Easy Pesto Spinach Pasta

I've told a few people about my new favourite dish lately and they've wanted the recipe so I figured I better get it up here.

It really is my new favourite dish...I love that the spinach and tomatoes are fresh and the best part about it is it seriously takes 10 minutes to make!

I came up with the idea one day when I was making Jacob and Eliana some homemade mac and cheese (add a little milk, butter and lots of shredded cheese to cooked noodles - it's 10 times better than the Kraft stuff...I promise) and since I had some extra noodles and didn't want mac and cheese I decided to experiment with a few things I had on hand. Since the first time I made it I crave it all the time... I think I could eat it everyday.


Easy Spinach Pesto Pasta
noodles, any variety
pesto (basil, spinach, anykind would be good)
fresh spinach, roughly chopped
tomatoes, chopped
parmesan cheese
olive oil
salt, to taste

This is so simple I almost don't even need to write directions;)

Cook noodles, drain and return to pot over low heat. Pour a little bit of olive oil over the noodles, then a spoonful of pesto, a handful of chopped spinach, the chopped tomatoes and sprinkle with a generous amount of parmesan cheese. Stir until combined, making sure the pesto is completely mixed over all the noodles. Add salt to taste and serve immediately with some additional parmesan cheese sprinkled on top.


*Note: Sorry I don't have any measurements as it all depends on how much noodles I make. You will be able to tell if you need to add more olive oil or pesto as your noodles will look dry and not all covered with the sauce.

*Note: You could also add some grilled chicken to this dish, or as Chris would suggest cooked and sliced Italian sausage.

Creamy Veggie Chicken Pasta

I got this recipe from my sister in law Shannon and as noted below had to make some alterations to it (I've included notes at the bottom that show her original recipe). It's a yummy creamy pasta with a little bit of a zing to it!

Sorry there's no pic, but another sister in law just asked for the recipe so I thought I'd put it up without a picture for now...I'll be sure to add a pic the next time I make it!


Creamy Veggie (w/ optional Chicken) Pasta
1 lb noodles of choice (penne, bowtie, rigatoni, shells, corkskrew, etc), approximately

Sauce:
3 tbsp butter
3 tbsp flour
2 tbsp mustard*
1 1/2 cups milk
1 cup veggie/chicken stock
1 cup cheddar cheese, grated
2-3 tbsp parmesan cheese
salt and pepper to taste

2 chicken breasts (or 4-5 tenderloins), cubed
1/2 large onion
1 medium zucchini, chopped and halved**
1 red pepper, julienned (or orange or yellow peppers)
1/2 cup creamy ceasar dressing (or ranch dressing)***


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Over medium heat fry onions in a little olive oil and when the onions start to soften add the chicken. After the chicken is about half way cooked add the zucchini, red pepper and ceasar dressing. Cover and slightly reduce heat.

Boil the water for the noodles while you start the sauce. Cook the noodles to al dente.

Sauce: Melt butter over medium heat. Add flour and whisk until combined. Add mustard and whisk until combined. Mix stock and milk together and gradually whisk into the flour mixture. Bring to boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Add cheddar and parmesan cheeses and salt and pepper.

Combine the noodles, chicken/veggies and sauce together in a large casserole dish. Sprinkle the top with cheese and cook in the oven at 350 degrees for 30-45 minutes, or until bubbling.

Serve with garlic bread, breadsticks, etc.

Enjoy!


*Note: Original recipe called for 3 tbsp mustard, but as I'm not a fan of mustard I found that was too much mustard for me.

**Note: My sister in law makes this with an added 1 lb bacon (fried and cut into 1/2 inch pieces) and uses 1 head of broccoli (chopped into bite sized pieces) and mushrooms (a couple handfuls of sliced) instead of the zucchini and peppers. Again because Christopher won't eat broccoli or mushrooms I had to improvise. I've never made it with the bacon in it, but I'm sure Chris would love it if I did...I just wouldn't;)

***Note: I wanted to make this once and I didn't have any creamy ceasar dressing on hand so I used ranch dressing instead and it turned out just as yummy.

Eggplant Parmesan

So Chris first made this for me for Valentine's dinner this past Valentine's. I was quite impressed he came up with making Eggplant Parmesan for me and then even more impressed with how much I loved it! In fact, I've been thinking about making it a lot lately, I just need to remember to get more eggplant!

Instead of your traditional Eggplant Parmesan, this is a little different as it's layered almost like lasagna...and actually the last time I made it I had the idea to add a cottage cheese layer the next time I make it. I added it this time and it was delicious! Feel free to omit the cottage cheese layer if you like;)

Eggplant Parmesan
1 large eggplant, peeled and thinly sliced
3 eggs, beaten
1 1/3 cups Italian seasoned bread crumbs, approximately (I don't measure but just use as much as needed)
3 1/2 cups Rose sauce, (you can also use regular spaghetti sauce, but we prefer the rose sauce), approximately
1 1/2 - 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, approximately (again I don't measure but use as much as needed)
3 tbsp Parmesan cheese, approximately
1/8 tsp dried basil

Optional cottage cheese layer:
16 oz cottage cheese
1 egg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Dip eggplant slices in beaten egg, then in bread crumbs. Place in a single layer on a baking sheet that has been sprayed with PAM. Bake in the preheated oven for about 10 minutes on each side.

In a 9x9 inch baking dish (that has been sprayed with PAM) cover the bottom of the dish with a thin layer of spaghetti sauce. Then place a layer of eggplant slices in the sauce and sprinkle with the mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses. Repeat the sauce, eggplant, cheese layers, ending with the cheeses on top. Sprinkle basil on top.

Optional cottage cheese layer:
Add a layer of the cottage cheese mixture sprinkled with a little mozzarella cheese in place of one or two of the cheese layers.

Cover with tin foil and bake for 35 minutes. Then remove the tin foil and bake for another 10 - 15 minutes or until golden brown.

*Note: If you don't slice the eggplant thinly enough you might want to bake the dish for an extra 10-15 minutes, as you want to make sure the eggplant is tender before removing the tin foil and baking for the additional 10-15 mins.

Enjoy!

Creamy Spinach Pesto Pasta

I'm not really sure what to say about this dish except that I was in the mood for a creamy spinach type pasta dish and decided to try to make a pesto sauce out of spinach. I did a google search for spinach pesto and found a recipe on Rachael Ray that helped give me a little direction and voila, this recipe was born. It's a really yummy variation of regular pesto...if you like pesto that is;) And if you want a little lighter or healthy version you could of course leave out the whipping cream (though I wouldn't dare of course).


Creamy Spinach Pesto Pasta
salt
3/4 - 1 lb pasta (whichever kind you would like)
4 cups fresh spinach (packed lightly)
handful of chopped pecans
1/2 cup vegetable / chicken stock
1/2 cup grated mozzarella cheese
a few sprinkles fresh or dried nutmeg
zest of 1 lemon
juice of 1/2 lemon
3 tbsp olive oil, approximately
2 tbsp garlic, minced or 2-3 fresh cloves
1/2 onion, diced
1 cup whipping cream
1/2 medium zucchini, chopped, *optional
artichoke hearts, drained and chopped, *optional
chicken breasts or tenders, *optional

Cook noodles to al dente, making sure not to overcook as you will combine them with the sauce and they'll continue to soften at that point.

While the pasta is cooking, prepare the spinach pesto by combining the spinach, pecans, vegetable stock, nutmeg, lemon zest and lemon juice and a few sprinkles of salt in a blender or food processor. Pulse to chop everything up and then add approximately 2 tbsp olive oil and continue pulsing to combine.

Place a large skillet over medium heat and heat 1 tbsp olive oil. Add the diced onion, minced garlic and chopped zucchini and cook until the veggies are done (if you're like me, you like them to have a little bit of a crunch to them still, but otherwise cook them till they're nice and soft). If you're using marinated artichoke hearts you can add them once the veggies are almost done as they won't need to cook as long as the onions and zucchini.

Once the veggies are done add the whipping cream and heat to boiling, allowing the sauce to boil for 2-3 minutes.

Then add the pasta, pesto, mozzarella cheese and salt to taste and toss to combine. If adding chicken, then chop up cooked / poached chicken breasts / tenders and add at this point. Serve warm with an extra sprinkle of mozzarella cheese on top.

You can also put it in a casserole dish and top with mozzarella cheese and broil/bake it for a few minutes if you like a nice cheese layer on top of your pasta.

Enjoy!

My Rose Pasta Sauce

I came up with the idea for this sauce a number of years ago when I was in charge of coordinating lunch for our Oshawa Stake Women's Day Conference. I wasn't sure what to serve and began brainstorming and experimenting. I'd recently heard that traditional alfredo sauce in Italy is made using heavy cream, which gave me the idea to add cream to spaghetti sauce. I tried it and everyone LOVED it so I decided to serve ravioli baked in this sauce at the luncheon. It was a huge hit and everyone loved it. I love it because I've never been a real big fan of plain marinara sauces (too tomato-y) or of cream sauces (they're too rich), so this rose sauce is absolutely perfect. I started calling it rose sauce and have been making it ever since! In fact, it's the only sauce we ever make. I started adding chicken to the sauce to please my dear hubby...it's just as yummy without the chicken though! The chicken goes great with the sauce, so if you want to add meat I'd definitely suggest using chicken and not ground beef!  I've been making it without chicken lately and then Chris just adds some italien meatballs from Costco and loves it with them as well.

And just so you don't feel too bad about the fact that there is whipping cream in the sauce, the amount of cream that's actually in each serving is very small.  We've recently started making it with coconut milk instead of whipping cream and it's just as good and healthier too. The taste is a little different but not a lot.

Rose Pasta Sauce
1 large can Hunt's spaghetti sauce (26 oz) OR 2 cans (8 oz) of tomato sauce and 1 can(6 oz) tomato paste *see Note below for more info
2 cans diced tomatoes (14.5 oz cans) or 1 large can (28 oz)
1 cup of whipping cream (half pint) OR 1 cup of coconut milk
1 tbsp coconut oil or olive oil
2 cloves fresh garlic, minced (or 2 heaping tsp prepared minced garlic)
1 onion, diced
zucchini, sliced
red/yellow/orange peppers, julienned
mushrooms, sliced (optional)
chicken breasts or tenders, cooked and diced (optional) - I usually poach them and then cut them into bite sized pieces
1 - 1 1/2 tsp basil
garlic powder/garlic salt, to taste
salt, to taste
shredded or Parmesan cheese

In saucepan, heat oil and cook garlic, onions and desired veggies until tender. Stir in the spaghetti sauce, tomatoes, whipping cream and basil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for approximately 20 mins, stirring occasionally. While the sauce is cooking, taste it and then add desired garlic powder/garlic salt and salt to taste (you'll need to add less because the canned spaghetti sauce already has salt added to it).

Serve with any kind of pasta with shredded cheese or Parmesan cheese on top.

*Note: If you're going to use canned spaghetti sauce, Hunt's spaghetti sauce in any variety is the best...I promise! You can also use 2 cans of tomato sauce (8 oz each) and a can of tomato paste (6 oz) and a little brown sugar instead of a can of spaghetti sauce. You'll just need to add a bit more salt, garlic powder, garlic salt, etc to give the sauce a little more flavour.

Ravioli Casserole
This sauce is delicious with ravioli (note: if you're making / using meat ravioli I wouldn't add the chicken to the sauce). To make a ravioli casserole, spray baking dish with PAM then put a little sauce on the bottom of the dish. Put the cooked ravioli in the dish and pour sauce over, stirring to make sure all the ravioli are covered with the sauce. Cover with shredded mozzarella/cheddar/jack cheese as well as parmesan cheese and cover with a lid or aluminum foil and bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes or until bubbly. I usually take the foil off the last 10 minutes or so to brown the top. If necessary, use toothpicks to keep the foil off the cheese.

Enjoy!

Homemade Ravioli / Cannelloni

Ever since I started the blog I've been wanting to make this ravioli recipe. It's one of the first things I remember making... now that I've made it again I think that's because it's such a production to make and takes such a long time that the experience made a lasting impression on my mind.

It's extremely yummy, though also extremely time consuming and as a result I told Chris I don't ever plan on making ravioli again while we still have young children at home. As it turned out I decided to switch to making cannelloni about half way through as the ravioli was taking way too long to make. While I was in the middle of making everything I kept thinking "why on earth did I decide to do this today?". I obviously didn't remember how long it took to make, and kept thinking Jacob would wake up at any minute and then wondered what I'd do. Thankfully he ended up sleeping for 3 hours today (which is un-heard of) so I was able to finish everything. And it sure was delicious!!!

Ok, so the recipe is pretty much the same regardless of if you want to make the ravioli or cannelloni, but you'll want to make sure you follow the right instructions, as the instructions are obviously different.

Homemade Ravioli / Cannelloni

Pasta Dough:

2 1/4 cups flour

1/2 cup water

2 egg yolks

1 egg

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp salt

Combine 1 cup flour and remaining ingredients and mix with a mixer at low speed.

Add the rest of the flour and mix with a wooden spoon to make a soft dough.

Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 10 mins. (While kneading, knead a little more flour if necessary, should be no more than 1/4 cup)

Cover dough and let it rest for about 30 mins.

Fillings:

Cheese Filling:

2 cups ricotta/cottage cheese

6 tbsp minced fresh parsley or 5 tbsp dry parsley flakes

2 egg whites

2 tsp salt

4 tbsp grated parmesan cheese ( or 6 tbsp shredded cheese)

Combine all ingredients in small bowl and stir until well mixed.

Meat Filling:

1/2 lb ground beef

1/3 cup minced onion

1 garlic clove, minced

1 egg

1/4 cup minced parsley

2 tbsp grated parmesan cheese

1/2 tsp salt

Combine first three ingredients in skillet/frying pan until mean is cooked. Remove from heat and spoon off fat. Add the egg, parsley, cheese, and salt and stir until well mixed.

Spinach Filling:

1 (10 oz) package frozen spinach

1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese

2 egg yolks

1 tbsp softened butter

1/4 tsp salt

1/8 tsp pepper

1/8 tsp nutmeg

Combine all ingredients in small bowl and stir until well mixed.

Ravioli Instructions:

Prepare dough and desired filling. Cut dough into 6 pieces. On floured surface roll 1 piece of dough into a long narrow rectangle. Then cut it into 9 smaller pieces (should have a total of 54 pieces). Drop a tsp of filling on one side of the dough. Brush dough edges with water, then fold dough over filling and using a fork dipped in flour press the edges together. Place on a floured, clean cloth and let them dry for approximately 30 minutes.

In a large pot heat water (at least 6 qt), 2 tsp salt and 1 tbsp olive oil until boiling. Add ravioli and stir occasionally. Cook until thoroughly cooked and tender.

Drain well and serve with my rose sauce and shredded cheese. (You can of course also serve with marinara sauce.)

Cannelloni Instructions:

Prepare dough and desired filling. Cut dough into 6 pieces. On floured surface roll 1 piece of dough into a long narrow rectangle and cut into 4, 4 inch squares (should have a total of 24 pieces).

In a large pot heat water (at least 6 qt), 2 tsp salt and 1 tbsp olive oil until boiling. Add the pieces of dough and cook until tender.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Once the noodles are cooked, fill each piece with filling and roll them up, placing them in a greased 9x13 baking dish (put a little sauce on the bottom as well).

Pour rose sauce or cheese sauce over the cannelloni and sprinkle with parsley and parmesan cheese. Cover with tin foil and bake in the oven for approximately 35 minutes, removing the foil for the last 10 minutes or so.

Enjoy!

Basic Cheese Sauce

Cheese Sauce

1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup flour
1 1/2 cups half and half cream
1 1/2 cups water
2 vegetable or chicken bouillon cubes
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese (or 1/2 cup grated cheese of choice)

Melt butter in saucepan and then stir in flour until well blended. Gradually add the cream, water, and bouillon cubes, cooking and stirring constantly until sauce is thickened. Stir in cheese and heat just until melted.

Serve over cannelloni.

*Note: You can of course be as creative as you want with this sauce, adding sauteed vegetables, basil, parsley, or other spices and serve it over any other kind of pasta.

Enjoy!