Spaghetti Bake

My family really likes this and I love it because it's super simple and few pots/pans to clean.

There's no real measurements nor necessary items, put in your favorites with a few shelf staples and viola!

1 small box of spaghetti noodles, cooked
1lbs ground beef, cooked and drained
1 jar of your favorite pasta sauce
3/4 cup sour cream (MUST have this ingredient or substitute with some cottage cheese)
various shredded cheeses (sharp cheddar and mozzarella make a good combo)
1/2 tsp dried marjoram

optional items
sliced mushrooms
onions
diced pepper
black olives

Cook noodles, drain and set aside. Cook ground beef , with diced onion and sliced mushrooms if you would like and you may season with salt and garlic powder. Mix sauce, beef, noodle and sour cream together. Stir in shredded cheddar (1.5 cups or so) and some Parmesan if you have it on hand. Pour into a 9X13 pan, top with marjoram, shredded mozzarella (1 cup or so) and additional Parmesan if you would like. Bake at 375 for 30 minutes.

Easy peasy and tasty!

Ham Leftovers

I believe ham may be one of the two most popular meats on the table at Easter (lamb being the other). With so many having ham on this most special of holidays, I thought we could share our favorite ham leftovers.

So please share your favorite use for left over ham...here are a few of mine. I have previously provided my favorite use of a ham bone and another favorite for leftover ham is quiche. We had quite a bit of left over ham today so my husband requested ham salad....YUM!

Here is my not so specific ham salad recipe:

Put into to your food processor -

2 handfuls of ham chunks (I used plain smoked ham, not glazed or spiced ham)
1 slight tblsp diced onion
6 small gherkins and a bit of the pickle juice
3/4 cup mayonnaise or to taste
1/2 tsp Dijon mustard

Process until desired chunkiness and thoroughly mixed. Leave in the refrigerator overnight for superb flavor!

Banana Muffins

We had some overripe bananas that needed to be used so I made some deliciously moist and dense banana muffins! These muffins have a delicious banana flavor without being overpowered with spices. And because they're so moist, no need to slather with butter or cream cheese.

INGREDIENTS

1 cup bread flour
1 cup grounds oats
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs, beaten
2 cups mashed overripe bananas (about 4 bananas)


DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease muffin pan (makes approximately 18 muffins).

Process oats for 30-45 seconds in your food processor to a course flour. Then combine in a large bowl with flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. In a separate bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar. Stir in vanilla, eggs and mashed bananas until well blended. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture; stir just to moisten. Pour batter into prepared pan.

Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack.

Could be made into a loaf, just adjust pan size to 9X5 loaf and baking time to around 1 hour. If you like nuts, toss in some chopped walnuts or chocolate chips. But in my opinion, these are perfect as written!

I don't have a camera as my husband has it at work taking pictures for his portfolio. If the muffins last until the end of the day when he gets home I'll try to snag a pic for you.

Chicken Parmesan

This recipe comes from Bon Appetit magazine. A friend made this for us and my husband could not get enough. He's been asking for me to make this for some time, now. He even used one of his special dinner coupons that I gave him for our anniversary.

This recipe actually comes from Otto, Mario Batali's NY Pizzeria. It is so delicious, as is! This might be one recipe I'll never tinker with.

Ingredients

Basic Tomato Sauce
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 3/4 cups chopped onions
4 garlic cloves, minced
3/4 cup coarsely grated peeled carrots
3 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme
2 28-ounce cans peeled whole tomatoes in juice

Chicken
10 skinless boneless chicken breast halves
3 cups fresh breadcrumbs (from crustless French bread ground in processor)
2 large eggs
1 cup (about) all purpose flour
6 tablespoons (or more) olive oil, divided
3 cups coarsely grated well-drained fresh water-packed mozzarella,* divided
1 1/4 cups freshly grated Parmesan cheese, divided
1 1/4 cups freshly grated Pecorino Romano cheese, divided
2 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley
1 tablespoon chopped fresh marjoram

Preparation

basic tomato sauce

Heat olive oil in large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onions and garlic; sauté until onions are soft and golden, about 10 minutes. Add carrots and thyme; sauté until carrots are soft, about 5 minutes. Add tomatoes with juice; bring to boil, coarsely crushing tomatoes with potato masher or fork. Reduce heat to medium-low; simmer until sauce thickens and is reduced to generous 5 cups, about 1 hour. Season sauce to taste with salt and pepper. DO AHEAD Sauce can be made 1 day ahead. Cool slightly. Chill uncovered until cold, then cover and keep refrigerated. Rewarm sauce before using.

chicken

Place chicken breast halves between 2 sheets of plastic wrap. Using meat mallet or rolling pin, pound chicken breasts to 1/3-inch thickness. Sprinkle both sides of chicken with salt and pepper. Spread breadcrumbs on plate. Whisk eggs to blend in medium bowl. Spread flour on another plate. Coat both sides of chicken with flour, then eggs, then breadcrumbs.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Working in batches, add chicken to skillet and cook until brown, about 2 minutes per side, adding more oil as needed (chicken will not be cooked through). Transfer chicken to platter. Spread 1 cup sauce over bottom of 15x10x2-inch glass baking dish. Arrange 1 layer of chicken over sauce. Spoon 2 cups sauce over. Sprinkle half of mozzarella, Parmesan, and Pecorino over. Repeat with remaining chicken, sauce, mozzarella, Parmesan, and Pecorino. Bake until cheeses melt and chicken is cooked through, about 20 minutes. Sprinkle with parsley and marjoram and serve.

*Available in 1/3 -ounce, 1-ounce, and 8-ounce balls at many supermarkets and at specialty foods stores and Italian markets. Regular mozzarella can be substituted.

Chicken Cordon Bleu

4 skinless, boneless Chicken Breast
1 slice of Deli Mozzarella cheese (processed cheese melts to quick) ¼” thick, cut into 4 strips. Block cheese works well just have to cut it to fit pocket in chicken.
1 package Budding type Ham
Flour for Dredging
Beaten Egg for Drenching
Italian seasoned Bread Crumbs for Dredging


Pre-Heat oven to 350 degrees

Cut pocket in thick side of chicken breast. Roll 1 strip of cheese in ¼ of the ham slices.
Place ham and cheese into pocket of chicken, close pocket and secure with toothpicks
Dredge breast in flour then drench in egg and finally dredge in breadcrumbs, coating completely
Place in a casserole dish sprayed with nonstick cooking spray.
Bake chicken for 20 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.

Optional:
Pour 2 Tablespoon lemon juice into ½ stick melted butter.
Spoon a little of lemon butter on plated chicken.

I serve this with Pasta Alfredo

Slow Cooked Carnitas

I had a 9.5 lbs pork shoulder in my freezer and felt the need to break it down into a couple of meals. I started with the BBQ Pork, which was tasty! Then I still had a lare chunk of meat left but was looking for a way to use the avocados on my counter. So this is what I came up with:


1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon crumbled dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1 - 4 pound pork shoulder roast (mine was bone in & I trimmed all the excess fat off which was a LOT)
3 bay leaves
2 cups chicken broth

DIRECTIONS
1. Mix together salt, garlic powder, cumin, oregano, coriander, and cinnamon in a bowl. Coat pork with the spice mixture. Place the bay leaves in the bottom of a slow cooker and place the pork on top. Pour the chicken broth around the sides of the pork, being careful not to rinse off the spice mixture.
2. Cover and cook on Low until the pork shreds easily with a fork, about 10 hours. Turn the meat after it has cooked for 5 hours. When the pork is tender, remove from slow cooker, and shred with two forks. Use cooking liquid as needed to moisten the meat.

We used this on tortillas with rice, sour cream, shredded cheese and avocado. It was really good! We ate the left overs just as meat, not added to anything and the flavor was really nice.

I goofed and added 1/2 tsp cinnamon instead of 1/4 tsp, which is why I put the amount in bold text. I did not mind the extra cinnamon...however, next time I make this, I will add much more corriander and half again as much cumin than in the original recipe. I also added smoked paprika.

Caponata

Tonight was cultural cooking group and our theme was Mediterranean Cuisine so I grabbed my favorite Sicilian recipe and hit the store...well, my husband went to the store for me as he was already out and he'd much rather be out shopping than taking care of our 4 rambunctious kiddos at dinner time :)

The recipe calls for a zucchini so my husband calls me to say there is no zucchini at the store. So I asked for yellow/crookneck/summer squash instead and the light bulb went off and he says, "Oh, is zucchini green squash?"

"YES! get the green squash," I request.

When he arrived home, he actually had a cucumber so this was made without squash which is no big deal, this recipe is one of those refrigerator specials...clean out your need-to-use produce for this dish.

2-3 garlic cloves, minced
1 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 onion, chopped
1 Red Bell Pepper, diced
1 Medium Eggplant, diced (peeling is optional)
1 Zucchini, diced
1 14oz can artichoke hearts, rinsed & drained
1 3.8oz can sliced black olives, rinsed & drained
2 14.5 oz cans diced tomatoes
1 15oz can tomato sauce
2 Tbsp. Apple Cider Vinegar
1/2 tsp salt (to taste)
Pinch of crushed red pepper flakes (place in palm of one hand and use thumb of other hand to rub flakes together. Releases oils and flavor! Just be sure to scrub hands immediately afterward.)
2-3 sprigs of fresh Thyme

Heat a deep 12" skillet to medium setting add olive oil and saute garlic and onion for about 2 minutes. Add red pepper and saute for about 5 minutes more. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Turn up the heat a little and cover. Stir often to combine flavors. After about 20 minutes, bring heat back down to medium or a little lower. Cook for another 15 to 20 minutes or until veggies are tender.

Serve over toasted baguette slices, pasta or by itself. Top with grated Parmesan and enjoy!

I'll try to get a picture tomorrow...I had to rush out the door to get to cultural cooking on time :)