Spaghetti Casserole

I made this yummy recipe tonight from Salad in a jar . The whole family loved it except for the one that doesn't like cream cheese. The frenchs fried onions on top were extra yummy too. I think next time I make this I want to try mixing the vegetables and cream cheese in with the meat sauce, just to make it a little more blended. The recipe was definitely a keeper and I'll be making it again.

Baked Tortelini

LOVE this Casserole style tortelini, its one of our family favorites. Quick, easy and yummy!

1 pkg (9oz) refrigerated cheese tortelini, uncooked
1/2 C. boiling water
1 green pepper, chopped
1 zucchini, sliced
1 3/4 C. marinara
1/2 c. mozzarella cheese, shredded.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees, combine all ingredients except cheese in 13x9 baking dish and cover with foil. Bake 30 minutes.

Rremove foil and stir, sprinkle with cheese and bake uncovered an additional 10 minutes.

This recipe serves 4,
Calories: 310
Fat: 9 g.
Fiber: 4 g.

Spaghetti

Ok. So Spaghetti, my spaghetti really doesn't need a recipe post, but I thought I would share how I spice up the plain ole spaghetti

First off to make it healthier I always use whole wheat pasta, and I only put in 1/2 lb of hamburger. I use store bought sauce, (lazy I know, but its all good), usually the vegetable one or traditional. I add either dried onion or about a fourth of a regular onion, diced, as well as one chopped green pepper and one cup diced or shredded zucchini. I also usually add a few shakes of basil, thyme and oregano.

There you have it our simple, whole wheat, vegefied spaghetti.

HEARTS and Calzones

For our Valentines breakfast I went super simple: heart shaped nuttella toast and strawberry milk.

For lunch: peanut butter and jelly heart shaped sandwiches with juicy red strawberries.

And for dinner I decided to make my family heart shaped calzones. They turned out to be super yummy. I didn't end up doing a dessert as NUBI frozen yogurt was having a buy one get one, so we headed over there, before dinner :)

First I made the crust:

1 C. warm water
1 T. sugar
2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast
1 t. salt
3 T. olive oil
2 1/2 C. flour.
1/2- 1 t basil
1/2- 1 t. oregano
1/2- 1 t. garlic powder
1/2- 1 t. thyme

Filling:
pizza sauce or marinara sauce
mozzarella cheese
pizza topings (pepperoni, canadian bacon, olives, pineapple, green peppers, etc.)

Combine water, sugar and yeast and mix until yeast is dissolved. Add salt and olive oil and mix. Slowly add flour and mix until well blended. Lest rest covered for 10 minutes.

Spray a cookie sheet with cooking spray and put a little olive oil on your fingers and press the pizza out flat making a rectangular shape. You are now going to sprinkle your basil, oregano, garlic powder and thyme over your dough until it is evenly covered. Now at this point you can either get out your cute heart shaped cookie cutter and make enough hearts as your dough allows for both top and bottom. Taking the excess from around the hearts and pressing it out again to make additional heart shapes or your can cut your dough in fourths making four larger calzones. If you are doing hearts then you will only do the following to half of the hearts, if you are doing larger calzones then you will only cover half of each of your rectangles. okay.

So first you spread your pizza sauce, or marinara sauce, then you place a nice layer of mozzarella cheese, followed by pizza toppings of your choice. Our toppings included turkey peperoni, canadian bacon, green peppers, and olives, Everyone built there own, so they were all different. Followed by a little more mozzarella cheese.

Now if you made heart shaped calzones you will place the hearts with nothing on them on top of your pizza layered hearts and press the edges to seal. If you made standard rectangular shaped calzones you will fold the dough in half and seal the edges.

Bake in a preheated 425 degree oven for 20 minutes.

Easy peasy and my whole family loves them. I cut my 2 year olds heart in half and she ate it just like a sandwich.

Happy Eating!

Quickie Lasagna (ravioli)

I love this quick and easy recipe it's ravioli made like a lasagna, you can make it with just marinara sauce or a meat sauce if you prefer. I usually do just a marinara sauce, hence the quick part.

Quickie Lasagna

marinara sauce
family size ravioli
4 oz mozarella cheese, shredded

In a 9x13 baking dish spread 1/2c. marinara sauce. Next put down a layer of ravioli and top with 1/2 c. mozarella cheese and then 1 1/4c. marinara sauce. You will then put another layer of ravioli, 1/2c. cheese and 1 1/4c marinara (or the rest of the bottle).

Bake at 375 for 45 minutes. Fabulously easy, and everyone loves it. I always serve with salad and garlic bread.

Fabulous Garlic Bread

I tried a new garlic spread recipe Sunday night when we had our church missionaries over, it was fabulous! I found the recipe on allrecipe.com (one of my favorite recipe sites) and it is perfect for any Italian meal, I made some with cheese and some with out and they were both great.


Toasty Garlic Bread

1 (1lb) loaf Italian Bread (I used french bread and it was still great)
5 Tbsp butter, softened
2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tsp dried oregano
salt and pepper to taste
1 c. mozzarella cheese, shredded (optional)

1. Preheat the broiler.
2. Cut the bread into slices 1 to 2 inches thick.
3. In a small bowl, mix butter, olive oil, garlic, oregano, salt and pepper. Spread the mixture evenly on the bread slices.
4. On a medium baking sheet, arrange the slices evenly and broil 5 minutes, or until slightly brown. Check frequently so they do not burn.
5. Remove from broiler. Top with cheese and return to broiler 2 to 3 minutes, until cheese is slightly brown and melted. Serve at once.