Baked Ziti

I love Baked Ziti but never found a recipe that I liked or found easy enough to throw together for a meal.  This one was in Family Circle Magazine and looked so yummy that we gave it a try.  Winner for sure!

Ingredients:

Sauce:

-2 Tbsp olive oil

-1 medium onion, chopped

-3 cloves garlic, sliced

-1 can (28 oz) whole tomatoes

-1 can (15 oz) tomato sauce

-2 Tbsp tomato paste

-2 tsp sugar

-1/4 tsp salt

-1/4 tsp black pepper

-1 can (14.5 oz) basil and oregano diced tomatoes, drained

-1/2 cup fresh basil leaves, chopped (I substituted dried basil)

Ziti and Cheese:

-1 box (16 oz) ziti (I used the new smaller Ziti from Barilla and it was really great for my toddler)

-1 bag (8 oz) shredded mozzarella cheese

-1/4 cup grated Parmesan or Pecorino Romano cheese

Directions:

1.  Heat oven to 375 degrees.  Coat a 13x9 baking dish with cooking spray.

2.  Sauce – Heat oil in a saucepan over medium heat.  Add onion and cook 4 minutes.  Add garlic and cook another minute.  Stir in whole tomatoes and their juice, breaking tomatoes apart with your hands or a wooden spoon.  Stir in tomato sauce, tomato paste, sugar, salt and pepper.  Simmer, stirring occasionally, for 20 minutes.

3.  Remove pan from heat.  Stir in diced tomatoes and basil.

4. Ziti and cheese – Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to boiling.  Add ziti; boil 10 minutes (or follow directions on box).  Drain and transfer to a large bowl.  Add half the sauce to bowl with ziti.  Stir to coat.  Pour ziti mixture into prepared dish.  Top with remaining sauce and then sprinkle with the cheeses.

5.  Bake at 375 for 20 to 25 minutes, until bubbly and lightly browned.  Cool 10 minutes.

Chocolate Gooey Butter Cookies

Paula Deen.  Cream Cheese.  Yup, that’s all you need to know!  These are the BEST chocolate cookies I have ever had.  6 ingredients and done.  So rich and yummy.  Enjoy!

Ingredients:

-1 (8 oz) brick cream cheese, room temperature

-1 stick butter, room temperature

-1 egg

-1 tsp vanilla extract

-1 (18 oz) box moist chocolate cake mix

-Confectioners sugar, for dusting

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2.  In a large bowl with an electric mixer, cream the cream cheese and butter until smooth.  Beat in the egg.  Then beat in the vanilla extract.  Beat in the cake mix.  Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours to firm up so that you can roll the batter into balls.

3.  Roll the chilled batter into tablespoon sized balls and then roll them in confectioners sugar.  Place on an ungreased cookie sheet, 2 inches apart.  Bake 12 minutes.  The cookies will remain soft and “gooey.”  Cool completely.

Stuffed Winter Squash

This is a recipe that I cut out of Family Circle magazine forever ago and had wanted to try but didn’t necessarily have the guts.  I don’t know – sometimes healthy recipes scare me because I’m not sure if my family will like them.  This one was a home run for sure.  My 3 year old ate it up without a word from me!  I actually substituted 1/2 cup rice for the bulgur wheat and 1 cup chicken broth with that. 

Ingredients:

-3 acorn squash, cut lengthwise and seeded

-1 Tbsp maple syrup (I just used pancake syrup on hand)

-1/2 cup walnuts, chopped (optional)

-2 tsp canola oil

-1 large onion, finely chopped

-1 large celery stalk, thinly sliced

-1 Granny Smith apple, cut into 1/4 inch cubes

-1/3 cup raisins, chopped (they suggest golden, I used what I had on hand)

-1/4 cup uncooked bulgur wheat (I used 1/2 cup uncooked rice)

-3/4 cup chicken broth (if using the rice, use 1 cup broth)

-1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

-1/4 tsp salt

Directions:

1.  Heat oven to 400 degrees.  Grease a jelly roll pan (15x10x1).  Brush cut surfaces and inside of acorn squash with maple syrup.  Arrange squash, cut-side down, on pan.  Bake in 400 degree oven for 30-40 minutes, until tender.

2.  Toast walnuts in nonstick skillet over medium heat, stirring, 5 minutes or until golden.  Transfer to paper towel.

3.  Heat oil in skillet over medium-high heat.  Add onion and celery; sauté 3 minutes, until just tender.  Add apple, raisins, bulgur wheat, broth, cinnamon, and salt.  Cover; simmer 15 minutes, until bulgur is tender and liquid absorbed.  Stir in toasted walnuts.

4.  Reduce oven heat to 375 degrees.  Flip squash cut-side up.  Fill with apple mixture.  Drizzle with 1 tablespoon syrup.  Bake in 375 degree oven for 15 minutes.  I sprinkled a little brown sugar on them before serving.

Chocolate Malt Cookies

Okay, so let’s be honest here.  I’ve stunk it up at getting on this blog!  2012 has been a rough start for us – lots of colds for me and the girls, plus I’ve had two different muscles in my back that have frozen up on me in the last month.  It’s been rough!  But I have lots of good things in the works.  I have 6 DELICIOUS recipes that I need to type up and put on here.  I also have some wonderful organizing tips as we all get ready for spring cleaning.  Working on a before/after of closets that I have organized that you will love!

In the meantime, I have a couple old recipes in here that I typed up but never posted.  In honor of Valentine’s Day, here is a yummy cookie recipe.  Do you love Whoppers candy?  Then you will LOVE this recipe.  The chocolate cookie is really good but biting into the Whopper is what makes these so tasty.  I’ve had this recipe forever and it stays in rotation for good reason!

Ingredients:

-1.5 cups sugar

-1.5 cups butter (3 sticks), softened

-1 tsp vanilla

-2 eggs

-3 cups flour

-4 Tbsp cocoa powder

-2 tsp baking powder

-1/2 tsp salt

-granulated sugar for rolling

-Malted milk balls (I buy the big carton)

Directions:

1.  Heat oven to 400 degrees.  In large bowl, combine sugar and butter; beat until light and fluffy.  Add vanilla and egg; blend well.

2.  Add flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt; mix well.  Shape dough in 1” balls; roll in sugar.  Place on cookie sheet.

3.  Bake at 400 degrees for 7-10 minutes or until edges are set.  Remove from oven and immediately press 1 malted milk ball into center of cookie.  Cool 2 minutes; remove from cookie sheet.

Spaghetti Squash

Okay, so last year I did a little “how-to” on cooking acorn squash.  I guess I didn’t know that such an easy food was a mystery to a lot of people.  I thought I’d talk a little bit about spaghetti squash today.  It comes after it took me telling all the people in the check-out line of the grocery store what it was.  :)  Spaghetti squash is a little guy with a lot of bang for his buck.  They aren’t typically very expensive and they are super yummy.  Even the kids will enjoy it . . . maybe . . . well, you know how kids are.

I’ve seen a lot of different techniques for cooking spaghetti squash.  I don’t like boiling them in water, etc.  Dry roasting in the oven is going to be the easiest.  If you have a sharp knife (and are very very careful), you can cut the squash in half, scoop out the seeds and put it rind side up in a lightly greased casserole dish or roasting pan.

If you do not want to try that, you can still put the entire squash in the dish as above without cutting it.  If you cut the squash, cook it in a 375 degree oven for 30 minutes.  If you decide not to cut it, cook it in a 375 degree oven for about an hour.  The flesh of the spaghetti squash will not get soft or mushy when it is done.  It will still be a little firm and that is what you want so that you get those yummy strands.

Next, you want to use a fork to scrape out the flesh.  I usually do this when it is still a little warm and use an oven mitt or a hot pad to hold it.  My husband helped me on this day so I could get a picture.

  As you can see, the flesh will come out in strands like spaghetti (hence the name).  You can pretty much clean it all the way to the outside rind.  It produces a lot of yummy squash and should last you a couple days.

Now, from here there are many schools of thought on how to flavor your squash.  My parents empty a can of crushed tomatoes over it and eat it more like spaghetti.  I’ve seen a recipe where you add 1/4 cup chicken broth, 2 Tbsp olive oil, chopped parsley and salt and pepper.  Personally, I like to melt some butter into it (easy to do when it’s still hot) and add salt, pepper, and freshly grated parmesan cheese.

YUMMY!  I was able to fool my toddler into thinking it was pasta and she ate it.  That is, until she heard me say it was squash.  Then all bets were off.  Anyway, enjoy it now because it’s typically not around all year.  Enjoy!

P.S. – I’m working on better pictures this year.  What do you think?

Green Bean Casserole

Paula Deen.  Casserole.  Are there any sweeter words?  This is a great side dish and would make a great dish for a potluck too.  Recipe from Smithfield Ham’s website.

Ingredients:

-1 bag frozen French-style green beans

-1 cup celery, chopped

-1/2 cup sour cream

-1 can cream of celery soup

-1 can corn, drained

-1 green pepper, chopped (optional)

-1/2 cup cheddar cheese, grated or shredded

-1 sleeve Ritz crackers, finely crushed

-3 Tbsp melted butter

Directions:

1.  In a large mixing bowl, combine the first 7 ingredients and place in a prepared casserole dish.  Combine the crushed Ritz crackers and melted butter and spread over top of casserole.

2.  Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until hot and bubbly.

Chocolate Chip Pound Cake

Love a recipe that works for both our family or for giving away to others.  This makes two loaves and is so dense that it lasts a long time.  Next time I will definitely send the second loaf off to work with my husband.  This dessert isn’t too sweet so it would work nicely for a brunch as well.  Recipe from Family Circle Magazine.

Ingredients:

-3.5 cups flour

-1/2 tsp salt

-4 eggs

-4 egg yolks

-1 Tbsp vanilla

-1.5 cups (3 sticks) butter, softened

-2 cups sugar

-1 bag (12 oz) semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:

1.  Heat oven to 325 degrees.  Coat two 9x5x3 loaf pans with nonstick cooking spray; dust with flour and shake out excess.  Set aside.  (Next time I would use butter instead of the cooking spray – made the outside a little too crunchy).

2.  Stir together flour and salt; set aside.  In small bowl, stir together eggs, egg yolks and vanilla; set aside.

3.  Mix butter and sugar together on medium-high speed for 6 minutes or until very light and fluffy.  Reduce speed to medium and gradually pour in egg mixture.  Increase speed to medium-high and beat 3 minutes or until light and fluffy.  On low speed, gradually add flour mixture and beat until just blended.  Stir in chocolate chips.

4.  Divide batter between prepared loaf pans and smooth tops.  Bake at 325 for 1 hour, 12 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  Cool in pans on wire rack for 30 minutes, then remove from pans and cool completely on rack.