Veggie Pasta

When my mom was visiting a few weeks ago, she made this yummy pasta dinner. It's very simple and great for those nights when you need to use produce before it spoils. I used a few more artichoke hearts than she did because Peter and I really love artichokes! I also decided to add shrimp (just because I had a lot leftover) but I think it would also be very tasty with chicken.



Veggie Pasta
4 ounces whole wheat spaghetti
1/2 pound shrimp, cleaned and deveined
1 can artichoke hearts
1 cup cherry tomatoes
1 cup button mushrooms
1/4 green onion, diced
1 clove garlic, sliced thin
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese

Prepare spaghetti according to package intsructions. Drain and set aside.

In a large pan over medium heat, add the olive oil and garlic. Saute until fragrant and then remove the garlic.

Add the green onion, tomatoes and mushrooms. Keep over medium heat for approximately 3 minutes. Add the artichoke hearts and saute for 5-6 minutes.

Reduce heat slightly and add the shrimp and spaghetti. Combine thouroughly and cook until the shrimp is pink and tender.

Top with parmesan cheese.

Tortellini Soup

I have been wanting to try this for a while but something always seemed to come up and prevent me from making this soup. I finally had the perfect opportunity last night. This is so quick and easy to make that I was actually scared it would be bad. I mean, it can't be that easy without being awful, right? I was so wrong. Peter and I loved it and this is something we will definitely eat again!



Tortellini Soup
1 package tortellini, I used whole wheat with cheese
3 cups chicken broth
2 cups fresh spinach, cleaned and stems trimmed
1 roma tomato, seeded and chopped
Parmesan shavings
cracked black pepper

Heat broth over medium heat. Add the tortellini and boil to package instructions. Ladle soup over greens and top with tomato, parmesan and black pepper.

Adapted from Confections of a Foodie Bride

Sun Dried Tomato Goat Cheese Balls and Roasted Cherry Tomatoes

One of the side effects of cooking for the blog is that my kitchen in now full of random food. I have tried so many new things that I am left with the remnants of meals gone by. I decided that this week I would only cook from what I already have. It will be nice to make space again in the pantry plus it forces me to be creative!

I found half a bag of whole wheat penne pasta, some sun dried tomatoes and half a log of goat cheese. I still have some basil leftover from last week so I figured I could come up with something yummy! The roasted cherry tomatoes were an afterthought but I felt like the pasta needed something on it besides the goat cheese. Once again, I purchased nothing new for this meal! Peter really liked this dish and requested that I add it to the regular dinner rotation!

Sun Dried Tomato Goat Cheese Balls
1/2 log goat cheese
1 ounce sun dried tomatoes, chopped
1 tablespoon fresh basil, chopped
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
olive oil


Add the sun dried tomatoes, basil and red pepper flakes in a small food processor. Pulse until thoroughly combined. Transfer to a shallow bowl and mix with the breadcrumbs. In another bowl, beat the egg and add a tablespoon of water to form an egg wash.

Form the goat cheese into approximately 20 balls, about 1/4 inch in diameter. Dip each ball in the egg wash, then coat in the breadcrumb mixture. Coat a non-stick pan in 1/2 inch of olive oil over medium heat. Fry the goat cheese balls for two minutes on each side. Transfer to a paper towel covered plate until ready to serve.



Roasted Cherry Tomatoes
1 pint cherry tomatoes
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
salt
pepper

Wash the tomatoes and set aside. Coat a non-stick skillet in the olive oil over medium heat. Add the garlic and saute for three to five minutes, until fragrant. Add the tomatoes to the skillet, forming one layer over the bottom. Season with salt and pepper. After about five minutes the tomatoes will begin to pop so you may want to cover the skillet. After all of the tomatoes have popped, remove from the skillet and serve warm.

Penne a la Vodka

Last Friday Peter and I finally ate at Carmine's on Penn. He had been going on and on about this restaurant for so long that my expectations were very high. I did not leave disappointed! They serve family style portions so we definitely ate too much but it was so worth it. My favorite dish we ordered was the ravioli a la vodka. This reminded me of all those dinners with Susan at Grotto in Houston so I decided to try my own vodka sauce.

I did a little variation on this back in December so I only had to make a few adjustments for the vodka sauce. It turned out really well and Peter's only complaint was that it was a little runny. So, I made a few changes to the original recipe which will hopefully keep it from being too runny.

Maybe for my next pasta entry I will try to recreate the delicious ravioli di mare from Grotto...

Penne a la Vodka
1 can (28 ounces) whole tomatoes, drained, half the liquid reserved
1 pound penne pasta
1/2 large yellow onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/3 cup vodka
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 1/2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 tablespoons chopped basil
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil

Boil the pasta according to the cooking directions, set aside.

Puree half the tomatoes until smooth. Dice remaining tomatoes and combine with the reserved liquid. Heat oil over medium heat. Add tomato paste and onion. Saute for about two minutes. Add the garlic and red pepper flakes. Saute for one minute. Stir in the tomatoes and a pinch of salt. Remove from heat, add vodka, return to heat and simmer for ten minutes. Slowly add the cream and basil, stirring continuously.

Combine with the pasta, top with fresh parmesan if desired and serve!

Mathilde's Spaghetti

My mother in law, Mathilde, is originally from Austria. She met Peter's father, who was from Germany, in Montreal. They married there and a few years later they moved to Boulder, Colorado. Peter and his brother were lucky enough to a) grow up in Boulder and b) eat all the delicious German and Austrian food their mother prepared. Mathilde is slowly teaching me all of her recipes so be on the lookout for goulash, wienerschnitzel and Austrian potato salad. She also makes some really yummy vegetable soup but I don't know how to spell it.

Funny enough, she also makes a mean spaghetti and it's Peter's favorite "mom" dish. I know it's not a German or Austrian dish but man, it's really good.

Make sure when you buy the sauce that you choose one that is just regular sauce, no added mushrooms or anything like that. It doesn't really matter what brand you buy, although I like this one.

This recipe is great for weeknights because it doesn't take much time to get it going, then you can leave it for 1 1/2 hours. Serve over the spaghetti of your choice, we eat whole wheat around here :)

Mathilde's Spaghetti
1 pound ground beef (or ground turkey, I have used both)
1 jar marinara sauce
1 can stewed tomatoes
1/2 can tomato paste (or about two tablespoons)
1 bay leaf
1 garlic clove, pressed
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
sea salt

In a large stockpot over medium heat, add the olive oil and a pinch of sea salt. Brown the meat. Add the garlic, the entire jar of sauce, the stewed tomatoes and the tomato paste. Combine and when the sauce starts to bubble, add the bay leaf and turn down to level 1 heat. Let simmer for 1 1/2 hours. Remove bay leaf before serving.

Freezer Meals

Long time, no post. I have reasons (excuses?) for my lapse in posting over the last month. First, this pregnant lady only wanted to eat cupcakes and Tootsie Rolls until late January. I didn't think those eating habits warranted any new blog entries. Second, as soon as I felt like eating normal food again, I was off to Houston for ten days. The trip did give me an excuse to try out some yummy freezer meals. The week before I left I prepared double of everything, wrapped them in individual servings and left heating instructions for my sweet but domestically challenged husband. Peter very much appreciated the homecooked meals and he managed to only eat at Chipotle twice while I was gone. I call that a huge success!

I did a lot of research on freezer friendly options and settled on five meals. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of the finished results but I am providing links and reviews for each dinner. This was a trial run for when little Ruppenthal arrives. I plan on making a month's worth of meals ahead of time so that when we're tired and cranky, we don't have to resort to fast food...but I'm sure there will be a few Chipotle nights in our future :)

Next week I will be back with all new recipes!

• Baked Chicken with Penne and Sun-Dried Tomatoes- this was by far Peter's favorite. He loved it so much that he has already asked for it again. Martha Stewart has a nice collection of freezer friendly options on her website. I am definitely going to refer back when I need new ideas. The reheating instructions indicate that the dish needs to be in the oven for 1 1/2 hours. I reduced the time to an hour and everything turned out great!
• Green Chile-Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas- these were a very close second. I loved them more than Peter did because I thought they really tasted like good Tex-Mex restaurant enchiladas. Yum...I want to make these again!
• Crab Manicotti/Cannelloni- OMG, these are amazing! They are so rich, yummy and perfect. I had to increase the reheating time to about 75 minutes.
• Beef Lasagna- I'm not Italian nor do I have even a drop of Italian blood running through these veins so I was very nervous about making lasagna from scratch. I won't lie, it's a messy process but SO worth it! It turned out perfectly and reheated wonderfully. I did change th original instructions a bit. I put the leftover lasagna in the fridge overnight and cut it into individual squares the next morning. I froze two servings in each foil pan. I reheated at 400 degrees for one hour, removing the foil for the last ten minutes.
• Stuffed Shells- I didn't get to these because we had a ton of leftover lasagna so I will be trying them next week!

Spinach, Ricotta and Mushroom Ravioli with Homemade Marinara

Thanks to Mike and Cindy, I am the proud new owner of a new pasta maker! I decided to try it out but I had a hard time deciding which type of pasta to make. I have done the goat cheese thing and I hate marscapone, so I settled on ricotta. I searched for a yummy recipe but in the end I went with what I like. I kind of just made this up as I went along and it turned out great! I also had a new, smaller ravioli stamp. Now I don't always have to make the GIANT raviolis!

I know I have posted a pasta sauce recipe before, but I wanted to try something different. The other one is still very good but also very time consuming to make. This one only takes about thirty minutes from start to finish and is just as delicious! Peter said he still likes the other one better but he's not the one spending hours in front of the stove so sometimes he will have to deal with the easier version!

For the pasta dough recipe, please see this post.

Spinach, Ricotta and Mushroom Ravioli
1 1/2 cups chopped spinach, thawed, patted dry
2 cups button mushrooms, sliced
2 cups whole milk ricotta cheese
1/2 cup parmesan reggiano cheese, grated
1 tablespoon olive oil
pinch nutmeg
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon black pepper

In a large pan, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Just before it begins to smoke, add the mushrooms and saute for ten minutes. Add the chopped spinach and cook for three minutes.

Move the mushroom and spinach mixture into the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until course. In a large bowl, combine the mushrooms and spinach with the ricotta and parmesan reggiano. Add the nutmeg, salt and pepper. Mix thouroughly.


Homemade Marinara Sauce
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup yellow onion, chopped
1 1/2 teaspoon garlic, minced
1/2 cup red wine
1 can (28 ounces) crushed tomatoes
1 tablespoon flat leaf parsley, chopped
1 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon crushed black pepper

In a medium stockpot, heat the olive oil, add the onions and simmer until translucent, five to ten minutes. Add garlic and simmer for one minute. Add wine on high heat and cook until the liquid evaporates. Stir in the crushed tomatoes, parsley and salt and pepper for three minutes. Simmer fifteen minutes.

On one half of the pasta dough, drop a teaspoon of the filling, 2 inches apart. Fold over the other half of the dough, like a blanket. Press air out of the pockets. Use knife, or ravioli stamp, to cut into squares. Crimp edges with fork, unless you have used a stamp. Brush ravioli with egg wash. Dust ravioli and sheet pan with cornmeal, lay out to dry.

Bring 3 quarts of salted and oiled water to boil in a large pasta pot. Add three or four ravioli at a time, as not to crowd them, and cook for two or three minutes. Remove, plate and cover in a foil tent until you have finished cooking all of the ravioli.

Luby's Macaroni and Cheese

Oh, how I love Luby's. I spent many a Sunday afternoon ordering the following:

Lu Ann Platter
Fried Chicken
DOUBLE Macaroni and Cheese
Red Jell-O
Cloverleaf Roll
Lemonade

Now, I know that is not a necessarily a healthy meal but it was THE meal of my childhood and sometimes a girl needs a little reminder of the state from which she hails.

I tried this recipe last week but it just didn't turn out they way it should. I gave it another try and it was right on! I think that the first time the water wasn't hot enough. This time after I removed the macaroni, I put the pot back on the burner and brought the water to a boil, again. I placed my mixing bowl right next to the stove and slowly added the boiling water, while whisking in the cheese. It was much creamier this time. I also like to put the dish under the broiler for a minute or two, just to give it that crusty, brown top.

Now I don't have to worry about convincing Luby's management to expand into Colorado...

Luby's Macaroni and Cheese
2 cups dry elbow macaroni
2 tablespoons dry nonfat milk powder
2 tablespoonsall-purpose flour
1 tablespoon butter, melted
1 1/2 cups boiling water
3 cups mild cheddar cheese, shredded (not pre-shredded)
1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cook macaroni to package instructions. Remove from pot, keeping pasta water. Return the pot to high heat and boil.

In a large bowl, mix the milk powder, flour and melted butter. Gradually add the boiling water, whisking constantly. Add 1 1/2 cups of the cheese and keep whisking. Beat until smooth and creamy. Stir in macaroni, 1 cup of the cheese and salt. Transfer to greased baking dish. Top with remaining cheese, cover with foil and bake for 25 minutes.

Optional: place baking dish under high broiler until golden brown.

Goat Cheese, Arugula and Mushroom Ravioli with Homemade Pasta Sauce

For the longest time if you asked Peter what his favorite dinner was he would have chosen avocado quesadillas. About a month ago I tried making ravioli and pasta sauce from scratch and the rest was history. After one bite Peter declared that the avocado quesadillas (while still very yummy) were no longer his favorite dish. We had a new champion.

I won't fool you, this is a very time consuming dinner to prepare. You need a few hours to spare in the afternoon in order to get everything done. Once I have my new authentic Italian pasta press (thanks to Mike and Cindy) the process will be much faster. For now, I am still rolling the pasta dough by hand. It's not bad exercise for your arms! I'll be buff in no time!

A big plus about this dish, beside the fact that it's delicious, is that it is very budget friendly. I have most of the ingredients on hand at all times. So, you spend more time making dinner but spend less money. It's a trade-off, I guess.

I like to stuff my ravioli with goat cheese, arugula and mushrooms but you can certainly experiment and try something new. I cut rather large ravioli so this recipe makes 8 large raviolis, 4 per person.

Goat Cheese, Arugula and Mushroom Ravioli
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs, plus 1 for wash
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup cornmeal, for dusting
1 log goat cheese, softened
1 cup arugula, chopped
1 cup mushrooms, chopped

Combine flour and salt on work surface and shape into a mound. Make a well in the center and add eggs and 1 tablespoon of the olive oil. Beat with fork. Gradually draw flour in circular motion and continue until ball forms. Cut ball in half, cover. Roll until paper thin, about 1/8 inch thick. Use a pizza cutter to cut into a rectangle. Brush egg wash (1 egg, 1 tablespoon water, beaten) over the entire pasta rectangle.

In a medium bowl, combine the goat cheese, arugula and mushrooms. Mix thouroughly.

On one half of the pasta dough, drop a teaspoon of the filling, 2 inches apart. Fold over the other half of the dough, like a blanket. Press air out of the pockets. Use knife, or large ravioli stamp, to cut into squares. Crimp edges with fork, unless you have used a stamp. Brush ravioli with egg wash. Dust ravioli and sheet pan with cornmeal, lay out to dry.

Add the ravioli to pot of boiling water. Cook until al dente, about 4 minutes, or until the pasta floats and is pale in color.

Top with pasta sauce and remaining filling. Serve warm.

Pasta Sauce

1 large can (28 ounces) peeled whole plum tomatoes, San Marzano style, drained and chopped

1 tablespoon tomato paste

3 tablespoons chicken broth

1/4 cup yellow onion, chopped

1 teaspoon garlic, chopped

1 sprig thyme

1/2 cup heavy cream

1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

salt

black pepper

In a large pot (I use this one) over medium heat, add 1 tablespoon olive oil and yellow onion until soft, about 3 minutes. Stir in the garlic until fragrant, 30 seconds. Add the tomatoes and thyme. Season with salt, pepper and red pepper flakes and let simmer, 5 minutes. Add chicken broth and tomato paste. Boil, reduce 1/3 volume. Add cream and cook until thick. Add butter, remove thyme sprig and keep warm until ready to serve.