about eight billion incarnations of lasagna.  And I will rarely tire of trying new ones.  Although you have to kind of watch - because you could be eating the exact same thing over and over.  And when you write a blog about trying out new recipes can result is a REALLY big gap between posts.

I have been wanting to share this with you for ages. 

 

It's meaty, cheesy, and makes a ton.  So it's perfect for a crowd or if you need leftovers to last a few days.

 

 

Start by frying up some onions.  Make sure you get em nice and golden colored.

 

Then add a whole buncha beef.

 

While that is cooking, mix up some cheeses.  Mozzarella, Parmesan, and Ricotta.

 

 

 

The egg also goes into the cheeses.  But "someone" forgot.  *sigh*

 

Okay - now back to the beef.  Once it's nice and browned, drain any excess fat and add the garlic.

 

Then the tomatoes.

 

And the tomato sauce.

 

Stir it all together and add a whole buncha spices.

 

Simmer.

 

Back to the cheese.  Add the cooked pasta to the cheese.

 

Now - I know the title says "ZITI" and this is PENNE, but Ziti isn't exactly considered standard pasta in a prairie border town.  And I failed to pick some up when I was visiting the big, fancy city.  So penne it was.

 

Not like it mattered - trust me.

 

Once the sauce has simmered, add a cup or two to the cheese and pasta mixture.

 

Then, in a deep 9 x 13 inch baking dish, start layering.  First the pasta.

 

Then a layer of sauce.  Then a whole buncha cheese.  (to say there's a lot of cheese in this dish is the understatement of the century)

 

Repeat until all the pasta, sauce, and cheese is used up.  Then bake.

 

 I have to say that this pasta dish is perfectly balanced with the meat to pasta to cheese ratio.  The flavor is fantastic and the leftovers get better and better.  Just like lasagna.

 

Although if I told you that it was easier than lasagna, I'd be lying - because it's still quite a bit of work.  But without the fuss of the lasagna noodles (I might be the only one who cooks extra noodles because at least one or two for sure rip).

 

It also freezes like a dream.  So if you wanted to make it in smaller containers, you could absolutely do that and not even know that it had been in the freezer.  I've done them in 8 x 8 inch square pans for this purpose and it serves me very well.

 

Now - if you're lucky enough to have access to ziti, I encourage you to use it!  But penne is a spectacular substitute.  I also encourage you to send me a bag also! 

 

Much love to you and your tastebuds!

 

xoxo - Heather

 

 

Baked Ziti

 

2 Tablespoons olive oil

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 whole large yellow onion, diced

2 pounds ground beef

1 28 ounce can whole tomatoes, with juice

2 14.5 ounce cans tomato sauce

2 teaspoons Italian seasoning

1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Salt and pepper to taste

16 ounces (weight) ziti or penne pasta, cooked until not quite al dente

1 15 ounce tub whole milk ricotta cheese

1 1/2 pound mozzarella cheese, grated

1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

1 whole egg

Fresh minced parsley (if desired)

1. Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium heat.  Add the onions and garlic and cook for about 5 minutes, until softened and golden. 
2. Add the ground beef and cook until browned.  Drain excess fat, but leave a small amount behind for extra flavor and moisture.
3. Add the tomatoes, tomato sauce, salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, and red pepper flakes.  Stir together, bring to a simmer, and cook for 25 - 30 minutes.
4. Once the sauce has simmered for 25 - 30 minutes, remove 3 - 4 cups to a new bowl and allow to cool.
5. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
6. In a very large bowl, stir together the ricotta cheese, 2 cups of mozzarella cheese, parmesan, egg, and salt and pepper.  Do not mix completely!  Add the cooled meat sauce and stir again. 
7. Cook the pasta until not quite al dente and rinse with cold water to stop the cooking process and cool the pasta.  Add the cooled pasta to the cheese and stir to combine.  Don't over-combine, there should still be lumps left.
8. Pour half the pasta into a 9 x 13 baking dish.  Spread half the remaining meat sauce over the pasta, then top with half the remaining cheese.  Repeat with the pasta, sauce, and cheese.
9. Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes or until bubbling.  Remove and let stand for 5 minutes before serving.  Sprinkle with fresh parsley if desired.
10. FREEZER MEAL:  I like to split this up into aluminum 8 x 8 pans.  Prepare as above, cover tightly with two or three layers of aluminum foil.  To cook:  preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Bake from completely frozen 45 - 50 minutes or until heated through.  Remove the foil and bake another 10 minutes.

Source:  The Pioneer Woman



Taco Beef

Do you ever worry about preservatives?  I go through phases where I'm like "damn, that is probably full of preservatives - I should make it from scratch and it'll be more healthy for me".

Like - how does some of those famous breads stay good so long?  Erk.  That's not right.

And those packaged taco seasoning mixes?  Are they good for you or bad for you?  But then I wonder if the spices in the spice aisle are okay.

It's a dark, deep, and long rabbit hole.

I do think that making things from scratch often offers a depth of flavor that just isn't there with pre-packaged things.  I mean, I understand where convenience is a huge factor, but in my complete and honest opinion - throwing all of this stuff together to cook up doesn't take that much longer.

 

Heat the oil in a pan and add the onion.

 

Cook until softened and add in all the spices.

 

Don't forget the garlic!

 

Stir to coat the onions in the spice mixture.  Then add in the beef.



Then cook until the beef is just cooked through.  And add in the tomato sauce.

 

And the chicken broth, apple cider vinegar, and brown sugar.

Reduce the heat and simmer until the liquid is almost gone.  It should thicken and reduce as you cook it.  But watch as you don't want the meat to be completely dry.

 

Then put into your favorite shell and EAT!!  As you can see from my very dirty plate - I was A. HUNGRY and B. not really caring about how fancy the pictures looked.

 

 

There are a couple of different versions of taco seasoning available at the grocery stores, but this one beats them all - hands down.  It's well spiced, but not too much as often is the case.  In addition, you can up or reduce the cayenne depending on your heat proclivities.  Which is awesome.

Serve it in your vessel of choice with your favorite toppings (I'm a plain Jane cheese, sour cream, and lettuce girl).

I would definitely encourage you to double the recipe.  Then you can freeze half - or in smaller batches, to whip out on a busy evening.

The only question that remains.....  How many tacos can you eat? 

I refuse to admit my taco count.  It's high though.

 

PS - I used this taco meat to make homemade Crunchwrap Supremes (stay tuned for THAT) and they came out awesome.  I made extra to have at work over the week and it was just as good on day one as on day 4.  I absolutely recommend making a big batch to freeze!  Tacos - ANYTIME.

Enjoy! - Heather

Chicken and Gnocchi Soup

In addition to the other multitude of foods that I love, soup is high up on the list.

But I'm specific about the soup that I like.  I like creamy, thick, stick-to-your-ribs soup.  Cream of chicken, cream of asparagus, cream of tomato, etc. etc.

In my food blog travels, I came across this creamy Chicken and Gnocchi soup.  I was intrigued.  I love gnocchi, I love a creamy soup, and this one is chock full of vegetables - meaning it was legit healthy.

Now - here's what you need to know - allow me to segue for a minute here.  In the world, there are like a zillion recipes for a zillion dishes.  For example.  My chocolate chip cookie recipe is different from the your favorite, and from your cousins favorite, and her friend's favorite.  Do you see where I'm going with this?

Because of this, I like to test out different recipes to figure out which one I like the best.  Or maybe the first one I try isn't that great and I need to strike out again.

Which is what happened with this soup the first time I tried it.

I was SO excited.  I KNEW it was going to be good.  I could just tell!

And it was......  As waste of my time.  Something about the ingredients, or maybe the cooking method.  Something didn't work.  There was WAY too much olive oil and it was downright gross.

It was a few years before I decided to take the plunge and try again. 

These are all the things you'll need.  Just check out all those veggies!  I feel like a better/more healthy version of myself already.  lol

In a medium pot over medium heat, combine the butter and olive oil and heat until the butter is melted.



Add the onions.

 

And the celery and carrots.

 

Then add in the garlic and the thyme.

 

Cook the veggies until they're nice and soft and tender.  It'll take about 5 - 10 minutes.  Then add in the salt and pepper.

Add in the flour.

 

Stir the veggies around to coat with the flour.  You'll to cook the veggies and flour for another couple of minutes.

Then stir in the chicken broth.

 

And then the half and half.  (Okay - so that's the "not so healthy" part of the recipe).

Bring to a simmer and cook until thickened.  You can see on the sides of the pot in the picture below that the liquid is thick and hearty.  (this is the part where you're going to cook the gnocchi according to the package directions)

Then add in the chicken.

 

And the cooked gnocchi.

 

Cook for a few minutes so that the chicken and gnocchi are heated through.

Add in the roughly chopped spinach.

 

Then it'll look like this.

 

And you can ladle the soup into a bowl and it'll look like this.

 

And this.

 

And when you dip in a spoon to chow down, it'll look like this.

 

And this.

I completely recommend serving this with crusty bread, or a crusty bun, or crackers.  But definitely bread so that you can scrape every last drop of soup off the bottom of the bowl.  Trust me - you'll be disappointed if you don't.

This was the epitome of soups for me.  Creamy, hearty, full of vegetables, gnocchi, and chicken.  You could taste the slight hint of olive oil and the salt and pepper seasoned it perfectly. 

While there's some work involved - from start to finish (including prep time) it takes about an hour to make.  That's pretty quick for such a delicious recipe.  Although I've said before that delicious doesn't always need to take forever.

I go through barrels of soup in the winter - this is one of my most treasured favorites!  I hope you love it as much as I do. 

xoxo - Heather

 

Cheesy Baked Tortellini

I've heard - and talked about - that blogging about recipes you don't LOVE is against all the blogging rules. 

In the past, I've tried recipes and cooked things I wasn't wild about and posted about them.  But at some point along the way, I decided that you didn't want to hear about stuff I hated or was ambivalent about.   You wanted to hear about the dishes that made me smile, the ones that warmed my ribs, the ones that made my tastebuds pop.

I think you can tell - I have LOVED everything I've posted about lately.  So, goal achieved!!

Before I start here.  There's something you need to know.  The original recipe did not meet the criteria above.

So I changed it.  And it was the perfect pasta casserole for a freezing winter afternoon.

It's fairly involved (it'll definitely need to be started early in the day), but when it's -30 degrees C outside, I figure we've all got a little extra time on our hands in the house. 

The reason this takes so long is because you have to start by making a meat sauce.  Which cooks for quite some time. Also, the recipe calls for veal, but I couldn't get veal so I just upped the beef and

pork.

Let's kick it into gear.



Heat oil in a large pot and add the meats.  Cook until browned, breaking up the chunks of meat with a wooden spoon.

Add the garlic.



Add the onion.

Cook until the onions are translucent.  Add the salt and pepper.



Then the basil.

Followed up by red wine.

Stir in the crushed tomatoes and the tomato purée.  Stir until combined.  Simmer on low for 2 - 3 hours.



The best part is that this recipe makes a REALLY BIG batch.  The tortellini recipe calls for 3 cups of sauce, so the rest can be portioned into freezer bags and saved for a rainy day.  Which is so great.

You can also plan this so that as the meat sauce is finishing, everything else is ready to go. Totally your call.

Next up is the béchamel sauce.

Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat.

Then add the flour.  Whisk together and cook until the flour is golden brown.  Don't let it burn!

Then add the milk slowly, whisking constantly.  

Heat the mixture until it is simmering.  Cook for 2 minutes, whisking constantly so it doesn't burn or cook to the bottom of the pot.

The mixture should thicken (you can see how it has on the sides of the pot in the picture below), then add in the provolone cheese and stir until it's melted.

Then add the Parmesan cheese and stir until melted.

Add in salt and pepper.  I usually go for about 1 teaspoon and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. 



Then stir in 3 cups of your prepared meat sauce.

Put the pasta in a really, really big bowl.  I used my 32 cup Tupperware bowl and it was perfect.

Pour the prepared sauce into the bowl with the tortellini and stir to combine.

Transfer the pasta and sauce into a 9 x 13 baking dish and top with mozzarella and Parmesan cheese.

Cook.  Wait.  Cook and wait.  Get hungry. 



I loved everything about this.  The sauce, the cheese, the pasta.  How it all came together and warmed the frozen cockles of my heart.



You could use any pasta you like.  I do recall seeing a bacon and cheese tortellini pasta and that would be probably wildly delightful.  I used a package of beef/cheese and a package of plain cheese. 



Serve with a Caesar salad and The Bread and that's a meal that is family friendly that will keep bellies full for days.  Or in my case, until dessert.



Enjoy!
Xoxo - Heather