Healthy Tomato Pasta

A long time ago I bought this book.  Like, probably 6 or 7 years ago.  I went through and tabbed lots of recipes that I wanted to try.  And I'm pretty sure I had not tried any of them until last week.  I wanted pasta for dinner, but now that it's getting hot, I wanted a lighter pasta dish.  So, loosely following a recipe in this book, I created a healthy, light pasta dish that is filling.  Bonus -- it is quick and easy to make!

Adapted from: 500 Best Healthy Recipes by Lynn Roblin

What you need:

12 Ounces Rotini Noodles (I used wheat)

1 1/2 Tsp Olive Oil 

2 Tsp Minced Garlic

1 Small Onion, chopped

2 Medium Tomatoes, chopped

8 Ounces Crumbled Feta Cheese

1/4 Cup Chopped Fresh Basil

1/4 Shredded Parmesan Cheese

1/2 Cup Black Olives

What you do:

1.  Cook Rotini Noodles according to the instructions on the box.  

2.  When the pasta has approximately 5 minutes left to cook, heat the olive oil in a skillet on the stove.  Add the garlic and onions and saute for about 2 minutes.  Add tomatoes and cook for an additional 2 minutes, stirring constantly. 

3.  Drain and rinse the pasta. 

4.  Combine the pasta and the onions and tomatoes.  Add the feta and parmesan and stir well.  

5.  Top with chopped fresh basil and black olives. 

Enjoy!

Cilantro Lime Rice

(Please excuse the terrible photo.  Apparently I was so excited to eat

my cilantro lime rice that I didn't have time to take a decent pic.)

If you like Chipotle's rice, you're gonna LOVE this stuff.  It's one million times better than Chipotle's rice.  Trust me.  It's like the crack of rice. 


Apparently, it's a copycat recipe for rice served at a restaurant called Cafe Rio.  I've never been there.  But, if they serve stuff like this, eating there is going on my bucket list.  I got the recipe from The Girl Who Ate Everything. 


I use it as a side dish for Mexican meals.  I also use it to make burrito bowls, Chipotle style.  It's simple to make and uses relatively few ingredients. 


Slightly adapted from:  The Girl Who Ate Everything. 


Here's what you need:
2 Tb. Butter 
1 ¼ White Rice
Juice of 2 Limes 

2 ¼ cups Chicken Broth
2 Tb. chopped fresh Cilantro
¾ tsp. Salt¼ tsp. Cumin 


Here's what you do:
1.  In a sauce pan, melt the butter with the rice. 


2.  Add the juice of the limes, chicken broth, cilantro, salt, and cumin. 


3.  Bring to a boil. 


4.  Once it reaches a boil, reduce heat, cover and cook for 20 minutes. 


Enjoy!

Baked Potato Casserole

I used to have the. most. delicious. recipe for baked potato casserole.  Now I can't find it.  If you've ever had a good baked potato casserole, you understand my devastation.  If you haven't, let me explain . . . 


Baked potato casserole is an amazing creation that everybody loves.  The recipe always makes about one million servings, so it's great for large gatherings (think -- holidays), or if you just feel like only cooking once this week (helloooooo college!).  It's a comfort food that compliments pretty much everything.  Or, it can be eaten as a meal by itself.  


Anyhow, I decided I wanted to make baked potato casserole for a work Thanksgiving luncheon.  That is when I discovered that I could find my recipe.  Devastation ensued.  Then I googled it.  I found Emeril's recipe, which definitely isn't my recipe, but it's at least kinda close.  And, it ended up tasting pretty good, so I scored. 


If I am ever reunited with my recipe, I'll post it here.  Hopefully, I'll find it when I finally get to move into my house and unpack (I promise I'm not making that up -- it will happen).  Until then, this will have to do. 


Adapted from Emeril


Here's what you need:

• 5 Lbs Red Potatoes
• 8 Tablespoons (1 stick) plus 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 Cup sour cream
• 1 & 1/2 Cups heavy whipping cream
• 2 Teaspoons salt
• 1 1/2 Teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
• 1 Lb Bacon, cooked until crip and crumbled
• 1/2 Lb sharp Cheddar, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• 3/4 Lbs mild Cheddar, grated (3 cups)
• 1/2 cup finely chopped green onions
• 3 eggs, lightly beaten
• Additional butter for baking dish
• Additional sour cream for garnishing
• Additional diced green onions for garnishing
• Sliced black olives for garnishing

Here's what you do:

1.  Peel and cube the potatoes.

2.  Boil the potatoes until they are fully cooked. 

3.  Drain potatoes and put them in a large bowl.

4.  Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. 

5.  Add butter, sour cream, whipping cream, salt, and pepper to potatoes.  Mash until desired consistency. 

6.  Add 3/4 lb bacon, sharp cheddar cubes, half of the grated cheddar, green onions, and eggs.  Mix thoroughly.

7. Butter a 9 x 13 casserole dish.  Spoon the potato mixture into the baking dish. 

8.  Top with remaining shredded cheddar cheese.

9.   Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until bubbly around the edges and heated through and the cheese on top is melted and lightly golden. 

     Hint:  I halved the recipe and put part of it in a smaller baking dish and 

    part of it in a crock pot.  I refrigerated it over night and then  I took the 

    crock pot to work for the luncheon.  I cooked the potatoes on high for 

    about 3 hours and it was cooked all the way through.  It tasted just like 

    the pan that I had baked in the oven the night before.

10.  Garnish with additional sour cream, black olives and green onions. 

Enjoy!

Homemade Mac-N-Cheese

I love homemade mac-n-cheese.  Who doesn't?  I've tried several different recipes in the past, but this one wins.  By far.  It's creamy and thick.  It's nice and gooey.  It's a little crunchy on top.  And, it has a little kick.  Perfect!  I made this for a family dinner and between 5 adults and one 1 yr old, we ate about 3/4 of the pan.  It's that good.

For this recipe, I checked out a whole bunch of different recipes and then I came up with my own. 

Here's what I used:

6 Slices of White Bread, without the crusts
1 Stick of unsalted Butter
5 1/2 Cups Milk
1/2 Cup Flour
1 1/2 Tsp Dry Mustard
1/4 Tsp Nutmeg
2 Tsp Kosher Salt
1/4 Tsp Black Pepper
1/4 Tsp Cayenne Pepper
4 1/2 Cups Sharp Cheddar Cheese, finely grated
1 1/3 Cups Parmesan Cheese, finely grated
1 1/4 Cups Pecorino Romano, finely grated
1 Lb. Macaroni Noodles

Here's what I did:

First I preheated the oven to 375 degrees.  Then I buttered a casserole dish.  I used a 2.2 quart dish, but had a little overflow, so use something bigger than that.

Next, I tore the bread into 1/4 to 1/2 inch pieces and put them in a small bowl.  I melted 2 tablespoons of butter and poured it on top of the bread.  I tossed the bread in the butter to evenly coat the pieces.  Then I set that bowl to the side.  I put a pot of water on the stove to heat up for cooking the noodles.

I put the milk in a pan and heated it on medium heat.  In another pan, I melted 6 tablespoons of butter on medium heat.  When the butter bubbled, I added the flour and stirred well.  I cooked that mixture (called a roux) for 1 minute while constantly stirring.  I slowly added the milk to the roux while whisking.  I continued whisking the mixture for about 12 minutes while it remained on medium heat.  At that point, the sauce had started to thicken.   Then I added the dry mustard, nutmeg, kosher salt, black pepper, and cayenne pepper.  I stirred that well and then added 3 cups of cheddar cheese, 1 cup of parmesan cheese, and 1 cup pecorino romano cheese.  I added each cheese one at a time and made sure to mix well before adding another cheese.

Then I set the sauce to the side.  I added the macaroni noodles to my now boiling water and cooked the noodles until aldente.  After rinsing the noodles in cold water, I mixed the noodles and the cheese sauce together.  I transferred that mixture to the baking dish. 

I topped that with the remaining cheeses. 

On top of the cheese, I put the pieces of bread.

 I baked the dish for about 30 minutes.  Remove it when the cheese is bubbly and the bread pieces are a deep golden brown.  Here is what mine looked like right out of the oven:

Enjoy!