Baked Ziti

My friend lead me onto this recipe about a month ago. She said she received it through a "Mom's site" email. She made the recipe and loved it. I decided one day to do some searching on Allrecipes.com to see what kind of Baked Ziti recipes they had to offer and to see if any of their recipes compared to this one she sent me. My search resulted in a recipe that had over 3,500 postitive reviews, so I pulled it up and lo and behold this was the exact same recipe she had sent me. Apparently, some "Mom's site" is emailing out Allrecipes.com recipes. With that out of the way, let me just say this was a really good dish. There's no need to go out to a fancy Italian place when you can this dish right in your own home. My only change would be to add more cheese on top before baking.

Baked Ziti

1 lb. dry ziti pasta
1 onion, chopped
1 lb. lean ground beef or sausage
2 (26 oz.) jars of your favorite spaghetti sauce
6 oz. provolone cheese, sliced
1 1/2 cups sour cream
6 oz. mozzarella cheese, shredded
2 tbls. parmesan cheese, grated

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add ziti pasta and cook until al dente, about 8 minutes. Drain.

In a large skillet, brown onion and ground beef over medium heat. Add spaghetti sauce and simmer 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 F degrees. Butter a 9" x 13" baking dish. Layer as follows: 1/2 of the ziti, provolone cheese, sour cream, 1/2 sauce mixture, remaining ziti, mozzarella cheese an remaining sauce mixture. Top with grated parmesan cheese.

Bake for 30 minutes in the preheated over or until cheeses are melted.

Garlic Chicken Brats & Pesto Rotini

My son came up to me as I was making this dish and asked, "Mom, how come you don't make up your own recipes when you cook?" "Well," I said, "it just so happens that this dinner is something I made up on my own." He looked at me with his mouth wide open in amazement and said, "wow, that is so cool!" "You really are a good cook, huh?" Now how could I argue with that comment? I love my son! He always makes me feel so good.

I created this dish using some of our favorite ingredients: bratwursts, artichokes, pesto and parmesan. As far as the recipes goes, and I know I've said this before in the past, but once again this is a recipe that can be made to your liking. And in the quantities that will suit you and your family. My hubby couldn't get enough of this pasta dish that night. I think he had a full 2 plates. He kept saying, "mmm, this pasta is sooo good!" You can also substitute the chicken brats with an Italian-type sausage and use alternative vegetables such as: mushrooms or zucchini. The garlic chicken brats were freshly made by the butchers at Harmons. I just discarded the casings and used only the meat. I cooked it just like I would regular ground beef.

Garlic Chicken Brats & Pesto Rotini

1 box of rotini pasta, cooked and drained

1 pkg. Harmons brand Bob's Garlic Chicken Brats

1/3 cup Kirkland brand Basil Pesto sauce

2 jars of marinated artichokes, drained

Sun-dried tomatoes, thinly sliced
Parmesan Cheese

Olive oil

In a large pot, bring water to boil and cook pasta according to package directions. Meanwhile, in a large, 2" deep skillet, remove casings from bratwursts, chop and brown till longer pink. Drain pasta, toss with some olive oil to prevently it from drying. Set aside. Remove grease from brats. Return skillet to stove and add artichokes and sun dried tomatoes till thoroughly heated. Add pasta, toss, add pesto sauce, toss and heated till completely cooked. If pasta looks dry, add more olive oil or extra pesto. Add parmesan cheese to each individual plate before serving. Serve with warm bread and a side salad, if desired.

Vegetable Pizza

Lately I've been making this vegetable pizza for us. My hubby and I really like this pizza and are usually the only ones who will eat it. I used my recipe for Tony's Pizza Dough here on this blog. Instead of using a marinara-type pizza sauce, I used ranch dressing instead. You could even use a alfredo sauce or a basil-pesto sauce (from Costco) too. The types of vegetables you use are endless. I layer spinach leaves over the sauce before adding the other vegetables.

Vegetable Pizza

1 batch of pizza dough
Choice of sauce
Shredded mozzarella cheese
Vegetables: spinach, mushrooms, olives, zucchini, summer squash, onions, bell peppers, canned artichokes and tomatoes.

Preheat oven to 400 F degrees. Roll out part of the dough into a 12-14 inch circle. Spread sauce over dough, add spinach leaves, sprinkle about a 1/2 cup of cheese over the spinach, then top with desired vegetables and saving tomatoes till last. Sprinkle more cheese over vegetables. Add tomatoes last and arrange in a nice decorative pattern on top. Bake for 15-20 minutes until crust is a nice golden brown. Remove, cool slightly, slice and serve.

Other pizza ideas:
BBQ chicken: BBQ sauce, pre-cooked chicken, mozzarella cheese, purple onion
Marguerita: Basil-pesto sauce, mozzarella cheese, sliced tomatoes, drizzle with olive oil
Hawaiian: Marinara sauce, sliced canadian bacon, fresh pineapple chunks

A MUCH better Pizza Dough

I know...not much of a pizza picture, huh? Well, I'm sorry but we couldn't help ourselves. This was last of our pizza and then I realized that I hadn't taken a picture. This picture is actually more to show you two of the products we use to create our homemade pizzas. Plus, to announce I've discovered an all-new pizza dough just recently that has become our family favorite. And there's no way I can take credit for this recipe, so I will leave the name as it is and give credit to it's rightful owner, Tony. Yo, Tony...I don't know who you are, but I love your pizza dough, man! It beat out Giada DeLaurentiis' recipe previously posted on this blog. Sorry Giada, love your Italian cooking, but Tony's got'ya by a landslide on this one.

I would recommend a mixer with a dough hook. You will need it with this recipe. The recipe seems kind of time consuming, but it really is worth it in the end. Plus, it makes (2) 14" pizzas from one batch of dough. And you do need to add the amount of salt listed. It's dough for pizzas, not cinnamon rolls.

Tony's Pizza Dough

1 pkg. active dry yeast
1 cup warm water (90 to 100 degrees)
1 cup cold water
1 tbls. sugar
1 tbls. salt
2 tbls. olive oil
5 1/4 cups of all-purpose flour

In a small bowl, with a fork, stir yeast into warm water. Let stand until yeast is dissolved, about 5 minutes.

In a large mixing bowl with a dough hook attached to electric stand mixer, add the 5 1/4 cups flour and turn on mixer to a slow speed. Slowly add the cold water, sugar, salt and oil until crumbly. Add in the yeast mixture and continue on the slow speed until flour mixture pulls together into a ball. Add an extra 2 tbls. of flour if it appears sticky. Or 2 tbls. of water if the dough appears dry. Let the mixer knead the dough for 10-12 minutes.

Lightly flour countertop and remove dough from bowl. Knead dough into a nice, smooth ball. Place dough into a lightly oiled bowl, cover and let rise until doubled. About 1 hour up to 10 hours. If making ahead, place in the fridge until ready to use.

Divide dough in half, and roll each section out into 14 inches. Pick up and place on pizza pan and reform to the pan. Add toppings. Bake in a preheated 400 F degree oven for 15-18 minutes. Or until dough is lightly browned and no longer doughy. Slice into pieces and ENJOY! Yum!

Artichoke-Parmesan Crostini

I took this recipe to a potluck the other day and it was a huge hit! It had lots of flavor and was real easy to make. If you haven't noticed on this blog, a lot of my recipes are Italian inspired. This appetizer is just another one of those. I love Italian food! And I love Japanese food too. Well actually...I LOVE FOOD! But I think those types of culinary dishes are my favorite. I think it is for their freshness and simple ingredients that produce lots of flavor.

As I was sitting here thinking about this recipe, I need to add that this recipe can be adjusted so easily to fit whatever amount of people you serve it to, to the ingredients and to the type of bread or cracker you use. Yes, I think a really yummy cracker will work well this mixture too. Did I mention this recipe is a Martha Stewart recipe? If not, it is...it's from her Everyday Food magazine that I absolutely love and look forward to every month. The optional ingredients are my additions. Adjust accordingly to your liking. You may need to add more olive oil and cheese if you add more ingredients. So with that said, here's the recipe:

Artichoke-Parmesan Crostini

1 French baguette (the long, skinny bread)
2 jars of marinated artichokes, drained
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese (a good quality kind)
1 tbls. fresh parsley, chopped
2 tbls. olive oil (plus extra for baguette)
a few pinches of salt

Optional additions:
1 medium sized tomato, diced
1/2 cup sauteed mushrooms, cooled and diced

Preheat oven to 350 F degrees.

Slice baguette into 1/2 inch slices and lightly brush (do not dredge) with extra olive oil and put on baking sheet. Lightly salt each piece and toast in the oven for 10-12 minutes, turning over half way through. Remove and cool.

Meanwhile, make topping: drain and dice marinated artichokes, and combine in a bowl with parmesan, parsley and olive oil. Add in any optional ingredients. Stir to combine. Add in more olive oil or cheese, if needed. The oil will help bind the ingredients together. Check for flavor. Using a melon baller, scoop the artichoke mixture onto each slice of baguette. Arrange on platter and serve immediately.

Bubble Pizza

Some of you may have seen this recipe before. I've always known it to be called Bubble Pizza. It involves the cheap refrigerated biscuits in a can, spaghetti sauce, cheese and all your favorite pizza toppings. It's very easy to assemble and you can get your kids involved in the process. If my youngest can help me, then it must be a very simple recipe. She quartered my biscuits using a pizza cutter and helped me add the toppings. I forgot to get a picture of what the pizza looks like on the inside. But it looks very like a bunch of bubbles smooshed together in a box and sliced in half. (If you can picture that in your head.) I like to serve this with a side salad too.



Bubble Pizza

2-3 cans of refrigerated biscuits
1 jar of spaghetti sauce
1 lb. of ground beef or sausage, browned and drained
1 pkg. of shredded mozzarella cheese
Any favorite pizza toppings: pepperoni, bell peppers,
olives, mushrooms, onions, etc...

Preheat oven to 400 F degrees.

Prepare any pizza toppings: slice, dice, chop veggies, etc... and set aside.

Remove biscuits from can and cut each biscuit into quarters. Place them a medium sized mixing bowl. Poor spaghetti sauce over biscuits and toss to coat. Add sauce until the biscuits are no longer sticking together. Pour into a 9 x 13" baking dish. Top with ground meat, toppings and cheese. Bake in oven for 15-20 minutes. Remove and let cool for 5 minutes before serving.

Crockpot Lasagne

First off, let me just say that I have never made a lasagne in the crockpot before. Second, I didn't even have a recipe when I made this. And finally, it turned out alot better than I ever expected it to. I made it just before we left for church and it was completely cooked by the time we got home. As for the recipe I'm just going to give you the ingredients I used this time around. If you have a favorite lasagne recipe, try adapting it to use in the crock pot. Just plan to add some extra moisture: water, sauce, etc...

Crockpot Lasagne
1 pkg. Barilla brand lasagne sheets, chipped
1 1/2 jars of your favorite spaghetti sauce
1 package of shredded mozzarella cheese
1 1/2 lbs. of browned, ground beef
1 lb. container of ricotta cheese
2 eggs
Any veggies (cooked): broccoli, spinach, zucchini, mushrooms, etc.

Prepare crockpot with some non-stick spray. Have ingredients ready: chip lasagne sheets (see pic) brown ground beef, open sauce jars, mix eggs into ricotta cheese and season to your liking, prepare any veggies you choose to add. And begin layering the lasagne into the crockpot. Begin with some sauce at the bottom, then add noodles, more sauce, meat, ricotta, veggies and mozzarella. Next add a generous amount of sauce and then begin layering process again until you've done about 3 layers. Top and end with more mozzarella. Cover with lid and set heat to high and cook for 3-4 hours.