New Recipe-Baked Rigatoni with Spinach

Baked Rigatoni with Spinach

1 lb. rigatoni
1 lb. Italian sausage, cooked and drained
3 T. olive oil
1 10 oz. pkg frozen spinach, thawed
2 c. ricotta cheese
5 T. Parmesan cheese, grated
½ t. nutmeg
¾ t. salt
¼ t. ground black pepper
1 ½ c. mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 450. In a large pan cook the rigatoni until al dente. Drain. Put the pasta and the sausage in a 9x13 pan and toss with 1 T. of the olive oil. Squeeze as much water out of the spinach as possible and place in a food processor with ricotta, half of the Parmesan cheese, the nutmeg, and salt and pepper. Stir in half of the mozzarella cheese. Stir the spinach mixture into the pasta and sausage and top with the remaining cheeses. Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden brown on top.

Mimi's Carrot Bread, YUM

This isn't actually the original recipe but a copy cat version to which I have made some modifications, and have here. I am actually going to keep working with this one to make it a little healthier but for now this is pretty close to the original and very yummy.

Carrot Raisin Bread

1 ½ c. flour, sifted
1 t. cinnamon
1 t. baking powder
1 t. baking soda
1 t. salt
1 c. vegetable oil
1 c. granulated sugar
3 eggs
¼ c. molasses
½ t. vanilla extract
1 c. shredded carrot
½ c. golden raisins
¼- ½ c. chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350. Combine flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large mixing bowl. In another bowl combine oil, sugar, eggs, molasses and vanilla mix well;
add carrot. Gently fold in the raisins and walnuts and then the flour mixture, until well mixed but don’t over stir. Pour into two greased medium loaf pans. Bake for 60 mins, but check after 45-50 mins.

More than one meal from one meal!

Sunday's we love to fix Pot Roast with Potatoes and Carrots. (A previous post) Because our family is smaller we have meat leftover quite often. After fixing it this last week I decided try several different ways to use it. I took my Chicken Pot Pie recipe and adapted it to a Beef Pot Pie, it was marvelous, a definite keeper. While I am printing the Chicken Pot Pie recipe once again I will add the changes to the side.

Beef Pot Pie

1 1/2 c.-2 c. cubbed left over roast

Make Gravy:
2/3 c. margarine or butter
2/3 c. flour
1 t. salt
½ t. pepper
3½ c. chicken broth (subsitute beef broth)
1 1/3 c. milk

Melt butter over low heat, blend in flour, salt, and pepper. Cook over low heat, stirring until mixture is smooth and bubbly, remove from heat. Stir in broth and milk. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Boil and stir one minute. Remove from heat and stir in remaining ingredients. (reserve about 1/3 of gravy for top when serving.)

Stir in
2-4 boiled potatoes, cut up
1 medium onion, diced and sauted lightly
cooked meat, cubed
1 can mushrooms
or 1 16 oz. bag of frozen vegetables, adding the potatoes

Pie Crust
1/3 c. plus 1 T. shortening (This is the recipe that I use 90%
1 c. flour of the time.)
1/2 t. salt
2-3 T .cold water
(Double for two crust)

From this Chicken to Beef-easy as pie!

Shepherd Pie

Another one of those comfort foods.

Shepherd's Pie or Green Bean Casserole

1 lb. lean ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped
1 15 ½ oz. can green beans, drained
1 10 ¾ oz. can of tomato soup
3-4 medium potatoes
cheddar cheese, grated

Peel potatoes and cut into smaller pieces to speed up the cooking time, add to salted boiling water. In a large frying pan brown the ground beef, add the onions when the meat is no longer pink. When the onions become translucent, stir in the green beans and tomato soup, heat through. Place the meat mixture into an oven safe casserole dish and top with the mashed potatoes and cheese. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes until the cheese is bubbly on top.

Comfort Foods-Scalloped Potatoes

There are many recipes that could qualify as comfort foods depending on what you like or liked as a child. One one of these recipes for me is Scalloped Potatoes. I loved when my mom made scalloped potatoes for dinner, but the best part was having them warmed up for breakfast on Saturday mornings. It is something we carried over in my family in fact I make large batches just so we have the leftovers for breakfast.

Gotta love those Saturday Morning Breakfasts, at least once in awhile!

Scalloped Potatoes

8-10 large potatoes, peeled and sliced thin
1 medium onion, sliced thin or chopped
3 t. salt
¾ c. flour
4 c. milk
1 cube butter

Butter inside a glass 9x13 pan and gently flour. Put a layer of the potatoes on the bottom, dot with slices of the butter, salt generously, and add a layer of the onion. Repeat until the potatoes are gone. Cover with milk until the potatoes are covered. Place in the microwave for 10 minutes to aid in cooking time. Bake at 350 for 40-45 minutes longer until the top of the potatoes are golden brown and crispy.

For Saturday Breakfast melt a little butter in a skillet and warm the potatoes until they get a slight brown on the bottom and are heated thoroughly.