Crockpot Tortellini Bake

So this Wednesday is turning out to be "not-so-wordless" but that's okay. I haven't shared any recipes in awhile since I have been so busy cooking up my e-mealz! We are on about our 6th month now and still loving how easy it is for me to have a yummy meal ready for dinner each day. If you missed my previous post about it you can find it here.

Anyways, when Elijah was first born I received a fantastic meal from a good friend and I knew I had to have the recipe to make it again myself which I did a couple times. But you can imagine I was over-ecstatic when I printed out my e-mealz recipes for the week back in March when we first started it and saw a recipe for the crockpot that used almost the exact same ingredients! I just combined the recipe from my friend and the crockpot e-mealz version and voila! A fantastic, EASY, delicious meal!

I love using my crockpot, especially on these 90+ hot summer days when I'd rather starve than turn on the oven to cook dinner. Since I decided to make this again tonight I figured I'd share it with you too! Enjoy!

CROCKPOT TORTELLINI BAKE

Ingredients:
* 1 lb mild ground sausage, cooked
* 16 oz pasta sauce
* 1 can diced tomatoes, undrained
* 1 can mushroom pieces, drained
* 8 oz frozen spinach, defrosted and drained
* 9 oz pkg refridgerated/fresh cheese tortellini
* 1 c shredded cheddar

Directions:
In crock pot, combine sausage, pasta sauce, tomatoes, mushrooms, and spinach. Cook on low 4-6 hours. For the last 20 minutes, stir in tortellini and sprinkle cheese over the top. Cover.

Easy Alfredo Sauce

Alfredo may not be the healthiest choice, but if you are in the mood to indulge this is the recipe for you! I served it over pasta with chicken and broccoli and the family gobbled it up. This is the easiest alfredo sauce recipe I've ever seen, and it tasted great. They are all handy ingredients as well!

INGREDIENTS:

* 1/2 cup butter
* 1 (8 oz) package cream cheese
* 2 teaspoons garlic powder
* 2 cups milk
* 6 oz grated Parmesan cheese
* 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper


DIRECTIONS:

1. Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat.
2. Add cream cheese and garlic powder, stirring until smooth.
3. Add milk, whisking to smooth lumps. Stir in Parmesan and pepper. Remove from heat when sauce reaches desired consistency. If it is too thick you can add a little milk.
4. Toss with hot pasta to serve.

Note: This makes a LOT of sauce. To serve a family of 4, you could easily cut the recipe in half.

Bistro Chicken Parmesan

Tonight, I modified a recipe I wanted to try and came up with this and it was really good! If you can't tell by now we eat a lot of chicken and pasta :), so it's nice to have different variations on that combo.

INGREDIENTS:
* 2 tsp. oil
* 3 cups sliced fresh mushrooms
* 1 medium onion, chopped
* 1 can (15 oz.) diced tomatoes, undrained (or you could use stewed tomatoes)
* 1/4 cup Lite Italian Dressing
* 3 Tbsp. tomato paste
* 8 boneless skinless chicken tenderloins
* 1 cup Mozzarella Cheese
* 1/2 pound spaghetti

DIRECTIONS:

1. Heat oil in large nonstick skillet on medium-high heat. Add mushrooms and onions; cook 5 min., stirring occasionally. Stir in tomatoes, dressing and tomato paste.

2. Meanwhile, boil a pot of water and cook spaghetti as directed on package.

3. Add chicken to tomato mixture; cover. Reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer 12 min. or until chicken is cooked through.

4. Top with cheese. Simmer, uncovered, 5 min. or until cheese is melted.

5. Serve over spaghetti.

Serves 4-5 people

Buon Appetito!

Pasta e Fagioli

This has to be one of my favorite "comfort food" meals when winter rolls around. I love big bowl of pasta "fashoool" (no it is not pronounced fageeollee)topped with lots of Parmesan cheese. The name means Pasta and Beans. This is a dish my Italian family has prepared for many years and I hope you enjoy it too!

INGREDIENTS:
* 2 garlic cloves, minced
* 2 Tbsp olive oil
* 1 (16 oz) can Cannelini beans (This is the best bean to use, but I have made it with red and/or white kidney beans as pictured or Great White Northerns as well)
* 8 oz Ditalini pasta
* 1/4 cup chopped parsley
* 12-14 oz spaghetti sauce
(In the past for some variety I have also added in cooked Italian sausage)

DIRECTIONS:
1. Fry garlic in oil. Add sauce - cook 10 min.
2. Add beans, stir, cook/simmer.
3. Cook pasta and add - stir gently. If too thick, add water.
4. Add parsley and top servings with grating cheese!

Serves 4-6

Buon Appetito!

Veggie Stuffed Shells

I still had half a box left of jumbo shells, so we made these for dinner last night! They were so easy and sooo delicious. The great part is you can really add in anything you want or substitute frozen/fresh ingredients based on what you have handy! We added some zucchini this time.

INGREDIENTS:
* 1 box (12 oz) jumbo pasta shells
* 2 tsp olive oil
* 1/2 bunch broccoli, chopped (2 1/2 cups)
* 1 cup shredded carrots
* 1 small onion, chopped
* 1 colve garlic, minced
* 1 box (10 oz) frozen spinach, thawed and coarsely cut
* 1/4 cup chopped basil
* 1 cup part-skim ricotta (or small curd cottage cheese)
* 2 Tbsp grated Parmesan
* 1/4 tsp each pepper and salt
* 1 1/2 cups spaghetti sauce
* 1/2 cup shredded mozzerella

DIRECTIONS:
1. Heat oven to 400. Cook pasta in a large pot of boilingwater, as directed on box. Drain and rinse with cool water.
2. Meanwhile, heat oil in large skillet over medium heat. Saute broccoli, carrots, onions, and garlic 3 min. Add spinach and 1/2 cup water. Cover and cook 2 min until vegetable are tender.
3. Remove cover. Cook until liquid is mostly evaporated. Remove from heat. Stir in basil, ricotta, Parmesan, salt, and pepper. Spread sauce on bottom of 13x9 baking dish.
4. Spoon 1 rounded Tbsp filling into each shell, arranged in baking dish. Sprinkle with mozzerella. Cover tightly with foil. Bake 35 min until hot and bubbly.

Serves about 6 people, makes about 28 shells.

Stuffed Shells

I come from an Italian family, so I love to make (and eat!) anything with sauce and cheese, especially these delicious stuffed shells.

INGREDIENTS:

* 20-25 Large pasta shells

* 1 clove garlic, finely copped (I used garlic powder)

* 1 (15 oz) container Ricotta cheese

* 1/4 cup shredded Romano or Parmesan cheese

* 1 cup shredded mozzerella cheese

* 1 egg, slightly beaten

* 1 Tbsp chopped parsley

* 1 (26 oz) jar pasta sauce

* (I also threw in 1 cup cooked peas)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Cook shells according to package directions. Drain and rinse under cold water, drain again.

2. Combine garlic, cheeses, egg, and parsley in a medium bowl. Season with salt and pepper if desired. (Add peas). Set aside.

3. Coat a 9x13 baking pan lightly with non-stick cooking spray. Spread about 1 cup sauce evenly across the bottom of the pan.

4. Fill shells with cheese mixture and arrange in baking pan seams side up. Portion remaining sauce evenly over shells. Loosly cover baking pain with foil.

5. Bake 30 min, uncover and bake an additional 15-20 min or until heated through.

Yields: about 6 servings

Veggie Mac 'n' Cheese

Oh. My. Goodness. This was by far the creamiest, cheesiest homemade mac and cheese I have ever had! I am almost embarrassed to say I had three huge helpings and forced myself to stop short only of licking the plate. I have been making homemade mac and cheese for years now using the Betty Crocker recipe (which has been a great recipe), but when I saw this one in Taste of Home I liked the veggie twist on it and decided to try something new. I am sure glad I did! We will definitely be making this one again! The veggies in it were a great addition. I never would have thought to add in onion, and as I was making it I figured that I would try it but probably leave it out next time...no, I will be keeping the onion in this recipe! The only major change I made besides using a bag of frozen mixed veggies instead of fresh this time was to add what I think is the secret ingredient to good mac and cheese...about 1 Tbsp of Worchestershire sauce.

INGREDIENTS:

* 1 1/2 cups elbow macaroni

* 3 cups fresh broccoli florets

* 2 cups fresh cauliflowerets

* 3 large carrots, halved and thinly sliced

* 2 celery ribs (I did not add celery)

* 1 medium onion, chopped (I used 1/2 a med onion)

* 1 Tbsp butter

* 1/4 cup all purpose flour

* 1 cup milk

* 1 cup chicken broth

* 3 cups (12 oz) shredded cheddar cheese

* 1 Tbsp Dijon mustard (I substituted with 1/2 Tbsp ground mustard)

* 1/4 tsp salt

* 1/8 tsp pepper

* 1/4 tsp paprika

DIRECTIONS:

1. Cook macaroni according to package instructions, adding the broccoli. cauliflower, carrots, and celery during the last 6 minutes. Drain, transfer to a greased 13x9 baking dish.

2. Meanwhile, in a Dutch oven (I just did it stovetop in a small pot), saute onion in butter until tender. Sprinkle with flour, stir until blended. Gradually stir in milk and chicken broth. Bring to a boil, cook and stir 2 minutes or until thickened.

3. Stir in the cheese, mustard, salt, and pepper. (*Here is where I also added about 1 Tbsp Worchestershire sauce!) Pour over macaroni mixture, stir to coat. Sprinkle with paprika.

4. Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 15-20 min or until heated through.

Yield: 12 servings ( I obviously will not get 12 out of this! I'm glad I didn't make a half batch like I was planning!)

Buon Appetito!

Pesto Sauce

A family favorite for years and years has been fresh pesto. We use it as a sauce over pasta as well as on our pizza crust or to make some great pesto and cheese breadsticks. We always have a big pesto-making day every year in my family so that we have enough to freeze for the whole year (tip: use ice cube trays for perfect serving sizes!). My family introduced Brad to pesto and it has become one of his all time favorites. So last week he was dying to make a fresh batch from the basil in our garden. We used lemon basil, instead of regular basil, for the first time which gave it a really savory flavor! I would definitely use it again! We had it over spagetti with a side of asparagus and everyone cleaned their plates, even the kids!

INGREDIENTS:

* 2 cups fresh basil, lightly packed

* 1 cup olive oil

* 1 cup Parmesan cheese

* 2 cloves fresh garlic

* 1 tsp salt

* dash of nutmeg

* 1/2 cup pine nuts (or almonds, walnuts, or pistachios)

DIRECTIONS:

Blend all ingredients in blender or food processor until smooth. Mix well before serving. Makes approx. 1 1/2 cups (for 1 lb pasta)